Tierney had been rambling for hours, and the concentration of her commentary only increased undesirably as the golden Bellarose carriage rumbled along the base of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

As if it were her first time laying eyes upon the castle, the still youthful governess gasped dramatically when the woods opened up to display the gigantic stone foundations spanning hundreds of meters at all elevations, ranging from the shallowest drop at the Black Lake to the lower region abutting Hagrid's hut and the Forbidden Woods beyond.

The night sky was glittering with an ambient glow; not only due to the cloudless wintry stars in perfect sight, but also because of the gigantic rainbow cast across the entire property by the Erenholl attendees and their stunning treasure chest cabin.

Halfway up the hill and beyond the cast-iron gates, Tierney made to stick her head clean out of the window only for the Trunchbull to tangle her claws in the back of her cloak and drag her back inside, "Quit acting the maggot, Tierney. Compose yourself at once, you are meant to be an example, not a mirror."

She glared at Audette as if she were responsible for the outburst, hissing to herself, "May the devil eat the cat...what on Merlin's holy Earth has come of this charade."

This act of regimentation unfortunately did little to douse the buzzing elation drowning out all of their personal thoughts, as the girl pressed her forehead against the freshly raised and locked glass pane in awe, "Well you can't beat around it - it's right grand when you take a good look at it from this here angle. However do you navigate where your courses are, milady? I'd be mad spun about in there, I'm quite certain of it."

Audette rubbed her temple in contempt, muttering unnecessarily rude responses just hardly under her breath, "No one is arguing with you about that."

She was quite certain that Tierney would not only be mad spun about, but also would be the first student in centuries to plummet clean off of the moving staircases while gaping at a painting of a giraffe or a dipshit gnome no less.

Pitifully for the softhearted squib such a suicidal opportunity would never present given she was just that; a squib, and without any magical influence to be worthy of attendance.

"Beg your pardon, Miss Bellarose?" Tierney smiled at her, in such an innocent mannerism that Audette couldn't help aggressively rolling her eyes.

"Never you mind T, get a good gander while you're here," Audette sent Tierney a rather insipid half smile before glancing down at the purple velvet sack in her lap.

One hundred and fifty million galleons, that was what she was worth apparently.

Of course a dowry is meant to supply one's husband with the funds to care for his new lady over a lifetime; including fanciful attire, health, beauty, throwing social events, travel, any conceived offspring...on and on, and Audette would no doubt place endless demands of the highest degree simply because that was the lifestyle she was accustomed to.

And...simply because she naughtily reveled in seeing the all-mighty Draco Malfoy on his knees, providing for her every whim and wave.

In a few short months of courting him she'd accumulated dozens of luxuriant tokens, mainly in tandem with unfair apologies that she expected for the smallest of errors - ranging from the rare ingredients required for her Animagus course, to sparkly quills and lavish accessories, and even a pink-cloud crystal ball that she secretly adored playing with in bed. 

Yet she could not help staring at that sack in her lap in some downright depressive state, feeling as though she were nothing more spectacular than a farm animal that had been purchased, on it's way to it's next cage.

Aine, the comforting and wise one, nodded her chin at the sachet, her black eyes a source of warmth and solitude. She was highly regarded in the European wizarding community as a powerful and intelligent witch, now exorbitantly wealthy from her employment with Montgomery.

She drifted her gorgeous mocha fingers over the sack and pinched it, meeting Audette's terrified gaze, "One hundred and fifty million...that should last our riotous Audette about...oh I'd say, half a year. You go on and run that Lord Malfoy dry for all he's worth milady, and I'd guarantee even after he's given you the very clothes on his back, you won't want to bolt, and neither will he."

She batted her eyes at Audette, chocolate curly hair bouncing in natural swirls, "Those galleons are nothing short of a pointless formality."

"I suppose you are right," Audette sighed heavily thinking back to all of Draco's desperate love letters, tucking the coin purse away into her petticoat for later distribution at the right moment.

Things could be much, much, worse. 

A stark sum of the boys in the pureblood European ton were equally as revolting as the moldy blind anglerfish that hovered over her father's desk, and with just as much a heartless bite.

Despite his wicked streak and disgraceful Death Eater membership Audette had allowed herself to be swept off her feet by Draco Malfoy's apparent endearment for her.

