People only come for free cake, anyway

That girl was a goddess alright. Nobody could have made him want to bow at their feet just by the sound of their laughter. Damien knew he could never have Mira. But it was always good to have had some good effect on her, even it it was merely trying to make her laugh. Damien smiled to himself, genuinely happy at that thought, though a major part of his idealism had been shattered by Pricilla Cuffe. The smile, however, was quickly lost on his face. The boy had wanted more, always wanted more. But before he could say a word further, Mira had excused herself what seemed to have heavily occupied her mind all of a sudden. Damien sulked as he thought that the older girl had left abruptly at the call of Elijah. He did not dare to look to see if it were true though. He expected that even the lack of eye contact might help him.

Damien's thoughts had, and always had, engulfed him into one world; and that world was only made up of him and Mira alone. This definitely blinded him to any other expressed interest from other girls. Besides, it was not like him to desire the interest of many. He just wanted the attention of one. Damien was completely in that one world again when a voice jolted him out of it. If it were anyone else screaming his name in public, he would have been annoyed at the lack of etiquette that he only appears to hold up. However, he recognized the voice of his favourite female friend.

Damien spun around, almost knocking someone near him from the sharp turn, and located Georgia. Not very sharp and just intending to begin his whinings about Mira to her, the boy made a beeline for his friend. Usually, Damien would have found gushing over someone else, to anyone, embarrassing. But Georgia is not just anyone. He had become extremely comfortable with her in their friendship.

"Awww Georgie! Mira looks more amazing than I last remember. How does she always do it?!" As soon as that was said, Damien stopped himself as he felt his eyes widen themselves. "Georgia Wheelbarrow," he began approvingly, "you don't look too shabby yourself either." Damien continued to fix his eyes on his friend, probably one of the few times that he had done it and thought her pretty. The other times he just thought of her as his best friend.

"You're late" He began again, with what he had intended to say while waiting for the girl earlier. "But on account that you look fantastic, I'll spare you the complaints." Grinning, Damien watched Georgia for a reaction. Sweet ol'Georgie, he thought to himself, with a lot of friendly affections for the girl.

With the amount of effort going into his choice of dress, Sevastian felt as if he were the bride and not Irina. His sisters buzzed about him, two of whom were quite obviously pregnant, fixing his hair and straightening parts of the suit that they’d put him in. Apolena looked ready to pop and she was, as Sevastian had noticed the night before, incredibly emotional. Nikolaus, her husband, had barely said a word to her when she’d burst into tears. She seemed to be in much better spirits today, however. Andreiana, his eldest sister, Apolena being the second eldest, was about four months pregnant and she was already beginning to get rather large around the middle. Thankfully, the youngest of the three sisters, Nadjenka, was without child so she wasn’t pushing and pulling her little brother quite as hard as the other two were. All three looked beautiful though, wearing designs created by a Russian designer.

“I love weddings,” Apolena exclaimed as she brushed her fingers through the front of Sevastian’s hair. She then, all of a sudden took his hand. Her delicate hand spread across the back of his ever so slightly larger one and pressed it against her stomach, instructing him silently to feel the squirming child inside of her. Sevastian’s eyes widened and a broad smile spread across his face. His other hand came to her stomach and he felt as the child kicked and moved around inside of its mother. Sevastian leaned forward and brushed his lips against his sister’s forehead, ignoring the exclamations of frustration from Andreiana who was trying to do his hair. Apolena giggled and her face darkened with colour. Sevastian dropped his hands from her stomach and allowed her to straighten his blazer up.

Andreiana cleared her throat and yanked Sevastian back, returning the brush to his hair. The Russian laughed and shook his head, earning a slap on the shoulder from his sister. Thankfully though, the abuse soon ended and they focused on fixing him up. For some reason, his sisters took great joy in dressing him up and for the wedding they’d pick something that would both please their father and give them the satisfaction they wanted. They adored seeing Sevastian looking feminine and their father wanted him, for once, to look masculine. So, to please both, they’d placed him in a suit that was cut in a way that accentuated some of their brother’s softer features. The first few buttons of the shirt had been left open, giving a small taste of the creamy skin that lay beneath the cotton and satin. It was teasing; it was a subtle way of drawing people in and the girls knew just how much their brother hated romantic attention from people. It unhinged him but it amused them to no end.

