Audette stared down into a cluster of porcelain lilies in her shaking hands, the golden carpel stem within each flower jiggling like pudding on a plate.
Her slender arms were absolutely adorned with crystal jewels imbedded into her archaic wedding dress, which in a very form-fitting antique fashion ran down the length of her body on both sides all the way to her wrists.
Breathe. Breathe. BREATHE.
Breathing for Audette was typically a hazardous ordeal - a jest if one would - whereas her everyday garb was unbelievably constricting due to a corset of some contemporary design integrated into her stunning dresses.
But her crushing marital clothing was not the primary reason that she felt suffocated in the moment.
Fluffy rivers of blond wavy locks bounced as she choked on air, stepping back multiple times in astonished incredulity with the instrumental flowers fluttering in place.
No. No. No.
What was suffocating was the fact that she had somehow ran face first into some confrontational moment where she was required to decide between two competitive boys, each providing eager stares; Please pick me. Please pick me. Please pick me..
A priest of substantial age cleared his elderly throat to awkwardly speak the words that would not allow her to escape, and her attention was drawn upwards from the captivating flowers to his wrinkly gaze, "Do you, Audette Bellarose, take this man, or this man, to be your lawfully wedded husband? Answer now, girl."
Her bright green eyes darted nervously between the two potential grooms, both in lavish black suits with differentiating shades of pleading blue orbs.
The scenario was unheard of - haunting even - for little eighteen year old Audette, who was only beginning to understand that she had been lined up for a coming of age wedding since the day she was born.
She turned her head to stare over her shoulder through her veil at where her father was located in the front row pew, his magical monocle flashing and smoke swirling around his vicious glare. She had to make a selection - she was out of time. A spinster, he would coin her, should she wait any longer and blunder into her twenties with no prospects lined up.
But how could anyone imagine picking between her two options?
On her right was a wistful boy who had claimed to protect and love her for years, but abandoned her without explanation. On her left was a boy she'd known for a lifetime as a close friend, but only been romantically involved with for a handful of sensational months.
Their hands were held palm up towards her, facing the ceiling of the ornate sixteenth-century chapel which was packed by positively every person she had ever known behind her - all watching judgmentally.
"Who do you take as a lawfully wedded husband, for eternity, and through all darkness to come?" the priest ominously prompted again, sternly, his rich brown eyes scalding into her forehead.
Dark smoke erupted from somewhere behind the carved wooden podium, like a storm of black smog that enveloped the entire cathedral.
People started to cough and splutter, standing from the pews in outrage, some even muttering Excetra under their breaths. A huge, puffy cloud of a human skull commenced formation in the three-storey rafters as Audette panicked in place.
She began to respire indecisively between the two demonic boys; Draco, Theodore, Draco, Theodore...
Her propped up bosoms in the outrageous, ivory antique wedding dress rose and fell in her lower peripherals, signalling just how stressful the accord truly was. Bloody hell, Audette was about five seconds away from entirely collapsing.
Draco Malfoy hushed to her, shaking his hand in place, his pointy nose pulled up on one side in determination, "Choose me, Wonderland. I've enthroned your wild spirit for almost a decade, and I will never ask you to be something you are not. You may do and dream limitlessly at my side."
Draco...
Her gaze collided with his imploring orbs, her glove slowly reaching for his stiff hand.
He nodded furiously, as if each second that she hesitated was sheer agony for him, "That's right Audette, I love you. Forget about Nott - it was always meant to be me. You and I."
Theo's panicked eyes shot from Draco to Audette, causing her to freeze in place, long chocolate hair whirling with the motion.
His dark blue gaze tented desperately, genuine fear overtaking his normally overcast expression, "No Audette, he will break you like a vase to concrete. Choose me. I love you. I promise that your welfare will always be my priority. I shall protect your innocence, and you will never experience the burdening albatross of responsibility again. I will always take care of you, always..."
Always...always...always...
