Hi everyone! (Waves)

So I got the harry potter series as a gift for graduating, and I've been absolutely loving it! So far the fourth book is my favourite, and I got the idea of this story while I was writing it! As for the ship choice, I know it's not really popular, and I didn't care much for it when I watched the movie, but when I read the books I found just the idea of the couple really intriguing. I never really liked Ron and Hermione as a couple, but I love the friendship between them and harry. SO I wanted to write something with them, but still with the ship. Hopefully this isn't the last! I don't own anything from harry potter, and I hope you all enjoy! Please review if possible so I can learn what I did right or wrong.

Thanks to Dracarot for telling me the mistakes I made in location. I'm pretty sure I've fixed them all. Thank you again!

"I can't believe it," Ron gaped.

"I DON'T believe it," Harry agreed.

"I wish I didn't believe it," Hermione muttered.

"He asked you to go with him to Bulgaria?" Ron exclaimed loudly. "For the whole summer?"

It took Harry shushing him and Hermione's quick glances around the great hall to make sure no one had noticed. Just a few weeks ago Rita Skeeter's newest article on the triwizard tournament (Cough* Harry *Cough) had gotten to the school. It had taken a while for the hate mail to finally subside and for Ron to convince his mother that all the articles were bogus, but when it did Ron and Harry finally realized what that article said. Neither of them had focused on the small details, too annoyed with the lies that Rita often published. But after some time they re-focused on the part where Krum had asked Hermione to go with him to Bulgaria for the summer.

Ron for one was completely taken aback. "I thought that you weren't being serious when you first told me," he gaped like a goldfish out of water. "For the whole summer? To Bulgaria?"

"Yes, and shush!" Hermione ordered, glancing worriedly at the other Gryffindor's eating their breakfast. Luckily they'd picked a rather secluded spot at the edge of the dining table, and the other students were all too busy talking about the upcoming tasks and their divination assignments to pay any attention. Whispering fairly loudly Hermione explained. "I already told you, he asked me after the second task. But I was too busy wanting to make sure you and Harry were alright so I didn't answer." With a gloomy expression, Hermione poked at her sausages. "It's been a while since then…He asked me again two days ago…Had to tell him I had to get to potions to avoid answering…" Neither Harry nor Ron heard that last part, both still stuck on the first.

"That sounds fantastic Hermione," Harry rejoiced. "I'm sure you'd have a great time learning about wizards from another culture." While he was mostly excited for his friend, he was also very hopeful that her going with Victor for the summer might take away some of the rumors flying around about him and her because of Rita's articles.

The third friend of their group however frowned at the idea. "You sure it's safe up there? On your own, with just him?" Unlike Harry, Ron, obviously, wasn't as comfortable with the idea of Hermione and Krum being a couple. He'd hated it at first, assuming that he was only dating her because of Harry. But after he'd asked her to go with him to Bulgaria after the contest was over, even he had a hard time coming up with a reason to distrust him. While the two of them certainly didn't speak at all, at least Ron wasn't trash-talking him anymore. Sometimes, in private, he admitted he was worried about Hermione's safety with the 'stranger-from-another-school-we-only-met-this-year,' but knew his worries were unjustified. He hadn't hurt Hermione, and the last four years had proven that Hermione could take care of herself.

Hermione didn't notice Ron's worry for her safety. "Technically, it wouldn't be just us. He has quidditch practices sometimes so I'd get to know his team…and he's still only 18, so he doesn't actually have his own house…so he said we'd be living down south with his parents." Hermione shivered at the idea. Harry watched her reaction with confusion. Hermione never had any problem with talking to adults. Sometimes adults had more of a hard time trying to talk to her than the other way around. He'd never seen her nervous about talking to anyone's parents-even if they were the parents of her first boyfriend.

"I guess it sounds fun," Ron ruefully admitted. "Maybe he can get you over your fear of flying." Hermione glared at him, but didn't say a word.

Harry watched her curiously. "Are you leaving right after school ends? Will you be able to take the ship back with them?" Ron perked up at the idea of Hermione taking the mysterious ship to a foreign land. He already planned to ask her all about what the ship was like. But his hopes seemed to be in vain as Hermione's cheeks flushed bright red. They both noticed how she refused to look up from her dinner, taking a special interest in the way her mashed potatoes had indents of her fork.

"I…don't think I'm going," Hermione mumbled.

Harry's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "What?"

Even Ron, who wasn't thrilled about the idea, looked surprised. "Our very own know-it-all is passing up the opportunity to learn about a completely different wizarding culture? What's going on here?"

Her eyes were frantic as she rushed to come up with some reasonable explanation.

"B-because…B-because it's too soon! We only just met this year and!"

Harry frowned, ignoring Ron as he swallowed a bite of toast. "But Hermione, most people would take even less time to introduce them to their parents. You've been dating since December, and both of you are pretty mature." While Hermione was younger than Viktor, no one could deny that she was further than most in her age when it came to emotional maturity. In some points, especially when it came to jealousy, Hermione may have been further ahead of Viktor. Harry still remembered the time he'd pulled him away to talk to ask him about the accusations in Rita's article. Gosh did Harry hate that article.

"W-well m-my parents wouldn't let me go! I'm only fourteen and,"

"'Course they'd let you go," Ron forced out while he tried to gulp down his orange juice. "You came to the Quidditch cup with my family. And your parents MET George and Fred." He went on as if that was an even bigger surprise than them not meeting his parents.

But Hermione shook her head stubbornly. "T-that wasn't for the whole summer!" She explained. "And to go to an all new country for 2 months…" But Ron just waved it off.

"Just tell them it's an educational trip or something," Ron yawned carelessly. "Knowing you, it probably will be no matter what." Hermione glared at him, more put off by his excuses than grateful. Harry didn't understand. If she wanted a reason to go, wouldn't she be happy with Ron's reasoning, however albeit and careless they were? At least he was helping. Or at least, he thought he was helping. It sounded like Hermione wanted an excuse not to go. But the Hermione they knew should have been absolutely thrilled at the idea. It just wasn't like her to be so quiet about it!

