Um…yo. This is my first posted fic, so I'm making all the newbie mistakes, I 'spose. Read and review in detail, as that is most helpful. Thankies in advance.
I think I'm supposed to disclaim: I don't own any of these characters or concepts. JK Rowling does. Coincidentally, she also owns part of my soul.
Oh, and sorry for the bite size chapters. They'll get longer, I swear. And I also apologize if this keeps coming on then going off. I'm working out how to format posts and it's not going as expected (I use MS Word, if you have any tips).
Chapter 1: What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Part 1
Somewhere in Bulgaria, after the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
A train ride, a pissed kitty, a family crest, two suitcases, one shiny spell. A kiss and one forever.
Hermione sat on the train, playing nervously with her beaded purse. It felt so light after carrying around the weight of her overloaded book bag all year. She was almost there, and she couldn't wait.
Three days ago, she had received a letter from Viktor Krum, inviting her to his family's estate for his parents' annual two-week gathering of friends and family. She and her mother had twittered excitedly like school-girls, and though Hermione was one, it was rather exceptional for her to partake in that sort of behavior (mostly because her thought process includes words like 'partake'). However, she was willing to make the exception. Viktor had that effect on her. After a solid day of needling, the Hermione and her mom had managed to convince Mr. Granger to let his daughter go visit her 'boyfriend', a label which, despite the mother-daughter twittering, resulted in quite a few eye-rollings, head-tossings, and 'just friends' type assertions from Hermione.
In any event, she was now on her way to see him. Viktor. She closed her eyes for a brief moment to mentally picture him. Her cheeks flushed, as the prospect of behaving this way around Harry, God forbid Ron, crossed her mind, causing thorough inner mortification.
The train began to slow, and her stomach began to do back-flips. When the train ground to a halt, it launched into an entire gymnastics routine. She was excited. Hermione's eyes fluttered open, and she peered out the window. Bulgaria, at first, seemed gray and unwelcoming. But her heart warmed the instant she saw Viktor standing on the platform, staring expectantly at the train. She jumped up, and Crookshanks fell off her lap with a hiss. She hurriedly jammed him into his basket, further pissing off the flailing animal. She yanked her luggage from the rack and managed to shove herself, the rattling cat basket, and two rather substantial suitcases out of the train and onto the platform. Seeing her, Viktor marched hurriedly to meet her.
"Hermy-own-ninny," he grunted smilingly, and wrapped her in an enormous hug. She promptly dropped the luggage, cat and all, to the ground, in order to squeeze him back. Sigh.
After a few moments, and one or two 'aw's from passersby, other passengers queued at the exit, and began to mutter at this couple blocking their way. Viktor let her go, grabbed her bags, and shuffled sideways to let the others pass. Once they were out of the way, he let her bags down with a grunt. "Oof. Hermy-own-ninny, what is in these? Bricks?"She laughed. "No, books. And clothes and the like."
"I was inviting you to stay for two weeks, but you are thinking forever, perhaps?" he asked, a touch to seriously, but Hermione had the good grace to laugh it off and playfully explain, "no, no, silly. That is just what teenage girls do; we pack entirely too many things. I'd lighten it magically, but I'm not allowed."
"It is alright," he assured her. "I can. I am graduated now, remember?" She nodded. "Wingardium leviosa!" He said it perfectly, with just the right swish and flick. Hermione was taken slightly aback by the display, as he had never let on before that he was any good at spell casting.
"Wow," she said, a little breathlessly. "I have been practicing," he informed her, "for you." He winked. She melted.
They walked on, apparently out of an all-wizard station, to a small parking lot populated by Muggle cars sporting Quidditch stickers, family sets of broom sticks, and magic carpets. Krum stopped before a Bentley. Hermione had been a Muggle, and an observant one at that, long enough to know that this was a nice car. Viktor loaded her cases into the trunk and stuck Crookshanks' still-rattling carrier into the backseat. Then, he opened the passenger door and helped Hermione into her seat in an extremely gentlemanly way. He settled into the driver's seat, and they drove off through the countryside. They chatted lightly, and gave each other sidelong smiles. At one point, they held hands.