An orchestra of chiming metal bells from the adjacent Clock Tower scintillated in beautiful clangs and tolls in Audette's ears, and slowly she opened her eyes in the beige and pink Hogwarts Infirmary.
Yes, she'd been dreaming ridiculously, her mind inspired by the orchestral tintinnabulations of the Clock Tower that led to believable wedding celebrations. But it was not wedding bells; it was a recurrent, chronological jingle that unraveled each hour on the dot in the castle of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Phew.
An ocean of plants greeted her on all four sides of her ward bed, as if someone had mistaken the hospital wing for a diverse botanical garden.
Abutting the mattress on each lateral was a plethora of huge green ferns, pearly yarrows, variegated blue hostas...but most pronounced out of anything was the multitude of extraordinary black roses.
Audette reached a finger out to pet at the velvety obsidian petal of the closest rose, only to find that her stab wound had returned to ache in her shoulder, and her forearm was heavily bandaged.
She hissed through her teeth and attempted to sit up straighter, but something was weighing her down; a mass of aqua hair in her lap where Guy Cosmos was bent far out of his visitor's chair to sleep and drool onto her bed linens like a loyal guard dog.
"Oh, Cozzy, you little angel," Audette smiled sweetly, her voice a weak croak.
She pet his long colourful strands which mimicked subaquatic seagrass, noticing that he had littered her bedspread with candy wrappers and terribly unidentifiable doodles that he'd obviously created to pass time. Several petals from the roses had also been shredded on the comforter, making a total circus out of her recovery area.
She had barely begun to pat him when he abruptly sat up gasping, as though she'd just held his cute face under toilet water, "Feck! What is it now! You can't make me go, you can't!"
He yawned in a silly, gurgly manner before his natural golden eyes landed on Audette's puzzled grin, then he pounced to hug her eagerly.
Audette cried out in agony as he crushed her bandaged shoulder, "Ohhh she's alive! Thank the heavens, we can finally brush that mangled mat of an excuse for hair!"
"Cosmos," Audette winced in a strained voice, "My shoulder...and you reek. When was your last shower, you mangy old rabbit?"
He sat back in what appeared to be an adorable koala bear onesie, kissing her arm all the way to her hand then cupping it against his bony cheek, "Don't you judge me over bath practices; I've been here for a week. I thought for sure those pretty boys had killed you, Jesus, Mary and Joseph."
Audette playfully contended with a sly smile, "Actually, they saved me; and their names are Draco, Theodore and Blaise. Although to be fair they nearly killed each other."
With a heavy groan she managed to push back enough to take in the entire room.
It was late in the afternoon, and winter had arrived in a harry.
Beyond the windows fluffy snow was drifting down from the clouds, and only one other occupant was in the chilly infirmary; a Beauxbatons champion with their entire head bandaged up like a mummy, only provisional holes for their nose, mouth and eyes.
Audette felt absurd all of a sudden, laying there like a snooty princess in a jungle of flowers, squinting at the floral madness, "My goodness, there mustn't be a rose left in the world for picking."
Guy nodded with a curt snicker, reaching out to obliterate another scented specimen, "Malfoy has no sense of modesty. You should've seen the argument Pomphrey had with him about proper access to your ruddy bed through this...arboretum he's built. And just the other day I was stung horribly by a bloody bumblebee because of this mess."
Scratching at her itchy white hospital gown, Audette evaluated the flood of cards at her bedside table and the ravaged chocolate presents - all of which had been torn to shreds already by Guy who arguably had zero control when it came to sugar.
She picked up the most exquisite card in the group, her gaze scanning down the pale grey paper and shockingly elegant cursive, written by no other than the swimmingly smooth Theodore Nott and dated for a mere twenty hours prior,
"Audette,
Upon your miraculous stir, rest assured that Think-Think is retained in my care.
He has been worrisome, hostile, and especially hangering for pennies in your absence. If I were not familiarized with his tendencies so personally I would be left fingerless, and if the value of copper was any more preponderant than one centile I would be dramatically poorer...but these qualms are no embolus with you in mind.
