"Daphne you’re back!" You walked into the common room and were immediately surrounded by girls.
"So did you really sneak off with him?"
"Where did you go?"
"Are you an item yet?"
"I really, REALLY don’t want to talk about it," you replied to everyone avoiding their questions. You wanted to try and keep things between you and Krum between you and him. You saw Ginny waving her hand and beckoning you to a table near the fireplace in the common room.
"Feel any better?" Hermione asked not looking up from her book.
"Somewhat. Remind me to tell you something later," you said under your breath to her. The last thing you needed was Harry and Ron knowing that Malfoy had roughed you up, twice, in a period of three days. You didn’t want to be the cause of another of your friends getting detention. "I cannot believe all of the stuff I missed in one day," you said looking at a piece of parchment with your assignments. "I have to write a 20 inch essay for my Runes class and read an entire book for Dark Arts." You got looks of sympathy from everyone but Harry and Hermione.
While Hermione lectured you about leaving grounds and how you should be lucky you weren’t punished worse, Harry avoided looking at you all together. You couldn’t deny your feelings for Krum but you couldn’t stand one of your very best friends being upset with you either. You decided to agree to disagree with Hermione and get started on your essay. It was a losing battle to argue with her and weren’t in the mood to have everyone stop talking to you completely. You pulled your feet up to the chair so that it looked like you were busy writing your essay. Fortunately for you, you had packed one of Fred and George's newest inventions.
You began writing and were pleased to see it disappeared as soon as the ink dried. You glanced through your bangs across the table toward Harry and were pleased to see that he looked quite surprised. You slid your inkbottle across the table for Harry to use and seconds later you had his reply on the parchment.
HP: Where did you get this? Its brilliant! And no I’m not mad at you, I just think that you need to be more careful when you go out and who you go out with. Especially with Voldemort still out there.
DH: Fred & George's shop. And I know, Hermione has told me countless times. I don’t know what came over me. I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t upset with me. That’s the last thing I want to do...
HP: No I could never be mad with you. Just promise me from now on you’ll be more careful
DH: Scouts honor.
HP: Good. I would feel awful if something happened to you. How's your head feeling anyway? Swelling went down a bit.
You continued writing back and forth to Harry for a good while. Unfortunately your conscience was taking a toll on the conversation.
DH: I’ve really got to get this essay done and book read.
HP: I know you do, that’s fine. I’m going to head upstairs anyway, if you need anything don’t hesitate to ask...
Once Harry began putting away his books and parchment Ron took it as a sign to call it quits for the night also. You watched as everyone got up from the table and smiled while they all gave you sympathetic looks.
"Its fiiiiine," you said rolling your eyes. "I’ve been under alot more pressure at Hogwarts." you said laughing. "Go to bed you lot. Ill be up eventually," you added to Hermione and Ginny. You watched as Harry made his way up the stairs to the boy's dormitory and as Ron gave Hermione a quick kiss and followed Harry. You shook your head trying to clear out the cobwebs. It was going to be a looong night.
Slowly but surely the entire common room began to empty out until you were the only one still up. Even the fire seemed to be dying with each passing minute. You groaned and put your head in your hands. I should have never went out last night. You wished that you could believe that, but you couldn’t. You didn’t regret missing class last night and eating dinner with Krum. Then, what girl in their right mind would have?
You crossed your arms on the table and laid your head on them closing your eyes. You were trying to imagine what the night would have been like if Draco hadn't of shown up. Considering your location on the broom you highly doubted you would have moved much. Even though Viktor's arms were around you, you still didn’t feel as safe as you would have on the ground. You sat up and sighed knowing it was useless to daydream about Krum and his delicious kisses while there was work to be done.
You opted to move away from the table and take one of the now empty couches in front of the fire. At least if you had to stay up and read about some famous wizard or another you would be comfy. You jumped as the fire popped and couldn’t help but laugh at yourself. You hated the dark and things like that did not help the situation.
"Ah, don’t worry about that, the boogeyman doesn’t live in this room," a voice said laughing behind you. "You’re quite safe here."
"Isn’t that what you said last night before we were both thrown off of your broom and fell into solid ground?" you asked smiling up at Viktor. "Shouldn’t you be in bed by now?" You moved to make room for Krum on the couch and took one of the mugs of cocoa he had brought with him. "Seeing as how you are the star Quidditch player for the school and Bulgaria and an obvious favorite, I’m sure you need your beauty sleep." you couldn’t help but pick on him.
"Yea well you know, I was going to but I felt bad for you sitting up here all alone by yourself slaving over your homework," he replied drinking his cocoa down in one gulp. "So I decided to make up for the fiasco last night and bring you a couple pick me ups," he added grinning mischievously. "Want the other one?"
You nodded yes taking your last sip of cocoa. "That was good thanks," you said setting down the mug, you could feel your skin heating up and felt more awake than you had all night. You looked up not noticing that Viktor had moved closer so that you were face to face. He took your face in his hands and gave you a soft, questioning kiss. You kissed him back and let your arms snake up around his neck and returned his kiss. You were surprised at how soft his lips were and how gently he kissed you. Before you needed to catch your breath he pulled away.
"Which was a better pick-me-up?" he asked smiling. "The cocoa or the kiss?"
"Weeeeeeelllll...." you started. Viktor's face was masked with a seriousness that you had not seen before as his lips captured yours for a second time. He tangled his fingers in your dark curls and deepened the kiss. You returned his kisses enthusiastically, tracing your fingers along the nape of his neck, and nipping his bottom lip playfully. This was definitely better than any mug of cocoa.
After a very productive snogging session with Viktor you had to unfortunately deny him any more kisses until you had finished at least half of your book. Viktor had offered to read over your Runes essay to keep himself occupied until you had finished. More than once you had to scold him from nuzzling into your neck or to quit playing with your hair. When that didn’t work you resigned yourself to the other side of the couch only giving him access to your feet, which you warned him if he touched them, you would kill him.
*Viktor's POV*
You finished reading Daphne's essay and moved to hand it back realizing almost too late that she had fallen asleep. Her book lay open on her chest and one arm dangled off of the couch. You didn’t know if someone could look more beautiful than she was right then. Carefully taking the open book and putting it in her bag with the essay you had just finished, you got up and moved to carry her up the stairs.
You picked her up easily and cradled her in your arms remembering how pissed off she was at being treated like a child. You smiled and shook your head. Since you had seen her at Hogwarts you couldn’t get her out of your head. Even though you had taken Hermione Granger to the Yule Ball, and had a right good time, you still wanted to take Daphne. Then when you found out that half of the student population would be spending two weeks at Durmstrang, and possibly the rest of the spring term, you couldn’t believe it. You had immediately volunteered to ride to the train station to pick up the students in hopes of seeing her.
Reaching the dormitory you were careful to avoid the creaky boards so as not to disturb the other girls. You placed Daphne's bag on her trunk and pulled the covers up over her chest as you layed her down. Kissing her lightly on the lips you said your goodnights and made your way back to your own bed, extinguishing the fire on your way out.
