Whatever Will Be, Will Be

Chapter Thirteen: Eternity

Viktor's POV

"Put's a pathetic name to our school." He went on as I watched discreetly from the hallway. "It's bad enough he was picked as champion. If only the tournament had waited a couple years; it might've been me up there. And if it were, I'd show everyone how it's really done.

"I mean honestly, out of all three champions he's the only one who ends up in the Hospital? What a way to make our school shine its colors." He said sarcastically before taking a small drink from his mug.

"He's been Hufflepuff Captain and Seeker for a year, what d'you mean it's bad he was chosen?" A girl with choppy black hair and pale skin asked him. "I thought we couldn't have had anyone better selected."

"How about you Blaise; how do you feel about Diggory?"

"I've never been given a reason not to like him. And from what I've seen of him on the Quidditch pitch, the man knows what he's doing. I think Hogwarts has a fair chance of winning with him sponsoring us."

"That's Quidditch, and it's completely beside the point!" He snapped. "Are you two completely overlooking the fact that he got completely scorched by that dragon? I mean talk about pathetic."

"Are you being serious right now Draco?" The girl asked him quizzically. "It was a dragon; a fair few make it out alive when faced with a dragon in the wild. But this one was chained up and placed in the same dome and he was with no escape. If you ask me he did just as well as anyone would have done if they were put in that situation."

"Yeah, 'sides Draco, you weren't even there to see it. So who are you to criticize for something you've only heard about?" The boy called Blaise said.

"The fact remains that he was the only one out of all three of them to get hurt. And I needn't have been there to be able to criticize that."

"Where were you, anyway?" The girl asked him after a few moments of silence.

"I was just walking around. I figured its less time wasting than just sitting around and watching people battle dragons and steal their golden eggs.

"No. I Figured I'd get a few things taken care of while the rest of the school was preoccupied."

"Not quite the rest of the school, was it?" The girl wondered. "I didn't see Granger there, either. I mean, not like I was looking or anything… but the girl does stand out in places."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Malfoy barked.

"Well, as much as I hate saying it and as much as it pains me to say it… the girl is uncommonly beautiful Draco. It's just a pity she doesn't have better blood."

"It's true." Blaise agreed with a smirk and a nod. "She wasn't exactly flawless first year, but, as time has been going by…" He trailed. "There was a time when I even considered-"

"What's that?" Malfoy cut him off shortly.

"Nothing, nothing…"

Malfoy shook his head and looked annoyed. "Alright, guys, how exactly did we go from the tournament to my ex's looks?"

"Ex?" The girl asked him. "You mean you broke it off with her?"

"Kind of, it's a bit too complicated to get into right now." He told them. "But no, she broke it off with me, so…"

"Oh, I'm sorry Draco." The girl comforted him. "I mean not to say that I'm not relieved or anything, I'm only sorry she broke it off with you before you got the chance to do it to her."

"Do what to her?" He asked quickly.

"Break … it … off. With her…" She said slowly. "What did you think I meant?" She asked as she looked over at Blaise, who looked at her just as curiously.

"Nothing, I knew what you meant." He mumbled. "Listen, guys, I've gotta go. I'll catch you in the common room later."

"Are you sure you're alright?" He insisted after Hermione had made her way from the prison of the Hospital and was back in her own common room with the comfort of her redheaded friend. "You looked awful Hermione, and I mean awful…"

"I know Ron. I know how bad I looked, I don't need your constant reminding." She said while stifling a yawn. "And yes, I am fine. My head twinges a bit, but Madam Pomfrey said it should be fine my tomorrow morning as the latest's. Other that that I am fine."

"Physically." He mumbled. "Herm… Hermione, how are you doing?" He asked her before taking both her hands in his. "Really? I know what happened, the only reason I'm here right now and not off killing Malfoy is because I wanted to be here when you got back… and, well, I also saw Krum on a murderous hunt on my way to the Hospital. Kept saying he was going to fix something or something to that effect… Really I had no idea what he was talking about, didn't make any sense at all, I didn't ask him, though, 'course. Do you know what he meant? I mean does that make any sense to you?" He wondered quickly. "Oh, but then I guess it doesn't really matter, so long as Malfoy gets what's coming to him."

