Chapter 48: Fishing With Centaurs
Hermione opened her eyes slowly, smelling her Master's comforting scent and relaxed. Even more slowly, the scent of the musk of horse mixed in with other distinctive scents.
A soft whicker greeted her, and Trefoil stroked her arm gently, smiling at her.
"Oh," Hermione said softly. "Hi."
The filly smiled at her, stroking her hair gently with her hands.
Hermione stretched slowly, wincing slightly as her ribs complained that while they were at least mended together, they were not "happy" with her by any stretch of the imagination. "Why am I always being crushed half to death?" Hermione moaned. "Why couldn't someone just throw a hex at me, so I could use one of the three hundred counter hexes I know?"
Trefoil whickered softly at her, smiling.
"I'm happy to be here too," Hermione said with a smile. She reached out instinctively to her Master, sending him a sleepy greeting and a heartfelt thanks.
Severus' warm reply was wordless, but it was as tangible as a hug, and she smiled in relief. She picked up Severus' robe and folded it neatly, shrinking it and stashing it in her robe for safe keeping. She inspected her wand, and to her relief, it was not damaged in the way her ribs had experienced.
She tried, unsuccessfully, to remember what had happened in between being used as a stress ball by a giant and having her ribs broken and her lungs collapsed. Sadly, her memory was not being very helpful save for the memories of pain.
Little Vik chirped cutely from her shoulder and she patted the little hippogriff affectionately.
"Good morning," Firenze greeted her as he walked into the camp, carrying bundles of wood. He heaved them off his back and onto the pile nearby, pausing to throw a few pieces onto the fire.
"Good morning," Hermione greeted with a slight nod. "I hope I didn't cause too much drama."
"You? Nothing we could not handle, Hermione," Firenze said with a chuckle. "I am glad to see you recovering quickly after the Owl Master's tending."
Hermione smiled. "He left his robe here. It must have been late."
Firenze snorted. "He knew if you woke without his scent nearby in a strange place after what you had been through, it would take you far more minutes to calm you back down than if he just left something of his near as you slept."
Hermione blushed. "Am I that transparent?"
The centaur chuckled. "To those that know the ways of scents and herd and pack, you are an easier study."
Hermione grinned.
Firenze handed her a dried piece of jerky. "Hungry, I would imagine."
Hermione took the jerky gratefully, tearing into it with enthusiasm. She broke off a little of it when she saw the filly staring at her, sharing her spoils.
"Hey now, Trefoil," Firenze scolded. "That was for Hermione." He reared up on his hind legs playfully, swinging out his front legs to shoo the filly off to find her dam.
The filly squealed and bucked, trotting away just out of reach of Firenze's hooves.
"Hrmph," Firenze commented, handing Hermione another piece of jerky.
Hermione took the second piece gratefully. "Thank you."
"Never a problem," he replied. "It is because of you and your family that we have more reserves than ever we have had, even now, coming out of winter."
"I'm glad your stocks have served you well," Hermione admitted. "But I think Viktor has been wanting us to hunt you up another tuna from the sea."
Firenze laughed. "We would not complain for such exotic foods," he chuckled. "The foals are so spoiled this year. Those that cannot eat solid food enjoy rich milk from their dams. Those that can eat solid food are enjoying such a variety of foods."
"Where are the others this morning?" Hermione asked curiously.
"After you injury, Magorian wished to move the camp again, in the case the giant wanders again," Firenze explained. "A few of us will stay in this camp a few days to make it seem lived in."
Hermione nodded. "I'm surprised Chara did not take Trefoil with her earlier."
Firenze laughed. "Trefoil, like her name, is stuck on you. Chara knew she would not leave you, so it was safe to leave her with you until you woke. Once I saw you were awake however, I drove the miscreant back to her dam."
Hermione giggled.
"It seems your sleep amongst the herd has done you well, young Hermione," Firenze said with a smile. "It is good you are as comfortable under the stars as a centaur."
Hermione stretched, testing her limbs. "I feel amazingly well, considering," she admitted.
"The planets did not wish your death," he said simply as it was all that mattered. "In the meantime, we can only provide you scintillating conversation and amicable company."
"I will try to be worthy of such amicable company," Hermione replied with a wink.
Firenze grinned at her. "Your Ministry would shrink our territory down to nothing if it had its way or group us with like of vampires or hags. It is a pity that they cannot converse with us as one sentient being to another."
"I'm not very proud of our Ministry at the moment, Firenze," Hermione confessed. "They would have my head, if it were not so firmly attached to my neck."
