Five voracious days had passed by at Castle Bellarose.
Under a steadfast gray sky the baroque acropolis stood in determined weep, weathering for another season the blustering scrape of wintry ocean wind on it's ancient facades of hoary pearl brickwork.
Back up in that tall, wavering tower on a giraffe's neck of outmoded architecture, a song of sheer whistling madness had taken up shop in Audette's ears due to copious loose bricks all rattling in place like inconsiderate chicklets, allowing fiercely channeled air to dither past.
The door was broken down, the bedposter draperies scratched across in routine fiest, and in an effort to delay having to get up Audette painstakingly cultivated a case of inexplicable illness through excessive moaning and groaning.
"Oh ara your grace, enough silly donkeying with yah. Have you morphed yourself into a heifer overnight?" Aine rolled her eyes as she drew apart and tied all of the heavy weight curtains lining the windows one double set at a time.
No she had not, but she very well might at the end of the month.
Thankfully the Trunchbull was not in attendance that mopey morning.
Letter? Audette sat up and wrote in hopeful golden sparkles with her wand, but Tierney shook her head sadly. This action was mirrored by Cian at her side - Audette's personal butler still in a trainee status - who was now responsible for relaying her postage from the bustling estate owlery.
"Still nothing yet from that fine Lord Malfoy, milady," laying out a fresh gown Tierney meekly reassured Audette, although both governesses exchanged queasy glances across the room, "Surely he's quite a preoccupied young man, what with preparing for that big third trial in a matter of weeks time. Papers say the champions are building their own armor this round - what pressure that must be, eh?"
Yes, he must be dreadfully preoccupied building a set of stupid armor.
It must have been obvious that something was astray between Audette and her quintessentially mischievous betrothed, emphasized by the deflated pout she sent to her comforter. She was extremely vexed - in fact she might find it a preposterous delight to push him naked into the newly developed manticore enclosure...
Yet she missed him in equal ferocity, and every day stretched longer and longer without any resolve.
So much for her plans to approach the hell of January with combative euphoria in her heart, following a holiday packed with fresh engagement butterflies and ravenous love making. Somehow that morning she knew the fifth of January was going to feel more like thirty hours in duration rather than the standard twenty-four.
Audette laid back in the bed and slammed a tufted golden pillow over her face. If she could scream Bloody Mary to relieve accumulating stress, she certainly would.
"Got a case of the morbs, Lady Mal-Bell-Mal...m-milady?" Cian stuttered in confusion of how to address her, inspecting Audette's behaviour curiously. Oh how blessed he was to still be ignorant of the qualms related to romantic antics.
Aine patted Audette's hand, quite aware that a case of the morbs had settled in deep to the bone, "He'll write, or better yet he'll visit before you know it. Here's the brass; time travels slower for men than for women. What feels like a thousand blinding years to you is a matter of harmless days to him. Nothing's banjaxed yet I would hope."
Well if that was how the math operated, then fifteen Draco days were equivalent to three thousand Audette years spent in boiling scorn, and that didn't exactly paint a picture of hope.
Once again, she was dragged out of bed and dressed up like a lavish human doll - this time in a gown of the rosiest pink imaginable. Bows of reflective tone were tied into her golden waves in loose piggy tails she found to be childish, and then off she was sent in another set of disabling ivory slippers with very poor capacity to circumvent authority figures.
That happened to be their impression, that her slippers were disabling. Yet Audette had adapted to pelt at full speed in her slippers like a distressed emu across the unforgiving safari.
Down the winding egress she prowled in ill-temperament, gown held high enough to avoid faceplanting, vacant stomach mercilessly thundering after so long in which her body had received the bare minimum from the wretched cheel bobbling from her wrist.
Twenty-four more days to go...
Or four-thousand and eight-hundred years if Draco failed to brave face at all.
To inflame her acrimony, each morning like a plague there at the bottom of her tower staircase stood Adelheid, smiling like a freak. What a Gryffindor trope come to life he was, with an apparent heart of gold and the persistence of a sporty lion.
His soft, honorable, and principled nature reminded her too well of Eloise, who saw the beauty in everything and always managed to maintain a peppy and proper attitude against all dampening external forces.
Ergo a routine had begun to form between her strawberry caped over watcher, in which he would allow her a dashing head start at the beginning of the day to bolt and tuck away, as if they were playing a trivial game of hide and seek.
He was a cunning huntsman however, and no matter where she tried to hide - even in rocky caves or deep within insect infested ferns - he always popped up out of the blue, laughing at her and playfully swinging about his fancy weaponry.
It was high noon later that day, and Audette was busy silently showing Cian how to feed the clabberts - tree dwelling creatures about a foot tall, crossed between a monkey and a frog with brilliant green and blue scintillating scales.
They were devilish little monsters with far too many razor sharp teeth, preferring to grin at people murderously. Currently, the entire dicotyledon tree they were freckled in was filled with murderous grins as Cian shakily held out a spotty banana.
Audette smacked his shoulder, wagging her finger in his face sternly.
"What should I be doing differently?" Cian gulped up at Audette. He still tended to blush moronically in her presence, and stare ravenously at her propped up cleavage as if she were blind instead of mute.
She barely had a moment to search for her wand as a form of more adequate communication, when one of the clabberts lunged at the banana and nearly bit off Cian's fingers with it.
He tumbled back into Audette's puffy skirt in fright, and Adelheid paused sparing all by himself like a narcissistic jackass in the laneway behind. Sweat glistened on his forehead in the heat of the forged habitat, "What Miss Bellarose was trying to point out, is that you don't hand feed them, small knight, only toss. Otherwise, you shall never get to pick your nose again. That is correct; I've noticed your slimy tendency when Audette's back is turned."
Cian's dark cheeks went as red as Adelheid's cloak, "I do not! That's-that's a rotten fib!"
"Don't worry, I dig for gold too. The bigger and chunkier the better if you ask me - bonus flavor with a good old bloody ruby."
It couldn't be.
Guy Cosmos' familiar sparky snicker brightened Audette's glum heart then.
She abruptly dropped the loaded banana pail on the gravel, spinning to jog and hug him so aggressively it was miraculous his chicken legs managed to prevent them both collapsing in a satiny heap.
Her eyes filled with tears of gratefulness, burying her nose in his pale pastel hair. At least someone had retained their promise to visit, and in a timely manner no less.
Guy choked as all of the air was effectively squeezed out of his brittle lungs, pushing Audette off of him in a desperate plea for survival, "Sweet bejesusssss woman. You're the one in the corset, not me, relax."
Hands planted on her shoulders he squinted at the mask on her face, then dropped his cotton candy eyes down her ostentatious presentation, "Good lord, old Monty has got you dressed for the hanging of Anne Boleyn, hasn't he? And what is THAT on your arm I see?"
At the sight of the cheel bobbing dangerously close to his skull Guy turned around to gag dramatically, reacting in predictable horror to the many fluttering nostrils on the pock marked, airborne slime ball, "Oh no...Ohhh my trypophobia...Kill it - yuegh - kill it or kill me, I can't be - yuegh - near cheels - yuegh - oh heavens, Detty, a warning might've been sympathetic."