Was it because it was with Krum? Sure they had had a very…odd start, considering they hadn't even told others about their relationship till the ball. But after that they spent lots of time together in the library and seemed to get along very well. Maybe it was because Hermione was so nervous about public displays of emotion? Just telling them that he really had asked her to spend the summer had been a challenge for her. But challenge or not, they'd never seen Hermione give up on a challenge. It just wasn't like her!

"Hermione, what's going on?" Harry questioned suddenly. "It sounds to me like you're making excuses not to go." Her eyes widened. She opened her mouth to give a scathing retort, but to their surprise, closed her mouth and turned back to her food. It took a moment for Harry to realize she had mumbled something under her breath. "Pardon Hermione?"

"I SAID I, gumlreho hiuafho bfuiaf," She mumbled the last few words making them sound more like gibberish than the English language.

Ron leaned in closer putting one hand behind his ear? "What? Speak up 'mione!"

"I said I don't know anything about Bulgaria, alright?" She exclaimed, her ears turning pink at the confession. A few nearby students turned in their direction at the sound of her voice, but most went straight back to their conversations as if nothing had happened.

Ron and Harry however, had no such luxury. Harry looked at his friend with utter confusion. "What are you talking about? You read up on the school and the place! You were the one who knew that there were others schools!" But Hermione shook her head stubbornly.

"Yes, but that's all I found. I know about Bulgaria in the muggle world, but because they are so secretive about other wizarding schools, I don't know anything about life as a witch or wizard up there! All I know is what Viktor told me about the school and that they teach a lot of the dark arts! What good will that do me when I'm living with his parents outside of school for months?" Even Ron could hear the panic in her tone as she paled, realizing even how small that list was.

"You know its cold," Ron offered.

"That won't do me any good!" Hermione shouted/whispered. "Oh dear…What if his parents only speak Bulgarian? What if I can't even talk to them? What if I do something widely inappropriate in their culture, and offend them so much that they never speak to me again? Oh…" Every word Hermione said sounded suspiciously like she was hyperventilating. The two boys gave each other a look.

What should we do? Ron's look said.

How do you expect me to know? Harry's expression answered.

When Ron didn't say anything, Harry had to come to the rescue. "Well…I'm sure you'll figure something out Hermione. Have you…tried looking for books in the library?"

"Yes!" her head popped up in anguish. "I've searched through everything trying to find it, but I could hardly find anything! Since the schools have such terrible relationships any books that we have are from decades ago, and even those books only have a few bits of info. Not nearly enough for someone who is going to spend the whole summer." The anxiety that rushed through her with every word made them both shudder. For a moment it was like she blocked them out, speaking out loud as she tried to come up with a plan. "M-maybe there are some books I haven't checked yet…if I take two hours to do homework during free time after Arithmacy…then two hours after my last classes to try and research Bulgaria…And a few hours at night to try and help Harry prepare for the final task.." She continued to mumble to herself, planning out her researching and work schedule.

Only Ron was brave enough to interrupt. "Hermione, what about meals?"

She looked up at him. "What?"

"You just said do research and help harry after classes. What about dinner?" She gave him a blank look for a minute, trying to process what he was saying. When it got to her, her eyes widened and the tips of her ears turned pink.

"Oh…dinner…" Her cheeks flushed. "I forgot about that."

"You forgot about eating?"

"Well what am I supposed to do?" Hermione slammed her hands on the table. Both of her friends jumped back in surprise, but she ignored them both. "I-If I don't know anything about the place I'm going, what am I going to do? All of Viktor's friends and parents will hate me! HE'S going to hate me!" She gasped in horror. "I'm going to make a complete fool of myself!" Moaning she buried her face in her hands as everything seemed to all pile down on her at once. School, work, nerves, research, Bulgaria, Triwizard tournament tasks, boyfriend, friends, and boyfriend! Ron and Harry watched her with fright, not used to seeing Hermione loose her cool so easily. She usually had everything so down packed and ready to handle. Maybe it was because Victor was in the situation, but they knew their friend was going to go off the edge if she couldn't handle the situation.

"I-I've got to tell him no," She whimpered in desperation. "M-maybe he'll understand. Maybe I'll just write to him over the summer!" Ron didn't seem to find anything wrong with that plan. Writing to each other is what they usually did anyway.

But Harry shook his head stubbornly. "Hermione, you and I both know you'd never get a chance like this to see another wizarding country! And we all know just how much you…um, care for Krum." Her cheeks turned a little pink, but she didn't argue. "And I know you'll have an amazing time! You can't just give up!"

Hermione, while often determined and brave, could also be very determined not to fight when needed. "You don't understand Harry. I really do like Viktor! Which means I can't make a fool out of myself in front of him!" Both Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows. Their minds all drifted to the time Hermione had accidentally dropped all her books and spells in front of him and his team. Viktor had laughed it off, but Hermione had been horror-stricken. "Or at LEAST not in front of his parents! He may be alright if I mess up, but what about them? How am I supposed to handle parents who come from a completely different culture?" She shook her head again. They could tell that she was trying to stay strong and work out all her problems, but even the great Hermione couldn't handle everything.

Again Harry tried to encourage her. "I'm sure he wouldn't have asked you if he didn't think you were able to handle it."

"Maybe he just has to much faith in me," Hermione whimpered, her voice muddled with her mouth on the desk.

Harry reached out to pat her comfortingly on the back. "That cannot be true."

"Yeah!" Ron interjected. "I'm sure by now he can't have that much faith in you, considering he knows you get scared flying a broom, and you're always in the library all day, and lots of people don't like you," He cut off when he noticed the glares that both of them sent him. "Um…I mean, you'll do great!"

With a long, shaky sigh, Hermione got up from the table. "I-I don't know…If I'm going to get everything done I need to go to the library straight away. Harry, meet me before lunch so I can help you with preparing for the maze!" The three friends said farewell and Hermione grabbed her books and hurried off to her usual place. The library.