And it was a love match unheard of; the diamond...and the demon.

Well, up until that point said demon had managed to miraculously evade balls and luncheons.

Ha.

Now as the claimant to the highly coveted Bellarose heir he was about to get a smack to the face with a frying pan that coming summer, where Montgomery would expect him to attend dozens of fruitless and innocuous events, shaking hands and entertaining trite patrons in dull conference.

As the carriage clambered along the final forested ridge, Audette hummed under her breath in mindful thought, expecting that the nasty boy was going to need quite a dire deluge of training beforehand.

When they arrived at the event reception zone she just about passed clean out from nerves.

The scene in the courtyard leading into the Great Hall was unbelievably enchanting; stone lintels covered in feathery snow, long tendrils of glinting tinsel dripping from spandrels, and tall pine trees flickering with magical lights.

Pestilent fairies floated around the arriving flurry of guests to steal away earrings from unwitting ears and flowers from unspotted pockets, reminding Audette much of Pilf the Niffler.

Pilf would lose his ducky head at the amaranthine supply of jewels and jazz, and likely cause an absolute riot with his aggressive and unsubtle methodologies for extraction of goods.

All four Quadrivial cultures were represented thoroughly in the décor, the air crisp and rife with mythical beauty, and of course all manner of exceptionally darned attendees filing inwards.

Witches in the shiniest of gowns clung to ascending balustrades on one side, and in their other arm to wizards in tight tuxedos and dress robes.

And there smack in the chaos, in perfect confrontation, was Draco Malfoy.

Foolishly he awaited his scorned lover at the base of the elongated, monolithic steps promenading into the side of the decorated castle, where multiple carriages of intricate design were pulling up in metallic screeches.

It was either this, or he was having a nervous break down on the entry feature with his head hung nearly between his knees, cigarette smoke drifting around his straight platinum strands.

"There he is miss!" Tierney pointed the tip of her mitten into the window passionately, as if his presence was not blisteringly pronounced.

Audette pressed her face to the edge of the tempered glass in wonder of his bent form, unable to see a droplet of his expression other than his sharp nose below his hair.

Whispering guests and students alike milled around the standout Quadrivial Champion who had lost track of his date, dropping their faces as they passed to analyze his evidently disturbed energy.

It was unbelievable to witness Draco darned in anything other than black, green or silver, yet there he sat, having respected her request for their colour palette - in a highly public setting no less.

Snow was fluttering down onto an ivory fitted suit dotted with golden buttons and accents, his bowtie shining so spectacularly below the torch light one might think it were comprised of pure sunlight. Also around his neck hummed the lavender illumination of the first place champion medal to signify his hierarchy at the celebratory affair.

A phosphorous blue glow on his wrist suddenly drew his face up as a timer expired within his watch. He shut his eyes and hung his head back, whispering to himself something desperate, bouncing his knees anxiously.

Amongst the relentless bustling crowd Blaise appeared at the opened double doors above in a crispy dark green suit, warning Draco of the time before disappearing again when Draco shouted an inaudible insult in return, rotating back to slump forward with his fingers covering his eyes.

Audette knew she was unforgivably tardy but she could not bring herself to move, entranced by each ticking second he continued to wait for her regardless.

No one in the carriage moved or spoke, each governess unblinkingly curious.

It was as if an axe were lodged in her sternum, oozing critical pericardial fluids out into her thoracic cavity.

The elder chauffeur, Farnian, glanced uncomfortably into the rearview mirror of the carriage at his paralyzed attendee, who was nervously pawing at the crystal necklace dragging linearly down her chest, "Milady, would you require some assistance departing from the carriage?"

Audette barely registered the offer, and when the door fell away from her in an unsuspecting whoosh she just about nose dived into the pearly carpet of snow awaiting her.

Farnian barely caught her with both wrinkled hands and balanced her back into place, then formally held out a purple glove with the Bellarose family shield shining on the back of it, "Your grace, please, I must insist."

Faint and flushed, she accepted his support and stepped down the stairs numbly, glorious gemstones from her trailing gown cascading firelight in every direction.

She straightened her long sleeves, mentally blocked out the fact that inches of firm cleavage and one entire side of her leg was exposed, and flipped her thick waves over her shoulder to see that Draco had stood in relieved reception.

