Was it that Huge a Mistake?

Huge Mistakes

Here I am. In front of the dorm mirror, trying to put some sense into my hair. It seems to just enjoy itself as a bush, and not as a sleek... leaf, or something of the sort. I've used up half a bottle of that Sleakeazey's and it still chooses to go it's own way. Just a little more... there. Now I can hopefully put it back somehow. Honestly, I don't know anyone with hair like mine. Or dress robes like mine, for that matter. But lets not get conceited, Hermione Granger. Sure, they were really expensive, and sure Lavender and Parvati gushed over them for a good ten minutes straight, but they are just dress robes.

Now my hair is actually up. Up. It is no longer too thick, or bushy, or frizzy, it is up. This is a Hermione Granger milestone. No it isn't. Bad Hermione, bad Hermione. Hair is not a milestone. Getting married is a milestone, and God forbid that (un) lucky man is Viktor Krum.

On go the dress robes. Down the stairs goes Hermione. I can't see Ron or Harry anywhere. I can't see Dean, either. This really was a huge mistake. I should have asked him. Poor guy probably didn't find a date. He's probably sulking up in his dorm, wondering what completely loveless and celibate life he's about to lead. I am a horrible person. This was a huge mistake. Surely Viktor Krum would have found someone other than me to go with? He's famous enough for that little fan club of his to be fighting with each other to get him as a date. No time to think of that. Must find Viktor.

I spot him somewhere near the entrance to the Great hall. He is a tall. Very tall, as in Trollishly tall. How in hell am I supposed to dance with him? Don't swear, Hermione. Swearing leads to delinquency. Delinquency leads to loss of points. Loss of points leads to no Prefect badge for Hermione Granger.

" Good effening, Hermy-own," Viktor says after spotting me. He pulls me towards him, with enough force you'd think he was trying to something more than dancing. "You look very nice tonight. You know that I vos in the library effery day just to try to talk to you." He has this wicked smile on his face. He must have a lot of practice, what with winning so many Quidditch matches. I suppose he really gets to working on it in the after match parties, if you know what I mean. I smile back, because who wants to go to a ball with someone who doesn't smile?

"Hi," I say. I decide that I will teach him the correct way to say my name later, because as of now he seems rather happy with his mispronunciation.

"Ve are starting the dancing," he says. There's that accent again. It honestly sends me shivers up my spine. And not the kinds you get from Kirley McCormack. I expect him to show these giant canines and start biting my neck. (Viktor, not Kirley.) There's that mental picture again.

We have this sort of parade thing where all the Durmstrangs and their dates walk by the Hogwarts and Beauxbatons students and show ourselves off. This in turn happens to the other schools. I see Ron when I'm walking by. He's looking at me, but doesn't seem to recognize exactly who I am. Which is a bit funny when you think of it "Oh look," he's probably thinking, "A girl. Which means it can't be Hermione."

Sometime after that the champions all go to the Great Hall for the feast. Harry sees who I am and his jaw drops. Honestly, it goes down a couple of inches.

"Hi Harry! Hi Parvati!" I wave. I take this newfound effect on the male gender and use it to my benefit. I hold on to Viktor's hand and smile up at him. He smiles back like before. Then we pass Draco Malfoy and his excuse for a girlfriend. He doesn't say anything, just kind of stares. This is fun. I smile at him, and he gives some sort of gurgle back. Pansy gives him a slap and a cold stare. I bet she wishes she had my powerful natural charm. Whoops, getting a bit too cocky there. I vow for the rest of the night that I will be on my best behavior. This of course means no thinking highly of myself.

I grasp Viktor's hand a bit more tightly, and he leads me to a table with a few of his Durmstrang friends. I would like to be over with Ron and Harry. Well, at least Harry. I'd feel safer with those my own age instead of some Bulgarian seventeen and eighteen-year-olds. Every once in a while they break into their, erm... native tongue and tell a joke. (Well, it must be a joke, Viktor laughs like a wounded moose at the end.) It's probably about Karloff the Hunter who leaves the elderly out on ice floes to die, which I wouldn't find funny anyways, even I did know the weird Slavic tongue. I do not know a word of any language other than English (Except once I asked Mum what "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?" meant. It means, "Ask your father.")

The first course comes along, thankfully. Everyone stops yabbering in Bulgarian and answer their appetites. Then Viktor stops dining in the middle of some really horrible looking whelk-like thing and starts into this long rant about Durmstrang. The more abysmal it sounds, the more I wish Malfoy got shipped out there.

"Hermy-own, haff you effer flown ofer an ice field?" Viktor says. I can honestly say that I have never done anything of the sort. I also take this chance to tell him the right way to say my name.

"Can't say I have. And it's 'Her-my-oh-nee,'" I say, slowly and clearly. It seems it wasn't as clear as I thought, because replies,

"Herm-own-ninny."

