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The Bulgarian morning air was crisp and cool. There wasn’t any rain, yet, but the clouds above held on to their dark grey hue. The wind seemed to have forgotten its job this morning, as there wasn’t even a gust. Well, that is, if the quidditch players flying about didn’t count. Red blurs contrasted against the dark skies. Balls and snitches flew about and it all had that feeling of home. Between the early morning quidditch practices and the even earlier awakenings, she was awake far before the sun even threatened to rise. With that all said, it had all become home. There was a peace and happiness to the routine. She had never thought she would feel it again, but over the last couple of years, it had appeared back into her life.
After the battle of Hogwarts and the death of many of her friends, she had returned to the school she had called home but it had lost all feeling of warmth and safety. Magic had lost its fun and she spent many of her days wishing she had never been born with it. The word “mudblood” had been so deeply ingrained in her mind, she could feel the venom spat with it. After her last year of school, they had decided to go see a quidditch match.
“ Just one. Maybe it will make things better!” Luna had encouraged.
She had gone. It was a final hu-rah before she threw her wand into the Atlantic and quit. She’d go work at the little stable in Inverness or get on a plane and go to Australia and just get away from magic. That would be it. Just survive one measly Quidditch match.
But, it wasn’t just some measly match. It started with cheering but what was cheered was what stopped her.
“Krum” The crowd cheered. She looked over to Hermione, who placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she held the hand of the ginger beside her. While the seeker and Hermione had been close, few had known of the friendship that had come later between herself and the Bulgarian.
“ I’ve got to go, I feel sick. “ she had whispered into the ear of the frizzy haired- Hermione before she all but ran down the steps. The match was just about over and she had stomached all she could. AS the final seconds clicked away she ran as far as she could. Her sense of direction had never been great, but she had never thought it was so bad as to get herself lost at a quidditch game.
So lost, she had managed to bump into none other than Viktor Krum himself.
“ Viktor.” She sighed.
“ You look like you are running from something. Are you so embarrassed by our defeat that you are running from it?” He smiled. It was so effortless. His smile and the conversation. Even though she had not sent him a letter in two years, he seemed to find comfort and ease in her. She however..
“ You lost?” She blinked and wrinkled her face in confusion.
Viktor looked at her.
“ Yes. “ He nodded and spoke slowly as if she was a child. She blushed and dropped her head.
“ Sorry. I wasn’t paying much attention. To anything really, not just your game.” She sighed, eyeing her boots like a child, scuffing them into nothing.
Viktor looked at her for a moment. His memory had either failed him or something was wrong. She was loud, boisterous, queer in a way when he had met her before. Her letters were scribbled in a way that spoke of frenzy and enthusiasm. Now, she resembled a shell. A bad drawing of a beautiful figure. She looked like an empty flower vase. His chest pulled at the look of her.
“ Come with me.” He reached softly for one of her hands crossed on her stomach. Her eyes met his soft brown eyes and she relented, following softly behind him as he lead her away.
The bench was cold- she remembers- as she sat down. His hands were warm as he held her right one . She still couldn’t meet his eyes, finding the softness of his hands much more interesting.
“ Are you alright?” He whispered. She shrugged her shoulders.
“ Fine.” She looked up at him, “ You?”
“ Other than being a little angry about that game?” He joked and a smile almost graced her lips.
“ You don’t seem too angry.” she tried
“ You don’t seem fine.”
“ Magic just.. Seems like more of a curse than a gift.” she sighed. “ I just want to be as far from it as possible.”
The Bulgarian nodded. He could understand. He had heard the stories. He could only imagine the torment and pain.
“ If you decide to give magic a chance,” a piece of parchment appeared in her palm, “ You will always be welcome.”
Despite it, she ran. Fled. Farther than even Igor Karkarov could have gotten. And while it had left her heart lighter for a few months, loneliness seemed to weigh her down. She felt heavier than ever. It felt like she was drowning in the ocean expanse in front of her. The ocean breeze left her cold to the bone and she retrieved the old worn coast from her bag . In the pocket there, like a sign from the world, she found the piece of parchment. It was shaped like a shark- hammerhead, or maybe it just got crumbled weird- with a long since memorized address. Letters sent there for years came back to her memory and the smile of a “bulgarian bon-bon”. The words rang in her ear.
“ You will always be welcome.”