After an hour and a half, they drove up a long driveway in front of an extremely lavish, large house. It was really more of a castle than a house, as it reached up four stories, and even had buttresses. Krum parked the car and turned off the engine, but did not move to get out. Instead, he turned to Hermione and said, "like I have told you, we will have many families at this gathering. But also, we host families who are old friends, one which might be familiar; the Parking-sons? I think you know the girl, Pansy?" Hermione's mood dropped, but she tried to keep it off her face. It didn't work. However, Viktor nodded in sympathetic agreement. He continued. "There is one I'm sure you know, and do not like so much, the Malfoys?" He cringed slightly, in expectation of an outburst, but she didn't give that. No, far worse, her face morphed completely from disgruntled to worried to terrified. Krum tried to calm and convince her. "Come Hermy, I know Draco is very, very annoying, but surely you can come over that for just two weeks? What was it that your headmaster spoke of, friendship and cooperation? Think of it as that." She remained wide-eyed and silent, and wasn't until her leaned in to give her an embrace of comfort that she broke out of it.
"Wait. Stop," she said, holding up her hands to prevent his hug. "I don't think you understand. The Malfoys are more than annoying. They're dangerous." Her thoughts were on Harry's description of the Death Eaters gathered in the graveyard. The thought of sharing a house with one for even an hour made her shudder with fear."I think I know what it is you mean. But I can assure you, there will be none of that here. You are safe." With that, Viktor climbed out of the car and began to walk toward the house. Hermione jumped out quickly to catch up to him, but his stride was so long that she had to run. She grabbed his arm as he reached for the handle on the door. She pulled him, harder than he expected her to be able to, to face her. "Viktor, wait, this is serious," she said, glaring at him with that very Hermion-y look in her eyes, one of determination to prove she was right. "Don't you remember that I am Muggle-born?"
"Yes, Hermy-own-ninny, I remember," he replied with a sigh and an eye-roll."Have you never been told what it is that Death Eaters, like the Malfoys, like to do to Muggle-borns?" she demanded obstinately."Yes, I know," he answered, slightly more irate.
"Listen to me! You are perfectly safe here. Do you want to know why?" He pointed up to the door. Stained onto the oak was an emblem that was obviously the Krum family crest: a circle, surrounding a shield, on which were two hands, drawn palms open, and a sword snapped beneath them. In the bottom of the circle was written quietus, Latin for 'neutrality'. "We are neutral to any conflict," he explained. "We may be pureblood, but back through those generations is also a tradition of keeping our nose out. We do not care for it, fighting." She nodded, but not without looking like she was about to ask lots of questions. He headed her off. "There are spells on this castle to block all harm from it, and to prevent harm between its guests. Fight-proof, you could say. Many famous peace talks have been held here," he informed her.
Again, Hermione remained clearly skeptical, so Krum hurriedly said, "but I will add more for you." Much to her bewilderment, he abruptly took her hand in his. With his other, he took his wand, circled it above their heads slowly, and chanted. The air surrounding them glowed and sparkled slightly, like they were in a golden tube. After three repetitions of the chant, he put his wand away. "Now do that, Hermione." Against her very best judgment, but according to her quick thinking, Hermione raised her wand and mimicked him, stumbling slightly with the chant. When she finish, he kissed her cheek and the shininess fizzled out of the air.
"What was THAT?!" Hermione demanded impatiently. She really, really disliked mystery spells, especially ones done to her."A protection spell," Krum answered, with an air of 'ha, I know something you didn't'. "We are binded now." Hermione winced at the grammar, but was too curious to stop him about it. "As long as I am safe," he continued to explain, "you are safe."It was not in Hermione's nature to trust implicitly. But for his gorgeous eyes and safe embrace, the 15-year-old was willing to make an exception for him. Again."Now, will you please stay?" he asked, offering her the crook of his arm. "Yes," she conceded, with a great deal of exasperation. She huffed a great sigh and took his arm."Good. Now, let me show you around."