Loosely based on this fic Prompt:

Its 4th year. The Triwizard Tournament has come to Hogwarts, the Yule Ball has come and gone and the Second Task is on the horizon. On one of the rare occasions that Viktor Krum is in the library without Hermione, he overhears a few 2nd and 3rd years discussing how strange it was to see Hermione with him instead of Harry Potter.

The kids proceed to talk about the many ways in which Harry and Hermione seemed to fit together so well. He'd asked her about this of course, not wanting to step on any toes. She had been remarkably self-deprecating in her denial. Perhaps Harry Potter could give him a straight answer. He got up to peruse the Charms section. His stumbling English would be insufficient here. Translation Charms were required.

Bonus: Krum tells Harry that Hermione thinks she isn't good enough for him. Harry stalks off to kiss some sense into her.

It wasn't often that Viktor Krum found himself hesitant or worried about a course of action; already serving as the seeker for Bulgaria's national quidditch team for two years at this point in his life, he was used to making important decisions at a moment's notice and most of the time it worked out well for him.

This tournament though.. it was an entirely different beast. Only one of three Tasks having passed, and it is already both the most exhilarating and terrifying thing he has ever attempted. He had solved the clue fast enough, there being a mermaid colony near his summer home, but it still left him with the difficulties of completing the task.

He had spent hours in the library researching plans for the inevitable challenge of finding something in Hogwarts' Black Lake, and had narrowed his options down to two general ideas - transfiguration, and charms. Viktor had decided on using a partial transfiguration into a shark, trusting in his greater gift for transfiguration than charms, and wagering that the speed and strength of that magic would be of more use than the versatility offered by the bubblehead charm.

It was decided.

And yet.

Here he was once more, again looking through books he had partially memorised at this point and doubting himself and his decisions in a way he hadn't done in years. Shutting the book (another history book on the magical exploration of the seas) he shook his head in a vain attempt to clear his thoughts.

'By Vanga, I miss Sofia. She would have made this trip much more bearable than it has been so far. Overthinking will get me nowhere - I need a distraction from this cursed contest.'

By chance or coincidence, it was at that moment that he heard two voices moving closer in a different aisle.

"..telling you it's not that strange! Friends don't have to spend all their time together, people have different interests!"

"I never said that friends should spend all their time together, but you can't seriously tell me you don't find it strange that Harry and Hermione aren't spending as much time together this year!"

Viktor raised an eyebrow at that, and tried to listen more closely.

He wouldn't usually bother with gossip, as it wouldn't fit with his image of the gruff Quidditch prodigy.. but there was something vastly entertaining about the type of rumours that went around Hogwarts - many of them involving his fellow champion.

Rumours that varied from the inane (he once drove a stolen motorbike to school along with his red-headed friend) to the absurd (that he makes a sport of hunting at least one dangerous creature every year; including werewolves and Dementors the previous year). Though after seeing Potter's first task where he outflew a Hungarian Horntail of all things, he did begin to wonder.. Perhaps the stories weren't all made up, but rather exaggerations? The story of him chasing off more than a hundred dementors, for example, might have spawned from him having a particularly strong patronus?

"..about last year then? They barely spoke for two months!" came the first voice again, clearly expecting an explanation.

"..That I can't explain," the second voice admitted reluctantly, while the first interjected:

"Aha!"

"But," the second voice spoke insistently, "That was their biggest and only serious argument since their first Halloween! They made up, and even though her argument with Weasley continued they were just as inseparable by the end of the year as they normally are."

There was a lull in the two girls' conversation, and he used the momentary pause to try and gather his thoughts. During the earlier days of their arrival at Hogwarts he had heard plenty of rumours about Hermione and Potter dating, yet despite them obviously being close he could see no indication that there was anything romantic between them.

In fact, when he had asked her to the Yule Ball, he had specifically asked her beforehand if there was anything between herself and his fellow champion, and her answer had been negative. That aside, he did recall her asking if she could think about it before answering - something he was fine with, as he had explained that he had a girlfriend back home in Bulgaria and that their going together was simply meant as a gesture of friendship.

Was it possible the reason she had delayed in answering was because of the hope that her friend might ask her instead? He had largely refrained from asking about her friendship with Potter, not wanting to appear as if he had only befriended her in the hopes of gaining information on his fellow champion.

..he regretted that decision as the conversation in the next aisle over continued, with the second voice apparently trying to convince the first that Potter and Hermione were either dating or at the very least in love.

