Her Sweet, Decadent Smile

☘ Prologue ☘

She thought she caught a glimpse of someone familiar standing lazily amongst the sea of people in the dance floor.

A flash of blond hair shifted over that side. Another one to her right.

"Ms. Granger?" Her eyes snapped back to the man clad in green robes in front of her, Mr. Vasil Krum, Viktor's uncle. Tall and skinny man he was, holding a wine glass in his right hand and twirling the red liquid nonchalantly. She was certain she drifted into a state of paranoia again, seeing things that weren't supposed to be there.

As if her eyes played tricks on her.

It happened more and more often these days.

She shook her head apologetically, then nodded for Mr. Vasil to continue.

"As I vos saying," He cleared his throat. "Our family is quite a prominent family in Bulgaria. I speak for the entire Krum clan, to remind you to votch your actions from now on—"

There he was again, the bloke with blond hair, but she wasn't so sure. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.

"—Ve can't have you tainting our family's flawless reputation vith your attention-seeking relationship vith Harry Potter—"

"I beg your pardon?" She stared at him disbelievingly, caught off guard by the sudden insulting statement. How rude this man was. "Harry Potter happens to be my best friend. What do you mean attention seeking relationship?" She demanded.

"You know vot I mean."

"No, I'm afraid I don't. Why don't you enlighten me?" she said coldly.

He eyed her condescendingly. "Viktor may have accepted you, but it doesn't mean that ve do. So please, act accordingly and refrain from all these—" he waved his hand to emphasize his point. "—disgusting affairs vith famous people."

She clenched her fists in anger.

"Yes, well, thank you for the reminder Mr. Vasil," she said through gritted teeth. Her sarcasm wasn't missed, he glared at her before disappearing in the crowd. She really wanted to hex the man, but she knew it would only cause a scene so she stopped herself.

She inhaled deeply, counted to ten and took another glass of wine from a tray floating around the beautifully decorated halls.

The wine was bitter against her lips. She felt it go straight to her stomach. This engagement party was giving her a headache. It wasn't at all like what she had expected. Seeing all these people dressed in elegance and confidence to brag about their money and status was all very annoying to her.

If she'd had it her way, she wouldn't have bothered with such a party, but the Krums had insisted. And they had insisted it be held in Bulgaria as well, leaving Hermione to celebrate her own engagement party with people she hardly knew.

Good thing Harry had promised to go.

Attention-seeking relationship with Harry Potter?Seriously? She let out a snort.

She caught Viktor's eye while he was talking to a group of people, no doubt Quidditch fanatics. He grinned at her and mouthed an 'I love you,' before he continued his idle chat with the crowd.

She knew he was uncomfortable with all the attention, but the way he was handling himself to pretend like he was interested while saying less or nothing at all, was rather remarkable. He was a pro at this. She, on the other hand, was anything but. She had tried to mingle a while ago, but decided to give up altogether when the conversations all led to high-society rubbish.

She would have to put up with this every single day once they were married.

She sighed and stared at Viktor once more.