Martell heard the news of her best friend - Zoe Rosenkrands - having to stay in the hospital wing due to severe third-degree burns, she had rushed straight out of the dorm room to spend the day sat beside her. Racing out, she had muttered something to Bella about wondering where Zoe had been all the times she wandered off towards the Forbidden Forest, before leaving Arabella to sit in the dormitory on her own.

After just minutes of sitting alone - bored and lonely with only herself to talk to, it all began to piece together for Bella. The blonde werewolf that she and Viktor encountered the night before, the one that got burned, was Zoe.

It was times like these that she wanted Viktor. But she couldn't have him, because she blew her chances, and at the time she had nobody else. Deanna was studying, Fred and George were off around Hogsmeade (since it was a Saturday, and all their free time involved was spending hours in Zonko's Joke Shop) and the rest of her peers, some of whom she considered slight friends, she felt would not be supportive enough in troubling situations like these. And besides, she couldn't go around telling the school that Zoe Rosenkrands was a werewolf. She hated the girl immensely, but still never had the heart to do such a thing and expose her like that.

"Shit," Arabella spoke to herself, grabbing her wand off the dorm floor where she left it from when it was dropped. She slammed the door shut behind her, running to the library where she swiftly entered with panting breaths. She decided that she would ask Deanna to help, despite her incredible study ethic, because Bella needed someone to talk to at that moment. She would go insane if she spent one more second talking to herself.

The redhead picked up a large and heavy book entitled Werewolf Encyclopaedia and ran up to Deanna, knowing that she would be in the library, and banged the book on the table so that it made her jump up from where she was vigorously writing Divination notes. "Wh--What?"

"I need your help," she ordered, flicking open a random page that happened to display werewolf anatomy. "See this werewolf?" The girl nodded. "That's Zoe."

Deanna chuckled loudly, earning a furious shush from Hermione Granger who was clearly trying to concentrate. "What are you talking about, Bella? Honestly, anyone would think that you had consumed Alihotsy or something."

She grabbed the girl's wrist tightly, taking her by surprise. "No, Dea, listen to me. I'm serious. I didn't tell you, but I went out with Viktor last night and we came across a werewolf. Viktor casted the Confringus Charm on it, and we escaped, but the werewolf was badly burned. Zoe miraculously ends up found just hours later, with third-degree burns. This werewolf's fur was blonde, Zoe has blonde hair." Arabella threw up her arms in frustration, releasing her grip off Deanna which made her sigh with relief as the grasp was starting to hurt. "I'm telling you, it all adds up! That's the secret that she was keeping from us, and that's why she kept disappearing - she would go away on a full moon so nobody would know her secret when she turned!"

Deanna was speechless; utter confusion and shock preventing words from rolling off her tongue. After many moments of stuttering and failed attempts of forming a sentence, she spoke. "I never thought I'd say this, but I believe you."

The Ravenclaw grasped her fiery-haired friend in a reassuring hug, the both of them feeling each other's erratic heartbeats from the severity of their situation. "I-I don't know what to do, Dea. I feel so bad and guilty."

She pulled away from the embrace. "Why?"

"I told Viktor that I didn't trust him because he set the werewolf-- ugh, Zoe, on fire, and he scared me. I had never seen him be so vicious towards something like he was last night, and I don't know, I was scared of him. Scared of his power . . . and I still am. He's a powerful wizard, Deanna."

"He was just trying to protect you, Bella. I understand that maybe he could've handled it better, but I bet he was just as scared as you were. I bet he feels bad too, sitting on the Durmstrang ship blaming himself for causing harm to a student; blaming himself for scaring you when I'm sure all he wanted to do was protect you."

Arabella sighed. "I hate it when you're right." She couldn't help but smile. The corners of her mouth started curling upwards no matter how much she tried to prevent it. She knew her friend very well, and took pride in remembering small yet meaningful conversations like these.

"What are you going to do now?" Deanna asked.

"I'm going to Viktor to apologise." She responded, tucking her wand safely inside the inside pocket of her coat. Waving goodbye to her friend, she exited the library and ran through the corridors until reaching the bottom floor. She pushed open the large arched doors, the same ones that her and Viktor came across the night prior. The afternoon air was much more pleasant than that night - so pleasant in fact, that she considered taking her coat off to keep herself from getting too hot. She then remembered her wand was in its pocket, and chose to keep it on incase she was to lose her wand without noticing.

She scanned the area once she reached over the hill, passing a few fellow Ravenclaws which she exchanged smiles with, and the occasional Gryffindor of whom she had spoken to at least once in the six years of her Hogwarts attendance. She saw Luna Lovegood sat by the old oak tree, reading a book by Newt Scamander. She couldn't make out what it was until she ventured closer, observing that it was her favourite of his works - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The redhead considered asking the blonde whether she had seen Viktor recently to check if he was at the location she expected him to be, but decided against it since she didn't want to disrupt Luna's peaceful reading. However, her approaching footsteps had seemingly already disrupted her, since she began to speak as Arabella started to walk away. "It's one of my favourite books, you know. I've read it at least twenty times this autumn."

The mention of the current season reminded Arabella that it was indeed November (since she had quite an inability to keep track of the time), and that the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament was in just two weeks. This did not panic her, rather excite her, although it also reminded her of Viktor and the fact that they needed to decide on a strategy, and fast, or they would run out of time. Bella partly blamed herself too, for choosing to bring herself out of the Bulgarian's company when the time they spent away from each other could have been spent preparing for the Tournament.

