V6.2

The Cloak

I was used to being busy all the time. I was used to waking up early and getting my work done with enough time left over for me time. I needed me time. I needed to be able to unwind and relax and recharge. I wasn't an introvert necessarily but every so often I had to be alone or I'd snap. It was getting close to that happening.

Classes were brutal. Older students always said that fifth year was the hardest, but I hadn't realized what they'd meant by that. They meant that you were overloaded with so much that year in order to be qualified for internships that your brain felt like you were about to explode. Between school and tournament work, I hadn't gotten a minute of time to myself...and that wasn't good. My wires were frazzled and sparking at the edges.

I saw Harry on the grounds being tormented by his fellow schoolmates for being chosen. I knew that he had been forced into the tournament, but it didn't matter what I thought, because everyone believed what they wanted to believe. It made me so mad that I'd even grabbed a Potter Stinks! badge off of one of the older Gryffindor guys and stomped it under my boot.

It seemed that everywhere I went there was a Durmstrang delegation strutting around like they owned the place. Viktor was always surrounded by his friends, looking as if he were saying something smug in Bulgarian. If he wasn't surrounded by his friends, he was surrounded instead by girls. Girls, girls, girls, and even a few boys. It made me sick. He enjoys it.

Once, when I had been reading on the lake shore with Angelina studying for an Arithmancy test, he had been exercising. His body was beautiful and I found it hard not to look as he lunched across the sand. So I did look. I watched as he worked his way around the lake, a gaggle of giggling girls following him ten yards behind. He was beautiful, yes, but every rose had its thorns.

Another day he'd been bathing in the lake. Fred (at least I was sure that that one was Fred) had made the comment that he'd hoped the giant octopus would eat him (although that may have been bitterness for the Irish winning the World Cup). The lake has a giant octopus? I had just hoped that we didn't have to get close up for studying Grindylows that day.

And then, I saw him in the library almost every day that I went in there to study. I had a Charms essay due, and I was hastily writing in my notebook with a pen. (Fred and George couldn't stop asking about how they worked when I told them we didn't use quills and parchment.) He was in there, pretending to read, just so that he could be in a public place.

I hadn't gotten a letter back from Dad yet, even though I'd sent him four. It was bothering me just a little bit.

Then there were the Marines. I couldn't get away from the assholes! No matter what I did, they wouldn't stop harassing me. Two weeks after becoming Champion, it got to be too much. I had been walking up to the castle to talk to the stringy-haired man from days before—Professor Snape. He was the Potions Master at Hogwarts and I needed some gillyweed from him for a Transfiguration potion. That was when I heard them cat calling me from across a field.

"Williams, you don't want to get on my bad side this week!" I shouted at him, straightening the white shirt of my BDU. It was the same as the ADU, but without the jacket. My white blouse was tucked into the skirt. "I'm an Officer and I deserve respect from you."

"Ooh-hoo!" he said in a feminine voice, mimicking me. "'I'm an Officer!' I'm so scared, Nelson."

Where are all of the Officers when you need them?

"You forget, that I'm a year ahead of you, Leigh Ann," he said, he and his cronies circling in on me. His hand brushed up against my arm. I shivered from disgust. "I order you to come with us. We're just going for a nice walk in the forest."

"You mean the one we were specifically told not to even go near," I growled as he got into my face. I was so on edge from being stressed that I was going to snap and most likely it would be on him. "You can't order me around. Get out of my face and respect the rank."

"You respect the rank, Nelson, and do what the fuck I say." He grasped my arm and forced me toward the forest.

Viktor Krum

Viktor had been walking along the grass when he heard her voice—he hadn't heard it in at least a week, being so busy. Every night the men had made a party in his room and he hadn't been able to sleep. Training was rigorous and studies were slacked off, but even still, he had a two foot essay to write by tomorrow morning. Not to mention the girls that wouldn't quit stalking him. The only rest he found was in the library where they couldn't giggle because of the librarian.

He came up the hill and saw Leigh Ann being grabbed by the arm. "...do what the fuck I say." The man pushed her forward. She tripped, falling to the ground as a few of the men in the group surrounded her.