She had been. She showed up, unannounced, looking like a wild child when Mr. Krum had answered the door. Apparently, strange girls appearing at the house looking for Viktor wasn’t uncommon. She was just lucky Viktor had cleared up that she was not a crazed fan girl who spoke really bad Bulgarian - that had some Russian thrown in there because stress brain.
Over the four years, she had watched the pain and loneliness fall away. She embraced magic. As her time with him had grown, so did her relationship with Viktor. They had been a couple for well over three years. She went to nearly every game and practice and he helped her write muggle studies textbooks - under a pseudonym, of course. She had even been offered a position at Durmstrang and Hogwarts- which she had respectfully declined.
Viktor smiled broadly at her as he passed her spot in the stands. He slowed to a stop before her and waved a hand in her direction. She sighed and closed the notebook she was scribbling into - with a pen, by the way, because logic!- and walked to the railing to stand in front of him.
“ What?” she sassed at him, a smile wide on her face.
He wiggled a gloved finger in a “ come here” motion. With a small chuckle and an incredulous shake of her head she leaned forward, over the railing. His lips met her’s in a soft peck before he pulled back and raised a padded arm in defense of the playful smack he received from the chaser and friend, Levski.
“ Darling, how much do you love me?” Viktor asked, eyes shining in a mischievous kind of way.
She looked at him for a moment, then skeptically at the player that had parked the broom beside him.
“ What?” she asked uncomfortably. She looked at the boy to his right, who looked back with an oddly amused look.
“ Get on the broom.” He requested. A persuasive smile grew on his lips.
She looked around the field. Few remained on it, only the two on brooms before her and a couple on the grass below. The balls had been captured and put away, the brooms packed away in their specialty protective bags that made her chuckle. There didn’t appear to be a reason for all this. She looked at her boyfriend again.
“ Why?”
“ It’ll be fun.” He encouraged as that odd smile continued to grow on his face.
“ Viktor,” She started.
“ Bro, she just first named you,” Levski joked, “ you’re in trouble now.”
“ Come on, Darling, Sweetie, Love of m-”
“ Fine.” she gave an exaggerated sigh. Viktor moved the broom to be parallel to the railing and offered a hand to her as she threw a leg over the railing and maneuvered on the broom behind him.
As she got seated, the solid man in front of her moved off the broom and over the railing with shocking speed. She didn’t notice he was moving till he was standing next to her.
“ VIKTOR!” she shrieked. The Bulgarian gently pushed the broom away from the railing as she moved to jump away.
“ You’re fine.” He encouraged.
“ I’m going to die!” She shouted again.
“ YOU were on a Quidditch team!” he encouraged with a laugh. The second Bulgarian doubled over his broom with laughter.
“ For 5 minutes before I was hit in the head by a Slytherin and nearly fell to MY DEATH!” She spat through clenched teeth. She had the broom in a death grip, her knuckles nearly white with force, and eyes closed.
“ I won’t let you fall and there is no one here to hit you.” the chaser encouraged. She shot him a glare that could kill, but he only continued to look upon her with a comedic expression.
“ I haven’t ridden a broom since I was 14.” She re-situated on the broom, unconsciously. Krum looked at her, unbelieving.
“ It’s like riding a bike.” He encouraged. The girl rolled her eyes but looked at him abjectly.
“ You’re lucky you’re cute.” She threatened. “ Do you want me to just fly around, make you feel good because you made me get back on the broom, look cute in front of -”
“ Chase this snitch?” He pulled a shiny gold snitch from the pocket of jacket. He looked nervous, his jaw tight. He swallowed nervously and rolled the ball between his fingers.
“ I was a CHASER!” She reminded in a high pitch.
“ It’s an altered snitch,” Viktor promised, “ Goes slower than normal. Just catch it and bring it back to me?” He spoke, voice appearing bashful to the girl. Her eyes trailed to Levski. He nodded in encouragement, looking as anxious as Viktor.
“Please?” The standing man asked. She tensed up but trusted the man.
With a nod from the girl, Viktor released the golden ball into the air. He held his breath. It was.. Important, special, way more than she knew. To her, it was just a frivolous task, a joke. To him, it was a bag of bricks. His future relied upon it.
With one last look over her shoulder at Levski- to make sure he was behind her- maneuvered the broom out after the snitch. While the snitch was slowed, the professional broom Viktor used for chasing after an actual speed snitch, wasn’t. The first time she encouraged the broom forward, she fell forward before pulling it to a stop. Levski narrowly avoided smashing into the broom.
