And here is the second chapter! If you're reading this, I want to thank you for making it here. It means a lot that you would take the time to read on. Also, I apologize for it taking me so long to get this chapter out. Work obligations have left me super busy lately. It should never take this long again. My goal is to put out one chapter a week, starting now. Also, please forgive any mistakes you find. I didn't run this chapter by anyone before posting it, due to wanting it to be out ASAP. But now, without further ado, please enjoy this second chapter!
Chapter 2— Appearances
Whenever I got back to my bedroom, I took a minute to replay the scene in my head. Winky had left my brother alone. But what did that mean? Had she completely left the house while my father and I were both gone? Or was he referring to something else? There was really no way to know, and I knew better than to ask my father what had happened.
Winky was now laying on my bed. It probably wouldn't be too long until the elf woke up. This wasn't the first time that she had something like this happen to her at the hand of my father, so I knew from experience that she would be fine after she rested for a while. I turned my attention instead to changing my clothes, and tried to erase the most recent confrontation over my brother from my mind completely.
I opened my wardrobe, and saw where Winky had hung a garment bag filled with whatever outfit I was supposed to wear for the night. Winky almost always did my shopping for me, and I rarely got to pick something out for myself. I took the bag out of the wardrobe, and opened it wearily. The contents of the bag held another knee length dress, similar in shape to the one I was wearing already. This time, however, it was a beautiful shade of rural blue. The dress sparkled in the light that came from my window, and when I looked closer, I could see small crystals dancing in the light along the halter neckline of the dress. The robe that went over the dress was the same color of blue. Also, there was a new pair of shoes in the bottom of my wardrobe. They were silver high heels, with crystals to match my dress robes dangling from the straps.
I dressed as quickly as I could, and then turned to face my reflection in the mirror. The color was beautiful against my pale skin, and as I turned around, I noticed that the majority of my back was visible. The design of the dress's neckline made me look curvier than I did normally, and the high heeled shoes made my legs look long and graceful—standing still at least. I knew as soon as I tried walking in these that grace would soon disappear.
The work Cecelia had done on my hair and face was still pristine. That muggle spray did work wonders, and the makeup she had applied was still as perfect as when it was first done. I turned to grab my robe, and threw it around my shoulders. It was closer to the shape of a cape than a robe, and didn't fall farther than the length of the dress beneath.
I couldn't help but marvel for a moment over how I looked. I turned in a slow circle, watching in the mirror as the blue dress flowed out away from my legs. It wasn't that I normally didn't care how I looked, but I never really bothered to put much effort behind it. When I did try, I got frustrated quickly. I never really knew how to make my hair lay flat or how to correctly apply makeup. So I normally settled for a ponytail and my nature look. Cecelia obviously knew more about beauty than I did.
As I was about to leave my room, there was an abrupt knock on my door. I called for whoever it was to come in, and my father entered my room. He looked much calmer than he had moments before, when I had seen him cursing his servant. As he looked at me, he gave me one of those rare smiles that always looked odd on his serious face.
"You look so beautiful, and so much like your mother." His smile faltered slightly, but then came back larger than before. My mouth dropped a bit at his comment. It was an unspoken rule in this house to not speak about my mother.
"Er—thank you," I said, a bit awkwardly, back to him. I looked back into the mirror briefly, and pulled the robe tighter around my shoulders. I was suddenly much more self-conscience than I was just moments before.
"I have something I wanted to give you." My father pulled a small purple box from the pocket inside of his dress robes. I reached to take it from him, and held it in my hands for a moment before opening it. Looking down at the box, I could see the Crouch family crest gleaming on top. And on the side of the box, there was a small line of silver words that read "faber est suae quisque fortunae". I had seen this before. It was the Crouch family motto, and meant "every man is the artisan of his own fortune."
