Past Present

"Ready to go back?" Viktor asked Hermione, standing in the train station.

"Yes and no. I wish the visit could have been longer, but at the same time, Hogwarts feels like home. And I can't wait to see Nikolas and Anya and the lot of the Weasleys and it's been a while since I've seen you play any Quidditch. You haven't seen the Weasleys since your birthday," she replied quietly, smiling.

"Sleep well?" he asked, pushing her hair back from her shoulder, where it was caught in the collar of her coat.

"Actually, now you mention it, I did. One of the best nights of sleep I've had in a while. You?"

"Me too. I am glad we could take a break. I needed it. A whole week without a paper to grade and without having to write anything myself is getting to be a rare thing," he said with a subtle smile.

She swallowed and asked the question that she had been wanting to ask for the last week. "Viktor? Why didn't you say something about how Bulgarians don't usually get birthday presents?"

"We get presents. Small ones, usually. We just do not make a big fuss over birthdays. In fact, you usually get a little something for other people on your birthday," he allowed. "Chocolates or some such. I usually send my mother roses, since she loves them so much. And if I told you that, it might haff deprived me of the enjoyment of getting you something for your birthday. Besides, where did you find out about that, anyway?"

"Read it. Made sense when I realized you didn't seem used to having a fuss made over your birthday. I figured it was where you were never home for it," she said.

"A book. I might haff known. We do a lot of things that everyone else seems to think is backward," Viktor laughed a little under his breath.

"Like what?" Hermione asked.

"You weren't in Sofia enough to notice the head nodding and shaking?" Viktor asked, smiling.

"What about it?" she prompted.

"Usually Bulgarians do this when they mean 'yes'," Viktor said, shaking his head slowly from side to side, "And they do this when they mean 'no'," he added, nodding his head up and down.

"Now you're pulling my leg! Seriously?" Hermione asked, open mouthed.

"Seriously. You do not know how many misunderstandings I had at school and when we traveled before someone else on the team let me know that most everywhere else, people do the opposite. Took me even longer to get used to nodding my head when I meant 'yes' and shaking it when I meant 'no'," he said.

"Anya and Nikolas knew what it meant when we nodded," she challenged.

"Because I told them that if you shake your head, take it to mean the opposite. Now, I am in such a habit of it, I tend to confuse Bulgarians. And my mother sees some tourists in the museum, remember. A lot of confused tourists end up lost in Sofia because of that. A lot of missed trains when they ask 'Is that the train to the border?' and the Bulgarian just does this," he said, shaking his head back and forth, "instead of answering 'da'. It is really fun watching them come through customs. Speaking of missed trains, is that one ours?" he asked, pointing to the open doors.

"Oh! So it is! Come on, ready?" Hermione said, grabbing his hand. He shook his head slowly back and forth, with a sly smile. "Great, now I'll never know what you mean by that. Are you ready or not?" she laughed.

"Da, Sokrovishte, da," he replied with a laugh, and they slipped through the crowd and onto the train, heading back to the station near the Leaky Cauldron and the entrance to Diagon Alley.

"Did that lady track you down? Must have been urgent to come looking for you on Christmas Eve," Tom called as they walked in the front door.

"Thanks for passing along where we were headed," Viktor said, nodding, and kept moving. After they had stepped back into Diagon Alley, he leaned over and whispered, "So maybe Harry got his Christmas present a day early after all," in Hermione's ear, and she nodded.

"Did you see her after that? Or was it just the few circles around the block?" Hermione whispered back.

"Just a few circles in that Ministry car. They might haff only gotten a few minutes, but at least that is something. Just wishing one another a Happy Christmas would be better than nothing, would it not?" he said, pausing to hand her their cloaks out of the pack.

"I suppose so," she replied, fastening her cloak around her shoulders once more before they continued walking down Diagon Alley. "Funny trying to be unobtrusive on the one hand and trying to leave a trail a mile wide on the other," Hermione mused.

"Comes in handy, being known in here, but not out there, sometimes," Viktor replied, fastening his own cloak as they walked.

"Why Floo from Hogsmeade, and not Hogwarts? Other than to lead Umbridge on a longer wild goose chase?" Hermione asked.

"Floo from Hogwarts, and Umbridge is more likely to figure Dumbledore sanctioned the trip. Maybe she does not even come after us to see where we went. Looks more suspicious if we left on a broom. And she figures out where we went quicker. She is watching the network, you know. Maybe an unnecessary step, but there you are. The Hogwarts fireplaces are rarely used for travel. Occasional calls do not draw too much attention, they usually go to teacher quarters or the headmaster's office. Anyone traveling to or from Hogwarts by Floo is going to draw a lot of attention from the Ministry, even in the best of times. It is difficult to get into Hogwarts for safety reasons. The fireplace in the common room has to be added to the network each time even a call comes through it. No one wants students to be able to pop in and out, or for anyone to come popping into the common room fireplaces on a whim. The attached fireplaces in offices and quarters just about give the Ministry a heart attack as it is. They would prefer it if the only mode of communication were owls. And frankly, I would not be surprised if she is watching that, as well. Good thing Arthur Weasley has a friend who can temporarily add a fireplace to the network, as a favor," Viktor answered.

"Still writing to Elena and Alexei?" Hermione asked.

"Certainly. Putting the sensitive bits on the back and wiping them 'clean' with this handy charm we talked about before I left. Like to see Umbridge figure that one out, since what you need to make it reappear is in Russian. They graduated with flying colors, even Alexei, so I am sure somewhere, there are a few headmasters spinning in their graves. Alexei decided to take the post with the Ministry, and Elena wants to train as an apothecary. No caterpillars in most medicines, thank goodness. I give them a year before they either kill one another or get married, or maybe both. Alexei's father is not hearing much. It is awfully quiet. Just rumors, mostly. They might make it to the match. Maybe we will get to see them. Could be a while before we do again," he said in a low voice.

"You miss them, don't you?" Hermione said, looking up at him.

"Every bit as much as I missed you, " he replied, then he opened the door to the shop and followed her in.