This chapter is officially a MONSTER. hehe. It's my favorite so far with a whopping 3,368 words!! Don't expect another chapter tonight or even tomorrow... I have to finish numero seven and pass it off to my beta... and I've been reading nonstop. There's this author who calls herself Miss Yetigoosecreature who runs bulgarianbonbon . com and I am hopelessly addicted to her stories... which are over a hundred chapters long. I've been reading a lot. SO, here's the chapter! Read and review plz!. :D
"You really didn't have to get me anything, Viktor," Hermione insisted as her date passed her a small gift wrapped up in gold paper.
"Is nothing," he said, shaking his head. "It's something small. It's not a big deal."
Hermione tore the paper off the present and opened a small gold box inside to reveal a corsage made of deep red roses interlaced with periwinkle and black ribbon. She lifted it from the box and admired it. "This is beautiful, Viktor. Thank you."
"Allow me?" He took the corsage from her and secured it safely around her wrist. "I should haff given it to you before ve vent into the ball but there vas not the opportunity."
"I wish I had gotten you something, a boutonniere or something." She sighed, still looking at the flowers on her wrist.
"It's not necessary. You came vith me tonight and that is all I could haff asked for, Herm… Herm-o-ninny." He struggled with her name and then looked to her for forgiveness. She giggled and set her head on his shoulder as they sat outside in the cool winter air.
It was snowing lightly when Viktor woke up that December morning. Despite the drifting snowflakes, the snow was shining brilliantly through the gray clouds, warming the stone walls of Krum Manor. He heard it coming and he groaned. A Siberian Husky, a blur of black and white, bounded onto his bed and started licking his face.
"Get down, you big ugly brute!" Viktor grumbled sleepily. "You're not a cute little puppy, Sven. You're huge."
Sven looked up at Viktor with his clear blue eyes, and then jumped from the bed's plush crimson bedding. Viktor fell back onto his pillows and sighed. "Well, I'm awake now."
He stood and walked over to the window directly across from his bed and looked out onto the house's forest surroundings. The pine tree tops were dusted with glistening white snow and the ground was a sea of white. The lane leading into the small wizard town was covered completely by the cloud fractions. He ran a hand through his raven hair with the budding appearance of silver before abandoning the window's view and going to shower.
Before he even had a chance to blink, it was quarter to eleven. Hermione and the kids would be arriving in just fifteen minutes, but it didn't seem entirely real. He had invited just her during the Triwizard Tournament and, after talking to her friends, had seemed reluctant. Now, however, she had decided to come without another thought. How was it now that she had decided to make the journey after she had been officially tied down with a family? It didn't make sense, but he put it out of his mind as he had to get to the Portkey point to greet them. He slung a silver fur cloak over his black robes and pulled on a pair of gloves as he stepped out the back door, and into the manor's frosted grounds.
He had been sure he wouldn't be making the journey to the forest's edge on his own. Sure enough, Sven came running across the snowy ground to join him as he passed the Quidditch hoops. He leaned down and scratched his companion's ears as he checked his watch.
"Now, Sven," he addressed the canine. "Ve speak only English now, understand?" Sven sat, wagging his tail and panting in excitement. Viktor sighed. "You don't understand any language. You'll respect anyvone if they let you take up half their bed and play vith you every vonce in a vhile."
He continued the short walk to the point where the Portkey would land with Sven trotting along happily beside him. The trees were starting to get larger now, their boughs appearing greener and more defined as he walked towards them. Once he arrived, he sat on a large rock overlooking a frozen pond and Sven sat beside him, setting his fuzzy head in his master's lap. His watch told him he had just two more minutes to wait… just two minutes until visitors arrived at Krum Manor.
The snowflakes were still falling just as slowly and lazily as they had been that morning. They fell onto the hairs of his cloak and into his dark locks, contrasting brilliantly. The minutes ran into each other and suddenly a large crack sounded. Three people, one girl who was short and lanky, a boy who was medium height and slightly stockier, and his Hermione, all appeared clutching a coat hanger. Hermione brought a hand to her head to combat the dizziness from travel before spotting Viktor sitting on the rock. She broke into a great big Hermione smile and beckoned that her children follow her to meet him.
