Past Present

"Elena, you haff to stop that. If you start, then I will, and we do not want that. You act like I am going to my certain death..." Viktor chided.

"You might very well be. You know it is worse there. You know it will start in earnest there," Elena replied, wiping at the tears on her cheeks with the backs of her hands.

"I haff to leave sometime. This is not going to be gone by the time you two leave, either. And I could trip on the stairs here and break my neck. You know there are no guarantees. There are no sidelines to stand on. No neutral ground. I cannot fool myself with that line anymore. I know too much for certain now."

"You know, I am really crying for completely selfish reasons. I vill miss you. No more complaining about you not peeling my caterpillars, no vone to help me yell at Alexei," she smiled weakly, then dissolved into fresh tears.

"Yes you will. You just haff to do it in letters or with your head in the fireplace, for a while. It is not as though you will never see me again. We are allowed to visit. By all rights, we should haff had to say goodbye last year. Would haff, if not for the tournament. And Alexei does not need yelling at so much anymore. One person might be able to handle it, and if anyone can keep him in line single handed, it is you. If he does not behave, let me know and I will send him a howler. Now pull yourself together, or someone is going to haff to make me stop crying before I can go," he said, putting his arms around her and pulling her close, patting her between the shoulder blades.

"Promise me you vill take care of yourself," she said, pulling away and grabbing his shoulders.

"Of course."

"And Hermione."

"Done."

"Better be," she scolded, then hugged him around the neck fiercely and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Viktor, tell your Mama and Papa hello for me," Alexei said, abandoning all pretense of shaking hands and settling for throwing his arms around Viktor in an embrace, thumping him on the back. "And for heaven's sake, be careful." He pulled away and added, "No being a fool about Hermione the way I was about Elena."

"Take care of her properly now. Or there will be two extremely angry Bulgarians ready to skin you alive, and I do not mean Elena's parents. And I do not want to haff to do that. Elena will not leave enough for me to skin, anyway, if you cross her just right. And warn me when you start planning the wedding."

"Haff to. You will be the best man, of course. More ways than one. Need help with your trunk?"

"I shrunk it down and it is in my pocket already, Alexei. All packed. I sent Baramir home last night. Now I need to go home. I might not see Mama and Papa again for some time. I need to see someone else before I go." He let them think it was Potenko or Poppet, but he had already said his goodbyes to each of them, as well as some of his favorite teachers. He had one last appointment to keep here at Durmstrang, out by the lake. The dusk was already falling when he reached the dock, sat on the edge, laid his broom beside him, and whistled sharply.

"English again? Oh, please say yes," came the Guardian's voice.

"Good enough."

"Ready to go?"

"Yes and no. Ready to start something new, but reluctant to leave certain people. Eager to leave some old things, eager to see some people again, not so eager to see some others."

"Eager to see the mudblood with the earthen colored hair again? She is a grounding influence on you. Terrible puns in English, are they not?" the Guardian chuckled, no hint of distaste in his voice.

Viktor smiled. "Yes, Hermione Granger. I am eager to see her again. I take it you approve, despite the use of a less than complimentary term?"

"Nothing uncomplimentary. Nothing wrong with being of the earth. Nothing wrong with being a mudblood. Just means she sprang from non-magical roots, mysterious as a plant that grows through solid rock. It is only the ignorant and narrow minded that put malice behind that word. And I approve. She has fine qualities," the Guardian replied softly.

"She does not take too kindly to being called that. One of the ignorant and narrow minded makes a habit of putting malice behind it and tossing it at her at every opportunity," Viktor said, pursing his lips.

"Then I apologize. And what about the boy with the messy hair and the sea green eyes?"

"Harry Potter. I will not mind seeing him again, more regularly. I suppose we haff something in common and I even enjoy his company, if you can believe that. More than a handful of people that I like spending time with and am not related to! Imagine that."

"Something in common?" the Guardian queried with a raised brow.

"I suppose so. We both enjoy flying. He is skilled, especially for someone so young, with so few years at it. He is a seeker, as well. And he lost someone, too. His parents."

"Ah, but is he so much the creature of the air that you are? Flies like the wind?"

"I would not want to play against him in a few years, I think. Given some age and experience, and a few years to grow, he would be fairly formidable. If there is such a thing as organized games and sport and diversions by the time he gets much older. It would be a pity, if there is not. I would like to play against him while I still haff a chance to beat him," Viktor laughed.

"And the boy with the fiery red hair?"

"Ron Weasley. A good boy. A bit like Alexei, I am afraid, but not so bad. I will haff more help keeping him in line, unlike Alexei."

"Heaven forbid, another Alexei Poliakoff!" the Guardian said in mock horror.

"I take it back then. Maybe I should elaborate. He is a bit thick about how others feel, a little slow to catch on about how his actions and words affect others. But he is reliable enough for his friends in a crisis, I am told. Fiercely loyal when it comes to it. And I haff to say, Alexei was the same. I could always depend on him when I had to. Now, what was so important that you needed to see me before I leave?"

"Everything. Nothing. Your suspicions about last year. True. Your fears about the future. Warranted. The storm will break and you will be in the eye. Answer a riddle for the answer to a riddle. What weapon will work."

"That is no help whatsoever. You haff me going in circles."

"I am allowed to give you no more. I can tell you no more than I know. I can tell you this. Give yourself time, learn to control what you can, and be patient. You are going toward help, in that regard, every bit as much as you are headed toward danger. The rising did not happen overnight, neither will the fall. You are already familiar with the elements of the solution to our problem. They just need to be prepared properly."

"The war is coming. Will I live through it?" Viktor asked.

"You know I cannot tell you that," the Guardian said gently.

"Will she live through it, then? Harry? Ron? Elena? Alexei?" Viktor cast a glance back over his shoulder at the towers against the mountains.

"Just as forbidden a topic. What would you do if you knew? If I told you any one of them wouldn't make it, what good would it do aside from making you sick over it? Besides, no future is written in stone. You know as well as I, the choices we make largely shape what we become, what our future becomes, whether we have a future. I could predict your life down to your death in your sleep at a hundred and fifty, if I could make the visions come on command, and you could thwart that by throwing yourself in here to drown or turning your wand on yourself. Even prophecy is malleable. I see what I see. You see what you see. Use your head. And I remind you to look to your heart. You will know what that means when the time comes. And then more will become clear."

"So, if I figure it out, it will at least become a little clearer how to fight. What to fight with?"

"Surely. I wish you luck."

"I thank you. For watching out for them. For watching out for me."

"You did not require much watching after."

"All the same. You did it when I needed it. Like that evening in the woods. Even if the Sentinel nearly gave me a heart attack before offering me a ride."

"Take care, Viktor Nikolas Krum."

"I will." And at that he rose from the dock, picked up his broom, got on, and started for the edge of the grounds, the waterfall where he had brought Harry, Ron and Hermione into Durmstrang. He would be able to Apparate home from there. Finish preparing for the rest of the journey.