When Sevastian was finally deemed ready, his feet had been slipped into beautiful, shiny leather and his blazer had been unbuttoned. His hands had been slipped into the pockets of the trousers. It pushed the blazer back, adding to the supposed allure and Sevastian’s hair had been straightened. The ends of the locks of hair had been curled and left to fall against his chest. They’d also lengthened parts of his hair, spurring the growth with some magic. Those bits had been left to fall against his back and curled also. He looked exactly the way they’d wanted him to look - the cross between a man and a woman; a girl and a boy. And as Sevastian observed his self in the mirror he couldn’t help but feel that what they’d done was something a bit more advanced than simple magic. They’d added to something he’d already possessed, they’d brought out the beauty in him he did not know he had.

“There,” Nadjenka murmured, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t you look beautiful?” Sevastian swallowed and gave a slow nod, not quite believing the reflection. “You can thank us later. Now, go to breakfast, I’ll help these two down the stairs and make sure they don’t die.” Sevastian opened his mouth to protest but Nadjenka shook her head and pinched him playfully. “You won’t help, Sevastianova.” She told him playfully. “Go and socialise for us.”

And so, with that, Sevastian was pushed out of the room and told to go and make himself useful. He considered at first to go and find his brothers but decided against it when he saw his father striding down the corridor, in deep conversation with his eldest brother, Levka. Sevastian gasped and slipped behind a suit of sixteenth century armour. His breathing sped up and he pressed himself flush against the dusty wall, determined to stay out of his father’s sight. Sevastian gasped in the last strangled breath as the two men passed and he did not exhale until he heard one of the bedroom doors open and close again. The corridor fell silent, the only sound being his heart pounding in his ears. Sevastian tipped forward, grasping the iron stand the armour was tipped onto in his hands.

Once he’d recollected himself and dusted himself off, Sevastian swept downstairs. He entered the grand hall with a gaggle of giggling Krum women and he slipped away from them once he’d entered, deciding to go in search of a familiar face or someone to talk to. It didn’t take long for Sevastian to spot someone either - probably because the room was filling up quite quickly. He smiled brightly and stepped around a group of gossips to make his way over the blonde that Viktor’s heir would eventually marry.

Sevastian put his hands on the blonde’s shoulders and poked his head around the side of her so he could look at her profile. Sevastian frowned a little at the way Mira’s eyes bugged out of her head and he followed her line of sight to see two unfamiliar redheaded women across the hall. They were not Krum as they bore no resemblance to anyone, let alone each other, and the redheads that the Krum family did possess had a lot darker hair. Those girls were just ginger, their redheads had scarlet hair colour.

“Who are they?” Sevastian asked curiously, the words escaping his mouth before his brain had a chance to filter them.

You're. F-cking. Kidding. Me. At the mere mention of Mira, Georgie almost screamed. Dress or not, he would never notice her. The only person he had eyes for was the psycho beauty queen. But like the good friend she was, G held her tongue long enough to hear him continue. Her mood improved greatly when he complemented her but she wasn't 100% better yet. It would take a lot more than a few kind words to convince Georgie that she should waste her time on this guy. 

Pretending like nothing was bothering her, Georgie laughed. "Sorry, you know how hopeless with being on time I am." It was true, Georgie was late to almost everything. It may seem fashionable to her, but it was annoying to everyone else. But Damien put up with it, along with all of her little quirks that annoyed the crap out of all her other friends. That's why she loved him. 

Looking around Georgie asked "So has anything exiting happened so far?" One of the downsides of being late was that you missed important things. Gossip, drama, and fights. There was no greater pleasure for G to be in the center or everything. 

Damien gave a slight grin, just thankful that Georgia was finally here. Her presence alone made him feel better about attending the wedding. It was as if she provided him some sort of strength to face Mira and the Krums. He was, of course, oblivious to what she was feeling. With her, he had pretty much taken for granted that she would always be there for him, whenever he needed. In return, of course, he is protective of the girl. Although Damien had grown in his obsession with pureblood supremacy because of what his mum had put him through, he had determined to leave the halfbloods out of his hatred, only because he did not want to hurt Georgia, in case his actions and words would take a backlash and injure her instead. He could not understand his affections for this girl. Perhaps even after what he thought to be betrayal from his own mother, Damien still understood loyalty, if only to just one person besides family.

"Look Gi-Gi," he started, calling her a name that he had used to tease her about, and only used at certain times for the sake of affection. As he said that, Damien landed two hands on the girl's shoulders and squeezed them gently, as if he was assuring her. "Don't apologize now that you're here. I must say I've grown accustomed to your ways, so much so that even if I've to wait til I grow a beard, I will. Of course, if that happens, you do have to say you're sorry. But for now --" The boy offered his arm, "Let me know how it feels to be your escort." Yes it had seemed a litle suave, that small move, and then he leaned towards the girl and gave a friendly peck on her cheek. "Is this good enough?" Damien smirked, really because he was amused at his own actions. It took his mind of Mira for awhile.

