Author's Note: Draco is eight in this story.

Draco turned his head to look in every single direction possible before stepping out of his bedroom, his Comet Two Sixty in hand.

Both his father and his mother had told him that he wasn't supposed to fly on his broomstick without at least one of them supervising him. But his mother was visiting with Pansy's mother, and his father was busy doing "something important" in his study. And Draco didn't feel like waiting on either of them just so that he could do something he knew perfectly well how to do safely without any supervision being required, flying.

It really was silly how his parents insisted on being so "protective" of him. Draco, however, didn't see his parents as being protective. Instead, he saw his parents as being "restrictive" with their stupid rule that he never fly unsupervised.

Draco made his way stealthily through Malfoy Manor, as his father often seemed to have oversensitive ears that had the uncanny ability to pick up on any mischief being done (especially if it was Draco doing that mischief).

And there was also the possibility that his mother could return at any moment.

Draco, therefore, made sure to hide his broom behind his back as he peeked around every corner. One could never be too careful with parents like his.

It took some time (as the manor was really huge), but Draco finally made it outside.

Draco took a moment to breath in the fresh air before he mounted his broom.

He began simply enough. He didn't fly at a snail's pace, but he also didn't fly so fast that he was nothing but a blur (not that his broom would allow for that anyways). Draco really was going to have to start bugging his father again about getting him a faster broom.

It did not take Draco long, though, to become bored. It was time to start doing some tricks. That was the only way he was going to manage to stay awake.

Draco began with some simple flips. However, it didn't take long for those flips to become boring as well to the young boy.

Draco then began to do some more complex tricks that required a lot of thought and concentration, even though it didn't seem that way to him. Draco, after all, had also prided himself on his focusing ability.

Everything was going just fine for a while. But then Draco began to get dizzy and disorientated. Even though his broom couldn't go that fast, he had still done one flip too many at a quicker pace than he was ready for (even though he would never admit that out loud).

Draco lost control of his broom. He meant to turn left, but because of his disorientated brain, he ended up turning right instead. He turned straight into a window.

Before Draco's mind could fully comprehend what was going on, he crashed through the window.

The loud sound caused by the glass as it broke and shattered immediately caused Draco to panic, and he ended up losing his grip on his Comet Two Sixty.

From his position on the floor, a slightly shaky Draco looked up. And he found himself looking into the cold, grey eyes of his father.

Draco had not just crashed through any window. He had crashed through the window of his father's study. He had broken the window of his father's study.

Lucius's face was a mixture of concern and anger. A quick look at his son, however, showed that Draco was not seriously injured. He had went through the window so fast that the glass had barely cut him.

"Is your mother home, Draco?" Lucius asked in a deceptively soft, calm voice.

"No, Father," Draco answered truthfully, knowing that he was incapable of lying to his father when they were face-to-face like this.

"Then why did you just come crashing through my study window on your broomstick?" Lucius continued. "What is the rule when it comes to you flying?"

"I'm not supposed to fly without either you or Mum supervising me," Draco mumbled, his bottom lip trembling slightly.

"Yet you still flew unsupervised," Lucius stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes, Father," Draco replied quickly, "but I'm really sorry. I promise I won't do it again. I've learned my lesson."

"I would like to believe that, Draco," Lucius responded, "but I know for a fact how stubborn you can be. No, a simple apology is not going to be enough this time. You need to start realizing that there is a consequence to every action. Give me your broomstick, Draco."

Lucius then held out his hand.

Draco knew better than to disobey such a direct command. He handed his Comet to his father without any hesitation.

"I'm going to be keeping this for a while," Lucius declared.

"But Father-" Draco quickly began to protest.

"I was going to keep it for just a week," Lucius interrupted, "but now I think I'm going to keep it for about a month. Unless, of course, you would like to complain some more."

Draco immediately closed his mouth.

"Good, you're learning," Lucius said.

His face then softened slightly. "I know that you find our rules to be silly, Draco. But as you have just learned personally, there are rules in place for a reason. You could have been seriously hurt. You're lucky that you just got a few cuts. Next time, it could be a lot worse. Do you realize that?"

"Well, I was scared when I went through that window," Draco admitted with a slightly sheepish expression on his young face.

Lucius pulled his wand out of his snake-head cane.

"Come over here," he ordered, "so that I can heal those cuts that you got before your mother gets home."

Draco knew that it didn't take much to make his mother start fussing over him, so he quickly walked over to his father.

"Are you going to tell Mother about this?" Draco asked.

"I'm afraid so, Draco," Lucius replied. "I think she has the right to know. Don't you?"

"I guess so," Draco mumbled. "Do you think she will be mad?"

Lucius could not help but chuckle slightly. "Maybe a little," he said, "but I don't think you really need to worry too much about that. Oh, no, I think your biggest concern is going to be how many 'get better' kisses she decides that you need."

Draco somehow managed to keep himself from groaning, knowing that his father would probably disapprove of such "whiny" behavior.

What had started off as a good day of flying without any parents around had quickly become the worse day of Draco's young life.

But if he endured his mother's kisses like a warrior, then maybe he would be able to convince his father to not keep his Comet for an entire month.

Thinking about it now, the Comet went more than fast enough. Draco could wait a while to ask about getting a faster broom.