I looked to my father, who was watching me closely. I pulled the lid off of the box, and looked down at the delicate bracelet inside. It was silver, and was laced with small diamonds and emeralds. I pulled it carefully out of the box, and watched as the sunlight coming in through the window reflected off of the gems, casting shimmering spots all over the room. The clasp of the bracelet was an emerald carved into the shape of a serpent, with black onyx eyes.
"It's beautiful, thank you so much," I marveled aloud to my father, who was looking at me intently, monitoring my reactions.
"It belonged to your mother. I gave it to her when we got engaged. It's been in the family for generations. I thought it was about time to pass it on to you." He walked over to me, and took the bracelet out of my hands. He clasped it around my wrist, and held out my arm to admire it. It fit me perfectly. I looked up at him, still mildly shocked, and saw him looking down at my wrist with soft eyes. After a moment, I caught his eye, and his expression hardened once again.
"Let's go, I don't want to be late." My father walked stiffly from the room. I followed him out, and became overly aware of the new weight on my wrist.
ooooOOOOOoooo
I had not been inside of Malfoy Manor since I was very young. The Malfoy's held parties here often, but the majority of the time I was able to weasel my way out of attending. Normally, unless it was a party as important as this one, my father didn't mind if I came or not—as long as I was able to come up with a good enough excuse for him to tell everyone to explain my absence.
As my father and I apparated outside of the grand house, I could start to make out the details of the party decorations. The long path that led up to the front door was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of small lights. One side of the path had green lights, and the other side of the path had maroon. There were lots of different people making their way up to the house. My father and I got in line behind them, ready to make our entrance.
As we entered the front door, we followed the stream of people into a side room. This room was almost as large as the Hogwarts great hall, but wasn't quite as warm and inviting. The walls were made of light colored stone, and delicate carvings laced the walls around the ballroom. The ceilings were high, and arched in an ancient fashion. Enchanted shamrocks were flying around high above the heads of the guests, and large pots of gold sat in various places around the room. The Bulgarians were also represented, as veela were apparently being used as servers for dinner. A half dozen of the beautiful creatures were serving drinks to the people already seated for dinner.
There was a large dining table placed in the middle of the room, which was slightly longer than one of the house tables at Hogwarts. Witches and wizards clad in green or maroon dress robes were seating themselves along the table, all looking for a place card which would hold their names. My father and I walked towards the table, stopping occasionally on the way so that father could say hello to some of the guests—most of them I did not recognize.
Before we reached the table, Percy Weasley came hurrying towards us. He had apparently already found our name tags, so he started leading us in the direction of our seats. My father and I were seated close to the very middle of the long table. Percy was seated on his left side, and I was at his right. Across from me sat a group of Bulgarian men, who were speaking in hushed voices in a language I did not recognize.
Guests continued to enter the ballroom as we waited for everyone to find their seats. The majority of the people I did not know. They were either from Ireland or Bulgaria, or were ministry witches and wizards. There was, however, a few familiar faces in the crowd. Some of my Slytherin classmates strolled in with their parents. Cecelia, her mother, and her little sister came in and sat down towards the far end of the table. I caught Cecelia's eye, and she winked at me.
"Mead?" A veela server leaned over me to pour me a goblet of the drink. I took a sip of the liquid and felt my insides warm instantly. Across from me, one of the Bulgarian men downed his cup in one gulp and then turned to ask for another.
The table was almost full now. The people were all chatting excitedly. The veela servers all started to leave the room, I presumed to start getting the meal ready to serve. All around me, the chatter of the guests grew into hushed whispers, and then gradually back into words of excitement. I looked behind me towards the door, and saw seven people in green Quidditch uniforms walk into the room. The group garnered a very warm welcome from the people in the room wearing green robes, and lots of angry sounding foreign words from the Bulgarians sitting across from me. The Irish Quidditch team walked to the left side of the table, and sat down all in a row.
After the excitement from the entrance of the Irish team died down a bit, everyone started back into their own conversations. As I was trying to decipher what the Bulgarian man across from us was trying to ask my father—who was looking just as confused by the man's words as I felt—I heard the chair on my other side being pulled away from the table, and I looked over to see that Ludo Bagman had sat down clumsily next to me.
