Endurance

Oliver: 17 (7th year)Fred: 17 (7th year)George: 17 (7th year)

Hermione: 16 (6th year)Ron: 16 (6th year)Harry: 16 (6th year)

Tanya: 16 (6th year) Victoria: 16 (6th year)Ginny: 15 (5th year)

Viktor: 19

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except, of course, the plot and any OC characters in here.

Chapter 2

The first few days of school seemed to melt away. Hermione, Ginny, and Tanya became fast friends. Both Ginny and Hermione formed a somewhat timid friendship with Victoria, while Tanya refused to have anything to do with her. She often acted as though Victoria didn't exist and refused to explain why.
Meanwhile, Victoria and Tanya both seemed to have a peculiar effect on most of Hogwarts' male population. Whenever Victoria was spotted in the hall she was usually flanked by a handful of boys, each fighting to carry, at least, one item of Victoria's. Tanya, however, seemed oblivious to the chaos she often caused.
While Victoria was beautiful and exotic, she often seemed fake. Tanya held the same beauty and mystique as Victoria, but she was kind and humble. She honestly had no idea why both Weasley twins insisted on escorting her to meals everyday.
Hermione enjoyed the drama and comedy her newfound friends came with. It was a change from the norm and, although she rarely thought of him, Viktor Krum continued to linger in her mind. She dreaded the day they would have their first DADA class with him and she often wondered if Victoria knew about Krum's deceit.

However, when you dread something, it has a way of coming to you faster than before and the DADA lesson was no different. Friday came and so did their lesson.

"Velcome," Viktor Krum said. He walked around the class as he continued his speech. "To your first class of Defense Against the Dark Arts vith me zis year. I vill teach you zings you've yet to hear of but must know."
"What in the bloody hell is he saying?" Ron demanded in a whisper. He noticed too late that, even though he'd meant the question to be for Harry and Hermione, he was actually sitting next to Tanya. Harry and Hermione sat at the table in front of them. Ron reddened.
"You expect me to know?" Tanya asked with a slight glance at the reddened Ron. She ignored his redness as, whenever she was around, Ron turned red. She just assumed, by now, that it was some sort of weird habit. "I can barely understand what you people say half the time and you think I can translate for Bulgaria's big brother over there? Yeah, right." Ron sank down into his chair as both Hermione and Harry shook so hard with laughter that they had to use each other for support.

Krum walked around the fairly large classroom without noticing the scene that had unfolded in the back of the classroom. He did, however, notice Hermione leaning cozily on Harry, her face still red from laughter. He made brief eye contact with her before she looked away. He mentally sighed and continued his speech.
"Class," he said when he'd finished explaining what he'd teach. "Open your books to page twenty-nine and begin veading." He watched as the Gryffindor class did as asked. His only slight rebellion came from his sister, who sat surrounded by boys. He rolled his eyes at her as she playfully stuck her tongue out at him before doing as asked.
Moments passed before Krum noticed that, out of everyone, Tanya sat staring around the room, though her book was open.
"Miss Hardin?" he said questioningly. The class immediately stopped what they were doing to watch the scene that was sure to unfold between the new teacher and the new student. Tanya looked to Krum attentively.
"Yes, professor Krum?" she responded innocently.
"Zere is a veason for vhy you are not veading?" Tanya stared at Krum with a confused expression on her face before finally understanding his meaning.
"Oh," she said when clarity dawned. "Well, I began to read, but noticed that what I was reading, I already knew. So I decided to wait for everyone to else to finish."
"You know," Krum began skeptically. "Of demons and zeir demonic order? You know of ze undervorld?"
"Yes sir." When she got another questioning look from Krum, she explained. "You see, my family is...uh...very involved in the magical world. They know of all sorts of dark things and saw to it that I knew of them too so that I could protect myself." Krum accepted the explanation with a bit of skepticism. Immediately, he came up with a way to determine if Tanya was indeed telling the truth.
"Vell, in zat case, vould you mind leading ze discussion on demons?" Tanya nodded.
"Demons," she began loudly, as though they didn't already have everyone's attention. "Are ruthless and vile creatures. Their main purpose in life is to become as powerful as possible. They will do anything to achieve this goal including killing anyone that gets in their way. They can be destroyed with potions." She stared into the book, although everyone could tell she was far from reading it. "Very, very powerful potions."