Ron scoffed, taking another bite of his blueberry scone. "She's going to start juggling those books soon, just you wait." Harry didn't answer. Instead he focused on the meal Hermione had left behind her. She'd hardly taken a bite, and most of the food just had fork marks when she was playing with it. Ron glanced up from his food and saw Harry's face. "Don't worry about it Harry. I'm sure she'll be able to handle it."

But Harry did worry. His eyes we stuck on the door that she had left through. "She looked really worried."

"It's Hermione!" Ron told him as he bit another piece of toast. "She was able to handle doing multiple classes at the same time last year! She'll be fine!"

"But...she's also helping me out with training for the last task…she wants to cover everything that might come and attack…"

Even Ron hesitated at that. "Well…I'm sure she won't study you on THAT much." Both of them knew that wasn't true.

"And she's helping us with our homework…" Ron didn't have a response to that. Instead he tried to distract himself with his food while Harry watched the direction their third friend had left. Hermione was a perfectionist and they both knew how loyal she was. She was going to try and make sure Harry was 100% ready for anything that could happen while also trying to fill out her homework and help the both of them with there's. Not to mention her S.P.E.W. organization she was trying to get started. And Harry knew it would break her heart to say no to Krum…He didn't even want to pretend he knew how Krum would react.

Then an idea struck him.

"…Hey Ron?"

"Hm?"

"Why don't we help her?"

Ron nearly choked on the food he was eating. "What?"

"Well she's got a lot of stuff going on," Harry explained, getting excited as the idea started to grow. "And we don't have THAT much homework, or at least we don't have near as much as Hermione. How hard could it be to do some research on Bulgaria wizards? All we need is a few books and papers on the culture so she could get a good start."

Ron was not convinced. "Wait, research? As in, library? When?"

"Well, during our free time I suppose."

"WHAT?"

"Come on Ron, it won't be that difficult," he tried to encourage his friend who was staring at him like he'd grown and extra head. "We'll just find a few books or write a scroll or two on the culture and be done. Hermione would be very happy, you know it!"

"I didn't volunteer for this!"

Harry shook his head. Ron could be a loyal friend, but when it came to school work, he was a master and doing whatever he could to avoid it. "Ron, you heard how much she has to get done. And a lot of it is to help us! Besides, you know how much she likes Krum and as loyal friends, we should be help support her."

Ron narrowed his eyes at him. "You just want to do something to help Krum to prove to people that those ridiculous rumors that Rita's been spreading about you and Hermione are absolute rubbish, aren't you?"

He scoffed. "No, of course not," Harry insisted. Then he paused to think about it. "But that would be an added bonus." Ron groaned and tried to wolf down his food. "Ron, come on. She's our best friend, you know that! We've all been through a lot together, and it's not like she hasn't done difficult things for us. How hard could it possibly be?"

"Hard," He mumbled bitterly. "With lots of work and books."

"Come on Ron," Harry urged. "She might even send you picture," Harry added to tempt his friend. "I'll bet she'd be able to get Krum's autograph for you!" Ron's eyebrow twitched at that, but he refused to agree to anything.

"I'll bet a lot of people got his autograph this year." Harry frowned. After a moment, he decided bribery wasn't going to work.

"You know she has done lots for us to! Remember first year when she saved us from those vines on our way to the stone?"

Ron groaned, trying to cover his ears. "No…"

"And in second year when her research saved us all from the basilisk."

"No," Ron continued, slamming his head down and trying desperately to shut his friend out. "I'm not listening…."

"And the time that she tried to make sure we stayed friends when we were fighting at the beginning of the year?"

Ron groaned. "Just stop talking…"

"And..." Harry paused. "Remember last year when she punched Malfoy in the face?"

"Fine!" Ron exclaimed, throwing his hands up in defeat. "I'll help her learn about her stupid boyfriend's country in stupid faraway land. But this will count as her birthday AND Christmas gift for next year!" He crossed his arms grumbling to himself. "Stupid foreigners, stupid other country, stupid new boyfriend…why couldn't everyone just speak the same language?"

Harry ignored his friend, blissfully encouraged by winning over his friend. "Great. Now that that's settled, all we need to do is get information for Hermione."

Ron scoffed. "Yeah, because that's going to be so easy."

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?" Ron stared at him like it should have been obvious. But Harry stared back at him with a blank expression. Was it another custom or rule of the wizarding world that Harry had no clue about? Or was Ron just talking about looking through all the books in the library?

"Harry," Ron cornered him, a serious look in his eyes. "Do you know anyone who is a wizard from Bulgaria that we could actually approach? Or anyone who really knows about Bulgaria in general?"

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but then froze when he couldn't think of one. There were some of the boys from Durmstrang, but they didn't know any of them, much less would be able to go up and ask one of them for help on what would be a long project. Kakkarroff, their headmaster, would have either laughed in their faces or screamed at them to get out before he accused them of trying to spy on his school and learn their secrets. The only friends they had who talked to them frequently was Hermione and Partavia, if she was to be believed. She said she and her sister always went to Hogsmeade with them, but no one had seen them with the boys since the ball. Even if they did, he doubted that they would want to help them.

That meant that in total: They had no one.

"We…We could ask Krum…" Ron's response was a loud laugh, followed by a fearful shaking of his head.

"You want to talk to him?" Ron shivered. "Hermione may say he's so sweet and all that, but he could still break both our noses. That guys been giving me funny looks ever since the ball." Harry remembered. While it was unlikely Viktor had heard the fight Hermione and Ron had had, he must have seen how upset Hermione had been when he found her again and the two were dancing. She may have not told him the whole story, but he could probably put one and two together. "Besides, if we did, we'd have to explain what it's for! Hermione would be angry instead of grateful!"

"Alright, I get it…Maybe we could talk to Dumbledore!" Ron scoffed.

"Right, the headmaster is going to take time out of his busy schedule to help us learn about a different country. Oh, and by the way, that country happens to be the one where one of your competitors is from! Don't you think that will look just a tad suspicious?" Harry shook his head, the hopes of his dream starting to crash down around him. Both of them wanted to help Hermione, but they didn't know how.

