The War of the Unwilling Hearts (Harry Potter fanfic [Viktor Krum])

Apologies

The next morning all my things are packed away in my trunk except my things for today's lessons.

"I vahnt to vis you luck." Nadya struggles to tell me as she walks out of the washroom in her school robes.

"I think that's the first thing you've ever said to me." I smile. She looks mortified.

"My English is...schrecklich." She pauses to translate her last word from German to English.

"Vor gute sache studierte ich deutsch zwei sommern." [Good thing I studied German two summers ago.] I giggle.

"Ja. Ich schätze, dass er ist. Gutes glück und holen zurüch die trophäe." [Yeah, I guess it is. Good luck and bring back the trophy.] She smiles at me for the first time and leaves the room.

I put my boots and robes on, secure my bag on my shoulder and take a final look at my bed.

"See you next year. I think." I sigh and make my way down to breakfast.

"Psst. Psst. Milena." A quiet voice calls me. So quietly that I think for a moment that it is a delusion of my mind. "Milena." the voice says more clearly.

I turn to see Viktor in the doorway of his dorm.

"What do you want?" I huff.

"Come in." I glare at him and with a begrudging look from him he takes a breath and forces out a 'please'.

I look around to ensure that no one else can see and slip into his room.

"What do you want?" I repeat.

"To apologise."

I can't, internally, come to terms with this proposition but I listen anyway.

"Here." He holds out an opened jewelry box with a necklace inside; a silver chain with five spikes of onyx crowned with rubies.

"What do you think you're doing?" I demand.

"Apologising."

"Stereotyping and patronising is more like it." He looks oddly at me. "I am not a girl bought with gifts and I certainly will not be tamed and silenced by them."

"I do not vahnt to silence you." Viktor shakes his head. "I like ven you talk." He blushes almost unnoticeably.

"I've come to think you like me irritated or angry." I snip.

"No." He shakes his head again and pushes the necklace toward me. "Please, take it."

"Why? So you can brag about what a good pet I am and how pretty I am in your gifts?" Granted I was being harsh but nothing seems so small when you're offended.

"You don't need them." He mumbles, head down.

"I can't understand why you would try to isolate me, play with me, and then try to humiliate me." Viktor's face betrays him and turns a few shades paler.

"Never." He clenches his teeth. "Never."

"I need to go." I inhale deeply and storm out before anything else can be said.

How dare he? Flouncing about his fame with an ego to match. Taunting and testing my patience; labeling me, blatantly, as his property as if I was property to be had. He had no right. And then to hush me up with jewelry as if I were an ignorant fame chaser. What sort of apology comes in that form?

By the time I get to breakfast I'm absolutely boiling.

"Milena!" Laura runs up and collides into me with a hug. "I'm so sorry about yesterday. I've missed you." She squeezes me.