Chasing You (Viktor Krum X Re...

By TheLemonSheriff

116K 3.7K 1.3K

"I shouldn't drag you all the way into the castle." "I don't mind," he says. I smile and shrug out of his rob... More

Chasing You
Chapter 1: I Receive the Worst Kind of News
Chapter 2: I Come Face to Face With the Hottest Man I Have Ever Seen in My Life
Chapter 3: I Converse With a Small Child and Think Like a Heathen
Chapter 4: Oh My God, Is Anyone Else Seeing This?
Chapter 5: Dragons Are So Scary and Harry Potter is a Try-Hard
Chapter 6: I Discover the Lovely Blue Tiling in the Bathroom
Chapter 7: Am I in a Coma and Dreaming Myself in a Romance Novel?
Chapter 8: I Repay a Debt to a Small Child and Do Other Magical Things
Chapter 9: I Do Something Very Satisfying but Ultimately Immoral
Chapter 10: I Find Out About the Gross Things that Live in the Lake
Chapter 11: I Become a Victim of the Bystander Effect
Chapter 12: As Chaucer Once Said, All Good Things Go to Shit
Chapter 13: The Graveyard
Chapter 14: The End
Chapter 16: I Become Involved With a Dangerous Crime Lord (It's a Mafia Thing)
Chapter 17: I Receive Some Interesting Correspondence
Chapter 18: I Practice My Newest Resume-Booster
Chapter 19: I Am the Recipient of an Enthusiastic Pep Talk
Chapter 20: This Is My Epic Training Montage
Chapter 21: I Visit an Old Friend
Chapter 22: I Visit Another Old Friend
Chapter 23: I Resist Heavy Bulgarian Charm
Chapter 24: I Try Out for the Ballycastle Bats
Chapter 25: I Break the Bad News
Chapter 26: I Do Not Want to Talk About What Just Happened
Chapter 27: I Realize Something Monumental
Chapter 28: I Make Up for Lost Time
Chapter 29: Here, Now
Chapter 30: Alone
Chapter 31: I Experience the Adverse Effects of Having a Strong Conscience
Chapter 32: I Make a Fool Out of Myself
Chapter 33: I Join the Team
Chapter 34: I Compile a Few Epilogue-Worthy Vignettes

Chapter 15: I Have the Greatest Stepmom Ever

2.6K 89 1
By TheLemonSheriff

Chapter 15: I Have the Greatest Stepmom Ever

So, what now?

It's been two weeks since the tournament ended, and I'm home. Laying in bed, doing nothing. There's a thousand galleons beside my bed. Untouched. My dad refuses to use it for an apartment, and I don't want to look at it. I roll over onto my stomach and let my hand dangle over the side of the bed, my fingertips brushing the leather pouch the money is in.

What now?

Dirty money. I should give it away. Money I don't deserve.

I sigh and bury my face in my pillow. I'm going to rot here. I roll over onto my back and roll my sleeve up. Play with the edge of the bandages. The cut is almost healed, but it's going to leave a scar.

A knock on my door has me scrambling like a wild animal caught in a light beam.

"Uh, yeah?" I call, trying to look presentable. In my pajamas with my wild hair, I'm sure I'm anything but.

"Hey, hon."

"Oh, Nat, hi," I say and watch her with wide eyes. She slips into my room and shuts the door behind her. She presses her back against the door, hands folded behind her back, like she's afraid to step any closer. She watches me for a few moments before she gathers the courage to say something to the deranged beast she's harboring in the second bedroom of her apartment.

"How are you?" she asks.

"Good," I say. It's reflexive. Instinctive. Mechanical. But it's not enough.

"You don't have to lie to me," she says, pushing off of the door and wandering a bit closer. She walks to my dresser and adjusts the placement of every single trinket I own, blowing invisible dust off of them.

"I'm fine," I say.

"Are you sure?" she asks and looks over her shoulder. I look away. "Honey?"

