Hermione found that Slughorn's Christmas party was more enjoyable than the other gatherings of his she had been to. But part of that was almost certainly the company. She always felt more relaxed and much happier when she was around Viktor.
They talked softly in Bulgarian for most of the time. Only really switching back to English when a question was posed or when Neville was around with Padma. Neither of them spoke Bulgarian. At least not to the point where they could hold a conversation.
That was one of the things about having a best friend that was a Ravenclaw. They were not slow to take on the challenge of trying to learn something new. Even if it was a language that would likely take them at least the rest of the year to even be conversational in.
Hermione didn't mine. It was easy enough to keep up the written Bulgarian. But she'd taken to reading Viktor's letters aloud, in her bed with her curtains spelled so that no one could hear her, just so she could keep up practice.
And then there was Harry. He'd shown up late, with none other than Luna Lovegood. Hermione couldn't believe her eyes when they walked in.
Not that she had anything against the younger girl. Quite the opposite. Hermione liked Luna. In a strange sort of way. And she was somewhat protective of the girl. Especially after finding out that she'd been picked on by her own house. Hermione could empathize with that.
She just hadn't expected Harry to like Luna in any way. She was different. And she supposed that it was good for Harry to try something different. But she really hadn't expected him to light up the way that he did around Luna.
"What do you think?" she asked Viktor.
"Of Luna?"
Hermione nodded.
"She's interesting. I think she might be a seer."
Hermione snapped her head to look at her fiancé. "You can't be serious."
"Of course I am. I wouldn't joke about something like that."
Hermione chewed on her lower lip absentmindedly as she thought. True seers, unlike Trelawny, were absurdly rare. And were often thought of as crazy. Perhaps only a little eccentric if they were very good. But even before the gift manifested fully, they could see things others couldn't.
It fit. It explained why some of the other Ravenclaws were intimidated and scared by her. It also explained the creatures. Hermione was suddenly sure they were real. But, like thestrals, she couldn't see them.
"You'd better be right," she breathed. She didn't want to get her hopes about something like that. If Viktor was right, once Luna found out the truth her world would stabilize a little.
"Oh, you must be the Bulgarian seeker, Krum was it?" Slughorn said. "How'd you wind up at this little soiree?"
"I invited him," Hermione said.
She was suddenly grateful for all the practice she'd had dealing with people over in Bulgaria. They were generally more calm and collected than the crazy quidditch fans she'd encountered in the UK. But she wasn't thrilled with the way they still seemed to fawn over Viktor.
It had given her so much practice at keeping her voice even and pleasant even when she wasn't feeling like she wanted to. And she could hide her surprise easily.
Slughorn looked her over more appraisingly. "Right, Granger. I do think I recall seeing something about you dating while Krum was competing in the tournament two years ago. Glad you two are still friends."
Hermione shook her head into her cup of punch. She wasn't sure what to say.
"They never stopped dating," Neville said.
"You must have read about him barging into the detention session with Umbridge?" Padma added.
"I may have heard something," Slughorn said.
Hermione schooled her features into a cool expression. She didn't want to give away the fact that she wasn't thrilled with her teacher. She was at his party with a date. And she was wearing a ring Viktor had given her.
She knew that her engagement had been plastered all over the Bulgarian newspapers. If Slughorn cared at all about quidditch, which he presumably did, he would have had some inkling that she and Viktor were dating.
For what was most certainly not the first time, and likely wouldn't be the last, she felt a pang of envy. Harry got tons of attention from Slughorn. And he wasn't even good at potions. He was just famous. And he didn't even want it.
And it wasn't that Hermione wanted to be famous. She would be content if no one bothered her. But she doubted that would ever happen. Viktor was famous. Harry was famous. She was famous by proximity. And she was considered one of the brightest witches of her age.
But she wished that someone would pay attention to her, and not the wizards that she associated with. She was competent. She was bright. She had potential. And she was more than her friends and future husband.
Slughorn shook his head sadly. "You would have made a great Slytherin Granger," he said softly.
He walked away and Hermione took a deep breath. She didn't trust herself to speak. Not for a few minutes at least.
