The yule ball had been announced at dinner a few days earlier, even though the champions had a few days advanced notice, and everyone was scrambling for dates. Hermione was glad that she'd already been asked. Viktor hadn't wasted any time.

Harry and Ron had been discussing potential dates. Harry was interested in Cho Chang. She was the pretty seeker from Ravenclaw, and they had met a few times. She had even supported him from the beginning of the tournament.

Unfortunately, he hadn't managed to get her alone to ask her. He just hoped that he would have a chance before someone else asked her. She was very pretty, and somewhat popular.

Ron was having much less luck in selecting someone he deemed acceptable to go with. He managed to find a flaw in every girl that was suggested. Some were simply too tall, too short, or had some flaw that wasn't apparent.

Neville had just asked Hermione who she thought would be someone good to ask. She had immediately answered that he should ask Padma. She was sure that she would say yes, and they would have a good time together.

In the few days that Padma and Hermione had spent together, they had grown rather close. She really wanted Padma to have a good time at the ball.

"Hermione," Ron said, "you're a girl."

"Glad you noticed," she said. "I've been a girl for quite some time now. Since I was born." The annoyance in her voice didn't go unnoticed by Neville and Harry.

"So," Ron said. "You can go with one of us."

"No."

She scribbled notes down on her essay, trying to ignore the red head sitting across from her. He wasn't bad, just oblivious. And she really didn't want to go with him when she was just his friend and he hadn't found anyone better.

"Come on, Mione. We'll be the only three guys without dates."

"First, Neville has a date. Second, I can't. Someone already asked me." She folded up her work and stood up. "And I said yes."

She strode out of the great hall, and wound up walking into someone.

"I'm so sorry," she said.

"Is no problem," a low husky voice said.

Hermione looked up and found Viktor was the person she had bumped into. A smile grew on her face.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Is a good day, I think. Is always a good day vhen I valk into a beautiful vitch," he said.

She could feel the blush spreading up her cheeks. "I think it's a good day when I bump into a strong handsome wizard."

"So vhere are you going?"

"The library. Harry and Ron were driving me nuts with all their talking about the ball. And I really need to work on this transfiguration essay," she said.

"Vhy not go outside?" Viktor asked. "Is a nice day outside."

"Viktor. It's early December. It's fairly chilly. The frost hasn't melted."

They looked out at the frosted grounds. Some students had braved the cold, but most were huddled inside. Those that looked comfortable were the Durmstrang students.

"I forget. Is much colder at Durmstrang."

He looked a little sheepish at the idea of making Hermione cold.

"It's alright. If you want to wait, I can go get my scarf and cloak. I don't want to go outside without them," she said.

He seemed to have an idea because he pulled a scarf out of his bag, and wrapped it around her neck. "I haff an extra scarf. And you can use my cloak. Like I said, Durmstrang is much colder than Hogvarts."

She took the offered cloak, grateful for its fur as they walked out by the lake. Things were calm and peaceful, even if it was a tad cold. Hermione knew her cheeks were bright pink, but she was glad she could blame it on the temperature.

"So vhat is essay about?" Viktor asked.

"It's about transfiguring things from nothing. And banishing them. It's a hard process, and I know it's more advanced than the rest of my class. But I've been trying to keep myself occupied and challenged, and Professor McGonagall said that this would be a good way to do it," she rambled.

"Is a good thing," he said. "You need to advance in the subject as much as you can. Vhen you get bored, you get, vhat is vord? Not lazy."

"Complacent?"

"Sounds right. But it can lead to bad things happening." He looked at her with an intensity that caused her blush to deepen. "I don't vant anything bad to happen to you."

She looked down at the ground. "Then you know how I feel about you being in the tournament," she mumbled.

He gave a small chuckle at that. He hadn't considered how worried you could get. Even if he was fairly prepared for the second task.

"Let's vork and finish essay," he said. "Then ve can talk about big things like the tournament."

She smiled, pulled out a quill, and got to work. With Viktor's help, and no disruptions from the boys, she managed to pull together an essay that surpassed what she had set as her minimum requirement.

"How did you get to be so smart?" Viktor asked as he looked over her shoulder.

"I work really hard," she shrugged. "Speaking of which, would you mind helping me practice my Bulgarian? I've been working on it, but it's hard when you're not there to correct me."

They spent another hour working on pronunciation. Hermione even made progress and could say a few simple phrases. It wasn't quite enough to hold even the most basic of conversations, but it was a start. And by the time she started to shiver, in spite of the warm scarf and cloak, she was satisfied with her progress for the day.

She handed him his cloak and scarf back once they were once again in the warm interior of the castle. Hermione was grateful for heating charms, knowing that an edifice as large and as old as Hogwarts would be insanely difficult to install central heating in.

"Thank you. I had a wonderful afternoon."

"I also had a vonderful time." Viktor kissed her hand. "Until next time my darling."

"Until next time," she whispered.