I've gifted him a new bow tie and for whatever reason this has silenced his incessant hissing. For now...
I continue to visit you daily with the hopes that your emerald eyes and sensitive heart will rejoin the universe to dazzle us all.
Yours truly, T.N."
Audette blinked in shock, her heart absolutely flooring to ground level in her chest at the thoughtful note. From the beginning of the school year he'd presented towards her as nothing short of disconnected and disgusted.
Each word in the letter resulted in her holding her breath and gasping, reminding her of the early stages of their love when he would pass her spontaneously scribbled poetry in classes.
Her hand shot to her mouth as tears prickled in her eyes, "Theo has been here...daily? How...how long, have I been in the infirmary, Cosmos?"
Guy flickered petal after petal onto the sheets, his face suddenly uncomfortable as he pulled up his hood, "Oh Merlin, baby, your organs were failing. They sent you straight to coma town. It's been nine dramatic days. People coming and going, fussing over your life, Nott being one of the more invested aside from Malfoy. They have to schedule visitation hours now, great heavens after the trolly incident..."
Nine days?
There had been a trolly incident?
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Guy shook his head, little fuzzy bear ears on the hood of his onesie pitter-pattering, "Pasties in the air, potions all over, a bottle of Skelegrow broken into a sword. My god, the look on all of the Champions fa-"
He was cut off then as he tried to explain whatever insane battle had gone down while she asleep.
"You're awake?" a dark voice drew both of their faces down the aisle.
As if on cue, Theodore Nott stood there in the arched entrance sporting a typical somber expression. He was darned in a navy blue suit that matched the boundless oasis in his eyes, one single pink rose in his stringy fingers.
Guy turned back to Audette with tight lips and raised eyebrows, slowly slipping out of the guest chair as Theo approached, "Oh yes, there is the culprit now. Con-tro-VER-sial, detty, better watch yourself. Malfoy doesn't take kindly to sharing his toys."
Audette made a face at him before he wandered away by the bay windows, one golden button on his four button butt-flap disturbingly undone. He made to nonchalantly eavesdrop, unravelling a package of Licorice Snaps only to lose them all on the floor and scramble around like a chicken to worms in the dirt.
Theodore sat with stiff grace next to Audette, glaring over his shoulder at Guy's yelping and squealing before facing her and gently holding out the huge clipping.
She took it tepidly, inhaling deeply at the crystals of white glitter that clung to the petals like dew comprised of glassy gemstones. It was without a doubt her favourite shade of princess pink, and royally decorated as much.
In his typical fashion he moved with smooth deliberation, languidly taking her other hand as she brought the rose to her nose. His long hair fell down and curled at his neck as he focused on their intertwined hands, sneaking pensive oceanic glances at her, his voice a charming lilt, "Ms. Bellarose."
"Mr. Nott," she quietly replied while chewing on her bottom lip, her skin prickling nervously with full body frisson as he ran his thumb over hers, both of them sucking in air carefully, "Thank you for caring for T-T. I do apologize for his attitude."
She couldn't bring herself to dismiss him in the wake of his beautiful card, even after Draco's looming threat to kill him if she interacted positively.
Theo shyly laughed under his breath, "Last name basis, my things have changed. Do you recall how you used to call me Teddy?"
It could not be more awkward after everything that had occurred in the arena, and the detailed argument that Audette had been partial to in the cave.
Audette batted her eyes at the nostalgic nickname, "Well how could I forget? I used to say that you were my big Teddy and Think-Think was my little teddy. After all, you are both dreadfully opinionated about what I ought to do."
"Yes," he nodded, exploring the ornamentation of the ceiling as if he were attending an architectural lecture and the dusty alcoves were somehow provocative.
Oh god, the silence was stabbing.
Audette sighed nervously, straying her focus to the side table and the trash piled up there.
