El Camach 30 July 2009

JKR, not me

Ch. 7 of "The Library"

Chapter 7

"Oh no, he's back again, why can't he read on his stupid ship?" said Hermione irritably as Viktor Krum slouched in, cast a surly look over…at them, and settled himself in a distant corner with a pile of books. "Come on, Harry, we'll go back to the common room…his fan club'll be here in a moment, twittering away…"

And sure enough, as they left the library, a gang of girls tiptoed past them, one of them wearing a Bulgaria scarf tied around her waist.*

Hermione scowled as they passed the group of girls. Tarts… she thought. She brooded all the way back to the common room. Harry and Hermione stayed up late, poring over books. Exhausted, they departed into their respective dormitories. Even though her body ached, Hermione's mind was racing. She again thought about Krum's "fan club," but this time, it was with a smug smile on her face. Hermione stared up at the top of her four-poster, thinking about their last encounter in the library…

"Hermy-own, I haff a qvestion for you…" Krum said quietly.

Hermione's stomach did a somersault. She smiled, realising she had never heard him speak before.

"I–vot is it?" Krum looked puzzled when Hermione giggled lightly. His hands ceased in cupping her face, in favour of resting gently on her shoulders.

"Oh, hah, I was just thinking how I've never heard you speak before…" Hermione blushed, but Viktor's furrowed brow softened. "But I've interrupted you…you had a question for me?"

"Yes, I…vell… I vos thinking that maybe… you vould do me the honour of accompanying me to the Yule dance…"

Hermione's mouth fell open slightly. She hadn't expected that. Well, she thought, perhaps I should have, considering we've been snogging in the Astronomy section this whole time… Krum cleared his throat. Hermione realised she had not yet answered him.

"I—I would love to," Hermione said shakily, smiling.

*Please EXPLICITLY note! The paragraphs in bold are DIRECT QUOTES from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling, page 339. I am NOT plagiarising nor intending to dupe you into thinking her beautiful words are my own. I thought it would be a cute lead-in to this part of the story.

PS- I've realised I have a little inconsistancy in the story; at this point in GOF, just before the First Task, Harry and Ron are no longer talking. I didn't want to have to delete the fun stuff in the previous chapters, so, for the sake of this fic, I intend to assume that this all occured just AFTER the First Task.