Sofia, Bulgaria

Viktor beamed at the thought of Hermione needing his help, more than excited to teach her how to speak his first language. "Vell, I'm sure you'll have no problem learning it. And I'd love to help you out vith actually speaking the language. It's not too difficult, but that's coming from somevon who grew up here. But vonce you learn the lettering, then I'm sure you'll pick up on it quickly. Shouldn't be too difficult for you," he smiled. "I mean, you are studying ancient runes. If you can learn that, then Bulgarian should be no problem."

"I hope so. You will tell me if I mess it up, though? I don't want to make a fool of myself in front of anyone important - like your parents," Hermione says, shifting slightly uneasily at the thought of his parents thinking she's a simpleton who butchers the basics of their language for her own amusement.

Viktor shook his head at the thought of Hermione making a fool of herself, not thinking it at all possible. "Of course. And I doubt you could make a fool of yourself if you tried. My parents are going to love you, trust me," he assured Hermione, not wanting her to feel nervous, though he knew he'd probably feel the same way if he was in her position. "I von't let you say anything embarrassing though. Don't vorry."

Hermione sends a quick, grateful look in Viktor's direction, then ducks her head to finish her tea. "Maybe I should just try not to speak too much at all," she mumbles. "Are you finished with your tea?" she asks, rising to take their things to the sink to wash, determined to do her fair share of helping around the place while she stays. Her eyes flicker longingly in the direction of the guest bedroom; it's been a long... a long term, really.

Viktor smiles gratefully as Hermione takes his cup, and joins her in the kitchen to help with cleaning up the rest of the supplies used to make the tea. As much as he appreciates her help, he can't let his guest do all the work. "I'm sure they'll love you no matter vot you end up saying to them," he said with a soft smile. He followed her gaze to the bedroom before turning back to look at her. "Tired?"

Hermione quickly washes the tea things, then lets Viktor take care of drying them and putting them away, given that he knows better than she where things in his own home go. She nods sheepishly. "I am rather tired. I hate to be rude, but..." she gestures to the bedroom, indicating that she'd like to take her leave for the evening now if he doesn't mind.

"You're not being rude at all," he assured her with a soft smile. "I vos getting tired, myself. It's already set up for you, but if you need anything else, then don't hesitate to ask," he said, still smiling at the thought of Hermione being here...in his house. "Goodnight, Herm-own-ninny. I'm glad you decided to come to Bulgaria." He smiled once more and leaned down to lightly kiss his friend on the cheek, waiting for her to go to her bedroom before he would eventually go off to his.

Hermione smiles gratefully as Viktor leans down and kisses her cheek in his usual friendly, gentle manner. "I'm glad I came. Goodnight," she murmurs and disappears into her room. Which is stunning, btw. Hermione wastes no time in unpacking and, although she glances lustily at the gigantic and inviting tub, she simply changes into her pajamas and decides to take her time bathing in the morning. She crawls into the warm, comfortable bed and lays still, hoping sleep will claim her soon.

Viktor smiles as Hermione retreats to her bedroom, and turns to go into his own where everything is just how he left it. He changes into his manly, winter pajamas. Probably sweatpants and some sort of shirt. It is could out, you know. He can't sleep shirtless, or naked for that matter. He leaves his door open just a crack, not wanting his room to seem uninviting just in case his friend needs anything during the night. He climbs into his bed, slowly drifting off into a light sleep as he thinks about how much fun this entire trip is going to be.

Hermione curls in the bed, large and unfamiliar no matter how comfortable it may be. It's this time of day, the time before she's not quite exhausted enough to sleep but too tired to consider putting her mind to another use, that her traitorous thoughts turn to Luna. She thinks of the feel of her soft, flaxen hair slipping through Hermione's fingers, and the childlike innocence with which Luna trusts the world around her, and the way her stomach fluttered when their hands intertwined. Then she thinks of the look on the young girl's face when Hermione had ripped her heart in two. Silencing charms and spells to conceal the puffiness of her eyes had been helping Hermione conceal her nightly heartbreak from her dormmates, but there is nobody else in this room to hear Hermione's stifled sob. She draws in a few deep, shuddering breaths and stumbles out of bed, her feet hitting the cool floor below. Blindly, she makes her way from one bedroom to the other, blinking mournfully as she finds herself standing beside Viktor's bed as his chest rises and falls smoothly in the darkness. "Viktor are you awake?" she whispers, sniffling.

