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Ron's PoV

Chapter four- The Veasleys

Harry turned to me as soon as Hermione was gone. "You've done it now you twit." He said. I shrugged. "Oh come on Harry - did you see the way she was looking at him? It enough to make anyone sick." I said in my defence. Harry scratched his head.

"Ron- please try and understand this. Viktor is Hermione's boyfriend. Hermione is going out with him. They are a couple. He lives in Bulgaria. She lives in England. This means they do not see each other often. She has not seen him in four months. He has not seen her in four months. They have not seen each other in four months- do you see where I'm going with this?" He said, slamming his palm down on the table.

I jumped, and looked down at the tablecloth. Harry did have a point- but it was still annoying. "Well, I suppose I did come on a bit strong. But, I don't know- there's just something about him." I said thoughtfully, gazing in the direction of the Durmstrang table as the last stragglers left the Great Hall. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Come on Bro- we're supposed to be mingling." George said, bouncing over to where I was sitting. I stood up heavily, and Harry also jumped up as the rest of the team came walking over. Once we were all assembled, the seven of us headed to the half of the Hufflepuff table that was still covered with food- the rest of the plates and leftovers had been magically cleared away.

Students, fourteen Hogwarts and about forty Durmstrang-, already surrounded the table and although some of them knew each other from last year, most of them were standing around in their school groups, trying to avoid other people. The Quidditch teams were not too subtly sizing each other up. I saw Viktor was talking to one of his teammates, and was grateful that I would be able to avoid speaking to him for a while at least. Me and Harry were just managing to get to the front of the crowd when we heard a voice behind us.

"Vell, if it isn't Ron Veasley."

Me and Harry spun around to see a Durmstrang student wearing the blue robes of Gonovitch house. He had black hair, was tall and he was leaning against the Ravenclaw table and staring at me with his arms folded. I frowned. "Er." I said, trying to think of something more articulate to say. Finally I said. "Um, do I know you?"

The boy looked as if I had something very funny as a girl wearing the normal red Durmstrang robes and with the same black hair appeared next to him. "I knew that vould happen." She said, her eyes twinkling as she looked at me as well. Her eyes were big and a very dark shade of blue- and somehow they didn't seem to match her hair. I stared at her, but the penny didn't drop until another boy appeared, also wearing the red robes, and also with the same big blue eyes. I realised who they were in rush, and felt a mixture of recognition, shock and happiness at the same time. I could see Harry staring out of the corner of my eye as I grinned at my cousins.

"Hi Gregori." I said rolling my eyes. I pushed my hand through my hair with an even wider grin forming on my face. "And Boris, and.Myra? Blimey." The girl grinned and rushed forward to hug me. "Hello Ron. It is so good to see you. How long has it been?" She let go of me and stepped back.

I shrugged. "About seven years. You've really changed." I said with a grin. It was true- I remembered her last visit very well, and she had looked completely different. Granted, she had only been seven at the time.the other two came forward and shook hands with me. The boys looked close to laughing. I rolled my eyes again. "Alright! I didn't recognise you at first, but what do you expect? I haven't seen you two in five years, I haven't seen Myra for seven, and what have you done to your hair?" I said, starting to laugh. The boys grinned.

"Vell, red hair is quite unusual at Durmstrang, so ve have dyed it to not stand out." Boris said. I saw Myra glance at Harry, who was standing to one side, watching curiously. She nodded toward him. "Are you not going to um, um,"

"Introduce." Gregori said helpfully, and Myra smiled graciously. I looked up at Harry and smiled. "Sorry. This is my best friend, Harry Potter. Harry, these are my cousins, Boris Miranev, Gregori Dromlev and Myra Dromlev." My cousins smiled at Harry, but not before glancing up at the scar on his forehead. Of course.

Harry looked at them with interest. It was obvious he hadn't considered the idea of me having cousins, but then it had never really come up in conversation. Boris shook Harry's hand. Gregori and Myra were brother and sister and did actually look very similar, mainly because of their eyes. They shook his hand too. Meanwhile, I told the story.

