Hey you guys!

First things first, I just want to thank you guys for all the reviews I've been getting. I really appreciate it :)

Secondly, this is the last chapter I'll be publishing for a while. Because I go to Ireland tomorrow.

Now, read on!

"Oh, God. He did not do what I think he did."

She held the letter at arm's length, as if it would burn her.

"Well, Viktor, I don't buy it. If you want to get me back, you're either going to have to do something much better than an owl, or get a brain transplant," she muttered to herself. She crumpled up the letter in her fist. "Because I have better things to do than pander to you whenever you call."

She put the letter in her pocket and went downstairs. Stefan and Andrei were playing in the lounge, and Ron – fresh from a shower, though still looking slightly zombie-like – was standing in the kitchen making coffee. Gabrielle was leaning against a unit, sipping a glass of fizzy water.

"Hey, you two," Hermione said cheerfully as she sat down on a barstool. "I was thinking we should go out tomorrow night. You guys got a pub near you?"

"I can't believe you dragged me here, Gabby," Ron grumbled as they walked through the door of 'The Duck and Dog', the local Muggle pub.

The kids were in the care of Marjorie, Ron's Muggle friend. Ron had, at first, refused to come, but with a little persuasion from Gabrielle he had agreed to come.

"It will be good for you, will it not, Hermione?" Gabrielle grinned. They sat down at an old wooden table near the window. Hermione hung her coat on the back of her chair. As she sat down, she felt the crumpled letter make a crunch in her back pocket. Damn. She'd forgotten to take it out.

They sat for about ten minutes. An awkward silence seemed to cover the table like a blanket. Hermione and Ron wouldn't look at one another, and Gabrielle kept trying to keep the conversation going, though it eventually fell flat and wouldn't get back up.

The silence was broken when a tall Muggle man came over. "Er, there's a woman at the bar who asked me to tell you that 'you should watch out for Nargles'. I'm sorry, I don't know what she means, but – "

The three of them glanced at one another. Gabrielle looked baffled, but Ron and Hermione were grinning. At the same time, they looked over at the bar. There, sitting on a barstool, radish earrings swinging from underneath her dirty blonde hair, was Luna Lovegood. She saw them looking over at her and smiled. Tugging on the arm of a tall, bearded man beside her, she came to join them at their table.

"Luna! Bloody hell, what are you doing here?" Ron asked, astounded.

"Rolf and I come into this pub whenever we pass through," Luna answered serenely. "We're in this area right now, looking for the rare Janglebug. Rolf is a magizoologist , you know – a wizarding naturalist, like me. He studies magical creatures."

"Wow, that's so amazing!" Hermione said. "Are you two married, then?"

"Yes, we are. We married a year ago," Luna replied.

Hermione smiled. "Ah, how sweet." She stood up. "I'm going to get a drink – anybody want one?" This was followed a chorus of 'beer for me's and 'yes please's.

Hurrying up to the bar, she ordered the drinks. As she waited, a cute Muggle guy with dark brown hair and arm muscles like oranges caught her eye and grinned. Hermione blushed as she took the drinks and took them back to the table.

"What are you blushing about, Hermione?" Luna asked, subtle as ever. This made Hermione blush even more.

"I, er... it's a little hot in here, that's all."

Gabrielle needed to be introduced to Luna, who she had never met before and was slightly alarmed by. But she soon warmed up to her. They sat and chatted for a while.

"So, have you got any interesting news?" Hermione asked Luna.

Luna smiled tranquilly. "I've been noticing that there are less Wrackspurts around me than usual. Rolf and I both agree that I must be pregnant."

She put her hands on her belly. "They repel the Wrackspurts, babies do."

Holding back a smile, Hermione noticed Gabrielle looking nervously at Luna, then at Ron. Gabrielle obviously wasn't used to Luna's less-than-normal outlook on the world. All the same, she smiled prettily and said, "Oh, congratulations!"

"Thank you. I can tell you're pregnant, too," replied Luna. "There are no Wrackspurts around you at all. Congratulations! Ron and Hermione have got so many; their brains must be feeling really fuzzy by now."

Gabrielle smiled, looking decidedly bewildered.

"How have you been?" Luna asked.

"Well," Ron said quickly, glancing at Hermione, "Gabby and I got married a few years ago, and we're still deeply in love. Now that we're expecting a baby, I think we'll love eachother even more, right, darling?" He put his arm around her and gave her a kiss. She snuggled into him, giggling.

"And I," Hermione interjected, "married Viktor Krum, but he and I have recently divorced."