"I feared the world had truly lost you in that arena," Theodore's deep blue eyes finally met hers, burdened by undeniable angst as he took the rose and pressed the thornless stem down behind her ear to plant it in her thick hair, "You impressed me with your bravery, Audette. You have proved to be more than the pureblood court's brightest diamond. You're veritably multifaceted... complex...and worthy of independence."
His gaze was so imploring and vivid behind his endless chocolate curls, unblinkingly concentrated, that Audette felt a chill run down her spine.
Even though he was showing rare compassion she would be wise not to forget the irrefutable, underlying danger which constantly emanated from the gorgeous boy, twisting and amplifying it seemed with each passing day.
She ought to have felt bitter that it took her dating another person for Theo to reach such a conclusion, possibly stealing the understanding from Draco himself. But any fault between them was but a whisper in the wind to Audette, who had grown so much in the seven or so months since their split that she no longer remembered the details of that version of herself existing.
By the windows Guy had now captured all of his toothy candy victims from the hairy floor and shoved the whole gang in his mouth at once. His cheeks were bulging like a chipmunk as he chomped down on the wriggling gummies while eagerly bending his ear in their direction.
Theo's eyes danced on her speechless face and avertive gaze, "This week has been...traumatizing, and I have had too much time to consider the lifetime of guilt I would experience if you'd failed to awaken. Can you forgive me for overseeing your potential?"
Audette's breath caught as she fiddled with her starchy hospital blankets, her shoulders tense and her voice feathery, "No really, I should...thank you. Had you not pursued your own agenda, I...might've spent an eternity lacking a heterogeneous reality outside of courting and etiquette. One of my own design, not governed by someone else's standards or some tumultuous, aristocratic inertia."
Theodore shook his head in disinclination, reverting at lightning speed back to an elitist, "Not to impune your latest endeavours, but do you not worry that you pine after a rootless existence, Audette? You are extremely graced to have come from the family you do. That aristocratic inertia is highly coveted and sought after by most of the population that could only ever dream of such a life."
Audette graduated from playing with her blankets to the thick bandages on her arm, "No Theodore, no...I've grown quite nauseated by my opulent social status. I'm not comprised of dresses and manners, and quite frankly I am sick of all the curtsying and dancing, and the governesses which breathe down my neck..."
She smiled meekly at him, wishing he could possibly understand.
His lip curled up on one side as well, puffing out air in a short laugh, "No, no you certainly are not comprised of the garb you wear. I would only implore you to recall that Malfoy is as much an aristocrat as myself. However he may be masquerading it with broomsticks and bullying, any life he offers you is of paralleled structure, especially seeing that his father is the Duke of Sheffield. Your responsibilities will only inflame as a Duchess for crying out loud. This is not a reality you can run from I'm afraid, and Malfoy is the worst possible option if you are hoping to."
Theodore silently narrowed one cobalt eye at the jarring interference that was Cosmos, losing more candy on the hardwood behind.
He straightened his spine to shift up close to Audette, his veiny hand landing on the other side of the bed close to her waist, and her senses were assaulted then with his cologne and the scent of his crisp clothing, pressed at the most articulate angles like a billboard advertisement for a designer brand.
He leaned in, their foreheads nearly touching with his thick curls tickling her nose. He spoke now in a revised whisper so that Guy would be helpless to pick up on his words, drifting his free hand to her chin to draw her eyes forward, "I do not believe you to be a China doll, although I'm certain you think I might. I can see you feel Malfoy alternatively does not govern your freedom in ways that I do. What does he provide in his actions that is so convincingly liberating, aside from wandering eyes?"
"His eyes are not wandering," Audette hissed defensively.
Theo crinkled his eyelids harshly for a second before correcting himself, "So be your impression. Listen Audette-"
Audette tangled her hand in his dress shirt, "Theo, you never once mentioned that my father expected you to marry me without warning. How could you allow such a secret to transpire, and then continue to sit there and act as if you are not controlling?"
