Past Present

"All done then?" Ginny ventured at Sunday lunch.

"All done. Every bit of it. References, rewrites, the whole nine yards, " Viktor replied emphatically. "Let us see Umbridge mess this up."

"I hate to tell you, but she's headed this way..." Neville whispered urgently across the table. Ginny could hardly tell which one of the three stiffened most, Neville, or Viktor and Hermione across the table.

"Hem, hem. Mr. Krum? What are you doing at the student table?" Dolores Umbridge asked in a falsely sweet and girlish voice. Harry and Ron both shivered slightly at her wide, Cheshire cat grin.

"Well, I believe you people who speak better English than I do call it 'eating' or possibly 'lunch', or perhaps that was 'tea'. See, I always get it confused, the tea you eat and the tea you drink, but I do not think those are served in the Great Hall, except for the tea you drink, sometimes," Viktor replied in a low tone.

"But you usually eat at the staff table," Dolores Umbridge insisted, her horrible parody of a smile not budging. Viktor's frown was looking equally stubborn.

"But this week I spent the entire week studying and writing. I am feeling sufficiently studious to eat over here. And Neville asked for some advice on an essay. I will be too busy to do it any other time, I want to study this afternoon since I am done writing, so I thought I would eat over here. Besides, I think you made it pretty clear that I was not a welcome member of the staff until I manage to graduate. Remember, that is why the students do not call me 'Professor'? Good thing the Ministry had the sense to put in a grandfather clause, else Hagrid would be eating over here too. Oh, and there is nothing in the rules about teachers haffing to eat at the staff table. I looked. I might even start going to the common room, since you seem to insist that I live in the dorm anyway. No rule against students or staff being in there either. I checked that as well," Viktor said sourly, not bothering to look up at her now.

"Done then?" Umbridge asked in great surprise, a frown dragging down the corners of her mouth. "Already?"

"Done. The examiner is getting a six scroll paper complete with references tomorrow. Feel free to look a little happier about it," Viktor said flatly.

Umbridge quickly pasted her false smile back on. "Wonderful! Just sitting on your desk, waiting to go, then? I'm sure you needn't worry about the tests if you've done the essay... Not anxious about giving it to the examiner right away? Maybe owling it?"

"Hard to send your owl to someone when you do not know who will come to do the exam. Where is it going? Anyone stupid enough to go into my room right now without my say so is going to haff to deal with one big, extraordinarily cantankerous barn owl, because I seem to recall leaving Baramir's cage open. And two malamutes who are not exactly kind to strangers, either, because I forgot to shut Ivan and Natasha into the bedroom. They haff not had lunch yet, either. I apologize again for the way they growled at you last night in the hallway, I still do not know what got into them. Probably cranky from being upstairs so much. And that says nothing of the other precautions, but I will not go into that. And Dobby knows not to touch it. Rest assured, the examiner will get the thesis tomorrow," Viktor said, raising an eyebrow.

"Good. Good," Umbridge replied, her smile not reaching her eyes. "Good afternoon, then," she called as she walked off.

"Well mine just improved mightily," Viktor muttered under his breath, going back to his plate.