Note: All previous warnings and disclaimers still apply.

To those who are subscribed and tried to use the last email notice that got sent, and got the "page not found" error, I'm really sorry about that. I added chapter 10, and then deleted the "Sorry for no update" page that was in the middle somewhere, which changed the numbers of the chapters' url pages. So the link that had been sent out for "The Goblet" didn't go to the correct page. But it's all better now!

Friday morning, Viktor woke just as his Howler took its first breath to start badgering him, to which he threw a warning glare of his near-black eyes. The paper failed to get out a single yell before it refolded itself and settled on the nightstand. "I think I am adjusted and can get rid of dat thing," he muttered as he rolled out of bed. Lighting the candles with a wave of his hand, he quickly noticed the letter that had been slid underneath his door during the night, the off-white paper standing out against the darkened wood floor. Blinking the sleep from his eyes as he stepped over, he picked it up and turned it over, finding the official Hogwarts seal of wax on the back. Viktor slipped his finger underneath and popped the letter open, finding a single square letter inside.

Champions of the TriWizard Tournament
You are hereby excused from classes on Friday
to allow for formalities of the start of the Tournament.
You are required to appear in the
main entrance hall of Hogwarts Castle
at 9 o'clock in the morning
for signing paperwork and a newspaper interview.
Please wear your full school uniforms.
Afterward, you will be dismissed to your own agendas,
but please refrain from disturbing the classes.

Respectfully,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy HeadMistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry

Letting out another yawn, Viktor told his brain to wake up and started to do the math of how long he would have until the meeting. Figuring he had a few hours, he decided to see if the rain had let up during the night and he could get outside for his workout once again. He set the letter on top of the dresser and pulled his school workout clothes from one of the drawers. Changing quickly, he dug out his running shoes from under the bed and tied them snug, knowing the ground would likely still be more than damp. Retrieving his wand from under his pillow, he stuck it into his pocket, enchanted to hold it as most of his clothes were. As he stepped out of his bunk and into the hallway, Viktor spotted Yan and let him know about the letter he'd gotten. He then made his way to the longboats and subsequently the dock next to the castle.

Instead of heading inside, Viktor made his way up to the exterior wall of the castle and limbered up with a few stretches of his limbs and cracks of his thick neck. Checking that no tardy students, specifically autograph seeking girls, were around to spot him, he trotted off into a jog around the exterior of the Great Hall, entrance hall, the west wing, and eventually wound his way down to the school's Quidditch pitch. With Hogwarts' Quidditch canceled for the year due to the Tournament, this was where Viktor had found himself jogging the first day the weather was nice enough to get outside. It was here that he increased his pace to his usual run, watching the ground carefully on his first lap around the exterior of the colorful pitch stadium to ensure he didn't slip in any lingering puddles hidden in the grass.

The air was brisk as Viktor ran in the loop, filling his lungs with the heavy humidity and expelling in controlled puffs. While he tried to concentrate on his breathing, his mind went to when he held Hermione in his arms and showed her out to breathe. When he realized where his thoughts had drifted, he shook his head and smirked to himself. Get a grip, Krum he silently thought. If you cannot even take a run without her commanding your thoughts, how will you ever focus on the Tournament?

After running around the pitch enough times that he stopped bothering to keep count, Viktor noticed the sun had risen considerably further and wondered how long he'd been trying to keep his mind out of the gutter. Coming to a stop and pulling out his wand, he faced the sun and held his wand out in front of him in his face-up open palm. "Parte temporis," he said to the wand with authority. Almost immediately the wand began to spin in his hand like a hand goes around a clock, slowly raising itself up as Viktor allowed his hand to drop away. After a few moments, the wand was spinning vertically, as though looking at a clock on the wall with overcharged batteries. It soon began to slow down, and then come to rest pointing with the tip to Viktor's left, tipped down only slightly. "Better get going," he muttered before plucking the wand out of the air and stuffing it back into his pocket. He glanced toward the other side of the castle than he had originally come, thinking it might be a shortcut back to the boats, but quickly realized that way went around the greenhouses where students would be having morning classes. Instead, he took off at a run and doubled-back on his original path, managing to avoid all of the student body once again. Once back on the Durmstrang ship, he quickly showered and changed into his full uniform, then grabbed his walking stick and headed back to the castle for the meeting.

An hour later that felt more like five...

The paperwork had been signed, the terms and generalized rules conveyed, and just one formality left to deal with. "So... who's feeling up to sharing?" Rita Skeeter, the reporter from the Daily Prophet, asked once she'd elbowed her way into the center of the picture-posing quartet. Viktor noticed he was not the only one who showed no initiative to be the first victim of the nosy blonde. Before he even realized what she was doing, the woman who looked like she was trying to hide her true age had snagged Harry by the arm and was dragging him along towards a nearby... storage room? Indeed, Viktor caught sight of a mop bucket, push-broom, and a can of something hidden behind the corner on the floor.

Shaking his head slightly, he looked to the remaining two with him. "I do not know about you, but I do not think I am wanting to be in that tiny room with that woman," he commented. Both Cedric and Fleur agreed with shaking their own heads and muttered displeasure.

Mr. Crouch, who now had a very large armload of paperwork clutched to his chest, approached the trio and motioned to a nearby table with his head. "While you each wait for your turns, you may set your hats and overcoats down. We should be through with the photographs now." Viktor removed his hat and noticed Fleur removing her wrap right next to him. Being a gentleman, he offered his hand for it along with her hat, which she handed over with a polite smile. "I must be off now," Crouch added as Viktor set the things down on the table and started to remove his coat. "Once you have each finished your interviews with Miss Skeeter, you may leave. Your classes will resume as usual on Monday." The trio each nodded or waved to Crouch as he made his way out the front door, miraculously not dropping any of the papers he clung to.

Once all the extra accessories were on the table, Viktor's staff leaning against the side, Cedric let out a sigh and looked between Fleur and Viktor. "You don't suppose we could convince her to do our interviews all at once and to do it out here, do you?" Cedric said with a lighthearted chuckle.

"Something tells me she wants each of you boys alone in that tiny room," Fleur added with a smirk and an arched brow that bordered on mischievous. To this, both of the remaining males audibly groaned.

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