"Oh! Heri!" the lead fangirl cried, detaching her claws from Viktor's arm. Wonders upon wonders, she actually stepped away from the Quidditch star and approached this 'Heri'. Curiously enough, the starstruck expression on her face didn't go away. "How are you? It's so rare to see you alone!"
"What are you doing here?" asked another fangirl, talking quickly. She actually nudged the first one out of the way. "Lavender told me that Parvati told her that Leanne said that you lot would be working on the Charms project until dinner!"
The Heri girl smiled disarmingly.
"Yes, we were, but we finished a lot earlier than we expected, so we figured some fresh air would do us good."
"Are you going to play Quidditch then?" fangirl No. 1 asked, shoving No. 2 back.
"We might," the Heri girl replied amicably. "We don't have any equipment, but we could charm some snowballs to act as Bludgers. Of course, I'll have to convince Zacharias that it was his idea or else he'll gripe about it for the rest of the day if his team loses."
There was a round of giggling.
"Anyway," the Heri girl said, "Sorry to bother you lot—"
"You could never be a bother, Heri!" a girl called out to vehement agreement.
The Heri girl smiled indulgently.
"You're too sweet. Still, I found this cloth a moment ago and I figured this gentleman over here would want it back." She gave another little curtsy as she addressed the three of them.
In Miss Heri's hand was one of the sashes that all Durmstrang students were required to tie around their staves, being the distinguishing mark of what year a student was in. The entire delegation that came to Hogwarts were seventh-year students, and so all of them were adorned with red. A quick check of their staves revealed that it was Martin that had lost his sash.
Martin retrieved his sash from the girl with an awkward mutter of gratitude. He spoke the least amount of English among them and it made him shy.
"You're welcome," Miss Heri said, blinking up at Martin sweetly. She turned back to the fangirls. "Well, I better go before Ern— Oh!"
She stood up straighter as comprehension adorned her face.
"I just remembered! Cho Chang intends to convince Cedric to ask her to the Ball!"
"What!" squawked fangirl No. 1 and 2 at the same time.
The other girls murmured unhappily amongst themselves.
Miss Heri nodded earnestly.
"I was told she's been scoping him out lately. She plans to make her move this afternoon!"
"Not on my watch she won't," growled the one that had been clinging to Viktor like a limpet. "Where is she?"
"I would assume the Charms Courtyard since that's where Cedric and his friends usually hang out."
Impossibly, the herd of shrieking harpies vacated the premises immediately, apparently Hell-bent on preventing the injustice that was the Chang girl securing Diggory as a date. They didn't even look back.
Miss Potter stood quietly with them as they watched on in relieved disbelief as their tormentors left them behind. She watched the crowd go with a mild, vaguely interested look on her face.
When the fangirls were gone, Miss Heri turned back to them with what was unmistakably a knowing smirk on her face. She tilted her head in amused acknowledgement and turned to go.
"You're welcome."
For the first time since the announcement of the Yule Ball, Ivan felt an inkling of interest instead of dread. Judging by the wondering look on Viktor's face, he wasn't alone in his fascination.
Later that evening, Heri would be told from a swoony Myrtle about what Cedric Diggory was getting up to in the prefects' bathroom. While initially appalled that Myrtle spying on people in the bath and wanted to tell Heri the details, Heri would grudgingly admit that such a perversion was to her benefit on that occasion. Instead of whatever X-rated shenanigans Myrtle had been hoping for, Cedric had taken the Golden Egg in the water with him and discovered that the Second Task would involve the merfolk in the Black Lake.
"It's not decent, Myrtle!" Heri admonished still, cheeks stained red.
Myrtle only giggled lewdly, a dreamy look on her face.
Heri decided that she would not be telling Cedric how she came across the knowledge of the Second Task. In fact, she would be taking this secret to the grave.
In the following week, there was a noticeable increase in interest from the Durmstrang boys when it came to Hogwarts girls. Well, one girl in particular. However, try as they might, they never again encountered the strange girl that had saved Viktor Krum from adoring admirers. In the most maddening turn of events, they would occasionally catch a glimpse of her at a distance, but she would invariably disappear again. One lucky fellow had been in earshot of her, hearing her talking with some friends, but when he turned the corner of the corridor they entered just before he reached them, they were gone.
In short, it was bewildering and exasperating.
Unaware of the manhunt out for her, Heri spent her time not in classes either in the common room or in Myrtle's loo. She took care to use the secret passageways Fred and George had shown her as well as the Marauder's Map to avoid run-ins. She found the lack of contact with the rest of the student body to be a good way to avoid the fanboys that were sniffing at her skirts.
As Yule drew nearer, the weather turned even chillier. Snow was falling thickly upon the castle and its grounds now. The pale blue Beauxbatons carriage looked like a large, frosted pumpkin next to the iced gingerbread house that was Hagrid's cabin, while the Durmstrang ship's portholes were glazed with ice, the rigging white with frost. The house-elves down in the kitchen were outdoing themselves with a series of rich, warming stews and savoury puddings, and only that Delacour chit seemed to be able to find anything to complain about.
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