Viktor's vision went red; he raced down the hill. He grabbed a Marine by the hair, throwing him backwards, barging through the circle. Another man had a few fingers broken as Viktor stopped his punch, and yet another was thrown yards away. He was ready to kill the man who had pushed her, ready to strangle him until his eyes bugged out of his—!

But when he got there, he could see that Leigh Ann already had her knee in the bastard's back, one of his arms trapped behind his back. Her other arm was wrapped around his neck, holding his other wrist in that hand.

Viktor stopped, taking short deep breaths as he watched her holding the bastard, her plump bottom up in the air, her skirt showing beautiful calves. "If you ever touch me again, I will personally put you into the hospital wing," she growled into his ear, tightening her hold on his arm when he didn't respond. "Do you understand?" The man didn't answer. "Do you understand, Staff Sergeant?!"

Viktor had never been so turned on in his life.

"I-I understand," he growled, his voice muffled by the dirt in his face.

She pushed up off of him, making sure to use her foot on his back to steady herself. The man then quickly scrambled up off of the ground. When the other men made moves on her, she clenched up her fist and threatened them with her glare. And when that didn't work, he stepped in front of her, crossing his arms across his chest. They now looked a little intimidated, shrinking back.

"Wasn't no fun, anyhow…" one of them said bitterly, starting to walk away. "Come on, guys. Let's go somewhere else." And then they walked away.

Viktor was feeling very good about himself until he felt her hands shove against his back. While it wasn't powerful, he stumbled slightly from surprise. "What did you do that for?"

"Vhat?" he asked, turning around to look at her, his eyes narrowed in confusion. He had to noticed that whenever she was angry, her forehead crinkled and her nose suddenly scrunched up. There were even a few strands of hair fallen from her bun. It was attractive as hell.

She bent down to pick up her wand, bitterly brushing off her uniform. It made him think of how her ass had looked when she'd been bent over the staff sergeant or whatever. "I could have handled it myself. Now, what, you're going to stalk me and be my bodyguard all the time? I have enough problems with Jason doing that, I don't need your help, too!" She then turned on her heel, summoned the books that she had been carrying, and started storming up the hill towards the school.

He had no idea why he felt the need to go after her. Women never rejected him—it just didn't happen. So when he cried, "Leahn!" and ran to catch up to her, he'd never felt so confused. And something else inside of him was wondering, Are she and this "Jason" man having problems? As if he was going to keep up this chase! "Vait." His hand gently landed on her arm. She shrugged him off.

"Don't touch me," she growled, turning around. He saw panic and disgust in her eyes, like he was going to hurt her.

Has she been hurt before by a man? Physically? It explained her quick reaction and self defense just a moment ago. It made him understand her just a little bit better.

"Okay," he said softly, backing up. He held his hands up in the universal sign of surrender.

It looked like all of the hot air instantly went out of her. She sighed, rubbing her face with one hand. A little bit of mud was smudged on her cheek, making him want to cup her face in his hands and gently wipe it off with his thumb. "I'm sorry," she sighed, making him pop out of his daydream. "It's just, I mean, I haven't heard from someone close to me in a long while, and I'm startin' to get worried. And I'm stressed out of my mind and no one will leave me the fuck alone. I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this mornin'. I…I didn't mean to take it out on you."

He wanted so bad to reach out and cup her cheek, but knew better than to do so. If a man had physically or sexually hurt her in the past, it made sense that she didn't want to be touched by a man that she seemed to hate suddenly. He wished that his English was better. Two weeks of studying it seemed to have strengthened his vocabulary but this girl made him forget every single word. "Vhat I do?"

She seemed to understand. Leigh Ann sighed and put a hand to her temple. He noticed that the skin around her eyes was slightly red and puffy. "It's just…I was a little hurt to see that you were Viktor Krum."

Upset? Girls were ecstatic to know that he was Viktor Krum!He tilted his head in confusion.

"I know, I know, it's a stupid reason to get angry with someone for." She narrowed her hazel eyes, which were more green at the moment than brown, and looked away from him. "But I told you about my history with Quidditch and gave you a few tidbits about myself, and yet you couldn't tell me that you were Viktor Krum? You made me feel like the biggest airhead in the universe."