Truthfully, she missed him. But she couldn't even admit that to herself yet.

"I love Fantastic Beasts, too." Bella replied to Luna over her shoulder, with a large grin spreading across her face. She carefully placed herself beside the girl with her back against the tree, adopting the same cross-legged position. "It's a great book."

"It is," Luna nodded. "I find it is a favourite of the Nargles, too. They like to take it from me and hide it. I found it under the Womping Willow last month, which you can imagine proved to be a great struggle trying to retrieve it."

Arabella knew she couldn't stay for much longer as she always unintentionally would stay with Luna for hours; they just had so much in common and conversation came so easily with them whenever they would talk. It would never be often, but moments like those would always count - especially to Luna, who appreciated Bella's company far more than she realised.

After the both of them become dazed in thought, Bella stood up and brushed the grass off her coat. Her heart wrenched at Luna's disappointed face when she realised that the girl was going, but told herself that she had to leave to go to Viktor; he was her only motivation. "Sorry, Luna, but I have to go. Professor Dumbledore wanted me to--uh, you know, do stuff." She subconsciously glanced towards the Durmstrang ship, and Luna saw, making a confused expression grow on the blonde's face.

"Why does Professor Dumbledore want you to visit the Durmstrangs? I-I'm sure they are lovely, but I don't understand what duties he must have for you there." She questioned, and Arabella giggled nervously.

"Long story, Luna. I'm sorry, but I really have to go."

As she walked away from Luna, the Ravenclaw found herself realising that she had said "sorry" far too often for her liking lately. The first that came to mind was the previous night with Viktor. She had apologised, took pity on herself, for being scared. She shook her head: that was not a reason to apologise. I have a right to be scared, just as Viktor does.

Even his name said in her own imagination sounded far better than she ever imagined it could.

She saw the Durmstrang ship stood proudly along the peaceful lake, the bow facing towards her as if it was staring her directly in the face. It was almost intimidating, and then she remembered the not-so-intimidating people that inhabited it and her shoulders dropped in relaxation.

To Bella, the Durmstrangs were not fearsome in the slightest. They were powerful and strong, but far from scary (excluding Igor Karkaroff, who was the only person who seemed remotely frightening in her opinion). She thought back to the night where she was scared of Viktor, and laughed at herself - what Deanna had said was right; she shouldn't have been scared of him because he was only trying to protect her. He wasn't a scary person, and never would be.

Arabella stepped onto the wooden docks, her plain black boots making a cacophony of rhythmic clanging as she walked. A few Durmstrangs passing by - who seemed to be exiting the ship - gave her strange looks and eyed her casual attire before shrugging to one another. The girl ignored them, presuming that their confusion was due to her not being recognised as a Hogwarts student, since on weekends she was never in her uniform.

Flipping her braided hair over her shoulder, she trudged onto the deck and knocked on the small door where she guessed the sleeping quarters would be. The ship was so large that Bella had to start somewhere, and even if Viktor wasn't there, the redhead was sure another student could tell her of his whereabouts.

But much to her fortunate surprise, it was Viktor who answered. "Hello, Arabella." She attempted to glance at the scene behind him, curious at what the inside of the ship looked like, but all she could see was a dark staircase.

"Don't-- Don't call me that." She winced at the severe spite lacing his deep voice.

"But that is your name, isn't it?"

"Yes, but you usually call me Bella instead."

Viktor sighed in frustration. "I called you that when I thought you liked me. But, clearly, things have changed."

He went to turn away, but Arabella stopped him. She grasped her fingers around his forearm, pulling him closer towards her so that he could no longer leave. All she wanted was for him to stay. "I came here to apologise for that. I do like you, and I do trust you. I'm willing to help you with a strategy for the First Task, now. I realise just how much you need my help." She paused. "And I know it's a word that I've been saying far too much, but I'm sorry, Viktor. God, I'm so sorry. "

The Bulgarian raised an eyebrow. "You trust me, huh?"

Bella nodded reluctantly. "Don't make me regret saying that."

A sly smile crept upon Viktor's mouth, and before Bella could ask him about his sudden change of mood, she was thrown over his shoulder. Between fits of laughter from the two of them and squeals of anticipation from the Ravenclaw, the sheer sounds of happiness echoed into the air. "Viktor Krum, where are you taking me?" She asked as he began to exit the ship.

Arabella couldn't see what was ahead of Viktor, only the view of which she was facing behind him. This meant that she was growing increasingly worried on where the boy was taking her and what he was going to do (especially when he began walking along the school grounds), yet she still couldn't help but emit nothing other than laughter.

Their travel was very short, a minute long at most, and within a split-second Bella found herself being thrown into the shallow end of the Black Lake. She screamed as she landed with her back hitting the water, feeling it encase her. She rose for air, and came up laughing so hard that tears streamed down her face. She beckoned for Viktor to join her with the same sly smile that he wore, and reluctantly he began to wade into the water.

He was able to touch the lake floor when he reached her, sticking his head under the surface so that they were both as soaked as each other. When he came back up and shook the dripping water droplets from his dark hair, he was instantly met with Arabella's arms wrapping tightly around his neck. He hugged his own muscular arms around her waist; slightly startled at the sudden display of affection. "Thank you," she breathed into his neck.

"For what?"

"For forgiving me."

THE FEELS ASPCIDNSOSKN

Hope you all liked this chapter !!

I know I haven't included much about Bella helping Viktor with the Triwizard Tournament, but that will be featured later dw - I just had to resolve the Zoe stuff and make sure Vik & Bella forgave each other first.