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“A party?” Hermione asked, lightly shivering. Just a few minutes ago, she had been settled in a cosy armchair by the fireplace in the Common Room, before Harry had asked to talk to her about Something Very Important. “Well, that sounds like fun. Who invited you?”“See, that’s the problem.” Harry instinctively pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “It’s Cedric.”“Cedric Diggory invited you to a party?”“Yeah… apparently it’s a gathering of the Triwizard Champions and friends to celebrate Epiphany. There’ll be some Durmstrang and Beux… Boo— damn, I can never pronounce that name.”“Beauxbatons?”“...students attending, and some Hogwarts seventh-years.”“Well, it makes sense that they invited you. You are a Triwizard Champion, after all.”“Yes, yes, and I am forever grateful and so on, but… don’t you see? They’re all older than me! I’ll be like the annoying little brother someone’s had to drag along because their mum insisted.”Hermione scrunched her nose. “I mean, I understand what you’re worrying about, but I don’t see how I can help you.”“You must come with me.”“What?”“Please, Hermione, you can’t let me go there alone!”“Harry, I… why don’t you ask Ron?”“If I take Ron with me, they’ll think that I brought someone along because I was too chicken to show up by myself.”“You are too chicken to show up by yourself.”“That’s irrelevant! Besides, I don’t trust Ron to behave around Viktor. If you come, we can simply say that you came as Viktor’s girlfriend.”“I’m not–”“Yeah, yeah casual snogging partner, whatever. So, will you come?”“When is it again? On the 6th?”“Yeah… it starts at ten.”“Ten p.m.?”“Somewhere by the Great Lake, on the far side.”“Harry that’s–”“After curfew, I know. We can sneak out under the Invisibility Cloak.”“This is such a bad idea.” Hermione folded her arms.“Well, suppose Viktor asked you. You would go, right?” Harry asked, and Hermione saw the realization in Harry’s big, very-easy-to-read eyes. He had opened his mouth, and put his foot in it.“I am so, so sorry. Look, there must be a reason why–”“It’s okay, Harry.” She let out an exasperated breath. “Fine, I’ll go.”“Yes!” He gave her a brief, fierce hug. “You’re the best. We’ll discuss the rest later, okay?”As Harry disappeared into his dormitory, Hermione lingered in the dimly lit corner for a while, not knowing whether she was disappointed because she hadn’t been asked, or annoyed at herself because she cared, or both. It was only a couple of days till Epiphany. Surely she could avoid Viktor for that long.
“I knew this was a bad idea,” she lamented as the cold wind whipped against her face. She laid her brow on Harry’s back, who was having a blast riding his broom in the clear, moonlit night over the faintly shimmering lake.“We’re almost there! I can see the bonfire.”“We will all get caught.”“Nah, it’ll be fine. Even if we are caught, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like they will expel Triwizard Champions from the school.”“Well, too bad I am not one.” She pinched Harry’s side, making him squeak.“As I promised,” Harry said, tilting his head lightly towards her, “we’ll just show up, hang out for an hour, and excuse ourselves. It will all be fine.”Hermione stuck her tongue out and promptly pulled it back in. It was way too cold.There was a sudden roar of applause and cheers when they landed next to the bonfire. Blinded by the light, Hermione could only make out silhouettes. A few people called out Harry’s name. She wanted to disappear under the Invisibility Cloak.“Hey Harry!” Cedric came to greet them. “Oh, hi Hermione, what a lovely surprise. Viktor’s there somewhere.” He pointed at a group of silhouettes by the lake.“Hi Cedric, thanks for the invitation.” Harry heartily shook hands with his rival.“Glad you could make it. Come, let me introduce you to the others.”He ushered Harry away, possibly assuming that Hermione would be joining Viktor. Hermione stood there for a while, trying to make out who was around. There were some seventh years that she had seen before but never talked to, and a few others that she assumed were from Durmstrang. Viktor wasn’t among them. After standing around like a package waiting to be collected, she huddled in her woollen cloak and decided to join Harry and Cedric, who were talking to some Beauxbatons girls.“Time for shots, boys and girls.” A student with a strong accent walked around with a gleaming bottle with one hand and several stacked shot glassed in the other. Another round of applause. Before long, everyone, including Harry, was holding a small glass filled with a clear liquid. Hermione declined politely.