The Last Lieutenant

Holidays

There is no one who isn't afraid of her now.

That's evident when she goes to pick Draco up for Christmas break, the way that everyone moves to the side when she walks and averts their eyes to keep from looking at her, even though it seems like they cannot help but look at her.  She draws the eye, now, her nails clicking on the wand that she holds down at her side, the slithering bangles that wrap up and down her arm like a snake.  

It's a show of power.  And they know, as if by instinct, that it is not a bluff.

"There you are."  She wraps Draco in a hug the moment she sees him and holds him close, dipping in to whisper so only he can hear.  "Someone's made a mess, haven't they?"

They don't speak again until they are in the car, the bewitched muggle driver not even turning to peer through the divide before speeding off, winding through traffic at twice the normal speed.  It was  present from the Dark Lord, having her chauffer.  Audra's got all kinds of playthings now.

"I've been trying."  His eyes are too wide, his face too thin.  It's the look of someone who has grown desperate, but the trail of bodies and cursed objects Draco has been leaving behind him could have told her that much.  "But nothing's working."

"But our other plan?"  It's strange, to slip in and out of this person.  She can still feel the aftermath of her visit to the twin's like a sort of glow around her skin, where she did not have to play a part for anyone's benefit for a few blessed hours.  She remembers being that girl, who smiles at her boyfriend and laughs at her best friends, but somehow this one, with the power that drips off of her and her tendency to solve problems with body bags seems less like fighting and more like giving in.  Audra is starting to think that it's a bad sign.  Snape had told her that these things are a slippery slope.  It's only now that she's understands what he meant.  "How's that coming."

"Good.  It's hard."  Draco's hands are constantly moving, clenching into fists, in and out, in and out.  She wants to tell him to stop.  "The parts keep sticking."

"You'll figure it out."  She stares out the window, watching the country side whip by, and wished she had taken the carriage just so she has the power to stop somewhere.  After one of her dueling nights, she and Emmeline had gone out and bought a pair of threstrals.   Snape had actually laughed when he saw them.  "You're a smart boy."

"And if I don't?"  

A smart boy who asks stupid questions, apparently.

Audra laughed, a huff through her nose that never quite makes it to a real sound.  "Then you die.  I thought that part was understood."

The house is too crowded, with all of them home.  Or maybe it's just that Audra suddenly occupies more space.  Either way, it drives her out, constantly- to the graveyard, to diagon alley, to Hogsmeade, to muggle towns, sometimes alone and sometimes with Emmeline in tow.

Today, it's down Knockturn alley into Borgin's, Emmeline behind her, their cloaks trailing on the ground.

"You know I hate it here."  Since Clary went away, Emmeline has switched from being too quiet or too loud.   Today she hasn't stopped talking, her voice snapping out every time someone bothered to get in her way.  Audra half thought that they were only moments from seeing someone fall under the slash of her wand, but it stays in her pocket.  "It's just so dirty."

"And the dueling club isn't?"

"That's different."  Emmeline makes Audra hold the door for her and sweeps into the shop, the sound of her voice making everyone turn to look at her.  When they see who it is, most people look away, pretending that the floor has suddenly drawn their interest, but some don't.  They are people who invite stares.  "That's part of it's charm."