Her parents would kill her for the detention which would show up on her school records in December, and Audette regretted not keeping a cool head only seconds after she'd rounded the corner into the shoddy scaffolding.
The crowd of youths and faculty in the vertical corridor of the Quidditch stadium were all packed together like sardines, soaked and reeking, and Audette nearly gagged from the humid conditions and odd smells permeating all about. This was why she did not like sporting events; because even the spectators were walking away putrid with the rank scent of wet socks.
Finally the shoving ceased, and she wandered into one of the circular tunnels at the base to catch her breath before heading back out into the rain.
After tromping up the hillside for twenty of the longest minutes of her life she decided to skip dinner so she could shower and put herself promptly to bed at eight.
The whole way back people had knocked into her and blown magical kisses in her direction to taunt her for the public display of affection, and it did not help that Audette wasn't able to stop herself from falling onto her mitts constantly.
She felt like a circus freak and needed an escape, and to top it all off she had to wake up at six-thirty in the morning to squeeze stinky worms in the dungeons.
Of course, she was living in La La Land if she thought anyone was going to let her sleep peacefully after that fiasco.
Once they'd gotten good and rotten drunk the Slytherin females and Guy had taken it upon themselves to rock her in her bed like the utter bastards that they were.
"Wake up Mrs. Malfoy!" Guy had shoved his disgusting fingers into her mouth and Audette had leaned off the edge of her bed gagging from the mosaic of filthy tastes invading her tongue. He banged his closed fists all down her ribs as the other girls watched passively, "I have a surprise for you on the fourth floor lavatory, and it really cannot wait!"
He blew the stench of beer in a vile, gaseous bubble around both of their faces and Audette slapped him with a full, flat palm, "I'll see it in the morning, you blooming nutter! You stink of a tavern."
Guy rubbed his rosy skin with a giddy snicker, "No, I promise on my mum's life I'll torture you for hours if you don't be on with it. I got it extra special just for you."
Audette opened one skeptical green orb, "Your family hasn't got a brass farthing. Don't be cheeky with me Cosmos, unless you've somehow purchased enough Flobberworm Mucous to get me out of seven days detention I'll pass."
She saw with a fright that he raised his pink eyes and nodded to Daphne, Millicent and Pansy, who all proceeded to grab at her limbs.
"One, two, three...careful now, she's a total duchess, wouldn't want to offend Miss Prudery Pants." Guy counted sensibly as they lifted her clean out of her bedding in her long night gown.
Audette took bruises left and right as they bungled her off towards the pointed, medieval doorway to the chilly room, "Now really, you lowbrow, primitive, boorish...put me down!"
"Okay!" Pansy remarked brightly as they dropped her just outside of their quarters and shut the door with a bang so hard it was miraculous bricks didn't jut out in their mortar beds.
Her long train had gotten caught in the bottom of the door and Audette first had to yank like a mad hatter to free the fabric. She scrambled to her feet in a trifle, making to bang her fists on the wooden entryway, "No! No! You let me back in this instant!"
A little circular eye-hole slid open to reveal Guy's eyeball swirling around nauseatingly, "You have been a naughty girl Audette. Malfoy tells us you bailed on him tonight - there'll be no further entry into this room this nigh."
Audette stuck her finger through the hole and Guy jumped back with a pained cry, "You unpolished swine! I'll turn all your heads to pumpkins the next chance I get." Audette fell back against the door onto her rump with her ear against the wood, listening to their upbeat chirping and cackling.
She sat there an hour bargaining to no avail for permission back inside. When not an answer came she gave up, and slunk down the stairs in her little white slippers, greeted halfway by a pungent odor of smoke and spilt drinks.
In preparation for bed she'd slapped on a sapphire blue night gown made entirely of silk with long sleeves that were elegantly transparent. She was inevitably going to stand out like a sore thumb that had accidentally time traveled into the common room from an era long forgotten.
Adjusting the large bow on the front of her waist she braced herself for Malfoy's mocking reaction to her sleep attire. In all honesty she had not anticipated leaving her bedroom again that evening, and now locked out like a loser she felt ferociously self conscious.
At the bottom of the stairs she hung back, crossing her arms with her back against the archway she'd just passed through. Her green eyes studied the characters in the room.
Several younger years were in the middle of a silly quarrel with Peeves the ghost, who was attempting to roll one boy up in a moth eaten carpet like a burrito. Another set of pacified stoners were all crowding round a game of Ogre Poker. Then of course, in their usual spot were the Quidditch players at the central leather couches encompassing the fireplace, rowdy after their win and all drunk as skunks.
