A/N: All right, if truth be told, I've never been to Bulgaria, or even Europe (will be in a couple of years though!), so please excuse the way my imagination pictures it to be.

Either way, I'm sorry HermioneM, Ron won't be coming to Hermione's 'rescue' anytime soon. But he's coming into the story soon!

MusicalRose, I just started my reading break yesterday so I'll update at least twice this week. Thanks for your comments & support though!

~***~

Bulgaria was definitely different from London. Everyone seemed to be so much more laid-back. No one rushing around for appointments in power suits, and no tourists trying to make the Queen's guards smile or taking numerous pictures of Big Ben. As much as she didn't want to accept it, Hermione was beginning to relax and starting to enjoy Bulgaria. Viktor was being a perfect gentleman. His parents were delightful, and she found that he was an only child like herself. The more she talked to him and found out about him, the more she realised they were very alike. He was even the top student of his year at Durmstrang!

This was beginning to be a problem.

She was going to be leaving tomorrow afternoon, and they decided not to do any tourist-like events today. She and Viktor were strolling around the town's park not really talking. Viktor knew almost immediately that this was not the day for idle chit-chat. He stole glances at her occasionally from the corner of his eye, but she wasn't really noticing. She needed some time to think.

The problem was that she was getting comfortable with Viktor. That's not to say she wasn't comfortable with Ron, but there were always arguments interspersed with their laid-back friend relationship. She was comfortable with Viktor just as comfortable as she was with Harry. Actually, maybe even more. With Harry, there was always the factor that he'd side with Ron when they had their butting-head sessions, just as he had when she told Professor McGonnagal about his Firebolt, and even during the Yule Ball when she had that row with Ron. She wasn't angry with Harry, she accepted it with a grace that she didn't even know she had. With Viktor, he was solely hers and vice versa.

And she liked it.

~***~

The path that they were walking along went around a pond where there were fish swimming and little ducklings roaming around the surface. Mrs. Krum had given them bite-sized pieces of bread before they left that morning so that they could feed the ducks.

With Viktor standing beside her at they edge of the pond, they idly threw the bread watching with smiles on their faces as the little ducklings waddled over to grab them. Hermione was keeping an eye out for any duck that was not able to get a piece so that they could get some food too.

When their food supply was empty, Viktor led her over to a park bench that had a picturesque view of the park, and they sat and people-watched. Well, Viktor did. Hermione simply closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sky soaking up the sunlight.

"Hermy-own-ninny…"

"mmhmm" she replied with her eyes still closed. She was definitely in a lazy mood right now.

"I vas vondering, vell, if you regret coming here"

Hermione opened up her eyes and turned her head to look at him. "Why would you ask something like that?"

He gave her a kind of sheepish look and said rather hesitantly, "you haff been very quiet today and so I thought –

She quickly shook her head to stop him. "I'm sorry Viktor," she started to explain, "I just needed to think and I guess I haven't been a very good guest today".

He still looked a little unconvinced.

"I've been having a great time the moment I landed. Everything's great, in fact better than I expected!"

"That's not really a lie," she thought, "I really did think that this trip would turn out bad".

Viktor gave her one last look, "Are you sure?"

Hermione smiled at him, "Positive. I'm happy I accepted your invitation and I don't regret it one bit!"

Viktor smiled, although she could tell he was trying to stop himself from outright grinning. She couldn't help it, and her smile started to turn into a grin, and they both just started to laugh.

When they finally calmed themselves down a bit, Viktor stood up and offered his hand to her. She accepted it and got up from the bench. He turned to face her, and said rather seriously, "I'm glad you came Herm-own-ninny"

She started to blush slightly when she looked up to his face, and replied with all the sincerity she could muster, "I'm glad I came too".

And they left the park to grab some lunch still holding hands.

~***~

Hermione was sitting in the guestroom's bed with Crookshanks plopped on her. He was getting a bit heavy, if truth be told. "Maybe you should go on a diet Crookshanks…then again, it'd probably be hard trying to explain to you why I was starving you", she mused. Crookshanks didn't budge.