What would Hermione do?

"Let's go to the library," Harry suggested as he stood up from the table. "It's a good way to get a start." Ron looked up to his friend, back to his food, then back at his friend.

"What, now?"

"Yes now," Harry insisted. "We don't have that much time."

"How do you expect us to find a book that Hermione hasn't already?" Harry paused. He hadn't thought of that.

"Well…maybe we'll see something that she hasn't. Come on, let's go." Ron dragged himself out of his seat and followed Harry out of the great hall, grumbling and muttering the whole time.

"Fine," Ron grumbled. "But if this all pans out, I'll never owe Hermione another Christmas OR birthday gift ever again!"

…

Harry glanced up from the spot where his forehead had been permanently glued to his book. Or at least it felt like that. "Have you found anything yet Ron?"

"No," Ron muttered, his voice distorted by the pages that surrounded him. "You?"

"No." They both groaned.

At the end of the day, they'd come to the library during breakfast, lunch, free time, after dinner and then all the time they had after that. Neither of them had even bothered to look at their homework for the day, and hoped that it wouldn't count for to many marks. At the beginning of the day they'd found a little table in the corner where they made sure no one would come bother them. Over the hours the table had begun to collect so many books that it was becoming its own library itself. Hundreds of pages and books covered every inch of the table and the floor around them. Harry and Ron had both begun to use the books they would read as pillows as well as information. But after so many hours, neither of them had found a thing.

With a groan, Ron read the book he had out loud. "Foreign creatures…animals include water demons of England…Vampires of the Netherlands…Giants of…Scotland…but no animals from Bulgaria." Harry vaguely heard the sound of a book flipping over and Ron's snort of outrage. "That's it! I give up!"

"We can't give up now Ron," Harry muttered but with little enthusiasm. "We've only been looking for a day!"

"And during this day, we've found absolutely nothing. This is useless!" Harry forced himself to look up to see his friend leaning back in his chair with a very cross look on his face. "There's nothing on this countries wizarding world! Trying to find anything about the school would be absolutely impossible because of how secretive they are, and the country itself doesn't like intruders any more than the school. How do you expect us to find anything with those odds Harry?" His friend shook his head. In reality, he didn't want to admit he hadn't thought their plan through. When the idea struck him, he just knew he had to do it. But the more they tried, the more he wondered if it was even possible. The relationships between the schools had been so strained before Hogwarts must have gotten rid of even books about the country. He wanted to know what exactly had happened in the past, but decided not to risk it.

Sighing, Harry returned his head to the table. It seemed absolutely useless.

A little voice dragged him out of his temporary depression. "Mr. Potter, how lovely to see you!"

They both glanced up. Dobby the house-elf stood at Harry's side. His face was beaming bright, like it always did whenever he saw Harry. They noticed he was wearing the socks that they had gotten for him, the ones that would scream when they got to dirty. Luckily Dobby had taken extra care to make sure they stayed clean. Harry also noticed that Dobby was carrying a bag of snacks and goodies in one hand. "Hello Dobby," He greeted, ignoring how his words were slurred with boredom. "What are you doing here?"

"Dobby came to see Mr. Potter at Mr. Weasly's request, sir," he told him with a great smile. "Said you two were in the library and wanted some snacks."

Harry turned to Ron. "You called Dobby?"

He shrugged. "I was hungry. You didn't let us eat much of dinner." Harry wished he hadn't. Dobby already had done a lot for the group in the last year, they shouldn't have continued to take him away from the job that he loved so much.

Dobby however didn't seem deterred, quickly giving both of them a bag of food that Ron dove into eagerly. His large green eyes surveyed the piles of books. "Is there anything Dobby can help you with Mr. Potter?"

"No, thank you Dobby," Harry muttered, pushing his food to the side. "I don't think this is something you can help with."

Poor Dobby looked crestfallen at the idea. "But Dobby wants to help Harry Potter! What can Dobby do?"

Harry was about to tell him it was alright, but then his eyes felt like they were going to pop out of their heads. "Ron, hide the books!"

Ron stared at him in surprise. "What?"

"Hide the books that make it obvious what we are doing! Hermione's coming!" Ron's eyes widened just like his friends.

In a dash Harry and Ron did their best to cover all the book titles and use the useless ones to hide the more obvious ones. Around the corner they saw Hermione walking through the shelves, a pile of books in one arm and an open book in the other. They should have known Hermione would be in the library. But they'd made sure to pick a corner where they didn't think she would go. None of the books for her classes were there! After Hermione had quickly skimmed the book she placed it on top of her pile and continued on.

As she watched she spotted her friends. "Harry! Ron! Dobby!" Outwardly the two boys smiled, while inwardly they cringed in worry. The girl hurried over to them, struggling to keep her pile of books from falling. Luckily her attention went first to Dobby so the boys could think of an excuse. "What are you doing here Dobby?"

"Master Ron has asked me for some snacks to eat in the library. Would you like any Miss Hermione?"

"No, thank you," She said, but they could tell she struggled not to frown and Ron. Turning back to the two of them she didn't notice them sweating like pigs. "What are you two doing here?"

"I…well we um…" Ron mumbled turning to Harry for help.

"We…We were just doing research for my next task," He explained. "Wanted to find some spells that might help…"

They weren't sure how convincing that was, but Hermione brightened at the idea. "Oh that's brilliant! That was what I was just doing actually." She set her pile of books on the table temporarily so she could talk. Harry felt his heart race when a book shifted, revealing the title 'Wizarding Schools of the World.' Luckily Hermione didn't notice. "I've been searching the whole library for potential threats, but I have no idea where to start! I've decided to just make a list of everything I can find and then I'll try to teach you on the basics of each of them, alright Harry?"

"Yeah…Sounds good Hermione…" He replied, a lump in his throat.

She didn't notice, instead turning to Ron. "What book is that?"

Both of them nearly jumped. "W-what?"

