"Are They?" She Scoffed Shaking Her Head. "I Can Assure You My Personal Owl Is Looked After Much Better

"You cannot consider that a pet." She grimaced, her tone full of disgust. Some people had absolutely no manners, wandering through town with a ferrett no less. It was no wonder he was still unattached. "You're very odd. You know that?"

"Stop calling her a thing and maybe I will." Clyde didn't lift a single finger to stop Bonnie sniffing around Serra's feet. Several people would agree with Sera's opinion, and all those people were simply horrible. If the girl didn't like Bonnie then she would simply have to get over it.

"Thank you. I thought you would like it, everyone has so far." She smiled, pleased, although she had not doubted it for a second. Mira was a woman with good taste, she would've been surprised if it her cousin didn't appreciate it. "I do wish more people would have thought like you. I've seen some terribly boring outfits." Serra sighed, dramatically. "They have. I am their only child after all, it only makes sense."

Mira took an obligatory drink, not wanting to offend the birthday girl. She nodded as she swallowed, offering her a smile. "It's delicious, a good choice." She commended her. Already she was exhausted from the social niceties, hoping she would not have to stay much longer and that she could slip away. "Oh thank you. I had to make sure I chose something that was Serra approved for your birthday party." She mused. "It's quite the party, your parents went all out this year, didn't they.."

"I was just wondering if the rumors are true. It looks like they are." Serra looked Cressida up and down, shaking her head. It was a shame that she had left a family as influential as the Malfoy's to marry someone beneath her. She'd never understand something like that.

Open starter for: Cressida McLaggen Max 4 replies please (0/4)

In the new situation Cress was living in, she found out that her patience had grown rather thin as well. And maybe she had grown a little more paranoid as well. It felt like people were pointing her out more, it made her conscious of walking down the street. And she knew that perhaps it was all inside her head but it made her snap. “What can I do for you on this beautiful day?” She asked the person behind her as she quickly turned around to face them.

"She isn't?" It was said as more of a question rather than a fact, needing the reassurance of hearing him say it again, say that she was the only one that mattered. Words were important to her, especially when they came out of his mouth. She cared about what he thought about her, how he saw her, she always had. The anguish in his eyes as so obvious right now she was wavering in her disbelief for him. Was he actually being honest with her? Was it over? Had it been over? "My birthday. After my parents announcement. He thought I deserved to know." Serra still remembered how angry she had been, how upset. Now he was telling her all the right things, what she had longed to hear from him back then. They were different people now and yet, still the same. She'd never been indifferent towards him, if she had she could have thrown out his many gifts, but she had kept every single one. "Keep talking..."

"She's not special," he corrected lowly, no longer glancing in both directions before he spoke. At least it was the first honest thing he could mean completely. There was no obligations tying him to Charity and not much of a reputation that clung to her name which was probably what made her hold his attention in the first place. She was under the radar enough, but apparently not. Malcolm's head hung for a moment, then blinked back up at her. His problems only ached more as he knew that he was the reason for placing the mistrust in the first place. He had buried it under the many years they had spent apart, but now, it was heavily back in his face. He never liked dealing with his own consequences, but he never thought of Serra as a problem or a consequence. She was more defined by everything that he couldn't understand, couldn't have. "When did he even tell you this?" he asked, brow raised. " This was clearly something he would need to talk to Evan about later. "I have no intentions of making you look like a fool, my love. She's in the past already before we even had this conversation. I will handle it later, alright? But please know that you are the only person of my affection...truly. You know that."

"Yes." She grimaced, her tone petulant and angry and not nearly as blasé as she wanted to be. Normally no one got to her, she believed herself to sit pretty on her throne, a pedestal from where she looked down on others and now it seemed like her whole kingdom was crumbling. "I'm not as cheap and desperate and easy as you are." The insults kept flowing easily out of her lips but that didn't make her feel any better. Wandless magic was something she was quite good at when it came to beauty spells, needing to know she could do her hair in any situation. It wasn't even planned, her emotions getting the better of her as she turned Charity's hair into a hideously short bob with uneven bangs. A laugh left her lips as she started at the other, feeling like she won she made her way into the hallway. She needed to find Malcolm so he'd tell her this was all a bad joke.

