*ITALICS = BULGARIAN*
At dinner, Holly and Harry explain to the others what happened at the wand weighing ceremony. Harry told them how Rita Skeeter grabbed Holly and dragged her away to interview with her, but then came back and left the rest of the Champions alone. Hermione and Ginny look at each other, "What did you do, Holly?"
Holly gives them an innocent look, "Nothing, though I may have set her quill and notepad on fire."
"Holly!" Hermione cried.
"What, all she was doing was writing rubbish about Viktor and me just because he smiled at me."
"He smiled at you," Ron asked in awe.
Holly rolls her eyes, "Yes, fangirl, Viktor smiled at me."
"I didn't know he could smile. What with that permanent scowl on his face," George says.
Holly glares at George. Harry laughs at his sister, "So, that's why you started counting."
"Ooh, if Holly was doing that, she must have very mad indeed," Ginny said.
"You fiery redhead," Fred says as he puts his arm around Holly.
Holly smiles at Fred, "I can't help it, Moony says I get my temper from my mother." Holly says with a shrug, "Besides that vile woman deserved it."
Harry and the others laugh. On the other side of the Great Hall, Viktor looks up when he hears laughter coming from the Gryffindor table. Viktor sees that a red-haired boy has his arm around Holly's shoulder, and she's laughing. Viktor's eyes narrow at the sight, and he feels twinge jealous.
Aleksandur follows his friend's eyes, *So I see the little red-haired girl has caught the great Bulgarian Seeker's eye.* Aleksandur says with a smirk.
*I don't know what you're talking about.*
Viktor's other friend Demitri laughs, *Of course, you don't, my friend. But if I were you I would talk with her before that boy snatches her away from you.*
*I am not interested in her like that.* Viktor tells his friends.
Aleksandur and Demitri each raise an eyebrow at Viktor. Viktor sighs, *Alright, maybe a little. But I will never get a chance to talk to her with her brother and friends around her.*
Viktor turns and scowls when he sees that the other red-haired twin has moved over to sit with Holly. When dinner is over, Viktor, Aleksandur, and Demetri make their way back to the ship. As they are walking, Demetri notices the Potter girl making her way towards the lake with an arctic fox following behind her. He smirks and looks at his friend, *Now is your chance, Viktor, the Potter girl is alone.* Demetri tells him then turns Viktor around.
Viktor smiles at the sight of Holly running towards the lake being chased by the fox. He can barely make out her laughing from that distance. Viktor smiles and begins to walk towards Holly and her fox. When he reaches them, he finds Holly lying on the ground with her Arctic fox standing on top of her, licking her face.
"Vhat is going on here?" Viktor asks, startling Holly.
Holly quickly stands up and blushes, "Viktor; I wasn't expecting anyone to be down here."
"I can see that," Viktor says and walks closer towards Holly.
When Viktor gets closer to Holly, her little fox puts himself between him and Holly. The fox growls at Viktor.
"He is very protective of you."
Holly smiles, "Yes, he is. Archimedes down, Viktor is a friend."
The little fox stops growling and sits down. Viktor kneels in front of the fox and put his hand out so that the fox can smell him.
"Oh, I wouldn't-" Holly says but cuts herself off when Archimedes takes a step forward and sniffs Viktor's hand. Holly's eyes widen when she sees the fox lick Viktor's hand. Viktor smiles and pets him.
"Wow, Archimedes likes you."
Viktor looks up at her, "You are surprised?"
"Yes, he doesn't like boys being around me. You're the first boy Archimedes has ever licked, outside of my brother and friends."
Viktor looks back at Archimedes, "I am honored, little fox."
"His name is Archimedes."
"It's nice to meet you, Archimedes."
Archimedes yips then jumps into Viktor's arms. Holly giggles at the surprised look on Viktor's face. Viktor laughs and stands up with Archimedes in his arms. Holly stares at Viktor, "What are you doing down here?"
Viktor rubs the back of his neck, "I saw you walking toward the lake, and I vanted to talk vith you."
Holly tilts her head, "What did you want to talk about?"
"I vanted to see how you vere doing after vhat happened yesterday."
"Oh, that. I'm doing okay, I guess. I'm still a little shocked that Harry and I were selected as Champions," Holly looked up at Viktor, "You believed me when we said that we didn't do it, right?"
"Da, even before you swore on your magic, I knew that you didn't enter your name in the Goblet. You and your brother looked very frightened."