"I do not think I am alone in saying that all of us would prefer your head to remain firmly attached, young Hermione," Firenze said with a smile. "It is good we finally have allies we can rely on. Magorian and Bane have never been so at ease, and that is saying something. Our foals are being raised in tolerance, and now there is no shame in carrying an ally upon one's back."
"I'm glad things are looking better for you," Hermione replied. "I will admit I knew very little of your culture until this last year. Sadly, only the what I could read in book."
"Books written by humans, I am willing to bet," Firenze said with a snort.
"Alas," Hermione said with a sad shake of her head.
"It is not so difficult to see why," Firenze admitted. "We are a secretive people. Too many betrayals by humans throughout history have tainted our relationships."
Hermione looked sad.
"Do not be sad, Hermione," Firenze soothed. "The herd is stronger with you and your family than ever they were before. What we have now is worth the suffering we may have had in the past."
"Come," Firenze said, kneeling down on his front legs. "I will take you to the new camp. You may be healing, but I would rather not be the one that has to explain to Magorian and Bane that I let our honored ally walk her injured self to our new camp just after she was nearly crushed to death."
Hermione make a choking laugh and slowly and carefully climbed onto Firenze's back.
He lifted himself up carefully, tested to make sure her arms were around his waist, and took off into a smooth walk deeper into the Dark Forest.
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The sound of an apparate resonated in the clearing, and the Sons of Durmstrang appeared with scowls on their faces until they saw Hermione leaning up against Trefoil. Hermione looked up from the book she was reading to the young filly and smiled at her brothers with genuine warmth.
Each of her brothers had baskets in their arms. Viktor set his down beside Hermione as he careful enfolded her. His hand touched her cheek as he looked into her eyes as if checking for her story written upon her retinas.
Each of the Sky Brothers set down their baskets by the fire. Each was filled with all manner of game animals and raw materials the centaurs would find useful. The young centaurs of the group hurried up to greet them, touching them, petting their hair and arms, and reinforcing their places as allies amongst the herd.
"You okay?" Viktor asked, pulling Hermione to his chest very gently. Hermione burrowed into Viktor with relief, taking in his familiar musk of the sea and simurgh.
"They've taken good care of me," Hermione said.
"Trefoil has been an excellent chaperon."
The young filly grinned at Viktor, touching his arm and stroking it reassuringly. Viktor smiled back at her, gently stroking her hair in response to her ministrations.
"Draco is ready to sink fangs into certain giant," Viktor said softly. "I am willing to assist. He say perfect time to run experiment on how lethal his venom is."
"As are we, sestrá," her brothers chimed together. "We figure start by setting giant on fire. Work our way to breaking all of bones."
Hermione grasped Viktor's hand and squeezed it. "I love you guys, but I'm fine," she insisted, knowing that they would need to hear that often and confirm it just as often to prevent them from doing some unspeakable things to right the wrong against their sister. "My time here with the herd has really helped me heal faster."
Polite stares of disbelief bombarded her as each of her brothers took her hands and looked into her face, much as Viktor had done, drew her against them as they pressed their face into her neck and inhaled, then released her.
"Draco says to tell you 'would never forgive you if you died on him,'" Petya said.
Hermione chuckled. "I'm fine. I really am."
"Many things would do to one who hurt you," Viktor said darkly, his black eyes took on the qualities of a black hole, sucking in light and giving none. It was a characteristic Hermione was well versed in, having stared into her father's fathomless eyes on a daily basis.
Hermione touched Viktor's hair and threaded her fingers into it. She knew what he was feeling. It was the same one she had every time her brothers had to "talk her down" from her fighting gryphon rage. The rage demanded of her very simple, yet drastic things. Protect. Defend. Guard. Destroy those that threaten loved ones. Merciless rage. Protect at all costs. Oh yes, she could definitely identify that train of thought all too well.
Hermione pulled Viktor and her brothers close to her, rubbing herself upon him, reinforcing her scent upon his clothes and his skin. Just like the hundreds of small touches the centaur herd shared amongst their members, she reinforced their bonds with touch and scent combined. She had long since left behind how strange it had all seemed to her that she was so close to her adopted family, but if her stay amongst the herd of centaurs during her recovery taught her anything, it was that touch and scent of a loved one was perhaps the greatest gift to be given or received. All she had to do is look on the adoring eyes of Trefoil and as she kept a part of her touching Hermione at all time to see how powerful touch was.
