Mistletoe Madness Chapter 7 November 1, 17, 20, December 16, 2014

I made sure to start right away. Then again, I did that last time and look how that turned out. This chapter is basically chapter six over again, but in Hermione's point of view. I thought it would be nice to hear this particular moment in both perspectives.


/Hermione/

It had been a normal day for Hermione. She had woken up, gotten dressed, and had a pleasant breakfast with her friends. Without a doubt, her morning had become a lot more amusing when star Quidditch player Viktor Krum had asked to sit with them, once again disabling Ron's vocal chords. Trying to be friendly, she beckoned to the spot beside her. He looked quite grateful, which surprised Hermione. Why wasn't he sitting with his new Slytherin buddies? Whatever the reason, Krum made to sit down beside the Gryffindor, but was temporarily distracted when he bumped the table, causing Harry's goblet of pumpkin juice to topple sideways, spilling its contents across the table.

Luckily, Harry didn't mind in the slightest, simply setting the gold cup right-side up and pouring himself some more juice. Kind-hearted Hermione, to save Viktor from some embarrassment, reached for a pile of napkins close by to assist in the cleaning up. Before she had the chance to actually grab one, Krum had also leaned forward to take his own napkin to clean up his mess, and the pair's hands bumped together. Hermione withdrew slightly, but still took her napkin to soak up the juice on the table. She felt like she'd been shocked, and her hand didn't stop tingling until she had put the napkin down. Wanting to forget about it, she tried to find something else to think about. It suddenly dawned on her that she had forgotten to finish her Charms essay for Flitwick, and that it was due the period after next.

"Well, I'm off to the library now! I need to finish Flitwick's essay." Hermione stood up quickly, her bag already over her shoulder (the bag was lighter than usual, due to the absence of at least three books) as she power-walked towards the doors of the Great Hall. As she was exiting, it took more willpower than Hermione thought she would need to ignore Malfoy's jibe of Krum taking pity on a poor Mudblood ("Hey Granger! How does it feel to have a famous guy sit beside you? Out of pity, of course. Who in their right mind would sit beside a Mudblood?"). The Gryffindor took a deep breath, consoling herself with the fact that revenge would be coming soon. It wasn't that hard to guess that Draco had been the one to damage her things and take her books. The joke was him anyways; Hermione always duplicated her work for times such as then, or when Ron or Harry got too rowdy and destroyed her work (Vanished, thrown in the fire, ripped to shreds – the boys had done just about every way to destroy a roll of parchment known to man).

To complete the essay to that standard of her usual schoolwork, Hermione felt she needed five books. As she made her way to her favourite table, however, she selected four more. Gently setting the stack of informative pages down on the table (the tables were extremely old, and creaked even if there was only one book resting upon it), she nestled herself into the single chair, and began to read, often pausing to take notes. She did not see Krum hiding behind a nearby bookshelf.

She did notice when the Durmstrang student came out of the slight shadows and, crossing straight towards her, went to the bookshelf exactly beside where she was writing. She was even more surprised when he selected a book and, pulling up another chair, plopped down and started reading. Well, not really reading. The book was upside down.

"What - are you looking - for?" Hermione spoke with sudden pauses in between her voice. She was surprised at herself: she hadn't been expecting to address Krum at all, but now she had. Fortunately, it looked like Viktor was as surprised as she was.

"Um… chells – sparns… Spells! I'm looking for… spells."

Really, thought Hermione, I cannot possibly be that scary. Then she noticed the cover of book that Krum was holding. It was a book about the most dangerous spells in the wizarding world, and contained all of the Unforgivable Curses as well.

"In that book?" Hermione frowned. If this is where Harry's competitor was going for knowledge on the next Task, Harry had better watch his back. I should go warn him, Hermione thought.

"No!" Krum looked like a bird who had had his feathers intensely ruffled. He quickly began to rifle through pages, and Hermione was now extremely confused, wondering what exactly it was that Krum was looking for. Looking quite desperate, Krum slammed the book shut. Hermione flinched and looked towards the librarian's desk, where a clearly unimpressed Madame Pince sat frowning at them. Apparently, though, Krum was not finished. He shot up from his seat, sending the chair grinding across the floor. He then dropped the book that had freaked him out.

Have you quite finished? Hermione was dying to use this sarcasm upon the poor teenager, but refrained and returned to her book as Viktor placed the book extremely carefully back on its shelf. After about a minute, she felt that something was watching her. She quickly looked up, and someone was indeed watching her. Who else but Viktor Krum, who appeared not to have moved since re-shelving his book. Hermione was starting to get really weirded out.

"Can I help you?" She tried to keep fear, yes fear, out of her voice.

"Um… maybe?" Krum certainly had a way with words. Hermione watched as he took a deep breath.

"Um, vouldoolikeoocometoaballwime?"

Hermione just stared. She had heard something along the lines of "Voodoo like you come to able wifey."

"Pardon?" The Gryffindor, the brave at heart, was becoming still more nervous.

She watched as Krum took another breath. "Vould you like to come to the Yule Ball vith me?" His eyes were slightly squinted, as if waiting for her to say no.

Slightly to her own surprise, she smiled slightly, and waited until Krum was looking at her again to say something.

"I would like that." The relief and surprise was evident on Viktor's face, and it caused Hermione to laugh lightly. Someone had invited her to a Ball, and it wasn't just a friend out of desperation. All of a sudden she couldn't wait. At this point, it was clear sailing.


Obviously what I assumed would happen did happen.

But thanks for all the views, favourites, follows, and reviews that still found their way here through two months.

And, funny enough, this is just two hours after the amazing Lady of the Dawn 01 left me four reviews in a row! Thank you!

Merry Christmas!