Chapter 5: London
Viktor, Aleksandar, and Pansy stepped out of the international Floo Network that was usually reserved for delegates and other high ranking political figures of the world. The wizard working the Floo in New York City, however, just happened to be a huge fan of Viktor's. He had happily agreed to let them through if Viktor would come to his son's birthday party next month.
They were brushing off the soot when they heard someone speaking. "What are…Viktor Krum!" The witch on the receiving end in London exclaimed, noticing who had just stepped through her fireplace. She couldn't rip her eyes from Viktor long enough to take notice of who was traveling with him. From the way Pansy was acting, it seemed to be a good thing she didn't. Pansy had the collar of her black peacoat pulled up, trying to obscure her face a bit. Seeing the witch in a bit of distress, Viktor stepped forward and kept the receiving witch's attention while Pansy and Aleksandar began walking away.
Before they'd left for London, Pansy had explained that if someone were to spot her and contact her father they could legally detain her since she was technically on the run from a legally and magically binding contract. "The only way I'll be safe back on English soil is if my father and Nott Sr are both dead or if I'm married and unable to fulfill the contract." The look on Aleksandar's face at how much this bothered her showed a side of the younger player that Viktor had never seen. Maybe, he had met his match in this outspoken witch.
It took a bit longer than he would have liked, but eventually Viktor was able to talk the woman into not alerting the ministry of their unauthorized use of the international Floo. He'd agreed to take the woman on a broom ride for her hen night the following week, and she agreed to take a Wizarding oath for her silence.
"Alright, Pansy," said when they were finally alone. "Where do you think he would have taken her? I don't know much about Weasley beyond he convinced Hermione to marry him and that he always was a jealous person who became an abusive piece of shit." Viktor asked the witch, who had slipped the largest sunglasses he'd ever seen on her face and set about glamoring her hair a golden blonde.
"Her parent's house," she answered, pulling out a vial of blood and shaking it. "She set blood wards on the property, so only anyone with access to her blood would be able to enter. She gave me this so that should Weasley ever find us I'd be able to get to her." Viktor couldn't help but cringe at the contingency plans she'd had to put in place.
"What the hell did she do that for? Little extreme, don't you think? Especially if she was already being tracked by her crazy husband." Aleksandar asked, his eyes wide with shock.
"She set them before she obliviated her parents. Wasn't sure if she would actually be able to erase herself from their memories and the blood wards were her backup plan. They held, because when the Death Eaters tried breaking into the house, they weren't able to cross the property line." Pansy calmly explained as she turned and walked towards the nearest apparition point.
"What's a Death Eater and why would it be after your girl? Doesn't sound like a pleasant bunch." Aleksandar whispered into Viktor's ear, not wanting Pansy to overhear him.
"She's Harry Potter's best friend. She was his right hand in helping bring down Voldemort." Viktor explained to the younger man who only shrugged with confusion. "You know who Harry Potter and Voldemort are, don't you?" He asked, receiving only a shake of his head indicating that those names meant nothing to him. "The boy who lived twice and the evil snake man trying to eradicate muggle borns from the U.K. a few years ago?"
"Sorry, no idea who you're talking about." Aleksandar answered before jogging ahead to meet up with Pansy.
"This younger generation, I swear…" Viktor mumbled to himself as he took Pansy's extended arm and she side along apparated the three of them to a deserted street.
Once they landed, Pansy started looking around before she turned back to the men. "Sorry, I don't want to get too close to the house in case Weasley has some alarms up waiting to catch anyone trying to get in. We're going to have to walk from here. It's not too far." Pansy said, before taking off at a brisk pace towards a busy road. Not looking back to see if either man was following her, she turned left around a corner and disappeared from their view.
She was a witch on a mission and she wasn't going to stop until she'd saved her best friend. Viktor wasn't going to slow her down though, because he too wasn't going to rest until he had his little witch back in his arms. Aleksandar had his hand resting on his wand holster, ready for whatever might be lurking in this seemingly average muggle neighborhood.
The trio walked in silence for a time, as Pansy led them past bus stops, parks, around corners, until they stopped in front of a small ranch style home with pale blue siding and a dark blue door and shutters. If Pansy hadn't stopped in front of it, Viktor never would have noticed it here. In fact, all the people around them seemed to also not notice the Ganger home.
"Notice me not charm, keeps any muggles from investigating the property. Come along," Pansy instructed the men lifting her wand and checking for additional wards.
"Seems Weasley is as dumb as he looks. Anti apparition, but otherwise the place just has what Hermione told me she'd put up during the war." Pansy concluded, tucking her wand back up her sleeve and pulling the vial back out. "Step back, we'll have to offer up a bit of Hermione's blood to get through and it gets a bit steamy…" Pansy explained, before tipping the bottle.
