Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to be developing a taste for famous wizards, was seen cuddling with our beloved Harry Potter before the First Task. While later on, The-Girl-Who-Live was found in the arms of that Bulgarian bon-bon Viktor Krum. Could romance be brewing for these young couples?"
Holly rolled her eyes at Hermione, getting upset over a stupid article, "Hermione, let them think what they want. Skeeter is going to print whatever lies she wants, and there's nothing we can do about it."
Hermione huffs, "Well, I won't stand for it, and I'm going to find a way to stop her."
"Good luck to you," Holly tells her as she takes a drink of her pumpkin juice.
At that moment, Nigel comes over with a package, "Parcel for you, Mr. Weasley."
"Thank you, Nigel."
But Nigel stands there gazing at Harry and Holly, "Not now, Nigel, later, go on. I told him I'd get him Harry and Holly's autograph."
Holly glared at Ron, she slams her cup down and gets up and walks out of the Great Hall.
"What's wrong with her?" Ron asks.
Hermione gives Ron an incredulous look, "Using her fame for your own advantage is not endearing yourself to her, Ronald."
Ron at least had the tact to blush.
Holly makes her way up to Gryffindor Tower and goes into her dorm. Archimedes looks up from his place on her bed and wags his tail. She smiles at her familiar and scratches him behind the ear, "Come on, boy, let's go down to the lake."
The arctic fox yips and jumps off her bed. He runs to the door and looks back at Holly to make sure she's following him. Holly laughs and grabs the golden egg. Holly thought that while she was down at the lake, she would try to figure out the clue.
Holly and Archimedes walk out of the castle and head down to the lake; she sits down by the shore and opens the egg again. It begins to screech back, and Holly quickly closes it. She sighs and places the egg next to her. How were they supposed to figure out the clue if all it does is yell?
Holly starts tossing stones into the lake and isn't paying attention to Archimedes, who is walking on a log that is sticking out of the lake. Archimedes yelps when he loses his balance and falls into the lake.
"Archimedes!"
Without thinking, Holly dives into the lake and begins to swim towards the fox. At that moment, Viktor comes out onto the deck of his ship, holding his golden egg. He hears Holly yell for Archimedes, looking over at the lake, Viktor eyes widen when he sees Holly swimming in the freezing water towards the struggling fox.
"Holly!"
Viktor jumps off his ship into the water with the egg in his arm. He lets go of the egg and begins to swim towards Holly and Archimedes. Viktor grabs Holly, who has a hold of Archimedes and helps them to shore. Holly pushes Archimedes onto shore then watches as Viktor goes back into the water.
"What are you doing?"
"I dropped the egg, I haff to get it back."
"Then, I'm going to help you."
"No, Holly, stay here."
Viktor dives into the lake, and Holly goes with him. They swim down as far as they can go but can't see the egg. Suddenly a tentacle comes out of the darkness. The giant squid has the eggs in its grasp and hands it to Viktor. When he does, the egg opens, and the egg begins to sing.
"Come seek us where our voices sound. We cannot sing above the ground. An hour-long, you'll have to look, to recover what we took."
Holly and Viktor look at each other and head for the surface with the help of the giant squid. The squid lays them on the shore; it waves at them and disappears under the water. Viktor moves towards Holly, "Are you alright, Holly?"
Holly coughs, "Yeah, I'm alright, Viktor. Are you?"
"Da, I am fine. That was foolish of you to come after me."
"I know, but I wanted to help you get your egg back."
Viktor shook his head in disbelief. He turned over on his back and sighed. Holly took out her wand and cast a drying spell on both of them. Viktor looked at her, "Vell, at least now ve know what the second clue is. There are mermaids in this lake, Da?"
"As far as I know, yes," Holly tells him.
"Now, ve need to figure out what they vill take from us and how to breathe under vater for an hour."
Holly sighed, "That should be easy enough."
Viktor looked at Holly and laughed, "Da, it should be quite easy."
Viktor stood up and offered his hand to Holly and helped her up. Once she was on her feet, Archimedes came running over to Holly and jumped into her arms. The little fox was still shivering from the cold. Holly quickly casts a drying and warming spell on him until he stopped shaking.
Holly looked up at Viktor, "Thank you for helping me save Archimedes."
"Anytime, Holly."
"I better take him inside," Holly tells Viktor. But before she leaves, Holly leans up and kisses Viktor on the cheek. Holly blushes and quickly walks away. She didn't see the goofy smile on Viktor's face as he stared after her.
As Holly is walking back to Gryffindor Tower, she is suddenly cornered by Viktor's headmaster, Igor Karkaroff. Holly looks up at the tall man in surprise, "Is there something I can do for you, Headmaster?"
