Chasing You (Viktor Krum X Reader)

Chapter 27: I Realize Something Monumental

Chapter 27: I Realize Something Monumental

When the letter arrives, everyone knows.

Cedric has been at the apartment every single day since the day of the tryout, and he's not secretive about his motives. He wants to be here when the letter comes.

My dad shuffles through the mail before he even gets it inside from the mailbox, his eyes searching for my name. I got a letter from a wizard in South Africa who apparently inherited a vast fortune and wants to spare a few galleons with me, his best buddy who he has never met, and (get this!) he's a prince, and my dad went ballistic, assuming it was from the Bats.

Nat hovers by the door whenever Dad has mail and inconspicuously asks, "Any mail?" as soon as he opens the door to the apartment.

The thing is, though, she should have known that we would know when it came.

And we do.

Dad leaves the apartment, muttering something about the mail as Cedric and I elbow each other discreetly so Nat doesn't notice. We're at the kitchen island munching on Nat's newest blueberry creation, lemon blueberry muffins.

When Dad returns, he all but slams the door open, eyes wide, a letter clutched in his raised hand like Yorick's clunky skull, and he breathes, "It's here."

Nat and Cedric are scrambling over to him to get a good look at the little white envelope as if that's going to reveal whether or not I got it, but I remain in my seat, trying to slow my breathing and soothe the thumping in my chest. My dad manages to get the letter to me and they all hover over my shoulder as I take it with trembling fingers.

"Do you want privacy?" Nat asks quietly because she's always been the most considerate out of everyone. But I can tell she's nervous and the two men at my back are practically buzzing with nerves, so I shake my head and begin to tear open the envelope.

I've always been the type of person who can't read a letter like this in a calm, dignified manner. I can never keep my eyes from jumping all over in my excitement, so I always take thrice as long as I should to read anything.

It doesn't matter, though, because Nat and Ced aren't like that, and almost immediately after I open the letter, they're both crushing me in a hug, and Ced is shouting a little bit.

"Did she get it?" my dad asks (who suffers from the same affliction as me and can't focus on the letter).

"She did it, she did it," Nat is singing into my hair through tears, squeezing me tighter. I can feel when my dad adds himself into the hug and the letter falls from my fingers, floating to the floor, completely unnoticed by any of us as I try to breathe under the weight of their hugs, grasping onto their arms.

Tears are running down my cheeks even though I don't remember needing to cry or starting to. Dad and Nat are crying too, and Cedric is grinning so wide, it looks like his face is going to split.

"I knew you got it, killer," he said. "I knew you could from the moment I first saw you on a broom."

I grin and hug their arms as best I can.

I made it.

***

I know it's stupid—doing this.

But I can't help it.

It was easy enough to cut him off when the last time I saw him was just a couple of days after the maze, but I can't keep away from Viktor now that he's held me in those arms again and he told me that he still wanted me—all of it.

The good and the bad. The simple and the complicated. What's easy and what's hard.

So, I'm on his doorstep, trying to smooth my wild hair, the letter from the Bats clutched in my hand. And, when he opens that door, I'm on top of him in an instant, hugging him so tightly I'm afraid I might crush the air out of his lungs. My feet aren't even touching the floor, but Viktor presses his hand into the small of my back and holds me tight, that hooked nose of his pressing into my neck.