"How vas the trip?" Viktor asked, hopping off the rock and meeting Hermione in a hug.
"Short, but as uncomfortable as Portkeys have always seemed to me," she replied, squeezing him tighter in her arms before breaking apart and putting a hand on each of her children's shoulders. "Viktor, I'd like you to meet Rose and Hugo."
"Nice to meet you both." He shook Hugo's hand and kissed Rose's politely. "Velcome to Bulgaria."
"Thanks," Rose said brightly. She spotted Sven still sitting on the rock and her honey eyes brightened. "What a beautiful dog! Can I pet him?"
"Of course," Viktor replied. He whistled and Sven jumped off the rock and nearly knocked Rose over in excitement. She pet him happily and he just lay there on his back with his tongue sticking out. Viktor chuckled. "He really likes you."
"Rose loves animals," Hermione said, still watching her daughter with the dog. "She wants a dog, but Crookshanks is just too old to have a yapping puppy running around the house."
"Crookshanks… vait… your cat?" Viktor asked stunned. Hermione nodded and he gaped at her. "You mean to tell me that thing is still alive?"
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call him a thing…" Hermione began but Hugo cut her off.
"Mum, he's a big bag of fur… he is very much a thing."
"Hugo, that's enough." Hermione rounded on him before continuing, "Yes. He's still alive. I think it's the Kneazle in him that's kept him around so long… Let's change the subject?"
Hermione always had been touchy about her cat. Viktor was never really keen on cats, but Hermione had insisted that he was a nice. He laughed, though, at her desire to change the subject, and addressed Hugo, "So, you're a big Qvidditch fan, no?"
"I love Quidditch. I'm one of the Beaters for Gryffindor," he said proudly. "I'm really excited to see the match tomorrow."
"Me too. I can't wait to see the new Keeper play… he's so fit," Rose said breathlessly, looking up from the dog and joining the conversation.
Viktor smiled. "Vell, I think, as the Bulgaria National Coach and their former seeker… I might be able to arrange a meeting… just maybe."
He looked at the kids as their jaws dropped. Hugo stammered, "Really?"
"Yes, really." Viktor nodded. "And maybe they vould have a short session vith you both. Call it a belated Christmas present."
Hugo looked at his sister excitedly and her face matched his. Hermione smiled at Viktor. "That's really sweet of you, Viktor."
"Is nothing," he insisted. "Should ve go get you all settled in at the house or vould you all rather stand here in the snow vith a smelly dog?"
"Let's go inside," Hermione replied, picking up her suitcase which sat at her feet.
"Let me get that for you, Hermione." Viktor took the suitcase from Hermione. "And you too, Rose."
"Thank you, Viktor… always the knight in shining armor," Hermione teased as Rose handed him her duffle bag as well.
"Is my job. I vas raised that vay," he teased right back. They walked in silence around the orchard up until the kids saw the Quidditch pitch at the south end of the house. They gabbed about it and how they wished they had brought their broomsticks.
"Yes, because a former Qvidditch player and present coach vouldn't have any broomsticks at his house," he joked as Rose and Hugo fretted over their packing choices. Viktor smiled at Hermione and noticed something on her person that he hadn't seen before. Peeking out from under her gray pea coat was a crimson and black striped scarf. He shifted the bags in his hands and reached out to grab the fabric. "You still have this?"
Hermione loosened it and pulled it from her coat. "Of course. I promised I would wear it, didn't I?"
She grinned wordlessly at him and he smirked back at her; they fell silent once again, and followed the kids up the back steps onto the balcony. They moved aside and he opened the door, leading them into the hallway that led from the front door to the back. The three guests looked up at the portraits lining the walls, pictures of ancestry all housed in gleaming gilded frames of gold. The occupants of the portraits looked down at them, each of the people with raven hair and dark eyes. Hermione scrutinized them closely as they passed, something Viktor had anticipated.