Theodore was no where to be seen; probably wandering the castle speaking aloud to himself about alchemy or distortion theories in the moonlight. Right where she would rather be, with puppy dog eyes on his lips as he spoke, bouncing philosophical ideas between their minds and holding hands.
She drove the toe of her slipper in circles on the rug, running her tongue along the roof of her mouth in quiet sadness. Sighing she turned to leave; she had no energy to deal with the rambunctious mood in the common room.
Perhaps she could beg her way back inside of the eighth year sleeping quarters with shillings, and if not she'd sleep on the cold stone staircase until the carousing below ceased and she could make herself cozy on a regrettably sticky couch.
She'd petered up a few stairs before Draco's voice stopped her, "Leaving so soon, grandmother? How did I know you would bail on me?"
Audette didn't even have the vitality to send a witty remark back; simply gave him a mopey, exhausted frown over her shoulder, "I'm locked out on your account you know. All I want to do is sleep, I wasn't feeling well afterwards."
He had changed into a tailored black suit that accentuated his fit physique wonderfully. With clean and combed white hair he was a vision of a runway model for Armani. He bobbed his head, smiling like a prince, "Well I can help you there, why didn't you just say so? I happen to have a bed just this way you can borrow."
He held his hand out to her but Audette shook her head. He was very drunk based on the glisten in his eyes - albeit hiding it with expert aristocratic suave - and going to his bed might be quite the misconstrue on her part.
"Fascinating offer but I'd rather pass out on these musty stairs then give you the wrong impression, Malfoy," she muttered, blowing a strand of wavy blond hair out of her eyes that had unraveled itself from her messy bun.
Draco let his hands fall to his sides, stuffing them in his pockets, "Suit yourself. I'd do my best to behave. If that outmoded ensemble isn't a deterrent than I don't what is." He raised an eyebrow at her as if she were being dreadfully unreasonable for surpassing his offer.
Audette laughed in a girly tone, "Okay, I do like a good fairy tale before sleep so thank you for that particularly laughable imagination that even a garbage bag could deter your advances. Grandmother needs her beauty sleep, good night."
"Audette," Draco's voice was stern and blunt this time. She turned around inhaling deeply, "I'll sleep on the couch once you're comfortable then. Come."
She scoffed light-heartedly at the bizarre smile on his features, smacking the wall with her hand, "No, my god, did your mother never teach you how to deal with rejection properly? You think I want to sleep alone up there with that pack of mutts? I do apologize for bailing but another night is sure to come around, as they do every twenty-four hours. We can consort tomorrow."
Draco pressed his lips together as his eyes navigated the construction layout of the staircase in front of him, "My mother always gave me exactly what I wanted, actually. I wish I were sorry for this but you've left me no choice."
He took a large step across the ward that was meant to detect male invasion into the female quarters and the stairs above Audette one by one began to click downwards into a smooth stone slide. It was ominous for about the five seconds she had to process all of the rhythmic slamming before she was delivered directly to his feet in a rumpled mess.
The access upwards would now be sealed for at least sixty-minutes, possibly until sunrise, impossible to climb up until the ward reset. A cluster of tired girls in the room whined and cursed Draco's name for activating the booby-trap that would keep them from sleeping until a specific hour into the future.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"You arse!" Audette sat up and crossed her arms. He towered over her giggling and shoving his palm into his eye, and Audette snorted and rolled her eyes away. It was slightly funny, and she had always wanted to ride down those stairs.
She held up both hands for assistance to a stance, "Fine then, but I will scream bloody murder if you try anything."
He pulled her up and snaked his arm around her waist as he glided her over to the male staircase, "No offence but I'm generally attracted to girls my own age. You should be fine - what are you pushing, seventy?"
He smirked crookedly down at her and she felt the blood begin to pulse wickedly through her veins. His fingers were around her waist, tangling in the fabric before her belly button, and well before she'd climbed a single stair she was caving to his touch.
Audette winced at the hoots and hollers from the Slytherin men as she was publicly making a show of going to Draco's bed with him in front of the majority of the House. Rumors would spread like Fiendfyre and she would never be able to put out the notion that she had slept with him.
At the thought of writing all of Guy's work for months over something that had never actually occurred she stopped dead on the third stair up. "You'll tell them all I slept with you and I'll be nobly ruined - I'm going back."
Draco made an irritated sound in his throat, "Do you want me to provide you with an Unbreakable Vow over this simple matter?"
