Past Present

"Really? You like arithmancy? That vas alvays my poor subject. Viktor said you vere goot at everything but Divination," Elena laughed again, her beautiful, rich laugh. Hermione enjoyed listening to her laugh. She was nowhere near as cold and aloof as Hermione might have imagined her.

"Divination! Creative writing, you mean. At least the way Trelawney teaches it. She's nothing more than an old fraud. Maybe it would have been a decent class if someone else had taught it," Hermione said as she finished packing the things back into the picnic basket.

"Maybe Potions teachers are required to be sour. Professor Malatova is not exactly sveet on any of her students. I think it is required. You need somevone to punish, to do those disgusting things like harvesting frog guts and dragonveed and gnat's blood," Elena laughed. "Viktor got stuck doing the last once. He sat there for nearly the whole hour, looking at a book, and she vas furious. Ready to give him a veek of detentions, she vas. Vith ten minutes to go, he pull out his vand and do an extraction charm on them, the whole lot at vonce, he vas done. Turns out he spent the hour looking it up, how to do it vithout haffing to do it himself the hard vay. Madame Malatova could not figure out vhether to brag on him for being so clever or thrash him for being cheeky. She settle for not inventing any more reasons to give him detention. Supposedly he did not volunteer himself enough, the first time she give it to him. Viktor never volunteer himself in class." Elena's laugh tumbled out of her mouth again.

"What tales are you telling on me?" Viktor's voice called from outside the hedge.

"Oh, all of them. Next, the vone about you and Alexei nearly getting yourselves eaten by a dragon," she said airily.

"Too late. I told that one. Hermione, I haff about forty different varieties of truffle here. If you tell me you hate truffles, I am tempted to toss myself into that hedge," Viktor offered her one of the parcels in his hand.

"No, I love truffles. Any kind of chocolate, really," Hermione responded, untying the string around the brown paper.

"Same for Madame Elena. I know you loff truffles," Alexei grinned.

"Come vith me to the castle. I vant your opinion on vhich jewelry I should vear," Elena tugged at Alexei's hand and gave him a pointed look, raising her eyebrow, then casting her gaze back at Viktor and Hermione. "Ve vill leave the basket here. You might vant some milk to go vith those truffles," she called back, pulling Alexei after her.

"See you tonight," Alexei called as he left the circle of hedges. Viktor ran his fingers back through his hair, then scratched the back of his neck and stood there awkwardly, as though not quite sure what to do.

"Sit on the blanket with me. I have to eat at least one of these. You really shouldn't have. A chocolate bar would have been enough," she said as she lifted the top off the box. To her surprise, the truffles were huge, easily the length of her middle finger.

"Never argue with the saleswoman after you ask for advice," he replied. "She said truffles, I bought truffles. I haff not bought chocolate in years," he added.

"Really? Why not?" she asked, biting into one of the darker chocolate shells.

"Saved money. Made my coaches happier, too. Did not get to the village that often anyvay. Not that I did not...or do not make up for it by eating everything else I can get my hands on, so maybe just to save money, then," he said, running a finger over a smudge of cocoa on the inside of the box lid.

"This one's incredible. Dark chocolate on the outside, and semisweet on the inside. Here, you eat the other half, I'm going to try at least one more," she insisted, holding it up to his lips without thinking. He looked a little surprised, but took it between his even white teeth. "Any recommendations?" she asked after a moment, twirling her finger randomly over the box of chocolates. He reached out and stilled her finger, then placed his own on a piece dusted with powdered sugar.

"Those. I remember those, I think. Milk chocolate on the outside, caramel fluff in the center." He removed the piece in question and carefully divided it with his fingers. He offered half to her in the same fashion, and she could smell the caramel. He ate the other half only after she nodded her head approvingly while chewing. Viktor dug two bottles of milk out of the basket, opened them both and handed her one.

"Couple more?" she asked. He nodded. She picked up one that had been iced with tiny blue stripes. "Do I smell orange on that one?" She snapped it open. While it looked like a regular truffle, she could definitely smell orange. She tested it in her mouth. The chocolate had just the smallest hint of orange essence hidden in it.

After he had swallowed his half, he studied the box and laid a fingertip on one with small white icing x markings on the top. "Those are the lemon ones I think. Like the last. Or maybe it is lime. I think they had all three." He divided this piece as well, and smelled his half. "Lemon, so I was right the first time," he told her, offering the other piece to her between his thumb and forefinger. They finished their milk in silence, and he gathered up the empty bottles and placed them back in the basket. She carefully put the lid back on the box and set them aside, putting the Tiger Lily blossom on top. He reclined back on his elbows, closed his eyes, tilted his head back, chin in the air, and let the breeze push his hair back from his forehead.

"Tired?" she asked finally.

"A little," he conceded. "You?"

"A little," she echoed. She lay down flat on the blanket and watched the thick clouds roll by for a moment. Then she gave in to impulse and tapped his elbow lightly. He opened his eyes and noticed her new position, so he reclined fully as well, the top of his dark head nestled in the mass of her hair, so close that they could have touched temples by turning their heads an inch. A loose tendril of his hair, caught by the wind, occasionally brushed against her face, and she studied his profile out of the corner of her eye. They both tracked the clouds for a bit, squinting against the sun, but soon, he dropped his lids a bit too long and his eyes stayed closed, so Hermione turned her head and tucked her chin against his shoulder, her nose just brushing his cheek, his hair tickling her face when the air lifted it. Before long, she dozed too, there in the warm sunshine and the breeze. They both went in and out several times before rousing themselves for the walk back to the castle and lunch.