Chapter 29

He had first noticed the girl around ten days after Halloween, when she had ran past him covering her mouth with both hands in a useless attempt to hide her overgrown front teeth. He doubted she had seen him, distracted as she was by her situation, but he had not forgotten her tears. Nor the rage he had felt at the time.

Viktor hated bullies. There were a lot of them at Durmstrang (so many that he could never manage to teach them all a lesson), so he was used to them, but for some reason he had expected it to be different at Hogwarts. Albus Dumbledore was Headmaster here, after all. And Dumbledore was famous for opposing the Dark Arts and protecting the innocent. The Densaugeo Spell wasn't exactly dark, but it was a serious spell that couldn't be just finited, and it was definitely evil using it on a girl, although at least the effects could be handled with a Shrinking Charm.

It didn't take him long after that to realize that Hogwarts wasn't really that much different to Durmstrang, when it came to people. There were all sorts, good and bad, smart and stupid, quiet and loud. Karkaroff had made them sit in the table that supposedly had the stronger ties with Durmstrang, but in Viktor's opinion it was only Karkaroff that fit there. For what he had read about Hogwarts' Houses, most of the schoolmates that had come with him from Durmstrang would likely have been sorted into Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. A few into Hufflepuff. He wasn't sure what the Hogwarts' Sorting Hat would have had to say about him, though. Fortunately in Durmstrang they didn't divide people that way.

Despite that initial disappointment when he had realized that there were bullies in Hogwarts too, Viktor was fascinated with the place. Reading about it had not really prepared him for what he had found. The castle was much bigger and interesting than he had imagined, with at least seven floors and hundreds of moving stairs, and dozens of ghosts with permanent residence there. The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall was magic like he had never encountered before, and the library was thrice the size of Durmstrang's (although their Dark Magic collection was insignificant in comparison).

The most interesting fact, however, was that there were Muggle-born students. Not many, of course, but definitely more than at Durmstrang, where they were not admitted. And they seemed to be well tolerated for the most part, no doubt protected by Dumbledore. Karkaroff had told them all to stay away from that sort, but Viktor would like to meet some. He wasn't very good at meeting people, though, so he probably would go back to Bulgaria without making any new acquaintances (assuming he survived, of course). Besides it was rude to enquire about blood status, so even if he met new people he probably would never know if they were pure-blood, half-blood or Muggle-born unless he got to know them personally (he couldn't imagine anyone openly admitting being a Muggle-born to a stranger).

He had kept an eye open for the girl of the overgrown teeth, wanting to make sure she was all right, and at the next day he had finally spotted her bushy hair across the Great Hall. With her teeth back to normal she actually looked rather nice, but what struck Viktor the most was the way she glared at a blond Slytherin boy who had just been bragging about "giving the Know-It-All what she deserved". He felt the urge to turn that boy into a slug, but refrained. Karkaroff had been very clear about keeping up pretences of civility and even friendship with the people of that House, he would be extremely cross if Viktor cursed one of those stupid kids. It didn't look like the girl needed defending, anyway. There was no trace on her face of yesterday's tears or embarrassment, just a fierce glare that by rights should make anyone subjected to it tremble. The blond boy laughed and pretended not to care, but Viktor noticed that he avoided her eyes, and could almost smell his uneasiness.

Whoever that girl was, it must be the wrong person to cross.

He had soon noticed too that she seemed to be friends with Harry Potter, and also that she was the bookish type, spending most of her free time in the library and dragging Potter along. Viktor found himself hanging around the library every day after dinner, discreetly watching her from a distance. He wasn't sure exactly why, although he suspected it might be her complete indifference to him what attracted his attention. As a famous Quidditch player, he was used to being fawned over by people in general and by girls (and women) in particular, and that usually annoyed him to no end. This girl not only didn't seem to admire him, but she threw him looks filled with disdain whenever he walked into the library. Was it because she was friends with Potter? Did she despise him out of loyalty to his friend? Somehow Viktor thought not. Potter seemed like a decent kid, Viktor still had to see him looking at anyone with something different than fear and misery in his eyes. And the boy didn't even seem to notice Viktor most of the time.

It took him several days to realize why she seemed so put out at his presence. It was because of his stupid fan club. There had been a group of silly Hogwarts girls following him around everywhere since he had landed, and they often lurked in the library giggling and trying to gather the courage to ask for his autograph (they never did). Viktor was used to that and completely ignored them, but clearly the noise distracted and annoyed Potter's friend, and she blamed Viktor and his fame for that. He felt guilty for disturbing her study, and began trying to shake off his escort before going to the library, but the fans always eventually found him. And he refused to stop going because of them.