Through the snow he sauntered, exuding cool suave as if approaching her for the first time to introduce himself, hands jammed into his pockets.

He abruptly halted at the midpoint and allowed her to come to him, making no effort to conceal his shock as he soaked in every inch of her presentation with his lips parted and his eyebrows raising.

The face of his watch glowed once more when he brought his left hand to his chin in awe, his gaze caught possessively on the historic heirloom diadem embedded squarely at the front of her sleek hair.

"My goodness, he's so debonair...My good-" Aine thankfully slapped a hand across Tierney's unbroken hushing in the background, both of them leaning forward eagerly out of the cabin. In the depths of shadows in the farthest the corner the Trunchbull's beady gray eyes were narrowed and hostile.

Audette nodded dismissively to Farnian before lifting either side of her ravishing dress, absolutely freezing in the snow due to all of the low fabric cuts and lack of overall coverage. Even her tiny toes were covered in icicles which filtered in straight through the strappy high heels, the only saving grace being a rapid thud of her heartrate spiking her temperature.

She sucked in air and caught it whence a foot before his predatory gaze, speaking with hesitant nobility seeing as she had made the adult decision to brave face by his side, "Draco."

Her fingers curled together anxiously where she was gripping her smashing gown, and she found herself blinking rapidly before dashing her eyes away at his leather shoes.

His eyes were everywhere, on each inch of her skin in radar precision.

An excruciating fortnight had passed since they had last spoke in person, and the shivering energy between them was on par with a couple not yet established, let alone in expectation of a coming engagement.

"Well if it isn't the belle of the ball, living up to her late reputation," Draco blew out a nervous gust of air and whistled low, his whiskey breath cool on her cheeks.

Audette stared up at him in dysphoria, noticing his eyes expressing growing concern at her lack of enthusiasm.

He swallowed and wrapped his bony fingers around her shoulders, sliding up and down as if to warm her from the surrounding chill, "You're...a goddess Audette. It's as if you deliberately wish to steal away my well-earned scrutiny this evening."

"I hardly expect I could compete," she chewed modestly on her lip, breaking contact to absorb all of the dashing drab waltzing by; as if suddenly the lives of others were of some bristling intrigue.

No corset was strapped in bruising hatred over her ribs that night, yet she'd never been so breathless and shaky regardless.

"You're joking, right?" he snorted faintly, his bright orbs glazing hungrily as they fell down her rising and falling chest, where her voluptuous breasts were half cupped by the deep v trim, "My mother wasn't being facetious when she mentioned you'd selected something scandalous. I may even develop a heart condition tonight."

Well he wasn't going to be the only one.

She had never smelled so much refinery permeating from the already pristine boy; cologne, aftershave, luxury materials comprising a freshly tailored suit...it was devilishly intoxicating.

Audette blinked up at the handsome creature holding her, partially flooding with misgiving for topics not yet postulated between them.

Reminded then that his pretty face came equipped with a gruesome metal mask, she pressed her collarbones inwards as if to shrink away from his vice grip on her biceps, "Do your best not to drop dead then. As for my timing, I must ask you to forgive my pained deliberation. I comprehend my lack of manners."

"Why are you speaking to me like this? As if I'm one of those strange ton freaks?" he snapped injuriously, his lip curling up in an instant sneer of disfavor.

A blinding awkwardness ensued as Audette continued to avoid meeting his crippling blue gaze.

"Face me, don't you dare disappear on me," his fingers drifted higher to tickle her throat on either side as if to choke her, inching both his thumbs brazenly under her chin to guide her eyes skywards.

When he saw what was surely unmasked betrayal lining those emerald green orbs his eyebrows pressed together in remorse.

She wondered if perhaps he had spent years dreaming of that moment between them, only for her to find out what she had, then show up hollow and disingenuous.

He shut his eyes, "Where are you? You're acting like some...pathetically devoid robot in order to divert from what has surfaced."

Audette instantly felt a lumpy orange form in her throat at the inevitable arise of the dreaded topic, her nose stinging with the promise of tears to come, "What would you prefer - that I simply blurt out the unthinkable updates here and now? Have you any comprehension of what my life has become?"

