Disclaimer- not mine!

Hermione's PoV

Chapter five- Seeing Viktor again.

OK, so he wasn't at lunch. But there isn't a law that says he has to have lunch in the Great Hall. He could be by the lake, the Owlery, the Quidditch pitch, the library.well, that's where I was headed anyway. I reached the door as it was closing again after someone had entered. I pushed open the door and stepped in; only to be confronted by a sight I never thought I would ever see.

Ron was a few steps in front of me- it was obvious he had been the person who had just entered, and he had his back to me, looking around. Then he walked over to a table near the door, where three Durmstrang students I had never seen before were sitting, and he sat down with them. Seriously. I couldn't believe it- what I'd said at breakfast must have really got to him if he was now going around with Durmstrang students. How pathetic could you get? Well, if he thought he was going to get round what I said that easily, he had another thing coming.

This in mind, I walked over to the table as he was sitting down. He looked up and saw me before I reached the table, and I saw him quickly glance round at the other three, who hadn't seen me yet. Good, so he was worried I'd embarrass him in front of his new 'friends'.

I reached the table. "Hello Ron. Trying to prove something?" I asked sweetly. Ron glanced around the table again before answering. "Hello Hermione." He said calmly. The three around the table started to stare at me blatantly. I shifted a little and looked back at Ron.

"I didn't honestly think that you would." I started to say, before Ron cut across me. "These are my cousins." He said, nodding towards the Durmstrang students. I stared at him. Cousins? He had to be kidding, right? If he wasn't. oh Merlin how embarrassing.

"Cousins?" I managed to say. Ron nodded, looking as if he felt sorry for me. Bloody cheek.

"Yeah. This is Boris, Greg and Myra." He told me, pointing them out. They were still staring at me, but smiling as well. They seemed quite friendly. I swallowed. "Hi." I said, feeling smaller by the second. "Ron didn't tell me had cousins at Durmstrang."

Ron grinned. "That's probably because I hate them so much." He said sarcastically. I was saved from answering by the arrival of a fast moving, red and black object that barrelled into Myra, and then the arrival of a slower moving object wearing glasses.

"Hi." Harry said as Ginny kept on practically strangling Myra. "How was Arithmancy?" (We had Arithmancy and Divination after break, so we haven't seen each other all morning). "Fine." I said, avoiding looking at Ron. "How was Divination?" Harry shrugged. "Same as always. I'm going to die by a series of curses this week." He said. I smiled weakly, still watching Ginny with her cousins out of the corner of my eye. She was obviously overjoyed to see them again, especially Myra.

Harry looked over at them as well. He nudged Ron. "If you'd told me she was going to strangle them, I wouldn't have told her they were in the library." He said. Ron grinned. "She would have found out some way, and it would have been worse." He said.

"Harry Potter- have you got that book for me?" Madam Pince's voice called over from her desk, and Harry winced and turned around, going over to explain that he didn't have her book today because he was still using it for an essay. (He didn't mention the essay was already a week overdue.)

I sat down next to Ron, resigned to the fact that I had to apologise. "Sorry Ron." I said, straight to the point, and looking right at him. I was a Gryffindor, after all. Ron glared at me for about five seconds, but then couldn't keep it up any longer, and grinned instead. "OK." He said. I smiled and took my Arithmancy book out of my bag. That's one thing I like about Ron- he forgives you really easily if you say sorry. And although he doesn't, (I don't either) apologise very often, he knew when he had to, like when he and Harry weren't talking that time last year.

I didn't get much of my Arithmancy homework done, because Ginny was so full of stories about her cousins. The three of them couldn't get a word in edgeways, though I did find out they all spoke very good English. (Ginny told me).

She was just telling me about one time when her entire family had gone out to visit them in Bulgaria, and Boris and his older brother, Yuri, had 'kidnapped' a cat belonging to their arch-nemesis, a girl who lived down the road named Matilda, and how Mr Weasley had had to sneak the cat back before she noticed, when the library door opened and Viktor walked in, accompanied by a Durmstrang boy I'd never seen before, both wearing the grey Boltaveria robes.

What happened next was pretty strange. I thought I saw Viktor look over at our table, at *me*, but he didn't come over. He and his friend walked straight to a table at the back of the library, out of sight from ours. I frowned, confused, and turned back to everyone on the table. I suppose he didn't see me after all.

Nobody else seemed to have seen Viktor come in to the library- they were all listening intently to Ginny's story. As no one was paying any attention to me, and wouldn't exactly miss me if I went, I silently collected my things and left the table. I was right- no one noticed I left.

Viktor saw me coming this time- I know because he smiled at me. I smiled back, and he beckoned me over to him. "Hi Viktor." I said as I got nearer. Viktor stood up and gave me a big hug. "Hermowninny." He said as we broke apart. "How are you?"

I smiled wider. "I'm great. You?" I asked. Viktor smiled at me and tucked my hair behind my ear. "I'm alvight now. I missed you." He said, hugging me again.

"I missed you too." I said, and I really meant it. Viktor was always so nice to me, so *Viktor*, that I couldn't help but miss him. We sat down and I looked over at the Durmstrang boy. He had dark brown hair and eyes that were almost the exact same colour. He was quite short, but burly, making him look almost like a bodyguard.

Viktor noticed me looking. "This is my friend, Ivan Kirova." He said. "Ivan, this is my Hermowninny."

*My* Hermowninny. He'd never called me that before. and I admit it was a little weird. I mean, I don't think of him as *my* Viktor- we belong to ourselves after all. But I always read too much into everything, so I let it go. It was actually quite sweet- like when he calls me Hermowninny. You know- endearing.

"Pleased to meet you, Ivan." I said. Viktor chuckled. "Ivan doesn't know a vord of English." He told me. "Oh." I said, feeling pretty stupid for assuming he did. After all, I don't know a word of Bulgarian.

Viktor turned to Ivan and said something in rapid Bulgarian. Ivan said something back, and they both laughed. I squirmed in my chair. What were they laughing about? Well, if they didn't want to tell me, I wasn't going to ask. That was just rude. 'So is ignoring you and speaking in Bulgarian' an annoying voice inside my head said.

Honestly. They are allowed to speak to each other. If Viktor spoke to me, Ivan would be left out. It's a no-win situation. All right, they'd been talking for quite a while by now, but that just shows it's about something important. I'd better get on with my Arithmancy homework.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dear Diary, My cousins are here! That's right, Myra, Greg and Boris are part of the Durmstrang party. I'm sitting in the library with them. Gotta go- Boris is asking me something. Bloody cheek, of course he can't read my diary. Ginny xxx

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

Doo dee dee dee dum dum, doo da da dee dum. Dum dee dee da dum, dum da dum, dum dum.