It hadn't occurred to him at all that the girl might be more than just Potter's friend until Karkaroff gave him that article to read. British journalism really left a lot to be desired. There were several articles about the tournament in that Prophet newspaper, but the main one was one written by a reporter named Skeeter which misspelled Viktor's and Fleur Delacour's names and completely left out Diggory, making it sound as if Potter were the only Hogwarts' champion. All that raised serious doubts about the reporter's credibility, but Viktor still wondered if it might be true the part about Potter and the Muggle-born girl called Hermione Granger (Viktor wasn't sure how to pronounce the name). That must be her, right? It was true that Potter was rarely seen without her, and it was easy to believe that she was one of the top students in the school (Viktor had his doubts about Potter in that regard, the boy just didn't seem very bright).

Despite his disappointment and, it had to be admitted, jealously, Viktor's opinion of Potter was heightened by the knowledge that the famous boy was so close friend or even more with a Muggle-born. The kid must have had his pick of friends since he was born, and yet he had chosen someone whose association was probably more a problem than an advantage in wizarding society.

He felt bitterly sure that the article had been right about that when he saw the girl crying and tearing her face with her fingernails while Potter fought his dragon, and later when she dragged Potter back to the enclosure by the hand. He tried to convince himself that it might just be a friendly gesture, but he knew it was just wishful thinking.

He didn't stop going to the library, however. It wasn't just to watch the girl that he went there, after all. Before the first task he had been trying to prepare for an unknown challenge, and now he had to figure out the clue in the egg. So far he only knew that it screeched when he opened it, and that it sounded like a banshee or maybe like someone being tortured. Karkaroff had seemed to recognize the noise, but of course he had been unable to help him, so now Viktor was reading about magical eggs and loud sounds in general. It was really hard to find things in the Hogwarts' library, though. He wished he could ask the girl for help, since she clearly knew her way around better even than the librarian, but he knew it would be pointless even if he dared approaching her.

He had sort of given up on the girl, but he couldn't help watching her whenever he could get away with it. He was impressed by the sheer amount of books she devoured, and by her ability to fully concentrate for large periods of time (provided she wasn't distracted by the giggling of Viktor's fans). It was also commendable how protective she was of Potter, and how gentle. The boy had been an obvious mess since the first task, although by now he seemed to have snapped out of the shock. Viktor had seen the girl guiding him by the hand all around the castle. But he had also seen another boy doing the same thing, so he was beginning to doubt his conviction about Potter and the girl being together. Maybe they were just close friends?

A few days after the Yule Ball had been announced Viktor couldn't bear the uncertainty anymore, and decided to confront Potter about it.

He approached his table in the library in one of those rare moments when the girl wasn't there and the other boy had gone to the bathroom. It was also a fan-free moment, but Viktor didn't know how long that would last so he tried to do this fast.

"Can we talk, Potter?"

The boy looked up from what seemed like a Transfiguration essay, his eyes widening when he recognized him. He quickly glanced around, as if trying to make sure no one was listening, or maybe to see if Viktor could be addressing someone else.

"Er... Sure," he said at last. Viktor sat in front of him. "What...?"

"I want to know what there is between you and the girl who sits here," said Viktor bluntly.

Potter gaped at him.

"You mean Hermione?"

Her-my-oh-nee. Herm-own-ninny. Her-my-own... Viktor tried to remember the pronunciation, but the sounds immediately got lost inside his head. She would have to be "the girl" for now.

"Yes. Is she your girlfriend?" he demanded. He knew he might sound rude and out of place, but Viktor had never been a very patient person, and English didn't come out as fluidly as he would like. He could read and write it fine, but speaking it was a frustrating ordeal. Potter was still staring at him with mouth open, though. How hard could it be to answer a simple question? 'Girlfriend' had been one of the first English words Viktor had learned (very useful), so he was sure he had pronounced it right. "I have seen you together a lot," he insisted, "and there is this article..."

"We're just friends," said the boy abruptly. "She's not my girlfriend and she has never been. It's just that Skeeter woman making things up."

Viktor was still suspicious.

"You were holding hands after the first task," he said accusingly.

"Yeah, well, someone had to keep me walking straight," snapped Potter angrily. A moment later he sighed and ran his hands through his messy hair. "Sorry, I shouldn't take it out on you. Hermione's just a friend."

"So you are not going to the ball with her?" asked Viktor for clarification.

