Glittery dresses...ah yes, the foundation of Audette's truly ostentatious life.

Eloise in all her glory of conceit and pretension of course had always selected superb fabrics from which to commission her daughter's attire, however, Cava was another story altogether.

Green eyes alight with hundreds of scintillating valuable stones, Audette was caught on the hypnotic rock wall spanning up one internal facet of the spindly, eight story, skinny building within the heart of Diagon Alley.

Gems and crystals of nearly impossible ascertainment were on display in large volume; red beryl, tourmaline, musgravite...all packed together in a collage of expense and anomaly, awaiting deputation for custom-made jewelry of the highest gradation.

It was as if she was an insect that had just wandered into the key hole of a treasure chest ten thousand times her size, belonging to the richest king in the world.

"Audette, darling come - does this piece speak to you in any regard?" Eloise called Audette away from her drooling fascination, to where she and Narcissa were drifting around on the cramped third floor of Cava, plucking at various dresses for the Yule Ball and muttering to one another in disconcertion.

"...left to one's devices to ponder and fret. She is eighteen, god forbid nineteen in half a bloody year - what could possibly be reason to hesitate?"

"Draco will provide a ring when he is ready, that does not detract from his vested interest in your daughter. If anything, she is the character seeking distance and dramatics, Bellarose."

They also apparently had completely opposing tastes when it came to style.

Spinning in her fresh white gown with lace sleeves and a tall neck crawl, Audette sighed heavily, eyeing down the predictable baby pink princess ballgown in her mother's claws.

The sensational item that Eloise had drawn from a scant rack of unaffordable delicacies sported an extremely tight corset and a huge puffy train.

It was gorgeous.

It was a day dream.

It was straight out of a Disney picture. But Audette was tired of being the princess in the room, and she found herself deeply inhaling as the will to agree presented in sparse enthusiasm.

She wouldn't dare argue with either lethal woman over what she left in, seeing as one outfit from Cava could feed an entire nuclear family for a full year if bargained off at even half price. Having to keep reminding herself that she was 'privileged' and 'spoiled', Audette curved her responses accordingly.

"It's quite fanciful, mother," was all she could muster in a dribbling, dull tone.

"Is it not? My goodness, I'm sure your young suitor will be drooling," Eloise tisked passionately, holding the hanger up to her chin in imagination of darning the gown herself.

Mrs. Malfoy's hooded cerulean eyes watched like a terrifying owl as Audette ran her fingers down the silky fabric with lackluster spirit, taking in the trillions of resplendent sparkles and overall thickness of the dense textile, "Hmm, yes."

Hmm yes, she could just hear the snarky comments now.

"As much as my son appreciates Audette's classic style...however mandatory it may be," Mrs. Malfoy circled around the Bellarose women, now transitioning from an owl to a downright feline carnivore, her ferociously blue eyes boring into Audette in particular as she tore her silver hand gloves off, "He appreciates a version of Audette that is authentic and reverential. While this piece is complimentary, I cannot shake the undying sensation that Audette's heart lies...elsewhere."

Yes.

Naturally Eloise griped, her lovely coil of strawberry blond hair swinging around as she turned confrontationally to Draco's mother, "Narcissa, you are too kind to offer today's purchase price under your name. But surely, you do not intend to scandalously dress my girl in some funereal form. Rot is no tone for a ball, not for this monumental pairing. Their influence tomorrow nigh is paramount."

Audette glanced between them wide eyed, speechless, unsure if a full blown battle with unexpected light sabers was about to unravel.

Narcissa dipped her face by a micro fraction, her eyes swimming with coy reverence.

The tension in the room developed with a likewise intensity as whipped cream to butter, "Why yes Eloise, you are quite right - it is neither of our places to dictate today. Perhaps we aught to prompt Audette to respond in earnest regarding her instinctual draw, and recall that she is not an exanimate doll."

Both women rotated to Audette, who just about disappeared into a rack of petticoats as she tripped backwards in trepidation.

A slippery conundrum of flailing limbs and flinging jackets followed suit until Audette finally managed to grip the rail of the rack and calm herself, flattening her frazzled dress and hair, and pretending with flushed stupidity that the eventful chaos had never occurred.

Eloise covered her face with her glove.

Narcissa's eyebrows raised clear into her hairline in amusement, turning with a dry sneer, "She's a consistent menace. You would almost think to check if the floor had evolved into an ice rink."

