CHAPTER 3: STRANGEST ADVENTURES

The next morning, all the house's residents found it was the last Friday before term, which meant the post from the school would be coming. But, since the Quidditch match was that day, they all agreed to postpone school shopping until the next day. It was a grudging decision, Molly Weasley normally frowned upon the idea of wasting more time, but she was willing to make an exception just this once, especially for Ron, whom she had affectionately named Ronniekins.

They all ate a hurried breakfast, as Arthur needed to get to work, as well as Bill, Percy, and Charlie. Ron and Hermione were of course on their way to the Quidditch match, Harry had a special day planned out for Draco and himself, and Molly and Ginny were going to tidy up the house a bit while everyone was gone. They would have done so the previous night, but all things considered, there would have been to much to be heard, not enough room for thought to concentrate on cleaning.

The older Weasleys were the first to leave, then Harry finally finished getting ready, leaving with Draco to their day together, and then last but not least, Ron and Hermione were hustled out the door and given a Portkey to take right outside the grounds of the Quidditch match. They went outside to place they had planned, they then set it down on the ground and looked each other in the eye and they both nodded, they were ready. They both placed a finger on the boot at the same time and they were rushed off to the grounds, feeling the same ripping sensation as they made their way.

Once they arrived, they found it was Bulgaria against the Holyhead Harpies, so of course Hermione was excited that she would get to see Viktor again, Ron in close competition with her, as Viktor was his favorite Seeker, and in his opinion, the best in the world. They found their seats and Ron bought the both of them Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. The silence that had been between the two of them since they had left the house was bugging him, neither of them dared to say a word, the previous night's harsh words were still fresh in their minds.

"Ron?" she said as she was in the middle of sucking on a caramel-flavored bean. She had finished about half of her box, and it wasn't even the beginning of the game, she giggled as she thought of all the beans she could eat throughout the actual match, depending on how fast Viktor caught the Snitch. Which, they both figured, would be in decent time, as Krum was one of the youngest and the best Seeker, in the professional world of course, as Harry was their friend and he was quite good at it.

Ron looked over from talking to the salesman and handed her another box of Every Flavor Beans, taking one for himself as well. "Yeah?" he said as he dipped his hand into his current box of sweets. His sister's words were still fresh in his head, girls liked to feel special when with a guy. He had paid attention to that point, if nothing else. Besides, if he was going to tell Hermione how he really felt about her, he would need to spoil her all he could.

"How come you wanted to bring me to this match?" she asked as she sipped on her pumpkin juice, it was her favorite lately. She was curious, she never thought that Ron would ever want to be more than her friend, but of course she hadn't noticed how she had changed throughout the years. Her figure had filled itself out and her hair was sleeker and easier to manage, her as an entire person had grown over the six years that the Golden Trio were together.

Ron found himself stuttering for a bit, he was kind of nervous, considering she had just come right out and asked him. He shrugged slightly and replied, "I dunno, really, I guess I wanted to bring you because I…..I…." he started stuttering again. Hermione giggled and he glared at her then chuckled a bit himself. "I guess it's because I like you. There, I said it." He looked over at her, she looked down just before he did so, and she began ruffling around in her beans, looking for the perfect flavor.

She wasn't ruffling around for long, she finally popped a strawberry-flavored one in her mouth and looked up at him. "Ron I'm so sorry, I don't think I return the feeling." Her smile from receiving more of her favorite sweets almost instantly changed to a look of sympathy. She felt horrible that he had gone and done all this only to be turned down. With a small sigh, she said, "But look, let's just enjoy the match, alright?"

Ron looked over at the pitch for a second, the teams were coming on, it was a sign that the match would be starting soon. He then looked over at her and smiled slightly, "Yeah, let's enjoy the match." He hugged her for a moment, she returned the favor. When she pulled away, he smiled, "Maybe you'll get to hang out with Vik again, eh?" he said with a laugh and a slight nudge on the girl's arm.

Hermione laughed, he knew her all too well. She nudged him back and said, "Well I'm glad you're not too upset. And of course, I always find my way to Vik, we've been old pals since fourth year." She smiled slightly and turned her gaze to the pitch, Viktor was making his way to making a fly-by of his fans' half of the stands. "Like I said," she finished with a smirk as Viktor flew by once then stopped in front of her.

"Hermione," Viktor said with a smile. "Good to see you again." This made her laugh, he was a quiet person, she was amazed he said as much as he did. "Cheer the loudest for me, alright?" he continued, then turning to look at the pitch then back at her. "See you after the match." He then flew off and rejoined his team, leaving Hermione and Ron in a fit of laughter.

Hermione smiled and watched as he flew away and rejoined his team. Then, she couldn't help but giggle and say, "At least he finally learned how to say my name right," as a smile appeared on Ron's face. She shook her head and handed him a cherry-flavored bean. "Those are good," she said with a smile, they were still close friends, even if he did have a crush on her. "Bloody hard to find in all the other ones, though."