"What book is that?" She repeated, pointing to the one he had been trying to sleep on. They both glanced down, and saw that she was referring to the Foreign Creatures book Ron had picked up. "Can I see it?" She asked, hand outwards towards him. They cast each other worried glances. There was no way she could tell what they were doing from that book, right? But then why would she want it? Ron couldn't think of an excuse in time, and instead handed the book to her without a fight. She took a quick look at the cover and flipped through the pages as the boys held their breath.

Then she snapped the book shut. "Excellent! This is exactly what I've been looking for!" Both the boys let out sighs of relief while Hermione examined the book closer. "Now if they bring in animals from other countries we'll have a good idea what they are like."

"Why don't you just ask Hagrid?" Ron suggested.

Hermione glared at him. "Because we aren't allowed to ask teachers, remember?" Shaking her head she went back to the book. "You don't mind if I borrow this, do you Ron?"

"What? Oh, uh no. Not at all."

"Great," She grabbed her pile of books with one arm, keeping the new book in the other so she could read while she walked. "Let's stay in two groups so that way we can get all types of information. If you need me I'm on the other side of the library with the pile of books. Good to see you again Dobby. Don't forget to do your Divination homework!" She called back to them as she hurried on her way. Both the boys kept smiles on their faces and waved as she walked away. They kept those positions until they were absolutely sure she was out of earshot, then both fell down on the table.

"That was close," Harry muttered, ignoring Dobby's curious expression. "She didn't notice anything."

"What could she have noticed," Ron muttered in annoyance. "We haven't FOUND anything for her to discover!" Shaking his head, he gave a new option. "How about you contact Mr. Fudge. He talked to the Bulgarian's a lot during the Quidditch match. I'm sure he'd know a lot about them."

The idea could have been worse, but Harry shook his head. "I don't know Fudge THAT well Ron. And if I did, he might assume I'm learning about Bulgaria so I could sabotage Krum in the next task. All he's had to read about the tournament is Wizard Weekly." Harry nearly growled at the name. Ever since the article came out not only had Hermione been poisoned and sent threats from both Harry and Krum's fans, but it seemed like the entire population of the wizarding world was obsessed with the Harry-Hermione-Viktor love triangle idea. Asking the Minister of magic about a country that the man everyone assumed was his 'rival' came from would have certainly turned some heads.

Dobby watched the two boys with his big green eyes. "What is friend Potter worried about?"

Harry shook his head. "It's nothing Dobby." He didn't want to worry him, but Ron wanted someone to complain to other than Harry.

"Hermione was asked by her boyfriend to stay with him for the summer, but she doesn't know anything about his country. Harry here thought it was a brilliant idea to try and figure it all out as a surprise to her, but we haven't found anything!" He threw his hands up in outrage, ignoring the angry look Harry sent him.

Dobby on the other hand had widened his eyes with glee. "Oh the young miss is going to travel then! Well that sounds so nice, Dobby is happy for her! And with a boyfriend to, good for the nice miss!"

But Ron shook his head. "She's too nervous to go unless we find some stuff that can help her." Both he had Harry groaned, the stack of books hanging over them to remind them of their defeat. Harry shook his head in frustration. Out of respect he turned to Dobby to tell him he didn't have to stay around if he didn't want, but then an idea struck him.

"Dobby…You said you traveled a lot in the last few years, right?"

The little elf's ears picked up quickly. "Oh yes I did sir, and it was delightful. Splendid places Dobby went to Mr. Potter, Splendid!" Harry had turned his head slightly, a spark of hope dancing in his eyes.

"By any chance…did you go down south at all?" Ron forced his head to roll upwards so he could send Harry a questioning look.

Dobby was oblivious to Ron's confusion. "Yes of course! Beautiful it is down there, quite beautiful! With wonderful mountains and sights. Dobby met so many kind wizards and witches on his journey, but none of them offered to pay Dobby. Some gave Dobby delicious foods for his journey however."

Though he knew Hermione would have loved to know more about how people had treated Dobby Harry wasn't too interested in that at the moment. "Were the other places you went to other wizarding communities?"

He nodded innocently. "Yes sir, many wizarding countries."

"Did one of them happen to be…Bulgaria?"

Both Harry and Ron held their breath, waiting impatiently as Dobby tipped his head to the side. "Hm…Now that Mr. Potter mentions it…'

'Yes, Dobby did go to Bulgaria."

Both the boys let out frantic cries of joy. "That's absolutely fantastic!" Harry exclaimed to a stunned looking house-elf. "Dobby, can you tell us what it was like? What are their cultures, what are the people like, how does their wizarding styles work?" But Dobby had started rubbing his hands nervously, looked up at Harry with horror in his face.

"I'm so sorry sir, but Dobby was only there for a short time. Dobby had just taken a wrong turn and only stayed there for one night sir." Both of them groaned, returning their heads to the defeated positions on the table. Great. Their one chance at an opening and it was gone.

"But Dobby did get some books from the great land sir."

They both jolted up. "You did?"

Dobby nodded, looking pleased with himself. "Oh yes sirs. A nice family was getting rid of old things in their house. Said they didn't want them anymore, old text books about history and spells and the like. But Dobby had never owned books before, so Dobby made them a nice batch of cookies in exchange for the books. Lovely cookies sir, and the children looked so happy."

Harry didn't want to interrupt Dobby, but he was too excited. "Do you mind if we have them? They don't have any sentimental value to you or anything, do they Dobby?" Dobby looked taken about by the question, then was slowly rubbing his hands together again.

"No sentimental value sir, not yet sir. They are the first books Dobby has owned though sir…but if they could help Harry Potter," he didn't get to finish his sentence before Harry had come up with another solution.

"I-I'll trade," Harry exclaimed. "I've got some old spell books from my first few years. How about I trade those for your books from Bulgaria?" Ron nodded fervently.

Dobby looked so excited they worried he was going to cry. "B-books from Harry Potter sir! Dobby would be honoured sir!"

