Chapter 13

Author note: I suck at accents in case you hadn't noticed already, so you'll have to figure those out for yourselves. I'm sorry in advance.

December 27th, 1993

This is great! She thought to herself as she went flying down the mountain - William right behind her. He might be faster on a broom than she was, but on skis, he couldn't touch her.

Suddenly he came up beside her and somehow managed to touch her side. She yelped and laughed loudly as she dug her poles rapidly into the snow to gain some more speed, and pushed her heels down and from side to side to gain momentum. There was no way he would reach the bottom before her.

A few moments later she reached the bottom. She pushed her skis to the same side and pushed against the ground to stop, throwing up snow into the air as she did so. A short while later, William came barreling into a big pile of fresh snow to the side.

She quickly made her way to the pile to make sure that he was alright.

"M'alright." Came William's muffled voice from the pile where he laid half buried. Hermione grabbed his Jacked and pulled with all her might until he came loose.

"Are you sure?" She asked him once he looked like he had arrived back on earth. "How many fingers do you see?" She mocked and held up 3 fingers.

"7." He answered without looking at her, and pulled himself upright. He grabbed his poles behind him on the snow.

"Asshole. What happened there?" They made their way back to the lifts, to get back up the mountain.

"I hit some ice and couldn't stop. I think it must have been hidden just under the new snow." He answered and shook his arms freely, trying to detect any injuries or soreness.

They made their way into a queue and scanned their access-cards, while moving slowly forwards alongside the other queues.

"Do you maybe want to do another slope?" He asked. Maybe hitting ice wasn't something he wanted to do two times in a row.

Not that she would hold it against him.

They slowly made their way forward and ended at the gates opening up to the lifts. They each prepared to open their separate gates when the lift turned around the corner. Knowing the lift quite well at this point, having spent the last couple of days at the location, they knew they needed to be quick or someone else would make it before them.

It rounded the corner, and their gates clicked signaling that they could enter. William hurried forward, but Hermione's gate was stuck.

"Hurry, Nene!" William called as he made it to the two-seated lift.

She pushed and pulled using both as much and as little force as she possibly could, and finally it opened with a loud bang. She rushed forward and made it to the seat beside William. She was just about to grab it so that she could swing herself into the seat before it was too late, when she was forcefully pushed away from it.

She was grasping the air for some kind of grip as she felt herself falling backward in some sort of odd slow-motion.

"Umpf!" She hit the ground with her back first, quickly followed by her head hitting the ground. The world was spinning as she heard William yelling for her.

"Nene!" As the lift ascended too high for him to jump off, he turned to the stranger in what should have been her seat, "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Someone grabbed her by the arm and gently pulled her upwards. "Are you hurt?"

As soon as she came into a sitting position, she felt better. Not good - but better. "I think… I'm okay." She felt the back of her head and found a small bump, but nothing worse than that. She looked at her gloved hand, and noticed that luckily there wasn't any blood. Thank Merlin for fresh snow.

"Some people are idiots." The same person said and helped her stand up. Not that she wanted the attention, but looking around at the packed skiing area, she wondered why this guy in front of her was the only one who reacted to her being tackled like that.

"They are." She said while picking up her poles and making sure that her skies were sitting as they should, before she looked up at the guy. "Thank you for helping -"

"Viktor. My name is Viktor." He said and held out her hand. Luckily, they were a bit out of the way or she would have felt bad for being in the way, but everything was flowing naturally around them. He was clad in all grey and had his hat pulled down so far, he almost looked like someone who wanted to disappear.

"It's nice to meet you Viktor. I'm Hermione."

"Hermy-own?" He tried, and failed so hard Hermione was struggling to not laugh out loud, but she didn't want to appear rude.

"Hermione." She repeated slowly.

"Hermy-ownene?" It was getting worse and worse for every try he took, though she could see his face scrunched up hard in concentration.

"Her - my - oh - ne." She repeated again, this time slower.

"Herm - own - ninny." She smiled at him, even though it was terribly bad.

"Good enough." And then they grabbed the next available lift to the top where she would hopefully find Wills.

"Where are you from?" He asked conversationally, and she abruptly realized that he was talking in a thick accent that she couldn't immediately pinpoint. Not that she was any good at doing that sort of stuff in the first place.

"England." She answered quickly, "I'm here on Christmas holiday with my family. And you? Where do you come from?"

"Bulgaria. I am also here with my family."

They small-talked while the lift made its way upwards and she soon saw William waiting for them. She happily waved at him, and hurried to him once they got off the lift.