He glanced enigmatically around them, checking that no one was eavesdropping, "Must I be the one to remind you that you have sworn on that very life not to whisper a word?"

She roamed her watery eyes around the vicinity as well with the inexplicable expectation that an empty steel soap bucket would be positioned nearby, filled with the leg of an invisible watching sleuth...

"I'm not ready for any of it. You've...you've trapped me..." Audette hiccupped in tiny spurts, thinking of the dreaded dowry in her pocket, of marriage and murderers looming on her horizon, of a vicious and inhuman dark lord prowling around in her future residence...

"See reason, Audette. You really think I want to get engaged right now?" Draco gripped her jaw even tighter, returning her attention forwards.

He shriveled his nose, panting, frowning dramatically.

"You don't?" she pouted in mild disbelief as he ebbed his fingers in small swirls at the back of her neck, and the caring action finally began to relax her.

He shook his head, "Obviously not. In case my efforts to avoid this whole society fiasco went inconspicuous, courting you has been a massive sacrifice for me. I was aware of the Bellarose political exigencies but I assumed we might take it slower regardless. Montgomery has expressed he wants you engaged immediately. So be it."

"Well nobody asked you to commit bachelor suicide, including myself," Audette barked back. 

He rolled his flashy eyes sternly, "This was always going to be the design of our lives, especially yours Audette. Be grateful that I ensured you ended up with me, and not one of those creeps on the upper Slytherin levels. Best pray for Parkinson and Greengrass, because the older we grow, the less autonomy plays a role."

She faltered for a second, blinking rapidly at his golden bowtie directly before her eyes. Good lord, she hadn't even considered the rest of the pureblood pairings and just how late they were in development. 

With such a societal structure in mind, Theodore Nott truly had consigned Audette to sheer oblivion when he had disregarded her nearly concreted match with him over something so inconsequential as his Excetra enrollment. 

She must have been lost in thought for a good while because Draco started to frown even harder at the extended silence. 

She was mentally floating up in the storm clouds occupying her mind, picturing a reality in which Draco Malfoy had not been there lurking in the background, eager for his chance with her. 

Would her father have swiftly selected someone else who was unappealing to Audette that fit the bill? Would she have found out once it was too late yet again, forced by some other type of unbreakable vow to complete an arranged marriage of ill-reception?

"Have I lost your affection permanently?" Draco pressed in an impatient voice which brought her back.

...

No...

"I suppose not," Audette huffed in defeat, sending him a singular, twitching stink eye that contrasted sharply with her response.

"Prove it," he searched her wincing expression, his throat bobbing in worry.

Finally she hummed, loosening up on the spot and shutting her eyes as Draco's warm forehead pressed to hers in the frozen conditions whipping around the exterior of Hogwarts, "I am grateful for your despondent sacrifice on my behalf, you gigantic, raging arsehole. But do not fall prey to confidence that I harbor no spare Christmas ornaments hidden up my dress in preparation to smash in your skull next time you turn about."

Draco proceeded to kiss her forehead, a heavenly smile creeping across his face, "Feel free to try - you're quite sexy off your rocker. Plenty of ammunition inside."

After a moment of calmed breathing between them he leaned dramatically to the side to admire her long slender leg where the dress split erotically, "Were you attacked by something on the way here, or was this dress specifically designed to make my heart race?"

"Oh it was assuredly designed with killing intent in mind," Audette exhaled heavily, her heart finally dropping back into a normal rhythm as he stepped away with raising eyebrows to silently appreciate her once more.

He fished around the golden lining of his suit, revealing with micro-adjustments darling golden suspenders below his jacket.

She bit her lip shyly, entranced by the way his sapphire eyes were absently searching the stars above while his fingers delved in his pockets, "I should like to say as well...your not entirely repellent yourself. I adore you in white."

"Woah, woah, woah, put your eyeballs back in your head. This..." Draco dropped his gaze and waved a hand over his suit, a flirty grin overcoming his pretty features as he faced her again, "This abomination is never repeating."

"We shall see about that," Audette hung her head at an angle, smacking his chest lightly.

"Suppose anything is possible with your unrelenting tendency to overrule me," he shook out his hair in an arc, producing two vials of shimmery potions from within his clothing.