Both of their eyes were suddenly wide and caught on one another's.
Theodore sighed heavily, nodding his head in slow contemplation, his eyes big and guilty like a puppy dog that had chewed the couch up, "It was controlling of me, and I should have told you, but I was worried you would panic. I myself was panicking. I was dealing with changing circumstances in my own life that I worried would only bring you closer to harm if we wed in a rush. Now I see that no matter what, you cannot be spared that same reality."
"You were? What reality?" Audette's heart panged below her ribs. She had never, not once, received so much honest vulnerability from him. Even Guy had stopped his nonsense, frozen at the windows in wonderment.
Theodore pressed his lips into a thin line, "Malfoy was correct to inform you of your father's pressures, and it has provided you with a dangerous degree of trust for him. He has the benefit of not fearing such a young marriage due to his lifelong infatuation with you. I only wish my hesitation could be retracted, because in hindsight it is nothing more than a contract that would have been as consequential as rain to an ocean."
Audette was so uncomfortably nervous that she was paralyzed to speak.
He pet her hand in his, "It will be Christmas in a month, less in fact, and I am in possession of foolish hopes."
"What foolish hopes?" she managed to whisper back to him, her heart shuddering anxiously. Partly out of curiosity, partly because Draco would not approve of the exchange and she knew better to cancel it then and there.
He sucked in his plump lower lip, his breath flooding her face as his beryl blue eyes shot back to hers in striking appeal, "That you will wait until the new year to solidify Malfoy's conceptions of a concrete engagement. It is a matter of weeks, if you bare the patience."
"It's much too late for that, surely. My father and his father have consorted. What are you suggesting?" Audette searched his eyes.
He kissed her forehead without warning, hushing minty breath all over her face, "All I suggest to you is that you don't take likely this monumental decision, else you may regret it forever. It is still in your hands."
He paused with his lips hovering over hers, practically hugging her against her pillow and holding her hand.
Audette came to her senses, realizing he meant to kiss her momentarily. Draco's lethal commentary blasted into focus; I will kill him.
She pulled back in sudden terror, turning her face shyly to the side, "This is inappropriate. You must go before Draco finds out about your advances and harms you."
"Do consider my critical advice. This may be our last chance to speak until next year, and by then everything will have changed," Theodore nodded at her, and just like that her hand was left hanging in the air and her mind stinging as he rushed out of the room.
Guy started to hack up his throat, banging his closed fist on his sternum to clear a clog of inhaled candies, "OH. MY. Juicy little toad leg - did Theodore Nott just..? Were you two snogging? Because your fecking coma breath...it's vile."
"Kind of you to instill that wonderful confidence in me, but thankfully I enacted restriction," Audette blinked rapidly in total bewilderment.
Her eyes darted to the ornate double doors to the infirmary that Theodore had just left through, "Cosmos...I cannot withstand another second of this ominous ludicrosity. It's time we launched a private investigation. Too long have I gone without answers, and if they refuse to tell me what's going on between them then we'll find out for ourselves."
Bouncing like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, Guy bobbed over to her. He fell so clumsily into the guest chair that it teetered dangerously on three legs for a split second, "And what have we in mind?"
Audette balled up her hands in her bedding thoughtfully, "We could stalk their private activities?"
Guy waved a hand dismissively, "As if those boys don't strut at the speed of bullet trains. Have you seen them zipping down the corridors, breaking the sound barrier? We'd be lost in the weeds before even getting out of the fecking dungeons. Or better yet - we'd get caught spying, and guess who's gonna take the brunt of it? It won't very well be you."
Audette could already picture an outraged Draco stringing Guy up by his boxers and hanging him from the sword of a statue.
She puffed away a blond strand out of her eyes, "Right. Well, brace yourself. Because I'm overwhelmed by bits and bobs of information and I don't see any other way to gain total clarity."