He wasn't sure what an airhead was and he definitely didn't know what to say. But when she started biting her thick lower lip, all he wanted to do was throw him over his shoulder and take her back to his room. His hand automatically reached out to touch her as he said, "I…am sorry." Unfortunately, it must have sounded like a question.

She pulled away, hurt in her eyes. "I'm sorry, too, Krum." She said his last name with ice in her voice. "Come by the barracks tomorrow or the next day to get your cloak. We're both Champions, we can't be seen talking. Besides…" Her eyes instantly went hard, and she clutched her books tighter to her chest, "we wouldn't want Viktor Krum to look bad without his cloak in the promotional advertisements coming up."

Then she turned and stormed away, leaving Viktor alone with his thoughts.

Leigh Ann Nelson

It was two days before I saw Viktor again and it happened to be while I was on an endurance run. I, of course, was covered in sweat, loving the feel of the cool breeze off of the lake, and glad that we were wearing our PT uniforms instead of the battle uniform like we had yesterday on our run. Running was actually kind f fun when I could get my chest strapped down and keep my hip from hurting. I was third out of seven, which was pretty good for me, and I figured that because I only had a mile left that I would be done in time to write the sixth letter to my father that still hadn't been answered.

Don't worry, sweetie…I'm sure your father is either busy, or it could be that someone is intercepting the mail. You never know. But I do know that he's alright. Just keep your head up and alert for any kind of desert bird, and maybe he'll get back to us soon. Love, Mom.

Yeah, because "soon" was considered three weeks without him writing back. Sighing, then taking a deep breath, I trudged on, turning a corner, and—BAM! I ran into a solid brick wall. At least that was what it felt like. I looked up from the ground to see a blurry figure crouching in front of me. "You are alright?" a voice asked, heavily accented and deep.

I knew who it was even before my vision cleared again. He filled my dreams day and night and it tormented me that he seemed to have some kind of interest in me. Probably because I was a conquest that kept turning him away. I wanted to fall back to the ground and never get up. "Oh, go away!" I cried in agony, ignoring his hand of help, standing up and dusting myself off. "I'm almost done, just go!"

"I vanted—"

"Come back later, Krum. I need to finish my run."

He instantly grabbed my arm, pulling me back to him. Well…more like against him, and I momentarily lost my breath as I felt the hardness of his long, tough body. His entire body was muscle, there couldn't have been an ounce of fat on him at all. His smell was heavenly, all of those Quidditch smells and a touch of snow. My fingers splayed out against his perfect chest. I tried to push away, but his arms were still around me, holding me to his defined abdomen.

Panic momentarily welled in me before I made myself calm down. There were others around if I needed help and I was a more powerful wizard than I had been in years past. "K-Krum, let me go. The other girls are coming." I wasn't sure if I was telling him that as a statement or to warn him.

He was silent as he let me go, his thick arms slowly unwinding from me. His face was hard and unreadable, the same as his dark eyes. I was sure that the glare he was giving me had cowed many-a-woman—and man. But I wasn't going to bow down.

"I-if you want to get your cloak, either run with me, or wait for me at the barracks," I said softly, putting my hands on my hips so that I could breath easier. I looked back and saw Mary Louis run by, her blonde hair up in a ponytail. "Keep it up, Mary."

"Lisa will bite your head off if you don't get back to the barracks before Allison behind me. You've got about a minute." She said this breathlessly, not even turning her head to talk as she jogged on by.

I looked back to Viktor after she disappeared around the bend. "Your choice."

Silently, Viktor reached to the waistline of his pants and pulled his shirt upwards, tugging it off. I made a sound that sounded like an EEP! and turned around, feeling my entire face burning, even my ears. "Where in that statement did I tell you to take off your shirt!" I growled, covering my eyes with my hands. I hated to admit that I'd caught a glimpse and it was by far one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.

Why hadn't I felt more scared in his grasp? Johnson had grabbed me just the day before and I had felt terrified. And when Viktor had grabbed me I'd felt dwarfed and protected, if not slightly turned on.

His face was hard when I turned back around. He gestured towards where Mary had disappeared. "Ve vill go?"

"F-fine." Hmm…you're fine. I took a deep breath and hoped that my face wasn't beet red. "Just…keep up."

