章 109: Chapter 109. Gala Night 2
"I need your help." Roxana's voice dropped to a whisper when she said this, her hands held close to her chest.
This actually caught Audric's attention. "Oh? You don't say."
Roxana didn't falter, she couldn't falter, she had no right approaching Audric in this manner but she had no other options. The Ministry wasn't on her father's side, no one was but her.
"I genuinely believe that someone wants to ruin my dad's reputation and his businesses, and there's a possibility that something monumental will happen tonight." She stated with conviction.
"And you need my help with what?" Audric prodded.
Roxana drew in a deep breath and straightened her shoulders, dressed in a sleeveless black gown, she wore long velvet gloves that started from her arms to her fingertips, her hair up in an elaborate twist behind her head.
"Please I need your help in saving my dad."
"That's a tall order." Audric muttered, weighing his options. "Fine." He agreed because it wasn't like he was going out of his way to help, this was just an opportunity to get more benefits out of finding out who was behind the drug. "On certain conditions though…"
-*-
Roxana hesitated slightly like there was something she wanted to say after they were done discussing, she thought better of it though, and remained silent.
"Thanks again." She delicately bowed her head, walking away so that Audric would be able to return to the party.
She had been stunned when he readily accepted, she had thought that he would make her grovel more, and she would have done just that in his shoes. And his conditions would be extremely simple to perform too.
Audric headed back to the ballroom after Roxana made herself scarce, the guards positioned at the restroom exit didn't so much as bat an eyebrow when he came striding in from somewhere that wasn't the restrooms.
The gala was already in full swing by the time he returned, more people filling up the large space. The waiters hurried around as well, trying to make everyone's experience as wonderful as possible.
Alcohol already flowed freely at the start of the event, so it wasn't a surprise to see quite a number of rowdy people who were already well into their drinks, Muggles and Majes alike.
There was a man that Audric could not recognize stepping down from the raised dais positioned right in front of the live band. He guessed that it was one of Rowan's work colleagues saying something pleasant about him.
He was barely a quarter of the way through the hall when Ji-hun found him, the vigilant Wizard had kept a sharp watch out and immediately reported to Audric as soon as they reunited.
"Surprisingly, it's all clear except for the waiters, a lot of them struck me as odd and looked painfully out of place." He explained quickly.
His words made Audric think back to the security Wizards at the entrance to the Roberts Mansion, the trio there had also struck him as odd. They didn't look like they had experience in dealing with things like this, like random Wizards had been pulled off the street, given uniforms, and placed to work there.
"That is interesting information." He swiped another flute of champagne, leaning back to watch the rest of the hall. Things were progressing nicely and he was yet to see a pesky Auror, this night might not be so bad after all.
Ji-hun stayed by his side, relieved to be of assistance. The entire gala had his hackles rising, maybe he personally just wasn't fond of parties but he couldn't help but feel like something was going to go terribly wrong.
"Unfortunately, I found nothing on my search but on the way back, the young Mistress Roberts approached me and asked for my help."
Ji-hun swiveled his head around in surprise, he stayed far away from Audric's old friends. The ones he bumped into didn't even recognize him and he preferred it that way, he was also well aware that they hadn't parted on amicable terms so it was a surprise that one of them had approached him for help.
"She says someone is targeting her father and wants me to fix it, like I'm bloody Santa Claus. " He scoffed, taking a drink of his champagne. "I accepted to help her, securing the major reason I fell into this rathole in the first place."
This on the other hand didn't surprise Ji-hun, he would have advised the same as well. As long as Audric himself wasn't skittish about helping, it was for the best that he did.
"What did I miss and have you seen anyone from the Ministry around?"
"Nothing much." Ji-hun shrugged. "Someone stepped up to announce the official start of the gala, it's clearly a night for drinks and conversation. A few more people stepped up afterwards to say things but they were all Muggles and had nothing important to say, I instead utilized my time in keeping watch over the party." He looked around. "And about the Aurors…"
-*-
After they got to the gala, Hazel was relieved to find that they were free to move around independently. Blair had kindly shown up as her partner and it was mostly because she didn't want to be paired up with Weston.
Things had been awkward between them ever since the night that she met Audric even though he was acting the same way he always did. It had to be her reading into things that were actually there.
Blair had shown up in a mini ball gown, sandaled heels on her feet. Her wild dark curls were arranged into a beautiful style, and it surprised Hazel that she had gone all in for her sake.
Hazel herself was in a burgundy dress with a high slit up her left leg, the neckline dipped provocatively and the top part of the dress was molded to her body.
Her choice of outfit had caused stares from the rest of her teammates, for someone who usually went with practically for fashion, it had been stunning to see her go over the top for a function that doubled as a mission. They made no comments on it though and Hazel left it at that.
Mr. Potter's date was Roxana herself, which made Hazel happier about the decision to work independently. Although, she supposed that if they remained as a group, they would stand out like a sore thumb.
Weston had paired up with Natali, well, more like Natali stuck to him and refused to budge. Leaving the remaining two members of her team to pair up. Weston had been asked to back her up as there was a lot of Muggles present and things could get ugly fast.
They entered the ballroom separately and as soon as they were in, Hazel immediately started looking out for Audric. She had been half expecting him to meet up with them beforehand, they were partners, weren't they?
Blair watched Hazel out of the corner of her eyes. She had done the other girl a big favor by showing up to this party because she wasn't a big fan of outings such as this one and yet, Hazel wasn't even giving her the time of day.
Blair took a sip of the punch provided at the party, uninterested in alcohol. She supposed that she should have seen this coming from a mile away when Hazel wouldn't stop talking about Audric after the first time she met him again. It made her dread their occasional lunches and she found herself skipping on them.
She didn't need to ask to know the reason why Hazel was trying to give herself a neck sprain from how much she was looking around, she already knew well enough, what she didn't expect though was for Hazel to straight up abandon her and walk away.
Blair gaped at her friend's retreating back, lifting her hands in a gesture of disbelief. She had agreed to come to a possibly dangerous party only to get ditched by the very person who had begged her to come in the first place.
She looked in the direction that Hazel was headed in and found Audric, he was standing beside a tall man that was incredibly familiar to Blair… where had she seen that face? There were also a couple of ladies talking to them, Blair couldn't recognize them.
But of course, the reason that Hazel had abandoned her was because she wanted to meet Audric. She was actually worried about Hazel. Until she met Audric again, they rarely spoke about him so Blair didn't realize how deep her obsession with him ran.
It was probably best she followed Hazel, she was somewhat responsible for her after all. Sighing heavily, she placed her half-empty glass on the tray of one of the passing waiters, following right after Hazel.
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