"Congratulations, Miss. Potter, an exceptional achievement. Well done, boy. I'm sorry we haven't spoken, after all, your story is one I've heard many times. Quite remarkable. Tragic, of course, to lose one's family. Never whole again, are we? Still, life goes on. And here we stand. I'm sure your parents would be very proud today, Potter."
Barty said as he looked between the twins, "If you say so, Mr. Crouch," Holly said.
Moody approaches them, "Bartimus! Not trying to lure the Potters into one of the ministry's summer internships, are we? The last boy who went into the department of ministries never came out!"
Barty doesn't answer; he only walks away.
"And they say I'm mad."
Holly looks at Moody suspiciously. The feeling in her gut about not trusting Moody is even stronger. She only wished that Harry would listen to her.
Later that day, Holly, Harry, and Hermione are walking through the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid, "So I remember, I remember when I first met you all. Biggest bunch of misfits I've ever set eyes on, you lot always reminded me of myself a little. And here we all are, four years later."
"We're still misfits," Holly says.
"Maybe. But we've all got each other, and Holly and Harry of course. And one of you is soon to be the youngest Tri-Wizard champion there's ever been! Hooray!" Hagrid cheers, "By the way, where's Ron?"
"Holly and Ron had a row, and they're staying away from each other for now," Harry answered.
"About what?"
Holly explained what Ron has been doing lately and that he's been acting like an insensitive git. Hagrid listened and nodded his head, "You're right, Holly, Ron should never have said those things about you and Viktor, he had no right. But are you going to throw away four years of friendship over it?"
Holly paused.
"Just think about it, Holly."
Holly nods, maybe they could still be friends, but she would never trust him like she once did. Ron was slowly starting to show his true colors. He was jealous and petty, and the boy honestly thought that she and Harry were attention seekers, and they enjoyed their unwarranted fame.
Holly and Harry walked through the forest, singing the Hogwarts song. Holly and Harry suddenly got a shooting pain through their scars. On the ground, they see Barty Crouch laying lifeless. Holly gasps and calls for Hagrid, who rushes over to the twins.
"Oh, Merlin, Mr. Crouch."
Holly and Harry stare at the body, while Hermione sends up red sparks with her wand to get the attention of the Professors at the castle. Eventually, Dumbledore, Snape, Moody, and McGonagall show up, they demand to know what happened from everyone.
"We don't know what happened, Holly and Harry found Mr. Crouch already dead."
"And what were you all doing so far from the castle, may I ask," Snape asked, "That's fifty points each from Gryffindor."
"Severus, not now. We need to get Barty back to the castle," Dumbledore said.
Snape scowls at the twins, but he transfigures a stretcher and a sheet to cover Barty's body. As they take the body back to the castle, Holly could swear she saw a smirk on Moody's face.
Later that day, Viktor finds Holly. He had heard about what happened to Crouch, and Viktor wanted to check on Holly to make sure she was okay. He found her sitting in an alcove staring out the window watching the rainfall.
"Gŭlŭbcheto mi (My dove.) Are you alright? Aleksandur and I heard you, and your brother found Mr. Crouch's body."
Holly looked at Viktor and frowned, "I'm alright, Viktor, I'm only trying to figure out who would have wanted Mr. Crouch dead. There were no marks on him; it looked like he just dropped dead."
Viktor gasped, "Someone used the killing curse on him."
Holly's eyes widen, "I'm so stupid, I should have known that."
"No, you are not, little one. You've only seen it once. And I am glad you do not know vhot it looks like."
"And you do?"
Viktor sigh, "At Durmstrang ve are showed many times how the Unforgivable curses vork so that ve know vhot to expect. I haff even felt the Cruciatus Curse before."
Holly gasped, "That's awful."
"Da, but it is required at Durmstrang."
Holly felt so terrible that she got off her seat and hugged Viktor, forgetting all about Mr. Crouch. They stood there for a while, holding each other until the couple was interrupted by Harry, who was looking for his sister.
"Oh, uh, I didn't mean to interrupt. I only wanted to see how you were doing, Hol."
"I'm fine, Har-Bear. Just a little shaken," Holly said as she pulled away from Viktor.
"Good, then I guess I'll leave you two alone."
Holly smiled at her brother, "Thanks for checking up on me, Harry."
"Yeah, no problem," And with that, Harry left.
After Mr. Crouch's murder, the Aurors had been called to investigate, but they found nothing so slowly the matter was forgotten by the Hogwarts students and the visiting delegations, except by Holly. She still couldn't get the look on Moody's face out of her head, why did he look so satisfied? After a while, she decided to put it out of her head, or it would drive her mad.
The months passed, and things got back to normal. Holly helped Hermione, Luna and Ginny study for their end of term exams. Just she was exempt didn't mean that Holly didn't want to study with them anyway. Ron and Holly's relationship slowly got better, but there was a strain there that everyone noticed except for Ron.