Adelheid laughed lightly at the histrionics of Guy, who was bent over holding one hand up to block his view of the vacillating monstrosity, fighting with every ounce of his strength not to vomit.
The foreign boy slapped Guy on the back of his fancy white jacket all dotted with black hearts, "It is incredibly tempting good sir, the thought of slicing it off, but unfortunately that cheel is keeping your girlfriend alive."
If she could burst out giggling at the mishap of Adelheid assuming Guy was Draco Malfoy, Audette would be in an absolute fit in that moment. Instead, all she could manage was a severe tenting of her eyebrows and some rather funny sounds deep in her throat.
"My girlfriend?" Guy straightened in hysteria, clearly mesmerized by the Swiss knight who had just arrived within his personal bubble, "Oh yesssss...Detty you failed to mention this tall drink of mountain water."
"Adelheid," a fine glove was held out to Guy in polite introduction, who stared at it as if he were being handed over a bar of solid gold.
His eyes brightened, proceeding to stammer slightly with his fingers to his chest, "I'm not her boyfriend you silly clown. I-I mean I am technically A boyfriend, but he's from France you see, and Helvetica is far enough away, it wouldn't really count-"
Audette picked up a stray banana and hucked it at Guy who was flirting disgracefully as usual, looping her arm through his to walk him off before another embarrassing word might be ushered.
Cian and Adelheid traipsed behind them at a respectable distance, mumbling about clabberts.
"We'll talk about who that is later," Guy grinned sarcastically sideways at Audette, "Sooo, that was the best New Year's Eve party I've ever attended."
Audette throatily snorted, holding her cheel arm behind her back so that Guy's peripherals might escape the plague of it's respiring form.
He began to stick up his freshly painted fingernails one after the other, the craftsmanship of the acrylic suggesting Pansy had done the job for him, "Ten out of ten experience; lying, cheating, poisoning, hostages, humiliation...I mean, you really can't ask for more from a Slytherin function. It's a horrendous shame an exorcism was left out of the agenda."
Shame indeed.
It was odd, entertaining conversations which were helplessly one sided. All she could do was raise her wand and draw a frowny face in the air, which dissipated around their heads as they walked through the temporary animation.
Guy growled in his throat, shaking his shaggy hair out in evident outrage.
His arm came up to wrap around her shoulders, "I was so hot and bothered over how that pack of bell ends treated us, that last night I did take my scorpion farm up there. Of course, not before Parkinson and I painted their pincers first for added flair."
Audette flittered her eyes to the distant glass ceiling in amused dubiety.
Guy persisted, "I did Detty, I really did like a fecking lunatic. I went about all of their beds, from level eight to ten. Not a-one was spared my sparkly wrath. Malfoy got five of the clippy bastards for hurting my baby so. As I walked off down those stairs...the screaming was...chef's kiss., music to my ears."
She leaned heavily into her best friend's comforting shoulder as he chuckled naughtily.
Her chest puffed with suppressed titters at the thought of proud Slytherin boys waking up to excruciating pinches from Guy's misanthropic scorpions - all of which had been charmed to turn any jab into a hotsauce-grade castigation.
He blundered on as they mindlessly took pebbly trail after trail, and beyond each bend the biosphere seemed to crawl with never ending varieties of peregrine wildlife.
Strange eyes peeked out from between the compact foliage, fat ferns sweating with condensation slapped them in the face constantly, and exotic magical birds cooed overhead in both harmonious symphonies and disruptive intonations - obscured unfairly high so that they might observe traversers below from a one way, beady vantage.
The air was sweet and sickly with notes of life and death, tingly magical static, and converging natural systems. The biodome was a soupy microcosm comprising every hint of the multifarious Earth - all trapped below a transparent, upside down tea cup.
Even after spending what felt like a lifetime in that extraneous tea cup, Audette conceivably might never grow immune to the ambivalent marvel of her own personal wonderland.
A universal stamp in the form of a phosphorescent lavender 'B' glowed on Guy's skinny wrist, indicating complete permission to venture anywhere he chose to, "So mummy and I braved visiting Poppa Ziggy today. Snape has suspended me for the week due to the scorpion onslaught, so we thought we might take a well earned scarper back home to Ireland for shits and gigs. Absolute black hole of time wasted. Watched Ziggers chew on his beard like a fuzzy fruit roll up for just about fifty minutes - the smelly bastard is cleaned out upstairs, nowadays."
They were meters away from traversing through the polygonal masonry arch that delegated a fine boundary between the lazy Amazonian Habitat and the secretly deadly Boreal Habitat, when suddenly a rambunctious tour rounded the corner of the path they were occupying.
From the looks of the age range, it was a back to school tour.
The twenty-something guide was another run of the mill stereotype, hoping to pad his Ministry CV via a highly coveted internship at the Bellarose Biodome. He was walking backwards in memorization of the labyrinthine system, pointing sharp golden gloves at local vegetation and nesting creatures.
This was a rare opportunity to tour the wondrous establishment sans-charge, one of which only a fraction of the bored teenagers from America were actually paying any attention.
Having dealt with enough undesirable attention for an eternity, Audette inhaled in brackish fright of the snotty tourists, hiding herself pointlessly behind the beanpole that was Cosmos.
Her crinoline gown alone spanned in a circumference of at least four ridiculous frilly feet, meaning the effort was totally unsatisfactory.
Grow fatter, do anything, Audette telepathically begged Guy, Oh Merlin, I've surely been had.
If Guy would've just morphed himself into a Cinderella pumpkin carriage or something as large in variety, then the risk could have been mitigated immediately - however no such thought seemed to strike his birdbrain in the moment.
Spine to spine they stood like a bizarre set of wayward signs, Guy clearly misunderstanding the assignment.
"Is this a game I'm not partial to?" he quirked, craning his neck backwards as Audette continued to shift around helplessly.
Luckily as the assemblage of shoe scrapers reached the point where the pathway bifurcated into the Boreal arch they kept moving in wake of the guide, who glanced once at the entryway, before wandering deeper instead into the Amazonian Habitat.
In a nasally tone he drawled, "The Boreal Habitat to your right shares space with the cooler subtropical flora and fauna within the biodome for the sake of amalgam. While misty and ethereal, it happens to be the only habitat controlled by both an age limit and a day pass, due to the dangers within. Come back in four years, and perhaps you will find out what the magical equivalent to a grizzly bear is..."
A few interested parties peered through the arch into the temperate zone, as if such a furry monster would be sat there in plain sight with a comedic pot of honey glued to it's paw.
Beyond, the environment rapidly evolved into a packed landscape featuring jagged boulders, columnar evergreens, trickling shallow waterways, and at it's farthest reach stood the grandest redwoods all smothered in sheets of lime green mosses.
Should a predator commence stalking you in there, well, sadly there wouldn't be much chance of detecting an ambush until far too late. HENCE the purpose of the manticore enclosure, because at least three tourists had gone unaccounted for in the past year alone.
