"POTTER! WEASLEY! Will you pay attention?!" McGonagall's irritated voice cracked like a whip though the Transfiguration classroom on Thursday, making several students jump in their seats. Though the end of the lesson had drawn near, (they had been turning guinea fowl into guinea pigs that were neatly lined up in cages on McGonagall's desk and copied down the homework for the week) and McGonagall had yet to release them.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the two boys who sat at the back of the classroom waiting for the bell to ring. The two of them had been caught having a sword fight with a pair of Fred & George's fake wands. Harry with a rubber haddock, and Ron with tin parrot.

"Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age" McGonagall steamrolled on, sparing an angry glance in their direction. Harry's haddock dropped silently to the floor where Ron's parrot's beak had severed it moments before, "I have something to say to you all"

She flowed down the aisles and up to the front of the classroom where she peered out at the students before her, "The Yule Ball is fast approaching—a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament, and an opportunity for us to socialise with our foreign guests. Now, the ball will be open only to fourth years and above—although you may invite a younger student if you wish—"

Lavender let out a shrill giggle and Parvati nudged her hard int he ribs, her own face furiously working not to let out any excitable giggles. The pair both looked over at Harry. McGonagall ignored both witches as she continued on, "Dress robes will be worn and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas day, at midnight in the Great Hall. Now then—"

McGonagall stared slowly and deliberately around the classroom, her gaze meeting each and every one of her students; from the excited witches to the groaning wizards. "—The Yule Ball is of course, a chance for us all to…er…let our hair down" Hermione bit her lip to hide the smile that threatened to spread across her face at the image of McGonagall letting her hair down, if only because you never saw the straight-laced professor without her grey hair pulled back into a tight bun.

"But that does NOT mean," McGonagall went on, "that we will be relaxing the standards of behaviour we expect from Hogwarts students. I will be most seriously displeased if a Gryffindor student embarrassed the school in any way" And with that the bell rang, letting the students disappear from the classroom in a slightly more excitable scuffle than usual.

15 December 1995

It had been during one of their (now) nightly swims in the Lake when Viktor had asked her to a date in Hogsmeade Village. Hermione, not quite ready to tell the world about their (kind-of) relationship, had proposed a counter-offer. Considering Viktor's constant bloodhound fans, she had instead suggested a Muggle town a little south of Hogsmeade. Edinburgh was a quaint little city with attractions for all walks of life and it was unlikely that the pair would be followed there.

Since Hogsmeade wasn't actually on Hogwarts' property, there was no way for the staff to know who had or had not left the premises, unless otherwise notified. It was why only third years and above where allowed to travel to Hogsmeade, as they were seen as mature enough to try and not flee (Of course, this didn't always work).

The plan for the date had ended up being a mish-mash of sorts. Hermione planned to take them to Edinburgh zoo (zoos were a relatively new subject in the magical community—courtesy of Newt Scamander—and even then, the creatures weren't physically viewed by the public) and maybe a few other spots as well. Then Viktor decided that the two would return to the Durmstrang ship for dinner.

So on the morning of her date, Hermione stood in front the mirror with dress in one hand and wand in the other. "All right! Let's see what we can do with you!" Hermione murmured as she double-checked the house-wife book she'd nicked from Lavender's trunk the night before. It was still early, so there was no chance that she'd be caught red-handed. In fact, she could still hear Lavender's snores through the weakly-placed enchantments around her bed.

Admittedly, the periwinkle dress was rather beautiful as a whole, but it just wasn't Hermione's style—or at least not yet. Double-checking the open book next to her, Hermione soon set to work adjusting the dress that Ginny and Mrs Weasley had pressured her into getting earlier that year.

With careful movements, Hermione shrunk the hem of the dress until the ruffled-layers reached to just above her knees. Next, the sheer sleeves were shorn off, leaving behind the sweetheart bodice and spaghetti straps. And finally, the ribbon tied loosely around her waist was removed. Once satisfied with the dress, Hermione proceeded to put it on.

Twisting and turning in the mirror, she was able to see how the dress hugged her curves in all the right places. The hem of the ruffle-dress spun wildly around her knees, making her feel much more free in it than when she had first tried it on all those months ago. Going over to her trunk, Hermione pulled out a pair of nude stockings, her boots and—after much digging—a large denim jacket.

Topping the entire outfit off with her studs, she finally deemed the outfit done. Flirty and comfortable, Muggle and magical. Perfect. Following breakfast, Hermione met up with Viktor at the gates of Hogwarts and the two set off for their date. Unbeknownst to the two, a little beetle fluttered along behind them.

