Disclaimer: All of this is owned by the wonderfully talented author by the name of J.K. Rowling.

~***~

Hermione read at the letter one more time and finally placed it on her desk with a sigh.

"Oh dear", she said silently to herself. "What am I going to do? I don't like Viktor that way. He's a nice guy and a great Seeker. He's probably even better considering I don't know all that much about Seeker moves. Any girl would jump at the chance to take up this invitation, heck, practically every girl in Hogwarts was jumping on the poor guy these past ten months! So what's wrong with me?"

She finally laid her head and arms on her desktop and just stared at nothing for awhile.

"I wish Harry and Ron were here – actually no I don't! Well, at least not Ron. He'd probably go on and on about how Victor's practically a Death Eater since he goes to Durmstrang", she muttered to herself. "Harry would probably understand, but I don't even think he can handle this. Besides, he has enough trouble with the Dursleys."

~***~

She knew her parents were getting a little concerned with the way she was behaving, but she couldn't help it. If she were left idle for just a few seconds she would start to think about Viktor and what she was going to tell him. She didn't want to lie to him, but she didn't want to lead him on either. Maybe she wasn't giving him a chance. But at the same time, she knew that the spark wasn't there. Hermione wasn't sure what that 'spark' was, but she thought it would be an instant connection. That no matter what she could speak freely to that guy, have great discussions – even heated ones, but most importantly that they both felt that they needed each other. Viktor was pleasant enough, but there was never anything substantial to their conversations.

But does this person exist? Maybe Viktor could be this person. Maybe she needed to get to know him better. Maybe, maybe, maybe. And this is where her parents find her gazing at absolutely nothing.

~***~

"Hermione dear, please tell me what's the matter. Your father and I have been a little worried about you these past couple of days", her mother said.

"I'm fine mum," Hermione lied.

"Hermione…"

She kept her eyes on her book, "Mum, I've told you. Everything is okay".

"Is this about your friends Ronald and Harry?"

No answer. Hermione kept her face away from her mother since she felt tears start to build up. She could hear her mother get up off the corner of her bed and start to leave.

"Well, if you ever need to talk, I'm…"

"Wait mum. Maybe I should talk to you." She turned and watched as her mother's expression as she watched the tears stream down her daughter's face.

Hermione wordlessly handed Viktor's letter, which was so worn out due to the fact that she kept fiddling with it this past while. Dr. Granger silently read the letter, and looked up.

"Hermione, do you want to visit this boy in Bulgaria?"

This was the question of the day…or days.

" I don't know mum. That's the problem." She spilled everything, or almost everything, out. She needed a female to talk to, but this was her mother after all.

"What do Harry and Ronald think about him?"

"Harry is fine with Viktor. Ron likes him as a Seeker – a sports player mum – but he and I have had really bad fights about me hanging out with him." Just saying that brought another fresh wave of tears to her eyes. Hermione blinked furiously to keep them at bay with no luck.

"Why was he so angry?" she asked shrewdly.

"Because, well, because he thought I would help Viktor win the Tri-wizard cup! I wouldn't do that to Harry! I couldn't believe it when I heard him say it!" Her voice was getting louder and louder the more she thought and ranted about Ron and his stupid comments. Eventually, she was no longer coherent and just kept muttering to herself.

"Are you sure that's the only reason Hermione?"

Hermione kept pacing around her room, "what do you mean?"

"Well, maybe he likes you"

Hermione stopped. "WHAT?! MUM! That's gross!"

Mrs. Granger was not about to be swayed, "Well, think about it. Maybe he was just jealous because Viktor got to spend time with you and he was worried. In fact, how do you feel about Ron?"

"MOTHER!"

"I'm just saying that all the criteria you had for that 'spark' that's missing between you and Viktor, you have between you and Ron".

"I can't believe I'm hearing this…"

"You get along with each other…"

"The idea of Ron and I…"

"You complement each other very well…"

"…going out is laughable!…"

"he seems to be very impulsive and you are very cautious…"

"He'd probably freak out if he heard this…"

"you need each other…"

"or he'd run out screaming…"

"and you definitely have the heated discussions part down cold."

"before he got control of himself to be able to freak out!"

"HERMIONE," her mother said very loudly to get her attention. Hermione looked up in surprise. "Why are you so shocked by this suggestion? Don't you like him?"

Hermione's mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she was able to muster a reply. "As a friend, yes. But, that's beside the point. He doesn't like me. He doesn't even think of me as a girl. He didn't even think of asking me to the Yule Ball." She said this rather quickly.

"What if he had asked you, would you have accepted?"

"Yes. No. Maybe. Oh mum, I don't know. What's the point of dealing with 'what if' situations? He didn't ask me, and that's all that matters, isn't it?" She plopped on her bed sobbing in her pillow.

Her mom placed a consoling hand on her daughter's back, and let her gaze fall on Viktor's letter and a picture of Ron. "To be 14 again…Oh Hermione, this will get better if you are faithful to your true feelings" she thought to herself, but she knew her daughter would not want to hear it right now.

~***~

That's it for now folks. Thanks to Kari Ishikawa for giving me my first review! :)

Please r/r!