Except they were not all swiftly passing by, those snoopy pupils, because three of the students in the clump were unmistakable icons belonging to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The pink sleeve of a tacky jumper shot into the air with the austerity of a metal beam, "And, does Lord Bellarose plan to outline in his tours the many creatures he exploits on the daily - shipping parts and products associated with his rare, and likely stolen magical beasts, globally in the black wizarding market?"
The guide wisely ignored the inquiry.
The fearless question had originated from Hermione Granger herself, who kept prodding regardless, raising her ornery fingers a second time, "AND does Lord Bellarose acknowledge that profiteering off the backs of endangered species whilst looping innocent tourists into the mix is in fact, by no definition or metric, considered philanthropic as he so claims to be in his interview in Witch's Weekly, October of 1996?"
"Didn't read the sign at the entrance, love? No reporters," snapped back the irritated guide.
Hermione grumbled inaudibly. She had lost the battle, and the American tour left her behind with raised brows. All she could do was cross her arms and provide an expression of altruistic disgust next to Harry and Ron, who in contrast had found exactly what they were looking for.
Audette blinked over her shoulder, and upon noticing that famous triangle of righteous rectitude all manner of shuddersome repel overtook her body.
She quickly snagged Guy by the hand and dragged him towards the elaborate Boreal arch. Once they were through to the other side, surely the impoverished Gryffindors would be at a loss to follow - assuming they had meekly been able to afford the Amazonian Habitat as a stand-alone exhibit.
Audette would rather be torn to shreds by the magical equivalent of a grizzly bear than hold conference with those fibbing freaks any day.
Hermione of course, realized her intentions instantly, voice pitching in distress, "Harry, if they pass through that arch we won't be able to pursue."
Harry Potter took off rashly after them in his discount jeans and hoodie, hand held high in the air, circular glasses fogged from the hazy climate. It was a stark miracle he did not smash into the trunk of a kapok tree, "Wait! Bellarose, wait! This is a matter of life and death!"
Ughhh.
Audette's splendid slipper slid on the loose surface treatment of the path but a fraction from the shimmering archway, panting through her nose with slit eyes.
She could not defend for the life of her why she'd stopped, but perhaps it had something to do with that case of the morbs, and overflowing frustration with Draco and Excetra.
But should one wrong word escape out of that egocentric rube who saw himself as the main character on the entire planet, she would be gone before he could claim 'my scar hurts' for the billionth time.
"Bella, either you've just suffered a stroke, or you're intentionally entertaining these dingbats," Guy stared at the ground in appall as all three breathless Gryffindors cornered them against the wavering gateway, Harry surprisingly finishing in the back of the pack as he limped to keep up.
Before they could get too close, a resounding ring of grating metal pierced everyone's eardrums.
Adelheid stepped partially before Audette, sword sternly drawn at a ninety-degree angle from his hip. The iron had begun to glow a mesmerizing blue hue, "That is quite close enough to the good Lady Bellarose. You may state your business from there."
Ron's nose scrunched up in shock at the sight of the gleaming blade protruding from it's finely filigreed hilt, "Bloody hell, she's even got a private body guard. Talk about spoilt rotten."
Adelheid was suddenly proving to be sensationally useful against all odds, prompting Audette to reconsider how she felt about him following her around for weeks on end.
"Very well," Harry sucked in his breath as a wave of agony rippled across his features, bending down to rub at his calf in misery where the exposed skin just above his hideous black socks was noticeably red and inflamed.
He winced and straightened at an off-putting angle, apparently attempting to keep weight off it, "Bellarose, we overheard you might be here for the month, away from Malfoy. Look, I can't exactly explain-"
Cosmos suddenly inhaled so deeply that one might assume he was attempting to swallow the entire universe down his esophagus, roseate orbs glued to Harry's impeded gate.
"Youuuuuu," he seethed aloud confrontationally, puzzling everyone in the vicinity and cutting off Harry abruptly. He pointed a gangly finger at Harry's throbbing ankle, "You're the bucket eavesdropper! Just look at his twisted up ankle, Detty."
Guy's observation was not in the slightest deluded; Harry was surely limping in the exact same regard that the mop pale had plunked away down the hall that fateful night they had hidden in the broom closet - discovering through surveillance that Draco, Theodore, and Severus Snape were likely all death eaters.
Well they were all death eaters; Audette had since confirmed that for herself, but the question remained, had Harry?
He had without a doubt been using some sort of invisibility charm to sheath his attendance, then accidentally stepped one foot into a regulation hoop-handle which mangled his calf upon that explosive escape.
Down the classic runner carpet that bucket had smashed haphazardly, spilling sewage water as it went in arbitrary recklessness, indicating that it's unintentional wearer was in grave pain yet also overwhelmed with panic.
"Alright fine, I suppose I can explain then," Harry pressed his lips into a flat, stubborn line, caught red-ankled, "It was me in the broom closet that night. So you should know precisely why we've come here today, and we won't leave until you've given us answers about Excetra and it's agenda."
The nerve.
Audette met his submarine orbs with burning malaise - was he really of the impression that Draco Malfoy's dearest love interest would forsake Excetra's secrets so readily?
He must be quite desperate to show up here, at my home like this, she thought to herself discourteously, sending him an acuminous, head-to-toe glower. She was tempted to untie the piggy-tails which were no doubt making her appear weak and frivolous, however she would never be able to recreate Aine's handiwork and then a bed-time scolding would certainly be in the books.
No matter how Draco crossed her, Audette would never dream of blowing the whistle. As it happened the community of Excetra extended much farther than her fiancé - it was her family, it was her professors, it was her friends as well - all on the line.
For the first time since the mask had been installed she was grateful for it's limitations. Even should she be so willingly traitorous it was not in the cards to do so.
"Ha!" Guy smacked his hands obnoxiously somewhere at her side, snapping Audette out of her troubled thoughts with a jump, "Have you accrued one too many scratches on those binoculars, Potter? Her mouth's been wired shut for a bloody month! Hope you packed your sleeping bags, scarboy."
Ron, dripping in sweat at the back, seemed to have lost all focus entirely as dehydration led to disorientation, glancing about with a dopey 'o' shape commanding his mouth. From the look of mutating concern lining his expression it appeared he suspected an immanent attack from within the many ruffling leaves and loud animalistic cries boxing him in.
"What's that now?" he gulped and nodded at a large male lizard casually ambulating nearby, it's scaly skin bright red and emitting visible heat waves that wilted any leaf it passed.
"An Amazonian Salamander of course, are you a total flute?" Cian cracked up with a boyish snort. He'd stated it rather snootily, as if he himself had not just learned of the trivial magical beast months prior.
Yet again, the young man was brazenly picking his nose in a public setting, demonstrating just how much the habit had become a subconscious impulse.
"A-and that?" Ron's voice had nearly vanished into a terrified peter.
A white, feathery foul was plucking away at seeds within the pathway, scattered around where he'd elected to stand. He was obviously unconvinced that anything was what it seemed in the biodome.
"That's just a common chicken," Cian furrowed his eyebrows incredulously, now likely of the irreversible impression that Ronald Weasley indeed was as hollow as a flute.
The air grew relatively silent then, and the curt clucks from the chicken only heightened the embarrassment as Hermione dropped her face into her hand.