"That was amazing," Hermione said that afternoon. Tanya, flanked by the Weasley twins, had just entered the Great Hall for lunch. Hermione waited until she sat down to continue. "I didn't even know that demons existed." The Weasley twins sat on either side of Tanya and grabbed several slices of pizza pie and put them onto their plates.
"Me either," said Fred as he took a large bite out of a pepperoni slice. "Just learned Monday."
"But that's not the only thing." Hermione told the boys what had happened in class. The twins looked to Tanya, clearly impressed.
"Do you happen to know how to make any of these potions?" George asked, winking at his brother in a scheming manor.
"I can make every potion known to wizard and many potions not known," Tanya said honestly. The twins grinned. They looked about and noticed that their usual group did not surround them.
"Where is everyone?" Fred asked. Hermione smiled, clearly amused.
"I do believe Oliver called a meeting right before lunch with the Quidditch team to talk about tryouts tomorrow." George slapped his forehead.
"I forgot all about that," he said. He pointed an accusing finger at Fred. "You were supposed to remind me!" Fred jumped up and his twin did the same.
"How am I supposed to remind you when I can't even remind me?" he wanted to know. George ignored him and grabbed Tanya's right hand while Fred grabbed the left.
"Tanya, my dear," George said apologetically.
"We're dreadfully sorry," Fred continued.
"But we must bid you adieu," George finished. Each twin kissed the hand they were holding. They each grabbed two slices of pizza before running towards the exit.
"Farewell, my lady," the chorused before disappearing into the hall.
"Those two are crazy," Tanya laughed after them. "How you've handled being around them, I don't know."
"Harry and Ron," Hermione admitted with a laugh of her own. She stopped laughing, however, when Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, came over to their table.
"Granger," he said politely. This, by itself, was enough to send Hermione into shock. Imagine! Malfoy being polite to her!
"Malfoy," she returned hesitantly. After a stiff nod in her direction, Malfoy turned his attention to Tanya.
"Hello," he said with a charming smiled aimed to disarm. He placed one hand on the table and leaned on it so that he was standing slightly sideways while smiling down at Tanya.
"Hi," Tanya said with a smile of her own. Her eyes flickered over to Hermione in confusion, but she saw her new friend was going to be of no help because she was clearly in shock for some reason.
"I'm Draco Malfoy. You can call me Draco. I already know your name seeing as how it's been announced." This earned him another smile.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Draco. You can call me Tanya, but I have to get going." She had to get out of there before he hit on her. Tanya turned her attention to Hermione as she stood. "I'll see you in potions, girl." Hermione just nodded dumbly, her brain still numb with shock.
"Oh, I have that class next too," Draco said as his smile broadened. Tanya almost rolled her eyes. "Allow me to escort you," Malfoy said offering his arm. Taking a deep breath and reminding herself that he was just trying to help her, Tanya took his arm and a quick glare from Malfoy disbanded his entourage. He led Tanya out of the hall followed by the eyes of many jealous males and a stunned Hermione.

Tanya smiled blandly at Malfoy as the two walked into the potions classroom. They were more than a few minutes early so Tanya chose a spot and began to set up. It did not surprise her to see that Malfoy chose to set up in the seat next to her.

"Hardin," he said suddenly as if he were tasting the word. "Your last name sounds awfully familiar, have I met you before?" Tanya stopped setting random potion ingredients out and turned to face Malfoy.

"I don't believe so," she told him honestly. "I'm sure I would've remembered meeting you." Malfoy smiled. 'Not a lie,' Tanya thought to herself as she smiled back. 'I've never met you but I know who you are.' She turned back to her potion ingredients and silence ensued.

"How do you like it here?" Malfoy asked suddenly. "At Hogwarts, I mean? Do you miss home?" Tanya turned back to face him and sat down on her stool.

"Well, yes," she admitted. "I do miss America but I'm having a blast here. It's different, that's for sure." Malfoy smiled and Tanya found herself feeling bad for him.

'Poor kid's in over his head,' she thought sadly. 'He doesn't stand a chance.'

That night, before going down to dinner, Hermione pulled Oliver aside and told him about Malfoy's strange behavior that afternoon. She was disappointed when Oliver didn't seem to share her worry. Instead, he reacted in a way that was completely opposite of what Hermione had thought.

