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 85

Chapter Summary:
Cue up one more of those things that Hogwarts seems to go through like Kleenex! A class goes from "all theory" to "we've never done this before", and why, exactly is Viktor attempting to "scare the bejeezus" out of some of the students? Pity poor Dean Thomas...
Posted:
09/19/2003
Hits:
506
Author's Note:
Sorry for the delay. One very busy week, compounded by a wonky home phone line and a busy time for beta reader Croft delayed things. Hopefully, the chapters were worth the wait. A bit lighter than the last few.

It was obvious that Dumbledore's escape was the talk of the school, it seemed everywhere Harry went, it was being talked about. But the news that their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had changed was just as obviously a complete surprise to the rest of the school when the class filed in and wearily drew out their books. Just in the nick of time for the start of class, Neville came through the door, puffing and red-faced, with Viktor right behind him, upright and purposeful. "Put those ridiculous books away, and take out your wands," Viktor said, pulling the door closed and murmuring something at it while flicking his wand.

"Wands?" Seamus Finnigan asked curiously, as though Viktor had uttered a completely unfamiliar foreign word. Viktor was at the front of the class, arms crossed, slight scowl in place, looking completely grim and deadly serious. And terribly intimidating, Harry thought. All business.

"Yes, wands. You know, those sort of pointy wooden things you wave around in other classes while doing magic. These things," he added, waggling his own loosely between finger and thumb. "I realize it has been a while since you used one in here, but surely you haff not forgotten what they are completely. I haff more faith in you than that. Get yours out. You might need it. Miss Abbott?"

Hannah Abbott lowered her raised hand. "I thought this class was all theory now..." she said uncertainly, trailing off.

"That is what it says in the Ministry decree. But, look, you lot haff OWLs in six weeks, and that test has not changed, and the examiners still expect you to be able to do something. And I do too. I do not expect that a real Dementor will go running in the other direction because you can quote that fool book chapter and verse at it. I never heard of a dark wizard literally being bored to death, either. I am going to teach you to actually do what you haff read about. How to actually defend yourself. Umbridge can like it or lump it if she finds out. And as long as she does not catch us at it, she can do neither. So if any one of you lets on what is going on in here now that I teach this class, I will personally draw and quarter you, or the nastiest thing I can think of at the time and deny what I haff taught you to my last breath. And remember where I went to school. Anybody who would rather read about it than do it can leave right now. There is no point in wasting my time and yours by using class time to read the book. You can do that on your own." Viktor quirked an eyebrow at the whole class. You could hear a slug crawling across the floor if there were one in here, Harry thought. "Fine then. Who in here thinks they could take me in a fair fight?" Viktor asked casually. Everyone in the class seemed frozen, afraid to move for fear it would be taken as a sign of volunteering. One corner of Viktor's mouth twitched subtly, fleetingly, and Harry thought he might be fighting back a smile or a laugh. But the next instant it was gone, and Harry almost convinced himself he had imagined it. Not with that expression, he wasn't.

"Has he gone completely mad?" Ron whispered from the corner of his mouth, elbowing Hermione.

"Shhh, Ron! Better than the book, isn't it? We're finally doing something in here," Hermione said, propping her chin on her fist and her elbow on the desk, as eager as she usually was during a lecture.

After a few more seconds of complete silence, Viktor sighed. "An unfair fight then?" Again, thunderous silence, except for one of the girls clearing her throat, until Seamus Finnigan poked Dean Thomas in the ribs with his wand, making Dean yelp and jump up off his seat. A wave of nervous giggling spread through the room. "May I take it you are volunteering?" Viktor asked, glowering at Dean. The tone of his voice made it clear that 'no' was not an acceptable answer, the inquiry had merely been rhetorical. Again, Harry thought he saw that subtle twitch, but imagining himself on the other end of that piercing look caused him to shiver a bit. Looking at Viktor's dark, almost black eyes, narrowed as they were now, hooded and slightly slanted at the corners, dark brows lowered over them, the corners of his full mouth pulled down in a pouting frown, Harry was reminded once more of how foreign and vaguely exotic he looked. And just how much bulk he had put on in the last year. Far from being the very skinny, nearly bony, boy he had been the previous year, Viktor looked even more solid and immovable than he ever had, more like his father's slightly sturdier frame. While still slender, he looked far broader and more mature than he had the previous year, or even over the summer. The crossed arms looked thicker than Harry remembered, the flexed biceps plainly visible beneath the short sleeves of his robes. It was little wonder that Dean Thomas stammered uncertainly. Viktor looked even more intimidating than Harry had found him during their first private talk when Viktor had asked for a word alone.

