A/N: Another chapter done. I tried to make this a little light-hearted as I felt the last couple had quite a bit of drama involved.

Disclaimer: I don't wanna do another one! pouts at the computer screen

~***~

The three of them walked down the stairs, Hermione holding onto Ron's arm to keep him from dragging his feet. Harry was on the other side of Ron, but he kept his hands to himself.

They landed eventually, in front of the doors leading to the Great Hall. Hermione peered inside and saw Viktor at the Ravenclaw table sitting by himself as there were only a few other Ravenclaws awake and eating.

"Good he's there," Hermione reported to the two of them. Ron looked like he was going to make one last desperate plea to her. "Listen, you're going to do this whether you like it or not, so you might as well do it now while there aren't many students here so you'll make less of a scene." She looked at him until he finally nodded, and walked in with him.

She was sure Viktor noticed the three of them come in, but he gave no indication of it, and kept his head down while eating his ham and eggs. She nudged Ron to get him talking, as he was just standing there not saying a word.

"Umm, Viktor?" Ron called out, trying to get his attention. Viktor looked up, but didn't say a word and looked back with cold eyes. "Hi. I'm Ron Weasley." Viktor still said nothing. "Err, okay." Hermione saw Ron take a breath and try a different tact and watched him spit out in one breath before his face turned even more red – if that was even possible by now.

"I, err, wanted to talk to you about yesterday. The kiss meant nothing. To Hermione, or me. And I kissed her. She knew nothing about it. So if you want to be angry, be angry with me, not her. Hermione had no idea, and I'm sorry. To the both of you." Ron looked at Viktor and Hermione, sincerity written all over his eyes.

She knew how hard it was for him to say that. Not only to her, but to him as well. She smiled a little at him, hoping he understood that she accepted his apology. She turned to Viktor who was looking at her and Ron.

"So, you two are not going out?" he asked. Ron shook his head, "No." Then he stopped and looked at Viktor and her, "Why, are you two?" This time Viktor had to say "no". Both guys looked at each other, relief written all over their faces.

"Oh, good grief. Let's go eat breakfast," Hermione said more that a little exasperated, dragging Ron and Harry with her before that conversation could continue.

"Ron, I haccept your apology!" Viktor shouted to their retreating backs. Ron twisted slightly and waved back at Krum with a big grin on his face.

The three sat down at the table and while Hermione and Harry dived right in and grabbed their breakfast items, Ron looked around the room and gave a sight of relief. "At least Malfoy wasn't here to see that."

~***~

Hermione was just finishing up her breakfast when Fred came by and put a headlock on Ron in a playful manner (it looked less painful than the one Millicent Bulstrode put on her in second year!). George put his elbows on the table and leaned in between Ron and her.

"Awww, look, it's our two little lovebirds. We were very insulted that we didn't know you two were, well, you know," George said puckering his lips and making kissing noises

"Our little Ronnie-kins is all grown up now," Fred said while messing up Ron's hair.

"Geroff Fred!" Ron shouted irritably.

"Maybe we should take the two of them and have a little talk about what it means to be grown up," George suggested to his twin.

Before Fred could agree, Ron finally managed to fight his way out of his brother's grasp. "You don't have to talk to us about anything!" Ron's face was very red by this time, "Hermione and I are not going out!"

The twins laughed. "We know that you goof. Hermione's too smart to go out with a dunce like you," George replied before leaving to find their own seat leaving Ron with shaking with frustration. Fred winked at Harry and Hermione who were laughing, although Hermione had a bit of a blush on her face from George's last comment.

~***~

A few minutes later, Hermione, Harry, and the four other Gryffindor prefects were asked by Professor McGonagall to pass out the time schedules to their housemates. They each took a pile, and Hermione ended up with the second years' schedules. She finished passing them out to each student, and went back to her seat beside Ron. She turned to Harry who was still passing the schedules out to the fifth year students.

"Give me mine Harry," she demanded, holding her hand out to him. She knew he had deliberately taken their year so she would be the last one to find out her schedule was like.

He grinned at her, "Just a moment. I have to give these out first." She scowled at him good-naturedly, but drummed her fingers impatiently on the table. She watched him hand out the last few remaining sheets, and finally he handed the last one to her with flourish.

She snatched it out of his arm and scanned it hurriedly. "Oh good, Arithmancy is first!" Ron and Harry rolled their eyes as they continued to eat their breakfast. She continued, "I guess that means you two have Divinations first," she smiled wickedly.

She watched with great amusement as their eyes widened and they scrambled to look at their own schedules. They groaned simultaneously.

"What a way to start a year," Harry moaned.

"My day can't get any worse than this," Ron said, burying his face in his hands.

"At least you don't have to hear predictions on your death," Harry countered.

"No, I just have to make them up," Ron said looking up.

Lavender and Parvati were nearby and listened with frowns on their faces. Parvati tossed her long black hair away from her shoulders, "Divinations is a great class. I've been practising with my inner eye all summer."

"Having Divinations first is a great way to start the year. We can find out how well we'll do this year in the O.W.Ls and the House Cup. I can't wait to ask Professor Trelawny about her predictions," Lavender said excitedly.

Ron and Harry rolled their eyes again in utter despair, while Hermione covered her mouth with her hand and tried not to snicker too loud.

~***~

Once Harry and Ron finished eating (Hermione read her Arithmancy waiting for them to finish up), they ran to the common room, grabbed their bag and books and headed down again. They had to leave early, as it would take Ron and Harry awhile to get to their room.

"See you at Hagrid's for Care of Magical Creatures!" Ron shouted over his shoulder when they went their separate ways.

Hermione waved and headed down a hallway to her classroom. She walked in a leisurely manner knowing she had plenty of time to get there. She turned up a passageway and noticed a group of Ravenclaws ahead of her.

