The dishes at the breakfast table rattled and everyone present was absorbed in light, quiet conversations. It was a quiet morning. Nobody rushed because they had nowhere to go that morning.
Ana Krum liked such days the best.
A relaxed atmosphere, husband next to her and all her boys at one table. Only one certain person was missing to make it perfect for her.
A person who grew dear to her over the time she was visiting the family.
Ana looked up at her youngest son. He had introduced them to the young girl from England and the whole family immediately fell in love with her. Over time, she became part of the family.
But now it had been some time since she'd heard from her self-proclaimed daughter.
Ana wiped her mouth with the napkin and cleared her throat, which immediately caught the attention of her family.
"Viktor dear, have you heard from Mione lately?"
The young man raised his head and looked sadly at his mother. He shook his head slowly and looked down again.
"No. Not since her last letter 8 months ago. All the letters I've sent her since, come back. She could be dead by now and we wouldn't know."
Ana gasped and covered her mouth in shock. At the thought of her beloved daughter, no longer alive, tears welled up in her eyes.
Her man next to her put a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked sternly at his son.
He also loved Hermione as if she were his own daughter and he didn't want to think about the possibility that she was no longer breathing.
"Viktor, don't say that. She is a very intelligent and talented witch. She lives. I'm sure and as long as no one can credibly prove the opposite, I think she'll come back to us."
Viktor looked at his father in silence for a long moment.
The whole table fell silent.
The other two Krum children also stopped talking.
"I am worried about her too. It never happened before that she didn't get in touch for so long." Ioan whispered next to his younger brother, poking at his scrambled eggs. Vlad, the oldest of the brothers, nodded in agreement.
"In England, there is pure chaos right now. She is Harry Potter's best friend and the smartest witch of her age and a muggleborn. They are after her. There is no way she has it easier now that Voldemort is back. "
Viktor snorted and his family's eyes turned to him.
"He's been back for three years, but nobody believed it back then. It haven't been easy for her since her first year."
The silence, that spread out at the table, was gloomy and difficult. Everyone's thoughts turned to the young witch. She had been visiting more often during the holidays and they had all grown together. When she was at school or when she didn't have time to visit, then she and Viktor kept writing letters back and forth. Not a week went by without hearing from each other.
But now it had been 8 months since she had last replied to one of his letters.
In her last letter she mentioned that she had something important to do and that they shouldn't worry about her. Her letter said that she would be fine.
That did the opposite. When Viktor told his family about it, they all began to worry. And that worry grew from week to week without a letter from her.
The silence was suddenly broken by a knock on the window.
The owl with the mail and the newspaper.
Viktor jumped up from his chair and hurried to the window. He let the big brown owl in and took her load off her. Every day he made himself the hope that a letter from her would finally be there. The hope died immediately when he saw that none of the letters had his name in her fine handwriting on it.
"And did she write? " Ana asked expectantly watching her son over her shoulder.
He shook his head. "No" then he returned to the table, handed the newspaper to his father, and sat back in his seat.
The meal went on in silence while Boris read the newspaper.
It didn't take long before they suddenly heard the clatter of cutlery on a plate.
Everyone looked up at the father of the family who was staring at the newspaper with a white face.
"Dad, what happened? What does it say?" asked Vlad and knitted his eyebrows.
But the Boris didn't answer. He continues to start at a page of the newspaper.
His wife leaned closer to him to get a glimpse of what shocked her husband so much.
What she read made her burst out in tears and a sob came from her lips. She fell back in her seat and covered her face with her hands.
The three men on the other side of the table stared at their parents in horror.
Vlad, who sat in the middle, leaned across the table and took the newspaper from his father. He held it in front of him, so that his brothers could read along.
The headline was emblazoned in large letters at the top of the page
VOLDEMORT IS DEAD. THE WAR IS OVER!
That something good. That couldn't have upset her parents so much.
Under the headline was a long article about how Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort. Next to it is a photo from the great hall at Hogwarts where many survivors took care of the injured.
On the other side were two lists.
One titled 'MISSING' and one titled 'Died'
There were innumerable names in two rows on both lists.