One, two, three drops of Hermione's blood was offered, and a golden circle began to glow. Steam shot up like a geyser where it was lit, making Viktor jump back in surprise. After casting a cooling charm on all three of them, Pansy grabbed the men's hands and they stepped through the water onto the property. In the time they'd taken to cross the property line, the water sprays had ended and Viktor could now see from the inside of the wards the shimmering of magic as he looked onto the street.
From the inside of the house, Viktor could hear a scuffle taking place and a crash as glass broke. "HERMIONE!" Pansy yelled as she pulled her wand back out of her thigh holster and rushed towards the house.
Viktor rushed forward and quickly passed past Pansy and a flick of his wand sent the door flying off its hinges. The scene before him made him pause in shock. Hermione was crouched behind an overturned table with a butcher knife clutched in her hands. A gash on her lip and a handprint shaped bruise on her cheek was the physical damage that Viktor could see. Weasley came limping into the room, blood trickling down his leg as he had his wand out in front of him in one hand while the other held his side as if it were injured.
Hermione glanced up just as Pansy stepped in the doorway behind him and disarmed Weasley without a second's hesitation. "One wrong move, weasel king and I'll blast you through the wall," Pansy growled, as Weasley dropped against the wall, all the fight leaving his body just as his wand had.
"You can't take her." The delusional redhead laughed, coughing up blood. "We're married, and unless someone else wants to take responsibility for the bitch, she's mine for life." He said, spitting blood out onto the cream-colored carpet. Blood was splattered everywhere and even with magic it was unlikely to ever truly come out. The crimson stains forever marking what had happened here today.
"I'm taking responsibility for her," Viktor said, stepping forward. The attention was drawn away from Pansy and towards him as he spoke. It was clear that Weasley hadn't noticed him until now because the look on his face went from humor to pale with shock. "You're going to prison for kidnapping and abuse of power. You're a sad excuse of a man, and your hold over Hermione ends today."
"Y-you…you can't just take her. She's mine! She's my Mione!" Weasley shouted, his face turning red as his hair as he comprehended the words Viktor was saying.
"I can and I will," Viktor said, waving his wand and summoned his tiger patronus. He sent a message to the DMLE, specifically asking for Harry Potter to respond to a domestic situation at the Granger family home.
Hermione had been silent this entire time, and it seemed that her mind had finally caught up with her body. Her entire body was shaking, Viktor noticed as he stepped forwards, offering her a hand and pulling her to her feet. "I need to dismantle the wards…" Hermione said out loud, not speaking to anyone. Viktor moved his hands to her waist to help keep her steady as the butcher knife she'd yielded clattered to the floor. The sound vibrated off the walls, sending Pansy into a panic attack while Hermione stood in front of him still in shock, unable to make eye contact.
As Pansy began gasping for air, Aleksandar stepped forward putting his hands on either side of her face. Using a low tone, he began speaking to the witch in front of him, "Shh. It's alright." He said, "I need you to listen to the sound of my voice. Look at my eyes, Pansy. Tell me what you see in my eyes, what color are they?" Aleksandar asked, keeping his eye contact with the panicking witch in front of him.
"Brown, you have brown eyes." Pansy quickly answered, her breaths still comin shallow and fast.
"Now come on, pretty witch. I look at my eyes every day, I know they aren't just brown." Aleksandar said, slightly smirking. Viktor turned his attention back to Hermione who was stumbling her way towards what used to be her front door.
"I've got to make sure that Harry and the rest of them will be able to get inside the wards." He could hear her muttering under her breath as she inched forwards, her hands trembling. Viktor turned her body so that she was facing him and held her steady until she was looking up into his face.
As soon as they made eye contact, the resilient witch in front of him crumbled and held on tight to him. He could feel his shirt soaking through as hot tears fell from her eyes and she gulped for breaths. "He took my wand…I…I thought I was going to die, Viktor. He broke my wand to leave me defenseless. I thought I was alone, and I got in the kitchen to the knife block. I sliced open his thigh when he tried to grab me." Her voice was muffled as she cried into his shirt. Viktor didn't say anything for a moment and just held on tighter, keeping her body upright.
"Shh," he whispered into the mass of curls as her words ended, "I'm here, everything is alright now. You'll never have to see him again."
"Y-you'll really marry me…" Hermione asked, pulling back from him looking up into Viktor's eyes. Viktor nodded in response, and Hermione couldn't stop looking perplexed as she stared up at him. "I don't understand, why?" She asked, her brow wrinkling in confusion, making Viktor softly smile down at her, brushing one of her wayward curls back behind her ear.