"So sorry… I was nervous that I would be late." He looked quickly around and, apparently deciding he hadn't missed anything important, broke out into his boyish grin I was so used to seeing. "Alexandria! How are you? Having a good holiday?"
I nodded back at him. "It's been alright."
"Barty, old man!" Bagman reached across me to slap my father on the shoulder. "Good to see you! Ohh, don't look so sour, this is a party! Lighten up a bit. Here, have a drink..." He reached out to summon a veela over, but my father waved his hand at her.
"No thank you, dear… Ludo, how nice of you to join us." My father looked pointedly over at a large clock hanging on a wall across the room.
"Come on, the minister's not even here yet! And neither is the other team, now that I look…" I looked up at the clock to see that it was now ten passed seven o'clock. It was a bit strange that they wouldn't be more punctual for an event such as this.
It was as if he had spoken a signal. All of the heads at the table turned to look, once again, at the entrance. Seven players all dressed in maroon robes strode into the ballroom. It seemed as if they were all much more serious than the Irish had been, or at least, trying to appear to be. Maybe that was their strategy. All of the Bulgarians at the table began to cheer at them. As they passed, they received many outstretched hands and pats on the back. One of them, however, received more than all of the others. He was walking at the front of the group, and looked to be the youngest on the team. The boy was very broad and burly, and wore a very distinct scowl. I heard one of the Bulgarians say the name 'Krum' while pointing in his direction. The team sat down opposite from the Irish.
After the entrance of the Bulgarian team, Cornelius Fudge, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, and another man in maroon robes came into the room. I could only guess that this man was the Bulgarian Minister of Magic. Ireland, of course, was under the same ministry as England, so Fudge was the minister represented for their team. They were all talking in hushed voices as the group approached the table, and it seemed as though they might have been arguing before they had come into the room. But once they came closer to the table, I could hear Fudge say "you don't understand a word I've been saying, do you?" I looked at the Bulgarian minister to see him wearing an amused expression. Fudge sat at the very head of the table. The Malfoy's were on his left, and the Bulgarian minister was on his right.
Soon after, the very last of the dinner guests came into the room—Draco Malfoy and his date, Pansy Parkinson. Malfoy was in some traditional looking black robes with silver details. Pansy, however, was wearing a light pink flowy dress. As the pair walked into the room, Pansy had her nose so high in the air it looked as though she was watching the ceiling. As the two of them sat down on the other side of Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, I expected she would almost die of pride as her dark eyes swept the length of the table. Draco Malfoy, however, just looked rather bored.
Seeing that every seat was now filled, Fudge stood up to address the excited guests around him. He beamed around at the room of people. "Hello everybody, and welcome to the 422nd Quidditch World Cup honorary dinner!" He remained silent for a moment, while everyone seated around the table applauded. "Yes, yes... thank you. Now, as you all know, this little get together is a wonderful tradition between the ministries of the World Cup participating countries. In honor of this, I want to give an especially warm welcome to our visitors from Ireland and Bulgaria." Both teams roared with applause, trying to outdo the other. The Irish were definitely the more raucous of the two, but the Bulgarian Minister's loud claps boomed over all of the noise. "Also, let us all give a gracious thank you to our hosts for the evening, the Malfoys, who have kindly offered up their home and hospitality for our event." Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy looked proudly around at the guests applauding them, giving a small wave. Beside them, Draco sat up straighter for a moment, and looked down the table at the other guests with a proud smirk. Beside him, Pansy weaved her arm through Malfoy's and gave a very fake looking grin down the table. She then gave a wave to the mass of people, as if determined to show how important she was to be sitting next to the Malfoys.
"Let us all use this evening to further our friendships among each other," Fudge continued, "even though we all come from different lands, and speak different languages, we are still very similar. This is a time for strengthening our international relationships. And of course, baring witness to a spectacular sport in the process!" The crowd all applauded him at this, and he smiled around at the people. "With all of that in mind, let us raise our goblets to international sportsmanship." The room all lifted their goblets, and a mumbled rumble of cheers filled the room. "Now, I won't keep you all any longer with a bunch of rambling. Let's eat!"
