𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗧𝗼 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗔 𝗦𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻 | 𝗗.𝗠.

59 | ﴾ A Case Of The Morbs ﴿

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.