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What happened to Krum?

Ginny Potter looked out of the window. She saw a stone path leading from her bright red front door, through the steep garden, and carrying on down the emerald green hill. She did not however, see what she was looking for. Her husband, Harry, was late home from work, which was most unlike him. She sighed and turned back to the potatoes, trying not to worry about where he might be. If he didn't come soon, his tea would be ruined.

Half an hour later, Ginny felt that she could wait no longer for him to return. She put on the WWN and sat down at the granite breakfast bar. He wouldn't be long, she told herself, putting a piece of chicken in her mouth. It was perfectly cooked – but Harry's wouldn't be if he didn't hurry up.

Celestina Warbeck belted out her top note in "You charmed the heart right out of me". Ginny sighed again. It was Harry's favorite song – they usually danced to it when it was on.

"Oh, my poor heart, where has it gone/It's left me for a spell..."

Just then, to Ginny's great surprise and delight, the little door burst open and Harry ran inside, threw down his case and grabbed Ginny by the waist joining in cheerfully with Celestina.

"...And now you've torn it quite apart/I'll thank you to give back my heart!"

He twirled her round, lifting her up easily, so high that her head knocked against the cream ceiling.

"Sorry, darling." He said, putting her down gently as Celestina finished her song. She giggled.

"What kept you? Why are you so late?" She demanded

He rubbed his forehead, looking suddenly tired. "Oh, it's nothing. Just a little trouble at the Quidditch match."

Ginny looked at him suspiciously. "What kind of trouble?"

"Just...brawls, that sort of thing, you know? Only they had to get the Aurors in because it was getting a bit violent, and then we had to calm everybody down and get rid of them all and ..." His voice trailed off. Ginny was still not completely satisfied with this answer. To her, Quidditch brawls did not seem like the kind of job the head of Auror office should be doing, and even if he had, it was a poor excuse for being nearly 3 hours late home and completely tired out. Still, she was not about to press him when he seemed so fed up. She decided she would get the truth out of him tomorrow, when he felt better. For now, she settled with banging his plate down on the table and sitting on the sofa without a word, glaring at him now and again from behind the Daily Prophet.

Later that evening, all hard feelings had been forgotten. Harry and Ginny curled up together on the leather settee listening to the Weird Sisters on the WWN, talking about their days and their friends and the news. Suddenly, a loud popping sound disturbed their peaceful conversation. They stopped talking and listened, Harry turning off the WWN with a flick of his wand. They heard banging noises coming from outside. Harry jumped up and went to look out of the window.

"Is there anything there?" Ginny hissed

"I don't know – it's all dark!" Harry replied in a whisper

"HARRY!!" This was neither Ginny nor Harry himself, though they both looked at each other wildly when they heard it. It was in fact a very angry Hermione Granger-Weasley, who was standing at the door.

"WHERE IS HE?" She screamed

"Who? Wha-"

"DON'T PLAY INNOCENT WITH ME HARRY!"

"Hermione I-"

"TELL ME!"

"Stop it!" Ginny's voice cut through their argument, silencing them both, "Hermione, calm down and tell me what the hell you are on about."

Hermione sank into the window seat looking daggers at Harry. "Not told her either then?" She spat. Before Harry had a chance to retaliate she turned to Ginny and said "Ronald has gone missing. We went to the Quidditch match today and he got into a spot of trouble-"

"Spot of trouble?" Harry raised his eyebrows

"With Victor Krum" Hermione continued, glaring at Harry. "He ran off and when I got home there was a note saying that he was going away. Where is he?"

"Hermione, I honestly do not know. And I wouldn't call what Ron tried to do a 'spot of trouble', either."

"What do you mean? What did he try to do?" Hermione looked genuinely confused. Harry shook his head.

"Hermione, you were there, you must have seen him? He tried to kill Krum!"

Ginny gasped, her eyebrows shooting up to disappear behind her hair. Her dinner plate eyes were on Hermione, who looked like someone had smacked her hard on the back. She said nothing for am moment, staring at Harry in disbelief. Eventually she managed to splutter "Who told you that?"

"Victor Krum himself" Harry replied quietly, moving swiftly to sit in the seat next to her.

"Oh my God." She whispered, staring into space, "He didn't Harry, he wouldn't, he only smacked him for proposing to me he...he..." She trailed off and tears began streaming down her face. Ginny finally managed to move from the position she had frozen in, and questioned a different part of the discussion.

"Victor Krum proposed to you? But you're married! He knows that, he was there, wasn't he?" Hermione sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Yes" She sighed. Looking at Ginny's confused face, she broke into an explanation of the recent events, starting with the necklace and finishing with the Quidditch match. As soon as she reached Ron hitting Krum she stopped and began to sob uncontrollably on Harry's shoulder. Harry patted her awkwardly on the back, her wails echoing around the room.

That evening, Ron was astounded when three owls managed to find his hiding place. He was even more astounded when he realized that one of them was a very old and tired Pigwidgeon. The other two he did not recognise, but they both held letters addressed to him. Starting with Pig, he took the letters and sent the owls away. Looking down at the letters in his hand, he groaned reluctantly. He just had time to mutter "Muffliato!" under his breath before the top letter that had come from Pig began to shout in a shrill voice:

RONALD! Come home RIGHT NOW! You are being RIDICULOUS! Nobody believes the stupid rumours that are going round, and you are really overreacting!! I swear, if you do not come home IMMEDIATELY, I am going to hunt you down and KILL YOU MYSELF! SO GET YOUR ARSE HOME!!

The letter then burst into flames, the ashes scattering across the ground. Ron was stunned. Part of him wanted to laugh, the another wanted to burst into tears, because there was nothing he wanted to do more than go home and curl up in bed with Hermione, who really didn't have to sign that letter to let him know it was her. Suddenly, the part that wanted to laugh seemed to disappear, and tears began to roll down his face in streams.

Because he could have been sure that after all the shouting, there had been a small, inconspicuous "I love you" in that Howler.