Ten o'clock struck.

Per instruction regarding the first trial, the entire population at Hogwarts made it's way through the increasingly leafless October woods to the carriage checkpoint. It was a wondrous walk under the diamond stars overhead, filled with curiosity and enthusiastic speculation.

Knowledge of where the carriages were expected to take the crowd belonged to a select community of people, only increasing the hype and mystification.

And although the fall temperature was scrumptiously crisp and moist at the base of the castle, the attending spectators had followed instructions and dressed for the Arctic.

And rightfully so; the longer they were in the elevating carriages which carried them through the adjacent hills and sharply up a mountainside, the colder and darker the world grew below the stars and mist.

Jazzy little ice crystals began to form on gnarled, twiggy branches, glittering like frosty freckles on the bark under the moonlight. A thin veil of weak, dusty snow built up on the mismanaged trail only to be decimated under the rickety iron wheels of the carriages which left two hobbled rusty lines over the rocky terrain.

It was gorgeous, ominous, and dastardly freezing - the sort of landscape that would kill anything warm-blooded in a matter of hours were it not woefully prepared for the harsh conditions of the frigid mountain.

Audette could hardly believe how quickly the atmosphere had evolved after only twenty minutes of travel. Through the barren trees they could still catch glimpses of the spired gothic castle in the distance and the reflective, glassy Black Lake.

Without a shred of doubt they were starting off with the Russian challenge, and Audette swallowed with sudden comprehension of the texts Draco had been so ludicrously taken with the night prior. He'd known, somehow, what was to come; probably warned by one of his Russian acquaintances.

His reticence was so attractive, she could hardly handle the constant mystery and ennui.

"Have you ever been up this direction before? It's rightfully treacherous - do you suppose the Thestrals have lost their way?" Audette asked Guy as her teeth chattered in a symphony of uncontrollable clicking, pulling up her silvery cloak over her hair.

Guy was bundled in a distractedly neon yellow parka, which made him stick out like a cantankerous banana amongst the shivering occupants of the open carriage. His thin blond moustache twitched with a tickled filigree of frost over his lower face, which was twisting in a arc of discontent.

The carriage was seriously bouncy and angled sharply in an upwards ruckus, resulting in Guy's large snake earrings swinging around maddenly against his bony cheeks.

He was, without question, equally as disgruntled, if not more so, "Why yes Audette, I've taken a short gander up this sheer cliff for a casual whiz in the tundra, and some ill-informed sightseeing. Of course not - if I knew how to speak Thestral, we'd be halfway back to the castle by now. This is barnacles. Dumbledore has lost his beard, sending us up here to perish as human popsicles."

Audette stopped to picture what Dumbledore really would look like if he'd misplaced his long grey beard, and the rendered image was not appealing.

A large boy from Durmstrang grunted in hilarity at the gaudy gay boy across from him, leaning into Audette in his brown hide jacket, "He is how you say, the first to die in emergency."

Audette balled her silver mitt up against her lips to hide the visual of her giggling.

Cosmos narrowed his brown eyes at her, appearing very much like an average boy that day with typical colour tones on his birdy features.

The carriage continued on in misery, cackling in metallic and wooden angst, until finally it ground to a screeching halt at the base of a mountaintop setback along a wide ridge.

The horizon seemed to stretch for an eternity, as if the entire world were visible from such an elevation. Several thousand meters above their heads the rocky alpine wonder continued and disappeared into heavy set clouds, covered in deposits of ice and impossibly established tiny trees.

Guy jumped off the carriage first and stood there floored in his long puffy parka, his jaw open as he gazed upwards, "Do you think we're going to heaven Audette? Have we departed the living world do you suppose?"

They'd reached a plateau of sorts where dozens of carriages were all clustered and unloading under the firelight of staked torches, and people not familiar with Hogwarts' chosen mode of transport were regrettably walking face first into invisible Thestrals to their complete horror.

The crowd was trailing in a thick, lumbering line around the bend of the rocky mountain.

Audette pulled the little envelope out of her robe pocket as she and Guy stood in the center of the bustling drop-off zone, "It's 10:35 Cozzy, I'm going to put it on."

Bubbling with uncontainable anticipation she slipped the ring around her right fourth finger, and suddenly the golden band grew awash with a lovely purple glow. In the darkness it was like a shooting star on her hand, and she was completely enchanted by the beauty of the jewelry, until it violently tugged her nearly clean off her feet.

"Are you drunk?" Cosmos laughed as Audette was dragged unevenly towards where everyone else was filing around the bend, jolting like a bucking horse and fighting with the pull.

"I can't remove it, and it's drawing me somewhere!" Audette yelled apologetically over her shoulder as she was forced to run through people with her arm struck out at a ninety-degree angle, knocking other pedestrians obscenely aside.