"I'm not," said Potter, again sounding angry. Did that mean that he had asked and she had refused him? Or was he just angry at everything in general? Viktor would certainly be angry if he had been forced to participate in the Tournament against his will. Everyone said that Potter had tricked the Goblet of Fire in a desperate attempt to win a little more fame, but Viktor wasn't convinced. In his experience, fame was annoying, and Potter seemed to share that view.

He felt a little sorry for the kid, but right now relief and hope were quickly erasing any other feelings inside him.

"Do you know if she is seeing someone? Does she have a date for the ball?"

"No so far as I know," admitted Potter, once again staring at him as if he couldn't quite believe that he was having this conversation. "I'm not sure she likes you, though. She's always complaining about you being here."

Viktor felt inexplicably pleased at the knowledge that the girl talked about him at all, even if she didn't say anything good. He was almost certain that it wasn't really his presence that irritated her, but the accompanying presence of his fan club.

"If she complained, she noticed me," he said, sounding far more confident than he felt. "Can you keep this between us?"

"Sure, Krum," said Potter. He hesitated for a moment, and then blurted out, "How can you even think about that?"

"About what?" asked Viktor confused.

"Dating."

He stared at the boy.

"Why would I not? Maybe you are too young for that, Potter, but..."

"I'm not too young", he said hotly. "But all I can think of right now is that I could be dead tomorrow."

"All the more reason to find yourself a girl," said Viktor, standing up. The boy was too young, if he didn't understand that. "It was impressive what you did to your dragon, Potter. I thought you were dead for sure."

As Viktor walked away, he thought about what Potter had said. Maybe the boy had a point. Any of them could be dead soon, and Potter was the most likely candidate to dying a horrible death. Impressive as it had been killing his dragon, Viktor was convinced that it had been a desperate attempt and that it could easily have gone very wrong. Maybe not dating anyone was the responsible thing to do, so as not to leave a girl grieving after his death. Personally, Viktor thought that Potter should find himself as many girls as possible before the second task, but the boy struck him as the noble sort.

He didn't waste any time after that conversation with Potter to secure the girl. She was a lot easier to find on her own, and Viktor already knew her schedule by heart, so he approached her the next day before curfew when the library was almost empty.

The girl was still scribbling frantically what seemed to be a three feet length essay, clearly wanting to take advantage of all the books that surrounded her that she couldn't take with her back to her dorm.

"Excuse me," said Viktor, clearing his throat. "May I sit here?"

He tried not to sound nervous, but he was. He suspected that his famous Quidditch player and Triwizard champion card would not be worth much with this girl, and in any case he didn't want her to say yes to him because of his fame. If he put that aside, however, he didn't have much to recommend himself. Viktor was not a people person, he had no charm whatsoever, and he must sound like a moron speaking in his broken English. To make his situation more desperate, this was probably the one girl in Hogwarts that was strongly predisposed against him from the word go.

The girl looked up and frowned at him.

"There are a lot of other tables," she answered, waving her hand around to indicate the empty library before going back to her essay and to completely ignore him.

This would be harder than he had thought. Could a girl be more unapproachable?

"I want to sit here," he said, just for saying something.

She looked up again, her eyes flashing in irritation.

"Well, this table is taken," she snapped.

Viktor considered the challenge. He already had the 'no', and she had already told him to bugger off. It couldn't get much worse, he figured. Unless she tried to hex him, of course, but Viktor could defend himself from that. So he drew a chair and sat across from her, eliciting a look of profound disbelief and indignation from the girl.

"I want to take you to the Yule Ball," he stated clearly. "As my date."

The girl looked as if she wanted to just stand up and leave without saying a word, but the table was loaded with books and notes that would take her at least several minutes to gather. Viktor was counting on that.

"I don't have time for jokes," she said with annoyance.

"I don't joke," said Viktor seriously. "I like you."

The girl stared at him, her irritation slowly being replaced by self-consciousness. Viktor felt confident for the first time when he saw her blush. He willed her to say yes with the intensity of his eyes, since he wasn't very good with words, and he felt exultant when she blushed even more and looked away.

His confidence only lasted a few seconds, however, as long as it took her to compose herself and glare at him again.

"I hate Quidditch," she said bluntly.

Viktor raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

"So I'm not impressed by that."

Of course she wasn't. Although Viktor thought she might, if she could find him in a book. Or not. Even if she could be impressed by fame (which Viktor doubted) Viktor's would be nothing compared to Harry Potter's.

"That is fine," he said. "I don't like Quidditch much either."

