Aurelia loved her grandmother as much as the next person, but she viewed her mandatory residence at her grandmother's manor in Derbyshire as nothing short of dreadful. Beyond the small irritations like only having access to food dubbed "suitable for her grandmother's constitution" and having to at least pretend to abide by her grandmother's early hours, there was the actual presence of the woman herself.
Portia Ashton had spent her numerous years believing that she was God's gift to the wizarding world, the epitome of good breeding and class. The Ashtons were an old and powerful wizarding family, and while none of them were muggle-haters by any stretch of the imagination, they, and Portia in particular, were quite sure they were a cut above the masses (both wizard and muggle). Naturally Portia felt that any descendent of hers should be the same. Aurelia's mother had been a talented and well-respected witch, but marrying a man with no family to speak of and moving to a house in London were not in Portia's plans for Catherine and Portia Ashton had never quite gotten over her only daughter's transformation from an esteemed Ashton to just a plain Harper. To Portia, Aurelia's arrival in the house, regardless of its dismal circumstances, represented a golden opportunity. To Aurelia, it was a nightmare.
Every time Aurelia was around her grandmother Portia was bludgeoning her with culture lessons that her mother "had been terribly remiss not to have given her at a younger and more malleable age". In truth Aurelia's manners were just fine, but they were a far cry from Portia's standards. A dance teacher, a piano teacher, and a tutor for household spellwork were immediately found and lodged in the guest wing of the house so that they would be on hand any time Aurelia had a free moment. Portia immediately set her seamstress to work making Aurelia new robes. No time or expense was spared in Portia's quest to make Aurelia the perfect Ashton heiress while she was so conveniently on hand.
Aurelia lasted nearly two weeks before she started to get an anxious kind of internal itch. By two and a half she knew she had to confront her grandmother or she was going to go mad.
"Grandmother," she said one morning after chewing determinedly on fiber enriched toast, "I really don't see why I need a dance instructor or a piano teacher."
Portia raised her impeccably plucked eyebrows. "Because you need to know how to dance and play the piano. I would have thought that was obvious."
Aurelia took a calming breath before she answered, she had decided to be a gentle as possible with her grandmother, thinking that maybe forcing her into so many ridiculous lessons was her grandmother's way of coping with their recent loss. "That's just it, Grandmother, I really don't see why I do."
"Aurelia. All women of breeding can dance and play the piano."
"But I loathe practicing the piano and I would rather play quidditch than dance," explained Aurelia matter-of-factly. It became clear that she had chosen the wrong tact when Portia sniffed in disdain.
"Are you my granddaughter or are you a fourteen year old boy?" she asked; her jibe cut through Aurelia's resolved calm like a machete.
"Of course I'm not a fourteen year old boy, despite what those abominable robes you had made might suggest!"
"Those robes are demure, elegant, and fitting for someone of your station."
"They aren't elegant, and last time I checked, my station was not in the cloisters," she snapped, and stormed out of the breakfast room in high dudgeon.
For a few days that was how it went, every time Aurelia brought up the possibility of getting rid of Monsieur Marche and Frau Franz her grandmother made it quite clear that she would not even consider it and the two invariably ended up in a very petty altercation.
Well, that was even worse than just going to the dance and piano lessons, so Aurelia stopped complaining about them. She also stopped going.
She knew that Marche and Franz were surely reporting to Portia, but her grandmother said nothing about her shirking. As a psychological warfare tactic, which Aurelia had no doubt she was employing, it worked well. Aurelia was constantly on tenterhooks waiting for the dressing down that was surely on its way, but that didn't mean that she stopped skipping her courses on class, and to her immense surprise, Monsieur Marche and Frau Franz went quietly back to the continent.
After that, things were quiet for a while, and Aurelia just knew that her Grandmother had finally learned that you couldn't make a silk purse if the silk was as stubborn as she was. But she was soon to find out that she wasn't the only one who could be stubborn.
When her grandmother asked Aurelia if she wanted to go out to dinner she jumped at the chance to order whatever she wanted to eat, preferably something large and full of calories, fats, and sugars. When her grandmother said they had to dress for dinner and laid out a surprisingly fashionable and flattering gown, she was surprised but not suspicious. She should have been.
After they walked around a bend and were faced with a well-lit mansion instead of some expensive restaurant Aurelia's internal alarm bells finally started ringing. "I thought we were going out to dinner," she asked, not without some trepidation.
"We are, Jane Upchurch always has the best food at her parties."
"Party?"
"Well I believe ball is a little extravagant a term for tonight's gathering," at that Aurelia tried to turn away, but Portia had her arm in a vice like grip belying her age, "and don't try anything, Dear, we're past the apparition point anyway." And thus Aurelia was shanghaied into attending a party that she had no desire to go to, an unpleasant turn of events compounded by the fact that she was swept right past the mouthwatering table of hors d'oeuvres and into the dancing.
And so, like every other pretty girl, she was ferried from partner to partner in the strange social ritual so reminiscent of musical chairs. To say she was enjoying herself would have been overstating, but her dance lessons had paid off and by and large her partners were nice. Yes, overall she was having a quite tolerable time, at least until her grandmother interrupted a sojourn at the food table and steered her into the arms of the esteemed Ashley Upchurch.
As soon as she heard his name Aurelia knew that she was facing what was most likely the sole reason that she had been hoodwinked into coming "out to dinner" in the first place. Ashley was Jane Upchurch's only son and Portia could not rain enough praise down on his blonde head; according to her he was polite, gracious, and the embodiment of all things good and wonderful. Aurelia was determined to hate him purely on principle as soon as she heard his name. The fact that he was attractive (in a fine boned, almost pretty, sort of way) and an excellent dancer just made her loathe him all the more.
After eight steps of silence, which made it abundantly clear that Aurelia was not going to speak, Ashley broke the silence, "So…you're the famous Aurelia Harper."
"I would hardly say famous," she replied, her voice seasoned with a sprinkling of hauteur.
"Oh, I assure you that in certain circles you are creating quite the stir. Especially those circles which involve my mother."
"Well, I have no doubt that you are about to be disappointed."
"But you've already lived up to your much vaunted beauty, has anyone ever told you that your eyes are like looking deep into the ocean?"
Aurelia's eyebrow skidded up before the words were even all of the way out of his mouth, "Aha…and what do you tell the brown-eyed girls?"
"What do you mean?"
And then Aurelia had a change of heart; she decided that there was no reason for outright hostility, she could be much more creative by employing a different tact.
"I just meant that was so wonderfully, astoundingly poetic. I always wished that I had brown eyes, what would you tell me then?"
Ashley smiled a fat smile of indulgence, "Never even consider it. Your indigo eyes and your golden hair are far too harmonious to ever dream of separating them."
She looked down in an attitude that reeked of the demure well bred female. "Oh, Ashley," she murmured. Then the music ended, and she looked up, "Well, I must dash. Great party, tell your mother that famous Aurelia says hello." And she walked out of the room and out of the party with a twisted little grin.
A/N: So…New chapter! Yay! Please, please, please review; it would do wonders for a somewhat deflated ego. Thanks for reading, and, as always, constructive criticism is appreciated, as are kind words!