Past Present

"Viktor!" Alexei shouted and waved, indicating two empty chairs by his side as soon as Viktor stuck his head around the door. Viktor waded through the crowded room, clearing a path and leading Hermione by the hand. Hermione noticed that people respectfully shuffled out of the way when they saw who it was, he rarely had to excuse himself to get through. When he did have to speak, and people turned at his soft voice, usually nose to chest, looked up and saw Viktor, they moved even quicker. He stepped aside and let her go first, trailing behind once they reached a totaly clear path.

"Elena says she think about it if you behave, whatever that means," Viktor told Alexei as he caught up and pulled Hermione's chair out.

"I ask her to be my partner at ball," Alexei responded.

"I take back my statement about her being one of the two sane females in this school then," Viktor said as he dropped into his seat.

"Because she has the good sense to consider an invitation from the most handsome gentleman in Durmstrang?" Alexei pouted.

"Who else asked her then?" Viktor jabbed back. Alexei put a hand over his heart in mock suffering and rolled his eyes.

"A-a-a-a-a-and w-w-w-w-who i-i-is th-th-th-th-th-the o-o-o-o-other s-s-s-s-s..." Marianne began, turning another shade altogether. It was obvious that she admired Viktor as a seeker, and Hermione suspected, had a raging crush on him. Hermione had heard her voice when she had been speaking to Ron with little evidence of her stutter as they had approached the table. When she spoke to Viktor, it multiplied horribly. She felt a stab of sympathy for the tiny girl.

"...sane female?" Viktor supplied when she paused for breath, to Marianne's timid nod. "You, of course. Unless we count Hermione, and she is only visiting. Elena at least had some sense before she started dating Alexei. You better not get near him and for heaven's sake, do not date him, Marianne! I swear Alexei eats brains. He turns the girls who have some sanity into simpletons somehow then leaves them littered over the grounds for the rest of us to trip over. I would hate to have to go hitting Alexei in defense of your honor because he is such an idiot and has the attention span of a stunned mountain troll! It would not be a fair fight, anyway." Hermione got the distinct feeling that Viktor had threatened a lot of people on Marianne's behalf. She didn't seem to have many friends her own age, yet the other students obviously treated her well, at least when Viktor was around. He seemed to look after her like a younger sister.

"Not fair, Viktor, you could snap me like a twig. You could snap Potenko like a twig, and that is saying something. Besides, you know I vould never hurt Poppet here. She is probably your replacement on the team unless Pushkin has some other trick up his sleeve. Masha gave notice, if Pushkin gets another seeker, he is quitting. She vill be like a little dragonfly, darting all over the pitch! Big change for those beaters who alvays try to bash you in the nose and get avay vith fouling you because you are a big boy and can take it, they vill not be able to catch Poppet! Her nose is not such a formidable and tempting target, either," he teased, reaching out to pinch her nose playfully. "And I did not hear you threatening to pummel me when Elena and I had that trouble before," Alexei said, waving his fork at Viktor.

"Elena can take care of herself. Any Bulgarian woman worth her salt could skin you alive with her teeth without blinking, Alexei. You Russian boys are soft, big marshmallows," Viktor replied, winking conspiratorially at Marianne.

"True. Ve Russians are poets and lovers and musicians, not fighters, Viktor. Not like you Bulgarians, alvays wearing your army boots and I bet your big sabers rattle vhen you get into bed. But I haff to admit, the idea of scrapping vith Elena is not unpleasant, she could wrestle me anytime," Alexei rhapsodized, wide grin on his face.

"You see? You see, Poppet? This is the kind of rascal you girls haff to put up with while waiting for a real man," Viktor said, rolling his eyes. He turned to Hermione and covered her hand on the table with his own large one, "If I ever start to sound like that, feel free to smack me solidly in the head with the business end of a Firebolt." Hermione laughed at that, but she felt a little twinge when she noticed Marianne looking longingly at Viktor's hand over Hermione's. Oh no, she definitely did have a crush, then.

Hermione tried to draw Marianne into the conversation where possible, but it hurt to watch her long, drawn out words get more and more difficult for her to form. She noticed that Viktor and Alexei both often finished sentences for her without betraying any impatience when they could divine what she meant to say. "I will come to tryouts tomorrow, Poppet. I want to see Pushkin's jaw drop," he told her when she excused herself from the table to head back to her common room for a potions study group.

"W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-would y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you? I-i-i-i-it w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-will b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-be s-s-s-s-so d-d-d-d-dif-dif-different th-th-th-th-thi-this y-y-y-y-y-ye-year. Y-y-y-y-you a-a-always h-h-h-had y-y-y-y-your sp-sp-sp-spot g-guar-guaranteed. W-w-w-w-w-w-w-we all c-c-c-c-c-competed f-f-f-f-f-for th-th-th-the r-r-r-r-r-r-right t-t-t-to f-f-f-f-fill i-i-in w-w-w-w-w-when y-y-y-y-you w-w-w-w-w-were b-b-b-b-bu-busy w-w-w-w-w-with o-o-other th-th-th-things," she finished finally, looking as though she had been granted a great treasure.

"You promise to practice your feint? I do not want to see the cup go back to Schylar's house for a long time. And as for Konrad, I want Pushkin writing me that you gave him a nice juicy mouthful of mud the next time you play Bronsky's house team," Viktor smiled at her. She just bobbed her head enthusiastically and ran for the door, changing to yet another shade of crimson.

