Ok, last edit, i'll try to get out the next chapter today, there are only a few left, sorry i kinda stopped posting... ok for whoever still cares about this story and not just for the things i've done wrong, thanks.
Note: Okay, I know its been a while but I'm already working on the next one. There's not much of this story left... oh well... that and you may have noticed I changed the title slightly and I changed the summary too.
WARNING: okay, of all my chapters, this one is not for the squeamish. I mean its not that violent but it does contain violence against an innocent nine year old and for that i'm sorry. I'll mark it off, I mean you could just skip it if you want...
Disclaimer: Same as always, I only own Dria so far... J.K.Rowling owns everyone else...
It'd been two years since I'd had a nightmare at Malfoy Manor.
I opened my eyes to the darkness of the forest. 'Oh no, not again.'
'Come here child.' A voice called.
'Where?'
'Over here.' It hissed. I walked in the direction of the voice and stopped dead in my tracks. The trees and ground were laced with snakes. I gasped and turned around and spiders sprouted from the ground and trees heading in my direction. I turned and ran into what I thought was a tree, until it grabbed me.
'AAAAHHHH!' It covered my mouth; my first instinct was to bite it, running away at the first chance I got. I ran deeper into the forest listening to the footsteps behind me. When they got closer, I ran faster, my hair tangled with leaves and twigs, sticking to my face. There was a dense brush coming up ahead, so I dived underneath and kept running knowing that my attacker was much taller than I was. When I realized that I wasn't being followed anymore, I slowed my pace and walked in the direction of a clearing, the closest sign of light. As I walked further out, a lake came into view. At first it seemed like an ordinary lake but as I sat down and skimmed over the water with the tips of my fingers the water got murky and the rings spread out to the other side. I hadn't lifted my eyes, taking in the tranquility of the water until I saw the rings coming from the other side of the lake, stronger than mine. I looked up and saw her. She looked… a lot like me… but older. She looked like she was about to say something but instead reached out her hand. I was about to reach out mine when she pulled her hand away and pointed behind me. Before I could react, I was grabbed from behind by the person that had gotten me before. He covered my nose and mouth with a handkerchief. I kicked and thrashed, he held me tighter.
'Don't worry love; we won't hurt you if you tell us what we want to know.' I gasped, breathing in the potion on the handkerchief and falling asleep almost instantly…
I woke up a while later with both my wrists and ankles tied and slung over the man's shoulder. I groaned. Before I knew it, he had put me down and all the blood that had been rushing to my head went down and I collapsed on my knees. "Sinservant did I not tell you not to harm the girl, yet"
"Yes my lord." Out of a corner came a man. He wasn't that old, I mean he was pretty old but no white hairs… then again he could have dyed them… He walked up to me and I cringed as he brought down his hand to stroke my head.
"Ah, dear sweet Adrianna, the chosen child, sole heir to the dark empire." I gulped. "Now you wouldn't happen to know where your father is, would you?"
"W-w-who are y-you?"
"Oh, did I forget? I am the future dark lord! lightning crackles in the background… but my friends call me Steve." (jk. He didn't say that.) "Now will you answer the question?"
"W-which?" He sighed.
"Do you know where your father is?"
"N-no."
"I'm sure you do."
"I-I don't."
"Trying to protect your daddy? Or does he make you do this?"
"I'm not." I said, my voice getting quieter and quieter.
"Stop this! I know you know where your father is! Now tell us or we'll have to become more violent!"
"I really don't know." I squeaked. He pulled a knife out of his pocket.
"Are you sure?" I stared fearfully at the blade and shook, temporarily losing control over my body. He took my chin and shook my head no. "Now are you reconsidering your choice?"
"I don't know" I said starting to tear. He turned to the man that had captured me.
"Strap her down."
(You may skip this section if you wish, I'll not force my readers to read if they don't want to you can start reading again at the next section marker)
Before I could react, the other man had strapped me to a wall by four metal brackets. I struggled, which only hurt more. The other man came up and pressed the knife to my left arm. "There's still time to reconsider…" I closed my eyes and shook my head no. He smirked as he dug the sharp blade into my forearm letting the blood flow freely onto the floor. I let out a little cry of pain and bit back the rest. "Where is he?" His voice boomed in my ears.