Cries of outrage and repulsion from the attending witches and wizards followed her in a squiggly tail, giving away her location all the way through the woods where she was left no choice but to bulldoze everyone like a maniac.

Around the backside of the mountain podium the crowd started to slow and pile up, chattering boisterously. Men with ridiculously tall hats several feet high were swinging around canes, glowing wild fairies zoomed above the invasive madness to stare down with curiosity, and the sound of exploding magical fireworks somewhere unseen rocketed through the air.

Two illuminated stone archways came into view, carved into the rocky exterior and shimmering with glossy lavender film portals - and although it was magic unlike anything Audette had ever seen, there was no question where the portals led to.

Floating above each doorway was smokey lettering to direct wandering visitors; Spectators above the left hand archway, and Challengers above the right.

While everyone else waited in an antsy linear formation for access to the Spectators entrance, Audette blasted recklessly to the Challengers arch under the autonomy of the magical ring, garnishing loud gossip about her unruly behaviour.

When she was directly before two towering Ministry aurors guarding the egress the ring finally ceased it's relentless yank; permitting her hand to drop, and leaving her standing there feeling silly.

The huge bald man on her left, darned in an attractive plum uniform with golden buttons, turned a flat palm to the stars. His dark eyes were dull and lifeless, "You are late, otherwise it would not have pulled so hard. Ring."

Now conveniently able to remove the hot metal Audette handed it over sheepishly, half expecting to be shoved in a semi-circle and instructed to go back to the proper line.

But the two aurors instead stepped to either side of the wavering plasma. The man on the left tapped his wand on the ring and nodded to the man on the right who gestured for Audette to proceed.

For no reason in particular she held her breath while she stepped through the sheath that felt icy cold on her skin.

In a great show of underwhelm she reappeared in a dripping cavern, lined with stalactile formations which hung from the ceiling like shark's teeth.

Audette was utterly speechless for a second in the shadowy cave, shivering in her little dress and tiny mittens - worried perhaps that there had been some malfunction and she'd been sentenced to death by accident, locked away in a mysterious cave where she would never be found.

"Oi now, thas moi dagger and I won' be sharin' none a moi stuff with no snarky Parisians!" A heavily accented, angry Irish voice belted out somewhere ahead, echoing theatrically off of the geometric interior.

Audette squinted, stepping her silver boots over stalagmites which kept trying to catch her tights with their gritty texture and sharded ends.

"Qui m'appartient!" a Frenchman bellowed back.

He was either bellowing due to his voracious malcontent for the situation, or because his surroundings were seriously raucous with the powerful thunder of thousands of fans only amplifying the closer Audette drew.

Light began to reflect off of geodes in the walls, light which sourced from ahead through a few more ducks and dives around jutting stones. She made it through the narrow and meandering passage, finally emerging in a carved, subterranean pocket.

And there was the source of the light.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Along the opposing wall from the entrance spanned a very thin, chiseled aperture, similar in physical design to world war two bunkers where soldiers might point their bayoneted guns to defend a bunker. Beyond this uneven viewing window was clearly the arena where fireworks were exploding and a biting, wintry wind was hissing inwards. To the right, a single sculpted doorway permitting blowing snow to pile up in one corner.

All Audette could see was bright, white ice on the other side.

Contestants were preparing all throughout the dungeonous space, joined by obvious spectators of their choice bidding them good luck.

In the very center of the cave a gigantic man clad in burly gold and green clothing and sporting a strawberry blond beard was at odds with the extremely beautiful Beauxbatons boy Audette had simpered over weeks ago at Guy's indication.

The Frenchman held himself confidently in his silvery blue attire under the menacing glower of the beastly Erenholl boy. His long dirty-blond hair was pulled back in a concise bun, his arms were crossed stubbornly, and in his gloved hand he gripped said controversial gilded dagger close to his ribs.

"It's you," Audette blurted aloud humiliatingly, then clapped a hand over her mouth when his golden eyes shot to her in confusion.

Well there was no going back.

The feminine boy hummed and responded. "And oo might tu be?" he asked bluntly, suspiciously, raising one manicured eyebrow.

"Piss off, Fleur-De-Loser," Audette heard Draco respond darkly before she was swept up from behind by his arms around her waist.

With his familiar breath against her cheek she allowed him to carry her a few meters away into a quieter area where the ceiling was so low that the rocky overhang nearly impacted with his messy white hair, tousled and loose that day.

Audette caught her breath as her feet hit the slimy slab base of the cave.

She turned to grab his forearms desperately, feeling as if she'd just been shot in the chest with a poisonous arrow. This was it; he was about to be thrown into some savage battle and she might have to watch her latest love brutally die before her.

Her eyes scanned down his toned body, taking in the very foreign Hogwarts plate armor he was dressed in.