The anorexic attendant in a full coattail suit who had been overseeing the prospective customers frowned deeply, his attention inspecting the mess of untouchably pricey clothes scattered in a circle that he would now have to clean up.

"Well..." Audette shook her head and trailed her eyes around the options in the building, which was defined by entirely glass walls on all sides save for the rock façade, allowing for not only blinding sunlight to pour inwards but also the sorrowful gazes of witches and wizards who would never be able to purchase the goods within, "Well I wouldn't mind taking a second gander - to see of course what else there is to weigh in optionality."

She wrung her white mittens in place and chewed on her lip, expecting that Eloise was about to drag her down to the cobbled streetscape by her insolent earlobe.

Instead, her mother waved a blue glove and placed the pink princess gown back in it's hung position, "Very well then, off with your wandering mind, but I shall oversee the final selection."

With this mildly freeing permission Audette began to hesitantly drift down the lanes of dresses and tiaras, bowties and top hats, gloves, coats, canes, and high heels alike. It was an endless assortment of refined and preposterous accoutrements, dizzying by most standards, and it did not take long to fall deep in a tizzy.

On the seventh floor she tilted her head as she came across an article that certainly drew her in, a jaw-dropping modern dress, clinging to a headless manikin comprised entirely of carved marble.

Gold, sheen and embedded head to toe with taaffeite opals, the skin-tight gown clung rigidly to the manikin absolutely everywhere in revealing intention.

The back was cut so low in fact that it would likely be impossible to consider wearing any undergarments lest one count on showing off the bands. It was insanely heinous in this manner; the chest was cut with a deep hem down to the split of the rib cage, a slit slicing far up the right flank to divide the dress all the way to the hip, the only acceptable coverage being that in the full-length long sleeves.

Audette had never in her life been permitted to clad herself in such a style.

"It would accentuate your features perfectly," the persuasive lilt of Narcissa drifted across the space, watching Audette from a short distance like a predator tracking it's prey through the woods.

Audette glanced over her shoulder and through her thick waves of blond hair, noticing that Narcissa was at the precipice of the level, keenly observing with her arms stiffly postured behind her back.

She pressed forward across the expanse in slow motion, a thin smile curling on the side of her mouth, "My son would certainly appreciate it, but the outstanding question remains; do you?"

"I do, very much," Audette inhaled slowly and caught her breath, analyzing the vivid curvature and temperament of the dress, which was geared towards exquisite emphasis of the waist and breasts. She was fit and arguably gifted with a gorgeous body, and such a dress would be a head spinner in comparison to her typical Edwardian bouffant gowns.

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She swallowed and faced her slippers guiltily, "Mother would never approve, and in all honesty it's much too racy."

"Too racy for who exactly?" Mrs. Malfoy petered across the room with the grace of a wolf, each step of her shoes on the ground silent and controlled.

She stopped next to Audette, the scent of her woodsy perfume prickling the air as she drifted her painted black nails down the dress sleeve closest to her, "As my future daughter in law, I feel I must venture into jurisdictions that are not yet mine to influence. Knowing what you now know, bare in mind that there are two types of women who survive in our world; the ones who are suppressed, well mannered and keep their heads down. Unmentionable, safe..."

Audette followed Narcissa's judicious eyes as they glided sideways, pausing on her mother who was pointing at hair ribbons to an employee, ranting on with crazed conviction for the pastel tones of the taffeta options.

Eloise apparently was seen as a barbie doll in Narcissa's mind.

Narcissa then turned back to the article, her eyes glossy and faraway in thought, "Then again, there are those with a voice of their own, with a lust for power, independence and authority, a dancing spirit if you will, capable of input towards the greater cause. Have you ever wondered why your parents go to such a stupendous length to manipulate you into absolute flummery?"

Shrugging her shoulders solemnly, Audette merely said nothing in fear of how her honest thoughts might be interpreted.

"Albeit in primordial form there is a flame inside of you, Audette, one that resists silencing. Thankfully it has surpassed efforts to suffocate it, "Narcissa stared at her for several long seconds before waving over an employee and indicating that she wished to have the dress removed from the model.

