Is It Too Late Now To Say Sorry? (Grey)

[Irina Rose Krum]

It had been quite a start to term for Irina Krum. She had found out she had made Potions Club Captain, Headmaster Longbottom announced the Triwizard Tournament was happening again after a hiatus for fifteen years, and the delegates from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had arrived, including her brothers’ best friend Daniel Hoh. Between that and NEWT level courses, Irina had been quite a busy bee. She was in between classes on her free period, and that morning Rina had overslept, causing her to miss breakfast so she wouldn’t be late to Potions. Exiting the dungeon classroom, her stomach rumbled painfully, and she decided to make a beeline for the kitchens. It was a rite of passage for all students to find and sneak into the kitchens; the reward was the dozens of house elves employed there gathering over to you and practically shoving different types of food at you.

Rina reached up and tickled the pear of the painting of fruit that concealed the entrance, it squirmed and turned into a doorknob that she turned to let herself in. As expected, several houselves came straight up to her, bowing and beaming. “Hey guys! I missed breakfast today, would any of you be able to scrounge up any leftover pastries?” she asked, smiling at them. Almost instantly a tray of pastries along with a goblet of pumpkin juice came bobbing her way. As she sat down to eat, the door to the kitchen opened and someone came inside. Rina looked over and recognized who it was immediately; Grey Slater. She imagined the two of them could have been friends, if she hadn’t blown up at him fifth year and threatened to curse his fingers off if he kept asking her about her family. She had never apologized, being the insolent teen she had been, but now two years later she felt guilty for not saying anything. “Er...hi,” she said awkwardly, then gestured to the pastries. “D’you want any? I missed breakfast so I was hungry,” she added quickly.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

With everything that been going on lately, Grey had initially found sleeping impossible. Lately though, he had become exhausted of going over everything again and again in his head, enough that passing out at night was finally becoming common again. The one problem with being mentally drained though was that he also didn’t want to wake up in the morning, this morning being one of those days. Grey didn’t even know if he had missed a class or not, and was now heading to the dungeons as fast as possible so that he wasn’t late to Potions. That was the last class he needed to miss, and it was almost a divine blessing that it ended up not being the first one of the day. Passing by the Great Hall, Grey stuck his head in only to be met with empty tables. He was hoping to grab at least something to eat before class. Out of sheer curiosity and unaware of the time, he glanced down at his watch, something he had yet to do that morning. Tapping the glass face a few times to make sure it was working correctly, Grey was met with a time that he didn’t understand. According to his watch, he had already missed the start of Potions. Actually, it was even passed that. He had completely missed Potions, and more importantly, he had missed breakfast by a longshot. Silently cursing himself, he wandered around in the entrance hall for a few minutes, wondering what to do.

Pacing back and forth a few times, Grey realized that the best thing to do was to go down to the class anyways and see if he could talk to the professor and hopefully come away with either a slap on the wrist or a short detention sentence. Knowing his luck, it’d be detention. Grey wasn’t the best at potions, and both he and the professor knew that. At least he had managed into the NEWT level class…somehow. Heading into the dungeons to see what he could manage, Grey thought about it more and more, and ended up getting cold feet. It wasn’t worth the effort to do it now, and showing up right after class would make it look like he skipped on purpose. Not showing up at all would clearly dictate something happened for him to miss it. Instead, he diverted from the path that lead to the Potions room and headed to the kitchens. Grey had been there a few times over the years, mostly when he was younger, but had managed to make it on time for meals for the majority of his time at Hogwarts. Walking up to the painting that hid the door, he completed the process to enter and stepped in, immediately to be welcomed by the warm fires and tiny house-elves. He quite enjoyed the little guys. They had always been nice to him, and other than occasionally poofing his food away upstairs while he was in the middle of eating, he was relatively happy with how hard they worked and their enthusiasm to help out any student in need of nourishment.