Harry broke his staring contest with Audette to address Adelheid bravely, the tip of the sword digging into his sternum as he refused to step back, "Well go on then, stab me and get it over with. This place will be shut down in the blink of an eye for manslaughter."
He apparently had never heard the story of Ottilie the Odd and his impromptu ear removal services.
Adelheid smirked calmly, speaking in a tone of confident authority, "This blade shall remain taught, mister Potter. I concern myself not with your celebrity status. Should any injury come to your person, it will be of your own doing via skewering yourself."
"I'm officially drooling. Can we keep him?" Guy whispered to Audette, biting his lower lip thirstily as they hid behind the safety of the steadfast tall knight.
In a huff Harry leaned around the Swiss barrier of capes and weaponry, his eyes practically beggary, "Bellarose, I know from that night in the broom closet that you're only just discovering Excetra. We must stop them from succeeding, we must prevent Malfoy from making it into the fourth Quadrivial trial in first place. If-if he does, if he does-"
"-If he does, he may unleash something so foul upon this Earth, it shall be a certain apocalypse of the modern magical world," Hermione pleaded beside him, her eyelids fluttering in equally revering seriousness, "Whatever your feelings may be for him, don't allow them to cloud your intuition."
Guy rolled his eyes lackadaisically, applauding, "Grandiose as per standard issue, end of the world, blah de blah de blah. And what's next you pack of stinking braggadocios - aliens perhaps, coming to tear Weasley's mildewy barn off it's foundations?"
Audette spared them all a whisker of a glance before crossing her arms and casting her eyes down to the peckish chicken making it's rounds at everyone's shoes in mindless disregard.
Hermione's darling voice echoed resiliently in her ears as she avoidantly evaluated the accusation, digging her nails into her garish overcoat, "Audette...please...we've come all this way. You may be our last hope. If our suspicions are on point then the third trial stands to determine the fate of us all."
Hermione had somehow misplaced Audette's disdain towards her, after years of having to defend Theodore from the girl's glaring interest. Ergo every word out of her mouth about Draco only drove Audette farther and farther into her shell, wishing Hermione and her ugly devil's snare for hair would simply piss off.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
None of it mattered anyways.
Obviously Audette had tried to pry this precise information from her latest star-crossed loverboy to no avail, because one aspect of Excetra Draco point blank refused to divulge was his private mission under the command of Lord Voldemort.
How it all tied into his anticipated triumph in the fourth Quadrivial trial was apparently none of Audette's business and it was going to stay that way until the very end. And why Draco was so petrified of her finding this out was tremendously worrying in and of itself, however there was nothing she could do but worry about it.
And worrying about it apparently was bleeding into other territories.
Twice now Harry Potter had failed to intercept Draco in the trials, and it would appear panic was settling in with the third one looming in a matter of seven weeks.
Just then, several sets of very harsh boots crunching on the gravel suggested the inevitable; aurors were coming, aurors that had been privately commissioned from the Ministry by Montgomery and relocated to the castle for bizarre reinforcement.
This was a fairly recent update that Audette found to be hair-raising and disturbing.
She shot her eyes upwards to the dripline.
Sure enough, it was now pockmarked with vicious snallygaster birds, more and more arriving by the second.
Silent but deadly airborne reptiles, they presented much like petite velociraptors complete with lepidote wings, and due to their supreme stalking skills they were the very cream of the crop when it came to trained spies.
The moment two officials came into view they pointed their wands at the Gryffindors, one especially beefy man shouting, "Oi! Tour's up, lads and lassy. Come quietly, now, eaaasy does it."
Ron and Hermione backed up sullenly, but Harry remained tethered in place for a few hopeful moments, gasping at Audette as they locked eyes again, "He trusts you. You're the only person who can convince him to make the right choice. Just remember, you don't have to follow in the footsteps of your parents, Audette, neither of you do."
In the blink of an eye Harry was struck with a magnifying curse, bright red tentacles of streaming magic tangling around him like an octopus which tugged him thankfully out of her sight for removal from the property.
To her discomfort she detected him calling her name over and over all the way to the radiating flagstone entrance.
The fear and despondency laced into each cry had bounced around in her skull for days afterwards, collecting like loading screen bubbles which refused to quit ping ponging and phishing for guilt.
Convincing Draco to protect Theodore Nott in the third trial had been a miracle all on it's own, but to simultaneously ask him to lose on purpose was superbly out of the question. Even Audette did not bare enough influence over him to summon that.
The request would be as mental as asking Gilderoy Lockhart to stop mailing random photographs of himself in a hospital gown to the press without any explanation. Apparently what little segment of his memory that had been restored at St. Mungo's was the overzealous impression that he was a prized celebrity; although for what reasons he had yet to recover.
That aside, after the unpleasant incident with Harry Potter and his goonies, Audette began to soften towards Adelheid, stepping down off the last tread from her tower with grace instead of bolting from him manically.
Three more days passed as they learned to walk side by side. Adelheid responsibly held the conversation on his own, explaining in his jagged accent an isolating life he'd just abruptly departed from.
His father was the foreboding Simulation Architect afterall, and as it were, also an old friend of Audette's parents.
Casper was an extraordinarily frigid and calculated man who'd elected to homeschool his only son in Jungfraujoch, Switzerland - in the highest populated elevation worldwide known to many as The Top of Europe.
Adelheid described to Audette his feelings with mature adroitness for a teenage boy, reflecting that he'd been shrouded from the world like one keeps a filthy secret, never having been given a fair explanation as to why.
There, at the supposed top of Europe, he had been trained and educated rigorously for all eighteen years of his life. He had not been permitted any friends, any trips abroad, any lovers...practically not one morsel of traditional socialization until applying for knighthood.
Then shortly afterwards a mysterious owl had flown in from Eloise, requesting his specific assistance at Castle Bellarose to watch over Audette. Thrilled to be permitted the eloping opportunity Adelheid hadn't even questioned the oddity of it all.
One might expect an angry monster as a result of such a confining and berating upbringing, but no - the boy was charming and soft-natured, he spoke in fluffy tones and walked with his hands clasped behind his back.
Not once had he hit on her, acted hostile, or resorted to foul language...not even one swear word or putrid inclination had escaped his lips in the eight days he'd been protecting her from aggravators in the biodome, and so she found his company to be a true breath of fresh air in comparison to the rogue Slytherin men she'd been spending far too much of her precious time around.
For once she had a companion in her cage, and something about his being there felt absolutely proper. Even Cian's anxiety in the castle had dwindled, viewing Adelheid as a protective older brother of sorts.
Suddenly January had begun to feel like a warped and dreamy vacation.
They had returned to the Marine Habitat that evening, watching the sunset through the arcuate shield above. Seeing as he had grown up such a dramatic distance from any body of water, that salty spot happened to be his favorite zone.
Not far down the beach Cian was unprofessionally constructing muddy sand castles and making an absolute blundering mess out of his uniform, having temporarily transformed back into an average ten year old boy in the moment.