"Ron." She huffed. "Ron." She smiled. "I know that you're trying to be comforting, but at the risk of being rude… can you please just, not? Can you please just… sit here with me? I have… I have a lot I need to think about. And this, talking, it's just…" She trailed off.

"Of course." He said softly, and the two sat in silence.

Hermione looked deeply into the red hot flames of the fire, and listened to the soothing sounds of its familiar popping and sizzling as it roared softly in her ears; her arms folded gingerly in her lap. She wanted so badly to cry. She wanted to scream and rip her own heart out to stop its pain. She felt as if she could go crazy and just scream profanities to herself through the bathroom mirror and slap herself for her own stupidity.

Why had she stayed with Draco, no… Malfoy… Malfoy… why had she stayed with Malfoy for so long? Why did she even get with him in the first place? But, more importantly, why had he gotten with her in the first place? All he had been doing throughout their entire acquaintanceship beforehand was make fun of her and put her down, not to mention her friends as well.

Hermione Granger: the filthy little mudblood. Ron Weasley: a member of a pureblood Wizarding family that disgraced wizards everywhere because of his family's lack of wealth. And Harry Potter: Nothing wrong with him at all, except the fact that he was famous and a better seeker than Malfoy would ever be even in his wildest dreams, which drove him mad.

Hermione cupped her hands softly around her face and let out a deep, suppressed, sigh.

She was exhausted. She wanted to sleep.

She slowly dropped her hands from her face and allowed them to fall loosely into her lap, where they then slid carelessly to her sides and onto the surface of the soft couch. She breathed deeply and slowly as she dropped her head backwards and closed her eyes.

She didn't blame him, Viktor, for what happened. Though she knew from the last thing he had told her after seeing her off at the Hospital that he blamed himself. And looking at it through his eyes, she understood how he could blame himself. But through anybody else's eyes, including her own, it was all too clear whose fault it really was… her own. She'd been the one who ignored everybody else's warnings and cautions. She'd been the one who kept telling herself he would change; get better. She'd been the one who stayed with him all the time. And she was the one who decided to break up with him with no one else around. But most of all… she'd been the one who didn't pull out her wand all of the times he had hurt her, or threatened her. She didn't pull out her wand when he was about to force himself on top of her…

Small, inconspicuous tears escaped the corners of Hermione eyes as she thought harder and harder on the last reason why it had all been her fault. Hermione Granger, the schools most intelligent, library-obsessed, know-it-all. Turns out books and cleverness aren't everything. In fact, apart from either of the two, she was the stupidest and most unintelligent student that had probably ever walked the halls of Hogwarts… in its entire thousand plus years standing.

She swallowed hard as a warm hand intertwined its fingers with hers.

Turns out inconspicuous isn't so much inconspicuous with close friends…

"I'm right here Hermione." He whispered to her softly while leaning himself crookedly against the back of the couch with his the side of his head propped at an angle so as to be able to watch her more closely.

She wanted to tell him she knew, but she couldn't bring herself to. She knew that if she opened her mouth all that would come out would be silly uncontrollable sobs. And as much as she cared for Ron as a friend, he was not the person Hermione wanted to be held by nor comforted by in that way. Hermione knew Ron had feelings for her, and had had feelings for her ever since she had gotten petrified in second year; he wasn't too discreet about hiding them. And Hermione, along with others, had suspected his reason for this because he thought that maybe Hermione might see that he liked her, and return the same advances. But Hermione would not return these advances, because she did not want to send him any mixed messages. She had no secret feelings for Ron, not would she ever. Ron was her friend; one of her best ones at that, and nothing in the world would change that. She never wanted anything more or less from Ron, and she didn't want to confuse him. She had, after all, already broken her rule of no mixed-message-sending by allowing Cedric Diggory to share her cot with her whilst in the Hospital.