Immediately, the veela were back carrying plates of food. They sat a plate down in front of each guest, each one holding huge legs of meat and mounds of potatoes and breads. Everyone started in on the delicious food, and it was a few moments before the loud chatter filled the room once more.
"So, Barty—have you gotten business squared away yet?" Bagman talked over me to my father, who looked up from his plate at the man with a frown.
"What business is that, Ludo?" I saw my father flash him a meaningful look, which Bagman did not pick up on.
Bagman looked both ways down the table, apparently making sure no one was listening before he continued. "Come on man, you know. The event everyone's really been talking about…."
"I do not think this is the time or place to discuss such matters." My father gave a pointed look down at me. My curiosity spiked at this.
"Ohh, nonsense, she'll find out soon enough I daresay! So will all of the students. That is, if we can get Karkaroff to stop acting like he might not show up—"
"Karkaroff?" One of the Bulgarian men who were sitting across from us looked up eagerly from his plate. "Igor Karkaroff?" The man was obviously already slightly drunk, and was slurring his words as he looked between my father and Bagman.
"Why, yes… quite right." Bagman was looking put out at having to explain himself to an eavesdropper. "You know him, then?"
"Know him?! I know he's a right old fool!" That was the last coherent thing the man said, because after that he started shouting in Bulgarian.
"Who's Karkaroff?" I mumbled sideways to my father, but he wasn't listening to me.
"Excuse me, sir. But words such as that are not necessary here!" Ohh yeah, I forgot about the hundreds of languages father could speak. Of course Bulgarian would be one of them. It didn't take me knowing how to speak Bulgarian to understand the anger coming from the man's words. At my father's comment, he pounded his fist hard on the table. It was loud enough that the majority of the table stopped their conversations to watch the man's display. I looked up the table and caught the eye of the young player who everyone had been calling "Krum". When our eyes met, he held them for several moments before looking quickly away.
"Now, what is this? Calm down now, this is a party after all!" Fudge had shouted down the table at them.
My father, I saw, was looking extremely embarrassed at being associated with this kind of outburst. He went red in the face, and calmly said back down the table. "No worries, Minister. I'm afraid our friend here has just had a little too much mead."
Fudge smiled at the comment, and gestured for one of the veela servers to join him. "Please limit the alcohol intake of that gentleman for the rest of the evening, won't you?" She nodded and hurried away. The drink servers avoided our spot of the table for the rest of dinner, and soon enough, everyone stopped staring and went back to enjoying the food.
ooooOOOOOoooo
After dinner ended, Fudge stood again to ask everybody to rise from the table and join him on the other side of the room. Everyone sleepily got up from the table and went to follow him. As we were standing around the edges of the room, it began to change. I watched in amazement as the large dining table rose into the air and disappeared. In its place evolved a glimmering dance floor. A string Quartet emerged from the other room at the same time, and began playing a slow waltz.
The young girls in the room looked around excitedly, all eagerly dreaming about who they wanted to dance with. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy were the first ones on the floor, quickly followed by Draco and Pansy. The two couples floated over the floor gracefully. Slowly, other couples went to join in.
"May I have this dance, Alexandria?" My father held his hand out to me. I took it politely, and nodded my head. He led me to the floor, and we began to spin with the other couples. Dancing wasn't necessarily hard for me, even if I wasn't the most coordinated person alive. But growing up, father had always made me have lessons. Most pureblood kids knew how to dance properly at a young age.
"That man at dinner was really something, huh?" I whispered to him, trying to make conversation.
"Yes well, what can you expect from the Bulgarians really? They're always quick to quarrel."
"Yes but, it was odd how he seemed to know the man Bagman mentioned. Was he talking about something to do with Hogwarts?" I tried to make my tone seem as though I was just making light conversation and that I wasn't burning with curiosity.
