Rating:
PG-13
House:
Astronomy Tower
Characters:
Hermione Granger Viktor Krum
Genres:
General Romance
Era:
Multiple Eras
Stats:
Published: 06/09/2003
Updated: 11/20/2003
Words: 224,686
Chapters: 100
Hits: 71,003

Past Present

Miss Yetigoosecreature

Story Summary:
Hermione, Harry, and Ron visit Viktor Krum in Bulgaria and discover there's a lot more to Viktor's past than they could have imagined.

Chapter 15

Chapter Summary:
Ron explains his jealousy, and there are flying carriages. And a smidge more on Rita Skeeter. Short, but just jam packed full of...a teeny short chapter, I guess. So it's not jam packed. A bit dialogue heavy, and Poliakoff the motormouth isn't even involved!
Posted:
06/15/2003
Hits:
834
Author's Note:
Uploading...uploading... lots of uploading. Thought I would knock of formatting and chaptering several at once.

"Errrm, Harry, if that isn't them, I'm badly fooled. And unless we want Hermione to never speak to us again, I suggest we turn around and hotfoot it back toward the tent," Ron whispered.

"Why? Where?" Harry asked, squinting off into the dark three quarters of the way up the pitch, but still trying to catch the fireworks overhead.

"There, under the goal. He's kissing her, you great git, and I don't hear her screaming bloody murder or telling him off or explaining the entire history of kissing to him, so I suspect she might want to be alone with him. Let's go Harry," Ron grabbed Harry's elbow and tugged.

"I guess they'll come get us when they're ready to go," Harry said lamely.

"Yes, I suppose they will, once they stop mooning over one another and snogging. Poor things had to go stand in the sand pit to get a moment's peace, so I guess they deserve it. Come on," Ron said.

"Ron? I thought, well, last year, I thought maybe you... liked Hermione. The same way Viktor does," Harry whispered.

"Maybe I did. A little. Or maybe I was just jealous that she found someone else famous to be with. Harry, you get a lot of attention. It's hard to compete with The Boy Who Lived. Hermione, though, she always treated us pretty much the same once she got to know us. When she showed up on Viktor's arm at the Yule Ball, all I could think was, 'Great. Now she's off with an international Quidditch star who probably makes more money in a month than my entire family does in a year. She'll never pay any attention to me again. She'll forget I exist, and Harry will probably move on to bigger and better any day now.' and things like that. She was as ordinary as I was, even if she was smart, but once you have her assuming the title of Viktor Krum's Girlfriend, she became a local celebrity. And you were busy with the tournament. I was lonely. And jealous."

Ron paused, several feet from the tent and the crowds milling about. "I suppose I've always take Hermione for granted. She was always the mousy brown thing with big teeth who was a little too bossy, slept in the girl's dorm, and knew all the things you find in books that came in handy in a pinch but are really annoying the rest of the time when someone's spouting them at you. Then Viktor comes in from Durmstrang with his packs of girls already mooning over him and his dodgy English, and he goes and figures out she's an interesting human being and not a bad looking one at that, before either of us really work it out. I guess I wanted Viktor to be a big jerk so I could hate him for something instead of admiring him for giving Hermione her due before we did, but it turns out he's decent. More than decent. If you had asked me last year, I would have told you there wasn't a man alive who really deserved Hermione Granger, any more than there's a woman alive who deserves Harry Potter, because you're my friends and nothing is good enough for you. Maybe there still isn't a man alive that really deserves her, but Viktor Krum has to come the closest. And if you can't tell she's falling completely in love with him on this trip, you're blinder than I am. You think she would let anyone else kiss her? Like that? Let anyone else teach her to waltz? Let anyone else wrestle her hogtied onto a broom? She won't even ride with you, Harry. Viktor actually got her to steer!"

Ron leaned in closer. "Harry, I used to think I had lots to be jealous of, between you and Viktor. You know though, Viktor's right, what he said the other day. I shouldn't envy you. Viktor's had it harder than I have, even without the packs of overacheiving older brothers. It's all been on just him. I can't imagine handing over your paycheck at age twelve for fear your parents are going to get tossed out of their home. We were always poor Harry, but we managed not to worry about eviction. Fred and George exploding the house, maybe, but not eviction. Months of your mother in the hospital. Knowing there should be someone else in your family who isn't there anymore, and not talking about it with anyone. You know what that's like, Harry. Reporters like Rita Skeeter always in your hair. Always being the oddball somehow in every group. People hating you, blaming you, just because of where you go to school. That's no more fair than when they blamed you just because you're a parselmouth."