Whoever the fashion designer was for the Hogwarts contestants that year deserved an award.

The outfit was akin to a soldier's uniform; tight to his thin frame, forest green, and comprised of serpentine metal shards that overlapped in a similar fashion to basic roof tiles. The armor was laced with additional exoskeletal silver metal that criss-crossed on his chest, his arms, around his waist, everywhere...reflecting her warped face back at her in tiny slivers.

On his right shoulder the Hogwarts Slytherin crest was imbedded as a plate of matching metal, crisp and shiny. Even more intense were the matching metal boots he had on his feet with razor sharp blades mounted to the ends of his toes.

If she were in any other setting she'd probably melt desirously at her Prince Charming, standing there holding her in his commanding armor with a sly grin.

But upon noticing all of the strange gear and weaponry strapped to his body, Audette fell prey to hyperventilation, searching his Robin's egg blue eyes pleadingly, "Oh Draco, is there no...must you do this?"

The sensation of fainting spread throughout her nervous system as it all became too real, nearly causing blindness as she faltered in his arms. Audette wished that Harry Potter wasn't staring once again at their private interaction, standing across the cave looking nothing short of a glorified Iron Man in his red and gold Hogwarts armour that was designed with metal feathers instead of scales.

Thankfully Draco soothed her with his beguiling voice and confident energy.

He calmly brought up a scaly silver glove to pinch her chin and raise it, and she met his fantastically asure gaze with a trembling lower lip.

His shocking eyes slipped from one side of her face to the other, evaluating the Mal and foy she'd aptly painted on each supple cheek with incredibly expensive, green makeup and glitter, "How precious."

Audette swallowed under his vivid appraisal, "While I am entirely put off by your involvement in this tournament, I recognize its importance to you."

"And I am quite satisfied with your devotion," he turned her face back and forth, chewing on his bottom lip as he did so, clearly pleased with the personal gesture of support.

She felt his other glove tangling in her cloak at her waist to press their bodies close together, but the physical world felt as though it were moving in slow motion to Audette. His voice rippled throughout her brain in ghostly reverberation as his platinum hair fell into her eyes, "Take a deep breath, Bellarose, I will win this tournament. Regardless, there is no option to abort."

"What is paramount is that you survive, winning is not key. What kind of battle is it?" she dug her nails into his militant suit, attempting to stabilize her homeostatic imbalance and block out the quarrelling of the Erehnoll and Beauxbaton boys in the backdrop over something as trivial as a single dagger, and the unfriendly auror doing his best to split it up.

Draco ran the fingertips of his fashionable glove up the side of her face, pulling her lip down and brushing at her cheek with such feathery grace she might've imagined it. His eyebrows danced curiously as he pressed her tight to him, snickering under his breath, "Unfortunately, winning is key in this scenario. And it's not a battle gorgeous, it's a race."

A race.

Well perhaps it was constructed to be a race, but for Draco it was going to be a battle in some format, because Theodore was most definitely not going to be focusing on racing.

For the first time since involving herself with Draco Malfoy, she was not only relieved but grateful that he was an athlete and ran the dueling club with a fierce regard. Perhaps if he could maintain enough of a lead on Theo, then there would be no opportunity for a disaster between them.

In the back of her mind, a small corner of her consciousness was also busying itself panicking over Theodore, who's strengths lay alternatively in scholarly exploits, theory and invention - not athletics.

"Is it deadly?" she placed her mitts on either side of his jaw, drawing upon every resource in her body to prevent tears from welling and stealing away her final moments with the boy.

Draco leaned down to nudge his nose against hers, "As deadly as my predilection for you, Audette."

Then he dipped her backwards in his grasp, her spine curving to the lull of gravity with only his hands to support her while he pushed hard and breathy kisses on her lips. He squeezed her eagerly in his gloves, and the swelling glee in her heart hinted that perhaps even more than a simple attraction existed between them.

While it was under some of the most undesirable circumstances, Audette was blown away by the chemical fantasy coming true for her; a brave knight in shining armor, suspending her in a romantic embrace...

The daydream was stolen away when she heard the shuffle of feet close by and the mutterings of harsh Russian chatter, then the word Excetra, and her whole body froze. Draco also stiffened, turning his pointy face to narrow his eyes across the cavern.

It was the Durmstrang concubine from Hogsmeade, her black hair once more braided complexly down her skull in two incredible hair patterns that surely cost an hour of her life.

The Institute of Durmstrang had upgraded their representation that year, dressing their competitors in all black with bright red ornamentation depicting a Double-Headed Eagle across the back of their armor as well as crested on the front. Hard, orthogonal red lines ran down their arms, their pants and around their necks.

They were presenting as murderous ninjas and Audette had no doubt that they were just as dangerous.