"Don't let that concern you. Bagman was foolish to mention anything about it. But like he said, you'll find out soon enough on your own." He spun me around faster, giving a dignified nod and smile over at the Malfoys before continuing. "I want you to leave with Weatherby tonight. I asked him to escort you home."
"What? Why?" I asked, not trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
"I'm afraid I must attend to a few things with Fudge before I leave…"
I thought about that for a moment. What kind of business would be so important that it couldn't wait until tomorrow? "Wait, does this have something to do with whatever Bagman was talking about earlier? About something happening at Hogwarts...you could tell me, you know. I won't say anything to anyone." I dared to grin up at him. He didn't return the expression.
"Ludo Bagman should learn when it is appropriate to speak about important matters. Tonight was not one of those times. Forget anything you heard him say. He's a right old fool for mentioning it. Now, don't ask me about it again." We came to a stop as the song drew to a close. "Now, Weatherby will take you home soon. You should mingle for a while first. Go and see what your friends are up to." He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, and left to go and talk to some ministry men standing on the side of the dance floor.
I made my way over to the drink table in the far corner of the large room, eager to get away. I might know how to dance, but that doesn't mean that I enjoyed it. "One glass of mead, please," I told the Veela at the table. I took the drink from her and looked around the room. I spotted Cecelia in the opposite corner from where I was standing. She was talking to one of the men in a green quidditch uniform. I decided to make my way over to them.
"Ohh, how interesting!" Cecelia let out a loud giggle at whatever the boy had said.
"Yes well, I suppose… but really it's a pretty common thing in Ireland," I heard the boy say, his accent thick and deep.
"But surely not all of the young men in Ireland can say they've fought a dragon and lived!" Cecelia let out a dramatic gasp, and reached out to grab the boy's arm. "I mean, it's just so brave. You must have been terrified."
"Actually, dragons are much more common in Ireland… my father actually worked with a group of wizards who used to farm them…"
He was cut off as Cecelia saw me for the first time. "Alex! Finally. I thought you'd never come and say hello. This is Darren O'Hare. He's the captain of the Irish team." She winked at me as he turned to shake my hand.
"Nice to meet you, Alex." He smiled warmly at me. He was very handsome, and seemed to be very friendly as well.
"Same for you. What position do you play on the team?"
He was cut off from answering by Cecelia, who obviously didn't want to talk about something as boring as quidditch at a quidditch party. "Darren, tell Alex what you were just telling me about the dragon! He was attacked by one when he was only 12, weren't you Darren? Ohh it must have been so scary. Maybe you could tell me more about it over a dance?"
"Actually, I was just about to…" O'Hare started, looking around, but Cecelia cut him off.
"Perfect! I just love this song." Cecelia pulled him away towards the dancefloor. He looked back at me, and I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him. There was absolutely no hope for him now that Cecelia had her eyes set on him.
A laugh sprung up beside of me. "If I didn't know better, I would swear she wasn't in a committed relationship at all." I looked over to see Cecelia's younger sister, Anneliese.
"I'm guessing Oliver won't be able to make it to the cup after all?" I asked her, smiling a bit myself.
"No, and she's just soooooooo heartbroken over it. Can't you tell?" We both looked over to the dancing couple. It looked as though Cecelia was still talking a hundred miles per hour. O'Hare looked as if he would do anything for an escape plan. We both laughed.
"She'll never learn…" I started, "Leave it to Cecelia to get a dance with the Irish team captain, even if he does look like he's miserable."
"You and me both will never hear the end of this," Anneliese laughed. I had always enjoyed the company of Cecelia's younger sister. She was much more down to earth and practical than the older version of herself, even though the two looked almost identical. They both had matching, long blonde hair and fair skin. "But what about you? Had any boys catch your eye tonight?" I looked back at her with a laugh.
"Ohh yeah," I said, "I don't know which I'm more interested in—all of the hateful Bulgarians that don't speak English or the old ministry men that work with my father."