Watching as the posh boy tweaked and nudged the extravagant garment off of the manikin with small casts of his wand, Narcissa bent her neck without turning her dazzling face to Audette, "Your mother hopes that bows and doilies, and all manner of etiquette will mask your resilience to exterior control so that you will be overlooked as an untouchable fairy. Your father and mother fear your spontaneity and vehemence will be ill-received by our rising lord. By contrast - my son has highlighted that you are strong in manners beyond such flippant purposes."

A dreadful pause materialized as Audette computed what Narcissa was suggesting; unlike what her parents had always taught her, perhaps Audette proposed a greater purpose than simply one of ornamental sacrament.

When the boy had fully raised the twinkling gown from it's formational mold he turned to Narcissa, the ebullient fabric whorling around in the air in godly gleam, "Madame Malfoy, would you like this packaged?"

"Would I, Miss Bellarose?" Narcissa swung her perspective to Audette in a promotive drawl.

"Alright," Audette blurted out without thinking, feeling light headed, woozy and a tad guilty that she had selected something so alternate to her mother's usual effect. She brought her ivory mitten to her lips, as if she'd just cussed every unimaginable curse word in the English dictionary.

"Excellent, Draco will be speechless I am sure. What a delectable young duchess we have procured, one that in time will be agreeable with our family," Narcissa smiled in a frightful flash before her face returned to it's stony petrification.

Although the sentence was structured with caring words, Audette could not help feeling that it was instructional in some regard.

Drop the fairy act, was perhaps the directive.

That night she found herself chewing on her finger nails as she wrote a response owl to Draco Malfoy, who was probably in an absolute state of miserable restlessness. In the end she found that only three words were necessary to convey the message that she would be attending the Yule Ball by his side, and that she had selected a colour palette.

Draco,

Gold and white,

Audette

At the prompt of Narcissa Malfoy, for once in her life Audette would be wearing an outfit entirely of her own volition, and as her governesses dressed her for the final time on the eve of the ball, it became apparent she had made the right choice.

Tierney and Aine's jaws seemed to be broken all of a sudden, stepping away from her in the shocking runway-worthy gown which trailed several feet on the floor behind her twinkling high heels.

Ms. Roisin held out a handkerchief with a roll of her beady eyes as Tierney teared up, all of them watching Audette stare over her shoulders left and right before the floor to ceiling mirror in her private quarters.

She had asked for her long hair to be left down and straightened, seeing as she was already showing off enough skin to send half of the school into silent shock. The white crown of riveting stones refracted light like a set of steepled stars on top of her head, and her face was highly defined by makeup that she normally would never bother to employ so boldly.

She felt like a queen dripping in gold and diamonds, but her stomach was flipping at the thought of her flawless awaiting king and just what he would think.

As if on cue Aine gently wrapped an arm around Audette's birdy shoulders, guiding her silky locks back from her face assuredly, "He's going to go utterly barmy at the sight of you, milady. You're a sight for blind eyes even, not just those sore ones."

Tierney fanned her blushing features, "I wouldn't even dare to blink, it's positively cosmic."

"It's positively tarty and over spirited, that's what it is," the Trunchbull snarled hideously from the doorway, her arms crossed in rigid disapproval, "These Malfoy's defame a decade of hard work."

Audette shut her eyes, forcing herself to apply self control before glaring at Ms. Roisin, "Those Malfoy's are the product of your ten years of tyranny, so if you are unhappy with my match, perhaps you should stand here and take a good hard look in the mirror."

Aine cleared her throat awkwardly, grabbing up Audette's thin white petticoat from a stand by the window, where beyond the setting sun was obscured by aggressive black storm cells, "Right, well, let's get cracking on. Few hours in the carriage to go yet. Miss Bellarose, your father wished to speak to yah before we depart, in his office dear. We'll await by the porte co·chère."

As such and by short order, Audette found herself walking alone through the gloomy hallways of the Bellarose castle, one hand holding up her silky trail of thin fabric.

The expansive ivory corridors comprised of Corinthian marble pillars, gilded gold paneling and tall pale blue tapestries were lit by nothing more elaborate than an archaic system of gentle wall mount candelabras with lavender flames.

By the time she reached the daunting double doors to Montgomery's wildly prohibited private office she could feel her heart ramming against her rib cage as if it were on a personal mission to escape her body, sick and tired of the constant duress she subjected it to.

Audette's eyes began to wince inwards as the golden doorknocker - a humanoid hand with sharp talons - curled upwards and unfurled it's cracking fingers, waiting.

