So ladies (and maybe gentlemen), we have come to the final chapter of Teaching and Learning. *tears* Thank you to everyone who has read it. I hope you have enjoyed it. And I hope you enjoy the ending. Have a nice weekend:)

It was the day after the students had all gone home and Viktor was in his apartment in the Ravenclaw tower when he heard a sharp tapping at the window.

Lifting his head to see what or who it was, he found the visitor to be a large black owl. He had only seen those animals in one place: Durmstrang. He wondered what his Alma mater would want with him these days.

Letting in the large bird, he released him of his charge and gave him a few treats before letting him go to the owlry for a rest. Opening the parchment, he read:

Dear Mr. Viktor Krum,

Although we are aware that you have taken up an academic position at an alternate wizarding school, (Viktor could almost hear the sneer in the sentence) we wish to remind you who formed your mind in your younger years and where we feel your loyalties should lie.

It is with this reminder that we are graciously offering you a position to teach the young wizards here at Durmstrang, the academic and practical importance of The Dark Arts. Your family history and personal talents that were proven in the War against the Dark Lord show you to be an excellent candidate for the position and we know your academic history to be unsurpassable.

We will expect to see you at Durmstrang Castle on the 7th of August. Your rooms and house elf will be ready for you when you arrive. That evening you will have dinner with me and other heads of the faculty to discuss your teaching at an alternate school to ensure that there will be no meddling from outside influences.

I will hear from you soon.

Highmaster Ivanov Stenovich

After reading the letter, Viktor felt as he had his very first day at Durmstrang: small, intimidated and TERRIFIED. If there was nothing else that was made essentially clear to every boy that entered that castle, the importance and significance of loyalty was taught as an impassable lesson. During his days there, he never would have thought that receiving a letter from them would make a grown, mature man shake in fear and obligation. To accept was undesirable, to refuse was daunting. He still had time to think about it rationally and make a decision. He had already signed his contract for Hogwarts for the next year but that could be reversed, and the owl wouldn't be ready to fly again for a few hours at least.

Folding the letter and putting it in his pocket, he turned and left his apartment. A walk in the fields would do him well.

He wandered aimlessly in the warm sun of early summer, enjoying the feeling of the heat on his bare limbs and the scent of the sweet grass filling his nose. He knew he should be thinking about what to write to the Highmaster but he found his thoughts turning back to Hermione. He wondered what she was doing right now. Was she packing for the trip she planned for this summer? Would she want him to take the position? Would she think of him if she left? What was going on in her mind! There were times when she would look at him and his heart would beat out of his chest. Moments where their hands or arms would brush against each other and he knew the jolt of electricity that went between them couldn't be one sided. It was impossible.

Sighing he sat in the grass, he could see the Black Lake and the Castle in the distance, basking in the glory of the sunlight. He reached down for a blade of grass and was twining it in his fingers, mulling over the letter when he raised his head to see a small figure in the distance making their way towards him. Soon enough he could see it was Hermione and his spirits lifted immediately.

He sat and waited while she made her way up the hill to him and sat down next to him.

"Hi, I was looking for you to see if you wanted to go for a walk before we leave tomorrow. Dobby told me he saw you come this way. I hope you don't mind that I joined you."

Smiling at her he said, "No, I never mind your company, I enjoy it." The last bit brought a slight blush to Hermione's already flushed face.

"Dobby said you looked worried when you left. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I think….no…I'm not sure." He was truly torn. He knew that letter shouldn't have such a strong effect but he also knew that part of the reason he wanted to stay at Hogwarts was the young women who sat next to him. He didn't want to just be friends with her; he couldn't just be friends with her.

"What's the matter? Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, gently laying her hand on his tensed arm.

"I, um, I received a letter from Durmstrang today." he looked over at her, seeing her nodding for him to continue, noting that she pulled her hand away. "They offered me a teaching job there. The Dark Arts, starting this fall." He knew he was starting to ramble.

Looking at the grass, Hermione replied, "But you have a job already. You work here, at Hogwarts. Don't they know that already? Didn't you tell them?" She was exasperated.

"Yes, they know. But you don't understand how Durmstrang is. Ve are taught there that loyalty is everything. The castle is our home, the instructors and our classmates our family. You are loyal to your family." Hermione could see how visibly torn he was, she could see the confusion, the battle in his eyes.

"What are you going to do? Where will you teach?"

"I don't know."

"Where do you want to go?" these question were asked very quietly; neither one looking at the other.

"I don't know." After a brief pause, and a new blade of grass to destroy, he quietly asked, "vhere do you vant me to go?" lifting his eyes to meet hers, uncertainty swimming in both sets.

"I-I-I, um, well. It's not my decision to make. You need to go where you will be happy. I would be sad to lose your friendship though," she replied trying to sound rational and objective. Hermione couldn't say this to his face and said it more to the ground than anyone and jumped in surprise at his response.

"DAMMIT, HERMIONE! I can't do this anymore; I vaited! I don't vant to vait anymore!" He bellowed, rising to his feet, throwing the grass away. "I can't just be friends vith you. I don't vant to be just friends. I have loved you since you vere 15 years old; vhen ve vent to that damn ball. I have followed vhat you have been doing all these years. You said you felt lost before you came back to Hogvarts, you said you found yourself again. Now, I have found you again and you can't even tell me vhat you vant. I can tell you vhat I vant, who I vant. I vant you Hermione. It's never been anyvone else"

This was a shock to Hermione. He loved her since she was 15. Over the past year, she knew he felt strongly for her, she would have to be daft to think otherwise. His out-bursting display of his emotions gave her all the encouragement she needed.

He had turned away so his back was turned towards her. She stood up and walked to his silhouette. "Viktor", she whispered, reaching tentatively for his hand. Feeling the warmth of her small hand in his larger one, he turned to her and looked down into her warm, brown waiting eyes. His own eyes were filled with insecurity, fear and confusion. "Viktor, I know what I want, and I think I know who I am." She paused before continuing at a slight nod in his head. "I know I want to be happy. I know I can be happy here at Hogwarts."

Viktor nodded and asked again, "and who are you Hermione?" Taking a deep, nervous breath she looked deeply into his eyes and said, "I am still figuring that out but one thing I do know, is I am not entirely me unless you are here with me."

Smiling with a grin that reached his eyes, he said "Good. I vill stay here then. I vill teach at Hogvarts" before pulling her close to him, wrapping his free arm around her waist and leaning down and capturing her lips with his; pouring into her all the love and emotion he had kept inside for the past 12 years.

FINI!