Chocolate Brown Eyed Girl: Chapter 2

A/N Yes, I know I've taken forever to update, but give me a break people, I've been busy! My schoolteachers don't seem to realize I've got a life outside of schoolwork, my violin teacher doesn't realize I have a life outside of violin and between this that and the other I have had no time for writing! If you're suffering from a severe lack of HGVK then check out my other story, A walk by the Lakeside… oh no, I have to update that too. Crap! I really need about six more hours in the day! Oh well, at least this is a fairly decent length update.

Hermione awoke on Christmas morning feeling a strange mix of excitement and apprehension. The excitement was obvious. It was Christmas Day and there was the childhood happiness always associated with Christmas in her heart, not to mention a pile of presents waiting downstairs.

The apprehension… oh yeah. She was going to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum that night. Her stomach clenched tightly, although not unpleasantly, at the thought.

Being a practical girl, Hermione decided the first thing to do was go and open presents. When she reached the common room, the boys were already there. Harry was leafing through the book she had gotten him, Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland, and Ron was half-heartedly tearing the paper off another of Mrs. Weasley's jumpers.

Hermione methodically searched through the pile of presents under the tree until she found the ones addressed to her. The first one she opened was from her Mum, a beautiful package of aromatherapy bath oils.

Hermione felt a grin spread across her face. Even all the bubble bath taps in the bathrooms of Hogwarts couldn't compare with good old-fashioned bath oils. "What's that?" asked Ron, peering over her shoulder. "Oh, girls' stuff. Never mind."

She also got a new book on fashion from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century from her Dad. That was one thing she missed about Muggle school. Goblin rebellions really couldn't compare to Michelangelo and the Pieta or Leonardo da Vinci and the Virgin on the Rocks. Thank God, Dad had seen to it that her history at any rate was not neglected.

When all her presents had been unwrapped, she sorted through them again. Bath oils from Mum, book from Dad, rock cakes from Hagrid (which she made a careful note of to put away until she could find a safe charm to dispose of them), large packet of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum from Ron, a new quill and colour-changing ink from Harry, and a jumper (obviously from Mrs. Weasley), knitted in pretty, pink, angora wool, along with a stack of home made mince pies.

She then insisted on going down to the great hall for some breakfast although Harry and Ron stayed behind, nearly lost in a huge pile of red and green wrapping paper.

Boys Hermione thought as she entered the Great Hall They're like babies, sitting up there playing with their toys instead of being sensible and coming down to have breakfast. Apparently not all boys though, as Viktor Krum and his Durmstrang friends were sitting at the Slytherin table.

He gave Hermione a nervous smile and she gave him a smile back, which was probably just as nervous if not more so. Casting her eyes downward to ignore the stares she was getting from Viktor Krum smiling at her, Hermione grabbed cereal, milk and pumpkin juice at the Gryffindor table and ate her breakfast in silence.

It was nearly ten o' clock before Harry and Ron shifted their lazy behinds out of the common room and then of course, in between much moaning and complaining, they suggested a snowball fight.

They didn't proceed right away, Ron proclaiming that he couldn't concentrate on anything before noon. Well that would explain most of your marks in class Hermione felt like saying to him.

It was half past one before they actually got around to doing anything and then Fred and George insisted on joining them, causing more tramping around the grounds, looking for somewhere with enough snow for all five of them.

Five diminished to four as Hermione looked at her watch. "I'm going to go get ready for the ball," she said to the boys, as they flung snowballs at one another. "What, do you need three hours?" Ron shouted after her. "Who are you going with?"

Hermione merely waved and silently thanked Fred as a particularly well-aimed snowball of his caught Ron in the side of the head stifling his words and causing him to lose interest in Hermione as he turned back to Fred for revenge.

Hermione slipped up the stairs to the Gryffindor girls' dormitory. She grabbed her various beauty products. A bottle of Sleakeazy's hair potion, Parvati had told her about this and she had bought it last Hogsmeade weekend, and the package of aromatic bath oils that had been a Christmas present from her mother.

She slipped into the bathroom and quickly turned on just a few of the taps, filling the tub with warm water and bubbles. I love magic she thought silently as bubble bath came streaming out of the taps.

She added some of the bath oils and then quickly undressed and slipped into the bath. For a few moments, she simply relaxed in the hot water, but then sat up and briskly scrubbed herself all over, until she was glowing pink.

Next came the Sleakeazy's. She uncapped the bottle and poured a liberal amount into the palm of her hand. She then proceeded to scrub her bushy hair well with it before rinsing it out.