Holly sighed, for some reason, it meant a lot to her that Viktor believes her. "Thank you," Holly said as she looked up at Viktor through her lashes.
Viktor takes a step closer, "You are velcome, Holly." Viktor takes her hand and kisses it.
Holly blushes, causing Viktor to smile, "I, I better get back inside before curfew." Holly tells him as she pulls her hand out of his.
She takes Archimedes from Viktor and starts walking back towards the castle. Viktor watches her go then calls out to her, Holly stops and turns around. Viktor jogs up to Holly.
"Yes, Viktor?"
"Tomorrow is Saturday, and I was vondering if you vould like to go flying vith me?"
"I would love to go flying with you, Viktor."
Viktor smiles, "Shall ve meet on the Quidditch Pitch after breakfast?"
"Alright, I'll see you then."
Viktor kissed her hand again and patted Archimedes on the head. Holly blushed and began walking back towards the castle, she turned around and saw that Viktor was still watching her. Holly made her way up to Gryffindor Tower and gave the password to the Fat Lady. Upon entering, she found Harry and the others waiting for her. Holly put Archimedes down, and the little fox ran over to Hermione and jumped onto the couch to cuddle with Crookshanks.
"Where were you," Harry asked his twin.
"I was down by the lake playing with Archimedes," Holly tells Harry
Harry was in the middle of playing Exploding Snaps with George while Hermione sat on the floor doing her weekend homework. She suddenly looked up and noticed that Holly was staring at her. Hermione gives the girl a questioning look and Holly motions with her head discreetly to go upstairs to their dorm. Hermione nods and packs up her books.
"Well, boys, Holly and I are off to bed."
Harry looks up from his game and frowns, "But's it's still early."
"Yes, but this has been an exhausting day, and I'm tired," Holly tells her brother.
"Oh, Okay."
Holly walks over to her brother and kisses his forehead. Then she and Hermione make their way upstairs. When they get back to their dorm, Holly puts a locking charm on the door and sits down on her bed. Hermione looks at her and sits down next to her.
"Holly, what's the matter?"
Holly smiles, "Nothing's the matter I only wanted to tell what happened at the lake."
"What happened?"
Holly proceeded to tell Hermione all about her conversation with Viktor and that he invited her to go flying with him tomorrow after breakfast also that he kissed her hand twice. Hermione stared at Holly in disbelief, "What do you think it means?" Holly asked her best friend.
"I think it means that Viktor likes you."
"You think so?" Holly asked.
"I'm almost positive."
"What should I do, Hermione?"
"I don't think you should do anything. I think you should get to know him first. Do you like Viktor?"
Holly blushes, "Yes, he's sweet, at least to me. Should I consider this a date?"
"No, only two people going flying together."
Holly thinks about it for a moment, "You're right."
"On another matter, are you going to tell Sirius and Remus about the Tri-Wizard Tournament," Hermione asked.
"I think it would be for the best. This is something that they should know. I think I'll write to them in the morning before I go down for breakfast."
"Alright."
With that, Holly and Hermione get ready for bed.
Meanwhile, on the ship, Viktor makes his way towards his cabin. He finds Aleksandur and Demitri sitting in their cabin, playing Wizard's Chess. They look up when he comes in, *So, how did it go with your little red-haired girl,* Demitri asks.
*It went well; we talked for a while, she introduced me to her familiar. Then I asked Holly to go flying with me tomorrow.*
Viktor's friends look at each other and smirk, *So, you do like the little witch.*
*I find her intriguing, yes. She's different from any girl I have met. Holly doesn't seem to care about my fame.*
*I would think not since she is famous in her own right,* Aleksandur tells Viktor, *If anyone understood what it's like to be in the limelight all the time it would be Holly Potter.*
Viktor nods.
*Is this a date, then,* Demitri asks.
*No, only two people sharing what they enjoy doing. She is an excellent flier, almost as good as me. Holly told me that she is a reserve Seeker and Chaser for her house Quidditch team.*
*Huh, maybe you can challenge her to a game tomorrow.*
Viktor's face lights up, *That is an excellent idea, my friend. I would like to see how skilled she is as a Seeker.*
After that, Viktor gets ready for bed. He watches his friend play for a while then goes to sleep.
The next morning, Holly gets up early to shower and change. She makes her way downstairs and writes a letter to Sirius and Remus. When she's finished, Holly goes to the owlery and has Hedwig take it to Sirius and Remus. When she gets back to the Common Room, Harry and Hermione are downstairs waiting for her.
"Where did you go?" Harry asks.