"He what?" Oliver laughed. He shook his head. "Malfoy, right?"
"Yes, Malfoy," Hermione said seriously. She led Wood to a loveseat placed conveniently in the corner of the common room. She sat and Wood mimicked her actions.
"I can't believe it," he chuckled, his face turning red from amusement. "Who would've though Malfoy would ever like a Gryffindor?" He laughed heartily for a few more moments before noticing Hermione was not amused.
"It's not funny," she sulked uncharacteristically. She sat back into the loveseat with her arms crossed about her chest. "He could hurt her and I don't want her hurt. I don't trust the ferret one little bit." Wood stopped all actions of amusement immediately and gathered Hermione in his arms. He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.
"Why should you?" he agreed. "Look, if it'll make you feel better, I'll talk to the twins about keeping an eye on her and I'll get Ron and Harry to help me scare him off a bit. Then I'll explain to Tanya about him, okay?" Hermione smiled grudgingly.
"Okay," she agreed. "Thanks, Oliver." She reached up, cupped his face, and planted a quick kiss on his lips. She stood. "Let's go to dinner. I'm not worried about Tanya at the moment."
"Oh no?" Wood asked standing. He raised an eyebrow at his curiously happy girlfriend. She's got to be bipolar, he thought. "Why?"
"Because," she said with a smile. "Its mealtime and it's the only time, other than weekends and downtime, that Fred and George can spend time with Tanya. At this moment they should be escorting her to dinner, waiting to sit on either side of her." Wood grinned at Hermione and shook his head. He slung an arm around her shoulder possessively and escorted her to dinner.

"He what?" gasped the Weasleys and Harry once Hermione had finished relaying the tale from lunch yet again. She and Oliver had entered the hall fifteen minutes ago and had eaten peacefully with their friends before Malfoy walked passed and smiled at Tanya who, in turn, smiled back. Everyone demanded an explanation, and seeing that Tanya was clearly confused, Hermione gave them one.
"You let him touch you?" Ginny shuddered as her face contorted into a mask of extreme distaste. "Gross!"
"He was actually very sweet," Tanya admitted. 'Not a lie,' she thought for the second time that day. Malfoy had actually turned out to be pretty good company. He was quite honest with her and told her he thought she was pretty and that he wanted to take her out sometime.

"Malfoy? Sweet?" Ginny asked.

"Um, yes. I admit that, when he first approached me, I didn't know what to think. I held off judgment until I learned more about him and he's really polite and was way better than most boys I know." Ginny mimicked gagging into her goblet. Hermione slapped her arm playfully and turned her attention to Tanya.
"How so?" she asked. She seemed determined to find out what would make Draco Malfoy attractive to anyone. Tanya shrugged carelessly.
"Well, he was honest about liking me. A lot of times guys are scared and I don't like that. I mean, I'm scared enough for the both of us. Someone needs to have some confidence." She looked to Hermione and Oliver. "I mean, I heard that you two were going at it pretty hard when Oliver first said he liked you. I need someone with that kind of confidence." Hermione blushed and Oliver beamed in pleasure.
"At least someone appreciates me," he joked. Tanya laughed heartily along with the others. Then, suddenly, her laughter died as she saw Victoria make her way to the table. The way she stopped laughing would've been quite comical had it not been for the reason behind it.
"Tanya," Victoria said coolly not meeting the other girls' eyes as she took a seat at the table.
"Victoria," Tanya returned just as cool. "Had a nice day?"
"Fabulous," Victoria returned in her thick accent. Tanya nodded slightly.
"Does anyone know the time?" she asked. "My watch won't work here."
"You've got to get a magical watch," Ginny explained. "They have them in Hogsmeade." Tanya nodded.
"All right. Remind me at the next village visit. Now what time is it?"
"It's seven-thirty." Tanya's eyes widened.
"Got to go!" she said as she jumped up from the table. "See you guys later."
"Where're you off to?"
"Uh, Library," Tanya called over her shoulder after a second of hesitation.
"She's in the library more than Hermione," Ron said and Hermione pinched him. "Ouch! Only joking," he offered pleadingly to his friend while rubbing his sore arm gingerly. Victoria, who had predominately silent until this time, chose this moment to point out something she saw as annoying.
"Don't you find it veird," she said suddenly. "How she pops in and out all ze time? She comes out of novhere half of ze time. I vonder vhat she's doing."
"She's right," Ginny said after a moment. "We never see her until breakfast or after dinner."