If Viktor had seen that… if he had seen that… if he had walked in on that… what would he have thought of her? Would he think badly of her? Would he… would he hate her for it? Would he think that Hermione had feelings for Cedric, and that she had only been using him, Viktor, because he had shown a tendency to show up before dangerous situations had time to play out? Or would he understand that she was just a female, a dreadful, emotional wreck who just needed someone to listen?

She had told Cedric that she wasn't sure if she would be able to trust Viktor again, when, in truth… she had only said that because she was scared. She wasn't scared of not being able to trust him, but scared of how much she already did trust him. She hardly knew him, yet she couldn't fight the trust and comfort she found by being with him. When she was with him she felt safer than she ever had in her entire life. And though he was not there to stop Malfoy from taking her innocence, he had been the one to found her. She had heard, and saw him, running to her as she was lying bleeding and nearly unconscious on the ground. She had seen as he had almost cried about not being able to protect her from danger.

And when they kissed… it was like… it was like the entire world stopped, and all that existed was them and his arms wrapped around her, and his chest pressed against hers and they breathed as one; his warmth filtering gently into her. The way he had said her name, it wasn't like a demand or an annoyance or a statement… but a prayer, a gentle suggestion and thankfulness. A promise.

As the tears falling freely from Hermione eyes increased, she had to hold her breath in heaps at a time to stop herself from bursting out in a fit of thick sobs. And she knew it then, she realized it then, she wasn't crying because of Malfoy. She was crying because of Viktor…

She was in love with him.

It was twilight now; the sky outside blue and gold with splashes of purple and flex of pink and orange… it was the perfect contradiction to the night I was about to have.

I knew Hermione would never forgive me for not being able to protect her; it was hard enough to have to live with that. But just standing around while the child who beat and abused and cursed and raped her goes freely… it was not in my character. Even if she already hated me, I would at least fix what I had done wrong in the first place to at least hope to make it a little better.

The scum was sitting absentmindedly at the back of the library, with his face turned hazily towards the window and his hands folded neatly in his lap. It was too early to do anything yet, there were too many people still in the vicinity. I would have to wait for it to become more vacant, and if he left before then, then I'd just follow him. But, for now I would just have to take a hidden seat and wait.

I watched him for I don't know how long, as the sun slowly sunk lower and lower into the horizon, fading the night sky outside into almost a complete blackness. The only thing now illuminating the library was the vast amounts of candles surrounding the room; it was almost empty now. I would only have to wait a little longer.

He flipped through book after book, merely skimming pages other than taking anything in. It made me wonder if he hadn't been doing his own work lately, if he had been having Hermione do it for him.

And at last, after probably a half of an hour or so, he finally stood up. He let out a long, shaky yawn and extended his arms above his head and arched his back to stretch.

I followed him mutely out of the library, carefully taking footstep at a time as he carelessly bounced off the walls from, what I imagined to be, tiredness.

He rounded a corner, and that's when I sprang at him; sending my closed fist into the side of his head and instantly knocking him out cold.

I dragged his unconscious body into an empty classroom and dropped his harshly onto the floor after kicking the door closed with the heel of my boot. I then pulled my wand from my pocket and put a simple, yet effective locking charm on the door, and then charmed the whole of the area with a powerful sound-proof charm.

I got impatient after about ten minutes or so, and jumped down from the desk I had perched myself from and slapped the limp boy hard across the face.

Still nothing.

"Vake up." I told him irritably. "Vake up…" Slap. "Vake up…" Slap. "Vake up…" I let out a grunt before slapping him one more time and shouting, "VAKE UP!"

He merely moaned out a little and twitched his head, thinking he was waking; I stood up and let out a sigh. But as I looked down at his body, his head flopped back down to the side.

I bent back down, now more irritated than before, and was readying myself to strike him yet again, when his eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, good." I told him with a friendly smile. "You're avake. I vas about to hit you again, and it really isn't as fun hitting you vhen you don't react." I told him. "It is much more fun vhen I vatch you call out in pain." I stood and walked over to the desk I had beet sitting on before and looked over at him. "Vhat? Nothing to say?