"My Dad is actually half Bulgarian, but he and his sisters went to Hogwarts because they all lived in England. When my Granddad died, my Grandma went back to Bulgaria, and both my aunts married Bulgarian Wizards. My Dad was the odd one out, marrying an English Witch. So anyway, these are the results. Boris is sixteen, and he has two older brothers and three older sisters, but they've all left school now. Gregori is seventeen, and Myra is fourteen. She and Ginny are actually exactly the same age. Same birthday and everything. They were just born in different countries."

"Is Ginny here?" Myra asked, looking around eagerly. Myra and Ginny wrote to each other almost every week, and were very good friends. "No." I said. "She's in lessons."

At that moment, George appeared next to Boris holding a plate of 'biscuits' in his hands. He smiled at our cousins, though it was obvious he didn't recognise them.

"Hello." He said, slowly and loudly. "Would you like a biscuit?" He held out the plate to Boris as Fred bounced over. He grinned at me. "Who're your new friends?" He asked. I opened my mouth to answer but was distracted by a popping noise to my left as Boris disappeared and was replaced by a large blue canary. Fred and George fell about laughing but stopped quickly as a loud shout rang out across the hall.

"Fred and George Weasley!"

Everyone turned to see Professor McGonagall stomping across the hall with a dark look on her face. The canary turned back into Boris with a puff of feathers and he also watched the Professor drawing near.

"You two never stop, do you?" She hissed. "You are supposed to be making our guests feel welcome. And you."

"Excuse me Professor." Gregori said, stepping forward. Professor McGonagall looked at him in surprise. "Please do not be angry viv Fred and George." He said, causing the twins to stare at him in shock. "They vere only joking. You see, ve are their cousins, so ve do not mind. Ve are used to them."

Professor McGonagall glanced at me, and I nodded. "Um, Professor, these are our cousins, Gregori Dromlev, his sister Myra, and Boris Miranev. Guys, this is Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress." I said. The three of them smiled at McGonagall, who nodded at them and then glared at Fred and George.

"Well," she said briskly, "I suppose you needn't be punished. But not another canary, understood?" The twins nodded as she walked away. Fred and George turned to Gregori. "Thanks Greg." Fred said with a grin. Gregori grinned back and shrugged. George looked over at Boris. "Sorry Boris- didn't recognise you." He said. Boris grinned. "Vould it have stopped you?" He asked. Fred and George grinned.

"So," said George. "What have you done to your hair?"

As Boris launched into the hair explanation once again, Harry stepped round Myra to talk to me. "I take it you didn't know they'd be here?" He asked, nodding at my cousins. I nodded back. "Yeah- I didn't even know Greg was on the team." I told him. Harry suddenly focused on something over my shoulder and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Viktor's heading this way." He said.

It was all I could do to prevent myself from groaning out loud. I knew that this had to happen sooner or later, but I'd rather it be later.

"Hello Harry. Hello Ron. How are you both? It is good to see you." He said in his boring drony voice. He shook hands with Harry, who was doing a really good job of seeming pleased to see him (I'm positive it was an act) and then moved on to me. He has a really weak handshake.

"Hi Viktor."

"Hi Viktor."

Viktor half-smiled. (I don't think I've ever seen him fully smile) and then glanced at Boris, Gregori and Myra. (Fred and George were already wandering off to terrorise some more people, even seeing our cousins for the first time in years isn't enough to keep them in one place.) Harry nudged me in the ribs, silently telling me to introduce them. I stepped forward.

"Er, these are my cousins." I said quietly. "I suppose you know them already?" I added, as they were travelling in a relatively small group. As I suspected, Viktor nodded.

"Yes of course. Good morning." He said to them. He said the 'Good morning' part in Bulgarian, which is pretty simple to understand. I actually speak Bulgarian almost fluently- I just don't get much chance to practise.

My cousins said hello back to him and Viktor cleared his throat and turned back to Harry and me. "So, are you looking forward to the tournament? I didn't know you vere on the team Ron." He said.