I then turned away from him and kicked up my feet, ignoring the pain in my hip. Usually it didn't start hurting until after I was finished, but stopping had allowed the lactic acid to build up in my muscles. I tried to keep my hips straight and not roll them like I normally did and made sure my arms didn't cross. It hurt a little to start running again after abruptly stopping.

Viktor kept pace beside me, having longer legs so he could easily keep up. I put on a little more speed but he kept up with me entirely. I put it into a relatively fast run, seeing Mary ahead of us.

I ran faster. Half a mile to go. We passed Mary, our footsteps ringing as we raced one another. Faster…a quarter mile to go. My breath was coming in heaves, my heart pounding so fast that I swore it would burst out of my chest.

Finally we both flew across the "finish line", tripping and falling to the ground from our momentum. My head hit the dirt, my back screaming in agony. My hip was throbbing, my legs and chest being pinned down; the weight of the world was weighing down on me. Whatever was on top of me groaned as well, moving subtly, and placing a very large hand on my hip, running around to land on my butt.

My eyes flew open to see the sky, a large, bare shoulder protruding into the bottom of my vision. I felt a large, warm, sweating chest against my entire body, strong legs pinning mine to the ground. His breath ran down my neck, his forehead on the ground beside my head. The hand on my butt gave a gentle squeeze, as if trying to decide whether or not to get up.

"Krum…" I gasped, having used up all of my breath for my last sentence. His hand squeezed again, but I couldn't take a breath, so I didn't have a reaction besides my insides getting warmer and my eyes widening. "Can't…breathe…"

The man groaned and turned over, lying on his back, one thick arm over his face.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay, Leigh?" came Mary's voice, leaning over me with her pretty blue eyes, her peach skin looking darker than it really was as she blocked the sun from my view. "That was one heck of a fall. Who's…?" She raised her eyebrow at the shirtless man. "Racing, huh? You know better. Remember the Green Beret 5K?"

"Shu…shut up," I breathed, moving to sit up. My entire body ached. Oooh yeah, I'm remembering that 5K…

"Should I get the ice bath ready?" she asked, her face concerned. Mary was in the bunk next to mine, on the bottom, like me, so she was always taking care of me.

"If you wouldn't mind."

"Here, let me help you up…" She wrapped her arm around my back, slowly picking me up. Instantly tight, roaring pains ripped through my right side. It was so tight that I felt tears coming to my eyes. "It's okay, Leigh, breathe, breathe, I'll get you to Jason…"

"No, take me to the ice bath, and my wand."

Viktor moved on the ground, rolling over to get up. He had the wind knocked out of him, I thought through the pain. He stood on his feet and made his way over to me, putting an arm on the other side of me. "Deed I hurt you?" he asked, his eyes frantic with a strange flash of light across the brown, his brow furrowed.

"No…" I gasped, trying to keep the tears out of my eyes. I couldn't say anymore after that, because it hurt so much. I tried to black out, but it didn't work.

Viktor Krum

"Sit out here until I see to her," the girl named Mary told him, taking Leigh's weight all on her own. She jerked her head towards a bunk that had many letters sitting on it. "That's her bunk, sit there."

Leigh was almost in tears when Viktor lost sight of her, the door closing behind the two girls. He looked around, pulling his shirt on in order to do something other than worry if he had hurt her.

The barracks were strange metal contraptions that were half circular in shape. On the inside, there was a wooden floor, with maybe twenty bunk-beds covered in plain green comforters. It was warm, probably magically heated, and very plain.

He sat down on her bed, picking up a small picture that was just sitting there. It had caught his eye. Standing up tall, a proud young Leigh Ann was waving to the camera, dressed in what looked like the clothes she had just been wearing, but smaller. She was still tall, but with a thinner structure and an even tanner complexion, her hair a dark chestnut. She had a gap-toothed smile, looking uncomfortable and not grown into her own skin, but proud nonetheless.

On one side of her stood a tall, thin teenage boy with the same hair but darker and shorter, the same complexion, but bright blue eyes. Viktor wanted to crush the picture. How long have they known each other? It was that man, Jason!