"Well, I don't know," I finally say. "I want to be fine."

"Hon, you haven't left the apartment since you got here," she says gently, sitting on the edge of my bed. "You barely leave your room. You haven't talked to me or your dad about anything. We just want to make sure you're okay. This isn't like you—the isolation. You never close yourself up in your room like this. We're just a little worried is all."

"I mean, I don't know, Nat," I say and shrug. "Obviously, I'm a little shaken up, but—"

"I talked to Viktor."

The words die in my throat, smothered by his name. By the idea of him. I clamp my mouth shut and watch as her hand creeps over to mine, her fingers brushing the top of my hand.

"And I know about you two," she adds. "I saw the Daily Prophet articles. I hid them from your dad, of course... But, hon... I don't know what happened between you and Viktor, but he was devastated. The poor boy couldn't stop shaking. I just... you and Viktor were both in that maze. Whatever left him in that state... You deserve to heal, but healing sometimes requires more than time. You need to talk about it."

"There are things I don't want to relive."

"I know."

"And Dad would be heartbroken if he knew what happened. He doesn't deserve that."

"I know," Nat says again, squeezing my hand. "That's what I'm here for. Whatever you say to me stays between us unless you say otherwise. You know how much I love keeping secrets from your dad." She cracks a small smile.

"I feel like... if I talk about what happened, it would make it worse," I whisper, meeting Nat's eyes. "I've been having trouble... when I remember it, I forget that I'm here. Like... for a moment, I'm back where I was."

"That's normal, but it doesn't have to be your normal."

I nod my head and bite down on my lip as I try to sift through my thoughts. How can I sugarcoat things? Make them seem like they aren't so bad? I don't want Nat to know what I did and blame me for what happened, but I know that I am to blame for a lot of it. I did a lot of things wrong that night, and they haunt me. I don't know that I can handle looking into Nat's eyes and seeing the scorn that I feel for myself.

"I don't know what you know," I say bleakly, giving in.

"Not much. Just the basics. That the competition went wrong and you were hurt. Your dad tried explaining splinching and..." Nat shudders, squeezing her eyes shut. "I don't know, maybe it's a muggle thing, but it freaks me out."

"No, it freaks me out too," I say and run my fingers over my bandage absently. "Do you remember You-Know-Who?"

"Yeah, I remember your dad telling me about it."

"Well, he doesn't believe it, but Harry Potter—the boy who defeated him—says that he's back. And that's why the tournament went so wrong. There was a death eater—one of You-Know-Who's followers—who rigged the whole tournament to get Harry at the graveyard to bring You-Know-Who back to life. I wasn't supposed to be there. The maze was rigged so that Harry would win, but he helped me, so we both made it, and..."

I'm talking fast, trying to explain the things I don't even understand. I'm hoping if I rush all of it out, maybe she'll miss the bad parts, or maybe I won't register that I'm acknowledging what happened. But her eyebrows are drawing closer together, and her mouth is pressed into a grim frown as she listens, her hand clamped tightly around mine.

My eyes are shut, and I think I'm sweating. The urge to cry is building fast and strong. I'm incredibly embarrassed for feeling this way. For wanting to cry and for saying all these things when Nat probably doesn't want all the details. She's just too kind to cut me off and say, 'TMI!' My hand is pressed against the nape of my neck, tugging at my hair to distract me. She probably thinks I'm being ridiculous for being so sensitive—for letting something so small debilitate me. I am weak, she's probably realizing, and—

"Oh my God, honey." When she speaks, I open my eyes and blink at her. There are tears in her eyes as she runs a thumb over my hand. "I had no idea."

"I tried to apparate Harry out of the graveyard, but Harry let go. I tried to stop myself, but it was too late. That's why he was alone there, because I didn't hold him tight enough. I knew he was hurt, and he's so young, he didn't know how tight he had to hold me."

"I'm so sorry."