Hermione gasped as she glanced at the hands of her watch, getting out of the bath. She had taken longer than she thought. She quickly dried herself off with a fluffy towel, thoughtfully left on a hot pipe by one of the house-elves (she was too busy to automatically go into full SPEW rant), and created a stream of hot air from her wand to dry her hair.

From her trunk, she pulled her periwinkle blue dress robes and sincerely hoped they wouldn't clash with whatever Viktor would be wearing. She was pleased to find they still fitted her as perfectly as they had in the summer, flattering her slim, delicate figure.

Grabbing a hairbrush from her dressing table, she pulled her hair back into a neat chignon and secured it firmly with many pins. Gazing at the many unfamiliar cosmetics on the dressing table that Parvati had helped her purchase, including Fairy Dust Eye shadow: It'll really make you sparkle, Hermione decided to stick to the basics and applied clear lip gloss, pale blush and light blue eye shadow. (Not the Fairy Dust kind.)

She looked up into the mirror and was stunned at the pretty girl staring back at her. Is that really me? she thought. That tall slim girl with sleek, shiny hair, gorgeous blue robes and shining chocolate brown eyes? Yep she thought with satisfaction. I look good.

"Ooh you look lovely, Hermione," said Parvati, coming up behind her. "I told you the Sleakeazy's was a good idea didn't I? Every boy in Hogwarts is going to want to dance with you. Especially… who did you say you were going with again?"

Hermione smiled at Parvati, but remained silent. She'd been trying to coax the identity of her date out of her for weeks. She was almost as bad as Ron really.

"You look lovely too," said Hermione. "Oh well, you know I'm going with the Hogwarts champion!"

"One of them." Hermione reminded her. "Oh yes, well. You know to be honest I'm surprised he didn't ask you."

"Oh, by the time it occurred to Harry and Ron that I actually was a girl who could be asked to the ball, I'd already been asked." Hermione said with a laugh. "Boys!" Parvati rolled her eyes expressively. "Boys!" Hermione agreed.

"Actually, we'd better get going hadn't we?" Hermione said with a glance at her watch. "You go on," said Parvati, leaning over to check her make-up in the mirror. "I'll be down in a minute."

Hermione slipped down to the Entrance Hall where a few people were nervously shifting from foot to foot, presumably awaiting their partners. Hermione decided to check outside to see if there was any sign of the Durmstrang students coming from their ship.

She slipped around the heavy wooden door and caught sight of the crowd coming up from the lakeside. She made her way up to them, thankfully Viktor was at the head of the party so she didn't have to search for him. "Hi," she said, somewhat nervously. "Hi," he said, also seeming nervous.

"Ah Viktor." Karkaroff swept up, looking imposing in his sleek furs. "Is this your partner? Excellent, excellent." He gave Hermione a very oily smile, which made her skin crawl.

"Well come along then," he said to the rest of the party. "And do your school proud." Viktor held out an arm for Hermione to take, she did so and they made their way up to the castle at the head of the group of Durmstrangs.

When they reached the Entrance Hall there were, far more people there than Hermione had seen just ten minutes ago. Professor McGonnagall was lining up all the champions outside the doors to the Great Hall.

There was Fleur, attracting far more boys' stares than just those of her partner, Roger Davies. There was Cedric with Cho Chang. Hermione felt sorry for Harry, she knew how much he fancied Cho.

And there was Harry himself with Parvati on his arm, her bright pink robes very conspicuous in the crowd. "Hi, Harry!" she said. "Hi, Parvati!" Parvati was looking at her in disbelief, as were many of the girls from Viktor's fan club. She smiled as she remembered him hiding under his invisibility cloak just to come up and ask her to the Ball.

Harry was looking her up and down, apparently searching for any trace of the bookish Hermione he knew in her. When all the other students had made their way into the Great Hall, the big doors opened again and McGonagall directed the champions and their partners to proceed inside.

They made their way up towards the top table where the judges were sitting. Hermione attempted to catch Ron's eye as she walked past but he ignored her, the expression of utmost disdain on his freckled face.

Fine she thought at him, her face flushed. Really, he was so childish. Viktor glanced at her; apparently, she had unconsciously gripped his arm tighter. "Are you all right?" he whispered. She nodded and took her seat next to him as they reached the table.

Instead of the usual huge platters of food on the tables, there were empty plates, menus, and no waiters. Viktor looked at just as much of a loss as her as to the method of serving until Dumbledore picked up his menu and announced to his plate, "Pork chops!" A moment later, the requested platter appeared.

Oh, right Hermione thought, picking up her menu and scanned her menu. When she and Viktor had both placed their orders with their plates, she turned to him and attempted to strike up a conversation.