"I hope you do not mind going to the Gryndel house tryouts? Harry and Ron may wish to watch the whole thing, but I haff to go at least for Poppet's tryout. I promised her I would even last year. It was the only way I could get her to ask Pushkin to try out for first team. He will not usually let anyone below fourth year even try out for first teams," Viktor told Hermione.

"So how did you get on?" she asked.

"He was, shall we say, overruled?" Viktor answered, carefully avoiding the name of the person who had overruled Pushkin. Karkaroff, she suspected.

"He did not need much convincing once Pushkin saw you fly. You almost did not need the broom," Alexei commented.

"I don't mind. I can't imagine anyone so tiny as Marianne playing Quidditch. Won't it be rough on her, being so small?" Hermione asked Viktor.

"She makes up a lot for the size difference in speed and skill, and she is tougher than she looks. She broke an arm last year, when Konrad cobbed her, the big brute. He is almost my size," Viktor added, finishing off his pumpkin juice.

"And why do you call her Poppet?" Hermione asked.

"Poppet. Middle English. Means 'doll'. We found it in an old History of Magic text in the library, in a passage about Salem. It seemed to fit. It was a lot nicer than what most people called her. Excuse me, I need to go find out when Pushkin is scheduling the seeker tryout, at the beginning or the end of Gryndel's slot. He will not tell anyone who is trying out what order he is going to do the positions in. He likes to surprise them. I will be right back," Viktor blotted his lips with a napkin, tossed it onto the table, then made his way toward the faculty table.

Alexei leaned across the empty seat between he and Hermione once Viktor was well out of earshot. "Sore spot vith Viktor. He cannot stand to see anyvone picked on. Little thing that she is, bookish, those glasses, that stutter, vanting to be a seeker and getting sorted into the same house vith the vone school seeker vith a guaranteed spot, she is a, how you say it? Prime target? Some of them are vicious. Girls especially, because, aside from Elena and Poppet, and now you, he does not give girls the time of day. Usually he bites their heads off or backs away from them like they breathe fire and spit acid. He only treats Elena nicely because she never go after him, she was nice to Poppet, she dated me, and they can reel off that Bulgarian together. Bulgarian is still my veak language. Viktor's much better at Russian than I am at Bulgarian," Alexei said as he shook his head and watched Viktor speak to a large man at the end of the table that Hermione took to be Professor Pushkin. "Does not help that everyvone but Viktor knows Poppet is sveet on him ever since he danced vith her that first time. Forgive me for saying this, no reflection on you, but Viktor is clueless vhen it come to females even if he is vise about them. Knows vhat to look for in a woman, and yes, by that, I mean you, but mystified as to vhy girls act like that around him. He has no idea Poppet likes him that vay," Alexei told Hermione.

"How could he not? I mean, the stutter alone..." Hermione began.

But Alexei interrupted, "He never hear her stutter less. He thinks she is that bad alvays. Elena and I, the rest of the school, they haff heard her stutter just a tiny bit vhen Viktor is not around, seen that she does not blush a hundred colors vhen he is not there. They see her stare at him vhen he is not looking, watch herself in his boots vhen she talks to him. He thinks Poppet is alvays that shy and awkward. Poppet talks like that all the time around him, you see? Vonce she started talking to him at all. I do not think they said a vord to vone another in the first six months they knew each other except 'Vould you like a dance?' at her first opening ball. Viktor could not take her crying by herself in a corner vhen a pack of girls teased her. Vhen a big old sixth year who is already being mentioned in every Quidditch story as a probable Vorld Cup player dances vith you, it shuts a lot of mouths. Even then she did not anything like reach his chest, and he has grown at least half a foot since then. He gave her a dance or pulled her into the Quidditch talk at the rest of the balls he attended, too, before the teasing could start."

Alexei twisted in his seat and went on, "Maybe that vhy Viktor sit vith her at practice vhen neither vas flying. He felt sorry for her and she never talked much. She was no vork vhen he did not even feel like talking about Quidditch. He coached her, because they scrimmage together sometimes and Masha did not vant to practice extra. Masha did not vant the job in the first place. He used to put her on the best broom he had vhile he rode the oldest thing the school owned, just to even things up. Viktor probably vould haff coached her just so he could haff a better scrimmage partner, even if no one else vanted his position. Competitive. Both of them. Poppet vants it. Problem is, she vants Viktor too. I hear tell she cried vhen she heard about you last year. Of course, she vas not only one. A third of the school cried. Elena knows she cried vhen she found out you vere coming here. Elena keeps trying to hint, get him to step back and make her fend for herself so she gets some practice before Viktor leaves for good, but Viktor has no clue. He is soft hearted. Sometimes he cannot see beyond that nose of his, he does not see reason vith Poppet. I just vanted you to know he is not being deliberately cruel to Poppet, he just does not know. He vould not be cruel that vay, he does care for her, but as a friend, a mentor," Alexei summed up.

"Clueless about girls, huh? That mean he's clueless about me?" Hermione asked.

"Heavens no. He loves you madly, I think, a blind man could see that. He contends you are no ordinary girl. I am inclined to agree. No ordinary girl could catch Viktor Krum's eye. It is the ordinary ones that confuse and appall him. I would still like to know vhat you did in that library to get to him. Normally, he vould rather shove a red hot poker in his eye than approach a girl for a drink of vater in the desert. You he asked to a ball. Two balls now. I still cannot get the reason out of him," Alexei mused, watching Viktor return to their table.