Chapter 2
Nora stood before the mirror in the back of the door to the wardrobe and stared at her reflection. The steam from the shower did the trick on the black smooth material. Her hair hung down her shoulders, Nora kept it natural, which was long and straight. Her makeup matched her dress, she went with a smokey eye to match the dress.
She wasn't looking forward to the seminar, but it would be best to show up just to further prove that there was no bad blood with the other dragon tamers. Well, it wasn't only for the trainers, sponsors were going to be there as well, which is one of the main reasons why there were dragon sanctuaries. Also, the pure reason why dragon tamers got paid and weren't volunteers. There were also wealthy wizards there, mainly looking to learn about the benefit of dragon sanctuaries.
That was basically what she was told before coming to the seminar. There was a lot of information when it came to care of dragons that it was a multiple day sort of thing. Nora had no idea who exactly would be in attendance. She spent her time after Hogwarts traveling to the different dragon sanctuaries around the world. She was barely aware of the wizarding war of 1998 which further proved her distaste for that area of Europe. Even though the dark lord was dead, and all the death eaters were either in Azkaban, hiding, or trying to live a better life. Nora rarely kept up with the other dragon tamers of the different sanctuaries she had never been to before. Even though it was a smart idea, she liked to keep to herself and surround herself with the things she loved the most.
Dragons.
Nora sat in one of the chairs by the fireplace, she put her shoes on and started lacing up the straps. They were black stilettos with straps that tied around the ankles to keep her feet in place. It gave her an extra three inches, not like she needed it. She was average height, for a woman.
With no other jewelry besides a watch on her left wrist, Nora decided she was ready. She slipped her wand in between her breasts, having no other way to carry it. Her room key and a bit of wizarding coins went into a black little clutch that she was going to be using.
It was dark by the time she left. Nora hoped that she wasn't late, her plan was not to be early and not to be late. All she had hoped with it being introductions, that people would be standing around talking for a while before sitting down at their tables, hopefully she would get there when everybody was standing around.
She was right.
Men and women stood around in groups, conversing with each other. Some Nora recognized as old colleagues, even though she was used to them wearing casual clothes and not formal cocktail wear. Nora moved her clutch to her other shoulder as she walked around the different groups. Even though a lot of them had been old coworkers, she didn't feel like it was right to converse with them.
A man walked up to her wearing all black with a tray in his hands. On that tray were glasses of white wine. He was a server, and he knew that she wasn't here when he first made his rounds. He brought the tray closer to her. Nora grabbed a wine glass and smiled at him before bringing the glass to her lips.
There was a skeleton of a dragon suspended from the ceiling. Nora stared at it for a while, which gave her a chance to look at something other than feeling awkward. She had one arm crossed around her body to support her elbow so that she could hold her wine glass in the air. Her finger tapped at the glass as she started moving around the room. Along with the skeleton of the dragon, there were pictures of the different dragon sanctuaries, different types of dragons. Nora looked at the different groups of people, there hadn't been anybody from the Norwegian Sanctuary. Even though Nora was acting like a representative for the Norwegian Sanctuary, it looked like there were two or three people from each sanctuary.
"Nora!"
Nora rolled her eyes at the sound of the male voice calling her name. She turned in the direction of the voice to see a man of Asian descent with white, blond hair. He was from the Chinese dragon sanctuary.
Nora's finger tapped the rim of her glass as she tried to plaster a smile on her face as he approached her. "Zihan, how are you?"
He opened his arms inviting her for a hug, but when Nora didn't make a move towards him, he dropped them awkwardly. "It's been so long! I'm so happy to see you but you don't look happy to see me."
Shortly after her graduation from Hogwarts, the first place she went was the Chinese Sanctuary. She spent the longest amount of time there. Nora had history with Zihan, that was something she didn't want to revisit at all. She smiled in what she hoped was a pleasant way.
"Zihan, how long has it been?" Nora asked, extending her hand towards him. Giving him her hand seemed to be a big mistake because he pulled her into a hug. Which was what she was trying not to do. Nora knew that she would be more than likely seeing Zihan, she still hoped that she can fly under his radar and close herself off from him.
There was still the opportunity of closing herself off from him.
"Is anyone else here?" she asked, scanning the room for anyone else from the Chinese Sanctuary. Not trying to be stereotypical, she was looking for people of mainly Asian descent. When she was working at the Chinese Sanctuary, she was the only one who wasn't from the area.
"It's been nearly four years, where have you been?" Zihan asked, grabbing her wine glass from her hand and taking a drink.
Nora's eyes narrowed. Zihan looked over the glass, his brown eyes showing playfulness. Almost daring her to say something. She ignored it, folding her arms together across her chest.
"Well, I worked in Wales for a bit, then I went to Sweden, now I'm in Norway." Nora listed off the top of her head, there were only two Sanctuaries she had never been to. Although the The Macfusty clan seemed very protective of the Hebridge dragon reserve. The Wales dragon reserve is hidden, but it was an opportunity that fell into her lap, and she had to take it.
"Impressive, and in four years, how come you haven't settled?" Zihan asked and then he smirked. "I know someone who is available."
Nora chucked. Another person in black came by with a tray and she plucked a wine glass off of the tray. When Zihan made a move to try and grab the glass, she held it out of his reach. Nora was average height for a woman, even higher with her heels. Zihan was below average for a male. The both of them stood the same height when they were wearing flat shoes, or no shoes at all.