"I see… I guess that means you are going to have to just stand there and listen me talk for a vhile, yes?" Still nothing. "Alright then. I hate you. I hate you more than the meaning of the vord. You, Draco Malfoy, are a pathetic excuse for a man and give the rest of us a bad name. You take advantage of a beautiful young voman and beat her. You hit her, and yell at her, thro things at her, you shove her against valls. You curse her, and you try and rape her. And vhen you vern't successful the first time, you try again. Only this time you succeed."

"Why do you care so bloody much?" He asked after a moment. "She's just a stupid mudblood, not like she's actually worth anything."

I stepped forward with a stern face and looked at him silently. Without him having a chance to even register what was about to happen, I decked him firmly in the nose with a clenched fist. He hollered out in pain and clamped his hand over his bleeding nose and looked up at me from where he had fallen to the ground.

"If you ever, ever call her that again… or speak about her like that…" I was fuming, I couldn't even think of the words I had been about to say.

And without warning to either party, my anger had reached a climax so intense that I could no longer remember anything. Except that he had to pay. He had to suffer for what he had done.

I bent down faster than I thought my body was able to move and ripped him from the floor by the collar of his jacket and held him in the air before me. "M-my father."

I didn't give him a chance to finish. I threw him back to the ground and planted the toe of my right boot swiftly into his side, and he called out in pain, and as he did, I saw Hermione.

I saw Hermione in my mind, screaming, and begging him to stop. Begging him to stop hitting her, stop slapping her or kicking her. To stop raping her.

Every assault I gave him, it was not him I heard screaming, but her.

"Please!" – "Please Draco!"

My fist landed hard against his cheek after I had slammed him against the wall.

"I'm sorry!" – "I'm sorry!"

"Please stop!" – "Please stop!"

I lifted my knee between his legs and he grunted against me before I let him fall to the ground with his hands clenched tightly over himself. And I took the opportunity to plant my knee twice against his face, before bringing my fist back down to his cheek and knocking him sideways to the ground.

I began shouting at him, and decking either his nose or cheek between each word. "ROT – IN – HELL – YOU – STUPID – PATHETIC – VEAK – USELESS – PIECE – OF – SCUM!" I was now holding him up with my left hand and beating him with my right, and my knee was propping him upwards against the wall to prevent him falling down. "IF – YOU – EVER – EVEN – LOOK – AT – HER – AGAIN – I – SVEAR – THIS – VILL - SEEM – LIKE – A – FRIENDLY – PAT – FROM – A – FRIEND!"

His face was bloody, bruised and swollen. But still, with every grunt or cry, all I could see or hear was her.

I finally stood up, changed my mind, and bent down and hit him once more.

It wasn't until he coughed up blood that I stopped. And even then, I wasn't finished.

I took his right hand and forced him to ball it into a fist, and then slammed it hard as I could into the stone floor, and didn't stop until I heard bones breaking.

"I made a promise to her." I said after I was properly satisfied while kneeling in front of him. "And I broke that promise. But be assured, this one I vill not break. If you ever touch her again I vill kill you."

Hermione stood with her forearms resting gently against the edge of the stone railing as she looked out onto the dark scene before her.

If someone had been walking by and saw her, they would think she was just a relaxed student admiring the beautiful night scenery before her. They would have never guessed she had tears wetting her cheeks, or that more were coming profusely with each passing second.

But I was not just someone, and I could see it without even having to look at her face. She was in pain, and it put me through more torture than being thrown into a wildfire or being dumped into a bucket of boiling acid. I could handle those any hour of any day. But this, seeing her in pain… that was the real torture.

I walked up to her and placed my hand softly onto her shoulder, and she spun her head quickly around and looked up at me. When she saw who I was, I expected her to shy away and even ignore me. But instead her face formed into a weary smile and her tears multiplied as she spun her body around and wrapped her arms around my shoulders and sobbed into my chest.