Damien pondered on what Georgia had asked. He had been too caught up noticing Mira to bother about anything that could possibly be more exciting to account for. "Well ... I came, looking for you. And then I saw Mira," he paused and grinned like a lovesick child, then he recovered. "Well, the Krums have a nice enough place alright," he thought bitterly. And he had thought that the d'Eath residence was a palace. "How did you know about the wedding anyway?" He cocked an eyebrow, a little puzzled at the fact that Georgia had such a personal invitation to a Krum event. Surely she must know of his dislike for Elijah Krum. But it was not like him to tell his friend who to befriend or not anyway, he was already fifteen, though he had to struggle to not be childish at various times.

Georgie blushed faintly when he kissed her cheek, but luckily it was hidden under the layer of bronze skin tone that had been applied earlier. When his lips touched her skin tingled with anticipation, although she knew nothing else was coming. The feeling was not of hot flames of passion, only of the thrills of a crush. A crush that Georgie was beginning to accept would never be anything more.

Georgie wanted to retort with a comment about how very, very nice it was to be her escort, but wasn't brave enough. She also wanted to lean forward and kiss him that was clearly out of the question. G knew that she would probably never kiss him. So instead Georgie smirked and said "Eh, I bet you could do better" 

When Damien asked how she knew of the wedding Georgie almost laughed out loud. The first connection to the Krums of hers was Elijah. For a second a flash memory of heated kisses filled her brain. Georgie knew Damien didn't exactly love the Bulgarian and thought it to be better if he never found out about their encounters. Not that it was any of his business, but it would surely lead to an argument. The secondary way she knew the Krums was Cecilia. "Oh I just know Cecilia from parties and she invited me to come along." Untrue. Georgie had invited herself. 

"So you ready to get your dance on? As my escort I'm forcing you to join me on the dance floor you know." Georgie smiled at the idea of her Damien dancing.

Damien let his eyes linger, on a rare occasion like this, a little longer than usual on the face of his best friend. He was beginning to realize that she had, like him, grown up a bit. Having known this girl since the age of eleven, he never could really wipe off their memory of a wide-eyed, innocent, and doll-faced child that came into his train compartment after Roxanne Weasley. Damien frowned. Now why did that come up? Recently, he had odd memories of that evening at the Shrieking Shack with Roxi. These memories would return on some nights before he sleeps, and would stir some sort of lust in him. It was not fair to say he regretted the encounter, because he really did not. He just did not want it to affect him the way it was doing so. Perhaps it only took time to forget about it. Damien was, after all, determined to not let it happen again.

The boy raised an eyebrow when Georgie told him that he could do better. "Yes I can do so much better," he started in a boastful tone. He bit his tongue before he could share more. Georgia definitely knew about his relationship with Pricilla Cuffe. But he dared not let her find out abou Roxi. "Besides, you haven't had much ..." he paused, wondering how to phrase his question. "You haven't had much of an experience with that, right?" Damien frowned, never really comfortable with really knowing who his best friend was snogging, because she was just a ... young girl to him, and he felt slight resentment against guys who would even go so far to touch her in inappropriate ways. "I mean, I don't know who will. Well, no. I mean, who deserves to touch you, you know." He stared into Georgia's eyes and clutched her arm. "Look, I'm just making sure you're alright, okay?"

"And okay, mother has taught me how to dance before. For formal events, she said. But ..." Damien bit his lip, unsure that he wanted to make a fool of himself, mainly because Mira might spot him and possibly find him looking ridiculous. But he did not know how to say no to Georgia, and decided to go along with it. "Okay Gi, only if you don't step on my foot." He teased the girl, although he suspected it might be the other way around. Damien placed his hand at Georgia's waist and walked with her to where a some people were already dancing.

It amused, but befuddled Georgie that Damien seemed so speechless at the mere idea of her having physical contact with a boy. Or girl. It was cute as he stammered through his sentences. He was touching her arm in a very protective way. It felt good that it was so obvious that he cared about her 'safety' but it also kinda felt like he was acting like her father. And that was the last type of relationship she wanted with him. If he wanted to be responsible for her sexual encounters than he should claim her as his own. Officially. But this would mean loosing his crush on Mira, something that seemed impossible. At times it felt like that crush was even bigger than the one she had on him.

Georgie waggled her eyebrows at him, as if to tease. "Wouldn't you like to know" she said with a laugh. Yes, it was true that Georgie snogged a fair number of people (okay, a lot) but she wasn't a slut. She hadn't even gone the whole way yet! Everyone thought she had. If not with Elijah than one of the other long list of boyfriends and flings she had had. Georgie was pretty sure that even Elijah wasn't sure (they had been that drunk at the time). People thinking that she had done it made it a lot easier in some ways. Took pressure off. Because Georgie didn't want to do it with just anyone. She wanted the man she was in love with. Damien.