"I don't know."
"Persistent are we?" He dug the knife in deeper and pulled it the length of my arm. I fully cried out. "What about now? Do you remember?"
"I don't know where he is!" I cried, my voice still not going above a whisper.
"Well we have another arm." I winced at his remark. "Does that spark your memory?"
"I don't know where he is." He placed the blade on my right arm and started tracing zigzags absentmindedly.
"So are you going to tell me or should I just go."
"Please." I begged.
"Tell me and I'll make it all go away." He said gently.
"But I don't know."
"There you go again!" he dug the knife in deeper than he had before and followed the zigzag pattern he had already traced. He stopped when he reached my wrist. "Last chance…"
"I really don't know, I'd tell you if I did."
"Again with the LIES!" He pulled the knife out and slashed my stomach-
(Okay, it's over now, you can read again if you didn't read the above part... okay well... i'm leaving now...)
I jolted up in bed panting loudly. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. I started to calm down until I became aware of my surroundings. I was still in my room, but, it was raining. Raining? I looked out the window and the balcony were both bolted shut. I reached out my hand and felt the cool water slide off my hand. I sat up and got out of bed. I walked through the rain and towards the only thing that looked out of the ordinary, my mirror. It was now laced in vines and the girl from the lake was staring back at me. I didn't care that I was getting drenched. She looked like she was floating but her eyes were fixed on me. I held out my hand, but as soon as my fingers came in contact with the glass, it shattered and flew everywhere. I fell to the floor covering my eyes. When I opened my eyes, I saw them. The first to notice was a bald old man.
"She can see us! She can see us!" He ran, well… limped over while all the others followed. "Can you really see us?" I stood transfixed as I stared through their translucent bodies.
"W-w-who are you?"
"Oh you can hear us! Thank god!" The room filled with loud voices, some asking questions, some angry, the number of people in the room doubled, then tripled. Some started lunging at me, others holding them back. I couldn't tell one voice from another, so I did what my instincts told me to do, I screamed at the top of my lungs. Lightning erupted in the room. Right then, the door opened and I closed my eyes, screaming even louder. Whoever it was grabbed me and pulled me out of the room just when lightning struck the exact spot where I was sitting. I grabbed onto the person and cried into their shirt.
"It's okay Dria. No more okay? I'm here, its okay." He closed the door and hugged me. "What happened in there?" I shook my head.
"I-I don't know." I started sobbing into his shirt again.
"It's okay. It's going to be okay." He said while patting my head. I looked up at Draco's bright grey eyes, and he smiled shakily, helping me up. We walked into his room and he sat me down by the fireplace. Then he went off somewhere, but being to busy warming up by the fire, I didn't notice. The rain had been ice cold. I didn't notice Draco was back until he tugged at the bottom of my nightgown, as if to pull it off. I tried to cock an eyebrow.
"W-w-what are you doing?" I managed to get out, turning a bright shade of red.
"Your dress is wet. If you don't change now, you'll get sick."
"Oh…" He handed me one of his shirts and I took off my dress and struggled to fit it on my head. It went past my knees. The fire went out after that. I sat there shivering for a minute before Draco suggested I get into bed. He helped me up once again and we both laid down staring up at the ceiling.
"Feeling better?" I nodded my head. "What happened?" I sighed and I told him the story, from beginning to end. From the dream… well nightmare to what happened in my room. But when I told him about the cutting, I stared at my arms. "What? What is it? What's wrong?" I held out my arms and he saw the thin red lines running down my arms where the man had cut them. I felt a tingling on my stomach and sat up. I lifted up the shirt and stared dumbfounded at my stomach. It had a fresh cut, that was still bleeding.
"Gah!"
