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Harry Potter had noticed, of course. Even despite the fact that he was well known for being oblivious to the subtle things that played out around him sometimes, he did notice.
When he was in the library, for instance, indulging Hermione her motherly vibes in looking for help with the First Triwizard task, the small raven haired boy had found his Avada eyes captured by onyx ones several times over, through empty spaces in bookshelves, over tables, and even just over an oblivious bushy-haired girls shoulder. He would say it was cute if the moments themselves were not more awkward that trying to say no to Hagrid's rock cakes while the friendly giant had a hopeful glimmer in his eyes.
Or the other times, when Harry spent time with the ever airy Luna Lovegood by the Black Lake, losing himself in doubtlessly dubious conversation about unheard-of creatures, and he simply gazed towards the massive sea vessel that stood proud amongst the waters, he often caught the onyx gaze he so desperately needed more of, and shamelessly lost himself in.The blonde herself would momentarily break her facade at times, and regard him with a small knowing smile that wanted to make Harry blush for no obvious reason.
Or that one time recently, when a familiar blond prat tried to curse Harry behind his back (“No limping crazies to protect you this time, Potter!”), and even Professor Moody was not around, it was the owner of those captivating onyx eyes that leapt to his defense, seemingly out of nowhere.
“Are you alright?” the other asked, in that part cute, part sexy accent, and Harry had to hold himself with self-inflicted mental scolding from severely shuddering.
“Yes. Thank you. I assumed Malfoy learned his lesson the first time around.” Harry muttered, barely stopping his own voice from quivering. With a determined expression that the other found simply adorable, he held out his hand. “I am Harry Potter. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” As if he needed to introduce himself, though. If not from before, the infamy he had garnered during the current Triwizard debacle ensured that everyone knew his name and his face, at the very least.
The other simply stared at him in fond exasperation, as if thinking along the same lines, but soon gave into his antics with a small smile. “Viktor Krum. Same.”
*****
“Are you alright?!” the familiar accent snapped, and Harry’s attention was drawn to Cedric’s orange coated face (which really was NOT his color) to a much more enticing rough Bulgarian one.
Harry blushed as he responded, “Of course. Flying comes natural to me.”
Viktor scoffed, clapping on hand onto Harry’s shoulder. “I was worried.”
“Relax, Vik. It just flew. I’m not the one who decided to hurl curses at a bloody Dragon. What if you missed? What if it didn’t work? What if-“
Harry’s agitated rambling was cut off when said Bulgarian pulled him into a fierce hug using his previous claimed shoulder as leverage.
“Shut up, Harry.” The near lumberjack sighed, and Harry, for once, lost himself into another’s embrace with slowly drooping eyes.
*****
“Hermy-own-ninny?” Viktor asked uncertainly, as said bushy haired girl simply teared up and rushed past him, driven to sadness by his idiot red-haired friend’s words. Harry held Ron like a brother, but honestly sometimes debated the pros and cons of stitching his mouth shut. Said Weasley growled yelled in agitation, and followed after the witch. Although, Harry refused to bask himself in hopes of an easy reconciliation – Ron was probably storming upto his own dorms to silently stew in annoyance.
Harry sighed and patted Vik’s shoulder in reassurance. He and the Bulgarian had been growing closer as friends over the Triwizard tourney, and honestly, it was easy to be himself with the bulky elder student despite his growing infatuation with him.
Viktor simply sighed and turned to the object of his own secret affections, deeming his plan to get into Harry’s good graces by showing his best friend a good time a lost cause. In an unexpected bout of confidence, Viktor took Harry’s hand instead. “Would you give me this last dance?”
Harry’s face, which had suddenly taken on an eerily similar shade to that of a tomato, whirled around, trying to find a reason to get out of this. He wasn’t sure his resolve to stay as the Bulgarian’s friend would not falter after this dance, something he had been secretly begging fate for. He finally sighed and nodded.
Since Viktor was well acclimated with Harry’s socially awkward tendencies, he did not lead him back to the Great Hall. Instead he led him out into the Entrance Courtyard, and into a secluded spot that still managed to be bathed in music, thanks to the open sets of gigantic doors.
Harry was uncertain as Viktor grasped his hip and took his hand, but slowly worked up the courage to place his hand on the other’s shoulder and closed his eyes, reveling in his small joy of his fantasy coming true.
His eyes snapped open, however, when he felt chapped lips on his.
His eyes glanced up to Viktor’s, which were unhelpfully closed. Instead, he decided to indulge in this little gift of luck (probably brought about by a very drunk Viktor, even if he couldn’t smell any alcohol in his breath – why in the world would Viktor kiss him otherwise?) and wrapped both his hands around Viktor’s neck, ignoring the annoying fact that he had to stand on his tiptoes and Viktor had to lean down to do so (curse the Dursleys for their tendencies to not feed Harry enough).
When Viktor’s hands pulled Harry flush against his body, and lifting him in the air while doing so, Harry gasped, and allowed Viktor to deepen the kiss – a surprising but not unwelcome change.
“Oh for the love of – break apart!” a familiar drawl sounded, and suddenly Harry was pushed away from Krum by an invisible force. He blinked owlishly at the other boy, before looking into the eyes of one very shocked (and possibly traumatized) Severus Snape. “P- Potter?!”
“That was quite rude.” Viktor snarled, standing straight and straightening his caped robes easily and nonchalantly.
Harry was not quite seeing anything else other than the immediate judgement in the teacher’s eyes, before he turned and ran, ignoring Viktor’s concerned calls from behind.
*****
Harry wrapped the towel tighter around himself after the second task. How he had managed to avoid Krum so far was a mystery (not so much, since Harry knew Krum’s sense of decency and chivalry played a huge part in him giving Harry his space), but it seemed his luck (and Viktor’s patience) had run out.
