(OOC: For future reference, the AU starts in place of this post.
Here.)
When Gavin molded against her again, the room felt vastly smaller than it really was. Footsteps sounded in the hall, but the sound was practically muffled as it hit her ears. All Audriana could focus on was keeping as close to him as possible, and keeping herself standing. In an instant, though, Gavin had jumped away and the groan that was pulled from her throat wasn’t something she could help.
She bit back a comment about her being a deal, not a date as she glanced between the two men and they stared each other down. It was like they were both trying to stake a claim over something neither technically had a right to, but something which one of them was far closer to owning. One of them had always been on the edge of owning her heart, and now he was back and standing next to her as Robin pointed a sword at his chest.
The next thing Audriana knew, Robin was asking her to come with him and looking anxious for to take his hand and say yes. Just as her eyes landed on the outstretched palm, Gavin’s hand reached for her own. The choice was hers, then. It took all of two seconds to make up her mind.
Although there would be discussions to be had between the two of them, where Audriana asked why he had never tried to find her – ignoring, of course, the fact that she had failed to send any of her letters – the struggle would be necessary if she wanted to keep from losing him. She couldn’t let Gavin get away again. Choosing Robin would be taking the easy way out; ignoring the fact that she had seemingly been so drawn to the younger man, if she went with him it would mean that she was too afraid to work through the problems that she and Gavin had always had.
As her hand reached for Gavin’s, she felt herself wanting to choose differently, if only out of fear. Pushing it away, Audriana knew she had to believe in him as she had before. Trusting Robin wasn’t something she understood (at least, not consciously). Gavin, though… He was everything.
He always had been.
Audriana laced her fingers through Gavin’s, wrapping her free hand around their joined ones to show Robin that she wouldn’t be changing her mind. Even as she did, though, she knew that this meant she was practically betraying the man who had saved her life. Over Gavin’s shoulder, Audriana passed Robin a desperately apologetic frown as she stepped closer to Gavin and pressed herself against his side.
“Robin,” she started slowly, vaguely aware that she perhaps shouldn’t have said his name first when given the option to choose someone. But she hoped that Gavin understood that she had made her choice. That she wanted him back for as long as he would keep her. “I’ve made Gavin promise to try and help work this out. I’m holding up my end of the deal.”
Her eyes searched his for any sign of acceptance, waiting for the confusion and apparent pain to fall away, replaced by one of Robin’s smirks or dark looks. Undoubtedly that’s what she would be given, right? It wasn’t like he had actually cared for her – Robin didn’t seem too keen on her, except when she was getting him what he wanted. So her strange affection must have been misplaced in the time she had known him.
Maybe, all along, Audriana had just been trying to replace Gavin in her heart. The one time she had tried to do so, she’d failed. Her grip on his hand tightened at the realization that he was truly there, standing next to her.
The moment Robin left, Gavin could choose to do the same. Audriana knew that. But what kind of Gryffindor was she if she didn’t take a risk with him? After effectively, single-handedly ruining things their seventh year, it felt very much like it was her obligation to ensure that he never left. Not because of something she did or didn’t do. If Gavin ever chose to leave her again, it would be because she simply wasn’t enough for him. Because she didn't know how to be enough. While she knew that to be true, of course, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to try and hide that fact from Gavin for as long as she could manage.