She finally had to push him off her lap, which he did not appreciate. She wasn't about to do anything about that though. She had to start to get ready. Viktor had arranged that night for them to go to an all-age club. She had almost forgotten that she was legal here.

She decided to go all-out for tonight. She was in the mood to dress up. She even went into the wizard part of the town a couple of days ago, and bought another bottle of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion from a witch in the witch's salon.

Since they were going to a muggle club, she had to dress muggle-style. Viktor didn't want to go to the Weird Sisters concert for two reasons: since they were still in school, they couldn't perform any magic even if they wanted to, and two, he didn't want to be recognised as Bulgaria's famous seeker. Hermione could understand that. She was a best friend of Harry's after all.

She sat down in front of her dresser's mirror, and combed in the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and grimaced. As nice as the results were, she hated the feel of the stuff in her hair. She decided to keep her hair down this time, and it fell just past her shoulders. It was always astonishing to her on how long her hair really was when it was curly and tangled. It took some time to curl the end of her hair in and she kept wondering how Lavender and Parvati managed to do this every morning. She would never have time to do this every day with school, especially as the O.W.Ls were coming this year.

Finally, she gave up knowing it'd never be perfect, but she had to admit that it wasn't that bad. She put on a little lip-gloss – she abhorred heavy make-up – and stood up to change her clothes.

She had no idea what girls her age wore to these clubs. Her own mother didn't care much about fashion (she is a dentist after all), and Mrs. Krum only knew witches' fashion. So, Hermione was left to her own devices. She eventually found a deep mauve wraparound top that the sales rep had gushed on and on about how good it looked on Hermione until she bought it just to keep her quiet. She wore it with a dark green chiffony skirt that came just above her knees and black open-toed sandals.

She gave herself a look-over one final time in full-length mirror before declaring satisfactory. It helped when the mirror told her that she looked great too.

She looked at her watch, 10:00pm. They were supposed to leave in five minutes. She patted down her hair one more time, opened the door and hurried down the stairs. Mr. and Mrs. Krum had already left for a dinner party of their own, so only Viktor was waiting by the front door.

Viktor's eyes widened slightly at the sight of her. "Vow Herm-own-ninny! You look vonderful!"

It was the same reaction when he saw her at the Yule Ball.

She grinned at him and they headed out the door.

~***~

The club was amazing: the music, the lights, the people, all of it. Hermione was having a great time. Viktor was surprisingly a good dancer; it seemed he was better dancer and flier than he looked when he was firmly on the ground.

They had just danced to the last five songs in a row before finding a table where they could sit, have a drink, and mostly just to take a breather.

"I'm so glad you took me here Viktor. I wasn't sure if I would like it as I don't really like these events, but I'm having a lot of fun"

Viktor smiled and shouted something back at her, but with all the noise his words were drowned out. She shrugged and smiled apologetically at him.

The crowd was beginning to thin out a little more since it was getting late, and all of a sudden they heard the DJ announce "Last Call!"

Viktor pulled her out of her chair and they got back on the dance floor. It turned out to be a slow song that she didn't recognise, although she hadn't recognised the majority of the songs.

Her right clasped his left and she put her left hand on his shoulder. They danced quietly and just swayed to the music slowly moving in a circle.

She pulled back a little near the end of the song and looked up at him.

"Thanks so much for this Viktor. Not only for today, but for the entire week. I've had a wonderful time. I'll miss this country, your family, and especially you when I leave tomorrow".

He looked at her with a smile on his face, "Oh, you vill never know ven you'll next see me right?"

He paused slightly and his smile faded slightly from his face, "I vill miss you also Hermy-own-ninny". He removed his hand from her waist and cupped her chin to raise it to his.

Just as the last notes of the song echoed throughout the club, he brought his face down to her and kissed her gently on the lips.

~***~

~***~

A/N: Whew! That was a little longer than I expected! I was going to stop the chapter after the park scene, but decided not to in the end. So be happy, even if you aren't happy with the ending if this chapter!

MusicalRose, I hoped that quenched your appetite till the next chapter is uploaded!

There's no point in telling you to read the chapter if you're reading this, so please review, review, review!