What he hadn’t been expecting was to see Irina Krum sitting inside. Grey had thought the two of them had gotten along pretty well for the first few years of school, but as his interest in Quidditch and journalism grew, so did his thirst for hunting down Irina and asking her about her family. He’d still swear to this day that he wasn’t being that obnoxious about it. Apparently Irina had had enough of it though, and Grey backed off and that was that. It seemed like fate really wanted to throw curveballs at Grey this year, so here he was, presented with Irina once again. “How’s it going?” Grey said quietly, unsure of how to approach this. He was sure that it would be fine as long as he didn’t ask her about her family again. He contemplated accepting one of the pastries, since it seemed like they were probably both thinking the same thing. A gesture in good faith was one way to get around past issues. “Sure. Turns out I missed breakfast too. And apparently Potions as well.”

grey xavier slater & Irina Rose Krum
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She's Out Of Her Mind by blink-182

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[Irina Rose Krum]

Okay, so far so good, no questions regarding his family at least. Irina felt a pang of guilt for immediately assuming that the first thing out of his mouth would be about her family. He had apologized already for that, even though she was slow to accept it. ‘It’s going well thanks. You didn’t miss too much in Potions; the professor just went over the basics of what we’d be diving into this year and we tried our hands at making a few potions. He said we’d be doing more complex potions that take extra time to brew, like Polyjuice and Veritaserum as the weeks progress, so at least you’re not that behind,” she explained to him. She was glad she hadn’t missed Potions; after History of Magic, it was her favorite class, and she was captain of the Potions club. It would have looked very bad of her if she had missed the class. “I can lend you my notes if you’d like,” she offered.

She ate her pastry in silence as he explained how he had missed breakfast and was down here at the same time as her for that reason. “Listen, I’ve been meaning to talk to you since we got back,” she said suddenly. “I wanted to apologize for my rude behavior towards you last year. You were only trying to do your job as a journalist and...well, I snapped. It was immature of me,” she told him quickly, then laughed. “It’s funny, I try so much to be my own person, and this year I’m entering the Triwizard Tournament, just like my father did,” she said. “Though if I am selected I don’t plan on coming in second; I plan on winning," she added, a determined look on her face.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

A wave of relief swept over Grey as Irina explained to him that he hadn’t missed much in class. That was good. He was terrified of screwing up anything for Potions since it was the one class that he really needed to pass with decent marks. If all they had gone over were the more complex potions and that was it, then it sounded like he was in the clear. Potions like Polyjuice and Veritaserum weren’t hard to look up either since he had access to the books needed for them. The only thing that meant was that he would need to go to the library after getting some food and look them up, since he was sure the textbook he had explicitly omitted potions of that caliber. Grey had always assumed this was so that inexperienced witches and wizards didn’t try to dip their hands into complicated spells and potions that could potentially cause extremely dangerous situations. He let out a sigh as all of it sank in. “That’s good. I have enough trouble with Potions as it is.”

Grey could feel his whole body relax. He’d probably still be in trouble with the professor, but it wasn’t like he had missed anything too important. He was also a little surprised at the fact that Irina was offering to let him borrow her notes too. Hadn’t she been upset at him for the past year or so? An offer was an offer though, and it was going to be hard to turn up the opportunity to get notes that he had missed. “That’d be great actually. Thanks. I can just pick them up later in the common room or something.” Maybe sleeping in was actually a blessing in disguise. It had never failed him in the past, and it continued to benefit Grey the more he did it.

Now that the initial shock of running into Irina was pretty much done and gone, Grey started towards the table that she was sitting at and took his own across from the fellow Gryffindor. This situation, which normally would be strange because they were both in the kitchens surrounded by tiny house elves, was even more awkward based on the fact that their past history wasn’t exactly…spotless. Before Grey could apologize for what had happened two years prior, for what had to be the umpteenth time, Irina had already spoken up. He sat on his wooden stool listening quietly. Grey knew he had been in the wrong; it wasn’t right of him to keep pressing her for information about her family. Beside the fact that it was inconsiderate, it also made him seem like some kind of mad paparazzi guy chasing after the daughter of a celebrity. Actually, that was exactly what he had done. “Apology accepted. I pushed your personal space way too much, I think your reaction was kind of expected.” Grey tried his best to crack a smile. “I forget sometimes that getting a news story and being a decent human being should go hand in hand. If anything, what happened taught me a lesson.” Or more like made him realize that he could be a complete jerk without knowing it. That whole ordeal had been so unlike him, and yet he had been determined to make something out of it.