Viktor's eyes open as he's gently awaken from his dreamless sleep, a look of concern as he sees an upset Hermione at his bedside. He sits up, not expecting this in the least, though he figured Hermione couldn't have gotten over whatever had hurt her so quickly anyway. "Vot's wrong?" he asks out of instinct, before realizing that his question is hinting that she tells him when he knows she might not be ready to talk yet. Before she can say anything, he simply nods in understanding and reaches over to the other side of his bed to pull down the blankets, an invitation for his friend to join him if she'd rather not sleep alone, because although Viktor has never experienced heartache, he knows that being alone doesn't usually make anything better. In fact, it's normally the opposite, and the least he can do is make sure Hermione never has to be alone if she doesn't want to be.

Hermione chokes on a sob as Viktor asks what's wrong, not yet ready to even attempt an explanation with him. Audrey still loved her, still thought she was worth keeping as a friend, but she was afraid of losing Viktor's good opinion more than anything, and is very much still in the mindset that she's guilty for what happened between her and Luna. Her lip trembles and she doesn't hesitate. Feeling a rush of sheer, platonic, love, Hermione crawls into the bed next to her best friend and throws herself against his chest, winding her arms about him as best she can. She doesn't speak, merely draws what comfort she can from Viktor just as she had when he'd been there for her in the immediate disaster zone of her breakup with Luna.

Viktor doesn't hesitate or even give much thought to the action as he wraps his arms around Hermione, doing the only thing he can think of to attempt to comfort her which is holding her close and not saying a word. As his hand lightly rubs circles along her upper back, he gently presses his lips to her forehead. He's never really had to deal with anything tragic, but seeing Hermione like this is honestly one of the worst things he's ever experienced and he wished more than anything that he cold provide her with more to make the situation better in some magical way. He's relieved that he invited her to Bulgaria for this very reason. He couldn't imagine the thought of her being back at Hogwarts like this, wondering if she would have gone to another friend for comfort or kept all these emotions bottled up inside until she couldn't contain them anymore.

Audrey is watching this and thinks Hermione shouldn't be sad and hopes they're cute PJs and wants to give her a hug but thinks Viktor is doing a better job than she could.

Viktor can't see them in the dark right now, but this is what Hermione's pjs look like:



*blinks*

Viktor Krum wrote:Viktor doesn't hesitate or even give much thought to the action as he wraps his arms around Hermione, doing the only thing he can think of to attempt to comfort her which is holding her close and not saying a word. As his hand lightly rubs circles along her upper back, he gently presses his lips to her forehead. He's never really had to deal with anything tragic, but seeing Hermione like this is honestly one of the worst things he's ever experienced and he wished more than anything that he cold provide her with more to make the situation better in some magical way. He's relieved that he invited her to Bulgaria for this very reason. He couldn't imagine the thought of her being back at Hogwarts like this, wondering if she would have gone to another friend for comfort or kept all these emotions bottled up inside until she couldn't contain them anymore.

Hermione sniffles again, but finds Viktor's presence more comforting than anything in the world she can think of right now and the way he rubs her back in little circles helps soothe her. She calms down. Then she realises what she's done and her cheeks burn in the darkness. "I'm sorry," she mutters, her quiet voice still a little raw with emotion. "I'll stop bothering you," she promises, feeling another wave of sadness swell in her at the thought of going back to her comfortable, lonely room. She tries to pull away from Viktor to leave, but finds that she's held quite securely in his arms.

WHAT!? jdwpoaefslawf;esa *pulls out a diamond ring* BEST PJ'S EVER

"Don't apologize," he murmured softly, removing one arm from around her body to lightly stroke her cheek, wiping away one of the fallen tears. "You can stay here all night. Every night. I honestly don't mind at all," he told her firmly, though he kept his voice gentle and soft. He pulled her close again and dropped a light kiss on her forehead, knowing that she certainly did not want to leave his room in the least. He pulled the blanket up over her shoulders, not wanting her to get cold in the middle of the night and wrapped his arm back around her, going back to the previous circles he had just been tracing along her back before she attempted to leave.