"Well... he... I... I mean... I didn't ..." Dean spluttered, pointing accusingly at Seamus, then dropping his hand weakly in the wake of that glare, gulping hard. "Yes, sir?" he said uncertainly.

"You are standing. Close enough," Viktor growled in a low voice, "Come up here. I will even let you haff first shot. I will not do a thing until you speak. First one is free."

"W..w...what am I supposed to do?" Dean asked timidly.

"You had better defend yourself," Viktor said, almost lightly. With a flick of his wand and a murmured incantation, a thin padded mat appeared on the stone floor, and he stepped onto it. For several minutes, Dean stood at the other end, looking around the room uncertainly. A couple of the girls let out nervous giggles, and some of the students whispered to one another behind their hands. Finally, Viktor spread his hands expectantly and raised his brows once more. "Well? Going to try to outlast me? Stare me down? Wait for me to fall asleep? Die of old age?" Viktor mocked. The uneasy laughter traveled the room again.

"Ex- ex-expelliarmus!" Dean managed at last, but his hand was trembling so badly that the spell missed completely and simply flicked a tendril of Viktor's hair back as it whizzed by. Viktor never flinched or made to dodge.

Viktor actually planted his hands on his hips and said in an exasperated tone, "Well, if that is the best you can manage, I might as well not bother... Shall I hex you now? You haff given me five minutes to take my pick..."

"Expelliarmus!" Dean managed a second time, hitting the target this time, but if Viktor had been holding on to his wand with anything more than the thumb and forefinger, the wand would not have budged. As it was, the wand only flopped to the floor midway between them. "I ... I did it!" Dean grinned and sounded relieved. Viktor gave what looked to be a fairly good natured shrug and walked toward Dean, right hand extended, as though coming to shake hands.

"Adequate, but your aim is horrible," Viktor said, as Dean lowered his wand. The entire class gasped when Viktor grabbed Dean's left wrist in his hand, ducked and twisted, launching Dean flying head over heels, landing him with a solid thud on the mat, flat on his back. Viktor straightened and planted his boot on Dean's wrist, lightly pinning Dean's arm and wrist, rendering him incapable of using his wand. They froze in that pose for a few moments, Dean wheezing slightly, before Viktor shifted his foot back to the floor and offered a hand, the hard look on his face dissolving. "I did not hurt you too badly, I trust? Just got the wind taken out of you a bit?" Dean nodded uncertainly and let Viktor haul him back to his feet. "Go back to your seat then. I can point out a dozen things you did wrong, but let us just stick with the major errors, shall we? Anyone care to point out something Dean did wrong? Apologies, Dean, but you did haff the misfortune of being the first person in class to draw my attention, thanks to Mister Finnigan there. Do not worry, he will get his later," Viktor said with a slight grin. "Miss Abbott?"

"For a start, he just stood there forever," Hannah Abbott volunteered, pointing out the blatantly obvious.

"Fair enough," Viktor said, nodding, "But he made a mistake even before that. Before he ever knew he was going to be up here. Or before I did, even. Miss Granger?" He strode back through the room to stand at Dean's desk, next to a still panting Dean.

"He let you intimidate him," Hermione responded after she lowered her vigorously waving hand, just a hint of pride in her voice. In fact, Harry thought she seemed even more proud than usual of being able to answer.

"True, Dean? Scared?" Viktor asked in a low voice.

"I wasn't scared! I... " Dean began indignantly, but he let out an involuntary yelp when Viktor made a quick dodge at him again.

"No shame in being scared, I haff scared bigger and meaner than you," Viktor laughed. "Being scared is only good sense when you are going to be in a fight. But if you let someone intimidate you, they already haff you beaten. Being intimidated means you think the other person has won already. No point in fighting if you think you haff no chance of winning. So, let's see. You were intimidated, you took too long, you were indecisive. Someone who really means you harm is not going to just stand there as long as I did, waiting for you to make the first move. I could haff killed you ten times over in that amount of time, and still had time to make a sandwich. You were hesitant when you finally decided what to use, and your aim makes me think you need to get your eyes tested. And your worst mistake of all, you assumed that just because I no longer had a wand, I was no longer a threat. Let me tell you something. Durmstrang made sure their students could defend themselves, wand or no. In fact, we were taught that there are times when your wand is a last resort. Muggles with guns and knives and their bare hands can be dangerous. You do not need a wand to kill someone. Remember that. Oh, and you sat next to Finnigan. He is always trouble. I imagine all of you need a lot of work. Mister Finnigan?"

