Mistletoe Madness

\/Hermione/\
It's Christmastime at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Hermione is feeling a little less than enthusiastic. Make no mistake, she loves the holiday.
The decorations at Hogwarts are amazing; the use of a little magic can go a long way. And who better to spend it with than her two best friends, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley? Yes, Christmas was always perfect for Hermione, but with just one problem.
The mistletoe.

Mistletoe is hung everywhere, from the braziers on the wall to the spears held up by the suits armour. If you don't watch where you're going, you may get caught under a piece, and a small enchantment kicks in. You are stuck in place until someone else comes along. And, in order to be unfrozen, they have to kiss you. Hermione has been lucky so far, always checking in every direction and sometimes, as a last resort, uses the secret passages around the school. Harry and Ron often join her.

Seeing as the Triwizard Tournament is currently being held at Hogwarts, the hallways are even busier, constantly filled with Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students. The Durmstrang treat the school much like a museum, running from one place to another, examining the trophies and the silverware and the moving pictures. Beauxbatons couldn't be less interested, criticizing everything from the suits of armour to the great stone arches and columns. Hermione also couldn't care less, because she was spending her time observing the Champions for tips to help Harry the Accidental Champion. And, since the second task was drawing steadily nearer, she was determined to help him learn new spells. In fact, this is what young Gryffindor was doing right now, walking quickly down the hallway with her nose in a spellbook.

Concentrating on her book, Hermione turned a corner and promptly ran into someone, scattering her books around her as she landed hard on the cold floor. Mumbling a quiet apology, she began gathering her possessions back into her arms, but froze as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she stares into the dark eyes of the Champion that has intrigued her ever since the events of last night...

The students of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang gathered around the Goblet of Fire, applauding loudly as each seventeen-year-old placed their slip of parchment into the flames. Despite Hermione's protests that it would not work, Fred and George Weasley downed their aging potion, stepped across the age line, and quickly sprouted identical white beards. She sat down with her book and ignored the cheers as the twins began to wrestle on the floor. Suddenly, all noise stopped as the doors to the Great Hall banged open, and in strode Viktor Krum, flanked by Professor Karkaroff and, presumably, the Deputy Headmaster, if there was such a thing back at their school.

The surly teenager slouched up to the Goblet, dropped his piece of parchment in the fire, turned around and walked away. But not before he locked eyes with Hermione for a good few seconds. Hermione felt her heart skip a beat, but before she could move, Krum's eyes were off hers and he turned the corner, disappearing out of sight. The last sight she had of him was the fringe of his fur cape.

"Are you alright?" Krum asks, in a much kinder voice than Hermione ever thought he was capable of speaking. She was so stunned that all she could do was stare.
"Vell?" He asks again, and this time, she gives herself a mental shake and replies.
"Yes, I am alright. I'm sorry I ran into you, it was very clumsy of me." Hermione spoke hurriedly, wishing escape the awkwardness of the moment.
"Do not vorry about it." He hands her books back to her, and she stared at them, surprised. She did not realize that he had picked them up.
"Well, thank you. I will be on my way now. Goodbye, Viktor."
Now it was his turn to be surprised.
"You know my name?" Krum has his eyebrows raised, somehow caught off-guard that Hermione knew his name. She quickly realized this, but got slightly the wrong idea that he thought she was another one of his stalker fans.
"W-well, I-I, well, EVERYONE knows your name, you are a famous Quidditch player, you are in the Triwizard Tournament, how could anyone not know your name?" Hermione stutters, "Plus, my friend Ronald brought Harry and I to the Quidditch World Cup, so we saw you there, too. That Wonky Faint thing was really dangerous, you know. Did you train for that, or just risk it? I mean..." Krum chuckled.
"It vos Wronski Faint, and no. Ve vere losing and it was the only vay I could think of to gain us some time." Hermione blushed, embarrassed. There was another awkward silence.
Hermione spoke first.
"Well, it was nice talking to you, Viktor, but I really must be going now."
"Vill I get to see you again?" Krum asks quickly, and looks almost worried.
"Oh, I'm sure we'll see each other sometime before the Tournament is over," Hermione says airily, "Goodbye!"
"Goodbye," Krum replies, somewhat distractedly. He turns around and continues on his way, rather slowly. Hermione was about to ask, but thought the better of it.