“Are you sure, moja kochana?” The boy carrying the drink gave her an exaggerated pout. Judging my the hue of his face, he had already had quite a few. At that moment, she saw Viktor in the distance, who not only had a glass but also a bottle in his hand, laughing heartily in a group of boys and girls. She felt a pang of something in her belly as she shook her head and tried to take some distance from the situation.“As you know, it is my birthday today,” the boy who carried the bottle announced. “And if you didn’t know, well, now you know.” Laughter followed. “So, I am sharing with you my family’s homemade drink, The Spirit of the Forest. Lucky bastards!” More laughter and “happy birthday”s in many languages filled the air as everyone raised their glasses. Hermione had nothing to raise, she couldn’t bring herself to say happy birthday, either. Harry raised his glass, too, and eyeing the taller boys about him, drained it in one go.He promptly started coughing. Hermione resisted the urge to dart and tell him off, knowing how bad it would look for him. Cedric and Roger Davies rubbed his back, laughing. There was another round of shots, which Harry accepted again, but luckily didn’t drink all at once.“It is ‘orrible, isn’t it?” she heard a familiar voice say. Fleur had joined her with a bunch of girls from Beauxbatons. “Here, we ‘ave some warm wine with spice. Much better.”“Oh, thank you.” Hermione accepted the mulled wine poured out of a flask into a ceramic mug. Honey warmth glided down her throat and thawed her fingertips.“I don’t think ‘arry has much experience with drinking.” An Italian-accented girl wearing a beautiful beanie topped with a large pompom indicated Harry with a toss of her chin. “Ee will be so ‘angovered tomorrow.”“That will serve him right,” Hermione sneered, but soon laughed as all the other girls started to laugh around her. For a while, the wine and the pleasant conversation made her forget about everything else. It ended far too soon, when Fleur asked where Viktor was. Before Hermione had to confess that she didn’t know, Fleur raised her long arm.“There he is. Viktor!”Viktor gently coaxed a little gap in the circle of girls, a few people away from Hermione. A silly grin that she had never seen before was on his face. “How can I help?”“What are you doing, leaving ‘ermione alone?” Fleur raised a finger at him, but her tone was light-hearted. Viktor’s eyes widened as they traced the girls in the circle and met Hermione’s eyes. Hermione’s heart leapt. She wanted to wave at him, but her limbs felt like lead.“I didn’t know she was here,” he said in a low voice, his gleaming eyes still locked with hers, full of questions. Hermione raised her chin in an attempt to at least look a little more secure than she was feeling.“You men are such pigs,” Fleur said. “Invite your girlfriend and don’t even know she ‘as arrived?” Hums of approval rose from the circle. Viktor didn’t make any attempt to explain himself. Instead, he kept looking at Hermione, a questioning smile on his lips.“Well,” Fleur continued, “now that you are here, you can–”“Viktor!” a male voice roared from somewhere close to the lake, and continued in Bulgarian or Russian or something. Viktor turned around to reply in kind, and excused himself. Someone tugged at Hermione’s elbow, tearing her away from the circle.“They invited me to ice horo.” Harry’s cheeks were rosy, and in his eyes was panic.“And what’s that?”“Bulgarian Epiphany tradition, apparently. Hermione, your boyfriend’s friends are mad. Mad! They want to do some sort of dance in the lake!”“In the… what?”“Harry, hurry up!” some voice called.“You’ll catch your death, Harry!”Harry hugged her. “All men are going in. It was nice to know you, friend.”“Harry!” she called, but Harry was already gone. The crowd of girls moved towards the lake. It was an impressive sight. All boys had shed their coats and tops, and were donning the white, embroidered shirts that some guy was distributing. Viktor was already wearing his, and was pouring out more alcohol. Harry, swallowed whole by the shirt given to him, thankfully declined the last shot. He looked so small next to the others, so thin, Hermione wanted to just grab him and run, run, run away from the whole ordeal.Torches floated out into the lake. A drum sounded. The young man who was playing the drum walked towards the lake, and to Hermione’s absolute horror, walked in. Goosebumps covered her skin as the icy water slushed around his legs. When the water reached his knees, he stopped walking and started to beat a rhythm that made her heart beat faster.Viktor was the first in the chain. Holding a cross in one hand, he put his other arm over Cedric’s shoulder, who did the same with another Durmstrang