Audette knew her eyes had gone mildly starry as she listened to Adelheid describe the quaint village nearest his father's alpine estate. Their knees kept knocking together, and she couldn't help playing with the sand in fidgety angst, wondering if she was beginning to form an itsy crush on the boy who was even more charming than Theodore Nott.
He lifted his red glove, gliding it in a gentle arc, "In 1912 they erected the centennial railway, and as it climbs up the mountain one can see all of these beautiful flowers, yellow buttercups, and lavender, that sort of thing amongst the soft waving grasses. The village is imbedded into the glade of the alps, which jut straight up in monstrous rock sheets, with the purest of snow at the tip tops."
When his eyes slid to Audette's she panicked and looked away at the waters surface, where dusky hues of neon pink and orange were glittering in beautiful scales. She had been staring at him far too intently and now her cheeks were famously aflame.
Was she starting to emotionally cheat on Draco?
No, it didn't seem to be like that...it seemed different somehow. Regardless, the distraction had put her heart almost to total ease.
But did Draco even care how she was doing?
Where was he to be found, after eight days of scalding silence?
They were about to find out.
The serene energy quickly dissipated with the sound of approaching voices in the weedy mangrove trees behind them, and all three rose at the signature key of the Emerald Lord himself, out for an extremely rare appearance in the biodome during visitation hours, "...know what you must do. Eliminate the boy in the third trial when he predictably initiates an altercation."
"That...will not bode well with your daughter. In fact, I have...made promises, promises which cannot be broken. My word to her is already perceived as fickle, and this might very well be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I'd rather explore the avenue of coveting the item, and...I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to go about that, sir. He guards it fiercely."
Oh no...it was Draco and Montgomery, the perfect ambush.
Audette scrambled to grab ahold of Cian and Adelheid, dragging them behind a massive rock embedded within the shallow tide.
"We should not hide, it is disrespectful," Adelheid hissed at Audette disapprovingly as they sunk up to their knees in salty waves.
Even still, he remained hunched over next to her, both of them youthfully peeping their eyebrows over the top of the boulder while Cian fought off a pinchy chizpurfle crab that had latched onto his trailing coattail.
As soon as Draco came into view following Montgomery onto the duney cay, Audette's beating heart crippled in place like an imploding soda can.
He was so beautiful, it truly was not fair, dressed in his sleek black suit and a flattering turtle neck below. One of those veiny hands was twisted into the platinum hair at his neck, that rocky watch of his casting orange sunlight every which way.
"That is the real Draco Malfoy, yes?" Adelheid whispered sideways to her.
Audette nodded.
Adelheid hummed under his breath, "This makes a lot more sense."
Well duh.
Unlike how she'd expected him to appear following the nuclear fallout of New Year's Eve he was presenting sharp and tidy, pale skin flawless, spine straight, no signs of bags below his eyes from drinking in reckless despair...
He'd finally cut his silky hair back down to it's regular length to within an inch below his ears which caused Audette to involuntarily growl in her throat, despite the fact that it was wholly out of line to dictate his personal pageantry.
As his hand left those unacceptably shortened locks it jammed into his jacket pocket, the other clutching at a bouquet of galaxy blue orchids with deep visuals of violet and pearl.
In that gaudy lounge on Zermatt Peak she had begged him to visit and bring flowers, to kiss her mitten and remind her of all of the ways in which he was madly besotted with her. It was a bit surprising he'd actually taken mental notes of the silly list.
She began to hyperventilate through a burning emotional ache. There was great suspire in that flood of fervor, however there was also feelings of betrayal tumbling along the bottom like ugly rocks.
Why did he appear so cool and collected, proficiently unbothered even?
Why had he expended eight agonizing days before arriving to promenade her during such an overwhelming period?
Had Montgomery only just now permitted a visitation?
Perhaps now that his family ring was sufficiently glued to her finger he no longer fretted over their arguments, seeing as Audette was chained to him for an eternity no matter what unfathomable delinquencies should he choose to put her through.
Out of spite she had even tried to rip the mocking snake off, only to be attacked by the viper constricting and bending it's bejeweled head back to sink a pair of diamond teeth into her poor finger.
Montgomery was busy smoking like a chimney, jade eyes narrowed at the bouquet in Draco's fingers with deep consideration, "Your delicacies for my daughter threaten your potential more than I had previously assigned weight to."
Draco swallowed, somehow pulling off a facade of fortitude given the thorny company he was keeping, "Lord Bellarose, you must know by now of the affections I possess for Audette. Marriage to her exceeds the basic foundation of a pureblood arrangement, and I intend to preserve that sacred bond, however difficult that may be in the coming years."
Audette rolled her eyes. Well he was certainly off to a dicey start if that were so, given recent events...
"Hmmm," Montgomery chuckled down at the zillions of sand granules all stuck together on the white beach, tinted lavender vapors whirling like a miniature tornado around his stylish hair.
No matter how pastel his day-to-day suits happened to be, the Emerald Lord had never been regarded as one with burning regard for romanticism. It was afterall, as Theodore Nott had once stated, that the most beautiful flowers are often the most poisonous.
Thus he was smiling with a villainous snarl that did not indicate sweet thoughtfulness, but rather snide judgment meant to degrade, "Yes, now you mention it, I reminisce of a time when a hailstorm of Eurasian owls thundered down upon this establishment, all composed by a rather distraught young man pleading inappropriately for my daughter's attention."
When Montgomery met his gaze once more Draco's eyes wandered off to the side, wide with horror that he was actively being called out for penning Audette love letter after love letter despite her having been accounted for already - all of which had been withheld and read by The Monocle Monster himself.
Oh no.
Audette could hardly bare to look, fighting with one hand to prevent Cian from wedging himself at the center of the congregating snoops so that he would not clumsily give them away.
Snallygasters had begun to accumulate once more on the fringes of the aquatic area. Squawking quite repugnantly in the succulent leaves all turgid with fluid, they awaited instruction from their lethal Lord.
Draco inhaled sharply through his nose, and with a rather pointed and brave glare, he tried again, "Lord Bellarose, I cannot in good faith lay a finger on Theodore Nott. I must obtain that artefact elsewise, and I am at a loss as to how to proceed."
Montgomery placed a heavy hand on Draco's shoulder, faint crinkles around his eyes making him appear deceptively kind, "You were correct to approach me regarding this. A time turner in the hands of a foe is an emergency indeed. Might I add, one in which Audette bares no right to debate the handling of. Regardless of how charming your endearment for her may be, she remains a mere woman of the court - lest either of you forget her place."
Draco's eyebrows drove together in immediate consternation, "Excuse my boldness, my Lord, but she is your sole heir. I don't believe I have forgone her place. Surely she's more than a mere woman of the court in your perspective."
"That is radical, and I shall excuse it...this time," Montgomery's patience was running razor thin, markedly on display from the gathering of rouge clouds around the circumference of the monocle, "Her duty as the chosen diamond is to outstandingly obey her betrothed and by doing so represent my shield in spectacular shine, not play puppeteer in the background. She was raised for the role of the ultimate duchess, not military captain - unless of course, you'd prefer to darn the dresses."
Draco nodded silently, staring down at his shoes sinking into the beach sand. His mouth had curled down into a frown of disconsolation.