"Fine. Then pass that last chocolate frog I saved you, because you will owe me tremendously for this taxing request which will inevitably end with my face being ripped off and plastered to the fat lady," Guy leaned over her unapologetically to paw at the trolley table.
Raising her hand Audette began pulling back on her fingers one at a time, "They are both members of some guild in Monaco, coined Excetra, and I'm suspicious that each of our fathers and Snape are also involved. And come to think of it, the older boys as well from Slytherin who seem to be silencing any and all mention of it."
"Strange. I have heard that word floating around lately too," Guy squinted across the room where the Beauxbatons champion was gurgling loudly as Pomphrey poured a foul green sludge down their throat.
Audette brightened up hopefully that she wasn't going crazy, "Whatever Excetra is, Harry Potter is mysteriously not a fan. He's entered himself into the Quadrivial Tournament solely on suspicion the guild has rigged the ranking so that Draco will win first place. Again, I'm utterly beside myself as to what that would even gain, other than to inflate Draco's already ridiculously pompous pride."
Guy's daffy face suggested that he was not listening particularly well, and anything he was picking up on was only serving to bitterly derail him, "It has to be a secret boys club. I suppose I shouldn't be offended that I wasn't invited - it's no different than all of those exclusive summer weekends you purebloods all partake in with your Balenciaga scarves and Burberry sandals..."
Audette fought to control her frustration, snapping her fingers in his face, "Yes well this ridiculous club has enrolled Theodore under the pretense of saving his family from inexplicable, impending doom. Worse yet they've tasked them both with different responsibilities. I overheard Snape baraging Theodore about it...something to do with a bloody cabinet project. That might explain why he's always missing from the common room in the evenings, and it's why we have got to follow him the next chance we get."
Guy smushed his lips together in dissent, ripping apart his hundredth rose victim.
He raised an eyebrow at her, "Since when does Theodore Nott partake in woodworking? He's much too cerebral. Most preppy boys don't care much for furniture articles, detty, you must have misheard."
"Bollocks, I know precisely what I heard," Audette was beginning to succumb to very real frustration.
Guy, sensing her increasing temperature, screeched the chair back in a symphony of wooden revolt, "Do you think instead he's off in the evenings because he's not too keen on watching you and Malfoy...you know, constantly snogging? Lucky thing that Nott has good authority Malfoy hasn't..."
A terrible headache had begun to blossom in Audette's injured brain as she attempted to dredge up everything she had learned, only for the pain to be placed on direct pause when she noticed the trailing guilt on Guy's face.
"He knows Malfoy hasn't what? Bedded me? What is this arrangement that everyone is aware of besides myself!" she peered at him mistrustfully.
His face disintegrating into horror Guy stood out of his chair, "You know, you've got to be famished...shall I see about flummery tarts and a cuppa tea, or-"
"-Cosmos, so help me god..." Audette seethed from the bed, pushing her wobbly legs to the floor.
Pomphrey glanced up with a worried expression from where she was still tending to the lone Beauxbatons champion, "Miss Bellarose, I would suggest you lay back down until I can fully evaluate you."
"What do you know?" Audette was seeing red as she shook a whelping Guy Cosmos by his koala onesie.
Guy sobbed dramatically, his hood falling down again to reveal spiked up blue hair. No actual tears poured from his golden eyes but miserable dread from his throat instead, "Nothing, I swear! Parkinson's been a real minchbag - won't explain a detail, only that the minute he's bedded you it'll be public knowledge. I wasn't sure if it was a ruse to throw me off, that's why I had the Etch N Sketch assembled!"
A trickle of innocent sweat zig-zagging out of his aquamarine locks loosened Audette's grip only slightly as he badgered on in a high pitch, his ringed hands held up in the air at both sides as a white flag symbol, "Don't eat me, lovey! I'll help you find all the puzzle pieces, alright? Sheesh!"
Audette growled, correcting her ruffled peasantry pajamas and pointing a nail in his face, "Damn straight you will. Theodore was right about one thing; they've all underestimated Audette Bellarose."