You Said Forever, but It Seems Like Never

Shouts of worry and yells of fury woke me up from my deep slumber. I shot up, groggily looking around my closet for where they could have come. I looked at the moving clock on my wall 4:09,I cursed, glaring at the floor for a minute before checking to see if any of the others were up. Draco and Blaise stirred but didn't wake up. "Lucky bastards." I rolled my eyes deciding I should go calm our parents worries.

Quickly, I ran down the hall to a guest room they were tearing up, my jacket slipping down to my elbow.

"Stop! We're safe! Just fell asleep in a odd spot!" My voice was just under a yell. They immediately stopped ripping everything apart and turned to look at me, worry instantly vanishing from my parents face only to be replaced by suppressed anger. Everybody's eyes trailed down to my arm where there was a nasty gash and a ugly yellow bruise.

My mom gritted her teeth. "What happened to your arm, Braelyn." She hissed my name out with venom. Casually slipping my jacket up I shrugged nonchalantly. She thought I was at the club again but that wasn't the deal last night.

"Got jumped." Maybe I was a little too enthusiastic for being stabbed and having a few bruises.
"Everybody got jumped?!" Narcissa shrieked, loosing her cool, her voice going a few octaves higher making me want to cover her ears. I shook my head slowly, "I got jumped,"I explained slowly. Okay maybe I wasn't the only one to get jumped but they didn't have to know that. "It was before I even came back from strolling around outside." Mum and dad eyed me disbelievingly while all the other males who were in the room eyed me wearily. All the other wives just looked me worridely, "For heavens sake! By who?!" exclaimed Pansys mother.
"Just a few guys.... that wanted to finish some business from two years ago?" It came out all question like.

Truth was it was some people from the club two days ago coming to claim their revenge. They were the only ones out of the whole time i've been back, so that was good.
"Guys...?" Lucius drawled in wonderment. "Yeah," I nodded as if to prove a point. "Guys." I confirmed.

After that I just walked back to my closet to wake the others up, too tired to put up with their questions right now. I blasted the stereo for a minute as they jumped. Turning it off I turned to them as the glared.

"Bloody hell Braelyn, what?" Draco snapped harshly, his glare only intensifying.
"Your parents are here and threw a bloody fit. Everyone was tearing the house apart. You guys are going home now." I explained as we walked out.

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Crabbe and Goyle grabbing a few pieces of my candy, everybody had confessed lastnight that even though they didn't like muggles, they made damn good candy. I snorted as they decided to just take the bag. What fat asses. As if they didn't get enough last night. We walked down the hall and as we reached the room I handed them off to their respected owners. I mentally laughed; I was making them sound like pets.
"Here's your children." I stated with a tired smile, saying goodbye to everybody else before marching off to my room taking note of the light padding of footsteps coming after me.

Stopping at my door I turned around to give Narcissa who was like a second mother, a smile.
"Yeah?" I yawned rubbing at my eyes. "Anything I could do for you." I asked giving her my full attention. She just tsked, grabbing my arm to examine it. "Are you alright dear?" She asked as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

Was I alrlight? I decided yeah, I was alright. "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine Cissy, they're just a couple of scars and bruises. Nothing really, what with the war that could come in years time or less. Then you could worry." I winked, giving a laugh. She smiled at me sorrowfully, "Yeah, I guess it could be worse. Just be careful dear, for me please?" She gave me a kiss on my forehead then apparated away with her family. I just walked into my room and fell asleep as soon as I pounced on my bed.

--

No more than a couple of weeks later we were off to go have dinner with everybody at the Malfoy Manor after a long trip to Diagon Alley. It was the night before going back to Hogwarts, and everything of mine that I needed was packed so I opened my trunk. After a minute of riffling through it I decided on a pair of black skinny jeans and a long sleeved black shirt with some white beaded bracelets.

Getting dressed I pondered how different this year was going to be. I heard from my parents that one of Voldemorts minions had killed a boy named Cedric Diggory. But everybody had been calling Harry Potter and Dumbledore daft and dangerous. The Ministry was really pissing me off with that, just because they were too scared to admit it and wanted 'proof' they were putting everybody in danger. They were giving the Dark Lord time! Everything was going to go to pots if they continued to brain wash everybody into thinking he wasn't alive. They'll be sorry though. Sorry when they are all dead because he probably killed them off.

Pulling on some black flats and my grey hoodie I had to pull over my head, I went downstairs.
"Can't you just try to dress up one time?" Mum asked exasperatedly, rolling her as at me yet again. I kept quiet and latched onto fathers arm as he apparated us all. We walked with the Zabini family who had arrived at the same time as us. Blaise stood next to me as we walked in a comfortable silence a few paces behind our parents.
"I just wanted to thank you, you know? That night we all stayed at your house was the first time we actually felt like real kids not having to put up with all this mental stuff that had been happening lately. So... Thanks." I grinned at his kind words, glad I could help people get away from this life that had been forced upon them. "No problem, we could do it again sometime during break maybe?" I offered watching as his face lit up and he nodded enthusiastically.
"Can't wait. I just hope we're all allowed." He told me as we walked through the front door.
I nodded absent-minded, softly rubbing my thumb again the palm of my left hand.

The dinner was quite nice. It was almost like the Hogwarts feast and there were many more sweets. All the adults went into the parlor to talk leaving about 20 kids to wander around. Lucius nearly lost his cool when they suggested going into the Parlor. He didn't want some kids running out his house but Cissy managed to convince him we were well trained and wouldn't do anything bad. Talking like we were dogs. I smiled at the memory. Grabbing two tarts I walked away from the group and up the stairs to the balcony, opting to just sit there and watch the sunrise fall into night. Sometime in between the few hours I sat there Pansy, Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy came out to just sit and watch it to. Albeit they talked instead of sitting in silence but once they stopped I enjoyed listening to the wind with the occasion call from the Albino peacocks.

After the others left it was just Draco and I. He came up behind me wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his head on my shoulder. I relaxed into his embrace, leaning my head back a bit. "Beautiful isn't it?" I whispered lightly. It felt as if I were to do anything else it would ruin the moment. "Yes, you are." He retorted with the cheesy cliché line.

I let out a light laugh at the compliment, leading us into his room as we fell onto his bed. Him landing on top of me. Pushing him off gently and to my side I snuggled into him.

"You my friend, are such a dork." I kissed the tip of his nose lightly, smiling as he scrunched it up. I fell asleep after that and the only thing I remember was hushed voices and my dad picking me up as we apparated home, my parents tucking me into bed like they did all those years ago.