With everything going on, Hermione found the days passing quickly. Before she knew it, it was the last week of November, and Viktor was going to be visiting for the last Hogsmeade weekend before the holidays.
She was excited, especially since the week had been flying by. She had written him every day, and had just gotten a letter back from him, that was currently safe inside her bag. She had even warded it with a few special spells so that Umbridge couldn't take it if she tried.
She had just finished the last transfiguration class of the week, and was headed out the door down to lunch. It was good for her that the only class she had left was defense against the dark arts, where she didn't have to do any thinking. Her mind was not exactly available for schoolwork.
"Where are you going?" Neville asked.
Hermione looked up, finding that she was headed down to the kitchen instead of the great hall. "Oops," she said. "I wasn't thinking about where I was going."
"Obviously," Neville said. "I think everyone else thought you were going to the library. But you seem out of it. Anything going on?"
Hermione looked at Neville pointedly. "Are you really asking me that?"
"I know he is going to be here tomorrow. Everyone's really looking forward to it. But I was wondering if that was all you were thinking about."
"Miss Granger," Umbridge called.
"Please don't let me do anything I'll regret," Hermione whispered in Bulgarian. "What can I do for you Professor?"
"Where are you going Miss Granger?"
"I wasn't paying attention and was going to the kitchens by accident," she said softly. "I'm just grateful that Neville here stopped me before I crashed into someone."
"Is this true?" Umbridge asked Neville.
"I'm afraid that Hermione's had a lot on her mind with research, and her personal life. Her parents have been out of the country, and she's been wanting to hear from them for weeks. As you can imagine, it's been taking a toll on her," Neville fibbed.
"I was under the impression that Miss Granger's parents were dentists."
"They are," Hermione said. "My mother's been working with a foreign ministry on how to improve international relations. So they've been traveling a bit."
Umbridge seemed skeptical and wrote down a note on her parchment. Hermione was fairly certain that it was something along the lines of "compulsive lying, though her stories are logical."
"Mr. Longbottom, please escort Miss Granger down to the great hall."
They walked in silence until they turned the corner. "That's where we were headed anyways," Neville said.
Hermione elbowed him softly. "She might still be able to hear us," she hissed.
"Even if she did, what's the worst she could assume?" He paused. "Don't answer that. Knowing you, you'll actually come up with an answer that I don't really want to hear."
Hermione smirked. He was right. She already had an answer on the tip of her tongue, and she was fairly sure that Neville wouldn't enjoy it. So she swallowed the answer, since she didn't really want to hear it either.
"There she is Ron. Thank goodness you found her Neville," Harry said once they got to the great hall. "Umbridge was stalking us, asking where Hermione had gone off to."
"She found us," Hermione said.
"Hermione got sidetracked and we got caught trying to make it back here," Neville supplemented.
"It's not my fault," she protested. "I did get caught up in my thoughts, but I've been doing that all week. Today just happens to be worse than normal."
Harry and Neville laughed. Ron looked confused. "What's so funny about that? It must be something pretty bad for her to lose focus like that."
"Or really good," Neville said between gasps of air.
Ron shook his head. "I doubt another beyond perfect score on a test could distract her that much." He then turned his attention back to his food.
Harry and Neville devolved further into giggles as Hermione checked her watch for the umpteenth time that hour. She didn't really care what they said, she just wanted the day to be over already.
Hermione ate her lunch, and wandered up the stairs to defense, her friends ready to steer her in the right direction if she wandered off again. It was a real risk at the time. She was used to certain pathways, but it always felt like the castle was waiting for a person to not pay attention before switching the staircases around.
They did manage to make it to class on time and avoid the wrath of Umbridge. Had they been even a minute later, they might not have been so lucky, but no one wanted to contemplate that possibility for too long.
Class passed without too much disturbance. No one wanted Umbridge angry. She was already insufferable, and anything more would have been more than anyone was willing to deal with. Hermione and the rest of the students were grateful that she seemed to be preoccupied and didn't pay them much attention.
Hermione drifted away in thought through the afternoon. She doodled on parchment that contained half notes, half scribbles, and would be useless to anyone but her. The more logical part of her brain was yelling at her to quit daydreaming. The larger, more romantic, part of her told it to pipe down and enjoy the ride.
She looked down at the swirls, hoping to find something unintelligible rather than hearts. She was grateful to find mostly swirls, though she thought she could find a few flowers in there. Flowers were okay.
"You alright?" Padma asked as she sat down in the chair across the table from her.
Hermione stretched herself out. She wasn't particularly fond of people asking her that every time she was slightly distracted. Even when she was more than slightly distracted. She might not be the most present in that moment, but she was fine.
"Just distracted," she said. "I keep telling everyone that I'll be fine Sunday, but no one believes me."
"I would imagine you'll be ever so slightly distracted then," Padma said.
"Probably," Hermione admitted. "But, it should be better."
