The Death Eater [HARRY POTTER]

11

"Viktor Krum's asked me to the Yule Ball," Hermione burst out excitedly just as soon as she had shut the door behind herself. Calla, who had been working on writing her end of term exam, paused long enough to peer up at Hermione over a pair of rather odd looking pair of reading glasses.

"Viktor Krum the Durmstrang champion?" At Hermione's excited nod, Calla set her quill aside and steepled her fingers in front of herself. "How did this come about?"

Hermione took that as permission to dart over to Calla's desk and perch in a chair opposite her friend, beginning to tell the entire story with varying levels of giddiness. Truly, she was quite happy to have been asked to the dance, and by a national star no less. It was clear to Calla at least that Hermione was over the moon infatuated with the boy as she told the story.

"Viktor's been watching me in the library for weeks now. Just recently he's moved to my table to sit with me! We started talking, of course we would have had to I suppose for him to have asked me to the dance," Hermione giggled and Calla rose one of her dark eyebrows in amusement. "He calls me 'Hermy-own', and it's so sweet. He said he thinks I'm really pretty and honestly he's just so amazing, Calla!"

Calla smiled at her friend's enthusiasm, happy to see Hermione happy.

"He sounds great, Mione," Calla encourages. "What else do you like about him?"

And Hermione took the chance to talk, and ran with it. The words were spilling from her mouth so fast Calla almost had a hard time keeping up with them.

"I didn't used to like him at all," Hermione admitted. "He used to come into the library with a group of girls and the girls were always so loud. I'd actually end up leaving as soon as they came in most of the time. But then I began to notice him looking at me. I would glance over because the girls were being loud and he wouldn't be paying attention to any of them. He would be looking at me. And then he moved over to my table and we began to talk. I never imagined that he would be one to read a lot but he does. He's actually very smart. He's getting good grades in all of his classes here, and of course he was getting good grades at Durmstrang."

Calla nodded along and remembered that Viktor was actually in one of her classes. And he was, in fact, very intelligent. Sometimes he had a difficult time voicing his answers because English wasn't his first language, but he always turned in good work and he even raised his hand to ask questions a fair amount. He seemed genuinely interested, and Calla imagined that he was the same in all classes that he took. 

"But anyway, Viktor asked me to the Yule ball and I said yes," Hermione admitted, her tan cheeks heating up in a pretty blush. Calla grinned widely, and Hermione only seemed to blush deeper. "And now I'm so nervous Calla! He's so nice and so famous and I'm just... Me"

Calla frowned for the first time since Hermione walked in the door, and set the girl with her firmest look.

"What on earth do you mean you're 'just you'," Calla demanded. "You're Hermione Granger, brightest witch of your year. You're smart, beautiful, and a number of other positive adjectives. And Viktor Krum, Quidditch star, will be the luckiest boy on earth to be able to take you to the Yule Ball. I saw the dress you packed Hermione. If Viktor doesn't look at you like the most beautiful girl in the room the night of the ball, I'll personally stun him, and Headmaster Karkaroff can just try to stop me."

Hermione had begun to smile during Calla's little rant, unused to seeing her friend leap to her defense so quickly, though she always knew that Calla would be there for her if she ever needed it. But at the very end, Hermione had to giggle. She could actually imagine Calla, who was rather small, waltzing up to Igor Karkaroff and demanding that his star pupil treat Hermione the way Calla thought she should be treated.