But now she wasn't so sure. Damien was clearly never going to return her feelings so why not just get it over with? Rafael was nice, older, handsome. If things kept going well than he would be a suitable alternative. A very, very suitable alternative. And that was when Georgie made a promise to herself to loose it before the end of the summer. She was so pretty it wouldn't be hard.

Earlier, Damien had cocked an eyebrow up a little too sternly. He did not take his gaze off Georgie, even when it changed from concern to stern. Not one up for teasings or jokes if they were not made by himself, the boy surely did not take his friend's reply well, seeing as to how he really wanted to ascertain an answer, but did not look like he was getting any. And Damien was used to getting what he wanted, at least from people from his inner circle.

Damien's grip on the girl's arm tightened, though he was not aware of that yet. "I meant it, Gi. Yes, I would like to know." He said in a tone that sounded a little too harsh. Then, as if he remembered his place, the boy let go of the girl's arm. Giving a little cough as he scanned the people at the wedding again, Damien reached a hand up to smooth his already very neat hair. He was a neat freak, after all.

After that tensed situation Damien had thrown both himself and the girl into, he had calmed his irritation and tried to pretend everything was back to normal. His anger got the best of him, and he simply wanted it to rest. It was not as if he had much of a right to be throwing his temper at his best friend, and he tried to cheer the atmosphere with his previous teasing of Georgie stepping on his foot when they finally begin to dance.

Woah. The conversation had turned from light and teasing to full Damien freak out mode in a matter of seconds. This wasn't the first time this had happened. In fact it happened practically every time Georgie talked about one of her boyfriends. Maybe it would be best to wait a bit to tell Damien about Rafael. It would probably be considered bad manners to have a fight in the middle of the wedding. After a few drinks he would take it like a champ. He had to. After all Damien was a good guy who just cared about her safety. But the way her heart pounded like it was going to come out of her chest when he got close didn't feel very safe. It felt dangerous and exiting.. But very un-safe. 

Georgie realized her eyebrows were raised a little from shock at the harshness of his words. He obviously didn't want to know, even if he claimed differently. "Don't flip, Dami" she said with a forced laugh and smile, trying to loosen the mood again. "This is supposed to be a happy occasion!" Grabbing his arm and tugging it slightly towards the direction of the wedding, Georgie felt right at home in this strange house. I guess it's true that it's the people and not the place that make a house a home. And Georgie was definitely going to make Damien her family. And that didn't mean brother. 

"Let's get seats before all the good ones are taken!" And get away from Mira she added silently. The farther away from the beauty queen they were the better today would be.

Damien nodded mildly as he allowed himself to be dragged away. He craned his neck around to look for Mira, very disappointed to not catch her anywhere in sight. One moment it looked as if he was going to be rewarded with a subtantial session of conversation where he can just allow his eyes to feast one her, and the next his eyes had to feast on ugly people. He scowled. He took his eyes away from the bunch of ugly people that it had landed on, turning them back to Georgia, who he does think to be good-looking but never thought about her in romantic ways before. Well, at least his eyes had something more comforting than the general crowd. Of couse there was bound to be good-looking people in the crowd. Damien was just being very narrow-minded, that is all. The boy's eyes suddenly landed on two girls who he thought to be really familiar. He strained a little to try to remember who they were, but figured it was probably because he had seen them in school before but never got to know them. Then he cocked an eyebrow up. The first one, red-haired, unmistakeably, that Gryffindor Quidditch captain. The boy sneered a little, wondering what business did she have at this wedding. Then again, it was not as if he knew the Krums well enough to know who they associate with.

"Okay, Georgia Wheelbarrow. We'll leave it at that now. But we'll talk about that after the wedding." Damien began again, not wanting the matter to rest as much as the girl wanted it to. "It's for your own --" Then he paused. He did not want to complete his sentence with a good. It sounded like something his mother would say, and Damien was disgusted to find himself regurgitating what she would say, now that he was having problems with her. "Well, I mean. I don't want any filthy little boys going after you. If he likes you, he has to meet me first, you know? I'm your benchmark." He concluded, throwing Georgie a look of smug confidence, something he does not really pull off well around others. He did, however, feel some entitlement to be like this in the girl's presence.

"Georgie, I thought you wanted to dance? Or is the wedding ... urm, thing, starting?" As he said that, Damien looked around, wondering what was going to happen. There was so much waiting around, and he was beginning to feel the first stirrings of impatience within himself.