Other than from the forbidden catwalks beyond in the biodome, it was the only way to gain access in or out of the office, which required one to take the hand in theirs for identification.

If an approaching party were anyone other than Montgomery Bellarose himself, or an individual who had been cleared by invitation for a short period of time, well let's just say that was one way to rid oneself of an unwanted limb.

No need for locks, no need for doorhandles either, simply a mortiferous defense ward would do the trick.

Moaning in mild terror Audette placed her little hand in the doorknocker's pernicious grasp and shut her eyes harshly, sensing that a crescendo of wrinkles was fanning out from either set of false eyelashes uncomfortably weighing down her eyelids.

She was promptly yanked forward to within one inch of the shiny gold paneling as the hand grew into an arm that wrapped around hers, violently crushing her fingers. The metal before her wavered and undulated until the face of a centaur began to protrude, red hot eyes glowing in the shadows of the hallway. It inspected her for a moment that felt eons in length, until finally it let her go, and the doors groaned inwards slowly.

Shaking out her pulsing, injured hand, Audette stepped sideways between the thin crack which had formed and into the aphotic space beyond.

As if Montgomery were inflicted by some allergy to sunlight, a singular orb of brilliancy was all that provided any perception of the surroundings at the sides, which were disappearing into the murk of darkness in a fishbowl effect. Barely in the glum lighting, she could make out on the shelves eerie jars filled with yellowed fluid and floating corpses of magical beasts long deceased.

The orb was hung from the snout of an absolutely revolting live anglerfish sporting hundreds of razor sharp, translucent teeth in double rows, floating in a tall tank to the left of Montgomery at his arrogantly proportioned desk.

The disgusting beast was of rare size, nearly four feet in length and blood thirsty, providing him with enough light to complete his evening paperwork in brooding format.

As Audette neared the desk it gradually swung it's blind, clouded gray eyes to her; however her father failed to do the same, his handlebar mustache twitching just barely in concert with the incessant motion of his tall flamingo feather quill, "Come here, child."

Audette kept her eyes to the silvery carpeting, averting her attention not only from the disgruntling fish but also from the monocle that at any moment would surely lift to place her under it's microscopic glare.

Surely he would perceive her as dressed inappropriately in the same censure as her head governess, yet no mention of her presentation came up, not even his face as she halted several feet from the lip of his impressive desk.

"Young Malfoy has placed a formal request with me, one in which I have granted approval. You will give this to him, tonight - that is all," he drawled without passion nor care, blindly waving his wand so that a velvety plum sack tied with a golden cord slid across the surface of the rich cherry wood.

It was nearly impossible for Audette to swallow down an urge to jump in a fright when a large balloon of bubbles left the jaws of the peering anglerfish.

Wearily under it's nasty, bizarre gaze she reached for the sack and carefully lifted it, shocked by the insane heft to the bag no larger than a cantaloupe, "What is this, father?"

Montgomery sighed and flipped over the parchment he was ravaging at lightning speed with his famous pink quill, proceeding to continue jaunting down eloquent wording as if his daughter were not there at all, "Your dowry. One-hundred and fifty million galleons, all there in shrunken form. Sure to make the morning gazette knowing Lucius Malfoy and all his pride."

Audette's mouth gradually fell open as she jangled the coinage within the purse, her eyes bulging in disbelief of what the pureblood court had deemed her worth, "What could Draco have possibly requested to accelerate this dispersal?"

For a moment she was certain he had not heard her, dipping his quill into his tinted purple ink and returning to his thought process.

"That you stay tonight with him in private, in particular at the Malfoy residence. This should not be of consequence to you. You have permission to stay on their estate as he requests from now on, aside from the month of January in which you will fulfill your Animagus development here," Montgomery replied, the angry scratch of his quill seeming to get louder as she ran his thin patience down with irritating questions, "You realize why the dowry must be sacrificed at this point in maturation. Whether or not you make unspeakable decisions, assumptions cannot be avoided here on out."

She nodded, her tongue too dry to dare saying anything else that might tick him off, slinking backwards to the exit.

Right as she reached the doorway he growled once more and every tiny goosebump on her bare back raised in horror, "Do not return to this residence with a barren finger, Audette."

Her breath jittery she glanced over her shoulder into the voiding black of the study, to where nothing but the bulb of the ugly anglerfish and a perfect red circle could be seen heatedly swirling in her direction.