He slid his hand into hers and clutched at her wrist, muttering under his breath a complicated incantation. Looking straight into her eyes with sincerity he whispered, "I promise never to tell a lie about what occurs before sunrise between us."
Between their clasped hands golden wires of magic glowed and hummed, tickling like hot snakes over their clothing. She felt a lightness of certainty grow in her heart, then it was over. It was such a serious spell to command over what was a very casual affair that she almost did not believe the integrity of what had just happened.
With that she allowed him to guide her up to the eighth level of his own tower, the funky waft of young men absolutely rife when he pushed open the bolted door to the room with five beds arranged in a circle, headboards against the wall.
She had been in that area many times before to visit Theo, but this year it was arguably in a deranged state. Vincent's velvet curtains had somehow been burned all the way to the ceiling, leaving him to sleep utterly exposed to the rest of the barbarians sharing his quarters. A freaky garden gnome with a long white beard was grumbling swear words to itself in the corner next to Blaise's bed, which was now slanting in place from the gnome chewing on the footings like a berserk beaver.
Draco closed the door and went to his own bed, pulling apart the curtains and giving it a once over as Audette wandered around with her hands uncomfortably clasped.
She stopped in front of Theodore's exceptionally tidy bed. One of his grey sweaters was folded there on the green comforter, precisely angled like it might be on display at a store.
"If it was not clear enough, this one is my bed. I'm not just rummaging about in a stranger's bunk," Draco's voice released into the air harshly, filled with judgment that she was eyeing down her long lost ex-boyfriend's possessions.
His eyes appeared dark in the dull green lighting, narrowed at her, and she felt her stomach drop at the acid in his features.
She went to the wooden post of his bed and took inventory of the fact that he'd gone and replaced all of his Hogwarts issued bedding with very lavish linens and blankets. Apparently Draco was not fond of colors as the entire palette was obsidian.
He stood next to her as she quietly contemplated the severity of what she was about to do, even if it was as simple as borrowing his bed or cuddling at worst. At the very least he'd given her an Unbreakable Vow to uphold her honor should she choose to do so for herself.
Her heart scalded with nervousness as he brushed back small whorls of loose hair from her up-do, "Do you want me to leave?"
It was silent save for her heavy breathing. He was there next to her, smelling wonderful and spicy, his gaze intense in the shadows.
"Just...just cuddling," Audette couldn't bring herself to look up at him as she shifted past him and slunk into the heavenly bed that was much more cozy than her own.
He stood in the room scratching the back of his neck, then yanked off only his jacket and shoes. When he untied all of the curtains and let them fall down she made a split second decision to remove the pillow from below her head and plant it directly between where they would sleep.
When he crawled in he paused on his side in an upright position, a line of confusion forming between his eyebrows, "What is this? You're sticking the singular pillow we have there?"
Audette had turned on her side to cuddle the pillow with her arm and leg, giggling up at his disappointment, "Cuddling is a broad term. You can cuddle the pillow, and I will cuddle the pillow."
"So the pillow get's a threesome and I have to sleep with my head directly on a stiff mattress? There's no room for this stupidity," Draco whined as he plopped his fluffy hair onto the other side of the pillow.
His eyes glittered at her in the overwhelming darkness within the curtains as Audette spiraled into a fit of giggles in the quiet room, "Oh go on, get your socks off over it."
"You get your socks off, you're wearing a suit to bed," Audette continued to giggle.
"And you're wearing my Great Aunt's bedspread to bed," Draco rolled over onto his back with a heavy sigh.
"Do you recall when you asked me to the ball?" Audette prodded without thinking.
"That never happened," Draco instantly denied the very concrete memory of hers with a sour tone.
It was dreadfully quiet for a minute before he pulled his wand out of no where and cast an enchantment over their heads. It was dark and beautiful; a vision of the stars as if the ceiling paneling had been replaced with an observatory.
Audette found herself increasingly impressed with his wizarding skills, drifting off in the comfort of his bed with his sweet breath tickling her nose.
She was startled awake only a few hours later by the door blasting open on it's hinges and a flood of intoxicated male voices spreading across the room. Objects were being flung, trunks popped open and scandalous conversations held. The gnome in the corner started to belch rotten name calling at Blaise when he tried to banish it from his area.
Draco was still on his back, his elbow bent to the sky with one hand over his face. His one eye was open, droopy and listening to the insanity beyond the curtains of his four-poster.
"Hey Draco, how was she? As tight as she looks?" Goyle swerved dangerously close to revealing them cuddling together as he pushed in the curtain drapery at their feet, to which Draco responded by viciously kicking some unlucky portion of Gregory's body through the fabric.