"Come on, Charlotte! You've heard the rumours as much as I have; their very first year of being friends and Potter not only kills a troll to save her, but Granger apparently set Snape on fire because they thought he was doing something to Potter's broom - that's not something casual friends do."

"Okay fine, maybe they are a bit more than 'just friends', but I still don't think they're in love with each other. Or how would you explain that whole Chamber of Secrets mess; everyone knows Potter probably released.. whatever it was. He's a parselmouth for Merlin's sake! Eventually the monster even got to Granger.. doesn't sound like love to me," the first voice said scathingly.

Viktor blinked once.

Twice.

That.. was a lot of information to unpack; one of his opponents was a parselmouth? In the sanctity of his own mind, he could freely admit that he found it unsettling - the ability to converse with serpents was both rare and mysterious. Who knew what sort of advantages it might grant him? And what did they mean that Potter unleashed some monster, and attacked his new friend with it years ago..? After a moment he dismissed the idea - if it were true and common knowledge than Potter and Hermione would not be friends nor would (he assumed) the teachers merely allow him to go unpunished.

The second girl's response was a derisive snort.

"I've never believed Potter opened the Chamber of Secrets.. and you seem to be forgetting that Granger was the last person to be petrified - a few weeks later and we hear that Potter has killed Slytherin's monster. You think it's a coincidence that these attacks lasted for months, not even Dumbledore being able to stop them, but when Granger gets attacked the monsters dies less than a month later..? Try and tell me that's a coincidence."

"I.. can't really argue with that. There's also the hippogriff story from last year.. I know most people dismissed it as rumours, but I know for a fact that two Ravenclaws in 6th year saw them fly together one night, even if they couldn't tell a professor since they were out of bed passed curfew," the first voice reluctantly admitted.

"I knew it! The only reason you don't want to admit that they're in love with each other is because of your crush..-" the second voice exclaimed, only to be interrupted by the first:

"Ugh! I never should have told you about that, it's only ever come back to haunt me.."

In the silence that followed the two voices departing the area of the library where he was currently hiding from the worst of his fans (Delacour likely had it worse, but then again as far as he knew she didn't have a hex-happy girlfriend waiting for her back in France) Viktor tried to work through everything he had heard the two students discussing.

He had wanted a distraction to keep him from overthinking the second task, and this was surely that! It would appear that Potter has some experience in dealing with magical creatures.. and is highly protective of Hermione. Which simultaneously explained some of the looks Potter shot him at the start of the Yule Ball, at least until Hermione seemed to talk to him about it, while also vastly increasing the amount of unease said looks raised in him.

Viktor frowned in consideration..

Actually, what had those looks been about? They seemed like a cross between those of an overprotective friend, and.. well. Jealousy.

That made no sense to him though - Hermione had not agreed to accompany him until relatively near the Ball; he had assumed she was discussing the matter with her friends, yet Potter had seemed as surprised as any there when they arrived together.

Did Hermione not mention to her friends that they were going together? And if so, why had she waited until barely a week before the Ball to accept his invitation?

Shaking his head, he started to put away the books he had been researching.

While he considered Hermione a friend, they were not nearly close enough that he could glean the secrets behind her behaviour through thought alone - if he truly wanted to know, he would simply have to ask her.

..Maybe add a few questions about those rumours he had overheard as well.

When he finally found her, she was surprisingly (given what he knew of her aversion to flying) sitting in the stands of the Hogwarts quidditch pitch; she had a book open in her lap, but seemed to be staring at the sky more often than it.

'Then again, perhaps this is not so surprising..' he couldn't help but think to himself as he saw Potter speed past them before suddenly shooting up higher into the sky and starting to do a few simple manoeuvres.

He took a seat near Hermione (close enough that they wouldn't easily be overheard, yet not so close that it could be mistaken from afar for something different) and took a few minutes to watch Potter fly.

It had been clear since the first task that Potter was an excellent flyer, but seeing him now made Viktor realise that Potter seemed to be even more talented on the broom than he - he would likely still beat Potter in a flying contest, though he could freely admit that it would be more due to his experience and training than any other reason such as talent.

Turning his attention back to the reason for his arrival, he momentarily tensed before forcing himself to relax and pretend he hadn't noticed his friend's behaviour. If he wasn't a seeker, he likely would have missed the infinitesimal movement beneath her book.

That being said, Viktor Krum was an excellent seeker though; likely the best professional seeker in the world.