"Nene! Are you alright?!" He exclaimed while hugging her fiercely, only to pull her back and look at every inch of her that he could see for her gear.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Viktor here helped me. He's from Bulgaria, and here on vacation with his family." She said and pushed herself backwards while using the poles to stop herself, though not too far for him to be able to reach her. William looked behind her as she motioned with her outstretched arm. Viktor agreed gruffly in his thickly accented voice.

William looked at the boy weirdly for a long moment when he heard his voice.

"Viktor? As in… Viktor Krum?" He inquired slowly, while looking like he was trying to take in every detail about the stranger. Maybe he even looked surprised?

Viktor in return, looked a mixture of annoyance and surprise. "Yes." He gritted out.

"Who's Viktor Krum?" She asked her brother, thoroughly confused. She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

"Viktor Krum is a world famous Quidditch player who just started playing for the Bulgarian national Team - as far I know."

"Shh! Shh! Be quiet!" Viktor shushed while moving forward quickly while looking around frantically. William's response to this was to pull her closer to himself and further away from Viktor like he was some kind of wild animal.

Hermione was still trying to process that Viktor was a wizard, to be honest. Though, William pulling her away from the boy wasn't exactly something she appreciated.

Viktor had seen it as well and looked at William with even more annoyance.

"No offense, mate. I know who you are, but I don't know you - and neither does Hermione." William said coldly.

Hermione didn't understand the hostility that suddenly surrounded them. What was going on? And why was it so important who he was?

"Don't tell anyone you saw me." Viktor said harshly, turned around and disappeared down the mountain.

"William!" She exclaimed indignantly on Viktors behalf.

"What a character…" William muttered before turning to Hermione. "I've suddenly had enough skiing for today. Want to go find mum and dad?" She nodded slowly but eyeing him in annoyance. Without uttering another word, they went down the mountain - at a much more relaxed pace than the last time.

"I still can't believe you did that." Hermione muttered moodily from her armchair by the blazing fire. She had spent the past twenty minutes trying to read her book, and had read the same passage too many times to count before she decided to shut the damn book.

"Quit it, Hermione. We discussed it already." He groaned from the couch he was laying on.

"No, we didn't. You told me how to feel and then left the room. That's not discussing, that's called disregarding your sister's opinion and being a dick about it!" She growled at him, resulting in him sitting up instantly and narrowing his eyes at her.

"I don't care what you think; we've been over this! He's too old to be around you!" He stood abruptly from the couch and went right into her face. She stood her ground while he narrowed in on her; she knew him, and she also knew how he behaved when he wasn't getting things his way. "I'm getting mum - maybe she'll knock some sense into you."

The air around them was oozing bright green venom, and Hermione could feel it rolling off her tongue as she stood while maintaining the exact space between them - and never breaking eye contact.

"You're not the judge of me, and you sure as hell don't tell me what to do! Ever! Maybe get into that thick fucking skull of yours, that some people have different opinions than you, but that they matter just as fucking much! Idiot." She sneered and pushed him hard to get him out her way.

Hermione stopped dead in her tracks as she eyes her dad who stood in the doorway looking at her tight-lipped.

"I don't ever want to hear that language from you again, young lady." He said sternly with his arms crossed.

She would have rolled her eyes so hard she could see the back of her head, if she wasn't so damn furious.

Instead, she growled loudly in frustration and walked right past him.

"You need to talk to her, dad." William said behind her, making her whirl around to face him even though he was on the other side of the wrong.

"Stop that!" She screeched and stumped closer to him while pointing her finger at him while she screamed. "I'm sick of you telling me what to do! I'm sick of everyone telling me what to do! Hermione do this! Hermione do that! Hermione you need to be smart - Hermione you need to think the same as me - Hermione you need to look different to be pretty - Hermione you're too much, you're such a weirdo - Hermione your hair's too big - Hermione you need to fix this quicker! I'm sick and fucking tired of never being good enough and never getting to make any decisions for myself! FOR ME!" She sobbed and ran out of the room, not even caring about the aftermath.

She ended up in the room that she shared with William, and climbed right into bed where she sobbed until she had no more tears and her voice was a rasping mess.

She didn't know when, but at some point, the bed dipped in front of her curled-together form. The duvet was pulled down from her face, a muscular arm wound itself underneath her and pulled her tightly into a warm, clothed chest.

Her father held her close as she once again sobbed without abandon.

"Why is he like that?" She cried.

Her father sighed. "He's trying to protect you - though he could have done it differently. He's just trying to take care of you."

"But I can take care of myself!" She retaliated. Maybe she was being too harsh, but she was so angry. "I don't need him to do that."

"I know. I know. But sometimes we get put in situations that we don't have control over, and then it's good to have someone taking care of you, for you." He said thoughtfully and caressed her hair.

She didn't know what to say to that. Of course, he was right, but she was in total control of everything about that situation except for that arsehole pushing her out of the way.

