Victory, Everlasting

Main Hall, Feb 14th

There was a brief moment of silence after the doors closed. If one listened closely, they could actually hear the sound of 1000 pairs of eyes blinking at once. Then, suddenly, a random second year stood up and started clapping. Immediately, more students began standing up and cheering while others began banging their goblets on the table. Even the Highmaster, who was quickly followed by the rest of the staff, stood up and began politely applauding.

"KRUM!" a particularly enthusiastic fourth year screamed.

"KRUM!"

"KRUM!"

"KRUM!"

The chant grew in volume as more and more students joined, and Harry was certain that some of the older students had to have cast the sonorus charm on themselves.

Seemingly indifferent towards his greeting, Viktor walked stoically towards his typical spot, across from Harry and Calypso.

"Viktor," Harry greeted pleasantly, "you seem to have won over a few fans."

Viktor scowled, but before he could say anything Kira arrived and pulled him into a very passionate kiss that brought forth several wolf-whistles from nearby students.

The reason for Viktor's enthusiastic greeting was his spectacular catch of the snitch against Peru in the round of 16. The day after the match, a pair of photographs appeared on the front page of every paper that covered Quidditch in the world. The first was a picture of Viktor fighting off the Peruvian Seeker, grabbing the snitch, and taking an oncoming Bludger to the face at full speed. The second image was of Viktor after the game, with his jaw broken and his right eye bleeding, raising the snitch to a roaring crowd in Italy.

The two powerful images, combined with Viktor's incredible catch, had skyrocketed his reputation. Even the most skeptical writer was now calling Viktor the next great international Quidditch star, and, naturally, his standing at Durmstrang had dramatically increased again. The few students who still openly disliked Viktor, feared retribution from the staff and other students if they so much as refrained from cheering for him. A group of Bulgarian students had even tried to convince the Highmaster to allow a Viktor Krum protection club. While the group was 'officially' not allowed, that didn't stop the group from performing its self-proclaimed duty to punish any student suspected of acting against their country's star seeker.

It took several loud coughs from Calypso before Kira released Viktor, who now looked a lot happier. "I am trying to eat here."

"Well, don't let us stop you from leaving," Kira responded, running a hand down Viktor's chest, and not bothering to look at Calypso.

"So, what was the damage?" Harry asked. "The pictures made it look horrible."

"Broken right ocular socket, broken jaw, concussion, and I lost five teeth." Viktor grimaced. "It took the healers three days to correct everything."

"Poor baby," Kira cooed. "Why don't I take you back to your room and kiss everything better."

Viktor looked at Kira hungrily. "I think that sounds amazing."

Harry was fighting the urge to laugh as Viktor and Kira quickly got up and left the Main Hall, but then he saw how ill Calypso looked. "What's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"Don't talk to me," Calypso said weakly. "I think I'm about to throw up."

"What happened? Did someone curse your food?"

Harry was halfway done casting a revealing charm when Calypso said, "No, I made the mistake of using Legilimency on Krum when Kira mentioned kissing him better. I did not want to see and feel... that!"

"See what?" Harry asked in confusion.

Calypso looked pained in a way that Harry had never seen before. "I saw them... doing it."

"Doing it? Oh...OH!" Harry said in realization. "Wow, that's... wow."

"Can we please change the subject." Calypso practically begged. "I really need to get that memory out of my head."

Harry smiled and shifted his body so that he was closer to her. "What would help you get rid of the image?"

"Anything," Calypso said in disgust.

Without hesitation, Harry placed a soft kiss on Calypso's lips. Since most of the school had heard that they were courting, or dating, or whatever, there wasn't much shock to Harry's action. After a few moments, Harry pulled back. "Did that help?"

"Mmmhmm," Calypso replied happily, "much better."

"I told you it was true," a nearby voice said, "The last Rosier has sullied herself with a half-blood."

Harry and Calypso both looked up in anger at the speaker. It was a tall and broad shouldered boy, who was sneering at them from the table next to their own. Harry had never seen him before, but clearly Calypso recognized him. "Müller," she sneered, "Didn't you learn your lesson in the last defense class? I see Lady Shluga managed to reattach all your fingers. What a shame."

For a second, Müller swallowed nervously at Calypso's reminder of the duel during their Dark Arts class, but a look at the full staff table seemed to reassure him that she wouldn't be cursing him in the middle of the Main Hall. Turning away from Calypso, Müller looked at Harry with disdain. "You're trash, Potter, and everyone here knows it. Just because you're Rosemburg and Kosarev's pet doesn't mean that you'll ever be anything more than half a real wizard. Maybe if you did the world a favor and killed your mudblood mother, I'd admit that your existence is tolerable. Otherwise yo–"

Harry had raised his wand to curse Müller at the world mudblood, but Calypso had beaten him to the punch and sent a bone crushing spell, which destroyed the boy's collarbone. Müller's scream of agony immediately grabbed the entire hall's attention, as he fell out of his chair. Before Müller's friends could stand up and draw their wands, Professor Rosemburg had arrived.

"Don't even think about it," Rosemburg snarled at one of Müller's friends, who was aiming a curse at Harry's back.

"What is going on here?" Karkaroff demanded, arriving a second later. Turning to look at Calypso and Harry, he snapped, "Which one of you cast the spell?"

Before Calypso could speak up, Harry said, "I did. He insulted my mother."

"You'll serve detention with me tonight, Pott– "

"I think not!" Karkaroff growled. "You favor the boy too much, Nikolai. For cursing a fellow student in the Main Hall, Potter will serve detention with Ivan. Room 106 at eight tonight, Potter. Be on time."

"Yes sir," Harry said, unable to keep the slight hitch out of his voice. Ivan was the Durmstrang caretaker, and he made Filch look like Saint Nicholas. The man had a vast collection of torture devices, and the mere threat of spending an evening in Ivan's office kept the peace at the tumultuous school.

"Müller, get yourself to the infirmary," Rosemburg snarled, not looking at all sympathetic at the boy, "and don't think that this is an excuse for not turning in your essay tomorrow. It'll be done, or I'll send you to Ivan as well."

As Müller's friends helped him out of the Main Hall, Harry felt Calypso take his hand and give it a squeeze. "Why did you do that?" she hissed quietly. "They would have gone easier on me."

Harry simply remained silent. He knew why he had lied. He didn't want Calypso to get into trouble. It was a very strange feeling, and he wasn't sure what it meant.