"Because I've loved you since I was seventeen, you silly witch."
ooo
A little over one year later…
"Mr and Mrs Krum?" The waiter asked as he recognized the couple standing before him. After Viktor nodded, the man beamed and started reaching for a scrap of paper when he stopped himself as his manager glared at him.
"Come by the table in about ten minutes, my wife carries around pictures for me to sign. You know, just in case. Does that sound alright…" Viktor said, waiting for the man to introduce himself. He also winked at the younger man who was looking completely star struck.
"Oh, uh, Nikola, sir. Nikola Georgieva, sir." The nervous host said as his hands shook, taking hold of the menus and leading Viktor and Hermione towards the table that Aleksandar had reserved for their double date.
"Well, Nikola Georgieva, you can expect a personalized autographed picture from my strapping husband." Hermione said, smiling lovingly up at Viktor, giving the arm that her hand was resting on a squeeze.
"Th-th-thank you, sir." The host stuttered again before setting down the menus and pulling Hermione's chair out for you. "I'll send the rest of your party over once they've arrived."
He gave a small bow, and with that, they were alone, for the moment. "You really do go above and beyond for your fans, you know. I think that's why you're so beloved." Hermione said, taking a sip of the pre-ordered wine in front of her.
"Is it not for my strapping good looks and exceptional skills?" Viktor asked, teasing his wife.
"I think it's really for the whole package," Hermione purred, the saucy witch had the audacity to smirk and wink just as she said 'package.'
Viktor cleared his throat, pulling on the necktie before answering her. "I think we say screw it to being moral support for Aleksandar and I take my witch back home and show her exactly what this whole package can do for her." Viktor whispered, leaning in and letting his lips linger on the shell of her ear. He could feel the shiver course through Hermione's body as she shook her head and looked up at him through her lashes.
"Play nice, Viktor. It's not every day my best friend gets proposed to. Maybe if you're good, I'll take you home and be extra nice to that package of yours." Hermione replied back, turning her head so that as she spoke her lips were brushing against his.
Viktor was pulled out of his lust filled thoughts at the sound of the other couple joining their table registered with his brain. Hermione was still leaning in towards him and looking at him through her lashes when she wink before she turned towards her best friend. They quietly began talking about the push they were making with the British Ministry of Magic. The pair of women had begun working on a women's rights movement and had been the faces of the movement for witches who found themselves in similar situations as them.
After the arrest of Ron Weasley, Viktor had quickly married Hermione so that she would legally be able to press charges against her now ex-husband. Hermione had gone on and publicly spoken about the abuse she'd suffered at his hand and how she'd been forced to endure it and eventually flee the country for her safety. The outrage against the barbaric laws had poured in, along with support of the war heroine herself.
Pansy had to be safely tucked away and out of the clutches of her father or Theodore Nott Sr in Bulgaria living with Hermione and Viktor for a while before moving in with Aleksandar three months ago. Pansy had been able to speak about the damages being done to young witches everywhere with having to obliged marriage contracts, even if they were to men almost triple her own age. There had been more pushback in this movement as the purebloods of Britain didn't seem to want to let go of their old ways, not supporting the idea that their children were mature enough to decide who they should or shouldn't marry.
Slowly, but surely, there was enough worldwide publicity and pressure on the movements that something had to change. And that change was now on the horizon.
Aleksandar hadn't wanted to ask Pansy for her hand in marriage until they were sure that it wasn't necessary for him to marry her for protection. He knew that she would reject anything of the sort anyway, but that time had come, and Viktor's teammate couldn't hold back on asking the witch to be his bride any longer.
"Nervous?" Viktor asked his Keeper who had already drank down his first glass of wine as if it were pumpkin juice.
"I think I might throw up; think she'd still say yes to a man covered in his own vomit?" Aleksandar asked, picking up his second glass and putting it to his lips.
"I think," Viktor answered, looking back over at the women, "that you have nothing to worry about." Sitting back in his chair, Viktor couldn't help but smile at all the changes that had taken over his life since his trip to New York City. Who would have ever thought going so far away from home could have brought him closer to the life he always wanted? And now, that life was his reality.
THE END
A/N: That's all I've got for this story! Thank you for reading my first Vikmione! I love writing it and I hope you all enjoyed it! If you enjoyed my writing please be sure to check out my other works! Coming May 2nd will be my first Dreomione story called Athena of Starlight and my current WIP Dramione that is updated weekly called If Only.
This story is for my friend Kasha who is willing to listen to my every story idea without fail! No matter if it's coming in at 5am or if I'm driving to the zoo and she has to pick out what I'm saying with my loud kids in the background! Love you!