The (not-so-sanctioned) trip to Edinburgh had been well worth it in Hermione's opinion, even if the pair had been set upon by Karkaroff the moment they returned to the Durmstrang ship that evening. One would have thought that the Bulgarian headmaster had some sort of strange obsession with Viktor, considering the way he had reacted. Of course Viktor was likely a good source of income and media for the Durmstrang Institute.

As far as Hermione could tell, Viktor had enjoyed the day as well, though he didn't talk much. It seemed like he didn't get the chance to be a regular teen quite often, what with fans around the world always badgering for his attention. It must have been nice for the teen not to be gawked at for once. And it was great fun watching him feed the giraffes. Hermione smiled as she remembered the face he had pulled when the young giraffe had leant forth and licked what little hair he had, thinking it was some kind of shrub.

Biting into one of the chocolate-dipped honey cookies, Hermione watched as Viktor used the obnoxiously pink crazy straw he had purchased from the zoo's gift shop, to drink out of his goblet. Not that he was the only one who had walked away from the zoo empty handed. After admitting (a little biasedly) that the otters had been her favourite animal at the sanctuary, Viktor had insisted on purchasing a stuffed replica that wore a bright green vest that was embroidered with the zoo's logo, for her (Hermione had to teach him about Muggle money).

Currently the pair were staked out in the crow's nest of the Durmstrang ship. They were so high up that the glittering stars almost enveloped them. Like you could reach out and touch a star. Dinner had been a lovely affair; instead of food from the Hogwarts kitchens, the House-elves aboard the bobbing Bulgarian ship had presented a lovingly made picnic basket filled with a variety of Bulgarian finger foods and a bottle of Tippler (a fruity whiskey) for the two to share.

After wiping off the crumbs on her fingers, Hermione dipped in the pocket of her jacket and pulled out the bunny-shaped firework that she had purchased earlier that day from Filibuster's Fireworks, in Hogsmeade, whilst she hummed along to Moon River under her breath.

Viktor watched her with curious eyes as she dipped the edge of the beautifully folded yellow origami rabbit into her goblet and then, with a quick flick of her wrist, sent the soggy firework sailing into the air. The enchanted paper hopped up into the sky much like a real rabbit would, until it reached a certain height. Once there, it didn't take long for the Wet-start firework to begin exploding into colourful bursts of yellow showers that rained harmlessly down on the pair.

"палавница…" Viktor murmured, head tilting back to watch the little enchanted firework burst into colourful showers amongst the stars.

"Hm?" Hermione hummed, watching the fireworks with sad eyes (Hermione had later learnt that the nickname that Viktor had gifted her with, meant 'minx').

"Vhy are you sad? Is date not fun?"

"No, no it is" Hermione hastily reassured him, "It's just…it's my brother's birthday today. He would've been eleven…"

"палавница…I'm sorry…Vhy did you not say something sooner?"

"It's not something I like to talk about…Mum used to say that the angels took him away because he was too precious to be a person, so they turned him into a star to watch over us instead""

"…Vould he have been magical too?"

"Mm, maybe…Sometimes I like to think he might've been a Hufflepuff, or a Ravenclaw"

"Can…can I ask vhat happened?"

"…There were complications with his birth…" The tears gathering in her eyes began to drip silently down her cheeks, "I only got to hold him once…But I'll remember him. Always"

"Vhat vas his name?" Viktor watched not the glittering stars, but the glittering tears falling down her soft cheeks.

"Lucas. His name was Lucas"

"Dat is good name"

"Yeah, it is"

Viktor leant across the dishes in between them and gently turned Hermione's face towards him; cupping her tear-stained cheeks he began to softly wipe the tears away with his thumb. Hermione

felt in awe of how gentle his rough hands, toughened from all the years of playing Quidditch, were against her wet cheeks.

Her teary brown eyes found themselves glued to his dark eyes, making her wonder how something so dark in colour could feel so safe. Even when all her tears had dried up, Viktor continued to stroke her cheeks in a gentle manner that Hermione felt rather coming. After a moment, he spoke.

"Dis is not best time…but, палавница vill you go to the Yule Ball vith me?" Viktor softly asked. Hermione leant into his gentle hands and closed her eyes for a moment, relishing in the gentle motion of his thumb over her cheek. Even as emotionally vulnerable as she was in that point in time, Hermione knew she enjoyed her time with Viktor.

They'd had fun today, and during their many nightly swims together, and so it was that the answer came much easier than Hermione thought it would. She thinks of how kind Viktor has been to her, she thinks of how a boy noticed her and not her looks for the first time, she thinks of how much fun they'd had together over the passed couple of months. Blinking her eyes open and looking up at the Bulgarian through damp lashes, Hermione answered.

"Yes"