The courtesan female was standing next to a ferocious black boy with an impressive head of shiny curls, and she was pointing between Draco and Theodore.

Audette locked eyes with Theo for the first time that night, dressed in the exact same armor as Draco and strapping spurred equipment, colourful potions and carabiners to his belt. After years of dating they instantly launched into a silent conversation hosted solely by familiar visual connection.

You revolt me, she felt him burn in her direction, still clutched in Draco's gloves.

Please don't die, was all she pathetically sent back, her eyebrows knitting together pleadingly.

The expression on his face was venomous as his eyes traveled down Draco's hold on Audette, exuding apoplexy and fearless determination to complete his mission to desecrate the boy.

Draco scowled at the foreign girl, "You'd do best to watch what you say. No matter what language you perceive to be enigmatic that word reads the same to prying ears."

Audette's prying ears? Who else was scuttling around with keen interest for the word Excetra?

Upon seeing that she'd captivated Draco's attention the girl arrogantly approached them with her comrade at her side, pointing a red painted nail at Audette, "Ah, look Vanya, at how zilly her face is. She has painted herself like a tahdler."

The Durmstrang boy snorted rudely, his crossed arms barely bouncing in place.

Draco let go of Audette, and she saw his gloves curl at his sides as he turned his back partially to her and faced them with a smoldering glare, "You've just made a terrible mistake. Apologize immediately."

The stunning girl twirled her hand around indifferently, mocking a contemplative state. She absolutely towered over Audette at nearly the same height as Draco. After a long pause she made a derisive face, her obsidian eyes casting along the cavern dome and then back to Audette, "So zis is your girlfriend, Malfoy? She is like...petite Barbie Doll in cutesy dresses...with bows and ribbons. Fragile, helpless..."

"I beg your pardon?" Audette caught her breath in appall, seeing that Nott was also eavesdropping with his eyebrows as flat as the floor. Polishing some sort of metal weaponry he steadied, his dark blue eyes now metastasized to the Durmstrang girl.

Draco inhaled sharply, his nose flaring. A cancerous tone escaped his barred teeth as he sneered at the young woman, "And then what would that make you, Fedorov? An ogre with lipstick?"

Fedorov?

He was on a name-based level with the girl, and Audette had absolutely no warning.

Her tummy started to twist as if she'd swallowed a blender, having to remind herself that she was a hot headed jealousy freak. The champions had been isolated in the same settings for most of the day, of course they had talked to one another.

"Not talking so friendly to me now zat baby doll is here to watch?" Fedorov glanced down unblinkingly at Audette as the most troublesome smile curled across her face.

Draco's armor shifted entirely into Audette's vision as he stepped between the girls, and Audette saw his glove hovering over his wand which was strapped magnetically to the side of his thigh.

He hushed something to her angrily before turning back to face Audette. He gripped her shoulders tightly, "Ignore her. You're-"

His sentence was abruptly cut off by the sound of blowing horns going off in the arena beyond. The Simulation Architect stepped in through the blustery archway, his mauve eyes wide with his golden robes flapping manically around him, "It is time, please assemble." His glove waved out the opening, and the champions began to mill out one by one.

Apparently the Beauxbatons boy had won the dagger argument, and was now flipping it around to show off his success as he passed by.

Draco kissed Audette's forehead and gave her one last handsome smile, "Try not to overreact up there, Wonderland." He winked and was gone, and Audette's jaw dropped at the inside nickname only the two of them would know of. So he did remember intricate details of their first meeting, he was simply acting aloof to tease her.

Theodore was the last to go, and Audette couldn't help running up to him with glistening eyes. She clasped her mitts together pleadingly, "Please Theo, please leave Draco be out there. Focus on your own survival, I'll lose my mind if you get hurt over something as ridiculous as this feud."

Theodore's vast eyes concentrated on her face, his mouth pressing into a stubbornly stiff line, "Audette, I understand that his feelings for you are real, but I have to take him out. Otherwise it is you who will get hurt, and it is to protect you that I am doing this."

"No, no Theodore if you cause him harm then you will only break my heart," Audette shook her head desperately, her spine tingling with the realization that she was admitting to her ex boyfriend that she was falling in love with his best friend.

Theodore Nott was acting like a complete psychopath, and she mildly wondered if he was even more jealous than herself.

He surprised her by running his freezing glove through her hair, his face softening behind his mop of gorgeous brown locks, "This is my mistake to mitigate little rose. I allowed him this opportunity, and now I must rescind my foolishness. I won't allow you to be sucked into this world."

"Sucked into what world?" Audette whispered forlornly as he too disappeared into the arena, left alone in the dripping cave with only the glaring Simulation Architect pointing for her to return through the way she had come.

Little rose, Wonderland...what was it with these boys and nick names?