Hermione stared at the high beams of her ceiling. She had never paid much attention to them, but now she couldn't help but look. She was stalling. It wasn't something that she did very often. She got what she wanted for and right now she knew she had to go out and get it again.

As she lay on her back she noticed a small black spider lazily unfurling a silver thread. She had never been fond of spiders. She took her wand and muttered an incantation under her breath.

"Where did it go," she began to wonder. She laughed when she thought of them all going to Ron's room. She could picture it."Hermione, there-there's, a, a, spider." In the past few days, she hadn't laughed much. Not with all that had happened. "Poor Cedric,"she sighed. She barely knew him. They had probably only said two or tree sentences to each other or exchanged one or two glances for as long as they knew each other. She knew it was wrong to pity him.

"He doesn't deserve pity, he deserves to be respected. He died a noble death."

"Yeah, if by noble you mean like how you killed that spider," said a small, evil voice in Hermione's head. She shook her head, almost trying to shake the voice out. That voice had been a thorn in her side for the last week, and it wasn't going to get the best of her. She rolled out of bed, throwing on a lavender sweater. She patted her ever-frizzy ever bush like hair and sighed."This is certainly a losing battle," she said to her reflection.

Hermione took the back pathway to the great hall. She didn't feel like speaking to anyone. Anyone but him at least. She didn't want to lose her nerve, she didn't know how she found it in the first place.

Finally she was outside. She hoped that she would feel better, she didn't. She saw Hagrid tending to Madam Maxime's horses. She looked at the lake. It was serene and quiet. The only thing that broke the surface was the giant squid propelling itself across the lake, leaving a trail of bubbles. Besides the squid a ship stood gleaming in the water. Although at first glance it looked skeletal, it wasn't. It was ornate and as far as Hermione knew, beautiful. The more she though about it the more she wanted to throw up.

"No time like the present," a soft voice said to her. It was Padma Patil, a girl in Hermione's Year. Hermione wondered how Padma could have know. She kept most matters to herself. She told Ron and Harry some things, but boys were a bit beyond their realm of understanding. Realizing Padma was right she walked to the ship. Hermione didn't see any way to get on it. Self-levitation was a bit advanced, even for her. She turned to run away when she heard a gruff voice.

"Vot are you doing here."

Hermione say that it was Alexei, one of Viktor's friends.

"Um...I was wondering where Viktor was. I needed to talk to him and well, it's not that important. Never mind, I'll find him later, maybe mail him an owl, or something."

She was rambling. She never rambled and now she was. She thought Alexei might kill her when he spoke.

"Komm vit me."

Hermione followed him. She was a little apprehensive and a whole lot more scared.

"Maybe if Alexei wasn't so damn dramatic,"she thought to herself,"wait I can't go on the boat."

"Vhy not."

"Isn't it illegal?"

"Karfoff's gone, it doesn't matter."

Alexei led Hermione to a stump where he tapped it three times while speaking a Slavic language. A thin gang-way slowly rose up under the water. The boat was obviously enchanted. They walked across the gang-way and into the heart of the ship. I was much larger than it looked from the outside. Hermione noticed how sparsely it was furnished. They wove through a series of halls and passages till Alexei stopped.

"This is Viktor's room."

"Thank-you for bringing me here,"she said to him. He curtly nodded and left her alone in the middle of the hallway. She felt like she was going to throw up. She looked at the heavy oak door wanting to run away. Or find a bathroom. She wasn't going to let anyone see her throw up. Slowly she rapped her knuckles on the door.

"Hang on a minute", Viktor said. He opened the door surprised to see her there.

"Herm-own-ninny, vat are you doing here. How did you get here," he said groggily.

"I woke you, didn't I. Um...Alexei helped me. I wanted to talk to you, but you're busy and I'll come back later." She was rambling again.

"Do you vant to go outside?"

"Yes. Please."

Viktor grabbed a nearby jacket and Hermione's arm as he led her through a different set of staircases, halls, and passage-ways. It seemed like an eternity to Hermione, but finally they got outside.

"Vat did you vant to tell me."

"Just that, well I wanted to tell you, that um...I know you have feelings for me. I like you as a friend. We've had a lot of good times together. Good friend times. I don't want to ruin our friendship or any other for that matter because of anything."

She was staring at the ground, convinced she would start to cry if she say Viktor's reactions to her harsh words.

"Oh god. I just need to tell you that this can't happen. Us. We can't happen. For a lot of reasons."

"Vat reasons?"

"You're older than me. You live thousands of miles away. You are constantly moving around with quidditch."

"So vat?"

"I have my studies. They're important to me. I need to excel. You'd just be a distraction."

Hermione regretted saying that Viktor was a distraction. It was true, but he was a good distraction. Sure she had Ron and Harry, but she seriously thought that if they had to chose between a Veela and Hermione, that they'd choose the Veela.

"Is that vat I am, a distraction?" Viktor was looking seriously disturbed.

"I'm just not good enough for you am I?" Viktor was using his height to his advantage looming over Hermione.

"No. I'm not good enough for you." She was ready to use any kind of response just to make him understand.

"There are more important things in life than studying, Hermione."

"Viktor, please. We can still be friends. We could write to each other. It's fun to get owls." She was trying to raise his spirits.

Viktor looked downtrodden. "Sure, we could write each other. It might help improve my English."

Hermione looked at his face. She could see that he was heart-broken. She never thought she would ever be capable of breaking someone's heart. She hugged Viktor. It was the least she could do.

"Say bye to me before you leave tomorrow?"

"Vat ever you vant."

Viktor stalked off back to the boat. Hermione gazed at the sky crisp and clear. She began to make her way back to the castle when she realized, that someone really had loved her, for just being herself.