Five minutes later Hermione was knocking on the door of the Beauxbatons carriage. It had taken surprisingly long to get across the grounds. It was hard enough to walk in heels and the butterbeer churning inside her was not helping anything.

"Um, Fleur? Are you in there?" she asked tentatively. She didn't know how big the inside of the carriage was, or if Fleur was far inside it.

Silence.

"Fleur?!" she said a bit louder, knocking again.

Still silence. Hermione sighed and stepped back from the carriage, turning to look back at the lit up gardens in front of the castle.

"'Who is it that you haf' been looking for?"

Hermione's heart nearly stopped beating and she turned quickly to see a dark figure emerging from the shadows.

"Uh, just... just my friend." she said, looking at him up and down. He looked familiar...

"Fleur? The Beauxbatons champion? I see. So you are..rooting for her?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Well, does it matter?" she said, starting to wonder if maybe she should just turn back to the ball and look for Ginny. She could apologize to Fleur some other time.

"Well, it would alvays' help to haf' pretty girls like yourself on my side." he said, stepping into the light so Hermione could see him more clearly.

"Oh! You're Viktor Krum!" she exclaimed loudly, coming to the realization. She quickly blushed and looked away.

"Correct," he said smugly, smiling at the blush creeping up on her cheeks. "But you haf' yet to tell me your name."

She looked up into his sparkling eyes. He was eyeing her with interest and waiting for her answer.

"It's...It's Hermione." she said, starting to feel a little dizzy from his presence. Just standing there all smug and charming was making her feel somewhat sick. That and the added anxiety of knowing that Fleur was mere feet away in the carriage, probably pissed off at all the immature drama that had went down between Hermione and Cho. The whole night had been about Cho. It was the goddamn "Hermione and Cho" show. Fleur had become a supporting cast member.

"L-Look, Viktor," she said as he stepped towards her. "It was nice meeting you, but I really have to-"

"Shh," he said, putting an unwelcome finger on her lips. "Less talk. Let me take you back to the Durmstrang ship, and-"

"Viktor!" Hermione said, stepping back and pulling her face away from his outstretched hand. "I hardly know you."

His features suddenly became very harsh as his eyes narrowed.

"And you are telling me you know this Fleur girl for more than one night?!" he said, angrily.

"Th-That's none of your business, I'm afraid." she said, glaring at him. Who the hell did he think he was?

Viktor stood there glaring back at her furiously.

"Fine." he said, turning and marching away off into the grounds.

Hermione sighed a breath of relief. Finally. Now she could get back to the real issue here.

"Fleur?!" she called again, knocking on the door. Still no answer.

"FLEUR!" she yelled, losing patience and banging on the door. "Just open up, dammit! Fuck!"

The door swung open.

"'ermione, you must not shout curses like zat'. You will get us both in trouble."

Hermione, so full of shock at the fact that Fleur had finally opened the door, was speechless.

"What do you want anyway, 'ermione?" Fleur said, folding her arms and getting an uncharacteristically dark look on her face.

"I...," she started, unsure of what to say. The actual sight of Fleur herself had driven almost everything out of her mind. "I wanted to apologize."

Fleur sighed.

"Well, come in zen', I guess. And by the way, I could hear your voices outside. I see you've met my ex-boyfriend, Viktor Krum."