Ron smiled and popped it in his mouth. "Bloody hell these are good," he said with a laugh in his voice. "This should be quite interesting, this match. Let's just hope Viktor catches the Snitch, and doesn't spend the entire match watching you." He glanced over at the pitch, shaking his head playfully and then glancing over at her..

"Well well well if it isn't the Weasley boy and his Mudblood girlfriend," said a greasy voice. "Out for a date, are we?" The two friends turned around to find themselves facing none other than Lucius Malfoy. Ron glared at him and Hermione was about to empty her box of beans on the blonde's head. It was obvious that she was done being referred to so obnoxiously as the greasiest name society could possibly think up. She was ready to just punch the man, in all honesty, as he had caused her and her friends enough trouble as it was throughout the past years.

"Bugger off Malfoy, go and shag yourself somewhere," said Ron with his glare towards the man increasing with every second he stood there. "Or can't you get it through your thick head that you're unwanted and honestly, you enjoy yourself as a better shag than your own wife." With that, he turned around, half-tempted to flip the older wizard off, but thought better of it, considering the man was a Deatheater, let alone one of the most trusted one.

Hermione also turned her back to the man, then he eventually picked up the hint and strode off to sit with his wife, Narcissa, who was equally disliked among the Weasleys and anyone else with a mind to destroy Voldemort's power. She looked over at Ron and said, "Let it go, Ron, he's harmless without his Deatheater friends." She gave him a friendly smile and placed a hand on his shoulder as she spoke to him, she didn't feel like having him steamed the entire day, it was one of their last free days for a while.

He glanced over at her then back towards the pitch and said, "Well we'll see how harmless he is when I go Unforgivable on his slimy arse." Then, the angry expression that had taken up residence on his face changed to a relaxed one as the match finally started. "Saved by the Quaffle," he said as the referee sent the Quaffle, along with the other balls, into the air, then all the players taking off, Viktor finding a good spot to hover as he looked for the Snitch.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed, or boxes of Bertie Bott's, to say the least, until the announcer exclaimed that the Snitch had finally been spotted. Bulgaria was ahead of the Harpies, 100-70, which wasn't far apart, but with the concentrated look on Krum's face, he would make it impossible for the Harpies to seal the gap. He dived into his signature move, the Wronksi feint, once he figured out which direction the Snitch would go, following it close to the ground, then reaching out for it and pulling up once the Snitch went up as well.

He was chasing it for a while, today's Snitch was an evasive little bugger, and the opposing team almost got it once, but he, after five minutes or so, finally managed to secure it between his fingers, holding on to it tight once he got a grip, feeling the frantic beating go down as the golden, winged ball found struggling to be no use, folding its wings in once it finally stopped resisting. Viktor smirked, it was now 250-70, he had managed to broaden the gap between the two scores quite a bit.

When the match was over, Viktor kept his promise to see Hermione after the game, he hadn't seen her in almost a year, and flew over to where her and Ron had been sitting, they were almost ready to leave. "Hermione, Ron, did you both enjoy the match?" Even though he addressed the both of them, he was primarily staring at Hermione. He was as surprised as they were that he was talking as much as he was.

Hermione smiled and nudged Ron to at least speak, she looked over at him to find he was fighting back laughter, he was amused at Viktor's antics. "Ron…at least say hi," she said in a hushed tone. Looking back over at Viktor, she said, "It was a lot of fun to watch, as always, Viktor," for some reason it felt good to say his name. She smiled once more, it was easy to smile when in his presence. With a small laugh she said, "Ron's got a lot of sugar in his system," and glanced over at Ron once more, this time tilting her head slightly in the other boy's direction, indicating for Ron to at least manage out a hello.

"He….he…hello" Ron forced out, there was a significant snicker to his voice. Turning to face Hermione he said, "I'm going to make sure the Portkey is still there. I'll leave you two to catch up, there is a lot to discuss." With that, he walked off and out of the grounds, leaving a blushing Hermione alone with a most certainly amused Viktor Krum.

He broke the awkward silence that surrounded them after a few endless seconds of staring into her eyes. "Well, I must return to my team, I'll write you sometime," he said as he planted a small kiss on her cheek. She placed her hand over the spot that he had kissed as he flew away to rejoin his friends from the team. She also walked out and off the stands to join Ron, he had grabbed everything and was waiting by the Portkey.

As she joined him, their eyes locked as they prepared to do the same thing they had done in order to leave. They made sure they had everything with them and on them, then they placed a finger on the boot, then they were flown off to the field just outside the Burrow's front yard. And as they walked up the driveway and were just about to walk through the door, which he of course held open for her, she purposefully brushed her hand against his.

This, of course, was a sign there were no tense feelings between them any longer. And right before she closed the door to her room, she whispered, "I'll go to a Quidditch match with you any day, Ron Weasley, even if it's not as your girlfriend." She smiled, then slipped into her room, closing the door softly, him doing the same seconds later, after he processed what he had just heard her say. But of course the picture of Krum he had in his room, hanging on the wall, said in that same thick, accented voice, "Lucky bastard."