"To send a letter to Sirius and Remus to let them know what happened."
"Right, I should have thought of that," Harry says as they make their way down to the Great Hall.
"Well, I am the smarter of the two of us," Holly says and bumps her hip and Harry.
Harry rolls his eyes and puts his arm around his sister. When they walk into the Great Hall, the room quiets down and stares at the twins. Harry, Holly, and Hermione stand there for a moment, looking at everyone, "Come you guys, let's sit down."
The trio takes their seats and serves themselves breakfast. Meanwhile, at the Slytherin table, Viktor watches with a frown on his face as he watches Holly take a seat at her table. From where he sits, Viktor can tell that she's agitated at how everyone was staring at her and her brother. Everyone starts talking again, but Viktor can hear that most of them are talking about how the Potter twins are cheaters, especially the blonde idiot sitting across from him.
"I bet Potty and his bitch sister don't last ten minutes in the first task," Draco says.
Viktor grips his cup of pumpkin juice tighter until his knuckles turn white. He wanted to reach across the table and punch the smug blonde as hard as he can. Aleksandur notices Viktor's reaction, *Calm down, Viktor, you can't hit the boy.*
Viktor scowls, but he knows that Aleksandur is right. So he does his best to ignore Draco and goes back to eating his breakfast. But he would glance up to see how Holly was doing. He noticed that the red-haired boy that was sitting with her and brother when Viktor first arrived is seated as far away from as them as possible and kept glaring and Holly and Harry. Viktor shakes his head; the boy was jealous. From where Viktor sat, he could see Harry and the red-haired boy glaring at each other, but Holly had her head down eating her breakfast.
Vikor finished his breakfast and left to get his Firebolt and a snitch that he kept in his trunk. He walked to the Quidditch Pitch and waited for Holly. When Holly saw Viktor leave, she finished her breakfast and stood up.
"I'll see you guys later."
Harry looked up at Holly, "Where are you going?"
"Um, back to the Common Room."
"Oh, okay, see you later then," Harry said, then continued to eat.
Hermione looked at Holly and smiled, causing Holly to blush. Holly made her way up to Gryffindor Tower and got her firebolt. She then ran out of the castle and made her way to the pitch; she didn't want to keep Viktor waiting. When Holly got there, Viktor had his back to her. She cleared her throat, causing Viktor to turn around. He smiled at her and walked towards her. Holly decided that he looked very handsome when he smiled.
Viktor took Holly's hand and kissed it, "It is good to see you, Holly."
"It's good to see you too, Viktor. So, shall we race each other," Holly asked.
"I had something else in mind," Viktor pulls out the golden snitch from his pocket, "Vhy don't we play against each other?"
Holly's eyes widen, "I can't beat you, you're a professional Quidditch player. I'm only a reserve Seeker. Harry is much better than I am. If you want, I could get him to play you."
Viktor took a step closer to Holly, "I don't vant to play against your brother, I vant to play against you. It is all in good fun, Holly."
Holly blushed, "Alright."
Viktor smiled and mounted his broom; Holly followed his example. He released the snitch and the shot off into the air. As they circled each other, they talked about their lives. Viktor told Holly about his life in Bulgaria and how he became a professional Quidditch player so young, while Holly told him about her experience at Hogwarts. But as they talked, they still kept their eye out for the snitch.
Suddenly the snitch appeared in front of Holly. She took off after it with Viktor chasing her. The snitch darted off to the left with Viktor and Holly chasing after it. The snitch dove straight down the darted to the right and disappeared again. Viktor looked at Holly, "You are very skilled, perhaps you can keep up vith me after all."
"Maybe I can," Holly said with a smirk.
Holly and Viktor continued to talk and get to know each other. The snitch reappeared, and they gave chase again. This time Viktor was in the lead, Holly tried to catch up with him, but Viktor was faster and surprisingly very agile for his size. Eventually, Viktor caught the snitch. The landed, and Holly walked over to congratulate Viktor, "I knew you were going to catch it."
"That may be, Holly, but you are very good."
Holly looked at the ground, "Thank you," she said shyly.
"Perhaps ve can do this again sometime."
Holly's green eyes lit up, "I'd like that."
"Vonderful, Malka Zvezda, (Little Star.) I look forvard to it."
With that, Viktor kissed Holly's hand, and they left the pitch together. As they got closer to the lake, Viktor veered off to go his ship while Holly went to the castle. They both needed to put their brooms away and go to the Great Hall for lunch.