Flustered, Hermione rounds the corner and begins the walk back to the Gryffindor common room. She is so distracted by the conversation she just had that she didn't watch where she was going. Hermione jerked and dropped all of her books. She bent to pick them up, but couldn't. Her feet were frozen in place. A feeling of dread creeping into her stomach, she slowly looks up, her fear confirmed. Hermione Granger has been caught under the mistletoe.

Frustration and humiliation are the first things she feels. Frustrated that she, Hermione, had been so distracted. By a BOY, nevertheless. She was also humiliated because she knew that no one would ever want to kiss her, even if it was simply to get her out from under that horrid plant. She pulls out the Marauder's Map that Harry had temporarily lent her for just this reason. Unfolding the flaps, she whips out her wand from her sleeve and says the words to bring the inky patterns to life, revealing all names of everyone at Hogwarts, even the foreign schools. Hermione scanned the pages quickly, and soon found who she was looking for. Harry was in the library two floors up, and Ron was in the dormitory. Sleeping, she presumed.

Fortunately and unfortunately for Hermione, Viktor Krum was still nearby, not even fifty feet from where they had previously been conversing. He must have heard her drop her books and paused to figure out what it was. She thought quickly. Class started in twenty-five minutes, no one else except for Krum was anywhere near her to help her get out of her situation. She hated the mistletoe more than anything else right now, even more than Malfoy the ferret. But if she wanted to get out of this, she would have to do it.

/\Krum/\

Viktor heard the girl's voice call to him from slightly farther away from where they had first officially met. Well, almost officially, he still didn't know her name. He turned back and trudged down the corridor, past the torch on the wall, and came around the corner to see her standing still with her books all over the place. Wordlessly, she points up to the little green sprig of mistletoe, her face red as a tomato.
"I can't move," she complains, "Dumbledore's mistletoe has a charm on it, and now I can't leave until some kisses me. So I guess I'm stuck here." Krum looked dumbstruck. She hadn't said it, but she didn't need to. He would have to kiss her.
"So...you need me to KISS you?" He says slowly. She had been avoiding eye contact, but now she looked him straight in the eye.
"Well i don't WANT it any more than you do, but unless Harry or Ron comes, which they won't, I'm stuck here, so, yes, I do need you to kiss me." She concludes, "But I don't think it has to be on the lips, so that's a little better," she adds as an afterthought.

Viktor had never kissed a girl before, never had a girlfriend. He knew about his fanclubs of course, but he didn't like them. They only liked him because he was a famous Quidditch player. It didn't matter that Bulgaria had lost. But this girl didn't seem to care. All she seemed to care about right now was "getting out from under that stupid plant." But he couldn't just walk away. So, he leaned in, eyes tight shut, and gently kissed her on the cheek. If possible, she blushed even redder than before, but this time a blush was also creeping up his neck and to his cheeks.

"Thank you," she says quietly, bending over to pick up her books again. He couldn't think of what to say, so he tried to lighten the mood.
"I did not think that ve vould be seeing each other QUITE so soon," He tried to joke.
She let out a half-hearted laugh.
"Me neither. You know, I don't think I've actually told you MY name yet. I'm Hermione," she says, shaking hands with Krum.
"Hermy-own?" He tries, but it's hard with such a heavy accent.
She smiles and tries again: "Her-my-own-nee."
"Her-mo-ninny."
"Close enough," she smiles once more, "Well, I guess I'll see you around then?"
"I hope so," Viktor replies.
"Well...goodbye, then."
"Goodbye."

When Hermione got back to the common room, she raced upstairs, dumped her books on the nightstand, and collapsed, shaking, onto her bed. Her heart raced and her cheeks burned as she replayed the scene in her head. It was all so fast, looking back on it. Again, she remembered his eyes from before. They dark, almost black so she could see her reflection in them. She tried not to think about it. To her, love was illogical. Especially since, in this case, she would never see Krum again after the tournament was over.

As Viktor Krum lay on his bunk back on the ship, he couldn't get Hermione out of his head. The part he remembered most about her was her shyness and her hair. It was big, bushy, and brown, and it suited her. He wanted to see her again before the tournament was over and not just on the day they would say goodbye. Pull it together, he told himself, the first task is only a week away. The Durmstrang Champion makes a not to himself: Ask Hermione Granger to the Yule Ball for Christmas. That is his last thought, and he quickly falls asleep, dreading the spell studying he's planned for tomorrow.