He put a finger to his lips while discretely pressing a container into her glove, motioning with a nod of his chin up at the black silhouette of Severus Snape brooding around authoritatively inside of the lobby, "Elation Elixir - stolen from Grumplestiltskin up there. Don't let him catch you with that - I've convinced him it was coveted by that drunkard, Slughorn."

Audette laughed for the first time in the evening, sure that she would never be able to rid her mind of the nickname Grumplestiltskin when she came across their House Master in future interactions.

"Think that's funny, do you?" Draco stared down at her sideways while pouring the contents of the stubby chemist glass into his mouth until it was bone dry, then carelessly chucked the litter into the courtyard.

Audette tried to exact the same genial motion but the result was plain clumsy, choking and spluttering multiple times on the slimy goo which tasted like an overripe melon. 

"Weak. Not even halfway yet," Draco snickered and forced her to finish it entirely, tipping the end skywards with one finger despite her resistant response.

"Oh my," she gasped when he finally relieved her, fighting the urge to hurl up a bubblegum disaster into the snow. 

When she opened her eyes again, all of the colors in the world had grown exceptionally vibrant.

A halo had developed around each mounted lantern and candle, the tinsel decorations just about blindingly glamorous, and the air suddenly smelled inexplicably like gooseberry pie and sugar cookies.

She could even hear music lilting out from the reception area above which had been previously imperceptible - bloody hell, she was convinced she could see the music notes dancing by.

The temperature was perfect, the people were all charming, and she was excited to waltz when moments earlier the concept had been a downright negative anticipation.

Her heart soared with the associated glee the elixir was meant to bequeath. After taking in everything like a fascinated little girl in a flower garden she noticed he wasn't taking in anything at all but herself, his eyes flickering over her entire body.

The ring around his blue iris' had tinted a faint pink as the potion concentrated in his system, only emphasizing the splendid intensity of his salty blue gaze.

"Oh, come here you treacherous boy," Audette caved and grabbed Draco by the lapel of his suit, tugging him in for a kiss which they held until her back was fully arched and his hands were firmly on her waist.

It was like sinking to the bottom of the ocean with the sudden ability to breathe.

Even the high-pitched wail of a seriously discontented Professor McGonagall could not ruin the upgraded mood, plunking down the staircase in outrage, "Mis-Mister Malfoy! Why Miss Bellarose, what are you doing out here? Does this look like a backwater tavern to you? The champions are dancing momentarily!"

They split apart with sly smiles, daring glimpses all the way up the stairs past the suspicious, squirrelly teacher who was dressed in a very unique set of dark blue robes for the occasion.

Directly inside it was a madhouse. 

Dozens of people shouting and organizing into a perfect set of lines, champions on the left with their dates on the right; although apparently they had not made much progress given the state of universal drunkenness.

Poor Professor Flitwick - who could not have exceeded three feet in height even counting his wannabe sorting hat - was attempting to call out from a placement chart. His stature, mixed with his pipsqueak of a voice, rendered him virtually as invisible as a Thestral at the center of the riled teenagers, and it didn't help that long gowns were just about burying him from all sides.

Even with the assistance of McGonagall and Snape shooing people into order, the students kept shifting around to socialize regardless. 

"Detty! Sweet bejesus!" Audette heard a familiar voice chime over the chaos, turning to see that Guy was squishing his way through all of the decorated individuals, his natural golden eyes also alight with the same guilty pink tinge around the edge. 

He popped out in front of her and threw his arms around her neck before she could react, his pale blue top hat just about unsettling her intricately embedded tiara, "Ohhh, of course you're nothing short of royalty! Leave some glory for the rest of us, you fecking hog!" 

Audette sunk deep into his hug and squeezed all of the air out of the skinny boy, who for once actually smelled fresh and fancy in his matching pale blue dress robes. "I've missed you so," she gushed in his ear, kissing his cheek once before stepping back to inspect his get up, "Are you actually here with Noir?"

Guy nodded avidly, his gelled golden hair poking out from the brim of the artistically slanted top hat, scanning the tumultuous frenzy of packed bodies around them, "Baby, have I some stories for you. Frenchies are fab-u-lous. I daren't utter the dirty details in front of Malfoy - let's save the juice for our dormitory gabs."

"Details for details you cheeky chick, and I'll accept nothing less," Guy winked at Audette who's jaw had dropped to the floor, a devilish smile the size of the continent splitting his cute face in half. 

