His Greatest Challenge

Before Dumbledore brought out the impartial judge, he introduced Bagman and Crouch, who had both worked to put the Triwizard tournament together. He then stated that they, along with Karkaroff, Maxime and himself, would be judging the champions. At the word 'champions,' Viktor lifted his head slightly. Dumbledore smiled and a man with sallow skin wearing a moldy tailcoat emerged from the shadows carrying a great, jewel encrusted chest.

A murmur rose through the crowd, and Viktor looked over at Vlad, who was hardly paying attention. Viktor nudged him and Vlad leaned over, "Viktor, I really don't care, I know you'll be our champion and I'm just anxious to explore the rest of this castle. I love this place - do you think we could stay here and not go back to Durmstang?"

Viktor laughed heartily and Draco shot him an odd look. Viktor laughed again; he assumed that Draco was used to see him scowling and Viktor found that amusing. Viktor turned his attention back to Dumbledore, who was now talking about the rules of the tournament. Everyone seemed to be hanging onto every word Dumbledore said, yet Viktor had heard it all before. Karkaroff had made a point of going over every detail he knew of the tournament before they left for Hogwarts.

Dumbledore soon introduced the impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire. Viktor looked at the goblet in awe. Karkaroff had gone over the goblet as well, but somehow Karkaroff could in no way truly describe the beauty that stood before him. Blue-white flames danced gaily in a roughly made wooden cup and Viktor longed to entwine his fingers in the flame.

Dumbledore shut the case that held the goblet and Viktor quickly shot out of his daydream. Dumbledore continued to talk and Viktor stole glances across the room to Hermione. Her name rang like a soft bell in his mind. Sing it loud and there's music playing, sing it soft and it's almost like praying, the words from his mother's favorite play, West Side Story, played in his mind and he found that for the first time in his life he understood how Tony felt.

"Good night to you all," Dumbledore said and the school rose from there tables. Viktor stood so that he could continue to look at the girl with the bushy brown hair, but his view was obstructed by hoards of students. Viktor stood waiting for Karkaroff to see where they would go next; he personally hoped they would be staying in the castle somewhere, but he was pretty sure they would be returning to the ship.

Hermione and her two friends passed by and Viktor longed to reach out and introduce himself. He was feeling much better so he was sure he would actually be able to talk. Yet something held him back, for he knew the feeling far too well - he was intimidated. He was afraid that maybe she would mock him, or that she would ignore him completely, or that her friends would steer her away laughing at his stupidity.

"Back to the ship then," Karkaroff stated as he bustled over to his students. He turned to Viktor and said in his most nurturing voice, "Viktor, how are you feeling? Did you eat enough? Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?"

Viktor shook his head and gathered his furs; he wanted nothing else from Karkaroff.

"Professor, I vood like some vine," Vlad stated almost hopefully.

"I wasn't offering it to you, Poliakoff," Karkaroff shot, rounding on Vlad. "I notice you dribbled food all down the front of your robes again, disgusting boy - " Karkaroff turned heel and headed towards the doors.

Vlad was looking down on the small smudge he had on his robes, "I really did want some wine." He looked at Viktor. "You should have said yes and we could have shared it."

"Smartass," Viktor grunted with a small smile. The two of them quickly caught up with the rest of the Durmstang students who were blocking the exit. Karkaroff stood looking in awe at the black haired friend of Hermione.

Viktor looked closely and saw what had caught Karkaroff's attention. He turned to Vlad and opened his mouth to say something when a growling voice said what Viktor had intended to - "Yeah, that's Harry Potter."