Hermione was pouring over one of several voluminous books she a piled on the
table in front of her. She furrowed her brow and bent forward, her nose almost
touching the pages. Feeling her way around the clutter beside her, she put her hand on
a notebook. With one last look at the writing, she furiously started scribbling down
the scattered ideas swimming in her head. Then, she heard the library door open and
close behind her with a bang and her quill jumped across the page. Hermione moved
her hand quickly back, teetered her quill in her fingers, wished for the words to come
back to her, but they didn't. Exasperated, she huffed and threw her quill onto the
table, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes.
Hermione turned in her chair and threw a reproachful glance at the boy who had
just entered the library, now sitting down at the table behind her. She was about to
inform him that he had just interrupted some very important work, but stopped in
mid-reproach as she recognized the round shouldered, duck footed figure.
It was Victor Krum.
Hermione felt a jolt of irritation and turned quickly away. The whole point of
using the library during lunch was to insure that she was undisturbed, and she had
become used to Krum haunting the library after school, closely followed by a group of
his twittering fans, but this was the first time he had intruded on her lunch-library
session.
As Hermione began regrouping her thoughts, she heard the swish of the door
again and in walked half a dozen fourth and fifth year girls, all whispering excitedly
and pointing at Krum. Hermione rolled her eyes towards the heavens as the girls started pulling books off the shelves in order to get a better look at the infamous Quidditch seeker.
Hermione glanced toward Krum, half-expecting to see him staring openly at his
fans, but instead, caught his eye briefly before he looked away.
"I'll never get anything done with this lot around," thought Hermione.
She buried her nose in her book and pretended that she didn't hear the fits of giggles
emanating from behind the bookshelves.
Staring at her book, but not really seeing it at all, she heard Krum get out of his
chair and saw him hunch his way across the room.
"What could he possibly need that couldn't wait until after school?" thought Hermione as she shifted irritably in her chair. "No consideration at all."
Krum looked blankly at the books in front of him, running his finger over their
spines.
"If he needs something," she thought, " why doesn't he go ask Madam Pince
for help? Then he could leave and take his stupid fan club with
him." Hermione saw Krum glance briefly at her and look away again.
"What does he want?" Hermione thought hotly, and threw her arm over her work,
shielding it from view. But still she could sense him hovering. "Go away! Oh, I really
hope Harry beats him horribly next task!"
Then it struck her. Of course! Harry! Krum knew she was Harry's good
friend, and he wanted the inside scoop on his opponent. He thought Hermione would
tell him anything he wanted to know, like all the other girls, just because he was
famous. Well, she wasn't like those other girls and she wasn't going to tell him a
thing.
Without even checking the title, Krum grabbed a thick, loosely bound book
from the shelf and retreated to sit at the table opposite Hermione, so that she could just
see him out of the corner of her eye. She could see Krum's eyes staring at the page,
but noticed that they weren't moving at all.
One by one, the cluster of girls watching Krum dwindled away until even the
last girl couldn't stand the stillness any longer and left the room, scowling. Hermione
and Krum were left alone.
After a few moment's silence, Krum closed his book. Hermione lifted hers in
seeming fascination, raising the top edge until she could just peer over it. And as she
watched, Krum, unaware of her gaze, began running his fingers through his hair, pulling on the sleeves of his robes, and straightening his tie. Hermione's eyes widened with rage.
"Look at him! He's preening like a ... like a peacock! Expects me to just melt, I
suppose. Well, somebody's in for a surprise!"
Krum rose slowly and started crossing toward Hermione. She kept her book
firmly in place, muttering, "I won't give anything away, I won't give anything
away..."
"Her-my-ninny?" Krum's voice, unnaturally low, broke the silence.
Hermione lowered her book with a snap and raised her face to confront him.
Krum cleared his throat nervously, and in broken English, said, "Vill you go to
da ball mit me?"
And for once in her life, Hermione Granger was speechless.