She sighed, looking around the large room. "Ohh, I don't know. There are a few men here I would consider. Cecelia's got the right idea about the quidditch players. And Malfoy looks so handsome in those robes."
"What is with you Selwyn women when it comes to him? He's fowl." I scowled back at the dance floor, watching as Malfoy and Pansy continued to dance slowly to the music.
"Ohh come on, you can't tell me you don't think he's attractive. Everyone thinks he's attractive."
"Well I'm not one of them," I snapped back at her. "He isn't bad looking, I'll give him that, but looks aren't everything you know."
"Right," she said sarcastically. "Says the girl who's never dated anyone."
"That has nothing to do with it," I said back defensively. "Listen, I just meant that you could do so much better than someone like Malfoy. Have a crush on somebody who deserves the attention."
"Now you sound like my mum," Anneliese sighed. "Whatever. I'm going to try and linger around the dance floor until somebody asks me to dance. Want to come?"
"Umm… no. That's okay." There was no way I would go and stand around the dance floor, waiting to be asked. I was invisible enough on a good day. I didn't need the public reminder.
"Suit yourself." As she started walking away, she yelled back at me. "You're putting all of my sister's efforts to waste, you know! You really do look beautiful tonight."
I gave her a weak smile in reply, and walked in the opposite direction back towards the drink table. I was already feeling slightly lightheaded from the goblets of mead I had already had, but I quickly decided that the best way to get through the rest of the night was to get as tipsy as possible. When I finally got the new goblet in my hands, I closed my eyes and drank it all down in one drink. I let the heat from the drink spread throughout my body.
"Can I have one more please?" I asked the veela.
"I think you have had enough for now, miss," The veela seductively replied.
"Come on, please? Just one more…"
"Give the lady another drink. Now." The voice who had spoken surprised me. It was harsh, but at the same time, was arrogant and amused. I turned to look and saw Draco Malfoy standing behind me. The veela immediately poured another goblet full of mead and handed it to me. I took it appreciatively, and turned to walk away from Malfoy.
"Wait…" He moved to catch up with me. I rounded to face him, and he held out his hand. "Draco Malfoy. I'm your host for the evening." He looked down at me with a smirk that made my skin crawl.
"Yeah… I know who you are Malfoy. What do you want?" I looked down at his outstretched hand, not taking it. His eyes flashed down to his hand, and back up to my face. His smirk fell. After a moment, he dropped his hand.
"Have we…?" He started, but trailed off. He took a step closer to me, and plastered that smug expression on his face once more. "Surely I would have remembered meeting someone as lovely as you."
I snorted. "Right. Really funny joke, Malfoy, truly. But if you'll excuse me." I turned away from him and tried to escape again. He grabbed my arm to stop me. His hand was ice cold against my skin, and his grip was tighter than I would have liked. He pulled my arm closer to himself, but instead of looking at me, his eyes dropped to my arm. I was confused at first, but then I realized he was looking at my new bracelet.
"A green serpent... a family heirloom, I expect?" He met my eyes and must have found something in them that confirmed the answer. He smirked again and dropped my wrist. "Did your family attend Hogwarts? Surely you can't be old enough to have already left school…"
"Wait, you seriously don't recognize me?" I held his gaze, but he never gave any ounce of an expression that he knew who I was. "Crouch. Alexandria Crouch? We're in the same year, you twit!"
His expression changed to shock for half a second, and then just looked amused. "Crouch?" He laughed as his eyes moved over me from head to toe. "Well who knew you were capable of cleaning up so nicely." He laughed again. It was a cold sound, and wasn't welcoming in the same way that a laugh normally was.
"Yeah, well if you'll excuse me…" I turned on my heel and stormed away from him. I mean, I knew Cecelia had really done a number on me, but enough to make me unrecognizable? Then again, Malfoy had never given me as much as the time of day before. Even if we had been in the same house at Hogwarts for three years now, it made sense that he would barely remember who I was. I did tend to keep to myself a lot. Other than Cecelia, Anneliese, and occasionally Oliver, I didn't talk to anyone unless it was needed.