"You know, Hermione pointed out something in one of her letters during the summer. It should have made me ashamed then, but I don't think it did until after Viktor told us all that about his sister and his mother in the barn. At the tournament, you got to rescue me, someone you had known for years. You always said I was your first real friend, we live in the same dorm, beds next to each other, classes together. Fleur was supposed to rescue her sister, and that seems to be the only person she cares about, aside from Fleur. Cedric got to rescue Cho, and grant you, they had only been dating a short while, but they had known each other the entire time they went to Hogwarts. They lived close and had a lot of the same classes and were friendly long before that, according to most of the people in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Some of the people in those towers claim Cedric always liked Cho. Viktor got Hermione."

"So? I don't see how that's different from Cedric and Cho..." Harry began, but Ron interrupted him.

"Yes you do, Harry. He had only just met her. He was only with her in dribs and drabs when they were alone in the library, and that couldn't have been often, all those girls giggling after him all the time. Nobody from Hogwarts ever saw them together enough to make them suspicious, or it would have been all over school, now wouldn't it? The person who allows he knew him best from Durmstrang, Poliakoff, he was there already. His parents could have been brought to Hogwarts just as easily as Gabrielle was brought. One of his teammates, even. But Hermione is the one they picked for Viktor. You think they just drew lots? Happened to pick us? Merlin's beard, Harry, he was in love with her even then, or he wouldn't have missed her that much. And I should have figured that out from the second task, that he wasn't just after her to find out about you, when he was so concerned about her afterwards. When he offered to let her come visit. Do you think Viktor's so much as bothered to say 'boo' to another girl?"

Ron looked back at the goal, where two figures were starting to move back down the pitch. "Do you think he trusted anyone at Durmstrang with what happened to his sister? Poliakoff thought not. He didn't seem to know Viktor had ever had a sister. He shared it with us, Harry. He was not only willing to let Hermione see him in his natural habitat, he was willing for us to come too. He never would have done that if he had been trying to take advantage of her. He's been nothing but patient with all of us. Even me, when I was the jerk. Who knew he even had a sense of humor? Hermione, I guess, because she actually gave him a chance to prove who he was, all those letters and those two visits. You even gave him a chance before I did, and for all you knew, he was trying to kill you."

"And Viktor's been chipping away at that smart, capable, sensible girl facade of Hermione's so well because he recognizes it. It's the same thing he did by being 'moody Slavic boy' to keep everyone that wasn't willing to take him the way he was at bay. It's what he did to fend Karkaroff, reporters, and those girls off. You notice he didn't treat fans who just wanted his autograph the same way he did those girls who mooned over him? He actually looked decently pleased when I asked. I've figured that out, Harry. He doesn't mind that, because that's admiration of his skill, something he's earned. Fair enough, everyone knows he's good. He doesn't eat it up, but he doesn't shrink into his robes when it happens, either."

"But when a girl starts liking you before she's even met you just because your face is on the cover of a Quidditch magazine, does she really like you, or just what she thinks is you? Karkaroff could care less what other skills or interests Viktor had. Same with reporters. He wasn't a person or a player, he was THE YOUNGEST SEEKER EVER, a headline, Harry. Color for a story. That's why Rita Skeeter was so eager to use him as a counterpoint to you Harry. See, everyone else thinks they're a one-note song. Viktor's just a great seeker, Hermione's a bookworm, nothing else. We even fell into that trap, Harry. Viktor bothered to see if there was anything else to her. Hermione returned the favor. That's what he really wanted. He accepted the package deal, you and me for a chance to get to know Hermione better. You telling me a guy who is that ... great... at eighteen, nineteen, doesn't deserve her?"