He looked up from the table as Irina continued about entering the tournament. Grey had forgotten that her father, Viktor Krum, had been a champion the same year as Harry Potter. The insurmountable Quidditch career that he had lead during his younger years easily shadowed the Triwizard Tournament in Grey’s opinion. Quidditch statistics were easily more interesting than former magical tournaments. “From the way it’s looking though, you’re not the only child of a former champion that could be entering, and all from Hogwarts at that.” He didn’t know for sure if the others would enter, but it seemed like a normal thing to do: follow in their parent’s footsteps. “But being your own person might be the edge you have over everyone else. You have the pedigree of a champion, unlike me. I’m just an average person taking a stab at potential fame and glory that I probably won’t want in the long run.” To say that he regretted entering his name was hard. In one instance, Grey wanted to become the Hogwarts champion to prove to himself that he was his own person, as Irina had said about herself, and that he didn’t need to follow what his family wanted for him to be able to succeed. On the other, it was extremely daunting. This was a tournament that tested even the greatest witches and wizards of their time in a grueling competition, sometimes resulting in injury or death. If selected, Grey preferred to make it out alive to winning the whole thing.

grey xavier slater & Irina Rose Krum
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The Sound Of Silence by Disturbed

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[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina gave a small chuckle as Grey talked about walking the line between doing what he loved and being a decent human being. "We all walk that line Grey, sometimes we just fall onto the side we’d rather not,” she said reasonably. “I am proud of my dad and all of his accomplishments. It was great to see him win the Quidditch World Cup in his last year as a professional; we were in the Top Box with the Potter and Weasley families. When he caught the Snitch I think I screamed myself hoarse, I could barely speak for a week after.” Irina paused, smiling fondly at the memory from nearly ten years ago. “I can’t believe next year marks the 10 year anniversary of his win,” she mused. It was funny, now that Grey had apologized for being intrusive into her privacy, she didn’t mind talking about it to him. “This is not for an article though Mr. Slater,” she said with a mockingly stern tone to her voice, then laughed to show she wasn’t being serious.

“You know my mother was a Quidditch player too? Chaser, from Germany though not Bulgaria. She went to Durmstrang as well though, though she’s almost ten years younger than my father. She set a record for her team one year, I think it was seventy goals over the course of a month? It’s been broken since then but still it’s nothing to laugh at,” she added, wondering why everyone always seemed to leave out Elena Eldridge when they talked about the Krum family. She had always thought her mother should have been famous in her own right, but her romance and subsequential marriage to Viktor Krum had always been what put her in the spotlight. “And now Niko plays for the Appleby Arrows, same as my dad when he transferred to Englands house teams,” she said. She wasn’t sure if Niko would be able to live up to her fathers’ hype, however he was an excellent Quidditch player and she was sure he’d go far in the sports world. “And then there’s me,” she added finally, and went quiet.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

Even though everything that had happened between the two of them was in the past now, and it seemed like Irina was over what had gone on, Grey still felt slightly guilty about it. He fluctuated back and forth between being over it and still regretting the decision to basically hunt her down every waking moment. Chalking it up to being young and not understanding boundaries was an excuse, a viable one at that, but also one that he should have never had to use in the first place. The funny thing about all of it was that he probably should have asked her if she wanted to talk about her father first, before having jumped right in and trying to get the story that he wanted. That was a stereotypical trait of his it seemed, going after something before fully understanding it or knowing how to approach it properly. Now though, Irina had no problem talking about her family. He assumed it was the either out of regret for blowing up on him or because he wasn’t as intimidating without his notepad and not chasing her down in the hallways.