Karkaroff scowls down at Holly, "I vont you to stay away from Viktor Potter. I know vot you are trying to do. You are trying to distract him so you can win this tournament. Vell, I'm not going to let you. Accidents happen to meddlesome little girls."
"Karkaroff!"
Holly and Karkaroff turn and see Professor Moody standing there, "What do you think you're doing with Potter?"
"Just haffing a friendly chat with the girl. Mad-Eye."
"Looks to me like you were threatening her. You alright there, Potter?"
Holly nods, "Go on, get back to your dorm," Moody tells Holly.
Holly ducks under Karkaroff's arm and hurries past him and Moody. The last thing she heard was Professor Moody threatening Karkaroff. Holly decided that she wasn't going to tell Viktor anything.
When she got back to Gryffindor Tower, she decided that Harry needed to know about how to get the clue from the egg. But how was he going to listen to it if all they had were showers? Nevertheless, Holly was going to tell him how she heard it. She wasn't going to tell her brother what she heard, that would be cheating, but at least give him a hint on how to listen to it.
Holly told Harry what happened at the lake, and he stared at her in disbelief, "You jumped in the lake to hear the egg?"
"No, I jumped in the lake to save Archimedes."
"Why didn't you use the summoning charm?"
"Because I don't know that one, I learned the gemino curse, remember?"
"Right. So you're saying I need to be underwater to hear the next clue, why don't you tell me what it says?"
"Because that's cheating. You need to figure it out on your own."
"How?"
"Maybe Cedric can get you into the Prefect's bath; he owes you for telling him about the dragons," Holly tells Harry.
Harry thinks about it, "Yeah, maybe you're right, Thanks, Hol."
"Anytime, Har-Bear."
On Monday, when Holly and Hermione found McGonagall's classroom rearranged, they wondered what was going on. The girls sat on one side of the room while the boys sat on the other. Professor McGonagall walked in and gathered everyone's attention.
"The yule ball has been a tradition of the Tri-Wizard Tournament since its inception. On Christmas eve night, our guests and we gather in the great hall for well-mannered frivolity. As representatives of the host school, I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward, and I mean this literally because the yule ball is first and foremost... a dance."
Groans emerge from the boys who are listening on. The girls seem a lot more excited. Holly and Hermione look at each other and roll their eyes, "Silence. The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizarding world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you in the course of a single evening besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons." Professor McGonagall says.
Holly watched as Fred and George whispered to each other. She leaned over to Hermione, "I wonder what those two are whispering about?"
"Nothing good."
Suddenly Professor McGonagall grabs Ron to show the others how to dance and then instructs the entire class to grab a partner and follow along. Harry and Holly start dancing together, and starting laughing at everyone else stumbles around the room. McGonagall gives them a stern look. When class is over, everyone flees for their lives.
The next month is spent with everyone trying to find dates for the Yule Ball. Harry and Ron are having a hard time working up the courage to ask the girls out, while the Durmstrang boys do it with ease. While this is going on, Holly and Viktor are getting closer. They spend most of their free time together, whether it's in the library studying or playing with Archimedes or sitting by the lake talking for hours. On those days, they would use warming charms to keep warm against the chill. Though Viktor swore, it didn't bother him.
One day as Hermione and Holly were studying in the library, Viktor came in with his friend Aleksandur. The girls looked up from their studies as the boys stopped in front of them. Aleksandur bowed and took Hermione's hand, "Miss Granger, vould you do me the honor of going to the Yule Ball vith me?" Aleksandur asked.
Hermione turned bright red and stared at the young man for a moment. She smiled at him, "It would be my pleasure, Aleksandur."
Aleksandur smiled and kissed her hand, then asked Hermione if she wouldn't mind taking a walk with him. Hermione quickly packed up her bag and left with him. Holly smiled and went back to studying; suddenly, her quill was transfigured into a red rose, she looked up at Viktor who had a smile on his face. Viktor knelt beside Holly and took her hand, "Holly Potter, vould you give me the greatest honor of accompanying me to the Yule Ball?"
Holly was so happy she couldn't help herself, she hugged Viktor and kissed his cheek, startling the young man, "I would love to be your date."
"Thank you," Viktor said.
After that, they spent the rest of the afternoon talking and holding hands. When they left the library, Holly quickly ran up to the tower so that she could write a quick letter to her aunt Andromeda Tonks. She had to tell someone about her date with Viktor, and Holly sure wasn't going to tell Sirius or Remus. Once Holly had written the note, she went to the owlery to have Hedwig take it to Andromeda.
