Hermione could see pure joy and surprise in the eyes of the man before her. She could see the reminiscing look on his face and the awkward smile he had tried to put on for her all those years ago. She noticed a bit of his hair was covering his eyes and felt a desperate need to get it out of the way to see his deep eyes, but she restrained herself. She hadn't met him in ages and wasn't even close to him anymore, obviously he would find that action uncomfortable.
"Surprise to see you Hermi-own!" Viktor said after a long moment of happy silence. "I vasn't expecting... You be here!"
"Same with you!" Hermione said, forgetting about the shopping bag that was on the sandy ground. Hermione completely ignored the embarrassed look on Viktor's face, due to the fact that his English was a bit rusty, he probably hadn't spoken English since last talking to her back in her fourth year. "It's such a surprise to see you here. I mean, out of the billions of places on Earth, I meet you in Ibiza! That is like one out of all of the millions of stars in the world chance! I really didn't expect to see you here! It's been ages since I've last seen you! Merlin..."
The hype suddenly died down and the two just stared at each other, as if catching up with one another through looking into each others eyes, just watching. A small breeze went brushed past Hermione's skin, gently and smoothly as if scared of hurting her. It was a strange yet nice feeling. Hermione saw the lights of the dancing night life of Ibiza flicker in Viktor's eyes.
"Hi," Viktor said.
"Hi," Hermione said.
Viktor smiled softly. "Strange how all of a sudden, ve not so much talk to each other. Maybe this silence good?"
Hermione didn't know what to say to Viktor. She just looked at him with words full in her mouth but unable to speak. They were there but not spilling out of her like she normally would have when meeting a someone she hadn't met in a long time. What in Merlin's name was wrong with her?
"You haffent vritten in long time." He said emotionlessly.
Hermione flushed embarrassed and apologetically. She had written to him up until the point of the war. During the war, she had completely forgot about him because of all of the drama that had surrounded Harry, Ron, and herself. She gave Viktor a weak smile and sighed at the amount of hurt he must have felt when she had stopped writing to him.
"I'm so sorry, Viktor," Hermione said. "It's just that during the war... Everything was so rushed and confusing I didn't have time to do anything for myself. I had to look after Harry and protect him- Not to mention Ron."
Hermione's mind flickered with images of Lavender and Ron as soon as she rolled the 'R' word out of her mouth. She shook it off and held back some tears and looked at Viktor.
"And I assume that affter var forgot too?" He said.
Hermione suddenly felt angry with Viktor. An unknown emotion crawled out of her chest and found itself in her mind. "You didn't write to me either though! Don't put all of the blame on me!" she said, rather hotly. "You men are all the same! Always blaming others! Why does everyone expect me to do everything?!"
Viktor blinked at her. "I... I thinking you maybe forgot me so I don't vrite to you," he said. "I haff Quidditch anyvay so vas busy."
Hermione suddenly felt ashamed with her sudden outburst and wished that she could be millions of miles away from Viktor. He had only just met her and one of the first few things she did to him after not seeing each other for ages was yell at him. She wished that she could take her actions back. "I'm sorry about that," Hermione muttered quickly. "I- I shouldn't have responded in such a way... I mean our meeting.. You were busy as was I. We couldn't write to each other because of that... Um yeah."
He smiled at her again. It looked like he had finally mastered smiling naturally without the awkwardness. "I haff to admit, I missed your random temper, Miss Granger," he said.
Hermione genuinely laughed. "My random temper?" She laughed. "I see you have mastered your smile Mr. Krum? Been practicing?"
He shrugged then bent down to pick something up. "Your shopping. Maybe forget no?"
Hermione reached out to get her shopping but he didn't hand it over to her. She raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"I vill hold" he said. "Are you alone here? Vhere is friends?"
After the mention of friends, Hermione suddenly remembered that she had been on her way back to the cruise ship. "They're off clubbing," she said. "You know how night is like here... Wild. Crazy. Instead of exacerbating the situation, why don't you hand me over my shopping or receive a hex from my wand?"