It had only taken Harry and Dobby a few moments to gather their things and bring them all back to the library. Harry Potter gave him his first year spell book, his first year history book and his last year's divination textbook. He knew for a fact that he would never want to look at that book again. Dobby handed Harry three books, one with the drawing of a noble man and women on the front, the other with a picture of a mountain and the third with what looked like a war scene from the past, with the date 1764 written in the top corner. Harry was so relieved he could have jumped for joy. Ron looked like he was going to faint from happiness, or perhaps it was lack of food. While Harry felt slightly guilty that he may have gotten the better end of the deal, Dobby looked absolutely overjoyed. "Books from Harry Potter! It is an honour sir, a great honour! Thank you sir, I can't thank you enough!"

"You welcome. Thank you very much Dobby," But then he stopped. He took a better look at the books in his hands. "Um…Dobby?"

"Yes Mr. Potter?" He continued to examine the books, a horrible feeling starting to trickle its way into his brain.

"Dobby…these books aren't in English." Dobby just blinked at him.

"Well of course they aren't sir. Dobby got them from Bulgaria."

Both the boys nearly fainted. "What?" Ron exclaimed, looking at the books in Harry's hands. "Oh come off it! You have got to be kidding! They aren't in English?" He turned to Harry with an anguished look in his eye. "Harry, Hermione can't read Bulgarian!"

"I know that Ron!" Harry hissed back, though he was secretly hoping that Hermione had learned a second language when they hadn't been paying attention. They wouldn't put it past her.

Dobby's eyes flittered between the two of them nervously. "Sadly, the first books Dobby's ever owned and he can't read them. Did Dobby make things worse for Harry Potter?"

Though he was crestfallen, he shook his head. "No, thank you very much Dobby. This isn't what we were looking for, but it is a great start. Thank you very much." Dobby beamed at him, and Ron decided not to correct Harry in front of the house-elf.

After he had left however, Ron turned to him. "Harry, what good are those books going to do? Now we've got the books that she needs, but in the wrong language! What good with that do her?" Harry didn't know. He wished he had the answer. All that Hermione was looking for was right in his hands, but they could do nothing with it. They would be absolutely useless if Hermione couldn't read them! If only the books had been in English! If only they knew someone who could speak Bulgarian-

He stopped. Slowly, his eyes turned to connect with Ron's. "Ron…"

For a minute, the poor boy was clueless. Then, slowly, the idea dawned on him to. "No."

"Ron, think about it."

"I know what you are thinking, and no."

"You'd never have to get her another birthday gift for the rest of ETERNITY."

"NO!" Ron exclaimed. "Absolutely not! You are mad!"

"Never get her anything for Christmas either!"

"I'm not going to learn how to translate Bulgarian!" Ron screamed. "I don't want to learn another language! I have trouble with my first one, thank you very much!"

"We've got to! This is the only chance Hermione has! If we don't, she will be too scared to go with Krum to Bulgaria for the summer!" Ron wanted to say that he didn't think that wasn't such a bad idea, but he knew Harry wouldn't be too pleased with that.

"Say we did learn Bulgarian," Ron questioned skeptically. "What would we do with it? Teach her?"

"NO, all we need to do is translate these books, then Hermione will know all she needs to know!" I hope, he added mentally but didn't say out loud. "Hermione would do the same for us!"

"Learn another language?"

"YES!" Harry exclaimed.

But Ron continued to shake his head. "But that's because this is her thing! Books and school are what she excels at, not us! There is no way I'm doing this Harry, there's no way that we can do this! Research is one thing, but to translate three books is completely different! No, I'm putting my foot down. There is no way. We might as well go back to searching the library, because what you are suggesting to do is impossible!" Harry frowned at his friend. Maybe it was impossible. He couldn't see a way they could translate the books before Hermione told Krum she wouldn't come and get all their work done at the same time. But he couldn't give up. Not when they had come so far.

Harry didn't want to say it, but he saw that he had no choice. "I didn't want to bring this up, but if you insist I will." With a great sigh, he began.

"Last year you were rude to Hermione for months and nearly broke off your friendship because you accused her cat of eating a rat that turned out to not only be alive, but also a runaway criminal."

Ron stopped.

"And you never really apologized."

A silence hung between them. Harry could see the wheels in Ron's head turning as he tried to decide what to do. Weighing his guilt from last year over what could have been hours of work to translate some book so Hermione could go with a Bulgarian Seeker to his house for the summer…

"…What do we do now?"

"Look around the library for translator books I guess."

"The library," Ron grumbled. "That's supposed to be Hermione's hideaway. I'm starting to get sick of the written word." Shaking his head he followed Harry through the shelves to try and seek out books on translations. "Why don't we just use a spell or something? There must be some spell that can translate other languages." Harry stopped. That sounded like a good idea. But there was a problem.

"Who, other than a teacher, would know a translating spell?" they both paused.

"Hermione," They said in unison before slamming their heads on the desk.

"Maybe we could ask a teacher," Ron suggested as he lifted his head slowly. "I mean, couldn't hurt to try."

Again, Harry shook his head. "The teachers would think I'm trying to sabotage Viktor by learning about the country. Some of them are still annoyed with me for even getting into the Triwizard tournament in the first place." Most teachers had forgotten the whole thing, but he had noticed that whenever he brought it up some of them would glare at him. It was best not to risk.

But there was one teacher that he could trust. "You know…I bet Professor moody would help us." Harry's mind started wheeling as Ron turned pale. "He knows a lot of spells…and since he's always so cautious, I'd bet he decided to learn a few other languages so he can understand what everyone around him says…"

On the others side, Ron was as white as a ghost. "I'm not going to ask him! He's absolutely terrifying, he'd burn me at the stake!"

"Ron…"

"No, there's no way I'm going to see him after hours! Are you absolutely mad? In class he's fine, but if you ever bother him, he might turn me into a ferret!"

"Your rat was a murderer Ron."

"…I'm going to ask him, aren't I?"

"Yup."

Both the boys trudged on towards the defense against the dark arts classroom, Ron muttering the whole way. "Why couldn't Hermione's first boyfriend be someone who speaks English?"