I knew you'd like those! XD

Hermione's lower lip trembles. It never ceases to move and amaze her, how Viktor seems to know what she wants even when she hides it. Accepting that she isn't going anywhere, she settles back into the circle of Viktor's arms and does her best to relax. One of her hands comes up to cling in an almost childlike way to the shirt Viktor is sleeping in and she rests her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat as her eyes flutter closed and her breathing evens out at long last.

Viktor brings a hand up to lightly run through Hermione's dark, curly hair, not stopping even after she falls asleep. After a while of him being sure that she's sound asleep, he lightly runs a finger along her cheek again, watching her sleep for a moment as he feels terrible for whatever it is that happened to her. He places one last kiss on top of her head before eventually drifting off to sleep, himself, hoping that by tomorrow morning she'll be better again, though he doubts that this feeling will go away over night.

Inner!Hermione just died of adorable.

Hermione sleeps the night through soundly this time, not beginning to wake until light is streaming into the unfamiliar room. She rolls over, her body colliding gently with another warm body and she pauses a moment, a little frown etched onto her face because 17 years of waking up alone has accustomed her to not finding another body sharing her bed. Her eyes open and her bleary vision takes everything in. Oh. She's not in her own bed, she's in Viktor's bed. It's still too early in the day for her to contemplate that, so she simply rolls back into Viktor and dozes some more.

<3 Um. Wait. No dying. *does CPR*
>.>

As Viktor feels another body in the bed beside him, he wakes up and glances down at Hermione, being reminded that she had spent the night in here as well. He doesn't want to wake her just yet, but he's sure she'll be up soon and in that case it would be logical for him to have breakfast ready for her. It's the least he could do after the rough nights she'd been going through recently. He quietly got out of bed and walked out of the room, being care as not to wake his sleeping friend. He knew that Hermione might not want to eat like last time, but she would have to eat eventually, so he might as well offer her a home-cooked meal just in case she is hungry. He went into the kitchen and got out the ingredients for French Toast. Once he was finished, he added some strawberries to the plate because that's a perfect side dish for French Toast. Luna really wants French toast now. He isn't sure if Hermione is awake yet, but he puts the food on a tray and brings it back into his room anyway. That way, she'll be free to eat whenever she's ready. He sets the food down at the foot of the bed, and takes a seat on the edge of the bed as he waits for Hermione to wake up.

*comes back to life for FrenchtoastandstrawberriesandViktor* >.>

Hermione continues her slow process of joining the land of the living and awake, her eyes eventually popping open and staying that way. She rubs a hand sleepily over her face and stretches out, smiling vaguely as she spots Viktor sitting beside her- no, his bed. She pushes herself upright, the covers falling down a little to reveal her ducky jammies. "Good morning," she says in a sleepy voice, not feeling awkward in the least to have found herself in this position.

Hehehhehe. <.<
<3

"Morning," he says with a smile, before his eyes realize what his best friend is wearing. "Are those...Are those ducks on your pajamas?" he asked with an amused grin of approval, because even Viktor Krum doesn't own ducky pajamas. You would never know that this man likes ducks...Until you went into his bathroom of course which has the rest of his duck collection. What he brought to Hogwarts is barely half of his full rubber duck collection.

Hermione's mouth drops open a little, wondering why on earth he'd focus on that of all things until she recalls his affinity with ducks. It hadn't even entered her mind when she'd picked them out - she'd just liked these above all the others of flowers and clouds and sheep and teddy bears. She smiles and curls her knees up to her chest, hugging them to her. "They are. D'you want me to see if I can find a pair in your size next time I go?" she offers, eyes sparkling slightly because it's half a joke but it also is so not a joke. "I didn't snore, did I?" she asks, before her roving eyes fall to the tray at the foot of the bed. "Viktor, is that... is that French toast? And strawberries?"

Viktor chuckled at what he was sure was a joke. "I'm good for now. I doubt I could pull them off as vell as you can, to be honest," he replied with a grin. His eyes followed hers, stopping at the tray of food as he smiled at his creation. It really did look tasty if he does say so himself. "Yes. Yes, it is," he said with a grin as he looked back at his friend. "If you don't like French toast, you don't have to eat it, of course. I just thought I'd show you that I can make more than just pancakes and Bulgarian food," he joked, though part of him wondered if Hermione really didn't like French toast. He hadn't really thought of that because who in the right mind doesn't like French toast?