She liked to consider herself a tolerant girl. Hard to anger, usually concerned with other things, such as studying and getting good grades. A somewhat pleasant person to be around, really.
Nevertheless, if those girls did not shut up THIS
INSTANT then by Merlin’s beard, she had half a mind to throw “A History of Magic” at them!
‘Every single day they’re in
here. Krum’s damn fangirls. The library is a place where students should be
able to go to study in a quiet, pleasant atmosphere. Not a place for girls to
squeal for autographs at the top of their lungs.’ She let out a deep sigh. ‘Just the time for Madam Pince to be in a
staff meeting, of course!’ Hermione glanced behind her to the bookcase all
the girls were crowded around. She could only see Krum because he was taller
then them.
‘Grr… if he had ANY respect
for others he would go someplace else!’ She turned
back to her book grudgingly, trying to ignore the giggles and flirting comments
from the fangirls. She was able to do this for all of ten minutes.
She slammed her book shut so loudly everyone in the
library turned to look at her. Hermione stood slowly, turning to the group.
“WILL. YOU. PLEASE. SHUT UP???”
The fangirls took a step back.
“The library is a quiet place to study, not for you
to flirt with someone famous for a moment of glory for yourself!! Now would you
kindly BE QUIET or GO SOMEPLACE ELSE, or will I have to
hex you all?!?” With the way Hermione seemed to have a death grip on her wand,
none of the girls doubted for a moment she would make good on her threat. They
also didn’t doubt for a moment that she probably knew twice as many curses as
the rest of the class had been taught from her readings alone… ones they didn’t
know counter-curses to.
They fled from the library as quickly as they could.
Try as she might, Hermione couldn’t deny herself an
inward smile as she sat back down. After all, if the girls told on her to any
of the teachers, sure, Hermione would get in trouble for threatening them; But
they would be in even MORE trouble from Madam Pince once she found out they
were speaking in a raised voice in the library and disrupting everyone’s study.
Viktor Krum wasn’t having good day. There were two
things he was trying to accomplish today, and so far neither was going well.
The first was to avoid the girls that kept following him around asking him to
the Yule Ball (who didn’t seem to get that ‘no’ meant ‘no’), and the second was
to ask the girl ‘Hermione Granger’ to the Yule Ball. But every time he managed
to find her alone in the library, it wasn’t more then ten minutes before his
‘fanclub’ found him as well. Unfortunately, Viktor was incredibly shy, and it
took all of those ten minutes to hype himself up to ask her.
This time they found him almost as soon as he had
grabbed a book from the bookshelf (to pretend to read while glancing over at
Hermione), and had yet to leave him alone, even after he refused their offers
to go to the Yule ball (Twice. Each). What did it take to get rid of them? He
wasn’t even able to see Hermione through the little bubble they formed around
him. Suddenly, he heard a loud slam of a book. All of the girls turned to see
what the noise was. Curiosity overcoming shyness, he pushed one of the girls
aside to see what was going on. His eyes widened when he saw it was Hermione
who was standing, turning to look at the girls surrounding him. Her wand was at
her side, holding it tightly.
“WILL. YOU. PLEASE. SHUT UP???” She
growled. Frightened, the girls backed up. Hermione didn’t seem to be finished
yet, though. “The library is a quiet place to study, not for you to flirt with
someone famous for a moment of glory for yourself!! Now would you kindly BE QUIET or GO SOMEPLACE ELSE, or will I have to hex you all?!?”
That seemed to be a quite effective method to get
rid of the fanclub, Viktor noted, as they were all gone within the minute.
Hermione sat back down and opened her book once more.
‘Now is the moment… I’ll
never get another chance like this… I have to do it now. Come on Viktor, you
can do it. You’re considered one of the best Seekers in the world. You have to
have courage to go out onto that field every day… Yes, yes… think of it as a
Quidditch match and everything will be fine. … I feel like I’ve just been hit
by a Jelly Legs curse.’ Still, he put the book away,
and carefully walked over to Hermione.
“Um… excuse me…” Good, good… he managed not to
stutter. As Hermione looked up to him, he felt his heart almost jump out of
it’s chest. Her mahogany eyes were so beautiful.
“…Look, if it’s about your fanclub,”
“No, it’s-”
“I was in every right to do that to them,”
“You see-”
“They were interrupting the study of the students
here,”
“Uh, well-”
“And they deserved what they got-”
“Would you go to the Yule Ball with me??”
There was a long span of silence.
Viktor looked down. “I suppose that’s a ‘no’. Sorry
for bothering you.” He turned and started to the door.
“Ah! Wait!” Hermione grabbed onto his cloak. He
turned back to her reluctantly, revealing the blush spreading across his face.
“I’m sorry, I just… I think I misheard you. I thought you asked me to go to the
Yule Ball with you…”
Viktor nodded, shyly.