"Going to teach us how to do that flipping thing?" Seamus said with a mischievous look.

"I guarantee I can haff even the smallest lady in this class capable of beating the snot out of the likes of you in six weeks, if you all pay attention and work hard, so better mind your manners," Viktor replied. "For today, though, I think we had better practice disarming and shielding charms, if none of you are any better at it than Dean was just now. Pair off, and do not think you can always keep the same partner every class. I will be shuffling you around if you do not do it yourselves," Viktor added. "First take turns just disarming, then take turns disarming while the other tries to block. Well... what are you waiting for? Engraved invitations?" The entire class scrambled to find partners, then started looking for space in the aisles to practice. "Let me get rid of the desks," Viktor announced, waving his wand and stacking them quickly and neatly along the back wall, giving them room to practice.

As usual, Hermione was the only one willing to partner with Neville, and Viktor seemed to stop by their corner to check up on them more often than he did the rest of the students, but by the end of class, Harry noticed that Neville had become rather good at disarming Hermione and blocking her attempts at disarming him, succeeding at both more often than not. He pointed out Neville's improvement to his own partner, Ron, and was rewarded for his inattention by being disarmed. "Ha! Gotcha!" Ron taunted.

Viktor had to call out several times to get their attention, they were having so much fun practicing. "Practice both of those before the next class, I expect you to be pretty proficient by then. We will spend a few minutes practicing, then maybe I will teach you 'that flipping thing' as Mister Finnigan so eloquently put it, or something like it." Viktor stood there for a moment surveying the class. "Errr... class is over, you know. You all are free to go. I need to put the desks back. Scram," he added, jerking his head toward the door. "Whoa. Hold up. Not you," Viktor said, grasping Harry's upper arm as he passed.

"What?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"Occlumency," Viktor said flatly.

"What about it?" Harry asked, feeling a guilty flush rush up his neck.

"I am not going to lecture you on lying about your Occlumency lessons. Or snooping. What is done is done. But you need to get back to studying it. And I am sort of 'it'. Snape will not haff you back, and Dumbledore is not here anymore. I tried to talk Snape into teaching you again at least a half dozen times after I found out, but he refused. He is a lot better at it than I am, but I suppose someone to practice with is better than nothing..." Viktor said in a rush.

"But..." Harry protested weakly. He didn't need anything else to practice. Grant you, most of Defense Against the Dark Arts was old hat, but still...

"No buts," Viktor said sternly. "When you get an hour, even a half hour, come and see me. In my quarters if you want. The office, whatever. Look, I promise to try to be easier on you than Snape, but it will still be tough. I remember I had headaches that made it feel like a rampaging Hippogriff had been let loose in there..."

"But I..." Harry attempted to protest again, but it died on his lips when Viktor looked at him, the concern plain on his face. Harry thought fleetingly that he would have preferred the glare. This look made him ashamed of himself for protesting at all. For not leaping on the suggestion.

"Look, do it for Dumbledore. Your godfather. Do it for me, eh, momche?" Viktor pleaded softly, tapping him lightly under the chin with a curled finger.

"I'm not a boy," Harry protested peevishly, remembering the meaning of the word.

Viktor heaved a sigh. "No, I suppose you are not. Not for a long while now," he said sadly, shaking his head. Then his voice lightened and he looked less serious. "So stop acting so much like one when it comes to Occlumency, hmm? I promise I will not toss you to the floor if I can help it. I will put a nice mat down to protect your knees," he teased.

"Oh, alright. You're worse than Hermione, you know that? You two could nag an Erumpent to death," Harry complained.

"Surely not! Nag? Us?" Viktor said with mock indignation. "Go on. Get out of here. I haff another class in a few minutes. First years. I need to run back to my office first and find the attendance roster. And put on my game face. I need to scare the bejeezus out of the next class too."