Ron talked faster as the gap narrowed, "He hasn't made one shifty move. In one way, I still wish he had. Then we could go on being our comfortable little threesome and not have to worry about letting anyone else in, anything changing. You and I could roam around, and always be assured Hermione was back there in the corner by herself, waiting for us to come back, if she wasn't in the thick of it with us. She would always be there for me when you're off saving the world or getting the snitch or being made over. But he's not like that. I wouldn't be surprised if he asked permission to kiss her. In fact, I would be shocked if he didn't. It's like he crawled out of a royal court from four hundred years ago. He's been protective of us all. You know Volkov and Vulchanov didn't run Rita Skeeter away just for our benefit on their own, they did it because he asked them ahead of time. I heard them say Viktor asked them to if she showed up and started trying to get near us."

"He's freaking Prince Charming. Captain Nice. Lord Manners. At this point, I would damn near date him. Have mercy, Harry, he deserves Hermione. Mum was having kittens over Hermione visiting a boy a little more than three years older, until she found out we would both be going with her. I still don't think she's too wild about it. Keeps owling me to find out if he's trying to sneak off with Hermione, asking if he's behaving himself like a gentleman. I don't believe she quite believed me when I said he put Hermione's room as far away from his room as possible, with us between. She thinks he's some rich international playboy living in a mansion with a harem and on the make or something. But if Mum knew the half of this, she would be ready to perform the wedding ceremony tomorrow."

As the couple reentered the pool of light from the tent, Harry saw that it was definitely Viktor and Hermione, fingers twined together as they walked. They were both wearing nearly identical soft smiles, and neither one of them spoke for some time as they stood before Harry and Ron. "Ready to portkey back, then?" Harry finally ventured.

"Oh, we are not portkeying tonight. Carriage. Rather like Beauxbatons carriages," Viktor said.

"Carriages? You mean with the flying horses?" Ron asked.

"I did not know when the reception would finish. Hard to arrange for a portkey. And ve can sleep in the carriage..." Viktor stifled a yawn politely with the back of his hand.

"Viktor, um, your accent seems to be cutting in and out..." Harry began.

"I am working on it. I figure I haff three people worth talking to in English now, I should bother to pronounce things properly... easier for me to work on that than for you to learn Russian or Bulgarian. It is hard to remember, though," Viktor replied. They gathered their things from Viktor's locker and walked out of the stadium.

There, a short wizard in semi-formal robes met them, holding a carriage door open. "Mr. Krum," he greeted, then began to speak in Bulgarian as the three climbed in and arranged themselves inside. Viktor replied, answering with short phrases.

"What was that all about?" Hermione asked once he settled in beside her, eyelids already drooping.

"Vhere to go, how fast, did ve vont to see something in particular... I told him home, I do not care, beds at home, and vake us up vhen he gets there, not before, unless the carriage is on fire. I think I could sleep for a veek suddenly," Viktor tilted his head back against the seat as he spoke, his sharp chin pointing at the ceiling.

The other three dropped off shortly after they left the ground, but Harry remained wide awake, looking out at the moonlit mountains, the crisp stars in the sky, the wisps of cloud. He snuck a few sidelong glances at Viktor and Hermione, just to make sure they were asleep, then studied them frankly. Ron was right, he supposed. Looking at the two of them now, Hermione's bushy head tucked against Viktor's shoulder, his arm around her shoulders and his dark head resting against hers, his cheek next to the crown of her head, there never seemed a more natural couple.

Our trio's become an occasional quartet, he thought to himself. And he found it wasn't an entirely unpleasant thought. He liked Viktor, after all. And life would be a lot more pleasant now that Ron had decided he liked Viktor too. And the thought of Viktor and Hermione. Hermione seemed to be the last one to admit to the other members of the trio just how much she liked Viktor, Harry smiled to himself. If you didn't count private kissing that we stumbled on. Like Hermione, he marveled at how much younger Viktor looked when he was asleep. It was the first time Harry had seen his face completely relaxed and unguarded. The thought was interrupted by a soft bump as they sat down.

Viktor barely managed to stay awake long enough to tip and thank the driver, gather his bag and drag into the house. He even speculated on sleeping in the orchard rather than negotiating the stairs. "You can't. Ivan and Natasha aren't available as pillows. They're with the sheep," Hermione teased.

"I think I could use a tree root," Viktor replied. They would all sleep late in the morning, they allowed. The clock was on Much Too Late To Be Up, and it had been for hours. It was nearly on A Bit Too Early To Rise.