Lazar looked at Trefoil, clinging to Hermione like the burr of her namesake. "I think we go fishing. Perhaps urchin wish to join us."
Trefoil's eyes widened and tensed with excitement as Viktor helped Hermione up from her seat amongst the furs.
Lazar bowed to Magorian as Trefoil ran excited circles around him. "If permission give, Magorian. Would take young one to fish with us."
The elder centaur has an amused expression on his face as he watched Trefoil's excited prancing around his feet. "I do not know, Lazar. She doesn't even have a fishing pole yet."
Trefoil gave her elder a long-suffering look and plead, pinning her ears back for emphasis.
"One condition," Magorian said.
Lazar bowed, "Whatever you wish."
Magorian smirked. "Take the other colts and fillies and teach them as well. It is about time they learned how to bring food to our fires."
Lazar grinned with his charming smile that Hermione swore would have beaten the pants off of anything Gilderoy Lockhart could have dished out. "It shall be done."
There was a swirl of excitement in the centaur camp as all the young colts and fillies gathered together.
Viktor went down onto all fours to allow Hermione to ride him down to the lake they had scouted out previously.
The shore was bustling with activity as they group broke out in teams. Valko was teaching a group of them how to make moveable fishing platforms that he customized to work with those with four legs instead of two. After a few dunkings of Viktor to test the buoyancy, the group set to work making them… but not until after Viktor leapt out of the water in simurgh form, latching onto Valko's collar, and dragged him under water for dunking him so many times.
Giggling and chortling centaur youth set to work making platforms to stand on as one water-logged simurgh padded out of the lake water and shook himself off.
Petya taught them how to make their own fishing poles out of the lake reeds. He pointed out the thing and flexible reeds that made the best fishing poles, warning them to stay away from the tempting looking more substantial reeds that would not yield the way fishing required. He taught them how to make an almost invisible line woven out of spider silk, and how to reinforce the end of the line to guard against the teeth of a pike, whose notorious line breaking ability was renown to any who had ever fished the lochs of Scotland.
Lazar taught them how to find the best spots in the lake to cast, pointing out where fish liked to hide in the reeds and vegetation. He warned them where not to cast, lest they lose their bait to logs and trees.
Hermione sat on the shore without a pole, not wishing to aggravate her wounds, but she crafted a pile of lifelike looking fish for bait. Viktor charmed each one to move like a real fish would do, and Aleksander attached the hooks to each one.
There was an excessive amount of giggling as each young centaur tried to attach their wriggling bait "fish" to their lines, as some of the fish flopped around on the shore as if to get back into the water and swim away like their real life inspirations.
Once all the bait fish were hooked properly, Aleksander set up a camp and fire, tending the logs to make the best cooking coals while the centaurs tried their hand at casting into the water from the shore and from their homemade fishing platforms.
Trefoil, ever the instigator, managed to drag Hermione out onto one of the floating platforms. With fishing pole and basket in hand, Trefoil tucked herself around Hermione, settled on the platform, and cast into the water. Hermione, feeling a bit bushwacked, pulled out her reading book and leaned up against Trefoils warm side as the young centaur fished away.
Puddles managed to snag himself a gargantuan pike that practically tugged him and his platform to the middle of the lake before the young centaur managed to pull the trashing fish up and into the collection basket. The young colt stared forlornly back to shore from the middle of the lake, unsure how to get back to the camp from where he was.
Viktor, laughing heartily, grabbed a rope and took to the air, flying out to the middle of the lake and casting the rope down.
Puddles grabbed the rope and Viktor made enormous flaps of his wings and took off towards shore, pulling the excited colt and his hard-won spoils to the shore.
When Viktor landed on the shore and Puddles dragged his catch to Aleksander to prepare, more young centaurs surrounded Viktor, touching his back, stroking his fur, and begging shamelessly for the same gift their herd mate had been given—a thrilling ride across the lake like none of them had ever seen before that day.
Hermione laughed as one by one, Viktor flew by, pulling a handful of giggling centaur youths across the lake. Trefoil seemed irritated that they kept putting ripples in her fishing water, but Hermione patted her reassuringly as she pointed to the full fishing basket, reassuring her that what they had would be fine, even if she couldn't catch any more.
By the time afternoon was starting to set into evening, the adult centaurs were walking down from the camp to assess the results of the fishing expedition. Baskets and baskets of various fish from the larger pike, a random eel or two, hundreds of the smaller perch, rudds, a few tenches, a strangely large quantity of bream. And just as they were all coming back in towards the shore, Trefoil snagged herself a pike that practically pulled their entire platform to the shore for them before they managed to pull it up out of the water.