student. Then came the Ravenclaw Beater whose name Hermione didn’t remember, then another Durmstrang student. As the chain kept forming, Viktor lead it into the lake. The girls cheered and applauded. One by one, everyone was waist-deep in the water, some faces solemn, some gasping, some laughing and swearing. To Hermione’s relief, a tall Durmstrang student, who was last in the line, took Harry on his shoulders before he went in.The dance was... well, one could hardly call it a dance. The boys moved in a circle with the drummer in the middle, who was holding the drum out high to keep it from getting too wet. It was not long before the last beats of the drum sounded, and the boys got out of the water, some walking, some running. Drying charms were cast, more alcohol was distributed. Hermione stopped caring if Harry was drinking too much; he was enjoying himself, chatting and laughing with the older boys as he changed, his skinny silhouette shaking in the cold like an aspen leaf.Like an eagle descending upon a hare, two strong arms wrapped around her from behind. She was engulfed in a dark, scratchy cloak with a scent that she had come to know and love.“Viktor?”A cold cheek touched hers. “I caught you, little witch.” His breath smelled of alcohol, but he didn’t sound drunk. After a brief peck on her temple, he let her go. “Why have you not told me you were here, Mina?”Hermione turned around. Viktor was smiling, but he looked hurt, somehow.“Well, I… just came so that Harry didn’t have to come alone. I didn’t know if you wanted to see me here.”“Because I did not invite?”“Yeah…” Hermione averted her eyes, but Viktor encouraged her to look at him with a soft brush of his fingers on her cheek.“Do you think I did not invite because I don’t want to spend time with you?”“No… if I got to know you at all, you probably didn’t invite me because you didn’t want me to get into trouble by sneaking out at night, and didn’t want me to have to say no, either.”“Clever girl.” Viktor smiled and took her hands into his. “You have warm hands.”“Well, maybe because I wasn’t swimming in the bloody ice water in the middle of the night.”Viktor laughed, causing his cloak to ripple around him. “The ice horo is a tradition, it must be. There are pictures of small Viktor on his uncle’s shoulders, holding a cross, while the men dance horo in icy lake. I was not allowed to go in the water on my own until maybe thirteen, but I grow up with it. It doesn’t feel so cold to me.”“I have a hard time believing that.” Hermione giggled. “It looked nice, though. Very masculine.”“If you want, you can try it too, one day. You know, it is the 20th century now. Men and women are equal.” There was a mischievous glint in his eyes as Hermione shook her head wildly.“I am sorry,” Hermione managed to get out at last. “For a moment… I thought… I thought you didn’t invite me because I am… you know. Your friends are all so much older than me.”“I am also sorry. I should have told you, at least. You can make your own decisions. And… you are a bit younger, but…” he lightly turned her around and pointed to two boys who were play-fighting next to the fire. One of them sucked his index finger into his mouth and tried to insert it into the other one’s ear canal, much to Hermione’s disgust. “Do you think the others act like older?”“Ugh.” She turned to Viktor. “I am also sorry about what Fleur said earlier. Everyone thought I am here because you and I may be… you know… she didn’t want to be mean, I am sure.”Viktor chuckled and bent to press his lips on hers. Hermione almost protested, they had never kissed in public before, but they weren’t in Hogwarts; it wasn’t school time. Harry had almost plunged himself in ice water, and she almost felt as bold as he when she wrapped her arms around Viktor’s neck and pulled him down for a longer kiss. She did release him as if she had received an electric shock after she heard someone whistle. Viktor was smiling when they parted, the yellow light of the fire dancing in his dark eyes.“How did you come here?” Viktor asked, caressing her cheek with his thumb.“On Harry’s broom.” She hesitated, not sure if she was allowed to tell him about the Invisibility Cloak. Luckily, Viktor didn’t ask further.“Come.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s get Harry. I will fly you both over the Lake. I am not sure if Harry should be flying like this.”“And you aren’t drunk yourself?”Viktor laughed. “I was a bit, but cold water washed it off.”As they walked hand in hand to fetch Harry, who was sure to end up hugging the toilet bowl at one point during the night, a tiny part of Hermione couldn’t help but think that it was a good thing they came, after all.