I let out a breath of nervous air I had been holding in and slid my arms around her and held her tightly against me. And without even realizing it, I had been trembling and my knees buckled before I even had a chance to stop it. And the both of us dropped klutzily to the ground, but neither of us paid it any true notice. I pulled her into my lap as we hit the ground and held her tighter still and rubbed her back soothingly.

"I'm here Hermione." I whispered softly now that her sobs had lightened. "I told you I vould come back for you."

She sniffed her nose softly as she pulled her head away from my chest and looked into my eyes.

"He isn't going to touch you again." I told her lightly as I slid my hand up and cupped it softly around her cheek, and she leaned into my touch and placed her small hand over mine.

"I didn't mean for it to happen…" She told me.

"I know, it vasn't your fau-"

"No." She corrected me softly while shaking her head and pulling my hand from her cheek and holding it securely in her small ones. "Not that. I mean… I…"

"Vhat is it?" I asked her gingerly.

"I didn't mean to fall in love with you." Her voice was hardly a whisper, I probably wouldn't have heard her if my hearing hadn't been so good. "And I understand if… I understand if you don-"

I cut her off as I gently placed my lips onto hers and kissed her slowly.

As I pulled my lips from hers her eyes slowly opened. "I have loved you since the first moment I ever saw you… I've been in love vith you since I stopped that Bludger from hitting you." I told her as her chin trembled slightly. "You're all I have been able to think about since that night. I found you because I… I can feel you, Hermione. In here." I told her as I placed the palm of her hand over my heart. "The night vhen Nikolai found you crying my name… I didn't know vhat to think vhen he told me about it. I came to you as fast as I could.

"And vhen you are in my arms… it's the only thing that matters to me." I told her as I ran my hand across her cheek and into the tangles of her hair. "You're the only thing that matters to me."

We were silent as I scooted backwards and leaned my back against the stone wall.

"I love you." Hermione whispered softly as she looked up at me. "But I'm scared."

She had loved Malfoy at one point, and I knew that. And what he had done to her… I would spend the rest of my life undoing. I would spend the rest of my life doing nothing less than loving her, protecting her, comforting her and holding her and giving her everything she deserved.

As I looked into her eyes I knew she had never loved him even remotely as close to how much she loved me, or I loved her. It was love at first sight for me; I had always loved her…

"I know." I whispered back before leaning down and kissing her forehead softly, and then leaning mine against hers for a few moments before bring my head back up to look down at her contently.

We played with our hands for what seemed like ever. Just lacing our fingers together and unlacing them. Sometimes we would cup our hands together and just hold them there for what we thought was eternity.

And that's how long we would stay like this; happy, content, comfortable, in love…

For Eternity.

THE END

AN: So, that, my good readers, is the product of 1) Five hours of sleep when my body is used to ten – thirteen. 2) Writers block, and 3) Determination to finish the chapter!

And, as you can see by the ending there saying THE END, it is clearly the end of the story. However, I might (by might I mean might… it is late, 1:30am, but hey, isn't insomnia fun!) be thinking about writing a sequel, about their happy life together. (and of course I'd add some twists!) But I am not sure, I have never actually written a sequel before and don't know if I would be any good at it… so, for those of you who think it might be a good idea, or if it would be something you would be interested in reading, just leave it in a review and I will take it into consideration.

And lastly, I have recently finished another one of my stories, and people weren't too happy about it. So, this is me asking you to please not leave me any nasty or rude reviews about finishing the story when you didn't want it to end. I personally was not going to end the story at this chapter, but and I was wrapping it up I thought it would be a perfect ending, and also saw, and thought, if I didn't end it there I would have severe writers block next chapter and not post another chapter for like six months (which, for this story, was not an uncommon happening!) So, to all of you who have stuck with me since the beginning, thank you! And to the rest of you who came across my story later and liked it, thank you too!

I personally think the story ended beautifully. And that is not just coming from the writer, but as a reader too. Seeing how you have to read something in order to write it… yay sleeplessness!

XOXO – Bella Diggory