Hermione felt cool air splash across her face, and then the spray of water. She opened her eyes and breathed in deep, trying to avoid getting a mouthful of water down her throat. She treaded water, feeling a strange calm as she looked at a shark headed man.

The head shifted, turning into the Bulgarian that was so familiar to Hermione. He raised a fist in the air, cheering, while he used the other hand to help her stay afloat.

She was pulled out of the water by Madame Pomfrey and herded into a tent. A towel was draped over her and a robe found so that she wouldn't freeze. The early February air was still chilly, and frost crept over the ground.

She sat on the cot, attempting to dry her hair out with the towel. Viktor sat on the cot across from her, a little dryer, if only due to the fact that he didn't have hair dripping onto him.

"How are you?" Viktor asked.

"Rather cold," Hermione admitted. She was attempting not to shiver, but her lips were tinged blue.

Viktor moved over next to her, pulling her close. In spite of the cold, and the wet, he was warm. Hermione snuggled into his embrace, leaning her head on his chest.

"This is nice," she mumbled into is chest.

"Is very nice," he agreed. "I vish ve could stay like this forever."

"It's going to be hard when you go back to Bulgaria at the end of this year. I'm going to miss you," she whispered.

Viktor glanced around. Fleur had been pulled out of the lake when she had run into the grindylows. But she was over by the edge of the lake, looking worried.

"Come here." Viktor pulled her out of the tent for a second. He led her away from the crowds, all of whom were waiting for Cassius and Harry to emerge. "Vill you come visit me this summer?"

"I'd love to," Hermione said. "I'll have to ask my parents, but I want to."

"Her-me-own, I haff never felt this vay about anyone," Viktor said. He leaned down and captured her lips with his.

She pulled on his robe, drawing him closer to her. The kiss was short and sweet, promptly followed by cheers. It seemed that Cassius had saved Cedric, and only a short while afterwards, Harry and two hostages came out of the water.

Hermione hurried over to Harry's side. She recognized Ron, and the blonde girl had to be Fleur's sister.

"Harry!" She threw her towel over Harry, in a rather silly attempt to dry him up a bit. "Thank goodness you're safe."

Viktor stood back a safe distance, arms crossed over his chest. He frowned at the media attention that Harry was getting. And Hermione received some of the attention, simply due to her presence.

"I'm fine. But I came in last," Harry said once he could breathe again.

"Second to last," Hermione said. "Fleur didn't even make it past the grindylows."

Harry was escorted back to the med tent to be warmed up. Hermione could feel Viktor's eyes on her, along with the eyes of just about everyone else.

She made sure to check on Ron as well. He had only woken up when he had broken the surface, the same as everyone else. But the Black Lake was bitterly cold most of the time and even more so since it was the second of February.

"How are you?" she asked.

"I'll be better when I get warmed up," he snapped. "Why are you wet?"

"Because I was one of the hostages too," she said as calmly as she could.

"I didn't think Harry would get two hostages," Ron mused.

Hermione shook her head softly. "He didn't."

"Then who?" Ron's face darkened as he realized what was going on. "Krum."

"Yes, Viktor," Hermione said. She was barely in control of her temper. Ron had a bad habit of bringing out the worst in her, and it irritated her even more that he knew how to push all of her buttons.

"Why him?" he nearly screamed at her.

"Maybe because he wants to be with me," Hermione whispered. "He doesn't treat me like an afterthought. And he cares what I think of him."

She glared at Ron. He glared right back at her. They held their stares for a good ten minutes before Harry came over to them.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Harry asked.

"Ask her," Ron snapped.

"Ron's mad because he didn't know that I was going to be Viktor's hostage," she said. "But you saved Fleur's and I don't see him complaining about that."

Harry shrugged. "He was mad at me in the beginning of the year. He'll get over it."

Hermione shrugged and headed off to the castle to dry off completely and warm up. She needed to warm up before her lips turned any more blue. And it would help her to get her mind off Ron.

She dressed in trousers and a soft blue sweater. She'd tried a dark blue once and had gotten mistaken for a Ravenclaw. But she supposed that now that she knew where Ravenclaw tower was, she didn't have to worry about that too much.

Once she was dressed, she walked into the great hall to get something to eat. She hadn't eaten since the night before and it was closing in on lunch time. She was famished.

She sat down and grabbed a ham sandwich. She tore into it part angry, and part starving. She finished one sandwich, grabbed another, and poured herself a mug of hot chocolate. It warmed her up, and calmed her down.

"Bad day?" Neville asked.

"You could certainly say that," Hermione said. "It's freezing."

"And it doesn't help anyone if Ron decides that he's mad at you."

"Harry?" Hermione asked.

Neville nodded his head. Harry had told him what happened, aware that Neville was able to understand Hermione better than Ron. Ron was very much like a little brother to Hermione. She couldn't stay mad at him forever, no matter how much he bugged her. But Neville was able to be the friend she needed to get her head on straight again.

"How are you holding up?" he asked.

"I've been better." She shivered a tad, her body slowly adjusting to the warmer temperatures.

"Well I think Viktor has something he wants to say to you," he said.

"What makes you say that?" Hermione asked.

Neville shook his head. "Just the fact that he's been playing with a quill for the past half hour. He was doodling on his arm, no words. Not even Bulgarian ones."

Hermione pulled the sleeve of her jumper up, and sure enough a weird variety of squiggles circled her forearm. There was the odd letter or two, but they looked as if they'd been abandoned halfway through writing them.

Library? She wrote.

A quick yes was the answer and she finished two more sandwiches before heading off to the library.

She walked through the stacks, running her hands over the spines of the books. It was a rather calming process for her. She would have continued to browse, but she spotted a rather grumpy looking seeker standing at the end of the bookcase she was standing in front of.

"Hey," she whispered as she walked over to him. She kissed his cheek and looked into his eyes. "What's wrong?"

Viktor pulled Hermione close, holding onto her as tight as he dared.

"Really Viktor, as nice as the hug is, I would like to know what's going on."

He took her face in his hands and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "It vas horrible. Seeing you, floating there, looking like you vere dead. It vas so scary."

He held her close to him, and Hermione let him. She leaned into him, knowing that he needed to make sure she was alright. It had been fine when they were at the lake, because he'd seen her walking around. But then she had gone off to see Harry and stormed off mad at Ron.

With the distance at lunch, those images in the lake had come back to Viktor and he'd found himself thinking the worst. He wasn't exactly sure why he was thinking such things, but he couldn't stop himself.

"I'm here," Hermione whispered.

Standing there in the library both of them came to the same realization. The feelings they had for each other weren't going to go away. They were unsure about how to deal with the inevitable separation, but they knew they would find each other again.