"Good enough," I say, shooting a glance over at Harry. He smiles. I try to catch Ron in that glance, but he's a bit busy jabbing at his steak.

Then the lights go down a bit, and The Weird Sisters get on stage. Everyone applauds like mad. Then I remember what's supposed to happen. Viktor helps me up from my seat and we reach the dance floor. I wrack my brain trying to remember what you're supposed to do when you dance, one arm around the waist...

It's really not as bad as I thought, dancing. Quite nice, really. Even though I can barely reach Viktor's shoulders. But it's especially nice when Kirley McCormack looks over at me. Well maybe he was looking at Viktor, but his line of vision was in the region of me.

I look over to Harry and Parvati. Moony has just finished saying something to Harry, and Parvati's whispering something in his ear. How sweet, my friend has found love. Ron, however, is tapping his feet on the floor, not dancing at all. Padma Patil's looking at him with a disgusted look on her face. It must be the lace.

After the dance, I immediately run over to see how Harry and Ron are. Viktor's set off for some Butterbeer. Poor soul, they don't have it in Bulgaria.

"Hi," says Harry. Ron is silent

"It's hot, isn't it?" I fan myself with my hand, it really is hot. "Viktor's gone to get some drinks," I say happily. I am a surprisingly good actress. I really don't feel that happy. I feel like I've made a huge mistake.

"Viktor?" Ron is scathing. "You mean he hasn't asked you to call him Vicky yet?"

"What's up with you?" I sound satisfyingly nasty.

"If you don't know," Ron sniffs, "I'm not going to tell you."

I really have no idea what's going on. I look beside Ron, to Harry. He shrugs. Oh, great help he is.

"Ron, what-?"

"He's from Durmstrang!" I can see the spit flying out of Ron's mouth. "He's competing against Harry! Against Hogwarts! You-you're-" He pauses, then says, "Fraternizing with the enemy, that's what you're doing."

Fraternizing with the enemy.

"Don't be so stupid!" I say "the enemy! Honestly- who was all excited when they saw him arrive? Who was the one who wanted his autograph? Who's got a model of him up in their dormitory?"

Ron looks like he didn't hear a word I said.

"I s'pose he asked you to come with him while you were both in the library?"

"Yes he did," I say, while feeling my face burning up. "So what?"

"What happened-" Ron stops himself short, then says, "trying to get him to join spew, were you?"

"No I wasn't!" I don't even bother to tell him it's "S-P-E-W. "If you really wanted to know, he- he said he'd been coming to the library everyday to try and talk to me, but he hadn't been able to pluck up the courage!" I hear my voice as a shrill, embarrassed tone. My face is probably like a streetlight now.

"Yeah, well - that's his story," Ron says viciously.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Obvious, isn't it? He's Karkaroff's student, isn't he? He knows who you hang around with... he's just trying to get closer to Harry - get inside information on him - or get near enough to jinx him - "

Those words feel like a slap in the face. "For your information," I say, my voice trembling, "he hasn't asked me one single thing about Harry, not one - "

Ron interrupts me and changes the subject. "Then he's hoping you'll find out what his egg means! I suppose you've been putting your heads together during those cozy little library sessions - "

"I'd never help him work on that egg! Never. How could you say something like that - I want Harry to win the Tournament, Harry knows that, don't you Harry?"

"You've got a funny way of showing it," Ron says with a sneer.

"This whole Tournament's supposed to be about getting to know foreign wizards and making friends with them!"

"No it isn't!" Ron shouts. "It's about winning!"

How ignorant is he?

"Ron," Harry says the first thing I've heard him say since "Hi". Poor soul, he's been watching us bicker for five minutes. "I don't have a problem with Hermione coming with Krum - "

At least he's on my side. But Ron doesn't even seem to notice he's said anything.

"Why don't you go and find Vicky, he'll be wondering where you are."

"Don't call him Vicky!" I say before leaving the scene immediately and running outside. Honestly, what is Ron like? Why would he have a problem with me coming with Viktor? It's not like he really is a vampire, he just sounds like one.

I sit down on a bench, and hear an unmistakable voice ask if I want something to drink.

"Sure," I say, as Viktor sits down beside me.

"I vos talking to you friends inside," Viktor tells me. "The red-haired von, he is moody, no?" For a fleeting moment I think he is talking about Professor Moody, but then I realize it's Ron, and I laugh. I guess it was a bit too late, because Viktor looks at me like I am a bit slow.

"Yes, he has a rather volatile temper," I say. "He's..." before I know it, I'm spilling out everything Ron's ever got angry at, even the slug incident in second year.