At least someone had had a happy two weeks. 

"What do you mean in front of Malfoy?" Draco scoffed and with one flick of his finger knocked off the top hat rudely, forcing Guy to scramble around and just hardly save the headwear from being stomped on by the heel of a large Durmstrang boy, "You thankless little twit. How is that Elation I so kindly tossed your way?" 

He waited for Guy to pop the hat back on his head and delicately reposition it before flicking it off again with a boyish snort, reinstalling the chicken scrambling a second time. 

He jabbed Audette in the ribs with his elbow, as if bullying her best friend would be something found amusing by her, "It's just too easy - he's such a pitiful oaf. Shall we see if third time is the charm?"

She let the badgering slide given he'd been oddly generous enough to share his priceless stolen potions with Guy...and also because she was no longer paying attention whatsoever, even after he wrapped an arm loosely around her waist and proceeded to shout to an Irish champion. 

"Yeah, girlfriend. What did you expect - she's a fox right? Dying of envy, Walsh?" he smugly responded to some inquiry, squeezing her flat against his side, but Audette's drugged focus was tunneling across the lobby like a telescope onto one specific planet trillions of light years away. 

It was a lonely planet with no sunshine warming the surface; perhaps it's sun had been recently taken away. Once thriving with life, now the only remnant of it's passionate history a rich, dark blue tone coating the crust, slowly fading black in torrid death.

Theodore's torn, hooded oceans for orbs were so devastated, travelling over Audette with such a shattered longing, that just the sight of his downcast expression was enough to temporarily dilute the ecstasy blasting through her veins. 

Oh, bollocks. Right.

In all of her worries surrounding Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott's participation that evening had essentially been smushed from her consideration, and what a mistake it was to fail to mentally prepare. 

Right before the closed and bolted double doors to the Great Hall which would open in mere minutes, he predictably stood where he aught to be, in second place with a pretty brunette witch at his side from Beauxbatons. She was completely ignoring her forlorn partner, speaking animatedly to another female date.

Evidently he was only there by contract, and in fierce peculiarity darned in entirely black dress robes, down to the bow and shirt below, making him appear mysteriously wicked. To underscore the darkness of his presentation and without reasoning were the black gloves he had on his hands, as if it were about to be as cold within as it was outside the castle. 

They stared at one another for a grueling ten seconds before he blinked, causing a tear to run down his cheek that he promptly rotated to wipe away, and then his heartbroken stare was gone from view. 

His back to them now, she could still see from his bent head that he was grinding his jaw and attempting to squelch the arrival of any more tears.

It was by formidable fortune for both of them that they would be entering into the Great Hall directly in line, not only forcing Theo to watch Draco and Audette lead before him as a couple, but it would also mean that Audette's spine would be firing and prickling uncomfortably down the full length of the aisle. 

For a split second Harry Potter's dark maroon dress robes interrupted her sightline of Theodore as he passed by, and she found herself squinting at a very painful looking limp in his gait. 

Funny...why was that bothering her?

Draco began taunting the boy with round spectacles and a leery glare, "How's that relationshit treating you, four-eyes? Hysterical you lost because you have worse team work skills with your girlfriend than I do. Pity you have to stand at the very back - try not to get pink eye."

Ginny Weasley made to lunge like a hyena at Draco in her shockingly beautiful green gown, but Harry tugged her backwards with him as if she was a rogue infant in a candy shop, "What did we talk about Ginny? You knew he would do this today." 

They hardly made it two feet, Ginny shaking furiously, before Draco misplaced all comportment. 

Laughing dramatically with several of the nastier champions, his dark voice dropped even lower as it tended to when he was really in the mood for antagonism, "Don't worry though Potter. My girlfriend is eons hotter than yours, so you also win last in that department, which makes you a first place loser due to cumulative placement."

The riot of cackling all around the lobby was mental, before McGonagall began issuing threats to remove people's mouths until they were willing to act respectfully.

Audette tuned it all out as she fought to deal with the discomfort of Theodore's sad reflection combating the contradicting, irrational happiness of the elixir. 

A few minutes later Draco's speech warbled weakly in and out of her now foggy mind, coaxing Audette to follow him to the front by her hand, but she was as heavy as a leaden anchor, gluing them to the spot. 