Montgomery released his clamp on the slender boy to draw his pipe away, blowing out a cloud of carcinogens which seemed to form the shaky imagery of a skull.
His rigid handlebar moustache twitched in place, "Theodore Nott's unchecked obsession has accelerated to a hazard, and I wish for his obsoletion from the equation. Achieve this, and I shall ensure Audette understands any roles you embody henceforth, without negotiation. If you cannot covet the item before the trial, than be prepared to act within it's confines. That is an instruction."
A second time Draco nodded without any words.
If he had been seeking advice on how to steal the time turner he was not going to be afforded such assistance, as it was Montgomery's clear desire for outright murder to be the solution instead.
Audette was of the striking, and sinking impression, that this was Draco's allotted test with Montgomery. Should he blunder it he'd probably end up just like Theodore Nott in dire straights, and definitely not married to her.
"I shall dismiss you to mull over this inconsequential tragedy," Lord Bellarose began striding back into the dark understory framing the seaside, before he turned with a Gatsby type grin.
He held up his pipe in a gesture, "Oh and master Malfoy? Please ensure my daughter is dressed appropriately. These photographs from the Yule Ball rub me as...slattern, and lewd...to speak generously. If your family would kindly retain an example of my pedigree, you may allocate Audette closeby in proper attire. You need not search far."
"We are caught, this is bad," Adelheid made to expose himself but Audette gripped his wrist with a flare of her eyebrows. It wasn't guaranteed they were caught yet, only closeby.
Draco stood there stiffly, alone as the lull of splashing water produced a sedative soundtrack for an extensive moment. His face was bent to the simulated tide rushing up just shy of his loafers, speaking in a dull sigh only once Montgomery was surely outside of earshot, "Audette, I can see the cheel."
Rats.
Mortified, she looked skywards to where the cheel was blowing around like a skin bag balloon in the dwindling sunlight, clearing the rock by at least a solid twelve inches.
Adelheid snorted and hung his head down between his planted arms, "Nice one. After you, your grace."
Frustrated, Audette cruelly pushed Cian down into the soggy sand as she marched out from behind the rock, forced to hold up her heavy, sopping dress with both hands.
She had been planning to do something splendidly insidious to Draco out of sheer peeve for the eight days (or the sixteen-hundred comparable Audette years) which had gone unacceptably bypassed.
That was, until he raised his crystalline eyes all dewy with sadness, and she found herself frozen by conflicting sensations right before him. One look from those pale blue eyes was like a crippling glance from Medusa.
The energy between them grew remarkably asizzle with awkward nervousness, as if they were meeting to exchange possessions after a discomposing feud. Neither of them seemed to know precisely where to look.
The last time they had seen each other Audette had discovered a multi-faceted prism of grotesque hypocrisy occupying Draco's character, and it was written all over his cringing expression that he felt stupidly emasculated by the events of New Years Eve.
He caught his breath as if to return from somewhere else, batting his eyes rapidly, "Right, um..." Then he reached across and took her hand, pressing the back of her mitten to his lips before offering the flowers up.
In a faint voice he whispered, "As requested."
Gently, she received them in her special fire-retardant mittens in what might have been initially viewed as benign acceptance, before naturally exploding in foreseeable crabby glory, proceeding to smash the stunning arrangement off his jacket at least five times until there was nothing left but stems and the air was rife with raining gorgeous petals.
Hiding behind his bent arm he slowly lowered his defenses to observe the barren green twigs remaining in her furious paw, raising his eyebrows at the unlady-like destruction, "If you would have fancied pink instead, I can leave and return in under an hour with something more appealing. Or should I just go straight to listing off my favorite qualities of yours?"
What would be most appealing would be to stuff those very stumpy stems up his nostrils with the hope of piercing his brain in the process.
Her eyes glazed with illimitable tears that came on like a tropical monsoon, recalling all of his revolting lies, his infidelities, the public humiliation...the bubblebath nudist party...the lap dance...
How could he have forsaken her trust so brutally?
Her fingers disregarded the busted stems, covering her eyes as they unleashed like two ports of a pent up dam, and immediately she heard Draco exhale heavily.
He dug around and produced a dark green pocket square from his jacket, offering it in semi-gentlemanly regard with an incorporated hostile whipping action, "Please don't weep."
As Audette swept the expensive fabric across her eyelids with trembling fingers he dramatically rolled those icy orbs, "Look, I should have...I realize that I should have come earlier, Audette. I needed...time...to process."
A strangled squawk from a surveying snallygaster provided a solidary response as she continued to deteriorate before him.
"You don't deserve any of this," she heard him mumble in contrition, eyes directed guiltily to the dripping hem of her soiled skirt.
Caving to weak instincts she reached for his lapel on either side, her eyelids crinkling shut as salty tears dripped down her mask.
She felt his fingers dancing along her ribs, "Christ, are they starving you point blank? You're wasting away and it's only been a week. At this rate you'll have disappeared by the end of the month."
He pushed her backwards in an embarrassing evaluation of the antiquated renaissance gown, dipping his face critically, "Is this asphyxiating contraption really necessary? Are they feeding you nothing at all but sludge from this winging thing?"
He might've been squeezing her corseted waist, but the dilated direction of his gaze spoke to the deepest concern having been rooted in the inevitable reduction of her chest size that would result at the end of the depraving moon cycle.
Audette hardly had the chance to shove him away in irritation before his eyes flickered over her shoulder and narrowed suspiciously, "Who the fuck is this Robin Hood clown?"
And just like that, the swearing and insults returned in full blast. Draco was going to have a hell of time tuning up on etiquette before their engagement party, which would play host to dozens of aristocratic elites with sky high expectations for comportment.
Adelheid had finally decided to abandon the oceanic outcropping Audette had left him masked behind. Now taking careful steps towards them, he had one hand on the hilt of his magical sword defensively.
He was without a doubt a very unusual wizard, seeing that he did not possess a wand in place of a sword.
Seeming to have brushed up on Draco's infamous rage since arriving in the United Kingdom he stopped a meter off, holding out a skeptical glove, "Adelheid Magnussen, pleasure to make your acquaintance master Malfoy. Audette's knight, at your service."
His charitable handshake was predictably left high and dry.
"Her what?" Draco spat contemptuously, whipping out a new pitch black wand Audette had never seen him wield before. This latest edition to his compendium came with a lovely silver hilt and matching silver vines winding all along the length.
Holding out the majestic weapon, his eyes had notably brimmed with a potent cocktail of jealousy, fear, and white hot fury.
Regardless of the hostile circumstances, the Swiss boy's face remained neutral and calm, reiterating his purpose there, "Her knight - I have sworn to the good Lady Bellarose to serve and protect her daughter while she is defenseless this month."
"What?" Draco repeated in obvious displeasure, panting in shock.
His pointy nose had now bent back in the most grandiose sneer Audette had ever witnessed, it might've been a personal record, "She isn't a fairytale princess in need of rescue from some...some dunce in a cape. You can pack up your sheepskin bags and inform Lady Bellarose that if my fiancée requires an escort, it shall be me."
