Hermione sat down in the goblet of fire chamber. Many students mostly boys were coming forth and inserting their names into the blue flames. Each looking extremely nervous as they did. Even the most cocky of boys had the slightest hint of fear in their usually sure eyes. Hermione frowned watching each walk up; they had no clue what they all were getting into. She was glad for a moment that not either Harry or Ron could compete, she wondered momentarily if this year would be the year that things were calm. She smiled at the thought; she so desperately needed a calm year.

She watched as Cedric Diggory the prime Hogwarts champion choice walked up being mainly pushed towards it. He looked considerably hesitant as he walked through the age line and worked his way to the goblet. She wondered for a moment if he was doing it because it was expected of him or doing it because he wanted to. She frowned when she saw him throw his name in and back a way a boyish smile on his face.

You smile now but just wait… If your name is called I have a feeling you'll regret this moment…

"Hey…" Ron said waving at him with a fools grin before blushing heavily and pulling his hand down when no reaction came from Cedric. "It would be brilliant don't you think? Eternal glory and all." He said to Harry, Hermione rolled her eyes at the naive statement.

"Yeah." Harry chuckled. "Better you then me." Hermione smiled to herself. Harry was the smart one she was sure of that. Even if he had been able to he wouldn't have put his name in.

"Ha ha ha! We've done it Lads!" George shouted as he and Fred rushed in.

"Here we go…" Hermione muttered with an epic eye roll that only she could pull off.

-o-

"Do you honestly think this is wise Viktor?" Jamous asked in their native tongue.

"Of course." Viktor said.

"You're eyes say differently my friend."

"Why do you not want me to compete? Have you yourself put your name in or something?" Viktor asked.

"Well of course. We all have. But if you put your name in you're a sure in for the tournament." Viktor chuckled. "Come on man you always get the attention for once let us other regular guys have a chance."

"I would love to step aside but you know how Karkaroff watches my every move. If I do not enter what do you think he will do?" Jamous nodded in understanding. "Besides there is still a good chance that you will become our champion."

"If you say so. Do you want me to go in with you?" Jamous just spotted two particularly beautiful Indian twins walking by them. Viktor chuckled as he watched his friend's hungry eyes follow them. "No no go chase your women."

"I fear I will not be able to my friend…" Viktor turned to see his headmaster walking towards them. Every inkling he had to tear up his name and pretend to throw it in was gone.

"You are going in?" Karakroff asked in his broken English.

"Dah." Viktor said nodding.

"Then let us be off…" Viktor and Jamous looked at each other before fallowing their head master to the goblet of fire chambers. Jamous and the headmaster both stopped to let Viktor stand in front of them.

Hermione sat down on the benches and cracked open the book Viktor had told her to read. Fred and George had just tried to beat the goblet of fire and enter their name. She had warned them but as usual they hadn't listened and were now trying to beat the hell out of each other. She watched with annoyance as they continued to roll on the ground like fools.

"Fight fight fight fight!" everyone chanted as they surrounded the two. Hermione was about to look down and begin reading when she felt an all too familiar presence. She looked up to find Viktor Krum followed by the head master of Durmstrang and another boy.

Viktor walked into the chamber, his eyes glued on the cup. It was one of the most intimidating things he had ever seen. Though he knew the walk only took seconds it had felt like eons. When he approached the goblet he took a breath and tossed in his name. What was done was done and there was no going back. He felt an odd feeling come over him. It felt like, acceptance followed by excitement. He turned to walk away only to find a very familiar witch looking at him with an unreadable expression. He couldn't help but let a small smile slip across his lips as he gazed at Hermione. The blue hue to the room gave her a somewhat angelic glow. As he walked away he saw something that made his heart beat faster than any goblet of fire ever could. She had in return to his expression, smiled back.

When Viktor and Jamous had gotten far enough away from Karkaroff Jamous pulled his friend into an empty classroom.

"What was that?" He asked in his native tongue.

"What was what?"

"You, having all smiles for that one girl."

"That is Her-my-knee Granger." He smiled to himself every time he practiced her name it got better and better.

"Her-mi-nananene?" Viktor chuckled.

"Hard name I know." He said.

"Granger…" Jamous muttered. "Granger… Granger… Where have I heard Granger?"

"I told you about her, she was the one who defended me at the world cup. The one who saved my life."

"She? Her?" Jamous asked, he had gotten a look at the pretty witch. She looked a lot less fierce then how Viktor had described. "Are you sure?"

"I thanked her last night." Viktor said.

"Thanked her huh?" Jamous wiggled his eyebrows at his friend suggestively.

"It is not like that."

"Yet." Jamous said earning him a glare.

"I have to go." Viktor said heading out.

"Now wait a minute wait a minute." Jamous said as he followed his friend out of the room to run straight into a young girl with deep russet skin and long black hair. "Oh I am so very sorry…" he said still speaking in Bulgarian. He blushed deeply as she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I am sorry." He said in a deep accent as he helped her pick her things up.

"It's fine." she said standing and brushing past him. He watched her leave, she had some of the most beautiful black eyes he had ever seen. "Hey Viktor do you know who she is?" he asked as he turned speaking in Bulgarian once more. "Viktor?" His eyes moved through the hallway to find Viktor had disappeared. "Ahk I'm going to have to get a little bell for him I swear."

-o-

Hermione climbed up the ladder in the muggle section. Ever since her fall she had been careful how she moved and to look for things that might be lurking in the shelves to knock her off. She reached up to the top shelf and searched one last time for a copy of A Separate Peace. She frowned heavily seeing it was gone before she began to climb down. As she moved the ladder came unhitched from the wall and flew up.

"Oh!" she gasped seeing herself balancing far up off the ground. The ladder swayed backwards and forward threatening to fall. "No no no…" she muttered trying to keep the ladder from swaying.