Trefoil was beaming with pride as she dragged the pike, bait, line, pole, and all further onto shore as Hermione dragged her filled basket up with her. Chara greeted her filly with pride, hugging and petting her daughter on the head as Trefoil ran circles around her dam in her excitement.
"I feel I should thank you," Bane mused as he stood still for Lazar to heave twin baskets over Bane's back to carry some of the spoils back to the camp.
"Whatever for?" Lazar asked as he tightened the girth around Bane's body.
"Herd has not been so relaxed to have foals away since Giant attacked Chara," he said. "Is good… for morale."
Lazar nodded with understanding. "Was an honor to teach young ones the lake."
Aleksander laughed from the shore. He had lashed the gargantuan cooked pike between the backs of two of the colts, and now they pair was attempting to walk back up the trail in tandem without bumping into things. Bane let out a barking laugh and put himself into a canter back up the hill towards the camp ahead of them.
Hermione helped strap Trefoil's spoils onto her mother's back as well as the filly's. She insisted on being able to carry her pike back to camp on her own back, and her mother gave Hermione an amused nod of approval. All strapped securely, Trefoil trotted up the hill towards the camp with her dam following behind.
The rest of the young centaurs cantered up the hill, carrying both equipment and baskets of fish, whickering and neighing with their excitement.
As the birds took to the air to head back towards the camp, Hermione grapped her arms around the soft fur of her simurgh suitor, pressing her head into his fur to take in his scent and comfort. Viktor rumbled as he began to walk towards the camp himself, content to be carrying his witch wherever it was she wished to go.
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Draco sat on the limb of the high oak tree he had chosen to perch in. He had his arm curved around his broom as he scowled down below him with the sneering expression he normally saved for his pure-blood supremacy mask.
Raw anger flashed in his eyes. Below him as the giant that had almost crushed his sister to death… twice. Twice the giant had been guilty of something he could not forgive or forget, and twice the giant had been allowed to escape due to the priorities shifting to helping the wounded over justice over the one doing the wounding.
For days he had been watching Hagrid sneak into the forest and try to "tame" and "educate" his half-brother, and each time he would leave the area beaten and bloody. Draco had privately enjoyed every pain Hagrid was going through, believing in his heart that Hagrid deserved everything the giant dished out to his brother. However, the giants actions against Hermione and their allies had to be rectified.
Draco had, admittedly, been Hermione's personal Inland Taipan choker for the last few days after her incident in the forest and the days leading up until the Easter Break, refusing to leave her neck, even when she went to bed, though he did at least yield in his stubbornness when his sister needed to take a shower or use the restroom. He found he didn't mind being drooled on as she slept as long as he knew she was safe. He couldn't really fault the Sky Brothers for wanting to stay by her side knowing that he did exactly the same thing in his own way.
But for now, Draco had taken it upon himself to watch the giant monstrosity that Hagrid had dragged into the Dark Forest like all the other experiments of various degrees of success. After all, there was an entire colony of acromantulas in the Dark Forest because of Hagrid. There was a rampaging three-headed dog named Fluffy that Hagrid had "released to freedom"… in the Dark Forest. The thestrals lived in the Dark Forest. The hippogriff paddocks were… in the Dark Forest. There were wolves in the woods, he knew, as well as confirmed sightings of blood-sucking bugbears, bowtruckles, and even a surviving blast-ended skrewt that had somehow survived the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. Not to mention there were also trolls that lived in the woods, even though most of those were mostly driven from any of the centaur's territories due to their regular and merciless patrols. The oddest thing of all was the occasional sighting of a strangely battered blue Ford Anglia car, that seemed to have "gone wild" in the woods. Draco was pretty sure the car wasn't Hagrid's fault after the Prophet's stories about the Weasley family illegally enchanting their family car to fly, but he was willing to group it all together in damnation against Hagrid anyway.
It has been an hour and it seemed that Grawp had finally settled on the ground to sleep, which was probably the only safe state Grawp had, unless you were unfortunately to be rolled over on.
Draco ran his hand through his hair as an irritated sneer crossed his face. He had to return to the school before he was missed thanks to his being a member of the Inquisitorial Squad. Maybe there would be some way to lure Umbridge into the woods to meet "harmless" Grawp. Wouldn't that be… satisfying.
Draco threw his leg over his broom and took to the air, heading back towards Hogwarts.
