A/N: If you don't do well with cliffhangers, consider coming back at chapter 557 and reading the next six chapters as one big chunk.
CW: Teenage Sexuality
Hermione was teasing Viktor at dinner on Thursday night about his newfound penchant for late afternoon swims in the Black Lake.
"It's dangerous," she informed him, folding her arms.
"Is practicing," Viktor told her, grinning unashamedly. He shook his head back and forth in denial, sending little droplets of water flying off his wet hair, and with a roll of her eyes and gesture, Hermione dried her robes.
"Practicing," she scoffed. "Hypothermia can occur in as little as 15 minutes in water that cold, but oh, no, it's okay, you're practicing."
"Practicing for what?" Goyle asked, curious.
"Does Durmstrang have a swim team?" Crabbe wanted to know.
Viktor looked confused. Tracey turned to look at the two, incredulous.
"Why?" she asked. "Are you good at swimming?"
"No," Crabbe admitted. "But I can do a good cannonball, if there's a diving team too."
Hermione stared at him, aghast, before turning back to Viktor, refusing to dignify that reply with an explanation of how a cannonball was not a dive.
"It's dangerous," she said again. "You're out there in just your swim trunks, in water that's at freezing temperatures."
"Ah, you are worried for me," Viktor said, eyes sparkling. He nodded wisely. "This makes sense. Cannot take you to Hogsmeade on date Saturday if I am dead." His lips twitched. "Luckily, I am only practicing. I not dying before Saturday, Hermione. Is okay."
"It is not okay," Hermione argued, her face blushing as Viktor grinned at her, but there was a sudden loud commotion from a few tables over, the noise drowning her out, and Hermione turned with the rest of the Slytherins and Durmstrang students to see what was going on.
There was a confrontation happening between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. Hermione was able to easily recognize Cedric standing in the aisle, but it took her a few moments longer to recognize the Ravenclaw girl standing up as Cho Chang. Her face was twisted up in hatred and venom, and Hermione was reminded of terrifying paintings of harpies she'd seen as a child.
Despite Cho's volume, Hermione could barely make out what was being said. Cedric seemed to be saying something to her urgently, something she couldn't make out at all, which was punctuated by Cho's shrieks of "Are you kidding me?!" and "You sorry, pathetic excuse of a wizard!" Cedric seemed to get more desperate, talking to Cho faster, while Cho seemed to have had enough, slapping his chest with a flower and storming off.
"Oh," Daphne gasped. "He gave her a yellow rose! Oh, poor Cho…"
"A yellow rose?" Hermione asked, turning to Daphne. "What's that mean?"
"Friendship," said Pansy dryly.
"If they were courting – or dating, whatever – giving her a yellow rose is a… kind way of indicating a desire to end the relationship on good terms," Daphne explained, bottom lip wobbling. "Oh, but in front of everyone? Poor Cho."
Cedric seemed stunned for a moment, then rather defiant, and Hermione watched as Susan Bones had to coax him back onto the bench to get him sitting down again before conversation in the hall resumed as normal. Incredulous, Hermione turned back around, her eyes darting to Draco, but Draco shrugged, helpless.
"I'm as clueless as you are," he said. "The intersection is tomorrow, not today."
"So today's only a year?" Blaise asked, musing. "Maybe he's freeing himself up now so he's prepared."
Hermione groaned, and Viktor looked at her, puzzled.
"What is wrong?" he asked. "What intersection? Year from what?"
Hermione glared across the table at Draco, who was smirking with a smug expression on his face.
"Ask him," she said, venom in her tone, and Draco laughed.
Obliging, Viktor turned to Draco, who launched into the story of challenging Cedric to defend Hermione's honor with great drama and aplomb. All the while, Hermione's face burned in embarrassment. Cedric saw her on Viktor's arm for the Yule Ball. He saw her dancing and being perfectly happy without him. Did he really think he could just swan back into her life after a year and try and make up for his judgmental attitude and ignorance?