"I have sworn, so I shall stay my course here master Malfoy. You are no doubt a very busy man in lieu of the upcoming Quadrivial trial, but rest assured she is well taken care of in my hands," Adelheid smiled reassuringly.
It was the very opposite of what he aught to state, only further aggravating Draco's inane jealousy.
"You will keep your perfidious hands far, far away from her, you peppy cocksucker, or I'll personally have them removed," he raised his wand to point it straight at Adelheid's benign grin, who in turn extended his sword so that the sharp glowing tip faced directly at Draco's blazing orbs.
Adelheid clocked his head warningly, "With all due respect to your documented achievements, I would challenge you to succeed in that ambitious endeavor."
Draco loudly scoffed, "Don't you point that toothpick at me. And so, what? You've been trailing around pathetically after my fiancée for a week and I assume you've fallen head over sword for her? Because I'll enlighten you right now, when she isn't muzzled up she can be a degree more agitating."
Fearing the worst, Audette placed herself between the two puffing boys, planting one mitten repeatedly on Draco's chest in pleading tempt.
Whimsically, the water cheel attached to her wrist began to bang into his face, and this seemed to be unpleasant enough to cause him to step back.
Draco's fuming expression faltered randomly, shifting from wholly contorted to flat in about half a second, gaze darting back and forth between Audette and Adelheid now aligned before him. An evident light bulb flashed in his brain.
Unbelievably he lowered his wand, his mouth hanging ajar, "Hang on..."
He squinted between them, seeming to have grown nearly speechless, inspecting Adelheid in what appeared to be a brand new perspective, "Aren't you supposed to be dead? Did you say...Magnussen?"
All three of them now sported befuddled looks, Draco clapping a hand to his mouth with a seriously concerned glower.
Audette was taken off guard completely that Draco was somehow convinced he knew Adelheid well enough to presume of some untimely passing, when Adelheid probably knew about ten people in total worldwide.
It wasn't as if Adelheid hadn't just mistook Guy Cosmos for being Draco.
And it wasn't as if the Simulation Architect's son had ever come up in passing conversation, and after dating for months they had held just about any imaginable passing conversation.
Adelheid apathetically sheathed his sword, peering at Draco curiously, "Still breathing, thankfully without interruption to date. And that is correct. My father, Casper Magnussen, has designed the trials you are currently partaking in, master Malfoy."
Draco shook his head in jagged spurts, frowning almost angrily, "No. No, no, no."
He leaned closer to Audette as if to secretly consort, meeting her gaze with anxious solicitude, blue orbs prancing back and forth in businesslike care, "Is that what your mother has fed you Audette? Do you believe this to be true? Has your father seen this idiot?"
She shrugged reflexively under his capacious gaze that felt like one-thousand tons of judgment. Of course that was what she believed, not that her mother had much to do with the uncomplicated matter...
Draco rotated and without hesitation kicked a poor helpless beach crab straight into the mangroves, planting his hands on his hips only to pollute the atmosphere with more unwarranted cursing, "Fuck. Fuck, fuck, FUCK."
Adelheid addressed Audette encouragingly behind Draco's back, "I will stay here for now, until master Malfoy's visitation concludes. I think it would be best that you go with him in private. He is unquestionably incensed by my occupation."
Draco turned and wrapped his arm around Audette's waist roughly, guiding her back towards the main trail system against her will, "Yeah, you can stay out here and drink the sea water, you fake Swiss fuck Jesus fucking Christ."
Whisked away by the offending Slytherin swearer, Audette bent her neck back to Cian and Adelheid watching them leave on the artificial waterfront, both of their boots drenched in the tide all on account of her personal antics.
The beach disappeared from sight, and the crackling tension grew thick as molasses between the two at-odds lovers on their aimless trollop.
Draco vehemently growled as he walked her without knowledge of where he was going within the convoluted biodome, hand firmly gripping her cinched corset, "Well that's just brilliant, another stressor I have to deal with. Just wait until your father spots that prick..."
Audette was caught up focusing on preventing a disastrous stumble on her part, hardly hanging onto her dainty slippers as he dragged her along in some high-speed, epic meltdown that made no sense to her whatsoever.
What new stressor he had to deal with was beyond her, as he most certainly had mistaken Adelheid for someone else.
They traversed a pedestrian artery comprised of soft sandy pathways, truncate palm trees and low grassy ferns, all the while Draco giving away their location with a string of grouchy reviles that were totally uncalled for.
Slowly, in the absence of any other agitating parties, the handsome psychopath calmed down and loosened his menacing grip. His hand slipped off her waist to tickle at her glove, requesting a romantic handhold that she begrudgingly appeased.
His pointy nose redirected towards the top of the biodome, taking in the horde of wildlife and verdure all about, "It's been since the day I first met you that I last came here. This place...it's changed...substantially."
Bigger Audette cast the vague wording in golden form with her wand.
How ironic that it was Draco who had trained her to cast such an effable spell in that very place, given that she could no longer speak under the limitations of the mandrake leaf brewing on her tongue.
"Much bigger," Draco acquiesced, travelling his attention left and right in awe of the biodome's updates.
He cleared his throat, dipping into his jacket to produce an elaborate skeleton key. The wrought iron had been molded into the exact image of a skull, featuring two imbedded green gems within the supposed eye sockets.
He handed it over rather hesitantly, "This key will grant you access to the entire western wing of the Malfoy Manor - including my nursery...which seems to have instigated some wild obsession of yours."
She flipped it over in astonishment.
"Feel free to redecorate it as you like, although I would request you do not dispose of my undead black widows. There is room within my office for their enclosure," he swallowed and diverted his eyes, and Audette, utterly in stupefaction, went on to analyze the key with trilling thoughts.
"Not that you should assume the space will be in use for some while yet. This is merely a foresight," Draco commented strenuously. His hand within her glove had begun to grow fairly sweaty.
Audette had made herself dreadfully busy bullying Draco over the matter of offspring for days on end during the winter holiday. Yet he had put up a stubborn defense, refusing to even allow her into the nursery.
Supplementation of the key was a first step in the right direction, although as she turned it over in her fingers she could not help surmising it had only been provided in order to mitigate the unforgivable violations unveiled in Switzerland.
He listlessly went on as she pocketed the valuable key without so much as a prop of her eyebrows in thank you, "I observed constellation Boötes last night. I had originally planned to include you in that activity...pity the timing of this animagus project."
There was no way he was able to mentally pivot from Audette's censorious mood towards him, and the casual banter he thought he might get away with was in fact upsetting her even more.
She faced away from him and disconnected their handhold, breathing rather noisily in angst. His charismatic voice was enough to remind her of all the reasons she was having a terrible January.
He finally seemed to catch onto the acid in the air.
"Listen, I-" Draco sucked in his breath and held it, halting on the path with repentance dominating his facial features, "Listen Audette, I did not sleep with anyone else. I didn't so much as touch another girl. There was nudity and alcohol, but that was the extent of my participation in that bubble bath. And I should not have commented on your figure, but I cannot retract that mistake now. If it makes any difference, I stated it all in appreciation."
