The Girl From Durmstrang

It had finally turned to May, the month of course. So little had happened, yet so much was going on. Harry and I were as close as ever, Ron was still angered with me for getting a draw with him in Wizard Chess. I hadn’t spoken to Viktor since before the second trial. It had been hell trying to ignore his existence for these past few weeks. My mirror would go off every other night; I would duck into whatever classroom was near when he called my name.

I felt terrible for doing it to him, but I no longer needed someone like him in my life; or at least that’s what I tell myself every night. I had even limited my studying time with Hermione to when he was out practicing, eating, or in class. She felt terrible and had tried to reason with me, but I’m going to stay strong with my decision. I hadn’t heard anything from my parents since their last letter; I was worried sick about them. Molly had invited me to stay with them over summer, and I agreed seeing as my home might not be standing anymore.

It was just days before my birthday, I was very excited to turn 16 and spend my birthday with my newfound friends. It would be a bittersweet day, but I would manage. I strode down the stairs to see my three friends huddled together in a circle, whispering about something.

“What are you guys talking about?” I asked as I strode up to their hunched figures.

“Nothing at all” smiled Hermione and Harry; Ron just kept his mouth shut. He couldn’t keep a secret even if his life depended on it.

“You guys are up to something” I squinted at their innocent faces in suspicion.

“Well!” piped Hermione, over enthusiastically might I add, “We have class in a few minutes! Time to go” she said as she dragged me to whatever class we had. The days before my birthday passed by slowly, I was still avoiding Viktor and scrimmaging in Quidditch with Harry and Ron, and studying with Mione. The three of them were acting sneakier as the days went by, even Neville was acting strange when he saw me.

I woke up the morning of my birthday and looked around the room, everyone was gone! I hopped out of bed and bounded down the stairs, the second I turned the corner I almost fell on my face…

“SURPRISE!!!!!” all the Gryffindor students screamed. I sat on my bottom at the last set of stairs, holding my chest due to the almost heart attack I’d just had.

“Merlin’s beard!!” I yelled as Hermione enveloped me in a hug, “You nearly scared me half to death!” my breath was still ragged from the fright.

“Sorry, but we had to. It’s your first birthday with us, we had to make it special” she laughed at my disheveled looks.

“It couldn’t wait until tonight?” I asked fixing my hair.

“No” she said with a big grin, “that’s when we have the big party!”

Throughout the day my friends and others were bidding me a good birthday, even Draco bought me a gift. Harry looked at it suspiciously, like it would explode and kill us all or something silly like that. I opened it slowly, I peeked in the box and yelled and jumped at Harry and Ron who jumped and fell over the bench in fright. Mione and I were dying with laughter; tears ran down our faces while the boys dusted themselves off and sat back down. I opened the box for real this time, and inside was an antique locket with a picture of everyone, even Draco, looking happy and smiling. The picture moved around as me and Hermione laughed and on tripped as Draco and Harry accidentally bumped into one another. It was a beautiful gift, and I wore it that night to the party.

The party had begun an hour before, and I was weaving through the mass of bodies to get some air. I finally broke through the crowd to a more open area where I caught my breath and sipped on my drink. Someone tapped my shoulder lightly and I turned to see who it was and what they wanted, what I saw left me both shocked and fearful. There stood Viktor.

“Hallo Rae” he said with a small smile.

“What do you want?” I said flatly, avoiding any and all eye contact or physical contact with him.

“Oh, I wanted to wish you happy birthday… and to give you a gift” he uncomfortably, shifting from foot to foot while he pulled out a small box red box with a black bow on it.

“I don’t need a gift from you” I said avoiding the gift as he tried to give it to me.

“Listen, I’m sorry for what I did… I didn’t think at the time I just…” he trailed off, he couldn’t explain his reasoning behind hurting and leaving me behind.

“Then let me explain for you” I spat at him, finally looking him the eye, “you chose a girl, who you had just recently met and gotten a crush on, over your friend for years! You chose to take the easy way to a girl’s heart, while simultaneously ripping my heart to shreds and destroying any friendship we’d ever had. This is why my parents never wanted me to get involved with men, especially like you. All you do is toss people aside for your own betterment and don’t think about what you do to the people around you” I finished my rant, turned and stormed away from his shocked and hurt figure.

I turned the corner up the stairs into the girl’s dorm room; I ran to my bag and threw random objects into it as tears streamed down my face. I hopped onto my broom and flew out the window into the cool night air, leaving behind the pain until morning’s first light.