One name immediately caught the eye of the three young men. Hermione Granger.
Her name was on the list of those who died.
Almost at the end of the list. In clear black letters.
Black on white.
The color of the three brothers' faces changed suddenly.
Vlad face went green with nausea and his grip around the edge of the newspaper became so tight that it wrinkled.
Ioan, lost all color in his face. Similar to his mother.
Viktor's face turned scarlet to the tips of his ears. He let himself fall back in his chair and stared blankly at the photo-lined wall.
Family photos, children photos of him and his brothers, photos of various trips. She was on some of them.
She was part of the family. He was madly in love with her and planned to make her officially part of the family at some point. He wanted to spend his life with her.
A dream that, would never come true now.
Meanwhile, Ana had thick tears running down her cheeks and she sobbed with her hand pressed to her mouth.
"Fuck. How could that happen?" Vlad muttered and put the newspaper down.
Ana shuffled and buried her face in her husband's shoulder.
"My poor girl. It wasn't calculated. She's already given so much and now her life has been taken from her." she cried, her voice muffled.
Viktor suddenly jumped up and bumped against the table, which made the dishes rattle.
His brothers looked up at him, startled by his rapid movement. But he paid no attention to them. His gaze stayed on the wall as he said in a broken voice: "Excuse me, I'm going to my room." And then he disappeared from the room.
His family looked after him with sad eyes.
They knew how much Hermione meant to him.
He's known her longer than the rest of the family. It was only through him that they had even gotten to know Hermione.
They all knew he was in love with her.
Her death must have hurt him even more than the rest of them.
Ana got up too and dabbed her cheeks with a napkin. "I want to be alone for a moment. I'll sit in the garden for a while."
And now she too, left the dining room .
The two eldest sons and the father stayed behind. They looked at each other in silence and then all stood up at the same time and retired into the living room.
Some time passed with everyone indulging in their thoughts. Ana had come back in and was now sitting on the sofa, leaning against her husband.They hadn't seen Viktor since he left the dining room.
It was shortly before noon when there was a knock on the door.
Everyone looked up, but nobody made a move to get up. Finally Ana sighed resignedly and made her way to the front door.
She wiped her face one more time, stroked the skirt of her dress and then reached for the doorknob and opened the door.
She was about to greet the person in front of the door when she saw who was standing there. The words stuck in her throat and new tears ran down her cheeks.
The person opened ther mouth to say something but then Ana took a quick step forward and pulled the petite person into her arms.
She hugged the young girl tightly and kept kissing the top of her head.
"Ma little girl. You ar here. You ar here. Thank, Merlin. You ar here." She whispered in English with a heavy accent in Hermione's hair.
Hermione, who had just stood there surprised, now started moving again and put her arms around Ana.
"I told you I would be back, Mama."
At her words Ana started crying again and hugged the young witch a little tighter.
"Oh vhat the other ar going to say. Come on in, come on, they vill be so happy."
Before Hermione could answer, Ana grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the living room.
"A mirra-cle, i's a mirra-cle. She's here. She's alive." she exclaimed excitedly, which immediately drew the attention of the family to her and the visit that had just arrived.
When they recognized who was standing there with the mistress of the house, all three jumped up and rushed towards the two women.
"Mine. How can you be here?" Vlad asked aghast and hugged Hermione tightly. Hermione was about to answer when Ioan pulled her out of his brother's arms and hugged her tightly himself.
"Merlin, i'm so happy to see you. In one piece and breathing."
He hugged her a little tighter.
Hermione gasped and patted Ioan on the back.
"If you hug me tighter, I won't breathe much longer." She laughed, but the serious look from the rest of the family cut her off.
Boris came to her and now took her in his arms while he said :"Do not say that. We had the shock of our lives. To think our little girl is dead. We're so glad you're alive."
Hermione looked back and forth between the fours in confusion.
"Dead? Why would you think I'm dead? Who said that?"
Everyone was silent and looked at her inquiringly. Then Ana stepped closer to her again and put a hand on her shoulder. "Today it was in the newspaper that Voledemot had been defeated. On the other side, there was a list of names of those who died. Your name was on it."