I'm so deep into it now that I have to continue. I have to sort through the night aloud with her so someone else will understand what I did.

"When we were in the maze, the death eater tried to keep me and the other champions from winning so Harry would be transported to the graveyard. That's why we had such difficult challenges compared to Harry. I wasn't supposed to make it through the first obstacle, the blast-ended skrewt. It was terrible, but I got through it. When that didn't stop me, the death eater..." I trail off and bite down on my lip, dangerously close to tears. I have a headache and I'm starting to breathe heavier as I think back to the maze.

Red light flickers like lightning, and it shines in his eyes, and

I am the lightning, the unforgivable curse that hurtles through space with my body as its destination, and

my muscles involuntarily retract under the curse as goosebumps rise on my skin, and

every part of my body stings with the curse, in fluctuations that range from intense pain to dull aches, and then back again, and

a scream tears from my throat but is soon cut off as I collapse on the ground, my vocal cords straining, but no sound escaping my mouth,

and.

This is death.

Death, death, death.

I am me, and I am him, and I am the lightning. I am death. I am, I am, I am, I am—

"Y/N, you don't have to talk about it if you're not ready."

"No, I'm fine," I say, although my voice trembles. "Wizards have three unforgivable curses that we aren't supposed to use, ever. There's the killing curse, the cruciatus curse, which is for torture, and the imperius curse, which lets you control someone else. The death eater... He used the imperius curse on Viktor so he could control him and—" I take a shuddering breath— "he made Viktor use the torturing spell on me. I—It was the worst pain I've ever felt, and it was worse that it came from Viktor. Because he was supposed to protect me, or just comfort me after all this happened. But I can't even look at him without remembering."

"That was why he was so upset," Nat whispers.

"And I feel bad because I know he didn't really do it, and he tried to fix things. But I couldn't get past it."

"Honey, you have to give yourself time."

"I know. But he doesn't deserve that. I shouldn't ask him to wait when I have no idea how long it's going to take before I get over this."

"I don't think you have to ask him," Nat says.

"He told me he would wait, but I would feel selfish going back to him after I made him wait."

"If he chooses to wait, then I'm sure he would be happy for you to go back to him. But you have to be sure that you're better before you do. Going back to him and then leaving again... It would hurt him."

"He's already hurt."

"So are you," Nat says. "You went through things that I could never even begin to imagine, things that no one should ever go through, and now you're asking for space. And that's okay. You have a right to space. You obviously like Viktor if you're concerned for him. Give him the benefit of the doubt, honey."

"Is it selfish to say that I wish I never did the tournament? I mean, You-Know-Who would still have come back. The only change would be that I wouldn't get hurt. That's selfish, isn't it?"

"No, it's natural. But you have to think. Not many people are as strong as you are. Your headmaster said that he thinks your quick thinking saved you. Someone else in your place might not have made it. I don't want to suggest anything when I have no right to, but I think you should reach out to the others. You all went through the same thing. You have to remember that there are people on your side. I am on your side, hon. Always."

"Thanks, Nat," I say. She ruffles my hair and presses a kiss on my temple before she leaves my room.

I look over at my dresser and consider getting dressed and leaving my room. Then, I fall back onto my bed and bury myself in my covers.

Not today.

Continue Reading

You'll Also Like

62.1K 3.2K 39
#1 MalereaderxHermioneGranger (5/6/24) #1 Hermionexmalereader (28/6/24) Sometimes you don't need light to fight the darkness. Sometimes you need a di...
12K 360 58
"You are so brave, Ariana. So strong, so beautiful." ~~~~~ Sequel to 'Lion Heart'. Ariana O'Connor is back for another y...
374 0 33
Lisel Epstein was looking forward to watching her cousin, Viktor Krum, play in the 1994 Quidditch World Cup and was equally excited to start her next...
241K 4.8K 27
She was his world. Everyone in the lot saw that. They saw what the two had and didn't want to intervene. Maybe it was one of those summer romances th...