"Don't be bloody ridiculous!" Ron exploded, staring at the clear liquid. "Percy's a prat but he's still my brother."

"A brother who thought not so long ago that your first loyalty should be to Dolores Umbridge."

"Yeah, well," Ron argued, "he's obviously changed his mind."

"Are you willing to bet your life on that... and Harry's, and mine?"

Ron looked guilty.

"Because that's what you're doing."

"She's right."

Ron gaped at Harry as if he had grown a second head.

"Mum'd have a fit if she found out we even considered—"

"Better not tell her then," Harry answered grimly.

---

"You were right," Hermione told Severus the next day, as she pulled away from her welcome hug.

"I always am," Snape smirked.

"Ron didn't want to do it, but he's so convinced Viktor's guilty that he couldn't resist."

"And Potter?"

Hermione frowned. "Harry barely trusts anyone. If I hadn't said anything, he might have tried to get a hold of some on his own."

"It's as well I was able to provide you with some, in that case," Severus sneered. "We couldn't have the saviour of the wizarding world locked up in Azkaban for trying to procure a regulated substance."

---

"I told you," Ron insisted.

Hermione did her best to smile. It should make her feel better that Percy had passed the Veritaserum test, but it didn't. Would Percy have been wary enough to take an antidote before he arrived? Had he really drunk the potion? Only the immediate family had attended the meal, but Hermione hadn't dared to wait for an open invitation.

"You're sure?" she couldn't help demanding.

"Hermione!" Ron's voice was raised in anger. "He might blab stuff to Scrimgeour but he's not a Death Eater." Ron didn't know that Voldemort had a spy in Scrimgeour's office.

---

"So what now?" Hermione asked, passing Severus the next ingredient.

"We wait," Severus informed her. "If it is him, then another unsuccessful attempt will simply draw attention."

"And if it's Scrimgeour?"

"All the more reason not to show our hand," Severus reminded her. "We can do no good if we're exposed."

Hermione sighed. "I just can't believe it's a coincidence," she said.

"September is one of the most popular months for births, something to do with all those parties," Severus said with apparent equanimity.

However, Hermione knew neither of them would rest easy until Molly had her first redheaded grandchild.

---

"Three, two, one..." Ron counted down as the stars on his watch aligned.

There was a crash as a figure appeared half-on the coffee table in the centre of the shabby room, lost his balance and fell into an awkward pose in an old armchair.

"Herm-i-own-ee?" the man asked, looking around the room and then at the letter in his hands. The emphasis was slightly off, but Viktor had been practicing.

Hermione crouched down in front of Viktor's chair. She took the glass Harry gave her, adding three drops of Veritaserum. "I'm sorry, Viktor, but we need to be sure."

---

"Are you or have you ever been a Death Eater?" Harry asked calmly as soon as Krum had drained the glass.

"Never."

"Why'd you move to Britain?" Ron demanded more petulantly.

"To be near my Herm-i-own-ee."

"So it was nothing to do with Voldemort gaining power in Bulgaria?" Harry asked.

"That is vhy I leave. Herm-i-own-ee is vhy I come here."

"You want to shag her, don't you?"

"Ron!"

Viktor looked momentarily puzzled, but even as Harry reassured him he didn't need to answer that and Hermione slapped Ron, he replied. "I vish to be her lover... and her husband."

---

Ron glared at Krum, using the wall to lever himself back into an upright position after Hermione's blow.

Then, Hermione blocked his view.

"Get over it," she ordered. "You're the one who wants to shag me. And it's never going to happen. You hate it when I boss you around, and when I talk about stuff you don't understand and it makes you feel stupid. We'd be a disaster as a couple and you know it, so shut up and let me get on with my life."

Ron expelled a huffing sigh of tacit consent.

"On one condition," interjected Harry.

---

Hermione glared at all three.

Viktor looked up at her from where he knelt on the floor, his eyes imploring her to understand. The trouble was that she understood better than they did.

Ron held his wand to Harry and Viktor's clasped hands. "Do you promise to never endanger Hermione in any way, by word, action or inaction?" he asked.

"I do."

"Do you promise to keep her secrets, our secrets and those of the Order of the Phœnix?"

"I do."

"And do you vow never to knowingly aid Voldemort or his supporters."

"I do."

Magical flames sealed the pact.

---

Hermione yanked hard at the Extendable Ears protruding under the door.

Howls of protest echoed up from below.

Grabbing Viktor by the hand, she stormed out of the building without a word to Harry or Ron. "Mind your own business!" she instructed the twins, who were 'innocently' replenishing Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' shelves when they passed.

"I did not mean for to make you angry," Viktor said appeasingly.

"Well, you did! That had to be about the stupidest thing I've ever seen..." Hermione blazed, pushing him against the alley wall. "And the sweetest," she added, pulling him down into a kiss.

---

Severus and Hermione exited the Pensieve, both their expressions grim.

"Imbeciles! Krum has destroyed his career."

Hermione gave a disconsolate sigh. "It would be... inconvenient if he heard a Death Eater had bet on his team... but if all the known Death Eaters are in hiding and if they don't know about the vow..."

"A lot of ifs, especially when it relies on the discretion of Weasley and his eavesdropping brothers... Why on earth did you choose their flat?"

Hermione grimaced.

"Those twins might tell Krum that the Dark Lord himself bet on Portree, if they could turn a profit."