"None of them speak English except for the vone of my father upstairs," he told them. "But none of them vill bother you. They're pretty accommodating to guests. Feel free to talk to my father… he's qvite a talker…"
Hermione ran her finger over the Cyrillic writing on the hallway's last portrait. "These are incredible. I wish we had talking portraits of the family in our house. It's like having tiny pieces of history in your home."
"Oh yes." Viktor rolled his eyes. "Pieces of history that spit out every thought in their head every time you pass by."
They walked up the stairs and down the left side of the hallway. Viktor opened a door on the right side of the hallway. "Rose, this vill be your room. The bathroom is through that door over there… and Hugo, your room is the vone right across the hallvay." He reached over and opened the door to Hugo's room. "If you need anything at all, my room is the vone that is straight down the hall… the right side of the stairs."
"Thanks," the kids chorused and went in to unpack. Hermione followed Viktor down to the last door on the left side of the hall.
"This room vas my mother's that she fixed up for guests," Viktor said as he opened the door for Hermione. "She loved the color lavender, as you can tell."
"It's lovely," Hermione said, taking the suitcase from Viktor and setting it at the end of the bed. The walls of the room were pale lavender, as was the bedspread. Small yellow and pink flowers arrayed the comforter and were mirrored in the dried flower arrangements on the desk. Deeper purple curtains were pulled back from the windows and the sunlight fell across the bedside table and onto a crystal vase holding fresh pink roses.
"No vone has stayed in here for sixteen years, but I dusted everything… cleaned the sheets…" Viktor looked around the room, at the fine-crafted wood furniture and then finally at Hermione. "Vell, I am thinking you vould like to get settled. I'll be downstairs in the kitchen, the open room off the hallvay that I showed you. Vhen you and the kids are ready, I'll take them flying if they vant."
"Oh, they will want to," Hermione said surely. "Thank you, Viktor."
Viktor said nothing, but nodded curtly as he shut the door and headed downstairs.
The snow subsided into a gray-skied afternoon. Viktor took Rose and Hugo flying on the Quidditch pitch and insisted that Hermione join; an offer which she refused. It turned out that both of the kids were decent fliers. Rose was a good Chaser while Hugo was a good Beater. They flew around the pitch for several hours before they were all too hungry to fly anymore.
"How vould you all like a good Bulgarian dinner?" Viktor asked as the three of them joined back with Hermione on the ground.
"Personally, I'm starving and I've never had Bulgarian food. I think dinner sounds lovely," Hermione answered, pulling her elbows in close to her as the temperature dropped.
"Yeah, sounds good." Rose pulled the Quidditch goggles off her freckled face, untangling them from her bushy red hair.
"What is Bulgarian cuisine?" Hugo questioned.
Viktor thought for a minute. "Vell, ve could have moussaka or gyuvetch, or Kavarma Kebap…" He was receiving blank looks from both of the kids. "Vould you prefer beef or pork?"
"Beef," they both chorused.
"I think I can figure something with beef," Viktor said with a smirk. "I am qvite the cook."
Viktor began the dish while the kids bathed. Hermione chose to sit in the kitchen and watch the chef at work. She watched him with a new kind of awe. "I had no idea you could cook."
"I vasn't lying vhen I told you I could open my own restaurant," he said while cutting up an onion. He dropped the minced root into one of the pots on the stove. "There are many things you don't know about me, Hermione."
"True," she said simply. "Where did you learn to cook?"
"My father. He vas a chef at the restaurant down the hill. People came from all over to eat his dishes." He lifted a pot from the burner and poured hot vegetables into a serving bowl. "Everything by hand. Never take shortcuts vith magic. It takes avay the essence of the food."
"That seems so foreign to me anymore… cooking without magic," Hermione mused. "I've gotten so used to using my wand for everything."
"Magic isn't just in the vand. A person can change everyday things into magic just because they are that kind of person," he stated and then furrowed his brow. "That didn't make any sense, did it?"
"No, Viktor." She shook her head. "It made perfect sense."
He looked over at her and she started laughing. He began to laugh too just because she was laughing and soon they didn't know exactly what they were laughing about. Hermione clutched at a stitch in her side and leaned up against the bar, gasping for air. "I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard."
"Vhat vere ve even laughing about?" he asked as he returned his attention to plating the food.