"And then he took his wand - a broken wand no less, and-" I'm not allowed to finish what I'm saying, because Viktor's face is right in front of mine and he's kissing me, so it's a bit hard to really continue talking. I suspect that's why he's doing it, to shut me up. He finally breaks away, and I say,

"He cursed the guy that called me the "M" word. So of course with a broken wand -"

Viktor shuts me up again. It's actually a very funny thing, that about an hour ago I thought I didn't know the Slavic tongue. It sounds a bit like one of Ron's jokes. So I laugh, because if you don't laugh at a joke you're one bizarre person. No Viktor's looking at me like I've offended him. Ooh... he's thinking I'm laughing at his snogging skills, which in reality aren't that bad. Well as far as I know they aren't bad, it's not like I go off snogging everyone I meet. Which is another funny joke, I have a sudden mental image of me at a kissing booth. Archie in his flowered nightdress is in the line, along with Moody, and Mr. Roberts saying, "I don't see any mistletoe..." I have a very peculiar imagination.

I need some way to cover up my recent outbreak of hilarious thoughts with something funny. I tell Viktor Ron has a complex of some sort and Viktor laughs, even though the poor guy probably doesn't know the Bulgarian word for complex. So he gets back to snogging without any delay, and starts to nuzzle my neck. Well, I don't need that kind of rubbish from a guy I barely know that may be half-vampire. Especially the vampire bit.

"Brr... it's rather cold out here, don't you think?" If I wasn't a witch, I might have potential to be a Muggle actress.

"Yes," Viktor says hoarsely. I think he's a bit disappointed that he didn't get to go very high up on the snogging scale with me.

Inside, I can see Harry and Ron in the corner of the Great Hall, talking to themselves, neither of them dancing at all. They should really watch themselves, two guys alone like that. People might get ideas.

"Vould you like to dance again, Herm-own-ninny?" Viktor asks. I say "yes," and link arms with him, walking to the dance floor. I make sure to give Ron a very haughty look as I pass.

As soon as Viktor and me finish our dance, the ball is announced to be over, and many groans are heard. I walk with Viktor to the door to say goodnight.

"Thank you Viktor, I had a great time." I say. This includes the mini snog fest, because I came up with two very good jokes, which I do believe is a record for me. Ron would be proud, except I can't really tell him, considering he just may explode if I ever told him I snogged Viktor Krum.

"Thank you too, Herm-own-ninny." I think he's still put out about the delayed snogging.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

I set up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower. As I pass Ron, I give him a look that I hope can later be described as "icy".

When I'm halfway to Gryffindor Tower, I hear footsteps behind me.

"You know," a voice says. "Virgo's marry young." I whirl around to see Ron, looking a bit mad, with his cuffs all frayed.

"Since when have you been paying attention in Divination?" I ask scathingly.

Ron uses that amazing skill he has to ignore to say, "And Bulgarians marry young, too."

"What's your point?" I say, continuing to walk up the stairs.

"You know what my point is," Ron says.

"I don't," I say, almost running. "Tell me."

"My point is break up with him, unless you want to be 24 with 5 Neanderthal kids running around asking where Daddy is."

I turn around at this. Being called a "Mudblood" isn't as bad as what Ron has just said to me.

"I am not going to marry Viktor Krum," I say, turning around yet again to walk up to the tower. "At a young age or otherwise."

"So you'll just be 24 with the kids."

If Ron's words stung before, they burned now.

"What are you going on about?" I ask, trying to resist the urge to run over and wring the little carrot-top's neck.

"I mean that he's almost 5 years older then you, and you believe that he actually wants to go out with you for who you are!"

"What makes you think he doesn't like me for who I am?"

Ha. I've finally got the last word with him. The Fat Lady's in sight when Ron speaks up again.

"You know, the Chudley Cannons beat the Vratsa Vultures." Honestly, what a hoser, as mad Uncle Ernie from Calgary would say.

"Ron, that was probably a hundred years ago. Fairy lights."

"So?" he says.

"Ron," I say, almost pleading, as I turn around to look him in the eye. "Why are you so annoyed with me going to the ball with Viktor?"

"I just don't like it," he says, looking at the floor.

"That's not a reason, Ron. Why are you so mad?" I'm starting to shout.

"I don't like it!" He shouts at me.

"Well if you don't like it, you know what the solution is, don't you?"

"Oh yeah? What's that?" I notice that Harry's come in looking thoroughly bemused, but I take a leaf out of Ron's book and ignore him.

"Next time there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort!" I run up the girl's staircase before anyone can really think about what I said. I need to think about what I said first.

"Ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort..." I mumble to myself. Sounds a lot like I asked him to a ball.

Oh no. I've just asked Ron to a ball that isn't even being held. This is the second huge mistake in a week, which excludes the time I added armadillo bile half a second too late in the Potions exam. Two social life mistakes in a week. Which sets another record for Hermione Granger. A record for Huge Mistakes. I'd better get used to this. Next I'll be giving Draco Malfoy the phone number for my parent's dentistry business. Draco Malfoy getting a drill to his teeth is another funny joke, but this is not the time to appreciate it. Because I've made a Huge Mistake. And there's no getting out of it.