Now she raised an eyebrow, and Viktor could swear that the corner of her mouth twitched in amusement. It wasn't even a lie. He played Quidditch mostly because he liked to fly and he enjoyed the rush, but often he wished he could just fly alone without so many other players around, and without the pressure and the crowd.

The girl was looking at him very seriously now.

"I'm Muggle-born," she said, sounding defiant.

Viktor smiled, which was a rare thing for his mouth to do. Did she think that would be an objection for him? She must have read about Durmstrang (of course she had) and its reputation.

"I didn't know Muggle-borns were so prejudiced," he observed. "You don't date pure-bloods?"

The girl stared at him with mouth open for a moment.

And then she smiled.

His romantic triumph kept him awake for hours that night. At first he was simply exhilarated, but as time went by he began to worry. Karkaroff no doubt was going to give him hell for his choice of date, and would try to convince him of finding someone 'more suitable'. Of course he would not succeed, but Karkaroff could be really nasty when he was angry. What worried Viktor the most was that Karkaroff might try to dissuade the girl from going to the ball with him. Would he dare? Would he risk it? The Yule Ball was considered another task, so champions had to attend and bring dates. If Viktor refused to go with anyone else or to go at all, he would drop dead and Durmstrang would lose his chance at winning the tournament. So no, Karkaroff would have to accept his choice...

It also worried him what Potter had said. What if Viktor died in the next task? If he managed to make the girl care about him, and then died, his death would hurt her. It would also make risking his life harder if he cared too much about staying alive. Maybe getting involved with a girl now wasn't the wisest thing to do. Not with a serious girl.

Troubled by these thoughts, he finally gave up on sleep and left his cabin to go pace the deck. He felt much calmer out in the open, under the stars. The sound of the water gently splashing against the ship, the smell of trees and the sight of dark mountains silhouetted against the sky also relaxed him. It was freezing, but this wasn't really cold for him, used as he was to Durmstrang latitudes.

He couldn't look at the sky without wishing to fly, of course. It was hard to go from flying every day to not flying at all, and even more to know that he might not fly ever again. His coaches and sponsors had begged him not to enter the Tournament, and so had all his teammates in the Bulgarian National Team, not to mention his parents. But this was something Viktor had had to do.

He was craving to fly so much that when he first saw it, he thought he was imagining it. But he wasn't one of the best Seekers in the world for nothing. An instant later he was certain of what he was seeing. There was someone up there, over the lake, flying. It was a moonless night, so the moving spot was barely discernible in the distance, but Viktor was sure it was someone on a broom, and also that it wasn't flying on a straight line away from the castle like a serious traveller might do.

It was someone flying just for flying. Probably a student. Viktor had sneaked out to fly at night countless times in Durmstrang, until the teachers had grown tired of giving him detention and had finally granted him permission to fly whenever he wanted. Being recruited for the National Quidditch Team had helped with that.

Would he dare?

He only hesitated for about ten seconds. Less than a minute later he had quietly retrieved his Firebolt from his cabin (he didn't go anywhere without his broom) and was in the air.

He almost laughed out loud when the other flyer almost fell from his broom at the sight of Viktor approaching. No doubt the rule breaker thought he was being chased by a teacher. From a distance and in the darkness Viktor could only tell that he was likely male (he had short hair) and that he was small. He didn't want to chase away his potential flying companion, so he didn't go any closer yet, instead beginning to fly around him playfully and, well, maybe showing off a little. After half a minute, the other flyer seemed to relax and began to mimic Viktor's flying and even to show off his own movements. It wasn't until they began to race over the lake at maximum speed that Viktor realized he wasn't flying with a simple student. This seemed like a pro, and if he wasn't much mistaken he also had a Firebolt. Was there some member of the Scottish or English National Team still at Hogwarts? How come Viktor had not heard about it before? His new flying companion seemed much too small, though.

They weren't racing towards anything in particular, but soon Viktor realized in shock that he was losing. It must be the difference in weight, he thought trying not to let it get to him. It was only to be expected, if they flew with the same broom and in a straight line (that was the reason why they had to qualify by bodyweight to be in the National Team). He might be able to beat this unexpected opponent with some tricky move, like the Wronski Feint, but judging by the previous exhibition that would be hard too. This flier had good reflexes and could change direction frighteningly quickly. Like just now. His companion had reached the end of the lake and made an abrupt 180 degree turn over his head, and was now racing in the opposite direction.

They crossed in midair, flying closer than they had so far, and they both gaped when they recognized each other.

It was Potter.