𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑 | draco malfoy

12. sweet nightmares

HOW TO BE A HEARTBREAKER

SWEET NIGHTMARES

( Friday 5 December 1997 )

The floorboards creaked ever so slightly beneath Rowan's weight. Her eyes were tired and the soft bunny rabbit hanging from her hand felt oddly heavy, but she followed the dim light to the top of the staircase. Rowan stuck her head through the oak beams, glancing down into the foyer. The voices sounded slightly louder, but not any less muffled.

It wasn't her nanny. Miss Ureila had gone home for the weekend, much to Rowan's dismay. She understood that the low rumbles were men. The random, erratic barks of laughter could only belong to one of them. Every now and then, she heard her father's voice. Still, she had no idea what he was saying.

This happened most Friday nights, and some Saturdays too. Her father had company over. She wasn't allowed to leave her room, not unless he asked her to.

Her father had only made her come downstairs once. She was five when he sat her on his knee and showed her off to three women Rowan didn't know. They sat on the couch and all cooed and made a fuss of her. Her father had never seemed so fond of Rowan, and it was the first and only time she'd heard him talk about Rowan's mother.

"It's very hard," Corban Yaxley had said, tickling her side. Rowan had shyly squirmed away, not quite used to her father's touch — but she smiled anyway. This was nice. "Raising her alone. Rowan's mother was sick all of her pregnancy. It wasn't really a surprise when she passed at the birth. She just always asked that I do my best with little Rowan when she left..." Corban sighed with a smile. "And I can only hope she looks down and is proud of our little family."

Rowan remembered how jealous she had been when one of the women started to coo him, stroking his arm, stealing the attention Rowan was finally receiving. When it seemed they were all over her dad, Corban had ushered her back up to her room.

Suddenly, someone entered the foyer from the kitchen. The man looked huge from what Rowan could make out — but then, every adult was big to a six year old. However, she knew this man was far larger than her father.

He paused in his tracks. Rather than joining the rest of the men in the living room, he took a low sniff of the air and then glanced up. Rowan's brown eyes widened and her bunny fell through the gaps of the banister. The man looking up at her grinned, showing off teeth sharper than were humanely natural. Miss Ureila had taught her about these sorts of people — werewolves.

"Hello there," The werewolf's grin was huge and terrifying — Rowan whimpered thinking about her poor bunny down in the foyer with him. "Is this yours?" He reached down and plucked it from the floor.

It looked tiny in his huge hand. Rowan grew more horrified by the sight of claws, and the sheer length of them.

"Would you like it back?" He asked. His voice was dark yet he was being soft with her. He seemed nice, even if he looked scary.

Miss Ureila had taught her that not all werewolves were bad, and that she shouldn't judge people based on the way that they look.

"Yes please," Rowan whispered, her voice cracking a little.

"Come on down and get him then," the werewolf replied.

Rowan was hesitant, but she pulled her head from between the wooden beams and then began to head down the large staircase. He was waiting at the bottom, watching as her small hand clung to the banister, her eyes watching what her feet were doing on each individual stair rather than him.