Viktor didn't seem so bad. Why else would he have accompanied her all the way up to William?

Once her crying quieted down again, he finally spoke again though this time it was in the most broken voice she had ever heard. "Please tell me what's going on, because I don't know this girl, and I don't understand what's going on."

"I don't…" She started but was unable to say all of the things that were flying through her mind. "I'm not sure what to say…" She whispered while her voice broke through the sentences, making her unable to finish them.

"How about you tell me who's telling you you're not good enough." He said while caressing her cheek, and at that moment she thought he sounded just as broken as she felt.

"Ron… And Lavender… And Parvati…" She listed, and it was like saying their names, opened something up for her.

"They're Gryffindors too, right? Your classmates?" He asked.

She nodded silently. "They keep talking really bad about me when they think I'm not around. And... And Lavender and Parvati talk about how they want to cut my hair when I sleep…" Her hand went involuntarily to her hair where she drew the duvet up over it again from where her dad had pulled it down. "They thought I was too tanned when we went back to school… And my... Breasts… Are too small… but… I'm too fat and… and…"

"Wait… Who says you're too fat? Lavender and Parvati?" Dad asked loudly, obviously in shock though Hermione couldn't really understand why… She was too fat, after all. Her thighs were too big and her stomach was too big. She could even see it popping out when she was wearing an ordinary t-shirt. But she nodded in answer to his question.

Dad was quiet for a long time after that. She was starting to wonder if he had just resigned himself to what had happened, and just decided not to answer. Then he finally spoke so quietly that he might have been whispering; "You're in no means too small. Remember when mum took you to the doctor this summer when you hurt your arm? Remember how you were weighed?"

Again, she nodded. It seemed easier than opening her mouth and fighting to figure out what to say.

"You're underweight, Hermione."

No, no. That's not right. She thought to herself.

"Not by much, but definitely enough for me to tell you that you are by no means, even slightly, fat. That's one of the reasons that I encouraged you to go running - because building some muscle on that scrawny body of yours, might give some appetite and by that - weight gain." He was quiet again for some time, while she said nothing. She was still trying to comprehend how a doctor of all people thought that she was too small, while people who saw her every day, thought she was too fat. "You're beautiful as you are, my sweet, kind girl. You are exactly as you are supposed to be in every way, and I am so proud of everything that you do, and everything that you are - even that language you just threw at your brother." He caressed her cheek and pulled her hair behind her ear while giving her a bit tighter. "I know you're growing up, and I know it's hard. There's going to be things that you don't understand - and there will be things where you think you understand it all… But know that mum and I - and Wills - will always be there to support you. Even when you think that we're not, or when you believe that you know it all."

Hermione was stunned. This was the most emotional conversation she had ever had with her dad, and it was strange and comforting and she never wanted to let go of him again, as she hugged him back in earnest.

"I love you daddy." She whispered against his chest.

"I love you too, Hermione. If everything else falls apart, just remember that."

Her dad suddenly started rummaging around above the covers of her duvet, and she had the fleeting and terrifying thought that he was leaving. "What are you doing?" She asked in a small voice, afraid of what he might say.

"I'm ordering roomservice. We're having hot chocolate and watching a movie. William is going to sleep on the couch in mum and I's room, so it's just you and I. I'm not leaving you alone after that fit." He said, and she heard the tone of the phone letting her know that he was in fact calling for roomservice.

And then they spent the rest of the night doing exactly what dad had promised.

December 30th, 1993

Hermione was skiing down the slope lazily. From side to side.

Viktor had been standing behind her in the line for the lift, and had sat in one right behind her as well. Coincidentally of course. But then he had proceeded to follow her all the way to where she wanted to go down, and then followed her down there.

She was waiting for him to overtake her at some time, having made plenty of room for him to do so on multiple occasions.

But he hadn't done that.

He had done nothing to contact her or to let her know that he wanted to talk - he had merely followed her.

It was getting creepy. She had the fleeting thought that maybe William had been right.

As she reached the bottom of the slope, she added some extra speed and made sure that she would land somewhere close to other people.

Just before she would have stopped, she dug the poles into the ground and thrust herself forward to get back to the hotel.

She could hear him doing the same right behind her and when she was just by the line for the lifts - where he would have probably gone into - he continued to follow behind her. By now she couldn't find any logical way for him to be so close to her, using the exact same slope at the exact same place as her, following her exact trail. She stopped abruptly and could feel the front of his skies grace the back of hers. As best as she could, she turned on the spot and faced him.

"Why are you following me?" She asked, loud enough for the closest people to hear but low enough that they could still stand there mostly anonymously.

He looked taken aback by her sudden outburst. "I… Umm… I… Wanted… To talk to you." He stammered while looking everywhere but at her.