So he did not miss the fact that though Hermione greeted him as politely as usual, and her smile was friendly, her wand had been surreptitiously pointed at him.. likely the entire time he had been staring at Potter.

Admittedly, just showing up while one of your opponents in a deadly contest for fame and glory is flying without supervision and staring at them silently.. likely came of more unsettling than he intended.

Something he sadly does too often. Come across unintentionally gruff or intimidating, that is. He doesn't hold it against her, in fact he can respect her loyalty to her friend.. but it does greatly decrease his enthusiasm for a conversation he is certain would have been awkward even before this happened.

'Sturm und drang, as the motto goes.'

"Hermione, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" he starts, and as she nods a bit warily he continues:

"Is there a reason why you never told your friends that we were going to the Yule Ball together? It had not occurred to me at the time, as you mentioned that you and Weasley had gotten into a fight, but Potter did not seem to know either.."

He can tell that he has caught her off guard, but even though she's clearly taken aback it doesn't take her long to simply wave off the question.

"There's no.. specific reason. I suppose I just got caught up in the mood of things leading up to the Yule Ball," she finished with a nervous laugh, deliberately not looking up to where her friend was currently flying.

Viktor pursed his lips to keep a grin from forming on his face; he was starting to see a pattern in Hermione's behaviour, and if he was right this would be a very amusing conversation indeed.

"Ah, I see.." he replied, trying to exude an aura of unconcern - something he seemed to have succeeded in, as Hermione noticeably relaxed.

At least until he spoke again:

"I thought you might have been hoping that he would ask you himself, but after your row with your red-headed friend you decided to just try and make him jealous at the Yule Ball."

The silence that met this statement lasted long enough that he started to wonder whether or not she had heard him, yet it was finally broken by her slamming her book closed and turning to face him fully.

"And why exactly would I do something so.. so.. ridiculous!?" she all but demanded; it would have been quite the believable act, had he not already been certain of his conclusions - and so he responded:

"Why? Well from what I can tell, Potter and yourself not only share an affection for each other, but also a mutual.. shall we say ignorance? Of the other's feelings, yes?"

"NO! Not yes! I thought you of all people would know better than to have listened to schoolyard gossip; there's no mutual romantic feelings between Harry and I." she immediately refuted - only to pause in realisation of how her response could be taken.

"..and that's not me confessing an unrequited crush on my best friend, because I don't have one, and he certainly doesn't have one on me.. so. There." she responded matter-of-factly.

Viktor had to admit that Hermione was a surprisingly adept liar; the slight blush on her cheeks, however, gave away her true feelings. And even that could have been explained away as a flaring temper, had it not been for the almost sad way in which she had claimed with such certainty that her friend could not have any romantic feelings for her.

Looking to the sky again, Viktor tried to think of how he could further this conversation. If he was interpreting her responses correctly, it would seems that Hermione not only has serious feelings for her friend (he saw the positioning of her wand; she would not have hesitated to hex him if he tried anything) but for some reason seems certain that he does not share those feelings.

'Does Potter already have a love that only Hermione knows of? It is not impossible; few know of my Sofia, after all. Why then all those rumours..? On the topic of Potter, his enthusiasm for flying seems to suddenly have vanished.. ha! Strange coincidence; almost as if Hermione's claim that she has no interest has affected him. Somehow I don't believe she would take that as evidence to my point..'

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he looked back at her and said:

"I've heard some unbelievable rumours about your friend just earlier today - but as you've said, one shouldn't listen to schoolyard gossip. Now I previously avoided asking you any questions about your friend as I am competing against him for this Tournament.. but I truly am curious, is it true he fought off a troll for you..?"

She stared at him thoughtfully for a moment, before apparently deciding that he really was only asking because of curiosity and answering:

"Well yes, both he and Ron saved me from one back in our first year. The story was greatly exaggerated though! It was certainly not armoured, nor did Harry duel it with magic he learned during secret lessons with Dumbledore.. honestly, the three of us largely survived that encounter by sheer dumb luck," yet despite the exasperated tone in which she spoke, her expression was undeniably fond, "It was that day that the three of us truly became friends, you see."

Viktor nodded his head in understanding. It wasn't exactly difficult to imagine that a shared life-or-death experience at that age would have formed a strong bond between them. He considered, for a moment, asking about the rumour that she had set a teacher on fire for Harry (sometimes at his request, sometimes not, depending on the source) before considering the wand that she had trained on him and deciding that perhaps some things would be better left unsaid.