"Yeah, it's a pity that things like that often happen, isn't it?" Ron said. "Gabby and I are lucky we're so happy together."

Hermione grumbled inwardly. Ron was back to being a prat again – this was the very reason she had broken up with him. She had to get the better of him. "You stopped me before I could finish!" she said quickly. "I was going to say that although we have recently divorced, we're going to try again." And she pulled the letter from her back pocket.

Luna, Rolf and Gabrielle were watching the exchange with confused eyes.

They looked at Hermione as she pulled out the letter.

"Yes, he asked if I could give him a second chance," she told them, fixing her eyes on Ron as she spoke. "He says it all right in this letter."

Ron looked completely out of his depth. His arm, which was still around Gabrielle, went slack. "But... but he came to our house... he said he didn't want to... what?"

On the other side of the table, Luna smiled serenely. "I think it's good that he asked for a second chance. You should do it, Hermione." Rolf nodded, his arm around his wife. Even Gabrielle – or especially Gabrielle, depending on how you looked at it – nodded and smiled. Ron was the only one whose face looked like he had just been told that Harry and Draco were getting married.

"In fact, he's asked me to go to his place tonight. So I'm sorry, but I think I'll be going now," Hermione said, standing up. As she stood, Ron grabbed the letter from her hand.

He quickly skimmed the lines of text before looking up at her.

"Oh God, you can't seriously believe this tosser, can you? He won't take care of you, he's a complete ars – " He stopped, looking at the confused faces around him. "I mean... what I meant to say was... um... you should be careful. Yeah."

"Thank you, Ronald, I shall remember that," Hermione said dryly as she grabbed her coat.

She said goodbye to Luna and Rolf, before walking at a leisurely pace out of the pub. She made sure that the letter was dangling from her fingers in full view as she walked out.

"Hermione! You came!"

Krum was standing in the open door of the house, looking pleased. "I vos vundering vether or not you vud."

She smiled. "Well, something came up and I thought I should give you a chance to redeem yourself. You seemed sincere enough in your letter." She walked past him and into the familiar hallway. Krum shut the door behind her. He walked in front of her, leading her into the dining room.

"I made us dinner," he said.

The dining room was lit by candles. In the centre of the room, a small table stood. There was a chair on either side of it and a vase filled with roses in the middle. Steaming bowls of Bulgarian soup sat on it, and beside them, plates of hot Bulgarian pasties.

Hermione sighed. It was so sappily romantic she could almost feel herself melting like the wax on the candles.

"Sit down," Krum said, pulling back her chair for her. He sat down in his own. He reached to the middle of the table, where a bottle of wine stood. "Have some." He waved his wand and the cork popped out of the top. The bottle floated over to Hermione's glass and tipped itself until the red liquid gushed into it.

Hermione took her glass when it had finished pouring and sipped it. "So, Viktor, why did you invite me here tonight? What do you like about me so much that you want to marry me all over again?" She leaned one elbow on the table and gazed at him coolly.

He looked back at her. "Eat your soup, it vill get cold."

Well, this is going to be a long night, she thought. All the same, she dipped her spoon into her soup.

"Okay, Viktor. I'm eating my soup. Now, answer my question."

He paused, soup spoon halfway to his mouth. "Vell, I haff realised that you are the girl I vont to be vith. And I cannot do that if ve are divorced, can I?" He smiled seductively at her. Hermione looked down at her soup.

They sat and ate for a while, talking about this and that – news on the children, the Eurocup, things like that. Once they had finished dinner, Krum waved his wand and their plates floated off to the kitchen. Krum smiled again, leaning forward.

"You know, ve haff the house to ourselves. Let's skip dessert..."

Hermione jerked as she felt his hand on her thigh. "Viktor, whatever you're doing, stop it."

But he persisted. His hand crept up her leg like a crab, scuttling further and further. She slapped it away. "Do that one more time, and I'm leaving."

"Vy? I vont to show you how much I loff you," Krum said.

"Well, you can do it without that," she snapped back.

The rest of the evening was slightly tense and Hermione didn't enjoy it. Krum was nice and everything, but sometimes there was a hand on her leg, or her arm, or even her chest, and she would immediately stiffen up. Did Krum want her back because he loved her... or because of something else?

A/N: My friend just said something really funny: Viktor Krum is the Tiger Woods of the Quidditch world. How very true.

So, what does Krum want? You decide...

And what's going to happen between Ron and Hermione? You'll have to wait and see, I guess.

Bye!