The next morning Tanya rose early. When she peaked at the wristwatch she'd borrowed from Ginny, she saw it was six-fifteen in the morning. She stretched and went to get dressed. She quietly put on her sweatpants, sports bra, black wife-beater, and tennis shoes. Satisfied that no one else was awake, she headed down to the grounds.
Once outside, she began stretching and preparing her body for a jog. Once she finished she began jogging on the path that went around and through Hogwarts' grounds.
Halfway through her jog, Tanya noticed that she was not the only one out that morning. On closer inspection, she noticed it was Oliver. Within a few moments she caught up to him. He smiled and nodded in her direction and she returned the gesture as they were both too winded to speak.
They continued on in comfortable silence until they reached the end of the path, which was also where they'd begun.
"Well," Wood panted. "Didn't think...to see you...here this...morning. You do know it's Saturday?" Tanya play-glared at Wood.
"Yes," she said breathlessly. "I know what day it is. I...always get up...this early to jog. I've got to stay in shape somehow."
"Really?" Wood seemed amused. He plopped down on the grass and motioned for Tanya to do the same. "Why?"
"Personal," was all she'd say.
"You know, Tanya," Wood began somewhat uncomfortably. "I haven't known you long-" Tanya sighed.
"You've known me for exactly one school week, Mr. Wood. So if you have something to say, spill it," she said lazily lying back on the grass with her eyes closed.
"Malfoy's a prat!" Wood said suddenly. Tanya opened her eyes and shot a bemused look at him.
"I have no idea what that is, but I'm sure it's anything but good." Wood shook his head.
"It's not. He's really hung up on blood." Tanya grinned.
"What is he, a vampire?"
"I'm not joking. He's a snob. He has a thing against half-blood or muggle-born wizards and witches. He believes 'pureblooded' magic folk are better than others." Tanya's face became serious. "Please be careful."
"Oh, Ollie," she batted her eyelashes comically. "I didn't know you cared." Oliver's expression didn't change and Tanya stopped smiling. "What's he into?"
"Huh?" Oliver seemed confused.
"No one becomes that serious about warning someone off of a snob. What," she asked again more seriously. "Is he into?"

"He runs with a bad crowd. It's not safe around him. The Dark Arts are embedded in his family. They're supporters of you-know-who. He's a really dark wizard over here and-"
"Who? Voldemort?" Tanya raised an eyebrow.
"Do you have to say the name?" Oliver asked looking around wildly.
"Look man, me saying the name isn't going to make him appear suddenly. I'm not afraid of him anyway."
"Hold the phone," Wood said. "How do you know about him and why aren't you scared?" Tanya rolled her eyes.
"Voldemort-oh for crying out loud man! Stop the flinching! Anyway, he's not just a threat over here. He's a threat to every magical society on the planet. Of course we know about him in America and I'm not afraid of him because he's little more than a child." Oliver raised an eyebrow.
"You're not afraid because you think he's a kid?" Tanya nodded easily.
"Yes, a kid who can't handle his power, so he's gone on a gigantic power trip." She shrugged. "Besides, I have faith in Harry." She smiled. "He's not just a prodigy over here, you know. Every magical society in the world knows about him and most of us support him." Wood raised any eyebrow.
"Everyone knows about Harry Potter?"

"No, everyone knows about Harry Truman," Tanya replied as she rolled her eyes. "Of course Harry Potter. As long as he has to the guts to tell Voldy to eat dirt then I can, at least, support him."
"American girls are crazy," Wood said shaking his head.
"Why, thank you." Tanya stood and offered a hand to Wood. He took it and she helped him stand.
"I have a feeling we're going to be good friends." Wood laughed.

"Good thing you said that 'cause I need a running buddy."

"I volunteer."

"I just knew you would. Come on, I'm hungry, let's get breakfast."

Krum almost sighed in relief, but stopped himself for fear of being caught by the group of giggling girls who were, at that moment, seeking him out for 'homework help'. He noticed that he'd placed himself in the library and decided to find something to look at while he relaxed in a cozy chair in the corner.
While searching, he came upon a familiar figure. Hermione was sitting at a table in the middle of the library, studying. He swallowed the lump in his throat and made his way over to her.
"Herm-own-ninny," he said quietly. Hermione stiffened and looked up sharply, her eyes iced over.
"Professor Krum," she returned coolly. Krum shook his head in annoyance.
"Don't do zis," he said.
"Do what, professor?"
"Don't pretend you don't know me. I'm sorry," he said honestly. "I'm so sorry. I vant you back." Hermione froze.
"You...want...what?" she said slowly in a dangerous voice. She turned in her seat so that her whole body was facing Krum.
"I vould like for us to get back together." Hermione shook her head and smiled as though she couldn't believe what she was hearing and, in truth, she couldn't. She was about to reply when Krum continued. "I-I zink I love you."