"I don't know, but I think that was too many W's for you in one sentence." She giggled. "I'm going to go grab the kids."
He watched her leave the room and felt a strange ache. She made him feel so carefree and for just one moment maybe she had forgot that she was aching too.
"That was excellent," Hugo said, leaning back in his chair. "I think I'm ready for a nap now."
"I agree one hundred percent," Hermione agreed with a nod. "That was the best meal I've had in a long time."
"I couldn't eat another bite if I tried," Rose said, yawning hugely.
"You all flatter me," Viktor said with a chuckle. "I think I'll have you all over for every dinner. Usually I just cook for myself anymore… sometimes for some of the team."
"I just might take you up on that offer." Hugo stood from his chair. "May I be excused for bed?"
"If it's all right vith your mother." Viktor nodded. "You both really vore yourselves out playing Qvidditch. Get rested up for tomorrow, yes?"
"Rose, Hugo, go ahead and go to bed. We're getting up nice and early to get to the stadium." Hermione gave them the okay and they hurried out of the room. Their footsteps could be heard bounding up the staircase. A clinking noise indicated that Sven was checking in for the night with Rose.
"I'll get the table cleaned off." Viktor stood and began taking plates off the table.
Hermione grabbed a few plates as well. "Let me help?"
He nodded, and together they cleared the table in just a few short trips. Viktor took his wand out of his pocket and flicked it. The dishes began cleaning themselves in the warm soapy water in the sink. Hermione stepped in close to him and started helping him with this task as well. She was just inches away from him now. Her arm brushed up against his and he nearly jumped back as if burned. "Sorry," she said, her eyes glimmering in the candlelight from the chandelier above. He swallowed hard and turned his attention back to the sudsy water. Just a few more left…
"Done," he said, stowing his wand back in his pocket. He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and watched Hermione turn and lean casually against the counter.
"I'm actually excited to go see this game tomorrow," Hermione expressed candidly. "I've never been to a game without Ron."
Viktor wasn't sure how to reply to this, exactly. Thankfully, she continued, "It wasn't ever much fun. I tried to follow along, but whenever I did, he told me I wasn't understanding it properly… maybe I said a word wrong or something. He was always correcting me and I couldn't ever properly enjoy just being there. It was like I was a small child. He was always very condescending and if I just sat there and watched without being too enthusiastic about it, he'd tell me I was pouting." She exhaled deeply, "Sorry about that. I've been holding a lot in since… since he passed away. He wouldn't have been happy that I came here."
There was a long pause in which neither of them really wanted to say anything. Viktor thought intently about what he was going to say before deciding just to say it. "I'm really glad you came, Hermione."
"I'm glad I did too." She stepped forward and hugged him tightly, resting her head against her shoulder. "Ginny, Ron's sister, said it was too early but I knew that I needed to be with someone for just a little while who didn't make me sad or upset. Everyone back home just keeps telling me that I should still be sad. I am, of course, but I can't stop living."
Viktor's hand found its way to her hair and he stroked it comfortingly. She held him tighter and kept venting her frustrations. It was comforting to him in a way because he felt like he was actually helping her. She trusted him. She could feel safe with him and, in a way, that was the best feeling in the world.
"I vill alvays be here for you, Hermione," Viktor whispered. "Alvays have been… alvays vill be."
She looked up at him with her caramel eyes and he looked back at her without holding back the intensity that he felt with her. Their faces were very close. He could feel his breath on his neck and he wanted so badly to kiss her…
The grandfather clock in the entryway chimed off ten and he pulled away from her most reluctantly. "I think it's time ve head off to bed. Like you said, ve have an exciting day tomorrow."
"Of course," she said with a note that could be interpreted as either sad or regretting… he couldn't tell. They climbed the stairs silently and parted ways. He couldn't get the picture of her as she stood so near to him from his mind as he closed the door to his room and collapsed onto his plush and lonesome bed.
ALMOST! You thought it was going to happen and, frankly, I almost thought it would. haha. Review and you'll see a seventh installment soon. 7 is my favorite number so... we shall see what happens. :D