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 33

Chapter Summary:
Viktor's favorite corner of the library... and why. A smidgen of Dostoevsy, and a little something that librarians usually frown upon... at least in the stacks.
Posted:
07/05/2003
Hits:
696
Author's Note:
Ooh, Hermione puttin' the moves on in the library... for some reason, I just like men who like books. Even fictional ones. Men. Not necessarily the books...

"How much time do you want to get ready?" Viktor asked, looking at the clock over the circulation desk and Madame Durshenkova, a tall, thin witch with a bun and slightly graying black hair. She reminded Hermione rather a lot of Professor McGonagall.

"Oh, we could waste another half hour at least. You know I'm not high maintenance," she murmured, flipping through the book in her hand. "So is that what Durmstrang looked like when it was built?" she asked, jabbing a finger at a woodcut illustration.

"According to the caption. See there, those are the numbers? Remember, cyrillic reads differently. Was not much to see then, was it? They added the other buildings on the grounds something like a hundred years later, best I remember. Come here, I will show you my favorite shelf," he took the book from her and put it back in its proper place.

He led her by the hand back a few stacks, to a deserted corner. The shelves were sparsely populated by some older, slightly frayed books with worn bindings. She was somewhat surprised to see that the subject card on the shelf read "Muggle Writings". It looked oddly out of place, a scruffy little corner in the small, but nicely kept building and shelves. "This is your favorite shelf?"

"Guess why."

She studied the titles intently, passing her finger over the collected works of Shakespeare, a compilation of quotes, the poems of Shelley, even a King James Bible that looked as though it had been there since the time of King James himself. Buying time to think, she studied the nook, a dim corner with an aging wooden bench covered in pillows that were a bit threadbare at the seams. How on earth could this be his favorite shelf, she wondered to herself, it looked like the most neglected portion of the otherwise quite well-appointed library. She was just about to say so, when it dawned on her. "Because it's deserted," she whispered with a smile.

He reached up and pulled a thick book with what looked to be Russian (she could never be sure, but Viktor had said most of the books in the library were in Russian with only a few in English, German, and Bulgarian) writing on the cover off the shelf and turned it over in his hands. "Dostoevsky. Crime and Punishment. I had to haff something to read while I hid out back here. I got tired of packing things back here, so I started reading what was already here," he replaced the volume while he spoke. "War and Peace," he said, pulling out another thick volume, sitting on the bench and setting the book on his knees, flipping the pages. He soon shut the cover and slid it carefully back onto the shelf. She sat on the bench next to him and leaned into his side, much as she had on the floor the previous night.

He dipped his head and buried his cheek in her hair, arm draped across her shoulders, his chin against her temple. She reached up and put her hand on his other cheek, cupping his face, twisting to put her other hand on the opposite side, turning him toward her, then examining him. "May I?" she asked him, grinning. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he leaned over slightly. She gave him a soft kiss on the mouth, then pulled away, hands still on his face. "We should go get ready," she added under her breath.

"Yes. We should. But I think I could spend the evening on this bench," he replied in an undertone as the librarian appeared at the end of the shelf.

"But you cannot. Go get yourselves ready so I can close the library," she said with an indulgent smile. "Viktor, you haff a funny idea of what to do vith a date before a ball. Most girls like somevhere other than the library," she smirked at him.

He blushed slightly and got up, grabbing Hermione's hand and trailing her along behind him. "She is not most girls," he told Madame Durshenkova as he passed, and tossed her a small smile. She chuckled under her breath and shook her head as she watched them go.