"Um, so what is your school like?" she asked. Viktor seemed immensely relieved by her starting the conversation; he immediately became more talkative than anyone in Hogwarts had ever seen him.

"Oh it is good. Nothing like here, of course. I am liking your school very much. The building is very beautiful and the veather is being nice." British weather, nice? thought Hermione. Rain and sleet and fog? Krum continued with his description of Durmstrang.

"Vell, ve have a castle also, not as big as this, nor as comfortable, I am thinking," he told her. "Ve have just four floors and the fires are lit only for magical purposes. But ve haff grounds even larger than these – though in vinter ve have very little daylight so ve are not enjoying them. But in summer ve are flying every day, over the lakes and the mountains…"

"Now, now Viktor!" Karkaroff's voice cut across him and Hermione turned to him with an annoyed look on her face. She had been enjoying Viktor's company. He gave her the same oily smile he had before and said, intending to make it sound like a joke. "Don't go giving away anything else, now, or your charming friend will know exactly where to find us!"

Hermione heard Dumbledore draw Karkaroff into debate as she turned to Viktor again. "Igor, all this secrecy…" she heard him say. "One would almost think you didn't want visitors." She missed Karkaroff's answer as she had just muttered to Viktor, under her breath "Does he do this all the time?"

"Yes," Viktor replied, also under his breath, looking towards his Headmaster with an expression of intense dislike. "Well, we had better avoid such taboo subjects as your school then, hadn't we?" said Hermione. "And there's no point in me describing mine, you've seen a lot of Hogwarts all ready, and you're likely to see the rest before the end of the Tournament."

"You must tell me more about you." Viktor said, taking a sip from the golden goblet in front of him. "Oh, well," said Hermione, blushing. "Not much to tell really. I live outside London with my parents. They're both Muggles and they're both dentists. I have an enormous orange cat, called Crookshanks, that Ron swears is a demon. I like reading." She sat back. "There you have it, a summary of Hermione Jane Granger."

"Do you haff any sisters or brothers, Hermy-own?" asked Viktor. "No," Hermione replied. "And you're saying my name wrong. It's Hermione. Her-my-oh-nee."

"Herm-own-ninny," pronounced Viktor. "Close enough." Hermione caught Harry's eye and grinned. When everybody had finished off as much as they could of the delicious array of food, Dumbledore stood, asked the students to do so also, and with a flick of his wand, all the tables soared to the edges of the Great Hall.

With a cheer from the crowd of students, the Weird Sisters trooped up onto the stage. Viktor gallantly offered Hermione his arm and led her down to the dance floor, where McGonnagall was placing the champions. Hermione saw Harry stumble into place with Parvati, and felt sorry for him for a brief second.

Then Viktor placed one hand on her waist and she took her right hand to let her place his left on his shoulder. The Weird Sisters started up a slow tune and they waltzed in perfect time to the music, her dress robes swirling out in a flash of blue. Viktor was a surprisingly good dancer, considering that he was much less graceful on the ground than on his broomstick.

Other couples started coming onto the floor, including Neville and Ginny and Fred and Angelina, but Hermione didn't notice them. She had eyes only for Viktor. She lifted her head and her brown eyes locked with his nearly black ones. It seemed as if they were the only ones in the room, just them, slowly waltzing until the end of time. Then the song died away and Hermione stopped dancing reluctantly.

The Weird Sisters struck up a new, jazzy song, but Hermione did not start dancing right away. She savored the last lingering tendrils of romance that the slow dance had inspired. "Do you like this one, also?" Krum asked. "Ve do not haff to dance."

"No." Hermione said. "I love jazz. Let's dance." A grin spread across Viktor's face as she caught the beat of the music and started dancing. He fell into the rhythm that the fast song required, and clasped Hermione's hand just in time to send her spinning out from him, so her swirling blue dress robes became part of a pretty picture of many swirls of color from girls dress robes as their partners spun them.

He spun her back into him and danced with an infectious grin on his face, that Hermione soon caught. His Durmstrang schoolmates who saw him looked at him with looks of extreme astonishment on their faces, but Viktor was totally preoccupied with the chocolate-brown-eyed girl dancing with him.

Right people, I am working on the rest of the Ball really hard and hope to have it up before too long. I just figured I'd give you this to sate your appetites. The next one will just cover the rest of the Ball and probably won't be as long as this. Sorry. Keep reviewing people! Yopu have no idea how happy it makes me! And I'll update sooner if I have more encouragement…

Thanks,

Self-Stirring Cauldron