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Viktor barely made it back to the room he was sharing with two other Durmstrang students. He let himself in, closed the door behind himself, and then collapsed on his bed and squealed into his pillow.
“Um, Vitya?” Georgi Popovich said questioningly, looking up from where he was reading a book on his own bed. “Everything alright?”
Viktor sat up and pushed his hair out of his face. “I just met the cutest boy,” he said happily, clasping his hands together underneath his chin.
Georgi sighed slightly. “Oh?” He closed his book around one finger, giving Viktor his full attention. “Who is he?”
“I didn’t get his surname,” Viktor said slowly. “But he’s a student from Beauxbatons named Yuuri.” He smiled dreamily.
Viktor had been a bundle of nerves when he had gone to drop his name in the Goblet of Fire. Despite his promise to Yakov, the headmaster of Durmstrang, he didn’t really want to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. He was good with a wand, yes, but not necessarily quick on his feet in an emergency.
Despite that, for some reason, everyone from Durmstrang seemed to think that he would be the chosen champion, that he would bring Durmstrang their first win in literally hundreds of years. And, if the whispers he had heard in the halls and classrooms of Hogwarts were any indication, most everyone thought the same.
So Viktor had felt the pressure when finally gone to drop his name in the goblet. And then an adorable, cloaked boy had come into the room a moment after him, and everything bad about Viktor’s night had been immediately derailed.
Yuuri was adorable, Yuuri was soft-spoken yet wonderfully fierce, Yuuri was probably talented if he was going to submit his name to be a champion… And Viktor was just a little bit smitten.
“Yuuri from Beauxbatons,” Georgi repeated thoughtfully, and then his eyes widened. “Wait, you don’t mean Yuuri Katsuki, do you?”
Viktor shrugged. “I told you, I didn’t catch his last name.”
“Describe him,” Georgi ordered. Viktor frowned slightly, but complied.
“He was a little bit younger than me, maybe sixteen or so,” he said. “He’s Japanese, I think, and he has soft-looking dark hair and cute blue glasses and the dreamiest brown eyes-”
“Oh my god,” Georgi said, and then laughed in disbelief. “You have a crush on Yuuri Katsuki, Vitya!”
Viktor leaned back in bed and grabbed one of his pillows, clutching it to his chest. “I guess I do.”
“You have absolutely no idea who Yuuri Katsuki is, do you?” Georgi said with narrowed eyes.
Viktor shrugged, putting down his pillow so he could unlatch his cloak. The halls of Hogwarts were drafty and cold, but it was warm in their room with the door closed and the fireplace cheerily crackling in the corner. “Should I have heard of him?”
He carefully hung his cloak over the end of his bed and then pulled off his boots as Georgi said, “I’m actually shocked you haven’t. He’s a rising star at Beauxbatons, probably one of their brightest students. He’s won their dueling competition five years in a row, and rumor has it that Aurors from four different countries want him to work with them.”
Viktor paused in unlacing his left boot and looked up. “Wow, really?”
Georgi nodded seriously. “Everyone’s got their bets on him to be the Beauxbatons champion, or if not him then someone from his group of friends. Honestly, Vitya, do you live under a rock?”
“He does,” Yuri Plisetsky said as he let himself into their rooms, slamming the door behind himself. “What’s Vitya done this time?”
“He’s never heard of the guy he’s crushing on,” Georgi said. Viktor sighed dramatically.
“And who’s that?” Yuri snorted, flopping face-first down on his own bed. “Vitya gets a crush every week.”
“I do not,” Viktor protested, neatly lining up his shoes at the end of his bed. “And his name is Yuuri Katsuki.”
Yuri groaned into his pillow. “Great. It’s just my luck that you get a crush on the guy who stole my name.”
“Yura, you’re fourteen,” Georgi sighed. “Katsuki is older than you.”
Yuri grumbled something inaudible and burrowed underneath his covers. Viktor sat on the edge of his bed and tugged nervously at the end of his braid. “Georgi,” he said. “Since you know so much about Yuuri Katsuki, apparently, do you know if he’s dating anyone?”
Georgi shrugged. “I have no idea,” he replied. “I only know him by reputation, and you know the rumors that reach Dumstrang are about the power of others, not their relationship status.”
Viktor sighed heavily, pulling the band off the end of his braid before carefully starting to undo it. “That’s inconvenient.”