…

About a week later, Hermione found herself hiding behind a tree in one of the open grounds near the middle of the school. There were hallways surrounding the area, but there was no roof where she was and it was filled with all nature except for the few stone pathways and benches. She struggled to remain hidden from Viktor Krum and five of his friends who all sat together speaking in Bulgarian. She caught the word Quidditch, but other than that had no idea what they were saying.

In the last week, Hermione had purposefully been avoiding Viktor. It made her feel terrible when he came looking for her and she ran in the other direction. When they did spend time together, she used up all her energy trying to avoid the topic. She just didn't know how to tell him she couldn't come. She wanted to, but she knew she couldn't. She'd been so busy trying to figure out her homework and help Harry prepare for the upcoming task that she hadn't had nearly enough time to try and research Bulgarian culture. And even with that time, she'd found absolutely nothing about the wizarding world! All she could find was info on the muggle world, and according to Viktor, that was very different than the wizarding world. The thought of going and making a fool of herself in front of Krum and his parents made her feel sick. How could she let Victor down like that? He may never speak to her after the summer! Even if all she got was letter, that would be better than nothing! But how would he react if she said she wasn't going, without a proper excuse? Would he think she wasn't mature enough to be in a relationship with him? Would he start writing for a bit, but then slowly the letters would get less and less until they stopped completely, and then he forgot about her altogether while she was left in England wishing she had gone? No!

Just go up to him Hermione, she told herself. Just go up to him and tell him you can't go for the summer. Say you just aren't ready for this kind of thing-no, then he'll wonder if I'm not mature enough to go out with him! H-how about telling him that mother's ill or-no, I don't want to lie! Even if I did, he'd probably want to check on me and make sure I was doing alright! Oh gosh what am I going to say…No! Just go up there Hermione! Don't back out now! You are a Gryffindor, you can be brave!

That was right. She was s Gryffindor. She'd faced so many worse things than talking to her boyfriend. She was being ridiculous, she was sure she could come up with some explanation that he would understand! She didn't want to tell him the truth of course. That would just make her look silly. Hermione was going to walk up to him, tell him she couldn't come, and leave it at that. She'd faced monsters and murderers before, how hard could it be?

With the added boost of confidence, she puffed up her chest, then forced herself to walk around the tree and towards him.

As soon as Krum saw her his face broke out into an uncharacteristic grin. "Hermi-own-ninny!" That's when she realized, it was going to be very hard.

Ignoring his group of friends who had all looked up when Krum had called her name, he raised himself from the ground and hurried over to Hermione. The hug that he gave her was both warm and comforting, but made all the butterflies she was feeling in her stomach multiply times a hindered. Nearly instantly he pulled away out of habit, but his hands held onto hers. Since he didn't smile often she wasn't surprised when it had mostly faded, but there was still a small smile that anyone else would have been shocked to see. "I'm glad to see you. I've been vorried…" He paused.

"Worried about what?" she asked nervously.

"Vell, it seemed like you've been avoiding me." Her heart sank. So he had noticed.

"Oh…Well…Actually, I need to talk to you about something." Viktor blinked at her, innocent to what was to come. But he must have sensed something in her voice, because she felt his hands tighten just the slightest against hers.

"Vhat is vrong?" He asked. His voice was deep and controlled, but Hermione could hear the worry etched into it. She loved that voice.

She knew she was going to miss it greatly over the summer.

"It's about…you see, I,"

She was interrupted before she got to continue. "Hermione, wait!"

The couple turned to see Ron and Harry sprinting after them. Both of them looked very tired, with bags under theirs eyes and their movements sloppy. Hermione noticed that Ron had a frightened look on his face, and Harry was carrying a brown box under his right arm. It must have been heavy, because Harry looked like he was having a hard time not dropping it. The two of them sprinted over to a stunned looking Hermione and Viktor. They both stared at them as they stopped in front of them, both of them kneeling over to catch their breath. "Wait…Hermione…Not…yet…Gasp!" Ron rubbed at the stitch in his side.

Hermione just stared at the two of them in shock. "What is it? What's going on?" Neither of them were able to answer right away, and she huffed in annoyance. "Can't it wait? I'm trying to talk to Viktor about something important,"

"NO!" They both exclaimed, making the other two jump. Hermione stared at her friends in absolute horror. What were they doing?

Then, to make matters worse, Harry grabbed Hermione's arm. "Hermione, we need to talk to you. Now!"

She just stared at him. "What?"

"Yeah, it's really important," Ron agreed as he grabbed her other arm. Before Hermione knew it she was being dragged away from her boyfriend by her two best friends. "We'll be right back!" Ron called over his shoulder at the stunned looking Quidditch player. "We just need to talk to her!"

"Let go of me, both of you!" Hermione tried to fight her way free of her two friends without hurting them while they struggled to pull her away without hurting her. "I was talking to Viktor! What is going on, where are you taking me?"

"You'll thank us later," Harry whispered. Back towards Krum he yelled, "Don't leave, Hermione will be back in a second! With good news we hope!" Then the two best friends dragged their struggling third best friend away from the area, leaving all the students who had been watching in stunned silence.

Viktor stood there, frozen in surprise. Had…had the Potter boy and his red-headed friend just kidnapped his girlfriend?

Turning back to his friends he asked them, "какво се случи току що?" (What just happened?)

One of his friends shook his head. "Аз не знам Крум , но аз мисля, че трябва да отида след тях." (I don't know Krum, but I think you should go after them.)

"Да, приятелката ти изглеждаше много притеснен." (Yeah, your girlfriend looked really worried.) Another one added for good measure. Krum, while still completely confused and had no idea what was going on, decided to follow his friend's advice and hurried after his girlfriend and her two best friends.

Hermione had finally yanked herself free when the two boys had brought her to a mostly abandoned hallway. "What do you two think you are doing? If this is some kind of prank or a joke, it is not funny at all!"

"It's not a prank," Harry explained. "We're doing you a favour!"

"What favour?" She asked, but knew that it was true. Both of them, despite looking like they hadn't slept in days, had very excited looks on their faces. Ron was biting his lip, trying to make sure he wouldn't spill the beans too early. "What's going on?"

