The next thing Hermione knew she was lying in her bed still wearing
her gown while Martha patted her forehead with a wet washcloth. Remembering
the incidents from before, she immediately shot up which scared Martha out
of her mind causing her to drop the washcloth on the floor and put her hand
over her heart breathing heavily. Before Martha could say anything Hermione
instantly asked, "Where's Harry and Ron?"
"Oh good, so you do know them." Martha replied, "I was wondering if I
should let them inside or not.they said that they were.old friends of
yours?"
"Yes, where are they?!" Hermione asked again impatiently. "They're
waiting for you down in the living room." Martha replied annoyingly.
Hermione instantly jumped out of the bed running as fast as she could
to her living room. While Martha screamed, "Hey! Come back! You need your
rest!!!"
Hermione ignored her (as usual). When she finally got all the way to
the other side of the mansion, she stopped and saw Ron sitting on a couch
twiddling his thumbs while Harry paced back and forth next to the fire.
They both didn't notice her presence. She just stood there, smiling
at them. She hadn't smiled in a long time. It felt good. All of a sudden
Ron turned his head to where she was standing and yelled, "Hermione!!!"
Harry immediately turned his head towards the door to see Ron running
to Hermione. She had the biggest smile on her face that he had ever seen.
And.she actually looked.pretty? He broke out of his daze to see Ron letting
go of Hermione. She smiled at Harry caringly. He smiled back and ran to
her. She hugged him tightly and whispered, "I missed you so much!" she was
now crying she was so happy. Harry let go of her and wiped away her tears
with his thumb. "I missed you too!" he replied laughing.
Ron, Harry, and Hermione sat down in chairs and talked for a long
time. Finally when they ran out of things to say, Ron asked,
"So.Hermione!.How's Krum?"
The look of happiness on Hermione's face turned to that of sad. Then
she looked angry. "He doesn't care." she said dazed.
Ron looked at her confusedly, but Harry seemed to understand because
she could have sworn that a look of pity swept across his face.
"Oh.I see." Ron said sure of himself, "You're angry at him because he
stepped back instead of catching you when you fainted.
Though Ron didn't notice it, Hermione hadn't known that.er.little
detail. So she got even more angry.
Lucky Harry was there, or you would've fallen straight to the floor!
Hermione looked confused. "You.you caught me Harry?" she asked. Harry
looked embarrassed, "Well.you.you were falling.and.and I didn't want you to
get hurt or anything and.er."
"You ran all the way over from where you were and caught me in time?"
she asked puzzled. "You must have run about sixty miles per hour!"
"You should of seen him 'Mione!" Ron said, "He was running as fast as
the wind!"
Harry looked even more embarrassed. "Thanks." Hermione said kindly.
Harry smiled and his face color turned back to normal.
Hermione's smile soon left her face and she moaned angrily, "Did you
see him out there?!" she said, "While I had a gun pointed at my head,
he.he." she sighed, "I bet he wouldn't even care if I were shot."
"That's not true Hermione!" a voice called out from by the door. She
abruptly turned around only to see none other than Krum standing there with
an angry look on his face.
"Uh.oh.er.Victor, dear! H-How lovely of you to come home to check on
me!" she said nervously.
He sighed. "I wish I were." he said, "But I'm actually just here to
change my tunic.The king has invited me to supper tonight. He says he has
something important to talk to me about." He looked proud of himself though
Harry and Ron were looking at him with disgust. "Oh." Hermione said a
little embarrassed, "I.I'm sorry. I.I should have known."
"It's quite alright." he said. "Now if you three will excuse me, I
have more important issues to deal with."
He started walking out of the room leaving Hermione nearly in tears,
when all of a sudden Ron screamed, "Hey!" Krum turned around with an
annoyed look on his face. "Who the heck do you think you are treating
Hermione, our friend, your fiancée, like trash!"
".Excuse me?!" Krum yelled back in anger.
"Lucky we were there!.When Hermione was in danger of getting shot in
the head! Or when she fainted!--For god sake you knew! You knew that she
could have gotten a concussion or something from falling onto the
cement!.Or! When she was with Malfoy!"
"What?!" Krum yelled at Hermione, "What were you doing with the King!
You were cheating on me! Weren't you? WEREN'T YOU?!"
Hermione shook her head from side to side. "No Victor, I wasn't."
"You lie!" he screamed, "Now you're trying to blame all this on the
king! That's your plan, isn't it?! Well, it won't work!
"If I were you I'd trust Hermione any day over Malfoy!" Harry
screamed.
"Oh yea?" Krum asked, "Well I'd trust Malfoy any day over this filthy
little...mudblood!" He looked Hermione straight into the eye giving her a
nasty look.
All of a sudden Krum fell the ground in agony, and Harry brought his
fist back. He had more anger in his eyes than Hermione had ever seen. Krum
moved his hand away from his eye and stood up abruptly.
"You!.You little-" he said angrily. "Victor please don't!" Hermione
begged while running in front of him trying to push him away from Harry.
"Get off me!" he screamed while pushing Hermione so hard that she fell to
the ground in pain.
Harry leaned down to help her, but before he could lend her a hand he
heard Hermione scream, "Harry! Look out!" But it was too late, Harry felt a
sharp, stinging pain in his left eye. Krum aimed again but was distracted
by Ron running onto him knocking him to the floor while punching him
numerous times in the face. Krum started choking Ron trying to get him off.
Hermione ran over to Krum and pulled on his arm. "Victor! Let--him--go!"
she screamed while putting all of her energy into trying to help Ron.
Victor finally let go of him, stood up, and looked proud of himself
for his "victory" seeing them all on the floor.
All of a sudden he came back down to earth and noticed what he had
just done. He looked at Harry, who now had a black eye. Ron, who was
rubbing his neck gasping for air, and Hermione, who was on the ground
staring up at him with worry and hatred in her eyes.
"Hermione," he said while walking towards her. She crawled backwards
on her hands and knees. "Stay--Stay away from her Krum." Harry breathed
weakly.
Victor looked at his hands which had caused all this pain and
hatred.and ran out of the room.