He did have to say, though, that the look she had given his bare chest was something. It meant that she was attracted to him, right? That gave him a little bit of a head start on this man, right?

Suddenly the door in the back opened. Viktor quickly sat the picture down, standing up. "Leahn?" he asked the girl questioningly.

"Well, you didn't crush her," the girl said dryly, before blushing and looking away. "She can only stay in there for ten minutes. Keep the time and knock on the door if she stays in there a minute longer." Mary looked around, then blushed again, moving towards the door. "I'm going to go now. I'll tell Lisa where she is, so make sure Leigh Ann doesn't flip out." And, with one look backwards, Mary stepped out into the cold November air and then closed the door.

Viktor looked at his watch, seeing that it was 5:30—in ten minutes, he would make sure she got out. But until then, he wanted to see the other pictures on her bed.

He walked over to the too-neat bunk, picking up another picture. This time, it was a family one. A short, curvy blonde woman was standing next to a military man who was trying to hide a smile—in their arms was a newborn baby with a small tuft of black hair.

Sitting beneath them was the blue-eyed boy again, though the age he was now, and standing beneath them was a beautiful girl who looked a lot like Leigh, but blonde and much younger, with strange olive-green eyes and a sly smirk. She had a snobby appearance, with more high of cheekbones and less full cheeks.

5:33.

Underneath that was a picture of Leigh, her eyes shining as she stood in front of a stove, an apron on her front that said "Kiss the Chef!" She was holding a spatula up in the air, along with a platter of some kind of dessert. This was a more recent picture, and she was giving the platter to a pair of small hands that appeared, smiling like a mother would a child.

And then, behind that, was Leigh holding a clipboard, shouting commands to the seven players on what looked to be the Army team. He noticed that the blue-eyed boy was on it, as well as the girl—Mary, he thought—who both looked like Chasers. At the end of the reel, Leigh had her hands on her hips, before catching a Quaffle in her hands expertly and pointing towards the locker rooms irately, then it started over again.

5:39.

Viktor got up, putting the pictures down, and walked over to the door. He knocked. "Leahn," he said through the door, though he got no response. "Leahn?"

After asking once more, he was getting worried. He instantly opened the door, to see her standing against a cabinet, her soaking wet clothes clinging to her curvy body as she stood next to a metal tub full of ice. "G-g-g-g-o away," she stuttered, shivering. "Episky…" she muttered, waving a long, light brown wand towards her hip. "Damn…"

He intended to help as he bent down next to her, pulling down the side of her shorts in order to touch the damaged hip with his wand.

"HEY!" she shouted, shoving him away. "What the—? Who do you think you are?"

He held up his wand, trying to tell her that he'd been trying to help. Then he realized what he had been doing and felt his entire face heat up. I was only trying to undress her. "I apoologees." Not that it wasn't an enticing thought, but, obviously, it was well misplaced.

"Just…leave me alone," she sobbed, leaning her head against the metal cabinet.

He couldn't bear to see her like this. Merlin, he barely knew her, and these feelings! He decided that it had to be the fact that she'd rejected him—and multiple times. He just wouldn't let himself go without finding where he went wrong in his pursuit. He couldn't let himself think that it was because he actually wanted to get to know her on a personal level.

So, Viktor just stood up, grabbed a towel, and scooped her up in his arms before she could protest.

"Put me down!" she yelled, beating her fists against his chest. He could feel her heart beating a kilometer a minute. She breathed heavily in panic. "Let me go!"

He laid her down on the bed, whispering a spell to dry her off. She looked shocked and pulled her blanket to her chest as if it would protect her. Her eyes darted around, looking for an exit. He realized that they were the only people in the bunk.

He backed off. He had to treat her like a cornered animal. "Your heep?" he asked carefully. He cursed his poor language skills. Is 'your' the correct possessive? Can she even understand me?

"It's fine," she said softly, her eyes finally meeting his. There was a sad determination in her eyes as she stared at him. "Now…just take your cloak and go."

He clenched his fist and stared back at her, determined to be able to stay. "No."

"Just go! I don't want to talk to you right now." She reached down next to her bed and instantly threw his fur cloak into his face. "Take it and get out of my sight. I'm sick of looking at you."