Of course, most of her free time she spent it with Viktor. Usually, one could not be found without the other. They were either holding hands or giving each other innocent kisses. Of course, it wasn't always so innocent. They would sometimes end up under the Quidditch bleachers making out, though Viktor tried not to push Holly into something she was uncomfortable with, she was usually very receptive to their makeout sessions.
Holly and Viktor weren't the only ones getting close. Hermione and Aleksandur were also getting close. They would take long walks together, talking about everything. Aleksandur told Hermione that he wanted to work for the Bulgarian Ministry of Magic after he graduated. He wanted to fight for equality for werewolves and other creatures. Though things weren't nearly as bad in Bulgaria as they were in England for werewolves, Aleksandur still thought it was unfair.
"I haff an uncle that vos bitten by Greyback. And though he is not treated as badly as he would be here, there are some things he is not allowed to do. Luckily for my uncle ve haff many houses throughout Bulgaria and Russia, so he can live vherever he vonts. My father gives him a monthly allowance, and I stay vith him during his transformation."
"You're an animagus," Hermione asked, as they walked around holding hands.
"Da, I am a brown bear. Large enough for my uncle to play vith and not get hurt. Sometimes Viktor joins us; he is a snow leopard."
"It must be fascinating being an animagus."
"It is a lot of fun. Would you like to see?"
Hermione's eyes lit up, "Yes, please."
Aleksandur stood back, giving himself enough room, and transformed. Hermione gasped at seeing the giant grizzly bear standing in front of her with blue eyes. The bear came over to Hermione and growled playfully at her. He carefully reached out with his paw and knocked Hermione off her feet. Hermione started laughing as the bear began sniffing her. She squealed when she felt a long wet tongue lick her face.
"Ew, Alek! That's gross."
The bear sat down on his haunches and started huffing; it sounded like he was laughing. Hermione sat up and cast a cleaning charm to get the slobber off of her, "Alright, Mr. Ivanov, change back."
Aleksandur got back up and turned back. He laughed when Hermione hit him, "I am sorry, Malka Zvezda (Little Star.) I could not resist."
Hermione huffed, "You're forgiven."
Aleksandur wrapped his arm around Hermione's shoulder, and she wrapped hers around his waist. They stopped and sat under a tree by the lake. They sat there in comfortable silence until Aleksandur turned to Hermione. He took her hand in his and kissed it.
"The reason I asked you to come to walk with me is that I vonted to ask you something."
Hermione's heart was racing, "What did you want to ask me?"
Aleksandur looked deeply into Hermione's brown eyes, "Vould you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?"
Hermione gasped, "I would love to be your girlfriend."
Aleksandur smiled, he leaned in and kissed Hermione on the lips. Hermione wrapped her arms around Aleksandur's neck, and he lifted her and placed her in his lap. They kissed for a while then separated for air. Aleksandur placed his forehead against Hermione's, "That was a lovely first kiss," Hermione said.
"Da, I could not agree more," He said then pecked Hermione on the lips.
"You must come to visit me in Bulgaria this summer, vith Holly," Aleksandur said.
"Holly's going to Bulgaria? She didn't tell me."
"Viktor is going to ask her today. I am sure she vill say yes. If you vont, I vill even meet your parents."
"I think that would be for the best. I want my parents to know my boyfriend."
"Hmm, I like the sound of that," Aleksandur said, then kissed Hermione again.
They sat there on a beautiful spring day enjoying each other's company for the rest of the afternoon, talking and kissing.
Meanwhile, Holly and Viktor were chasing each other, laughing and teasing each other on the Quidditch Pitch, "Come on, Viktor, you said you would help me practice with the Quaffle so I can try out for next year's team."
"I am helping you. Vhy do you think I am chasing you?"
"Don't be silly, go guard the goal, and I'll see if I can throw it pass you."
Viktor moaned, "Fine."
Viktor flew over to the goal and put himself in front of the goal. Holly started at the opposite of the pitch. She pretended that she was being chased and did evasive maneuvers. When Holly got to the goal, she threw the Quaffle as hard as she could to get it to pass Viktor, but he blocked. She caught it and started again. The more they practiced, the better Holly got. Eventually, she was able to get the Quaffle past Viktor more often than not.
When they landed, Viktor hugs Holly, "You did very well, Holly. If you do not make the team, I vill be very surprised."
Viktor spins Holly around in his arms, then kisses her, "Vill you come to visit me in Bulgaria?"
Holly looked at Viktor, surprised, "Really?"
"Yes, I vould luff to show you my home."
"Yes. Well, that is if Remus and Sirius let me."
"I vill ask them for permission."
"No, I'll ask them."
"Holly, I need to ask them. It is the proper thing to do."
"Okay."
"Good, I am glad that is settled," Viktor said then kissed Holly again. They picked up their brooms and headed back to the castle.