I hadn't been quick enough. Before I could make it back across the room, I felt another tug on my arm. This time, the grip on me was almost painful—no, not almost… it WAS painful. Malfoy spun me around. "How about a dance?"
I tried to rip my arm out of his, but he held on even tighter. "How about no, actually." He looked down at me and narrowed his eyes dangerously. I took the opportunity to pull away from him. I rubbed my arm. That spot would definitely be bruised tomorrow.
"Nobody tells me no, Crouch. You're my guest, remember?" I could smell firewhisky on his breath as he leaned closer towards me. Now it all made sense. He was drunk. I tried to tell myself that was the reason he didn't recognize me and not because of how invisible I normally was. I was about to argue, with him, but my comeback was cut off…
"CROUCH!" I turned around to see where the yell had come from, and found myself face to face with Pansy. I tried to not let myself become too amused by how red her pug face was becoming, and tried to remember that her anger was aimed towards me. "What are you doing? Don't you know that Draco is my date?"
In general, confrontation was not something I was great at. It was one of the reasons I tried to keep to myself most of the time. Living in Slytherin, the best way to avoid a fight was to keep your mouth firmly shut. It was a habit I had learned after years of watching Pansy and her followers torture anyone who dared to speak against them. So, instead of saying what I wanted to say (which was something along the lines of 'no, I didn't know that Draco's date was a pig stuffed in a dress'), I went with the safer option.
"Yeah, sorry. I was just leaving." I looked down at the floor, feeling my cheeks get warm. I hated being singled out for anything. I looked back up at Malfoy, who was now not looking at me at all. He had, instead, turned his attention to staring at a veela who was bent over picking up a case of goblets. I looked away in disgust and rolled my eyes.
"Did you just roll your eyes at me?" Pansy was now looking livid. "Have you forgotten who you're talking to, Crouch? Don't make me remind you…"
"Right. Goodnight then." I turned to walk away while she was still threatening me. She called out for me to pay attention to her, but I ignored it and kept walking. I blamed the multiple glasses of mead for my bravery. I decided to go and reward myself with another goblet full. As I walked up to the table, the veela immediately handed me another cup. I was definitely more than a bit tipsy now, but I didn't care in the least. I sipped the warm liquid, and held my hand out to steady my balance on the table.
"Excuse me… can I have a vord?" It was a low voice that called to me. I turned around, not even trying to hide the annoyance in my voice.
"What now?" I snapped. I was startled when I noticed who had spoken. It was the young man from dinner in maroon quidditch robes—the one everyone had been calling Krum. "Ohh… I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."
"I vould hope so…" He scowled at me, and looked as though he were rethinking talking to me. I should have noticed that the voice had a thick accent and realized who it was sooner, but I guessed the mead was getting to my reflexes. I tried to make myself look friendlier. I sat the empty cup down on the table and turned back to him, smiling.
"I'm Alex." I held out my hand to him. He took it, giving me a slight smile back.
"Nice to meet you, Alex. I am Viktor Krum. Are you having a good time?" He gazed around the room, his face souring a bit before turning back to me.
"Ohh, it's lovely. It's very rare that we get to meet with so many wizards from foreign countries. It's been very interesting." I was interrupted as a loud noise came from the other side of the room next to the musicians. The two of us turned to look just in time to see a very drunken man stand back up after apparently falling on top of one of the violin players. I realized it was the Bulgarian man who had sat across from us at dinner.
"Yes…. I am sure you are very glad to have met my father." Krum looked back to me with a fresh scowl. I was amazed at how bitter he was capable of looking to be so young.
"Ohh… that's your father? He was sitting close to me at dinner…"
"Yes I noticed. He vos arguing with the man next to you. Your father?" Krum looked over to my father, who was now standing with a group of ministry wizards who were looking utterly offended by the display.