It didn't take long for Andromeda to reply to Holly's letter. She was so happy for her niece and was excited to take her shopping for her gown. Andromeda had made arrangments with Professor McGonagall to take Holly, Hermione, and Ginny to Paris to go shopping for their dresses. They were going to use a portkey to the wizarding district in Paris on the day that everyone went to Hogsmeade. Hermione and Ginny protested, but Andromeda wouldn't hear of it.
The Hogsmeade visit was two weeks before the Yule Ball. The girls got up early and made their way to the Hogwarts gates, where Andy is waiting for them. They would have breakfast in Paris so that they don't waste time. Professor McGonagall tells the girls that they have to be back by dinner. Once they reach the gates, they greet Andy; she hugs Holly and the girls.
"I'm so excited for you, your first formal ball. I can't wait to take your girls shopping."
"Thank you again, Mrs. Tonks, for inviting us," Hermione says.
"Oh, my dear, it's my pleasure, and please, call me Andy. Are you girls ready?"
The girls nod, Andy pulls out a hubcap, and they each grab onto it. They feel a tug behind their navel and are whisked away to Paris. When they land in Paris, the first thing Andy does is take the girls out for breakfast. After that, she takes them to an exclusive shop that has the latest fashions for young witches. Andy tells the girls to pick out anything they want.
Andy takes Holly by the arm and starts leading her around the shop, "Thank you so much for doing this, Andy," Holly says.
"It's my pleasure, Holly. You know I never got to do this with Nymphadora, she's never been a girlie girl, and she never let me do this kind of thing with her."
"Well, I've never had a mother to do these sorts of things with, and I'm happy to do them with you, Andy."
"Thank you, Holly."
The girls spent several hours browsing and trying on dresses. They stopped for lunch and then continued to another shop. In the end, all three girls found the perfect dresses, shoes, and accessories. At the appropriate time, Andy and the girls headed back to Hogwarts with their dresses shrunk down and placed in their purses. The girls kissed Andy and went back to Hogwarts to put their dresses away, then went down to dinner.
As The Ball got closer, Harry and Ron were getting desperate. Harry asked Cho, but it turned out that she already had a date, and Harry was devastated. He was about to give up hope when Harry saw Parvati Patel looking at him, and Harry came up with a brilliant idea to ask her, and Ron could take Parvati's sister Padma.
On the day of the ball, the girls started getting ready four hours before the ball, Holly showered and did her makeup while Lavender helped her do her hair. She helped Holly curl her hair and put it up in an elegant bun with a sprig of baby's breath in it. Once, Holly, had her hair and makeup done, she helped the other girls get ready and do their hair and makeup. When they were all ready, they got dressed. The other girls were in awe of the dresses that Holly, Hermione, and Ginny had. Holly had chosen a green off the should gown that brought out her emerald eyes, while Ginny chose a sleeveless Burgandy gown, and Hermione chose a purple sleeveless dress.
Once the girls were ready, they made their way downstairs to meet their dates. Standing outside the Great Hall stood Viktor, Aleksandur, Cedric, Neville, Harry, and Ron. Harry and Ron were pacing. While Cedric leaned up against the wall, Viktor and Aleksandur were talking. Viktor had his back to the stairs, "Nervni li ste, priyatelyu? (Are you nervous, my friend?)" Alek asked Viktor.
"Ne, nyamam tŭrpenie da vidya Kholi, tova e vsichko. (No, I can't wait to see Holly, that's all.)"
Aleksandur gave Viktor a wicked grin, "E, Viktor, nyama da se nalaga da chakash poveche. (Well, Viktor, you won't have to wait anymore.)"
With that, Viktor turned around, his eyes widened, and his breath was caught in his throat. Holly was a vision of loveliness; the color of her dress made her emerald eyes sparkled. She was looking around for him, and when Holly spotted Viktor, her eyes lit up. Viktor stood there for a moment, dumbfounded until Aleksandur gave him a little push. Viktor recovered and made his way over to Holly. Harry looked between his sister and the Bulgarian Seeker, but the couple only had eyes for each other.
Viktor's eyes never left Holly's. He walked up the steps and took Holly's hand, kissing it, "You look vonderful, Holly."
Holly blushed, "Thank you, Viktor. You look very handsome."
Viktor smiled down at Holly, then offered his arm. She slipped her arm, in, his arm and they walked towards the door where Professor McGonagall was waiting for the Champions. Aleksandur and Hermione, along with Ron and the others, went into the Great Hall.
Once the Champions lined up, McGonagall makes an announcement, "It's traditional that the three champions or in this case five are the first to dance."