By the time Draco had finished his story, the Durmstrang students were highly entertained.
"Healing charm to vin," Alexei cackled. "Genius."
"Who has ever heard of a duel without Dark curses?" Dmitri asked, befuddled. "How is there even a point?"
Viktor turned to Hermione, amusement and curiosity sparkling in his eyes.
"Were you flattered?" he teased her, and Hermione's face went red.
"I'm not sure about flattered," she muttered, hiding her face, "but I'll admit to being glad the courtship ended."
Viktor laughed, then nudged her, grinning.
"And ritual worked, yes?" he said. "Black is free now. So you made it."
Hermione smiled slightly despite herself, remembering.
"It didn't work as we thought, actually," she said ruefully. "Turns out Sirius Black wasn't the one Harry needed revenge on – there was a whole mistaken identity scandal and two full Ministry trials involved…"
Viktor listened to her story about the legal drama with Sirius Black and how Hermione had been involved, asking questions and getting genuinely invested in the story. Even though her story wasn't very exciting, in Hermione's mind, Viktor's attention never wavered, his dark, kind eyes on hers, and by the time she finished her tale on the ominous note of the werewolf attack on the Ministry and Peter Pettigrew going free, the dinner tables were mostly empty, a scant few people left in the Great Hall.
Viktor didn't seem to notice this, nodding deeply to himself.
"Blood Debt ritual only works once, so cannot do it again," he said, considering. He tilted his head. "Have you used any other magic to find him?"
Hermione frowned. "I don't know any other magic to find him."
"I know very little," Viktor admitted. "None possible without his hair or blood."
Hermione snorted.
"I severely doubt Ronald kept any souvenirs of his pet rat after learning the truth," she said, and Viktor grinned, amused.
"So," he said, looking at her, his eyes sparkling. "Last year, your honor defended against claims of being Dark witch."
"Yes," Hermione said, biting her lip.
"If Diggory comes to you, he not likely to accuse you of such again," Viktor pointed out. "Not if he likes you."
"I figured as much," Hermione said with a sigh. "It'd be rather counter-productive, wouldn't it?"
"If he offers to court you again," Viktor said, looking at her sideways, "will you say 'no'?"
Hermione looked at him in shock.
"Of course I'd say no," she said, astonished. "Viktor, I was glad to get out of the courtship. I don't want back in it, not even a little. And I'm already sort of dating you—"
"Is what we are doing?" Viktor teased her, lips quirked. "'Sort-of dating?"
Hermione's face flushed.
"What would you call it?" she shot back, and Viktor laughed.
"Honestly?" he said, shrugging. "I not know. I not know about romance traditions here. I decided to follow your lead," he told her, his face spreading into his crooked grin.
"The romantic customs of the UK traditionally have the man lead the whole process," Hermione told him, but Viktor just laughed.
"And you are such traditional witch, Hermione?" he teased her. "You wait to be asked, instead of taking what you want?"
Hermione flushed. "I—"
"You asked me for date in woods alone, to study unknown magic," Viktor told her, eyes dancing with mischief. "You make robes worth mountains of gold to make point. You make Dark magic rituals to help your friends." His smile was sly. "I not think you are very traditional witch at all, Hermione."
"Oh no?" Hermione asked. She tossed her head, trying for cool and collected, but Viktor gave her a wicked grin, and she felt her heart skip a beat, her body tingling.
"Oh no," Viktor confirmed, his dark eyes holding hers. "You are no Vasilisa the Helpless, Hermione, oh no. You are my Marja Morevna, my warrior Queen who stands up to monsters."
Viktor's face was closer to hers, and they were still in the Great Hall. There were people around – not many, but some – and Viktor's voice had become a soft murmur that made Hermione shiver.
"I don't know what that means," Hermione admitted, breathless.
"Does not matter," Viktor assured her, his voice almost a whisper. "Was meant to be romantic—I try this instead—"
Hermione's eyes fluttered shut as Viktor kissed her, very effectively wiping the matter of Cedric Diggory from her mind.