“You could just be a normal person and ask him,” Yuri shouted, his voice muffled by the six blankets he had piled on his bed.
“I will ask him,” Viktor decided. “I’ll ask him out... Is there anywhere good to go on a date around here? I don’t want to ask him out just to take him to dinner in the Great Hall in front of literally every wizard here, it needs to be special.”
“Back before I realized that Anya wasn’t coming to Hogwarts with us,” Georgi said cautiously, “I had picked out a couple of nice date sites. But I don’t think that Madame Puddifoot’s Tea Shop would necessarily be the place to ask Yuuri Katsuki on a first date.” He pressed a hand to his chest, smiling wistfully. “It’s more of a place for established couples who are deeply in love, I’ve heard.”
“Shove off!” Yuri yelled, and Georgi just barely deflected the pillow thrown at him with a shield spell.
“Anyway,” Georgi said, clearing his throat and opening his book again, “I might ask a student who actually goes here, they’d know better than anyone.”
Viktor nodded. “OK, thanks for the advice,” he replied, untangling the last of his hair from its braid. He collapsed back onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling with a wide smile on his lips. He’d get some intel from a Hogwarts student and plan the best date in the history of dates.
All he had to do was hope Yuuri Katsuki said yes when Viktor asked him out.
***
Viktor wasted no time in finding a Hogwarts student to get information from.
He and the rest of the students from Durmstrang went to classes with Hogwarts students, and Viktor had Transfiguration first thing the next morning with sixth year students from the Hufflepuff house. Instead of partnering with Georgi or Yuri, Viktor plopped down in the first empty seat next to a Hogwarts student that he could find.
The student looked up in surprise, and then took a double take. “Um. Hi?” he said, staring. He clearly recognized Viktor.
“Hello,” Viktor said cheerfully, pulling his wand out of his robes and setting it on the table before making sure it was exactly parallel to the edge. “What’s your name?” he asked curiously.
“Um. I’m Phichit Chulanont?” the boy said.
Viktor glanced up, and gave him a charming smile. “Surely that’s not a question.”
The boy flushed a little bit, but steadily held Viktor’s eyes. “I’m Phichit Chulanont,” he repeated. “You’re Viktor Nikiforov, right?”
“Phichit?” someone said curiously from behind them, and both Viktor and Phichit turned. Another Hufflepuff student was standing behind them, a confused frown on his face.
“I guess I’m working with Viktor today?” Phichit said. It was clear from his tone and his expression that he was just as confused as his friend seemed to be. Viktor stifled a sigh.
“Oh, OK,” the other student said. “I’ll go sit with Leo, I guess.”
Phichit flashed him a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”
The student shrugged. “Not a big deal.” He leaned down and quickly whispered something in Phichit’s ear before walking to another desk across the room.
Viktor raised an eyebrow, but Phichit cheerfully said, “So, what brings you out from the clump of Durmstrang students in the back?”
Viktor glanced over his shoulder, and grinned at a glaring Yuri Plisetsky. “Curiosity,” Viktor said flippantly. He gave Phichit an expectant smile. “After all, until the champions are chosen there’s no way to tell who could be Durmstrang’s competition.” He winked cheekily. “It could be you.”
Phichit smiled back, and for some reason he seemed less bashful. “I did put my name in the goblet, so maybe it will be.”
“Best of luck, then,” Viktor said with a serious nod.
Phichit accepted with a smile. “You too.”
Viktor pushed back a frown as the Transfiguration teacher called for attention and he turned to the front. No one questioned if Viktor had put his name in, they automatically assumed that he had. Just as they assumed that he would probably be the Triwizard Champion for Durmstrang.
Viktor tuned the teacher out, resting his cheek on his palm and staring out the window. He wouldn’t really mind being the champion for Durmstrang if Yuuri was the champion for Beauxbatons.
If Yuuri was open to dating him and going out with him, maybe they could even go to the Yule Ball together! Yuuri had been wearing a heavy cloak the night before, but Viktor imagined underneath that he was strong- and even if he wasn’t, he was still cute and adorable and funny and sweet…
Viktor sighed happily, imagining meeting Yuuri at the bottom of the steps to the Great Hall, both of them dressed in their finest robes, Viktor with his hair in an elaborate braid and Yuuri with his slicked back. They would dance, and Yuuri would hold him in his arms, and maybe if Viktor was lucky Yuuri would even let him kiss him-
“Viktor?” Phichit said from Viktor’s right, and then elbowed him sharply in the side.