She stared in bewilderment, surprised to see the toll her boyfriend's shenanigan had taken on her. It was hilarious to see the tormentor become the tormented one, all too annoyed to feel someone she saw as lesser get a small triumph. "Plenty, huh?" She repeated the witch's words, simply to spite her, a sly grin pulling at the corners of her lips. "The way he had fun with me, though, makes me think you two didn't have any." Charity stated, turning to washing her hands, pretending not to care for this conversation at all. She did, though, more so for the pure satistfaction of getting to pull one over someone as awful as Serra. "You don't have to, what do I care if you believe it or not?" She said with a shrug of her shoulders. "All I care is that I'm most certain I'll ride him again."

"It would have been rather embarrassing for you." Serra giggled, her superiority complex obvious. Annoyed that Alara didn't ask she provided the information herself. "I'm here with Antonin."

Alara rolled her eyes at her cousin and glanced around for Evan to come save her from this monster. "Do you think I would have attended if he wasn't with me?" She wouldn't have. This was the world they grew up in, didn't mean she had to be here. Emir and Mira would have been enough for the family appearance.

"How long were you seeing her?" She didn't miss that he only said when he claimed to have stopped talking to her. How long had that been going on, she wondered. Still it did make a difference that he had stopped seeing her when he found out they were engaged, she supposed. The timeline in her head warred with what Evan had told her, unsure of who to believe. "I don't like not knowing things. Especially if they pertain to me." Her parents wanted to surprise her with a birthday party and then it turned into a surprise engagement after all, she was still upset with them for tricking her so. He had spent more time imagining and planning their future wedding it seemed. Serra didn't pull her hand away, letting it rest in his. It has been a while since she had touched him and yet the same sparks ran up her arms. "Obviously no blue. We are not Ravenclaws. Either white or pink florals."

"Of course not," he said with the same tone, thought softened around the edges of his words. There was a different spark in her eyes, one that he hadn't seen in many years, and it filled his chest with lightness, hope. "He knows nothing then. I hadn't been with her at least a week before your party-our announcement to society." At least he hoped he had the timing right, but the couple of days set preceding her party had stretched out before him in a blur. He remembered the lawyers, his dinner with Agatha, and nowhere in that could he recall meeting with Charity. He hoped she could be a problem that fixed itself without his attention pinned to it. "You did. I mean, you do deserve to know. I should've been the one to tell you, but I'm telling you now: there is nothing going on with her anymore. It felt like he was a limp rose that was finally blooming by her words, a grin appearing on his lips. These kind of moments with Serra were ones he had held onto for many years and now he was fortunate to find it here again. "Darling, I am here at this wedding with you, but I may as well be at ours because I cannot stop thinking about our planning," he said, reaching for her hand like a test. "We must do something different with the florals. And definitely not blue."

"I do hope your wife is enjoying it as well." While she had messed with witches older than her before, but only those who she deemed inferior to her, someone of equal or higher standing she left alone. Serra was no fool and knew when she went against someone that had the potential to best her. "Oh actually I do love hosting events. Especially when they are in my honor." She thrived off of attention. "But I do plan on going to celebrate with my friends later. Away from the parents." She chuckled. "Paris was lovely. It is a gorgeous city."

"I'm very pleased to be here," he replied with equal good manners. Thirty minutes ago, that statement would have been a lie. But he had now settled into his night of absent relaxation, and was indeed enjoying doing nothing practical. It made a welcome change. "Your parents are family friends. Of course, we were happy to accept their invitation." Studying her for a beat, he smiled slyly. "However, between us, hostess circulating can become rather mind-numbing, can't it? I hope you have something more privately enjoyable planned, as well. How was your time in Paris?"

"I look way better than you do." Serra scoffed, looking at her cousin. There had always been this sort of competition between them, at least on Serra's side, she couldn't think back to a time where she didn't despise Alara. "Please, I have excellent taste." That was something she was sure of. "I chose to end things due to my move to Paris." The move to Paris was something she had decided on after things were over with Antonin but Alara didn't know that.

"I think it's pretty obvious, Serra." Her eyes rake over the dress her cousin was wearing, not too impressed by it. The brunette let's out a snort. "They may have better taste, but that doesn't mean you will." Alara takes a sip of her drink and then notices who is on Antonin's arm this time. "Where is your date?" Her eyes attention falls back on Serra."