Now that was odd. (Not the team part, I've only been on it for three months), but the fact he went on to Quidditch. Wasn't seeing his *girlfriend* after however long it's been more important? *I* thought they were meant to be desperately missing each other. I looked over at Harry and saw that he hadn't noticed anything. Oh well. "Yeah, I've not been on the team long." I said. "I was really surprised when I got on the team- but all my friends were pleased for me." There. The perfect set-up for him to start talking about Hermione.

Viktor nodded again. "Vell, um, good luck." He said, starting to turn away. "I had better."

"Hermione says hello." Harry said suddenly. Viktor swallowed and glanced at my cousins. It was small and quick, but it stood out a mile. "Er, yes." He said, shifting a bit. "I vill be seeing her soon. Er- goodbye." And he sloped off.

Me and Harry stood staring after him as Viktor slouched off, wondering what was going on. "Well." Harry started to say, but was interrupted by the arrival of Angelina. "Harry!" She said. "Quick, we need you over here!" She grabbed his arm and started pulling Harry across the hall. He barely had time to glance back before he was led away. Poor guy.

I turned back to my cousins and found them deep in a whispered conversation. They were also speaking in Bulgarian, but like I said, I can understand it, so I leant in closer. (Obviously).

"So do you think it's her?" Boris was saying.

"It could be a totally different person." Myra said.

"Come on M." Greg said. "It's not exactly a common name, is it?"

"I think we should tell him." Myra said.

I decided to cut in at this point. "Tell who what?" I said in English. The three of them jumped when they heard me; it would have been funny if I hadn't been so curious.

Boris looked at Myra. Greg looked at Boris. Myra looked at. well, anyway, they all looked at each other, as if trying to decide what to tell me. "Were you just talking about Hermione Granger?" Myra said finally, speaking in Bulgarian.

I stared at her. How did she know about Hermione? "Um, yeah." I said. "How did you.?"

"We read about her in Witch Weekly last year." Boris said. I looked at him incredulously. "You read Witch Weekly at Durmstrang?" I asked in English. Boris rolled his eyes, still speaking in Bulgarian. "Myra does. But she's the only one at school who does. Apart from us and Viktor Krum, there are only two other people at Durmstrang who can speak English, and they're both Viktor's friends. Karkaroff didn't like speaking Bulgarian all the time, I can tell you." He explained.

I nodded. "So what's Hermione got to do with it?" I asked, starting to speak in Bulgarian myself. (It's really hard to have a conversation in two different languages.)

"Well, does she still date Harry?" Greg asked. I started laughing. I couldn't help it- I just find the idea of Hermione and Harry dating hilarious. I sobered up and shook my head. "No." I answered. "She never has and she almost definitely never will. She's with Viktor anyway." It's painful to say it- he's such a prick.

Myra, Greg and Boris all glanced at each other again. "What?" I demanded. Myra looked at me. "Do you know Hermione well?" She asked.

I grinned. "Well, half hour ago she was my best-friend. Twenty-five minutes ago we had an argument, break's at ten-thirty, so we should be best-friends in about." I looked at my watch. "Two hours or so."

My cousins stared at me as if I'd just turned into the Giant Squid. "What?" I asked again, starting to feel impatient. They were really starting to bug me with that we'll-all-look-at-each-other-sharing-our-secret-that-we're-not- going-to-tell-Ron-about-any-time-this-century stuff.

"She's your best friend?" Greg asked disbelievingly, as if unable to believe I actually have one. I frowned. "Yeah, well, next to Harry, but why the big.?"

"Ron!" Angelina was back again. "We need you here now, we've just found out who the Boltaveria forward three are and we're coming up with new tactics. Come on." And I was dragged away, still not knowing what was worrying my cousins so much about Hermione.

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Deep, dark, sometimes-sarcastic thoughts of Harry Potter:

That was weird. Vicky- *Viktor* (I refuse to turn into Ron!) doesn't seem as excited to see Hermione as she is him. Maybe he's ill. Huh. Ron has cousins at Durmstrang. That blows Hermione's 'schoolist' theory out of the. oh God. Poor girl. She's going to be so embarrassed!

Dear Diary, I hate Potions. Ginny xxx