They nod, and she opens the door. The music starts to play, and the Champions glide into the Great Hall, and the dance begins. Viktor gracefully guides Holly along the dance floor, while her brother stumbles about with Parvati. Holly feels sorry for her brother, but she can't help but enjoy herself with Viktor. As they dance, out of the corner of her eye, Holly sees Sirius and Remus standing by the refreshment table. Remus has a smile on his face while Sirius is scowling at the couple.
Remus leans over to Sirius, "Love, stop it, you're going to ruin Holly's night."
"I can't help it, Moony, she's only a baby."
Remus laughs and kisses Sirius' cheek, "Holly's not a baby anymore, Siri. She's growing up; boys are bound to find her attractive. Especially since she looks like Lily."
"Yes, but does it have to be that boy?"
"At least she isn't interested in Malfoy. Face it Padfoot; they like each other," Remus tells him, "She looks at him the way Lily used to look at James when they got married."
"Oh, bloody hell, no, she is not getting married!" Sirius exclaims.
Remus rolled his eyes, "Come on, Padfoot, let's dance."
"Good idea, we can spy on them easier."
Remus smacks Sirius on the back of the head then leads him out onto the dancefloor.
Once the dance is over the Champions, sit down to a nice dinner. They talk amongst themselves for a while, enjoying each other's company. Once dinner is over, the tables are cleared, and everyone begins to dance. After what feels like hours of dancing, Holly and Viktor take a break, and Viktor and Aleksandur go to get some punch for him and Holly. While he's gone, Ron gets into an argument with Hermione about her being used by Aleksandur and that he's too old for her. But at that moment, Aleksandur comes back and steps between Hermione and Ron.
"I think you owe the lady an apology, friend."
Ron looks up at the tall, muscular Bulgarian, "I don't owe her anything."
Aleksandur sets the punch down and steps closer to Ron, "I believe you do. I vill not stand here and have you dishonor my date or me. Either you apologize, or I will make you."
Ron swallows, "No."
Aleksandur grabs Ron by the collar, but Remus and Sirius make their way over, "Hey, hey, what's going on?"
"Nothing, Remus, it's only a misunderstanding. It's alright, Alek, if Ron doesn't want to apologize, he doesn't have to."
Aleksandur looks down at Hermione and nods, he takes her hand and leads her to another table where Holly and Viktor are sitting.
Ron turns to Harry, "Can you believe her?"
"Yeah, I can, Ron, you deserve that. You had no right to say those things to Hermione."
Ron looks down, "Do you think Hermione will forgive me?"
"Honestly, I don't know," Harry tells his friend.
Ron looks over to where Hermione is with Aleksandur and sees that she's laughing and having a great time with him. He sighs, gets up, and leaves the ball, soon Harry follows him. He can't stand watching Cho with Cedric.
Back at Holly and Viktor's table, Hermione took no notice that Ron had left, she was too busy having fun with Aleksandur. He was kind, attentive, charming, and not to mention handsome with his dark hair and blue eyes. The two couples went back out onto the dancefloor and began dancing again until the Weird Sisters began to perform. Once they started to play, Viktor asked Holly if she wanted to take a walk with him.
"I would love to."
Viktor grabbed his cloak and draped it over Holly as they made their way outside, Sirius was about to follow them, but Remus grabbed him by his robes, "No, leave them alone, Padfoot."
"But-"
"No, buts. Leave Holly alone."
Sirius sighed and resigned himself.
Holly and Viktor walked into one of the courtyards and sat down on the bench. Holly looked up at Viktor and smiled, "I'm having a good time, Viktor."
"I am glad, Holly. It means a great deal to me that you agreed to go vith me to the ball. And now I have a question to ask you."
Holly started getting nervous. She licked her lips, "What did you want to ask me, Viktor?"
Viktor followed her tongue with his eyes, then he shook his head, "I vonted to ask you if you vould be my girlfriend."
Holly smiled, "I would love to be your girlfriend."
Viktor let out a sigh in relief, "May I kiss you now?"
"Yes."
Viktor cupped her face and leaned down. He gently pressed his lips to Holly's. Holly's eyes slid shut, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Viktor's other arm came around Holly's waist, and he pulled her closer.
"Potter!"
The couple instantly broke apart and stared at Snape who was standing behind them, "I believe that's fifty points from Gryffindor for inappropriate behavior."
"What?!"
"Shall we go for one hundred points?"
Viktor stood up and pushed Holly behind him, "I do not think that is necessary, Professor."
"I don't care what you think, Krum. Be glad I don't tell your headmaster."
Viktor gritted his teeth, "Yes, sir."
"Now, I suggest you two get back inside before I tell your guardians what you have been doing, Potter."
Holly was about to argue, but Viktor took her hand and led her inside. But as soon as they were out of sight of Snape, Viktor leaned down and kissed Holly again. He grinned at her and led her back into the Great Hall.