Hermione was finally getting around to packing away Viktor's mound of Quidditch gear. Now that he was the team owner and coach, he didn't really need all the equipment anymore. This year would mark their twenty-fifth anniversary. The grown children were coming for the party over the weekend and the room was needed for a nursery.
The pads, helmets, and gloves were shrunken and put into the small chest in the cupboard. The uniforms she was going to wash before putting them away. As she started going through the pockets, she found numerous things he had left behind. Laughing to herself, she started a pile of the items she found in his pockets from the various uniforms. Mostly they were notes on the various opposing teams' strategies or sometimes forgotten Knuts, Sickles, or Galleons.
But in the uniform he had worn at the World Cup Game last year; the last one he had played in as a Seeker, she found something very surprising. Actually, it was two things she hadn't seen since that long ago afternoon in the Hogwarts library when he had asked her to the Yule Ball.
The hair scrunchy with the tiny dragons on it and the bookmark with her name had disappeared before she remembered to go back for them that day.
Astonished, she considered Viktor's actions. He must have taken them. But why? They weren't even dating then. He had just asked her to the dance that very day.
She smiled and put the two items into her pocket, intent on confronting him that evening.
A noise from downstairs alerted her to the arrival of some of the children.
"Mum, are you up there?" Niki called. He was their eldest, now married and a new father.
She made up her mind to ask him if he knew about these two items. She came downstairs and found Niki and his wife, Chloe, putting baby food into the cooler and making tea.
"Niki, do you know anything about these things I found in your father's uniform pocket?"
Niki gave the items a quick look and answered, "Sure, Mum, they are his good luck pieces. He's had them forever."
Just then, Chloe handed Hermione the baby out of the carrier. Niki was holding the other one.
"Oh, hello, Tasha. Are you glad to see grandmum?"
"Nin, she is very happy to be here. She has been trying to get up and walk already. I wish Sacha would, but he is lazier than she is," Chloe responded.
"Chloe, Niki was like that. He crawled like mad until one day he got up and started running everywhere. Sacha is going to be just like that. I think Baba Raisa said Viktor was the same way, too."
"I vas vhat vay, loff?" Viktor asked as he took the baby from his wife as he walked into the kitchen.
"Never mind. What are you doing home so early?"
"I lectured team before sending them home. I knew Niki and Chloe were coming and I vanted to see my grandbabies."
"Hello, Viktor, Niki said you were now coaching the team. Do the team members act differently to you now?" Chloe asked.
"Not really. They still giff me hard time about things, but it is all in fun. How long are you staying?" he asked as he handed Hermione the little girl and took the boy from his son.
Niki laughed at the way Sacha had taken hold of his grandfather's hair. "At least a week, Papa. Chloe's parents said you had invited them to the party so we thought it could also be kind of a family reunion, too."
"Yes, they are coming as are the Potters and most of the Veasleys. Are you going to take the job at the Ministry? Arthur tells me they think wery highly of your qualifications." Viktor and Niki had grabbed the suitcases and taken them upstairs after Chloe took Sacha back.
"What are those things, Nin? Niki said lucky pieces, but you had a funny look on your face," Chloe asked.
"Both of these things were mine in my fourth year at Hogwarts. They both disappeared from the library, where I had accidently left them after Viktor asked me to the Yule Ball. I was so flustered that I walked out of the library without my book bag and these. When I went back half an hour later the book bag was all I found."
"And you never knew he had them?"
"Not until today. I will ask him about them later. Why don't you help me get food ready? I fully expect Harry and Ginny to get here soon. They mentioned your brother and Victoire have moved back from France. Was there some trouble with her grandparents?"
"Yes, the Delacours wanted Victoire to raise their little girl in the Veela tradition and Victoire was having none of it. Teddy backed his wife and moved the whole family back to London. My parents let them have the London house and they have moved back to Cornwall to the old estate. Gramps died and Dad wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city."
"Is Niki going to take the job with the Ministry, Chloe? It would certainly be a feather in his cap to be the apprentice to Arthur Weasley."
"Of course he is going to take the job. He just worries that you and Viktor won't come to visit us often enough. But now that Ron and Lavender Weasley have moved to Australia, we're hoping you both will come more often."
"How in the world did that happen, Chloe? I thought they were always going to be sponging off Arthur and Molly."
"Apparently, Lavender got a job at the new magical school opening up in Perth. She is going to be the new Divination teacher," Chloe tried to say it with a straight face, but she and Hermione both started laughing.
Viktor and Niki walked back in just then and looked at them strangely.
Hermione went into whoops as she tried to tell Viktor the latest in the Ron-Lavender saga.
Chloe and Niki took the twins upstairs to put them down for a nap; they ran into Niki's youngest sister, Theia, while they were upstairs. She was due to start at Hogwarts in September.
"Did you bring the twins? Anastasia and Aleksander are such cool names. Mum says you call them Tasha and Sacha, is that right? I missed you guys. Love you both. Have to run, meeting Nigel Longbottom for a quick run through the craft market. His parents are here on vacation so they are coming to the anniversary party, too. See you!"
"If she wasn't my sister, I'd think she was a younger version of you," Niki whispered in his wife's ear.
"Let's go see what your parents are doing, Niki? Did you know your dad swiped those things he calls his lucky pieces from your mum when she was in her fourth year at school? She didn't know he had them until today."
Niki Disillusioned the both of them and they crept down the stairs. Viktor and Hermione were still in the kitchen, locked in each other's arms.
Niki and Chloe decided to just watch and listen.
"Vitya, I found these in the pocket of your uniform. Did you take them as a prank all those years ago?"
" No, Nin, I took them because I knew you vere the girl I vas going to marry. I knew that something of yours vould always bring me luck." He emphasised the words by kissing her passionately.
"You could have at least told me you took them. I don't understand how you could have decided I was the girl you wanted to marry that first afternoon." She was looking up into his eyes as he pushed her hair back from her face.
"I did not vant to giff them back, Doushenka. Vhen I saw you, that first day, sitting near the Goblet of Fire and looking so studious and beautiful, I simply knew you vere the one."
"Really, Vitya? It took me much longer to decide you were the one for me."
"I know, loff. I vaited. I vas patient. I am not so patient now. Don't you think Theia needs a new brother or sister?" He was nibbling on her neck as he asked.
Hermione blushed, but responded, "Hush, Niki and Chloe are upstairs. Do you want them to know we are trying for another child? Oh, Vitya, a new baby would be wonderful."
Viktor picked up his wife and carried her up the stairs, kicking their bedroom door closed.
Niki laughed at Chloe's expression of shock. "Don't worry. They have always been like that. Papa and Mum are still as in love as they were when they married. Maybe we should follow their example. The Krum family needs lots more babies."