That was probably why he was currently cornered by Viktor Krum against the back of the stands set up for the spectators.
“I have tried to give you the space you so clearly seek, hoping you would return. But as time passes, I am beginning to believe you hold no such notion.” Viktor said, messing up the pronunciations on some words, but Harry was far too familiar with his mannerisms to know what he meant.
“Viktor, that kiss was a mistake.” Harry sighed, looking anywhere but at the onyx orbs that so carefully regarded his prone form. His decision not to look up had only been verified as correct when Viktor’s form froze after that sentence. “You are a renowned player, and I will be damned before you face any discrimination because of-“
“So it’s not that you don’t return me feelings, is it?” Viktor asked, eyes widening in realization, and feeling a strong urge to face-palm.
“I- what?” Harry stuttered, completely thrown off loop. “What feelings-“
But his words were swallowed by the mouth that greedily latched onto his own, and the bliss was so overwhelming that he forgot his hold on the towel around his shoulders, opting instead to pull Viktor closer to him and pin himself against the pole behind him with the Bulgarian’s weight. Muffled moans found their way from both teenagers, and were long after replaced by labored breaths when both decided to break for air.
“You, Harry Potter” Viktor said, hunching a little too low to trail kisses along that line of muscle on Harry’s neck, “are an idiot to think I care about public opinion.”
*****
When Harry finally appeared in front of the maze with Cedric’s and Voldemort’s body in tow, eyes glowing in eerie green light, Viktor was the first to break the stunned lines of witches and wizards to run to his boyfriend (as Harry had shyly accepted the title of a few days prior), and thus was able to catch the fourteen year old when he almost collapsed.
It was only with half a mind that he listened to the Hogwarts Headmaster recount the events of the task as he extracted the events using a spell (which was dark, considering it’s necromantic nature – this would later amuse Harry to no end) from Cedric's corpse to know that Voldemort had attempted to use a ritual to regain a body, but some sort of unseen power caused the ritual to backfire. After Voldemort’s snake-like was clothed, he promptly collapsed into a lifeless heap. Six objects (namely a trophy cup, a diadem. a locket, a snake, and a ring) appeared in front of the corpse, which absorbed a blackish energy from the seemingly random things strewn around it, turned human. What Krum only truly registered was that a similar energy was absorbed from Harry as well. Harry then grasped both the then more human Dark Lord’s and Cedric’s hands before wandessly and wordlessly summoning the Triwizard cup (which was actually a portkey, go figure) and landed here.
The cries and wails of Diggory’s parents were of no concern to the Bulgarian seeker as he held on to Harry’s hand and waited for him to wake. His mother laid her hand gently on his shoulder, while his father stood on Harry’s other side. Viktor could not be any happier that his parents accepted his and Harry’s relationship.
*****
When Harry Potter awoke the next day, it was to a familiar sensation of being cuddled and his hair being run through with acclimated fingers. He sighed as he turned and burrowed his head into Viktor’s chest. “Don’t tell Pomfrey I’m awake yet.”
Viktor stilled in surprise at hearing Harry’s voice. The mediwitch had said that whatever had happened had had a powerful drain on Harry’s magic and that it would take days for him to recuperate, but he was happy all the same. Tightening his hands around his love. “I don’t want you bringing down another Dark Lord anytime soon.”
“Knowing my cursed Potter luck, you’d be better off betting on crows turning white.” Harry mumbled, then sighed. “And it wasn’t me, not me alone.”
Viktor’s questioning sound made Harry clear his throat to continue.
“When Voldemort was rising from the cauldron, indescribable pain took over me. I didn’t know what was happening or why, but only that I would not be able to survive.” Harry whispered, breath hitching slightly towards the end, and perhaps it was only Viktor’s resumed notion of his fingers carding through his hair that kept him from breaking down. “All I focused on, all I wanted, was to live even a single other day to be able to see you again. And then I woke up here.”
Viktor hummed thoughtfully. “You do not remember?”
“Not really.” Harry admitted, then sighed. “Well, at least Dumbledore was right about one thing, love truly is the greatest power out there.” Viktor froze, and Harry immediately worried if he’d said something wrong. “I mean-“
“Love?” whispered Viktor, voice too strained to understand what emotions he was feeling, other than their intensity.
“I’m sorry if that upset you-
“You’ve never mentioned love before.”
“Of course I have, Viktor, I say I love you all the time.”
“Yes, but you also say it to your friends. And that house elf. And your OWL.”
“Yes but it’s different when it comes to you. I guess the most appropriate distinction would be to say I am IN love with you.”
Silence reigned for what had to be the tensest moment in history for Harry.
“Look, I’m sorry if it’s not what you wan-“
Harry was cut off again with a kiss, but this one was most passionate of all. Harry didn’t complain when Viktor flipped them over and laid his weight on top of the younger wizard, instead wrapping his legs around Viktor’s waist and his arms around Viktor’s neck. Viktor’s own hands roamed the teen’s form, and stopped at his hip when he had to emerge to breathe, only tapping their foreheads together to maintain intimacy,
“You really need to stop interrupting my sentences.” Harry pointed out, and pouted when Viktor laughed, onyx eyes filling with mirth.
“I only interrupt you when you’re going to say something stupid, Harry.” Viktor reasoned, nosing the younger teen’s jawline.
“I suppose that’s true.” Harry mused, fingers spreading along Krum’s back. “I really do love you though.
Viktor paused his ministrations long enough to whisper “I love you too, Harry.” Into Harry’s ear and then claimed the other’s lips again.
Since Viktor’s eyes were closed, however, he did not notice the blood red that ‘Harry’s’ eyes turned into before the teen shut them.