"You took my last one, this one is mine!" She said, taking a drink. "I'm afraid I can't take up your offer, I'm too busy learning about dragons and taking care then."
"Dragons, dragons, dragons." Zihan said and frowned at her. "It's always about dragons with you, why are you so interested in them, you would rather be around them than people."
"See this is why the Chinese Fireballs always liked me best." Nora smirked at Zihan. "They can sense your disdain towards them."
"My girlfriend says that too." Zihan said as he ran his fingers through his hair.
Nora's face fell as she stared at him in shock. Girlfriend? Yet he was standing there trying his hardest to flirt with her, no matter how unwilling she was towards his advances.
"What?" He asked, now aware of the way she was looking at him.
"Girlfriend? You just said you're available!" She hissed in a hushed tone, not wanting to draw any sort of unwanted attention.
"Did I say girlfriend, I meant my friend who is a girl."
Nora took a drink of her wine. "I somehow doubt it."
Zihan never changed, that was the reason they never worked out in the first place, his constant flirting and messing around with other women when they were together. Who knows how many times he cheated on his current girlfriend? The only problem was, with being a strikingly beautiful male and being a dragon tamer, there were many women willing to take their clothes off for that. There were times where Nora had walked to Zihan's dorm and found him in bed naked with another woman, and stupidly, she let him waltz back into her life.
"You're unbelievable." She said, starting to walk away from the conversation, hoping to strike up a conversation with someone else besides Zihan.
"Please, let me explain-"
Nora turned to face him. "No, let's just end this conversation here, there were no chances for me and you tonight. Let's just leave as old coworkers and mingle." she patted the lapel on his jacket before taking her old wine glass from him that still had wine in it. She finished the glass and with a smile, gave it back to him.
There was nothing she wanted more than to leave this room. Her blue eyes scanned the room for a moment, before seeing a staircase that the guests were starting to head towards. As she got closer, she found a sign that pointed out that the dinner and all the rest of the seminar activities would be held up there. Nora looked over her shoulder to see Zihan looking at her and she continued up the stairs.
If Nora was hoping to get in without drawing everyone's attention to her, there was no longer attainable. At the top of the stairs, there was a ballroom. There was a dancefloor with a big chandelier over the floor, around the dancefloor were tables covered with white table cloths. There was a podium with a projector screen on the other side of the dance floor. There were smaller groups of people in that room. There looked to be the host of the seminar, handsomely dressed, talking to some sponsors, but Nora couldn't be sure. There were also some other people who were already in their chairs.
From where Nora was standing, there were small place cards at the table which confirmed her fear. Assigned seating. Which meant no one could sit where they wanted and Nora couldn't sit alone off to the side line. This wasn't exactly her comfort zone and she felt butterflies in her stomach. She brought her wine glass to her lips and took a drink before looking for her name among the tables. She really hoped she wasn't going to be seated next to Zihan.
On the bright side there weren't that many people in the room so she didn't necessarily feel uncomfortable finding her spot. Even though Nora knew that everyone else would be in the same boat looking for their spot.
There were some conversations in the big room, but nothing she could quite focus on. There was also light jazzy music playing from some unknown source. With magic, everything is possible.
If she had something else to focus on besides looking for her name, perhaps she wouldn't be as on edge. That conversation with Zihan soured her mood, although her mood was already bad.
As she walked past a table, she finally saw her name. There was a plate with an entree fork and a salad fork, a soup spoon and a knife. There was a water goblet and next to the water goblet was a wine glass. There was a smaller fork and spoon above the plate and then above those was a smaller plate. On the opposite side from the glasses was a plate with a bun on it.
"Oh, this is very fancy." She said to herself as she admired the place setting. Nora had never taken part in anything this fancy. She wondered if she was in the right room. Of course that was silly because there was a place card with the name Nora Cullen.
With a final sigh, she moved to pull out her chair but someone else pulled it out for her. She turned her head to the person. He had flaming red hair that was pulled back tastefully in a bun. There were strands of hair that hung down at his ears. His freckled face was unreadable as he watched her guardedly. He wore a black suit with a red tie.
It took her a moment to recover. "Thank you." Nora said as she stepped to sit into the chair. Before she sat down he pushed in her chair.
"I'm Nora." She said, extending her hand.
"I know." Nora was taken aback at his statement and she stared at him in shock for a while. After a moment, he glanced at where her name tag was sitting.
"Oh," She rolled her eyes at herself and let out a nervous chuckle. "Right, forgive me."
He pursed his lips at her awkwardly as she stared at him wide eyed hoping he would introduce himself. He ignored her and moved to sit down next to Nora.
"Um, that spot is reserved for someone, we assigned spots." Nora said. She didn't want him to choose his spot only to have to move in a little bit.
"I know." He said.
It was awkward silence for a moment as he took a drink from the filled water goblet.
"Okay...." Nora paused. "I'm not sure but I think dinner might be served soon." She glanced around, unfortunately, there was barely anyone in the room. Maybe a bit more than when Nora first walked in there.
The man sighed and snatched the place card. "Not that it's any of your business but I am supposed to sit here too."
"Oh really prove it." Nora said stubbornly. There was no reason for him to lie, he was being just as stubborn if not more than here.
"Why should I?" He asked, a smirk tugging at his lips.
"I can go tell the host." Nora countered. Not that she was really going to do that. It seemed like too much trouble and she wasn't going to stoop so low. The man rolled her eyes and pushed the place card into her hands. Nora's line of sight darted from the paper in her hand to his face back to the paper. She opened it.
Charles Weasley