"Yeah? Then why didn't you do that while you were behind me in the lift-line? Or when you got off? Or when you followed me down? Just now when we reached the bottom?" She asked exasperated. She might have found him sweet when they met, but right now she was annoyed. Partly because Wills had apparently been right. She would never hear the end of it if he was.

Viktor looked at her in shock before leaving the other way around the lift.

December 31st, 1993

Hermione was standing by the window looking out over the snow-covered alps. It was absolutely breathtaking and she couldn't quite understand that they would be leaving the following day. She had had so much fun on this vacation with skiing, playing games, watching movies and just spending time with her family in general. Of course, it hadn't all been good moments, but standing here now and looking out, everything else seemed so insignificant.

The party was bustling all around her in the main restaurant of their hotel, and someone lighting a sparkler behind her brought her attention back to the party. She focused on the window in front of her instead of the mountains and could see her own reflection mirrored back.

She was standing in a pretty dress that her mum had helped her find the other day. It was in some sort of floaty, layered material that she didn't know what was called, but it was in this beautiful periwinkle-blue colour.

She absolutely loved it.

Also, her grandma had gotten her hands on an obscene amount of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, which meant that her hair was tamed as never before and pinned up.

The combination of her hair and dress, resulted in her feeling so pretty.

"Do you know who just talked to me?" William asked slowly as he came up next to her, his tall form towering over her.

"Who?" She asked, waiting for him to tell her who made him finally talk to her after their argument a couple of days ago.

"Krum."

"What?" Her head whipped away from her reflection and to her brother's face.

"Krum. Apparently, some girls had been following him around the hotel and he sought refuge in the men's loo… where he met… Me. Apparently, that's the reason why he was so angry when I guessed it was him. He was going incognito and was annoyed that I had figured him out so quickly. Thought I was another fan." He shrugged. Hermione thought to herself that even if he was a fan of Krum's there was no way that he would have made a scene.

But Krum couldn't have known that.

"Huh..." Hermione frowned at the new information. A lot of awkward scenarios and interactions suddenly made sense. Had Viktor been trying to have a good time without being found out, this entire time?

"I still think he's too old to be around you." Wills muttered sourly behind her.

"Well, it doesn't really matter now, seeing as I probably won't be speaking to him again. So don't bother." She answered and looked around at the party so as to not look at him.

People were preparing to kiss for the new year, as mistletoes started appearing all around the room. Having spent so much time in France during her upbringing, she no longer found it weird how she had to kiss when the clock struck midnight, but she could definitely see why it would gross some people out

"It's time!" Her mum came out of nowhere and ended their conversation. She put an arm around each of their shoulders - as best as she could with William, because let's be honest, that boy was getting tall - and pulled them to where Grandma and dad were waiting for the three of them to return.

"Dix!"

People were quickly finding their loved ones as the traditional countdown started.

"Neuf!"

Glasses of champagne were appearing on trays around the room for people to grab. From past experience, she knew that there was juice for the kids, or Champagne and elderflower mixed up for the young adults or bigger kids (like herself and William)

"Huit!"

William handed her a glass with Champagne and elderflower from the tray and smiled at her, putting an arm around her shoulder. Affectionately, she put an arm around his waist.

"Sept!"

1994 was going to be better. She could tell!

"Six!"

It was so quiet between the numbers counted out.

"Cinq!"

She could feel the excitement buzzing in the room.

"Quatre!"

Fleetingly, she thought of Harry.

"Trois!"

She thought of Daniel.

"Deux!"

Theo.

"Un!"

Draco…

"BONNE ANNÉE!" The room erupted in Jubilees and hurray's, as people killed their loved ones. She and William kissed each other on each cheek, hugged, and moved on to do the same to their parents and grandmother.

They wished the surrounding guests a prosperous New Year, before turning to the windows where fireworks would momentarily go off.

A small tap on her shoulder made her turn around from her family.

"Happy New Year, Herm - own - ninny." Viktor said shyly and held out his hand for her to shake.

Hermione took it easily, now knowing some of what was going on with him, and shook it. "Happy New Year Viktor." She said happily and leaned up on her toes to kiss each of his cheeks.

He frowned, but then smiled brightly. "I have to go back to my family now. But will you write to me?" He asked her while looking at her in what seemed like… hope?

Hope of what?

"Sure." She answered him with a soft smile and watched him summon paper and a quill, before writing down an address and giving it to her.

"Happy New Year." He smiled, kissed her once more on the cheek, and then left as quickly as he had arrived.

Not knowing what to think of their interaction, she turned around and watched the fireworks with her family, knowing she would dissect every bit of their conversation later, once she was in her bed ready for sleep.