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Hermione looked up from the counter as she finished sorting the reagent jars at the store. Petya was hanging half off a ladder as he adjusted the sign for the store. They had finally decided on a permanent name for the store instead of changing it each month, finally agreeing upon "The Aerie."
Viktor eyed Petya's hanging of the ladder with wry amusement. "You have wand, brother. Why are you hanging off ladder like monkey?"
Petya made random monkey sounds as he set the name sign in place, causing Viktor to facepalm quite loudly.
There was a loud clang of a frying pan hitting someone. "Get out of my kitchen, waterbird!" Aleksander's voice yelled from the back. "I tell you when food is ready."
Lazar slunk out of the back room with a grin on his face, half of a piece of bacon dangling from his mouth.
Hermione snickered. Some people would do anything for a chocolate frog, but Lazar would do just about anything for a fresh piece of bacon right out of the frying pan, preferably stolen right out from under Aleksander's watchful eye.
"Out! BANDIT!" Aleksander yelled.
Valko slunk out a moment later, with a muffin clenched between his teeth, and Hermione busted up laughing at her brothers' combined antics.
Whatever it was that Aleksander was cooking, it smelled divine, and Hermione sympathized with her brother's desire to raid the kitchen before Aleksander was done. He was a stunning cook, about as far into expert as Petya was the opposite direction when it came to food preparation. The only exception was smoking.
Petya could smoke a fish, shank, or a hide like nobody's business. His ability to tan a hide in forty-two shades of sienna was practically famous, and he managed to rustle up business from that alone in both the Wizarding and the Muggle world. His smoked meats lured quite a bit of business to the store for that alone.
Valko was the master of spice mixtures. He could mix different types of salt and spices that were perfect from everything from soup, to jerking meat, roasts, wild game, domestic fare, and everything in between. Even Molly Weasley had come to the store and purchased a few packages of Valko's "Seasoning for a Rainy Day," which she claimed did heavenly things to a beef roast.
Lazar, on the other hand, was the man you went to see when you wanted to see a man about wild-harvested wine. Have a hankering for dandelion wine or perhaps a nice black cherry wine? Lazar was your man. Whether you wanted persimmon or serviceberry, gooseberry or cloudberry wine, Lazar would have it for you. He even made a few custom cordials that ended up being so popular that the Three Broomsticks and the Hog's Head had standing stock orders for them, which Lazar found utterly amusing since a person would pay twice as much for a "sip" of cordial at the inns when they could just buy the bottle at the store for cheaper.
The Aerie, however, more than made enough money off the standing orders for each pub to pay whatever miscellaneous bills they had twenty times over, so no one was complaining. Lazar even made an non-alcoholic honey mead that "tasted like the babbling water of a pure mountain stream on a cloudless day when a honeycomb slapped you upside the head." Hermione wasn't sure if that was a good description or not, but kids really liked it, so Honeydukes had a contract for a standing order of it. The adult version of the honey mead was, not so surprisingly, "bubbly like the rarest spring water tasted after stealing honey from a hive and being chased by angry African honey bees for the last twenty miles."
Hermione was amazed all of that fit on the label, but just when you thought you knew magic, Lazar would prove that you really could fit all of that slogan onto a small piece of paper.
Between Aleksander's succulent foods and preserves, Lazar's strange and in demand drinks, Valko's seasonings for all occassions, and Petya's smoked goods, it seemed like everything was set for the Aerie, but then the store added in Viktor's and Hermione's finely crafted animal creations that were charmed to be stunningly lifelike and Severus' range of custom potions and elixirs that were "startlingly effective" and "did exactly what they said they did."
Severus rolled his eyes when Petya told the story of one of the customers singing the praises of the potion "that actually got rid of her chizpurfle infestation."
"Obviously it worked," Severus sneered as he stirred a batch of something with a strange green glow to it. "I would not label something 'chizpurfle repellant' if it was a cure for warts."
Hermione chuckled at her father's annoyance at the majority of "people in general." It was her job to insure that every recipe they had created at the store was protected and every potion recipe was patented. In an almost Weasleyesque gesture, Severus and Hermione had charmed every potion they made for the store completely impossible to break down into individual components by spell or mechanical means. Said potion would turn into permanent black ink that would explode in said caster's face, the counter-spell for which was just as well guarded as the rest of their concoctions.