Oh, terrific - why not write a detailed description of her mint fanny for the Daily Prophet next?
She crossed her arms, shaking her head slowly at him. It made no difference whatsoever, because Audette had had quite enough of his nonsense.
Never with Theodore Nott had she been subjected to such animalistic depravity, and this precursor had taught her quite well that no such disrespect aught be tolerated.
Time and time again she had congenially forgiven Draco's slanderous displays of cheating and lying, however there did not seem to be any end in sight to the unbecoming behavior. And absolutely no evidence existed to suggest that he would not commit a crime of equal intensity the next week over.
Heart quaking she spelled out with her wand, You're not truly mine Draco.
Then as the painful words vanished and he visibly proceeded to panic she went on, you will never belong only to me.
At the end of the day that was truly what mattered most to her, and if she could not have that security than the relationship was a total bust. He could gift her with flowers and keys and more rickety promises, but Audette was not buying into any of it if he was still selling himself to other girls whilst she wasn't looking.
"You're wrong," he cried as she clicked on the heel of her slipper. He attempted to get ahead of her quick peter right away, tugging at her sleeve, "You could not be more wrong. If you would only find your way to hearing me out..."
Audette had gone straight into ostrich mode, and once that began she tended to get expertly avoidant.
As she took off like an angry bullet the landscape began to blend carefully into grassland settings. The path experienced a dramatic drop off of fruit-bearing trees to be replaced with thick ornamental perennials presenting at knee-length height. Too bad, because she had been contemplating wandlessly sucking off coconuts just to whip them at Draco's face.
They were barreling towards the sparsely traversed Savannah Habitat in a manic freak out, and to her umbrage she noticed that Draco had been gifted with a universal 'Bellarose' stamp on his wrist.
Impending arch or not, he was going to keep following her like a terrific pest.
The flatness of the area only highlighted the uncomfortable reality that it was just the two of them within a hundred yards when Draco took it upon himself to escalate into a sheer state of disparity behind her, "I saved myself completely for you - doesn't that count for anything? I've announced that I will marry you by your nineteenth birthday which frankly is a rather heavy declaration, and if it is children with fucking aquamarine eyes that you so desire I will give you that as well, although I can't be held accountable for how the genetics ultimately play out."
He grabbed ahold of her wrist with a yank, spinning her in place on the pebbly avenue. His gaze was now frantic, "Audette stop. I promise to improve in order to meet your standards. There is no permissible dimension in which I lose you again. I'm sorry for what you went through on New Year's Eve, that was unimaginable."
Your promises are fat balls of yarn, Audette acerbically wrote out with her wand before continuing on her unmerry way.
Standing up for herself was quite a delicious new proclivity, one in which she could not foresee rewinding anytime soon.
"Stop," his voice thundered dangerously as he ripped her back a second time, effectively twirling her long hair like a golden tornado.
He glared down at her with overwhelming alarm written all over his expression, "Stop bolting from me like an infant, let's resolve this rift before it exsanguinates the both of us."
There under the sweltering artificial sun, she was temporarily struck with an inclination to fall for his tantalizing gusto once more. His mouth had pressed itself into a flat and serious line, and his penetrating blue eyes were lasered onto hers in a gaze that surely promised the utmost attention be applied to her demands.
But Audette had been down this road with Draco Malfoy many times before, and she was regrettably tired of being played. He might've tricked her into engagement, but he was about to find that said engagement was going to be unfulfilling if he did not adjust his manipulative conduct lickety-split.
He was a sweet talker to the nines; in fact any girl couldn't possibly be labelled a fool for falling head over heels for his corny hijinks. For Merlin's sake he had a collection of pictures of her in his bedside, and a journal of nostalgic entries that were terribly convincing...
Tears dripping down her cheeks she shook her head.
No.
No more flummery.
He had utterly mortified her in Switzerland, and it was imperative that he spend some time wallowing in punishment before she forgave him else nothing stood to change.
Both of their chest's were now heaving as Audette sent her gaze off to the side as a final show of dismissal, trying her best to ignore his frenzied inhales.
"No...please...this can't be irreparable. I love you, Audette..." Draco started to blubber, his eyes practically disappearing into slits as tears overcame any form of self control.
Bloody hell, if he could spare her the pissing beggary...
Not too late, she wrote with her wand as she too teared up, Just leave me alone.
Draco lingered on that final sentence as it fizzled out before his watery gaze, "That is really what you want?"
It was obvious from the devastation in his expression that Draco definitely did not want to take anymore space, but this was predictable coming from him. He was an impatient boy who had been spoiled all his life with instant gratification and very little consequences for his actions.
It would be the only way she could possibly get through to him that she was no longer going to easily brush past his careless misdemeanors. She was done being made a fool, and the stakes were higher than ever because this truly was going to be his very last chance with her.
To really drive home the message she reached into her gown and pressed the Malfoy Manor skeleton key back into his hand, shaking her head at him sternly. On the outside she was practicing strength, but on the inside her heart was shattering.
Go home she wrote bravely, trembling head to toe.
He nodded solemnly, dropping the key into his jacket whilst wiping at his eyes, "I understand."
Before he left Audette permitted him to pull her into a long hug, even allowing him to get away with kissing her forehead before he was gone, marching back through the long grass with his head held down.
For once she had done it; she had stood up for herself against all emotional odds.
And for once Draco respected her need for space, leaving her be for the entire duration of January all the way up to the very night before her animagus transformation.
Audette was shocked awake by a maddening rapture on her door well past midnight, just as she had finally passed out from an overwhelming bout of nerves keeping her up.
She was utterly screwed, because she still had not selected a creature to transform into. It wasn't so trivial a decision such as picking out a sparkly ball gown - this time it was a lifelong physical commitment, one in which she could not make up her mind about in the slightest.
Cloaca? Forget it.
Scales?
Slime?
Wet hair stench?
Unruly restrictions such as breathing under water?
Each animal she had considered seemed to come with a worse and more unattractive downside than the last, and now she was just going to end up turning into something totally random in the morning.
Oh god.
But it was almost over, and for that she was tremendously relieved.
She pitter-pattered in frustration to the tower door to find that her young butler was drenched in sweat from running around the castle, one hand holding up a purple flame in a cup, the other a letter in a black envelope with the Malfoy family crest stamped in green sealing wax.
"Y-yo-you're grace, it's from your f-fiancé," wheezing Cian held it out to her, just about losing his fingers once again when Audette snapped it out of his clutch with clabbert-level rashness.
Ohhhhh hell no.
Audette,
I won't waste ink on some epistolary effort to repair the damages between us.
Your dismissive feelings towards me are wholly justified, ergo I have resigned to maintaining my distance lest returning serve to worsen fallout. I can only pray that you will seek me out for resolution following this period of reflection.
Lord Bellarose has demanded my family's presence at your animagus inauguration. I state his invitation as presenting in the form of a demand, because he has made himself passionately clear attendance is not optional given our outstanding betrothal.
Bare this in mind when I arrive there tomorrow - that it was never in my hands. Let's you and I not focus on any petty qualms which may divert from this critical achievement.
Recall how incredible you are, and do not sell yourself short.
Draco