"Are, you alright?" she looked down to see Viktor who was looking up at her.

"Fine fine just… Hanging around…" she said with a small smile, as he chuckled. "Think you could help?"

"Of course Of course." He said moving forward and holding the ladder still. "Climb down." She nodded and slowly did careful not to move it too much. When she got down she turned to find herself slightly pinned between the ladder and Viktor who still held it. He smiled down at her before moving away to let her out. She covered her heart as she moved away from him and the dangerous object. She didn't know why but lately whenever the Bulgarian was around her heart beat was a little faster than what she felt was healthy. She turned to see him placing the ladder back onto its hinges. "Aren't all bookshelves charmed?" he inquired.

"Not the muggle section the librarian feels that if you're going to read a muggle book then you mind as well have the muggle experience… It's a bit of a pain but usually worth it." she looked somewhat put out.

"What is wrong?" he asked seeing her crest fallen expression.

"Nothing… Nothing…" she said with a smile as the boy moved towards her.

"No… Somfing is wrong." He said looking her over. She stared at him for a long moment before her eyes averted.

"Well uhm… Not really wrong I just didn't find the book I wanted…" she said.

"What book?" she looked to him again to see he seemed genuinely interested.

"Oh it's called A Separate Peace… I was actually fetching it for you I thought you might like it. We had a Bulgarian version so I thought it might be nice for you to read something in your home language." She said walking past him. He smiled as he followed her into the stacks that were dimly lit by floating candles. Every time Hermione past a candle the flame flickered to brighter flame giving more light. He followed her to the very back where she started to search through many files.

"Knowles… Knowles…" she muttered her fingers flicking through one stack of cards very fast. "See see its says it's here." She said obviously frustrated. "That just…" she sighed. "It makes me very annoyed." She said turning to him. "If you check out a book you must always write down you did or things like this happen… I guess I could always just charm the English version so you can read it…" she suddenly frowned. "What am I saying you probably don't want to read it anyway."

"No no I very much would." Viktor said taking a step forward. "You haf great taste in texts I have read through the book on the Triwizard tournament already." He said.

"But you still put your name in?" she asked looking to him with inquisitive eyes.

"It was…" He looked searching for a word before smiling and looking back to her. "Expected."

"Do you always do what's expected of you Viktor?" he had two reactions to the sentence. The first being that of surprise, never once had someone asked him that question, the second being that he couldn't help but notice how wonderful his name sounded rolling off her tongue.

"I… Do what makes most people happy." He said trying to answer her question the best he could.

"But does it make you happy?" she asked moving towards him. "Are you happy that you entered the tournament?" Yet another surprise from the young witch, not once had any one asked him how he felt about something.

"I am…" he searched for words. "Proud of self." He said. "It vill be challenging and vill test bravery."

"You're already brave, you don't need some tournament to tell you that do you?" he looked down at her thoughtfully.

"You think, I am brave?"

"Of course, I saw you fight those death eaters."

"I vas running at time."

"So was I." Hermione said. "And I wasn't even firing curses over my shoulder… But you were."

"Her-my-na-knee…." He said carefully with a blush why was it when he wasn't with her he could pronounce it but with her standing right in front of him he mucked it up. "Why save me?"

"Why did I save you?"

"Yes why did you save me?" She looked up in thought before glancing to him.

"Because… You needed help…" she said. He took a moment to collect his bravery, the next question he had feared asking her not sure he would like the answer.

"Did you know who I was?" he asked.

"To be honest… No." she said worried it would hurt his feelings. Instead of a frown she got a soft smile. "I didn't find out until much later… You looked familiar mind you, it's just I don't think much of celebrity." She said in all honesty. "I'm Sorry…"

"No. No sorry… I vind this very…" he looked up with a small smile. "Satisfying…" He said happy he had pulled off the word. "This is good thing."

"I think you're the only person I have ever met other than my friend Harry who thinks not being recognized is a good thing." He smiled.

"It is very good thing…" he looked at her for another long moment letting his bravery build once more. Hermione shifted on her footing, the awkward level was beginning to rise in the room as the silence built. He looked like he had something he wanted to say to her. Before she could ask him what he was thinking about he took a small breath silencing her.

"I vas wondering… Maybe you would like… Like to haf time with me?"

"Time? We're having time now…" she said unsure of what he was asking.

"I mean, not time… How you say…" he looked up in thought. "Go out?" Hermione looked at him for a long moment feeling her heart skip a small beat.

"Are you asking me on… On a date?"

"Date?" his eyes brightened. "Dah." He said nodding. "Yes, I wish to get to know you better. On date."

"Oh uhm… Well..."

"It is alright if you don't." he said feeling his heart drop to the pit of his stomach.

"No I do I do want to." She said quickly not liking the hurt she saw in his eyes. Viktor smiled feeling his heart bounce right back up to its rightful place in the middle of his chest. "I was just thinking when we could…" she said with a bashful smile.

"Tonight? After they choose the champions maybe?"

"Tonight?" It was sooner then she had expected. Normally she wouldn't do something without a few days' notice but something about him made her want to go right away. "That sounds lovely." She said.

"We'll meet by giant's house this good?" he asked trying not to bounce from excitement.

"Haggrids hut?" she asked.

"Dah." He said.

"Alright what time?"

"Eight gives both us time to get ready." He said.

"Perfect, I'll see you at eight." She said with a smile.

"This makes me, very happy." He said kissing her hand before backing up away from her. "Very happy." She smiled as she watched him nearly trip over a stool and then rush off with a huge smile. She pulled back her hand and looked down at where he had kissed her with a small smile playing her lips.

"I have to choose an outfit…" she covered her mouth with two fingers not believing that sentence had escaped her.

Well today has been a pleasantly surprising day…