"Yeah… I'm sorry about that. He can be hard to talk to sometimes…" I felt awkward having to talk about this. Krum just casually brought up the fact that our fathers were arguing like it was small talk about the weather.
"Don't be sorry. He is nothing compared to mine, I assure you." He stood there quietly for a moment, not seeming to be willing to say anything else.
"Er—are you excited about next week?" I feebly tried to start conversation.
"Yes." He didn't elaborate any more than that, and went back to standing quietly. Why did he want to come talk to me if he wasn't even going to talk?
"I vonted to ask you something." He looked back at me. His eyes drilled into mine. It made me a bit uncomfortable. I nodded at him to go on. "Your friend…" I followed his gaze and saw that he was now looking over at Cecelia. She was still trying desperately to gain the attention of O'Hare, who was now walking away from her as she continued to talk to him. "Do you think you could introduce me?"
"Umm…" So a guy comes over to talk to me, and then ends up only wanting me to set him up with Cecelia? Typical. "Yeah, I guess." I started leading the way over to Cecelia, who was now almost in a sprint to catch up with O'Hare, who was desperately trying to flee her grasp. I wondered silently if Krum knew what he was getting himself into.
"Hey, Cece." She spun around when she heard her nickname, and her mouth dropped when she realized who I was with.
"Er—Hi! I'm Cecelia." She stepped a bit closer, and stared up at Krum with that flirty look she always gave guys.
"Hello. I am…"
"Ohh, I know who you are!" She looked over at me, surprised—no doubt—that Krum was with me. "Who doesn't though, right?"
"I suppose… are you having a nice evening?" said Krum.
Krum was apparently going to have the exact same conversation with Cecelia as he had just had with me, so I excused myself and walked back away from them. I don't think either one of them noticed very much. That didn't bother me. I was glad to be able to play matchmaker for the evening, if nothing else.
"Mrs. Crouch! Mrs. Crouch!" I looked over to see Percy coming towards me. "Ahh, there you are. I've been looking for you. Are you about reading to go home? Your father wishes for me to escort you there." Percy puffed out his chest, as if he were the most important man in the room for haven been given the task.
"Sure. Let me just say bye first." I turned back around to go back towards Cecelia, but I changed my mind. It looked as if the two of them were in deep conversation about something, and I didn't want to break that up. Looking around, I didn't see Anneliese anywhere either. "Well… Never mind. I guess I'm ready."
"Your father says he'll be along shortly, but for you to not wait up for him. He has important matters to discuss with the minister." Percy looked as though he were going to explode from the amount of air he was pushing into his upper body.
"I'm sure he does." I said. I'm pretty sure the sarcasm was lost on Percy.
As we went to exit the room, I took one last look back. There were still couples dancing around in circles along the dancefloor, and more and more people looked as if they had visited the drink table. The polite façade that had been present all night was gone. Everyone looked as if they were in the party mood now. Which was expected, considering the World Cup was now on everyone's mind even more so now that the party was drawing to a close. The feeling of anticipation in the air was almost palpable. I couldn't help but have my own spirits lifted by it.
"Funny isn't it, that my father wants me to leave as soon as the party livens up?" I had meant it as a joke, but couldn't deny how true it was.
"Mr. Crouch has his reasons, I'm sure," replied Percy. I just nodded in agreement, not wanting to ruin the evening by overthinking my father or his reasons for doing things. We walked out into the cool, night air, and away from the party that was still alive inside of the manor. I grabbed onto Percy's arm, and let him apparate me away from the scene—the events from the night still dancing in my mind.
So much fluff! I hope you all enjoyed it. I would love it if you would leave me a review and let me know any tips you might have, or whether or not you're liking the story so far.
The next chapter will be a little darker. And include more family drama concerning her brother before the World Cup. How do you think he will act, right before he deserts his family? How will it affect Alex? And what will be their father's reaction behind the scenes? I cannot wait for this story to get going.
Chapter 3 should be out within the next week. But for now, please review!