“ What!?” he shouted.
The snitch whirled around her head before she could respond, it moved within arm's reach before shooting diagonally and then out.
“ This thing is toying with me!” She shouted as the thing shot out in front of her. She shot the broom forward, arm extended, and chased the snitch.
She matched it turn for turn, dip for dip, but the snitch moved just the right was to avoid her every time. It shot past the man below who had sent her on this crazy chase.
“ I thought this would be easy!” She shouted as she shot past him, chasing the golden demon.
“ You can do it!” He encouraged through laughs.
“ Can she really?” Levski remarked as he parked the broom against the railing. Viktor looked at his friend.
“ Well, that was the plan.” He wrung his hands nervously.
She raced around the field for a while. The wind whipped her cheeks raw and her hands stiffened with the cold. The longer it went, the anger and more motivated she became. A long list of swears- english and bulgarian- rattled off in her head.
“ Stupid fuc-” She reached for the tiny ball as it turned and flew into her palm. She stopped then and looked at her palm with complete and utter amazement. She felt the tickle as the snitch flapped it’s wings in her palm and spread her fingers out just enough to see the golden hue. She had actually caught it.
“ I caught it!” She shouted, holding her fist high.
The two boys lifted their heads from their spot across the field. They didn’t believe they had heard it right.
“ I caught it!” she shouted as she raced across the field. Krum jumped out of the way as the broom nearly his him in the chest as she raced to the man.
“ Slow down.” He smiled as he pushed the broom away.
“ Look!” she shouted and shoved the snitch toward him.
“ Very good.” He held her hand closed as she thrust it toward him. She looked like a Christmas tree. Her eyes glowed in their excitement, her cheeks dimpled as her smile erupted on her face.
Viktor nodded his head to the side as he adjusted the broom and pulled it lower so her toes touched the wood of the stands. She easily hopped off the broom and Viktor held it in his hand and her hand in the other.
“ Look at it.” He requested, voice slightly shaky. The girl quirked a brow and pursed her lips in question as the dark haired Bulgarian withdrew his hand.
She tentatively brought her fist back to her chest. Their eyes locked for a moment, his pleading while her’s questioned. She dropped her eyes to her palm as she opened it. The little golden snitch had quieted down and lie still there. It looked average, maybe shinier and newer, but average. She rubbed the metal with her fingers. The metal was smooth, except for some odd ridges and divots that reminded her oddly of “made in china” indentations. She flipped it over, finding the engraving on the opposite side. She moved it closer to her face, seeing the small script written in Bulgarian characters.
“Read it.” He requested. She pulled her hand from his and moved the golden orb so the light hit the letters. ще се омъжиш ли за мен? It read. She wasn’t fluent in her Bulgarian but the words seemed simple enough. Her mind worked the translation through slowly.
“ Will you marry me?” She said simply. The words had not yet connected in her brain. Her eyes shot to the man when they did, her mouth opened in shock.
Viktor had shifted in the span of her thought. He was now on one knee before her.
“ ще се омъжиш ли за мен?” He spoke, voice deep and sure despite his knee shaking.
As the words left his mouth, the snitch split open and disappeared into a pile of golden glitter. In the center of the pile, there sat a small gold band with a diamond in the middle. Her eyes opened wide and a childlike giggle escaped her mouth.
“ Will you marry me?” He translated with a nervous smile.
Her throat closed in shock and happiness. She felt ready to laugh and cry. Her chest felt ready to burst and she had no idea how to act. All she could do was nod her head.
“ Yes.” She choked out, the word struggling to get out of her throat. She refused to cry and swallowed the lump in her throat. She would not be one of those girls who cried. Nope.
The word sparked Viktor. A joyous smile covered his face and he sprung to his feet . His arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her, spinning in a circle as he went. She pressed her lips to his in a celebratory kiss.
All around, a chorus of “Krum!” and wolf whistles rang about. The two pulled away and shot a glare at the company on the grass below. Despite it, she pressed her lips to his again.
“ The ring, you numbskull. Put the ring on the girl.” Levski reminded.
He placed the ring on her finger, the wolf whistles continued. She pressed a kiss to his lips, and he held her close.
It was odd, but perfect, how things had changed. She could have run, hidden far away from anywhere magic could have found her. But, she didn’t. Magic had appeared as a curse for so long. Now, it appeared as a gift, like it was always meant to be.