Viktor was dragged back abruptly to the real world, and frowned. “What?”
Phichit gave him a long look. “We’re both going to get a bad grade if you’re not paying attention,” he said, and then nodded to the desk in front of them, where two bananas lay. “We’re supposed to transfigure them into working Muggle telephones.”
“Oh,” Viktor said dumbly, and then picked up his wand. “Um, why? I thought Muggle technology didn’t work inside Hogwarts?”
“They tinkered with that a long time ago,” Phichit explained, poking at one of the bananas with his wand. “Technology will work as long as a specific device has been approved by a teacher. The WiFi here is surprisingly quick, actually.”
“Cool,” Viktor said. He had no idea what WiFi was, and he was just a little bit afraid to ask.
He poked at the banana, and then tried to picture a Muggle phone. They had the… circular spinning thing in the middle, right? And the part that Muggles held up to their faces that did, admittedly, look a little bit like a banana?
Phichit gave his banana a stern look, and then muttered a spell under his breath and flicked his wand. The banana changed in a small poof of smoke from a piece of fruit to a small, brick-like object about fourteen centimeters long.
“Awesome!” Phichit said happily.
“That isn’t a telephone,” Viktor said in confusion, and Phichit gave him a pitying look.
“You haven’t seen a cell phone?” he asked. “It’s the newest one, so I don’t blame you.”
Viktor stared at him a moment, and then shook his head.
“I’m Muggle-born,” Phichit said, as if that explained anything. “I guess smart phones haven’t gotten to the pureblooded wizarding world yet. A shame, really.”
Viktor blinked, blinked again, and then sighed. “I guess not.” He turned to his own banana and muttered a spell, poking it. It transfigured into the kind of Muggle phone he had been picturing, but remained bright yellow. Viktor waved his wand to correct the color, and then leaned back in his chair.
“So,” he said to Phichit, deciding to cut to the chase “If I wanted to ask someone out on a date around here, is there any good place to go outside of Hogwarts?”
Phichit squinted suspiciously at him. “You’re not asking me on a date, are you?” he asked.
Viktor shook his head. “No offense, but no,” he replied.
Phichit flashed him a smile. “No offense taken.” He cocked his head thoughtfully. “I’d recommend Hogsmeade,” he said. “There are a lot of good places to shop and eat, and the butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks is to die for.” He gave Viktor a curious look. “Who are you asking out? Someone from your own school, or…?” He trailed off meaningfully, leaving Viktor to fill in the blank.
Viktor happily complied. “His name is Yuuri Katsuki,” he said. “He goes to Beauxbatons. I haven’t asked him out yet, I want it to be perfect.”
“Ooh, I know Yuuri!” Phichit said excitedly. “The students from Beauxbatons are in my Charms class, Yuuri is really talented.”
“So I’ve heard,” Viktor said with what he was sure was a silly grin.
Phichit raised one elegant eyebrow. “It looks like you have quite the crush.”
Viktor covered his hot cheeks, but didn’t bother to try to smother his smile. “I guess it’s a little obvious.”
Phichit shrugged. “You have something of a reputation, Viktor,” he said instead. “I don’t know if I would have expected you to get a crush on… well, anyone.”
He laughed a little awkwardly, and Viktor stifled a frown. He knew that people who didn’t really know him saw him as some kind of ice prince, cold and gifted and untouchable, but this was the first time he had been confronted with that image by someone who didn’t even go to his school. He hadn’t realized that his reputation had spread so far.
Phichit studied him. “Although, now that I think about it,” he added with a small smile, “You and Yuuri would make a really cute couple.”
Viktor brightened. “You think so?”
Phichit nodded. “Definitely.”
Viktor gave him a bright smile. “Thanks.”
“When are you going to ask him out?” Phichit asked curiously, leaning back in his chair.
Viktor bit his lip. “After the champions are drawn from the Goblet of Fire,” he replied. “Then we’ll know if we’ll be competing against each other or not.” He shrugged slightly. “It can either be a celebration or a consolation drink.”
Phichit chuckled. “Best of luck, then,” he said. “I hope he says yes.”
Viktor sighed quietly. “So do I.”