Hermione sighed, tucking a strand of light brown hair behind her ear and out of her face. There he was, standing behind the bookcase. A gaggle of girls was in the next row over, as always. They were all giggling and making fools of themselves. God, Hermione thought. Can’t they be quiet? If they want to giggle over some Quidditch player, why don’t they do it somewhere besides a library? She glared at them once more, and then returned to her Transfiguration. Every day for over a week, Krum had stood behind a bookcase, watching Hermione study. She was getting extremely tired of it.



Working hard, she barely noticed Madam Pince come up and shush them. She did notice, however, when they gave a particularly loud burst of giggles a few minutes later. She looked up again. She didn’t even know why they were laughing. Viktor Krum didn’t seem the sort to make jokes. In fact, she had barely ever heard him speak. If Hermione had been one of them, the only thing she would be able to think of to laugh at was how stupid she was.



As she looked at them, Krum’s eyes met hers. They locked for a moment, then he gave a small nod and looked back down at the floor, not noticing the girls’ giggles. Hermione sighed again and slammed her book shut. No matter what was going on in the common room, she knew that she would get more done there than in here. She gave the girls surrounding Krum one final glare, and stormed out of the library.



Back in the common room, however, she did not get much accomplished. As they had almost every night since the first task, Fred and George Weasley were getting in the Christmas cheer a little early, giving anyone stupid enough to accept them, Canary Creams. Every now and them someone would turn into a bright yellow bird with a puff of feathers. The whole room would burst out laughing. People never seem to get tired of watching others get turned into birds, Hermione thought. She didn’t quite understand what was so funny. Yes, it was rather amusing the first time, but now it was just… annoying. Everything seemed annoying lately. It was starting to…annoy her.

---

Viktor Krum sighed. She had been right there, just a few feet away… he could have asked her easily. Their eyes had met, and he had looked away first. He wanted so badly to ask her, but he couldn’t, and that was for one reason and one reason only. He was a coward.



In that one brief moment when they had looked into each others’ eyes, he had seen… what was it- hope? anger? love? fear? No, he decided. It was none of those. The only thing he had seen in Hermione Granger’s eyes at that moment was pure, strong annoyance. She found him annoying. Well, maybe not him, but at least the girls that followed him around everywhere. And frankly, he didn’t blame her. Several times he had considered giving them a piece of his mind, so he could talk to Hermione alone. But he hadn’t got the chance. Because she had walked away, out of annoyance.



Krum peered through the gap in the bookcase at the girls that were watching him. He recognised one that had asked him for an autograph on the first day he arrived at Hogwarts. All of them were sixth or seventh years, and all wore heavy makeup that (in his opinion) made them look like clowns. Every time it seemed that he had shaken them off at last, one would appear and her friends would be by her side in seconds. He would remain silent, not answering when they spoke to him, hoping they would take the hint. Unfortunately, this only made them giggle more. You would think they would be a bit upset about him not winning the World Cup… but, then again, they probably cared nothing for the sport itself, only the men who played it. Still, with the brains some of those girls had, he was surprised that any of them even knew what Quidditch was.



Soon after Hermione walked out of the library, Krum left as well. He somehow managed to lose the idiots following him on his way back to the Durmstrang ship. He went to bed almost immediately, and he dreamed of her- of Hermione Granger.

---

Hermione groaned as she entered the library the next day. He was standing there again. Just once, couldn’t he stay away from the library? Couldn’t he find somewhere else to stand and do nothing, somewhere else to attract girls like a bloody magnet? Shooting him a glare that would rival one of Mrs. Weasley’s, she sat down in her usual chair and tried to concentrate on her schoolwork.



Before long, however, she found herself thinking of him again. What did those shallow idiots see in him? He wasn’t even that good-looking. He had thick, bushy eyebrows, a permanent surly expression on his face, and he looked like a duck when he walked. Stealing a glance at him, though, she had to admit that there was something about him that intrigued her. Trying to pinpoint it, she nearly gasped out loud when she realised- it was the way he looked at her that made her want to look back. Watching him, she heard him speak for the first time, and while she couldn’t understand what he was saying, it must have been rather offensive, for the once-giggling girls stormed off in a huff. And Hermione and Krum were alone.



He walked slowly towards her, looking nervous and excited at the same time. Her heart began to pound. What was he doing? He couldn’t be just saying hello- for one thing, he appeared too nervous, for another, he wouldn’t have watched her study for a week just to introduce himself- no. There had to be something more.



“Hermy-own?” He couldn’t pronounce her name correctly. She didn’t mind.



“Yes?” she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper.



“I vos just vondering… vould you like to go to the ball vith me?”



“The ball?” she echoed. “The Yule Ball?”



“Yes.”



“I- of course! Yes, I would love to!” Hermione exclaimed. Madam Pince was there in a heartbeat.



“Shhh! It’s a library, for God’s sake!” she whispered.



“Sorry,” whispered Hermione and Krum. Madam Pince walked away, shooting them one final glare.



“So… you vill go vith me?” Krum asked again.



Hermione nodded. “Yes,” she said softly. And, with a smile and a nod, she went back to her chair, and he went back to his bookshelf.



After all, it was a library.