Harry refused to answer right away. "What were you about to talk to Krum about?" She was taken aback by the quick change in subject. But it was so quick Hermione felt her cheeks turn a bright shade of pink.

"I was just going to…to tell him I'm not going with him for the summer." Her voice was downcast, depressed. She really wanted to go, she did. But her pride just wouldn't let her. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle it, and that was the last straw.

Her two friends however didn't agree. "You'd better not," Ron grunted. "After all the work we went through."

Hermione looked up at Ron, startled. "I thought you'd be happy I wasn't going! And what work? What are you talking about?"

Ron shrugged. "Yeah, well…I changed my mind."

She stared at him. "You changed your mind? Why?" Turning back to Harry she asked, "What is he talking about? What are both of you talking about?"

"Hermi-own-ninny!" They all shot up when they heard Viktor calling for her. Glancing back, they saw him looking around the hallways. It only took him a second to spot them on the other side. Changing directions he stomped over to them. Harry and Ron both shivered slightly. Even if Hermione said he was a 'nice guy' he still looked awfully threatening when he walked over like that.

"See?" She hissed at the two of them. "He's looking for me. I've got to go and tell him,"

"No!" they both shouted at the same time.

"Don't say no!" Harry exclaimed. "We figured it out!"

"Figured what,"

"Hermi-own-ninny." They all turned to Viktor again, who was staring at her with wide-eyed, undisclosed confusion. Before she'd been slightly annoyed when he pronounced her name wrong, but after some time she'd decided she liked it. "Vhat is going on?"

"That's what I would like to know," She said, turning to Harry and Ron. "What IS going on?"

"Look, we knew you had a lot to get done lately," Harry went on to explain. Ron decided not to say a word, too worried that he'd blurt everything out in excitement. "And since you were doing so much work we knew you wouldn't be able to find anything on Bulgaria and wouldn't go because you were worried about embarrassing yourself."

Both Hermione and Viktor froze at his explanation. "Harry!" She shrieked.

"You veren't going to come vith me to Bulgaria?" He asked, too surprised for the disappointment to set in.

Hermione stuttered, ignoring her knees shaking at the look he had in his eyes. "I…My parents weren't…I mean, it's too soon…"

"She was just embarrassed," Harry explained for her, ignoring the glare she gave him. "She didn't think she knew about Bulgaria and thought she would look like a fool in front of you and your family."

"HARRY!" She yelled again, her cheeks turning bright red. She was mortified that Harry would say that so willingly, though Viktor had slightly calmed down at the explanation.

"You didn't have to vorry about that," Viktor tried to encourage her, but her two friends waved it to the side.

"But she was too worried, so we decided to fix it." Ron grinned, looking very proud of himself. Hermione just stared at both of her friends in turn, waiting for the explanation. They wanted to wait until she asked them herself. She, like Viktor, had no idea what was going on.

"How?" Hermione asked.

That's when Harry pulled up the box that he had under his arm. "Here," he told her as he shoved it into her arm. The box was heavy she let out an 'oof' and struggled under its weight. "Open it!"

After giving her friends a skeptical look, she pulled the box open. Inside was three old books. They looked very worn out, some of the pages crumpled and the spines struggling to keep together. She didn't understand what was so special about a few broken books, at least, what her friends would think was so special about them. Then she noticed the titles. The first one had the scene of a war on the front and the title read, History of the Wizarding Bulgarian Empire. Another had a Lord and Lady on the front, and it said, Wizarding Culture in Bulgaria. The last and final one had a picture of a mountain, and it wrote Beautiful Bulgarian landscapes and terrain! All you need to know about nature! They were Bulgarian books. Books that told her exactly what she had been looking for. Hermione stared at the books in open-mouthed shock, not even noticing as Viktor leaned over to see what was inside. They'd found them. How had they found them? She had searched everywhere!

"We got them from Dobby," Harry answered her unspoken question. "He went down south to Bulgaria a while ago, and we traded some of our old books for these."

"They were in Bulgarian when we first found them," Ron explained, finally deciding it was alright for him to speak. "So we went to Professor Moody to help us translate. Boy, he was so mad when we went to him that late at night, I'll tell you," But he didn't tell her.

"It took us a while to figure out how to do the spell, then we had to go through the book to translate every page, but we did it!" Harry nodded, done with his speech and happy with himself. "So now you can go with Viktor to,"

"Thank you!" Hermione jumped both her friends before he could finish, forcing them both into a hug. "This is amazing, thank you so much!" Pulling back only so that the two of them could breathe she returned to staring at the books. "This is amazing, I can't believe it! I've been looking for books like these for ages, thank you so much!" She spoke so fast and her voice was so high with excitement that Viktor had a hard time following the conversation.

"So…Vill you come vith me back home…?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed jumping up and hugging him around the neck. "Yes I'll come! Oh thank you both so much, this is going to be great!" Viktor was still slightly confused at what had just happened, but when Hermione hugged him he couldn't help but smile. Holding her around the waste he twirled her around, making her laugh with glee. When he put her down she had returned to the books. "This is amazing, this is incredible! How for does the history go back? Does it mention house-elves by any chance? No, wait, don't tell me, I want to find out for myself. This is so cool…"

The three boys slowly drowned out her excitement, knowing she wouldn't really want answers to all her questions. Instead the two younger boys turned to the older one and were surprised with what they saw. Viktor gave them both a smile, the first one Ron had ever received from him. Apparently helping Hermione come with him to Bulgaria was enough of an apology for how he had treated her at the ball in Viktor's opinion. "Hermio-ninny is very lucky to have friends like you," Krum nodded to them gratefully.

Harry just nodded as his cheeks reddened. "Yeah, well…she's a great friend to."

"Ha!" Ron laughed, his pride boosted by his favourite quidditch player complimenting him. "Did you hear that Hermione? We are good-Hey, where did she go?"

All of them turned around. Then all three of the boys let out groans at the exact same time.

Hermione had already started reading.