"You'll be fine," Viktor assured her.
She nodded mutely. She knew he was right. She was going to be fine. She just needed to get out of the funk that she was in.
She didn't get much time to stew in her thoughts. Thankfully. There was a commotion behind them. Filch was pulling Malfoy into the room.
"What's he doing here?" Neville groaned.
"You know Malfoy," Padma said. "He's been pampered his whole life. If it weren't for the fact that his father was in jail, he'd have been invited."
Hermione nodded. "And he's got this thing with Harry. And knowing Harry, he's probably going to try and stalk Malfoy."
They all sighed. It was the most likely outcome after all. And they all knew it. Even Viktor, who was around the least, knew it.
Of course, it wasn't exactly like it was one sided. Both of them were obsessed with each other. If it wasn't because of the animosity between them, pretty much everyone would have thought they were interested in each other.
There was a clattering in the entryway, and Luna stood there. She held Harry's arm lightly in her hand. And he didn't move. He stood frozen.
"Well, that's an interesting development." Padma's voice was soft.
"What do you know?" Neville asked in a whisper.
"The pull Luna has on Harry. No one else can get him to stop like that," Hermione said. Her voice was just louder than Neville's. "If Ron or I tried he'd just jerk his arm away and continue on. Anyone else would get a rougher handling."
"I suppose," Neville said. "But it's not Harry anyone should be worried about."
"Sorry," Hermione muttered.
She was acutely aware of the fact that Neville was recalling the time she'd used a full body bind on him in first year. And that wasn't the scariest thing she'd ever done. But it was one of the few times she'd used magic against one of her friends.
"I'm just glad that you're on my side," Neville said.
The rest of the party was rather uneventful. Malfoy was escorted back to his dorm by a fairly disgruntled Professor Snape. He returned to the party with a deeper scowl than normal.
His attitude couldn't ruin the night. Professor Snape was almost always in a bad mood. It was just something that all his students had learnt to deal with at one point or another. And there were enough good moments that no one felt down for long.
And Snape's imposing presence was actually a bit of a blessing when Cormac started flirting. It was exceedingly obnoxious. Especially since Hermione had turned him down earlier.
"Mr. McLaggen," Snape drawled. "I would step away from the lady."
"Shouldn't she be the one to tell me that?"
"You aren't paying attention. She's here with her fiancé. She doesn't want you to flirt with her," Snape nearly snarled.
"Fiancé? Since when?"
Both Padma and Hermione had to restrain themselves from smashing their hands against their faces. It might not be obvious to the most casual observer at Hogwarts. But Cormac was digging himself into a hole that no one could escape.
"They've been together since year four," Neville said. "I doubt it was going to end any other way."
Cormac stalked off, Snape trailing behind him. There was bound to be a lecture of some sort. And they were all glad that it wasn't them that Snape was frustrated with at that moment.
The rest of the night went by quickly with food and dancing. There were a few stolen kisses, at least between Viktor and Hermione. But all too soon it was time to head back to their dorms.
Both Harry and Neville walked off with their dates toward Ravenclaw tower. That left Hermione and Viktor to stroll down the corridors to Gryffindor tower alone. They took their time, neither wanting the night to end just yet.
Far too soon they reached the portrait of the fat lady. Hermione brushed an errant curl behind her ear.
"Thank you," she said.
"For vhat?" Viktor asked.
"For being here. For making time for me. For always being willing to listen when I need you, even if you are at quidditch practice."
"For you, I vould fight vizards vho are scarier than you-know-who," Viktor swore. "I vould fight the devil himself for you."
Hermione blushed and looked up at him. "I know you would. But I'd rather you were safe."
Viktor kissed her softly. "I know. But you are most precious. I vould do anything for you."
"Just keep safe."
A/N: So this chapter was a lot of fun to write. I'm not sure how great it is. But hopefully you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am working on making my chapters longer as well, so that may mean there might be a little longer of a wait. But it's here. That's good news.
Also, I'm busy with life at the moment. And it's going to get busier. I'm hoping that come June things will slow down a bit. But who knows. For now I'm just going to try to keep on top of it all. And update when I can.