"You are kissing Viktor," Fleur said to Hermione the next day, her eyes dancing as they checked the Alchemy cauldrons, and Hermione choked, turning red.
"I—"
"I watched," Fleur informed her, her smile positively wicked. "I hid in the Great Hall, and I watched as he kissed you, and then as he took you to his boat."
"Fleur!" Hermione said, scandalized, and Fleur laughed.
"Did you enjoy yourself?" she teased. "Was he as skilled with his tongue as me?"
"Fleur!" Hermione's face was bright red, and she couldn't stop sputtering in embarrassment, even as Fleur laughed. "Fleur, I—"
"Do you think he would be opposed to a third?" Fleur mused, curious. She tapped her lips thoughtfully. "Madame Maxime would take such an occurrence to be a mental calculation on my part to help me win in the tournament. She would approve of this, of my use of my femininity as a weapon." She considered Hermione, her gaze heated. "I could tolerate Viktor, I think, if it meant seeing you splayed out and—"
"Fleur, we just snogged and he groped my breasts a bit!" Hermione said all in a rush. "That's it. He hasn't—we haven't—"
Fleur tilted her head. "Haven't what?"
"He's—we've only used our hands on each other," Hermione said, awkwardly and desperately wishing this conversation was over. "He hasn't seen me naked, or—with any other body part—"
Fleur's eyes darkened.
"Is he not taking care of you thoroughly enough, mon petit ange?" she purred. "Shall I help you relieve your stress better? Shall I give him lessons on how to use his tongue?"
It wasn't fair, Hermione thought, how fast Fleur could transform a normal academic excursion into a sexually charged conversation so effortlessly, making Hermione's body feel like a live wire.
"How are you not jealous?" Hermione finally got out, a bit breathless. Fleur raised her eyebrows, surprised, and pulled back a bit.
"Jealous?" she asked. "Why?"
"Because—because I've been fooling around with Viktor," Hermione said.
Fleur arched an eyebrow. "And?"
"And—you and I—we have our own—our own thing—"
"Our own torrid romance?"
"—and yet you're practically encouraging me to—"
"Hermione," Fleur said, cutting her off. She took her hand and tugged Hermione into her, embracing her for a long moment until Hermione's heart had settled down some, before she pulled back, her beautiful blue eyes looking into hers.
"Your love is not a finite resource," Fleur told her, her voice soft. Her eyes glinted with a bit of mischief. "Your orgasms are not either. Only your time is limited, and I have my own obligations that take up my time, so I would not be able to occupy all of yours." She cupped Hermione's face, her hand soft. "Why would I begrudge you joy or happiness?"
"Even with someone else?" Hermione said, her tone a bit desperate. "Fleur, that's—that's not normal—"
"Maybe it is for Veela," Fleur said, shrugging. She gave her another smile, soft. "I claim to love you, Hermione. How could I not be happy for you when you are happy?"
Hermione just looked at Fleur helplessly, caught up in a whirlwind of confusing thoughts and feelings that didn't seem to want to calm down. Fleur brushed Hermione's hair back, her smile soft.
"You have no exclusive bond with either of us, yes?" she questioned. Hermione gave a slow nod, to which Fleur smiled. "Then you have done nothing wrong. Let me be happy for you through my sympathetic joy, Hermione. If you feel like I do not care for you because I lack jealousy, just come to me."
"Come to you?" Hermione echoed.
"Yes," said Fleur, and her eyes grew wicked, her smile more suggestive, more sensual. "It would be my pleasure to reassure you of my affections most thoroughly – it would be my pleasure, as well as yours."
Hermione's breath audibly caught in her throat, and Fleur laughed.
"Let me know if you and Viktor would like a menagé-à-trois, yes?" she teased Hermione, letting go of her hand to go and check the cauldrons. She threw Hermione a heated look over her shoulder. "In the meantime, I will do my best to make up for the skills he lacks."