Hermione blinked, opened her mouth and closed it again. For a moment she didn't know what to say. She took a deep breath before placing her hand over Ana's and smiled.
"Well, there is a foldout information that is being circulated there. Because, I am obviously still alive."
Vlad came up to her again and took her in his arms again. "And we thank all the good spirits in this world that you are still breathing. We would have missed you very much."
Hermione tightened the hug a little more.
"I've missed you guys. I love you all very much."
When they broke away from the embrace, Hermione quickly wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.
Ioan stepped closer to and ruffled her hair. "Speaking of missing someone. There is someone who probably missed you even more than we did and who is very shocked by what the newspaper says.You should go to him and show him that it's wrong. He's in his room."
Hermione smiled shyly and her cheeks turned pink. She nodded and laughed. Before she left the room, she looked at each one again and smiled.
Hermione walked down the long hallway that leads to Viktor's room. She had been here so many times, she would find her way with her eyes closed. From the stairs twenty-five steps forward, a virtual turn to the left, five more steps and then all you have to do is reach out your left hand to touch the door, which leads to her room. If you turn right and then take five steps, then there was the door to Viktor's room.
That is exactly what she was standing in front of now.
She slowly raised her hand to knock, but paused a moment. Slowly she let her hand drop again. She hadn't seen him in a long time. She hadn't seen him in a long time. What if he didn't want to see her at all? What if he doesn't want her anymore because she hasn't sent a letter for so long? What if he had a new girlfriend? It would break her heart.
But would Ioan have sent her to him then?
Probably not.
She took a deep breath before raising her hand again and knocking.
No Answer.
So she knocked again, only this time, a little harder.
"Not now." came the answer in Bulgarian, muffled, through the door
Hermione dropped her hand and thought for a moment. Should she go and wait until he comes out by himself?
'No' she decided, walked closer to the door and put one hand on the doorknob.
She gathered all her courage and slowly opened the door.
It was dark in the room. Hermione could only make out faint outlines in the dark.
But she knew where everything was. She could find everything blindly.
She walked quietly into the room and closed the door behind her. Now the light from the hallway had disappeared from the room and it was black as night.
Hermione stopped a few paces from the bed. Her eyes slowly got used to the darkness and she could see individual structures again.
On the bed, his back to her, lies Viktor.
A light blanket over the shoulders and his face buried in a pillow.
She wanted to take another step towards him, but kicked something, which made him wince.
"I said not now. Please go."
He had spoken Bulgarian again, so he didn't know it was her. She could only speak a few words in his native language, so they always talked in English. She understood what he had just said, though and briefly thought about leaving. But she quickly dismissed the idea.
She took the last few steps towards the bed until her legs bumped against the edge, gently touching his upper arm with her fingers.
"I'm sorry. I don't want to bother you, I just wanted to say hello." she whispered into the darkness, slightly increasing the touch on his arm.
He sat up with a jerk and turned in her direction.
It seemed to be a moment before he recognized her in the dark.
"Her-my-nie. Her-my-nie?" he asked in a low, scratchy voice.
She smiled slightly and reached out her arm so that her fingertips lightly touched his cheek.
"My Mia." he whispered again and with one quick movement jumped up from the bed and took her tightly in his arms. She put her arms around his ribs and tightened the hug.
Hermione took a deep breath and pressed her face a little bit more into his shoulder.
Viktor had hidden his face in her hair and kept stroking her back.
"How can you be here? Am I just imagining it?" he asked after a long moment of silence. He spoke English now and still had that accent that Hermione liked.
Hermione pushed away from him a little, so she could see his face.
"No, I'm really here. I'm alive and well. I got here as fast as I could. I'm sorry that, even for a moment, you had to think that I'm no longer alive."
She smiled at him, but there was a sadness in her eyes.
For a moment he just looked at her speechless.
Hermione had the feeling that the beating of her heart could be heard in the whole room.
Then he hugged her tighter again and pressed his face into her neck and whispered: "Thank Merlin. I love you so much Hermione."