“I wasn’t able to make it that match, but I heard it was one of the greatest moments in Quidditch history.” His love for Quidditch had come soon after that hearing about that match. If anything, it was thanks to Viktor Krum that he had become so interested in the sport. Before then, Grey had never even given it a thought. “Don’t worry. I’m not in the writing scene too much anymore. Have to keep the kids in line now that I’m editor-in-chief.” The commitment to taking care of the club as editor was too much to be able to write articles anymore. He had to go over what all of his writer’s assignments were, and then make sure they were all up to snuff before being published. That was enough of a challenge as it was. He didn’t had the time to worry about writing stories that interested him.

As he was reflecting on his love for writing articles, Irina continued on about the rest of her family playing Quidditch, her mother and her brother as well. He vaguely remembered her mother playing, some of the preliminary research he had down two years earlier had brought that up. It was probably hard being a really good Quidditch player married to an even better one. Still, his comment earlier about her pedigree as a player still stood. If anything, the Krums had the perfect capabilities of all being just as good, if not better, than their parents were. It was clear that Irina had thought of that before too, especially when she mentioned herself following her mother and brother’s capabilities as professionals. “There’s nothing wrong with not following in their footsteps. I feel silly for wanting to be an auror, especially since that’s what my sister is doing. And we don’t really get along that well.” Grey shrugged. It seemed like these were common problems in every family. They were just amplified by ten in the ones that were always in the public eye. “I learned recently that doing what makes you happy is the only thing that matters. If someone has a problem with it, don’t let them stop you. Just my two cents though.”

grey xavier slater & Irina Rose Krum
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Monument by A Day To Remember

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[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina gave him a half smile. “It was; I don’t think I’ve ever seen my dad cry as much as that before,” she said fondly. Her dad had always been a stoic figure, but kind and caring. He claimed that he cried when each of his children were born, but she had a hard time believing that. She chuckled when he said he wasn’t much on the writing scene anymore. “Well, I’m sure you’ll tackle the Triwizard champion interviews for the student paper, if you’re not chosen of course. If I were you I wouldn’t give up that story,” she admitted. She realized Grey wasn’t half bad of a guy when he wasn’t trying to bug her with questions about her family, and felt bad she hadn’t been able to see that before.


“You shouldn’t feel silly for wanting to be an Auror, it’s a very noble profession,” Irina told him with confidence. She had never wanted to be an Auror; cursebreaking had sounded similar yet had the alluring foreign travel aspect to it. Plus she had been terrible at Herbology which was needed for Aurors, so she supposed that was out. “Don’t you have friends that are current Aurors - they can tell you about the preliminary training that happens with that career,” she suggested. She knew Railynn was now an Auror as was Finn Jordan; she remembered seeing them hang out plenty while the two older ones were at school. She was sure they’d love to impose their wisdom on him. “You don’t happen to know any current Cursebreakers, do you?” she asked with a chuckle.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

Grey had to be honest; he had completely forgotten about his duties as editor-in-chief in regards to the tournament. Of course he was still showing up to club times and doing his job like usual, but he had disregarded the fact that the tournament was a way to increase their readership. They zero plans for what to do once the champions were announced, and that was scary. He had been more caught up in his family problems and what would happen if he was selected than he was with the more obvious outcome, and that was taking the lead for the paper. He made a mental note to remember to hold a meeting soon to discuss what they were going to do, since he had no idea how to go about it. “I’m sure we get some kind of special privileges, since we’re the paper for the host school. The interviews could be a little dull though, depending on who the champions are. I’m hoping we get some interesting personalities.”