She leaned back into her slumped posture, doodling absentmindedly on the parchment. She didn't want to do any of her homework, though she knew a lot of it was due in the next week. She wasn't even close to how on top of her work she had been before she met Viktor.
She was distracted for the rest of the afternoon and evening, drifting off to sleep after seeing a short note on her arm, penned quickly.
Here, at The Three Broomsticks.
Hermione almost leapt out of her bed that morning. She was beyond excited, and dressed herself quickly. Knowing the weather was going to be cold, she pulled a jumper over her robes, and raced down the stairs, cloak in hand.
She bounded down the stairs to the great hall and grabbed a piece of toast and marmalade before heading out the door and across the courtyard. She walked, deliberately trying not to run. She ate as she walked, in an effort to both settle her stomach and keep her from running to the village as fast as she could.
She walked up to The Three Broomsticks, and took a deep breath before entering the building. Inside it was quiet. Most of the people were still asleep on the weekend, and it was almost peaceful. In just a few hours, all the Hogwarts students would be there, causing quite a ruckus.
She walked over to the booth in the far corner. Sitting there, staring at a mostly empty plate, was a certain internationally famous athlete.
"Hey," she said.
He looked up at her, and his face lit up. There was a hint of a smile on his face, but his eyes sparkled with happiness. "How haff you been?"
"Distracted," she said slipping into the booth across from him. "There's this guy, he's pretty handsome, who's been occupying my mind."
"Do I need to do anything to him to keep him out of your thoughts?" he asked.
Hermione giggled. "No silly. It's you."
Viktor had known exactly what Hermione was talking about. He just liked to tease her, about as much as she enjoyed teasing him. And both were comfortable enough in their relationship to be silly, which just made things even better.
"I know."
"So, are you close to being done?"
"Can go now if you vant," he said.
"I'd like that."
He paid the bill for his meal and room, and walked outside with Hermione. The morning was crisp, clear, and oddly dry for Scotland in the fall. Not that either of them were going to complain. It was only going to make their afternoon with the DA that much easier.
They made the most of the morning talking and catching up with each other. It was so much easier to talk to each other in person, though they were making things work even with the distance. Hermione was so grateful that she actually got some time with him before the students started pouring in from the castle.
It seemed as if no one was immune to Viktor's stardom. He got more requests for autographs than Hermione had seen him get anywhere other than the first week of the tournament the year before. He was approached by everyone, and Hermione found herself on the receiving end of some very civil comments by some Slytherins.
"That was weird," she muttered.
"Vhat vas?"
"That Slytherin was actually nice to me. That never happens."
Viktor shrugged, though he remembered the conversations he had had with more than one Slytherin the previous year. It looked like they were still mildly frightened of him.
They headed into Honeyduke's and spent a good half hour just browsing before Hermione finally decided on her usual package of sugar quills. It was simple, easy, and her favourite thing in the whole store anyways.
The afternoon came sooner than either of them would have liked, but it was necessary. They headed out through the forest to the clearing they had decided would be the least conspicuous meeting spot. Hermione started setting up protective spells around the area, and Viktor joined her with a few spells she hadn't even heard of.
When all of the DA members were there, Viktor taught them the importance of hand to hand combat. He demonstrated how in close quarters, being able to dodge a spell could be the difference of life and death. And if you could wrench your opponent's wand away from them, that gave you the advantage.
Hermione knew exactly how important it could be. Viktor had already impressed the importance of being able to fight without magic on her over the summer. And she was already quite competent at the exercises he was having everyone do.
Hermione caught his eye as she moved, almost without even focusing, through the exercises she was doing with Padma. She gave a brief nod to his unspoken question about giving the rest of the students a demonstration.
When Viktor was satisfied that everyone could remember the steps and had the practice routine down, he pulled Hermione up to the front. She rocked back and forth on her feet, keeping her muscles warm as she gently stretched.
When he attacked, she sidestepped easily. She crouched, keeping her center of gravity low and easier to manage. She was smaller, so she had to use Viktor's size and strength against him. When she flipped him to the ground, just a few moments later, she heard a collective gasp.
"Most fights don't last a long time," she explained. "It takes a lot of energy. Both physically, and magically. You need to train very hard to outlast your opponent."
It seemed like everyone heard her loud and clear. The session wrapped up easier than she would have expected, and they staggered departures so it wouldn't automatically give them away.
"Thanks again for doing this," Harry said as he watched the younger students filter away. "It means a lot."
"You need help. And I vould do anything to keep Her-me-own safe."
Hermione ducked her head to hide her smile at Viktor's mispronunciation of her name. He had been working so hard, and had improve a lot. But he was still having a hard time. Even so, she wouldn't change it for anything.
Saying goodbye to Viktor was hard. She had known all along that it would be the hardest part of the day.
"I'll see you over Christmas," she said. It wasn't a question, in spite of the pleading tone in her voice.
"I vould not miss it for the vorld."