“Forgive me for asking, but… Why me? Why not one of
those girls that follow you everywhere? They’re much prettier then I am,
anyway-”
“You’re wrong!”
Hermione was taken aback by this sudden outburst
from the previously quiet Quidditch player. There was a fierceness in his eyes
as he said that. However, he quickly reverted his gaze back to the floor.
“You’re wrong…” He said again, though much more quietly this time. “I think…
you’re much prettier then all of them… and… you’re smart, best in your grade,
right? I hear people talk about you sometimes… You’re also strong willed, and…
I figured that on the off-chance you said ‘yes’, it would be, well… honest.”
“Honest?”
He rubbed the back of his head, looking up at Hermione shyly. “Yeah. The others… they just wanted to be seen with a someone famous, right?” He noticed the apologetic look on Hermione’s face. “Don’t apologize… You’re not the only one who’s noticed. I couldn’t go with them because, well… they… none of them would want to go with me for me. I know you’re not a big Quidditch fan, I’ve heard your friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, talking sometimes.”
“Then why would you want to go with me? After all,
as you said, it’s not like I like the stuff you’re into…”
“That’s exactly why!” His face lit up with a smile.
“Everyone else focuses on that one thing about me, like that’s all I am… the
Seeker for Bulgaria, nothing else… But there’s more to me then that… isn’t
there? You… I guess… I just thought you would be able to see that…”
Hermione let go of Viktor’s cloak, folding her hands
in her lap, more then a little shyly. “Well… like what? What other things do
you like to do?” She pushed back the chair next to her, inviting him to sit.
Viktor took the seat quickly, as if he was afraid if
he waited too long she’d reconsider the offer. “Ah, well… I like reading, when
I can. I don’t get much time, though, what with Quidditch practice and all… it
takes up a lot of my free time…”
“What do you like to read?”
“…Promise you won’t tell anyone?” He said in a
hushed voice.
Hermione leaned in closer so she could hear him
better. “Promise on my copy of ‘Hogwarts,
A History’.”
Viktor leaned over and whispered in Hermione’s ear,
so only she could hear him.
“Poetry.”
Hermione blinked.
“Poetry?”
Viktor nodded, embarrassed.
“…You don’t seem like the type of person to read
poetry.”
“At first I just read it because most poems were
short, so I could finish a couple in-between practice and classes and the like…
unlike with chaptered books, where I’d often get only three pages read then
forget them and have to reread them next time… But I actually started to like
it. Poetry, I mean. It’s very beautiful. I especially love the ones about
romance. Those are often the most vivid ones, the ones with the most emotion in
them. I don’t like it when poems have no emotion in them… I believe when
reading one they should make you feel what the author was feeling when they
were writing it… Then again, that says something about the ones that make you
feel bored, huh?” As Viktor continued to talk, all the tension seemed to drain
out of his body. There was a certain sparkle in his eyes that told Hermione he
wasn’t just making this up to impress her, he was talking about something he
truly loved. Viktor suddenly stopped talking, rubbing the back of his head
nervously. “But I suppose it’s odd for someone like me to speak of poetry like
that…”
Hermione shook her head, a faint smile playing
across her lips. “No… it’s not odd at all.” She closed her book once more,
though quietly this time. “There’s much more to you then just Quidditch, Viktor
Krum. I… would like to know more about you, if you’ll let me.”
Viktor’s face lighted up. He looked like a kid at
Christmas time. “Yes, yes! And I would like to know more about you too,
Hermione Granger!”
Hermione raised a finger to her lips, silently
telling him to lower his voice a little. He quieted down immediately. Hermione
chuckled. “…It’s getting late. We should go back to our rooms.”
Viktor nodded, standing. “It was nice talking to
you, Hermione.” He tried his hardest to keep from grinning like an idiot, but
as he retreated from the library, waving to Hermione, he found it was a loosing
battle. Hermione stayed at the table, putting her books back into her bag, when
she suddenly stood straight up, and yelled to Viktor’s back just as he was
about to step out of the library.
“YES!”
He turned, a questioning look on his face.
“When you asked me to the Yule Ball earlier in the
conversation…” Hermione felt her cheeks reddening, but couldn’t help smiling
warmly all the same. “…my answer, I never gave it to you… it’s yes.”
“It’s yes… its yes… YES! I’ll… I’ll see you later,
then, Hermione…” He waved once more, then turned.
And slammed into the wall.
“Oh, wow. When did that get there?” He mumbled to
himself, wondering how silly he must have looked, but quickly realizing he
didn’t care as he took one step to the left and cleared the entrance to the
library. After all, he had finally asked Hermione Granger to the Yule Ball. And
she said yes! After turning a corner, he leaned with his back against the cold
stone wall, just staring into space, as the adrenaline rush passed.
“Hermione Granger…” He whispered, closing his eyes.
“…You make me feel… like I was born to meet you…”