"Viktor!" Hermione called out. The blonde haired boy turned around with a surprised look on his face.

"Hermy-own-ninny!" His face broke out in a smile as he made his way to her. "Are you in my Transfiguration class?" He asked, pointing to his textbook.

She shook her head, "No, that's a seventh year course. I'm heading towards my Arithmancy class. How are you liking Hogwarts so far?"

"Good. I vish my friends from Durmstrang vere here, but the Ravenclaws are ffery nice and smart," he replied with a slight shrug.

"Viktor," Hermione turned serious, "I'm sorry for what Ron did yesterday, and I know he's really sorry about it too."

"It's okay Herm-own-ninny. I vas ffery surprised, but he said he vas sorry, and it's okay."

"You're an amazing guy, you know that?" Hermione marvelled at him. He looked down at her a little embarrassed, and offered to walk with her partway to her classroom.

~***~

Hermione entered the classroom with relish, not only because she managed to make sure everything was all right with Viktor, but because this was one of her favourite classes.

She remembered reading about the Trojan War before she discovered she was a witch, and was fascinated about the characters and their roles: Achilles, Hector, Cassandra, Aeneas, Helen, Paris, and Odysseus.

When she was in her second year, she decided to research the electives that she would have to choose for her next year. In the Arithmancy section of the library, she found a book telling the tale of the Trojan War, but in a different angle. Here, Cassandra was a seer (she wasn't a fake like Trelawny) who foretold the doom of the city. The Greeks had also used Arithmancy to predict the death of Hector by Achilles' hand.

Hermione had never told Ron and Harry the true reason why she was so intrigued about Arithmancy – she was sure they would just make fun of her.

She sat down in the front desk and copied down all the numbers and runes of this mystical alphabet that Professor Vector wrote and discussed.

~***~

Hermione walked as quickly possible down the corridors. She didn't dare run down as Filch would call it "reckless behaviour" and would give her a detention on the first day. Her bookbag swung from her shoulder and kept hitting her hip as she moved to the door that would lead to Hagrid's Hut.

Seeing a tall redhead and a shorter (although, she admitted that Harry had grown a couple of inches during the summer) black-haired boy, she hurried to their side.

"Hi," she panted slightly, holding a hand to her side and dropping her bag to the ground with a big thump. "How'd you guys get here so fast?"

The two of them grinned at each other, "Trelawny had us use Ouija boards to contact the dead," Ron started. "We had our fingers on the 3-legged window piece –"

"- a planchette," Harry informed Hermione.

"- asking it questions and allowing it to move –"

"-more like pushing it," Harry laughed.

"Anyway, Trelawny came over, and started asking our Ouija boards questions such as 'Will Harry leave us forever?', 'Will You-Know-Who finally seek revenge?', and so on. Of course, the piece kept moving to 'yes' because she was pushing it!" Ron continued.

"The next thing we know, everyone's planchettes flew up and started hitting Trelawny! It was the funniest thing! She finally opened the curtains and windows, and let everyone out early!" Harry was laughing so hard he could barely continue by this time.

"Who did it?" Hermione asked. "They must have gotten in serious trouble."

"That's the best thing, Hermione! Old Trelawny couldn't figure it out. Her inner eye must be interrupting with her magical abilities, or something," Ron said sarcastically.

"She wanted us all to stay behind and confess, but then Seamus said that maybe it was the spirits who caused it as they didn't like the questions," Harry shook his head in disbelief.

"You didn't!" Hermione turned to Seamus.

He looked at her all innocent-like, "You never know Hermione what those ghosts do for fun. And she couldn't argue it, because she's supposed to believe in spirits and ghosts!"

Hermione gave up by this point. Even though she knew they broke so many rules, she couldn't help but laugh at Trelawny too.

"Trelawny told us that we have to do a two foot composition on Ouija boards, and then told us to leave," Ron concluded proudly.

"Two hours into school, and you already cause trouble…although I wish I was there to see it!" Hermione conceded.

The group of them looked at each other before bursting into laughter once again trying to compose themselves as they saw Hagrid coming towards the class with a big crate.

~***~

A/N: I decided to leave it off here 'cause my brain hurts. lol!

Vy: I never really thought about Lucius having an influence on Draco being prefect; I just figured he would study so Lucius wouldn't get mad at him. Except, he's not as bright as our Hermione! Did you really foresee Viktor coming? I was hoping to make it a surprise but I guess my twists in my story need work, or my readers are just too bright. Probably both, lol! The "Anne-with an 'e'" came from Anne of Green Gables, a Canadian pride. Also, because my middle name is Ann, and I've been bitter since I first read the book that my name didn't have an 'e'! I gave my mom so much grief when I was 10 years old about that! lol!

Rally-as-Twiddle's: I think so too! On both accounts! Out of curiosity, how did you come up with your name?

HermioneM: thank you so much!!! It means so much to me!!

Bluetreeleaves: Sorry that this chapter wasn't fast, but I hope you liked it anyway! Were you finally able to upload your story onto ffnet?

MusicalRose: I thought that too, but he left Dursmtrang, which kind of defeats loyalty (depending on who he was loyal to in the first place), and he was always in the library. Yes, I know he was wanting to talk to Hermione (is he a stalker then? ;-)), but he must have studied sometime while there!

GinnyPotter: thanks for your review!

Madison: Your review wasn't long at all, and I loved it! Exams, yuck! I have mine in April, and then I get four months for summer vacation! I'm glad you like this, and I guess I'll see you in a couple of weeks! Good luck on your finals!

A/N: And that is all for now. I have a paper due on Tuesday, so I probably won't upload till Wednesday or Thursday. Just warning you folks!

Shalara