A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome back to another fic :) head empty, no thoughts. Wheeeeeeeeeee!

This one is for Round 7 of The Houses Competition, where I'm in Ravenclaw House and writing for Potions. This competition, we have to write a drabble (500-1000 words) as well as a standard (1000-3000 words). This fic is the Drabble / Standard of the two. Prompts are listed below.

Thank you kindly to HadrianPeverellBlack, and BeaWrites for the beta!

Word Count: 1013

Summary: Hermione finds herself in the Hogwarts Library trying to study with Viktor. If only those giggly girls would stop laughing…

Prompts:

The Houses Competition Y10 R7

[Action] Trying not to laugh

[Location] Hogwarts Library

Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Assignment 4-Folklore With Professor Lizzy

Task 4 - Write about a mark being made/left behind (literal or metaphorical)

"Pretty Girl"

Thankful that the giggling had stopped behind the bookshelves, Hermione turned back to face Viktor and the book she was teaching out of. He wanted to improve his English, and Hermione was always glad to help. She paused short at his intense look.

"Viktor, are you paying attention?" she asked. He smirked at her in response, and Hermione had to remind herself that while she was fifteen – nearing sixteen because of that blasted Time Turner during Third Year – Viktor was still eighteen and off limits. He was an international Quidditch star, after all. He wouldn't want to be with such a frumpy bookworm like herself.

Hermione absently tucked a piece of hair that had escaped her bun behind her ear. They had been studying in the library for over an hour now, and it felt like they had hit a roadblock. Oftentimes when she had met him here to study, they would be interrupted by his fangirls after an hour, once they had figured out where he had hidden. They would have to go find a new studying spot soon, if the volume of muffled giggles from behind the stacks was anything to go by.

Madam Pince made a shushing noise from her desk near the doors, and Hermione lifted her eyes to meet Viktor's. They shared a small amused glance as the not so hidden teenagers muffled their giggling once more. Thankfully Viktor's look had softened, and Hermione could turn back to the book they were referencing. Their table was strewn with tomes needed for her class assignments, and various resources Viktor needed to train for the tournament.

In the blissful quiet following, Hermione could almost pretend that the two of them were completely normal, and that he was just a jock in secondary school getting homework help from the resident bookworm. Had magic not been real, would they have even had the opportunity to cross paths with each other? Would she have even been interested in watching whatever sport he would play, whether it be football or cricket, or even rugby?

"Herm-ininny," rumbled Viktor quietly from beside her, and she snapped out of her thoughts. Looking at him once more, her cheeks heated when she realized he had been staring once again.

"Yes, Viktor?"

A silence stretched between them for just a moment, a comfortable silence, but just as he opened his mouth to speak, more giggling interrupted them from behind the bookshelf. Viktor snapped his mouth shut and looked away.

Hermione huffed out in irritation, her fists clenching under the table. This happened every time Viktor had gained the courage to say something to her in English. It was like those nitwits were sabotaging his learning on purpose!

"Start packing up. We're leaving," Hermione stated a bit gruffly, abruptly standing up and shooting a glare at the traitorous bookshelf that concealed Viktor's stalkers. She tried to ignore his look of disappointment as she gathered her things. "Stay here for a moment. I'll be right back." Without letting him get a word in edgewater, Hermione dashed off, intent on securing a more secluded place for them to study without the interference of giggly girls.

A sweet smile and a promise to not get into any trouble later, and Hermione was the proud owner of a signed slip from Madam Pince to get her into the restricted section. Hermione hurried back to their table to find Viktor cornered by three Ravenclaw fifth years.

Hermione checked, and these three were indeed the ones who had been trying not to giggle behind the bookcase. Taking up residence where they stood, Hermione pulled out her wand and stuck it through the shelf, aiming on the center girl who was leaning in towards Viktor way too much. Hermione squashed down the slight feeling of jealousy and resentment of the pretty girls always getting the guy. And had Viktor not been subtly looking around for a means of escape, Hermione almost would have thought he liked this attention.

As it were, they had talked enough these past two weeks for her to know he hated his fame as much as Harry did, and all of the attention that came with it. He had explained there was a reason why he always tried to disappear in the back in team photos.

The hex was on the tip of her tongue before she could stop it, and suddenly the girl in the center suddenly shrieked. Hermione hurriedly put her wand away as Madam Pince hurried around the corner, descending upon the three girls as they shrieked at the sudden hair loss of their ringleader.

Hermione appeared from behind the bookcase just as Madam Pince was ushering the three out of the library. Hermione stood silently at Viktor's side as they watched the three leave, and it took all of her composure to not burst out laughing right then and there.

"Oh, that's going to leave a mark," Hermione stated as soon as they were all out of earshot. With a large grin, Hermione caught Viktor's eye, causing her to burst out laughing for a solid chuckle, managing to muffle her subsequent giggles with her fist in her mouth before Madam Pince reappeared to shoo them out.

Sparing a moment to take stock of the table, she was pleased to see that Viktor had cleaned and straightened everything up before being so unceremoniously interrupted. "Are you interested in studying some more?" she asked, waving her permission note in the air. Viktor grinned widely in response as he stood up.

"I vould like dat," he replied in his thick accent.

"Great! It's a date!" she replied back, her eyes widening at her slip of the tongue. Hermione instantly flushed in modification.

"Da, I'd like dat," he replied, reaching out and taking her hand in his. "And speaking of date…"

Hermione couldn't help but grin widely as she accepted his offer to go to the Yule Ball with him. She might not have been a pretty girl, but she's started to find that around Viktor, she can at least pretend to be.