Most of the fall term of Hermione Granger's fourth year is spent in the library, avoiding Harry and Ron, who are more temperamental than ever. This year, though, the library isn't the refuge it has been in her previous years. Viktor Krum, Quidditch player and Triwizard champion, is apparently making an effort to keep up with his studies while at Hogwarts, spending nearly as much time in the library as she does. Whereever Krum goes, packs of giggling fangirls follow, and Hermione finds herself retreating further and further into the library to avoid the noise and the distraction.
Hermione finally manages to find a study carrel that is backed into a corner of the library, hidden behind bookcases that abut the library's walls. It is secluded and nearly invisible unless one is looking for it. So it is, a week or so later, that she is surprised when a gravelly voice says, "Hermy-own Granger?"
"Hermione," she automatically corrects, too used to having her name mispronounced, and then looks up, startled. Viktor Krum is standing beside her carrel, slump-shouldered and beetle-browed, and looking distinctly nervous. "Can I help you with anything?" she asks.
"Hermy-own," he says. "I haff been – I haff been wanting to ask you –"
He pauses, and Hermione waits for him to ask her for help with the Second Task, starts readying her words. No, I'm sorry, I can't help you, you'll have to figure it out yourself . . .
"It would be an honor," he continues, "if you would accompany me to the Yule Ball."
Hermione freezes. This, she can say, is the last thing she was expecting him to ask her, the last thing she was expecting anyone to ask her. Truthfully, there is only one person she wants to ask her to the Yule Ball, but since he is currently showing all the emotional awareness of a boiled turnip, she hasn't been holding out much hope.
"Krum, I –" She stops, torn. No, Krum is not the person she wants to go with, but he is the only one who has asked her. She thinks, quickly, and then says, "Tomorrow. I'll let you know tomorrow if I can or not."
He nods, looking resigned.
That evening, Hermione sits by the fire in the Gryffindor common room, rereading her copy of Hogwarts, A History, biased as it is, because it is her security blanket. Her thoughts seem stuck in an endless loop of This is it, this is Ron's last chance to ask me. If he doesn't ask me now, he doesn't care, and it's over, and I'll tell Krum yes.
Periodically she watches Harry and Ron over the top of the book. They are doing their homework at a table across the room and arguing fiercely, if quietly. Every now and then they look her way and then return to their argument. Finally, Harry gestures strongly at her, thumps Ron on the shoulder, and then returns to his homework, shaking his head. Ron sits, staring off into space, and then bounces to his feet. Hermione drops her eyes to her book as Ron works his way through the crowded common room, tripping once over Dean Thomas's bag.
"Hermione," Ron says, his voice cracking, and he tries again. "Hermione."
She marks her place with her cat-shaped bookmark and looks up. "Yes, Ron?"
He fidgets, standing in front of her, and then bursts out, "Harry said I should ask you to the Yule Ball."
"Oh, well, if Harry told you to," she says acidly, and reopens Hogwarts, A History.
"Hermione," Ron says, sitting in the empty easy chair beside her. "Harry said I should ask you to the Yule Ball before someone else did. So . . ."
She debates telling him that someone else already has. Instead, she holds her tongue, and Ron finally says, "So, Hermione, will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"
"Yes," Hermione says.
Krum takes the news well when she tells him. Later, she sees him sitting with Padma Patil at a table in the library. He'll be all right, she thinks, and as Ron arrives with a kiss and an offer to carry her books, she realizes, and so will I.