"Fuck off, I'm sleeping," he curtly diverted the attack.
"Don't talk about her like that, or there is going to be dire consequences," Theodore's warning shut the room up for a moment.
Audette saw Draco's eyes shoot to her face wearily, as if she might make a scene by jumping out of the curtains and into Theo's arms.
Instead, some wild and incorrigible version of herself took over in an instant. Something about being there with Draco, behind his curtains with her estranged ex mere meters away was so wrong and delicious that Audette pushed the pillow between them up against the head board and crawled partly over Draco's warm body.
She planted hot kisses on his lips, slow and sensual and filled with tongue, and Draco dug his fingers into her lower back desirably.
The boys in the room went on to shout and argue about unintelligible topics as the silent kissing behind Draco's curtains continued to heat up. Audette pressed her thigh between his legs against his throbbing hardness, then lost all control and climbed on top of him.
He sat up to hold her and pull her knees further around his sides, then planted his hands square on her backside over her dress to feel the motion of her hips. The throbbing between her legs was becoming too much with every kiss, and apparently the same was the case for him.
He stunned her when he pressed his lips against her ear, speaking in a mouse's volume so not to be detected by the others in the room, "You better...stop...while you're ahead. I cannot lie...about tonight."
She had her fingers in his hair when he pulled back, whispering in his ear as well, "It's...just kissing. Nothing more."
He swallowed heavily, moving back to her ear, "Just cuddling...Just kissing...You're tormenting me."
She smiled naughtily, pressing their lips back together hungrily while riding him like a savage and acting on animalistic instincts. Within a moment Malfoy had started to whimper and moan roughly against her French kisses. His arms wrapped around her waist tightly, scratching her back lightly.
"Fuck, fuck, Audette," he just barely managed to yelp before he had gone stiff as a statue below her, catching his breath in suppressed jutting noises. He gasped against her lips, and Audette opened her eyes to see that his were squeezing shut harshly.
He had cum in his pants. And now if he was asked about their evening together he couldn't even lie about the degrading situation.
Audette's mouth dropped open in amused disbelief as he slumped his sweaty forehead against her chin, "Get off." He patted her lower back weakly and Audette rolled away from the poor boy who stood and shut the curtains abruptly behind him.
Wasn't he supposed to have some sort of crazy kill count, and yet he couldn't handle kissing?
She heard him open his trunk and grunt in discomfort, holding both hands over her mouth to stifle her racy giggles. What he'd been warning her about had gone right over her head.
An absolute riot of yelling and teasing broke out when he emerged from the bed in his messy suit, but luckily the boys seemed convinced that she was not still there.
Draco excused himself to shower even though it was three in the morning, and Audette laid in his splendidly extravagant bed listening to some very foul commentary about multiple people she knew. Typically the boys curbed their wording when they knew a female was sleeping in there.
Having passed out once again he woke her up when he slid back into the bed with wet hair, soft black comfort clothing, and smelling like a pine tree all over.
They laid on their backs in silent cringe before Draco wisely raised his wand and began magically writing in bright golden cursive in the air above them.
Now look what you've done.
She wrote back with her wand when his words dissipated into glittery dust, Are you upset about it?
Draco nodded his head rapidly against the single pillow they were finally sharing in a proper alignment, Yes.
He glared at her before moving on rapidly.
I can't lie about it.
I thought you could resist.
No more unbreakable vows.
Audette watched him write, his black wand creating whipping noises in the air as he thought.
I thought you didn't want me to resist, she spelled out in bewilderment.
Draco slanted his face towards hers in the illumination of their floating writing. He stared at her for a moment with shockingly crystal blue eyes before turning back, Yes, and no.
Well that was not only vague but unfair; no matter what she'd done he apparently was not going to be pleased with her in the end.
He raised his arm again to ruin the cuteness of the moment, Don't worry, I'll find some way to punish you. The glint in his eyes was unnecessarily barbarous, and Audette leaned her face away from his. There it was again, the evil side of Draco that made people run for their lives.
I'll go, she guiltily wrote, but a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach made her wish to stay.
Draco's hand snapped out to grab her wrist then drew her attention back upwards, No. Stairs are still a slide.
Audette fluttered her eyes as the words before them vanished, then anxiously wrote, Cuddle me?
She turned on her side with her neck prickling in fear, yet sure enough his strong arms dug around her waist. With his pointy nose buried behind her ear he pressed up against her, and they slept soundly for the remainder of the night.
Thankfully so, because Audette was about to be elbows deep in slime in only a few hours.