Just like a child that had stupidly lined up for the front seat of a deadly rollercoaster that was about to take off, she felt paralyzed to follow through at the last second.

"What's the matter with you, Bellarose?" he griped down at her, waving his hand before her hazy gaze, then snapping his fingers in furious edginess. She looked up into his wide and serious baby blue eyes, commanding her to get a move on as the line up formed perfectly. 

She allowed him to shuffle her forward, mouth breathing deeply for a few seconds before speaking in a hush at the very front, "There is something I must do, and it is something you must allow me to do. You promised." 

"What the fuck is it now? Right now?" Draco shook his head in confusion, whispering harshly back at her. In all fairness it was a vague warning, seeing she could be ramping up to do just about anything, as he'd made possibly fifty promises to her over the semester.

Snape, who was stood not a meter away in supervision where two volunteer students had now clamped their hands onto the handles to push the doors inwards, clocked his head slightly and narrowed his eyes investigatively at the disoriented pair. 

Audette pulled out of holding Draco's elbow, nodding once to him assuredly, "I am yours, you have my word."

His eyes darted rapidly back and forth in appall as Audette turned boldly to Theodore Nott and quite inappropriately embraced him around his neck. 

Loud mutterings of bemusement and puzzlement rumbled from the peering champions and their accompanying dates in the background, growing in volume as Theodore broke away from the Beauxbatons girl to crush Audette in return. 

His hold was so pained that his gloves dug into the soft exposed skin on her back, and she felt his chest heaving in small juts, hot breath collecting against her neck and hair. The way he gripped her in that exchange was in telepathic plea, don't let go.

There was no choice aside from letting go. 

What Theodore could not possibly fathom was that a double-edged threat had been imposed on Audette, who had sworn on her life that she would devote herself to Draco Malfoy in the form of marriage. 

Otherwise Montgomery would react at lightning speed to annihilate Theodore Nott.

Petting his long brown locks she pressed her nose into his ear, and in a mouse's voice whispered in an amplitude only he would perceive, "I will always love you, Teddy bear. I'm sorry it had to end this way. Just remember, you're not alone."

Hoping this would ease the difficulty of the evening for him, she shut her eyes and detangled the hug, not strong enough to look into his teary eyes before she reached for Draco again. 

They took each other's arms and Audette held her head high next to her champion, speaking sideways without shifting her concentrated gaze, "Thank you."

"Oh by all means, you're bloody well welcome. While you're giving out free hugs in that racy outfit, why don't you toss yourself at the fucking gorgon next?"  he growled darkly under his minty breath, scantily maintaining his composure and glaring insidiously over his shoulder at Theodore.

If it were not for the Elation Elixir's influence or the surrounding professors, the risky action probably would have resulted in a brawl to the death initiated by Draco, who instead breathed away the urge to react violently like a bull with flared nostrils to a red flag. 

"I love you," Audette spoke encouragingly in an overtly sweet tone, sending her eyes up at him with genuine care.

"Yeah," he sighed heavily and rolled his gaze, which to her relief was still pulsating with the brilliant pink hue. Staring down at her blankly, he quietly and curtly admitted, "The feeling is mutual."

Once the entire assembly was silently focused on the responsibility at hand and Snape showed signs of satisfaction, the doors were opened.

As if they were entering heaven itself, the egress led into an exceedingly bright Great Hall. 

Fuck.

For a split second they were utterly blind.

Hundreds of faces and clapping hands came into focus, greeting the large convoy of champions down the narrow aisle. 

Audette began to mentally recite instructions to her trembling body, which felt like it had insolently divided into a separate entity of it's own volition. 

Do not wee yourself, you stupid bucket of bolts.

Don't you dare faint.

For the love of god, do not trip.

DO NOT TRIP.

She was quite certain that her facial expression was going to appear in the flashing tabloid photographs as freakishly stunned.

First Place Quadrivial Champion Brings Deer In Headlights; Proceeds To Faceplant. Three Injured, One In Critical Condition.

The rollercoaster had left the station, ascending in bloodcurdling clicks up a vertical face of rickety metal tracks, and the hair-raising drop at the top could be seen in the near distance in the form of an open ballroom space.