Irina wasn’t wrong. Being an auror was a good job and not everyone could pull it off. At the same time though, Grey was possibly one of those people. He had been working on shaking off the laziness and pushed towards getting work done, being more outgoing, all that fun stuff. But at the same time, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Too many years had been spent idly, switching like this was bound to have some negative effects. “I do. They’ve told me a little about it, and apparently the training isn’t as difficult as it’s made out to be. Which is nice, because we both know I’m not the best with Potions.” He laughed briefly before continuing. “As for Cursebreakers, I have no idea. Personally, I don’t know too much about it. I’ve been a little more preoccupied with getting my grades up to get into NEWT classes.”

grey xavier slater & Irina Rose Krum
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Jesus Of Suburbia by Green Day

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[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina nodded and chuckled when Grey said he hoped the personalities were interesting. “There’s a guy….Emile I think? Anyway, he’s from Beauxbatons and let’s just say I think if he is chosen as Champion you’ll be perfectly set for all three of them in the personality department,” she told him, her shoulders shaking from suppressed laughter as she thought back to her class she’d had to sit through with Emile. “He’s, er...very sure of himself,” she said, then laughed out loud. “I think I told my sister I thought he was a puffed up poppinjay,” she admitted. Still smiling, she sat back and finished her drink. This wasn’t so bad; Grey was actually a nice guy, when he wasn’t up in her business asking questions about her family. “Think of it this way though, if I get selected as Hogwarts champion, I’d have to be interviewed by you,” she said with a small smirk.

Irina checked her watch and stood up. “So I have History of Magic in about fifteen minutes; even though Professor Binns would not notice if anyone was late I still would rather get there early to get started on the reading,” she told him. She found it easier to teach herself History of Magic so that she could actually learn something from the class. She’d managed an ‘O’ on the OWL exam and planned on repeating that for her NEWTs at the end of the year. “But...good luck to you. In the Tournament I mean,” she said, hesitating before reaching out her hand to his to shake on it.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

Grey struggled back a laugh as he took a sip from another coffee one of the house elves had brought him while Irina was talking. This Emile guy from Beauxbatons…he had definitely heard about him before. He wasn’t looking forward to that interview at all. He was pretty sure Addi had mentioned something about him before the whole not talking thing that was going on right now. Maybe he’d make one of the students that liked doing interviews conduct that one. He was more interested in talking to the Hogwarts champion anyways. “A lot of the Beauxbatons guys seem sure of themselves. Nothing against them, but they’re just really…aggressive?” He wasn’t sure if that was the correct way to put it, but so far that had been his experience with them. Grey couldn’t imagine how the female students felt, especially around creatures like that Emile guy. “And then the Durmstrang students barely talk. Funny how different schools operate.”

He nodded his head as Irina mentioned that he would be the one interviewing her if she was the champion. What kind of twisted irony would that be? “That would be…interesting to say the least.” He took another sip of coffee, thinking about that turn of events occurring. At least she’d probably be a little easier to talk to that time around, compared to the last attempt. “As long as I don’t get the same result as last time.” He laughed. “Probably have to ask the obligatory family questions too, seeing as your dad was a champion back in the day, so as long as you’d be fine with that.” Unfortunately for Irina, that’s how every interview would go if she was chosen. If she thought what he had done a few years ago was even close to being bad, the professionals would be relentless. At least he knew his boundaries now.

As Irina mentioned that she had to go to class, Grey looked down at his watch. He was pretty sure that he didn’t have another class until later. That wasn’t a reassuring thought though. “I used to forget Binns was there sometimes too…so I guess the feeling was mutual between us.” Grey shrugged his shoulders. “You might want to get up there now regardless though. When he does pay attention,” he shook his head back and forth, eyes wide. “It’s not pretty, I can tell you that.” He reached out to shake Irina’s hand. “Good luck to you too. Whoever gets chosen, we have to hope they can beat that pretty boy, if he’s actually as good as he says.” He paused for a second. “Have fun in class. Glad we figured this whole thing out.”

I think that's a good end for me xD

grey xavier slater & Irina Rose Krum
446
Prisoner's Song by Dropkick Murphys

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