Whenever someone came into the store and looked like they had a jar of ink explode on their face, the Sky Brothers would point them towards the finely labeled jar of "Ink Remover - For Those Strangely Permanent Stains - 5G." The regular ink remover was only a few sickles, but for whatever reason, the potion induced ink spots would only go away when using the more expensive ink remover. Oddly enough, those that ended up purchasing the Ink Remover for the Strangely Permanent Stains never complained about the price. They would silently pay for the remover and slink out the store, covering their faces. Funny that.
Hermione dusted off the main counter just as an owl came fluttering in from somewhere and dropped off a parcel. She eyed the parcel curiously, reaching for a frog from the terrarium they kept for the owls. The guest owls seemed to really appreciate the fresh treats over the standard owl nuts, so they kept a fresh supply to reward them. This became especially important as their business seemed to gain popularity and even more odd ball, odd weight, and odd shaped parcels began to show up by owl post.
The owl hooted thanks and took off, flying out the open door.
Hermione eyed the parcel suspiciously. There was no return address on the wrapping and only her name was written on the front in block print. It wasn't exactly the most friendly looking parcel. She took out her wand and cast it over the parcel, checking for hexes, poisons, or whatever horrible thing could possible come in a parcel. Nothing glowed or spontaneously burst into flames, so she put her wand away and tugged on the twine and opened it.
Inside was a large colored Easter Egg with a latch. When she unlatched it, hundreds of toffees, caramels, and chocolates fell out in a candy cascade.
"Who sent you Easter Egg?" Viktor asked, leaning over her shoulder to peer at the rather large trove of candy.
"Uhh…" Hermione boggled. "It's normal for Mrs. Weasley to send these to her children, but… the last time she sent me Easter Eggs, she sent me eggs the size of a quail because she thought I was playing with Harry's and your affections."
Viktor's eyebrows shot up into his hair, which was fairly impressive since his hair was cut very short. "Vhat?"
"She thought I was trying to seduce you," Hermione said with an awkward smile.
Viktor's face ran through about five or six emotions before he settled on flabbergasted. "If anything, I was trying very hard to seduce you, not other way around."
Hermione coughed a laugh and touched Viktor's cheek with her palm. "You were trying to seduce me?"
Viktor shrugged. "Court… seduce… convince you to spend time with me. Stay vith me forever. You know standard thing for wizard who adores beautiful vitch."
Hermione choked on air and made a strange face at Viktor.
Viktor turned her chin to the side to face him and deftly planted a kiss upon her lips. He looked into her eyes as he pulled away. "Did it work?"
"W…wh…whaa?" Hermione managed to articulate.
"Did I convince you. Stay vith me forever?" Viktor said completely deadpan, as though he were asking about the weather in Guam. He ran his thumb against her cheek every so gently.
"Ah…er….." Hermione tried to stop tripping over her tongue. "I… think… so?" She just stared at him dumbly and speechless.
Viktor looked at her as a great smile spread across his face. "Mmm… good. Would hate to have to get in duel with someone. Hiding bodies always pain."
Hermione sputtered just before Viktor captured her mouth again, ever so gently placing his hand at the back of her neck and stroking the line of her hair with his fingers. Hermione folded in on herself and into his embrace as he stealthily pulled her close.
"Ahem," Severus' amused voice broke the moment and Hermione flung herself away from Viktor with a large blush growing on her face, feeling herself at the moment, like a newly teenage girl caught by her parents being kissed by her equally newly teenage boyfriend. "I'd know your intentions with my daughter."
Viktor, smooth as silk, dropped into a formal bow. "Intend to be at her side until skies burn and maybe a little after if show is excellent."
Severus eyed Viktor as one eyebrow lifted into his hair. He stood silently and still. The corner of his lip quirked upward at last. "Very well, you may continue," Severus said, walking back into his laboratory with a swish of his robes.
Viktor stood up again, giving Hermione a Cheshire cat grin.
Hermione tilted her head back and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.
"Dinner ready!" Aleksander yelled from the back.
Petya and Valko jumped out from behind one of the nearby shelves and tore off into the kitchen, practically bowling Viktor and Hermione over.
Hermione, realizing that they'd been there the entire time Viktor had been talking to Severus, began a new cycle of blushing. Severus walked out of his laboratory as if nothing had occurred, snagging his stupified, blushing daughter by the sleeve and dragging her into the dining room as Viktor grinned from ear to ear.
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A/N: So.. Drowsy… maybe it's the cold weather setting in. I have homework to do again, but I don't wanna. I have to.. But.. Don't.. Wanna! *cry* Ah well. Maybe a nap and then back to work again.