"There was also talk of one of your founders' secret monster.. something about a Chamber of secrets, I believe.." he started to ask, before pausing at the sight of her now angry expression.

"I swear Viktor if this is about those ridiculous rumours that Harry unleashed Slytherin's monster I'll..-" Hermione furiously started, before he interrupted her to explain:

"No, not that - if he was the one responsible, as many seemed to think, clearly someone would have done something. No I was talking about a different rumour.. the one that said he killed the monster because it attacked you?"

At the look on her face, he had to work hard to supress his snort of amusement - eyes wide, jaw dropped and hands still partially raise from starting to gesture in defence of her friend. It wasn't the first time he had surprised her in this conversation, but it was the most she had openly shown.

'Strangely, I saw Potter nearly slip off his broom after I spoke. Almost like he.. hmm. I wonder..'

"What?!" came Hermione's sudden exclamation, cutting off that train of thought before he could pursue it too far.

Viktor shrugged as if the answer didn't really matter to him, before explaining himself.

"I overheard some of your fellow students talking - something about how long these attacks lasted without anyone being able to stop them, yet mere weeks after you were attacked the announcement came that your friend has killed the beast.. they did not seem to believe it was a coincidence. Something of a.. last straw for him?"

He saw Hermione press the palms of her of her hands to her eyes before she seemed to reluctantly nod.

"That is - technically - a true enough version of what happened, but it's also a very biased way of looking at things! Harry did stop the monster, and it was after I was petrified, but it wasn't because I was petrified.. Harry is the kind of person to help anyone he can. It's one of the things I.." she suddenly stopped and looked at him, and he could tell from her eyes she was getting annoyed with the conversation.

'Sturm und drang, Viktor, Sturm und drang.' he thought to himself before continuing before she could say anything:

"And how about this.. 'romantic hippogriff flight'..? How biased has that tale become in the retelling..?"

"Wait who knows about.. I mean, not that there.. it wasn't a romantic flight! We were just.." Hermione sputtered through several half answers before suddenly sighing and looking at him in resignation.

"Why exactly are we having this conversation, Viktor? Even if I did have feelings for him, he doesn't.. well honestly, I am rather plain compared to many of the girls already interested in him. I've long since made peace with just being the friend-who-is-a-girl rather than anything close to an actual girlfriend."

"Did you ever tell Potter about Sofia? Does he know that I am - quite happily - in a committed relationship, and that you and I are in fact not pursuing a relationship of our own?" he asked, subtly keeping an eye on Potter who had suddenly turned his broom around and was heading towards them at speed.

'It would seem I was correct about Potter placing a listening charm here the first time he passed us..'

She frowned at him in mild confusion, before saying:

"No I have not, but I fail to see what the point in that is..-" she started, only to be interrupted by a new voice from behind her:

"The bloody point, Hermione, is that it is something I would have loved to know these past few weeks!"

Hermione blinked at him in surprise for a few seconds before coming back to herself.

"Oh Harry! You're done flying for..- wait, why would you need to know about Viktor's girlfriend?" she asked in a confused tone while turning her head slightly to the side.

Viktor resisted the urge to sigh; for such an intelligent girl, Hermione could be remarkably naive.

"Because I thought you were his girlfriend! And that meant I couldn't do this.." he exclaimed, before suddenly pulling her closer to him, tilting her head up and kissing her deeply.

She froze in surprise for barely a second before throwing her arms around him and kissing him back just as enthusiastically.

Viktor experienced a flash of smug pride at being correct about their feelings for each other.. before realising he was now watching two people make out, and that he should probably leave.

"You two seem.. busy, so I'll just leave then, yes?"

There was no reaction from Hermione or Potter, except perhaps to tighten their holds on each other.

Quickly turning around, he started briskly walking away. He realised that kiss had probably been building up for a few years, but by Vanga's shawl they could at least try for some restraint.

Krum saying 'by Vanga' is a reference to Baba Vanga, a Bulgarian mystic, and is my attempt at a Bulgarian version of saying 'by Merlin'.

Another thing is the 'Sturm und Drang' thing he says once or twice - which is the closest I think I got to an 'official' motto for Durmstrang and loosely translates to 'Charge and Rush' - in other words, move ever forward. I think it fits in with their 'darker' reputation with regards to magic; a progress-at-all-costs sort of thing.

Felt weird writing an entire story from Krum's POV, but hope you enjoyed reading it! Reviews and criticism appreciated - it's how you improve after all.