Antithesis

Chapter 46: Siren

The Yule Ball was an extravagant event set to go down in the history books. Professional photographers from various newspapers and gossip magazines arrived to take photos of the multiple Triwizard Contenders and the outfits they wore.

Luna almost teasingly led him masterfully around the outer rim of the occasion, sitting at decadent tables with finger foods and pastries. Almost clockwork, every third or fourth song Luna led him away to another empty table a fair distance away and plopped down amidst the discarded outer robes and plucked sugared plums and too-sweet juice.

"Oh, look," Luna laughed, pointing into the swirling madness with one hand. Adrian squinted and through the mess of black robes and glittering dresses, he spotted one greatly uncomfortable Draco Malfoy twirling around an absolutely beaming Pansy Parkinson.

"She looks happy," Adrian noted, trying not to audibly laugh at how disgusted and annoyed Draco looked with Pansy stepping on his feet, literally.

Luna smiled and pointed out a few other girls she knew and random facts about them. Adrian followed suit, pointing out other students he had known through his now void dealings.

"Luna!" Another voice cheered, familiar and sounding absolutely thrilled. Adrian peered over as someone broke from the swirl of dancing students to drag another towards them.

"Oh, hello Hermione." Luna smiled, observing the delicate pink of her satin dress, "That's a beautiful dress. It's like a radish, would you like me to make you some radish earrings?"

Hermione blinked but instead of looking baffled, she only laughed excitedly. Her cheeks were flushed and her chest heaved in the exertion of dancing, "Oh! No but thank you! I'm having a wonderful time, would you all like to get drinks?" She offered hopefully.

"Of course," Luna smiled, beckoning the two to sit down at the table with them.

Adrian spotted Hermione's date, eyes widening in surprise as he recognized the rivaling champion.

Krum looked uncomfortable as he looked at Luna, not quite sure what to make of the fair haired lady. He met Adrian's eyes, rolling his shoulders and offering his hand politely.

"Viktor Krum," He introduced gruffly, holding himself rigidly.

"Adrian Selwyn," Adrian introduced, shaking the offered hand and noticing the pure strength behind the grip of the bulkier man.

Krum's eyes widened in recognition, "Selwyn? The, ah…" The other man trailed off, trying to think of another word, "tϋrgovets?"

Adrian blinked at the foreign sounding word, watching as Krum seemed slightly annoyed as he fumbled to think of the word. In the end, he withdrew his wand from the careful holster in his arm sleeve of his decorative cloak. He scribbled something in a Cyrillic alphabet, twisting and flicking his wand and letting the letters burn and rearrange themselves. Adrian peered at the magical translation, feeling his body chill at the word 'trader' written in magical scripture.

"I am, or…" Adrian's nose wrinkled and his tongue felt thick, "I was."

Krum looked accepting and tapped one hand on his face, face stilling as he thought of the next phrase of words, "You try ah," his face twisted up in an expression of utmost concentration.

Adrian blinked and watched as the Bulgarian man scowled and pulled out his wand, arching Cyrillic symbols in the air which transformed into the English alphabet before their very eyes.