Harry Potter and the Boy Who Lived

Chapter 13

The Happiest Holiday
Harry's Room, Durmstrang, (Jan. 12th)...

With a final flick of his wand, Harry bit his lip and hoped that he'd done everything correctly. Casting a water repelling charm on his robes, he reached up and grasped an ornate handle and pulled to the left. There was a moment of silence before the nozzle at the top of the shower began to sputter and then spit out water. With a few turns of the handle, Harry was pleased to note that the temperature charms were functioning properly, and the water was vanishing down the drain.

Turning off the shower, Harry walked out of his bathroom, and hid the door behind a notice-me-not charm. As much as he hated sharing a bathroom with the other students at Durmstrang, he wasn't going to suddenly become Viktor and Calypso's personal maintenance wizard, and there was no way his friends wouldn't pester him into installing a bathroom into their rooms.

With the Notice-Me-Not charm in place, Harry walked over and opened his door.

Only to come face to face with a stressed out Viktor Krum, who was apparently a second away from knocking.

"Viktor," Harry said with a pleasant smile on his face. "I was about to come see-"

Taking a large step forward, Viktor dragged Harry back into the room, quickly closed the door, and cast a silencing charm. "Harry! What is going on? I leave you and Rosier alone for one hour before Christmas, and I come back after the holiday and hear a rumor that you're betrothed?"

Staring at his friend in complete disbelief, Harry could only open and close his mouth for several seconds. Eventually, he managed to get out a shocked, "What!"

Viktor seemed to take the shock and confusion on his friend's face as a positive sign, and he dropped into a chair looking relieved. "Good. I was hoping it was just a bunch of idiots talking."

"Who's talking?" Harry demanded.

"That fifth year Müller. Apparently, Professor Rosier turned down his family for a potential marriage contract. Müller has been pissed off since he got back to school a few days ago."

"I didn't even know Müller liked Calypso," Harry muttered, an angry expression crossing his face.

Viktor looked at his friend with some confusion. "Of course Müller doesn't like Calypso, Harry. He's not angry because he was turned down. He's angry that Professor Rosier just told his family no and basically told them they shouldn't have bothered inquiring. The Müllers are one of Germany's most prestigious and oldest families, and since he's gotten back Müller has been throwing out these ridiculous claims that Calypso had to be betrothed for his family to be turned down like that, and, well, you were the obvious choice. It's not like she's ever seen with anyone else."

"Calypso and I," Harry hesitated, "well, I guess we're dating."

Viktor could only stare at his friend in shock. "Please, please tell me you didn't agree to anything with Mr. Rosier."

"Don't worry, I didn't sign a marriage contract," Harry said uneasily, knowing that Calypso did ultimately want that.

Wanting to demand more information, but sensing that Harry was in no mood to discuss his burgeoning relationship with Calypso, Viktor let the situation drop for the moment. "So, how was your holiday?"

Harry noticeably relaxed at the change of subject. "My holiday was great," he said happily. "The best I've had since starting school."

"Really?" Viktor asked, pleasantly surprised. "Why?"

"Well for starters, Nathan apologized for not taking Peter seriously."

"That's good." Viktor nodded in satisfaction. "I believe I told you that you gave your brother too little credit, and that he would apologize."