"Is threat Ms. Granger?" Viktor asked, faking his shock with forced wide eyes.
Hermione soon realised that he wasn't going to return her shopping. She rolled her eyes.
"Vhy not vith friends?" Viktor asked. "Alone at night no safe for pretty young lady like you."
Hermione blushed, wondering why on Earth he was calling her pretty, he needed to get his eyes checked. "I wanted to get back to the cruise ship I'm staying on. We're leaving in a couple of hours..."
"You stay on Lost Lady?" Viktor asked her.
Hermione nodded. "In fact I am. Why?"
Viktor smiled. "I am about to check in there today! Ve go there together if vant. Safer for you too."
Hermione laughed. "If you haven't forgotten Viktor, I have a wand. I can protect myself. Even Harry doesn't think I can protect myself... I've protected myself from Death Eaters for Merlin's sake!"
Viktor suddenly held a sad and pensive look. He didn't seem to happy when she mentioned Death Eater. It was then she remembered that his father had been one and had been killed during the war. On the news, it had said that Viktor's mother had committed suicide after that for some unconfirmed reason. The war had left Viktor with no family. He was all alone.
"Oh Merlin," Hermione said, putting a hand to his shoulder. "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to..."
The look on his face told her to keep a zip on it. He started to make his way towards a small pathway that Hermione was sure was going to lead to the ship, she followed closely beside him.
The waves went to and fro, splashing gently against the sand of the beach. A gentle yet funereal kind of music was made out of the soft splashing. Viktor kicked at a stone in front of him and Hermione heard it stop when it hit a palm tree nearby.
"You haff boyfriend, Hermi-own?" Viktor suddenly asked.
"What?!" Hermione hadn't expected him to ask her that.
"You haff boyfriend? Hermio-ninny?"
"No." she replied simply. "Do you? Apparently she's some beauty from Italy?"
"No." he said. "She my good friend's girl. You vill see them on ship I am thinking. They there already. You maybe vant meet them?"
"Sure."
Hermione soon saw the huge luxurious ship in front of her, it's lights escaping it through the large circular and rectangular windows. She noticed how it caught Viktor's eyes, making them shine somehow. She saw dark shadows on his arms through the light, showing how muscular he was. She blushed.
"You seeing something?" he asked.
"Nothing." She blushed even more.
After getting their passport cards signed in, the two entered the ship and made their way up onto the deck. Hermione suddenly found herself remembering the event from yesterday. Proposal. She shoved the thought to a side and grabbed the shopping bag from Viktor, surprising him.
"Are okay?" he asked her. "You look sad."
"Huh?" Hermione mumbled, fumbling with her tank top with one hand. "Nothing."
Silence found its way back and the two of them just stood there silently. The only noises made were the waves splashing against the ship and the music and talking coming from the lower and upper levels of the ship. A little a head of them, there were children laughing and playing. Hermione suddenly found herself wishing to be a child again, young and innocent, she wouldn't have to worry so much about her life then.
A moment later, Hermione found herself walking alone side Viktor, down the plank flooring of the deck. Above their heads, darkness covered the sky. Even with the darkness, there was some kind of happy feeling in the air. Hermione decided that it was the feeling of finding and being with a long lost friend. To be honest, she had missed Viktor's presence.
"Hermi-own," Viktor suddenly said, breaking the silence. "You sleepy? Eyes no so good. Maybe go to sleep?"
Hermione blinked. "I'm not sleepy."
"Dark circles say you are vrong," He replied. "Go to bed? I vill like to see you tomorrow again. You say you vant to see my friends? Pretty Italy girl?"
"Right." Hermione said. She couldn't remember the last time she couldn't find the right words to say.
"Good night then Ms. Granger," Viktor said. "I vill valking you to room. Tomorrow vill be a new day."