Hermione sat in the great hall at breakfast on Valentine's trying very hard to control her emotions. She thought that she was a logical person, and was usually clear headed about most things. But that morning, she was most definitely not logical.

Owl after owl had dropped off present after present for Viktor. Harry had the usual stack that he had shoved onto the floor to dispose of later. But it was nothing compared to Viktor's pile. It had piled itself up around him, spilling off the table and onto the floor without any movement from anyone.

She didn't realize it but she had bent her fork in half. It wasn't until she tried to stab her French toast that she found that eating was going to be difficult.

"Here." Neville handed her another fork.

"Thanks."

"Other than Harry nearly snogging Cho, and Dean Thomas asking Ginny out, what's wrong? And don't tell me it's nothing."

She sighed a little in defeat. Neville had a bad habit of reading her closer than she liked. It was probably good for her mental health, but sometimes she didn't want to acknowledge his, admittedly accurate, readings.

"It's the stuff that people keep sending Viktor," Hermione said. "I know we aren't exactly flaunting our relationship, but one would hope that it would at least dampen their efforts."

"I doubt he's stupid enough to open any of those things," Harry said. "Goodness knows that just about everything in there is going to be laced with a love potion."

"I mean, if he's going to be thorough, he should probably carry around an antidote all day. Just in case some girl gets it into her head to do something stupid," Cho added.

"And there will almost certainly be at least one," Hermione said. She stabbed at her food again.

"Why don't you talk to him?" Neville asked.

"That would go over just perfectly," Hermione said sarcastically. "Hi honey, how's your day going? Never mind that we're in front of the whole school."

"I didn't mean now," Neville said. "And I think you have a way of arranging a meeting." He looked at her and gestured covertly to her arm.

She was just about to pull out a pen when she saw that Viktor had already sent her a message.

Are you alright?

She felt her lips twitch upwards a little at the words on her arm, even though she still felt miserable. She pulled her pen out and scribbled back.

Not too bad. I hate this holiday. But even more than that I hate the bimbos sending you things.

She looked up, took a few bites and managed to catch Viktor's eye. He nodded towards the door and she nodded. She dropped her fork and picked up her bag.

"I'll see you later," she told her friends.

She was almost running out of the great hall, and she actually walked into Viktor.

"Hey there," she said blushing.

"Vas not expecting to run into you this vay," Viktor said. He gave her a quickl little hug. "Better than vhat I expected."

"Thanks," she said pushing back the curl of hair that wouldn't stay no matter what she did. "I guess I just didn't expect to be so jealous."

"Valk vith me?" Viktor asked. He held out his hand for her.

She took it, walking with him as he led her up the stairs and then waited for a minute. "Vhich vay is class?"

"Fourth floor, third corridor, second door on the left. And you don't have to walk me to class I'm sure you have to get to your lessons as well."

"I vant to."

That was the end of that conversation and they walked in comfortable silence up to the transfiguration classroom. There were still a few minutes before most of the other students would even finish eating breakfast, and they stood in the hallway, each trying to figure out how to say what was on their minds.

"Thank you," Hermione said. "Thanks for taking the time to spend it with me and make me feel wanted."

"I vill always vant you, Her-me-own-ninny." He frowned at his pronunciation of her name.

She giggled at his face. "We'll have plenty of time to work on that later. And you still have to help me with my Bulgarian. Just because I can hold a decent written conversation doesn't mean that I've stopped wanting to learn."

"How much vork do you have to do?"

"Not as much as I think," she admitted. "Just mostly proofreading the essays due next week. And one arithmancy sheet."

"Vell, vould you like to vork on your Bulgarian in the library today?"

She practically jumped from excitement. "I would love to."

Hermione had her head on the table in defeat. She was still having trouble making her mouth move the way that she wanted it to in order to say what she was trying to say. Viktor understood, since he often felt that way about English, but there was only so much he could say.

Instead of trying to say anything, he just sat there with a hand on her back. He knew that she would try again, and likely fail again, but he was going to let her do that on her own timetable. He wouldn't push, as wonderful as it was to hear her try to speak Bulgarian.

"Will I ever be able to do this?" she asked, her voice muffled as she hadn't picked her head up.

"You vill," he assured her. "I still haff hard time vith English. You vill learn."

"Thanks." She sat up and straightened her hair and jumper. "You always know the right thing to say to make me feel better."

"I am only speaking truth," he said. "You are a vonderful vitch, and very smart. You vill learn. If only so that you can say you did."

She kissed him on the cheek. She would have loved to snog him right there and then, but the library was for work. And reading. It wasn't a place to be snogging. And if Madame Pince caught them, she would be in huge trouble.

He took her hand and squeezed it encouragingly, a huge smile breaking out on his face. While Hermione knew that he liked her, and he liked it when they kissed, she had found that he enjoyed the little moments of their relationship the most. The hand holding, the talking, and just being together.

She tried again for another half hour, and had made decent progress. She could say a few more words, even if she was still having a hard time saying them quickly, or understanding.

But it was time for dinner, and she wanted to eat and leave before all the lovesick couples actually made her sick. She might be in a relationship but that didn't mean that she wanted to watch other couples try to eat each other's faces off.

She started to gather up her things, packing them into her bag. She was just going over the table one last time for anything she might have missed, when she found Viktor holding her pen.

"Vhat is this?" he asked.

"That's a pen. It's a muggle invention. It's like a quill but it holds the ink inside. And it hurts a lot less to write on your skin with."

She pulled the lid off and doodled a little smile on his right hand, the ink popping up on her skin too, to prove her point. The look on his face was one of amazement and wonder.

"You can keep it if you want," she said.

"I couldn't take such a vonderthing from you."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I have a few more in my bag. And three in my trunk. I'll be fine."

Viktor took her gift with the repirocation of a hug and kiss, sweet and slow. His things were already packed up, so they left the library hand in hand and headed down to dinner with huge smiles. Those smiles didn't fade once. Not when Ron chewed with his mouth open, or when Draco Malfoy accidently ingested one of Viktor's love potion infested chocolates.