"What? Dria you're scaring me." He came around and saw what I was staring at. I blushed. "Don't move" he said running off and coming back with a wet cloth to clean the cut. He ran the cloth over my cut and I took a sharp breath of shock. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, it doesn't hurt." He looked up at me questioningly. I tried to manage a smile but it came out as a wince as he put the cloth back on the cut. When he was done, I laid back down and he laid down across from me.
"Better?" I nodded and fell asleep.
Narcissa's POV
I walked around after my morning duties and went to check on Adrianna. But when I got into her room, the floor and the whole room was wet. The mirror was shattered and the glass was strewn around. Then I noticed the open balcony door. "No." I whispered. I turned and was about to run when I noticed a pair of wet footprints leading to Draco's room. The door was slightly ajar so I decided to push it open. Draco was lying on his bed with Adrianna's head resting near his feet. "Awww." Draco looked up, he hadn't been sleeping and Adrianna stirred from the movement. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. It's then that I noticed the thin line of blood that went through her shirt. "What happened!"
"Huh?" I rushed over to her. It's then that I noticed she wasn't wearing a nightgown. I lifted the shirt and saw the dried blood on her stomach, mostly centering on a thin cut.
"What happened? Who did this to you? Draco I swear if you have something to do with this…"
"No! he doesn't. I woke up like this, Draco cleaned it but it went again."
"Oh dear." I cleaned the cut and let her take a shower before putting on the bandage. I gave her a black sundress and walked her down to breakfast. She stayed silent during the whole meal, even when the the children showed up. After breakfast, I sent them to the playroom. The ball was tonight and there were lots of preparations to take care of.
Adrianna's POV
After breakfast, she put us in the playroom. I asked her if I could go outside and she let me… providing that I go with a maid and wore a sunhat. She handed me one and I put it on running after the maid. I walked over to the fountain in the garden letting the water creatures living in it chase my finger.
"I'd be careful if I were you." Blaise warned from right behind me.
"Hm?"
"They bite." I quickly pulled my finger out.
"How come you're not inside?"
"How come you're not?"
"I asked you first."
"I'll tell you if you tell me."
"Pansy."
"Bored." I turned back to the fountain and Blaise sat down next to me. He started fidgeting after about a minute. "Hey anna" I looked up.
"Yeah?"
"I made this for you." He said handing me a wreath made of snapdragons, larkspurs, verbena, scarlet sage and small roses. He stood up, took off my hat and placed it on my head.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome; I was bored and well… yeah." I smiled at him. Blaise was the awkward two month older brother i never asked for.
"What were you guys doing inside?"
"Nothing, Crabbe and Goyle are following Draco around again and Pansy's still a nutter." I chuckled. "No, I'm serious. She tried to lock herself and Draco in a closet once."
"Why?"
"I don't know she's a nutter." He waved his hands around for dramatic effect, which is when I noticed the small cuts on his hands.
"Your hands…"
"Thorns." He chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.
"Wait here." I walked over to the maid taking care of us and asked her for the medical kit, Poor Squib I thought as I walked back to Blaise, who seemed to be fidgeting even more. "Hand please." I held out my hand waiting for him to give me his.
"I'm fine, you know, it's okay, you don't have to do this." I started cleaning the cuts. "How do you know how to do it?" I sighed.
"My mom and father didn't get along very well… I was always there when he got angry."
"Oh."
"Father isn't always here though. He only visits."
"Oh… But why are you here?"
"Father made mom go away and took me here…"
"What do you mean 'go away'?" I looked down, staring at the grass.
"I…" I whispered, not knowing what to say. It finally dawned on Blaise what I meant.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I didn't know."
"I know, it's not your fault." I sniffed and looked up giving him the best smile I could muster. He smiled back. We both knew they were false. His bandage was tied and I was done. Then, all of a sudden he poked me! I twisted and squeaked in surprise, then laughed. "That was not funny!"
"Then why are you laughing?"
"Because it tickles." I poked him back. He laughed and poked me again. It escalated into a poking fight until he poked me right under the ribs. I twisted so much that I fell into the fountain. I coughed and spurted out water. "Blaise!" I whined. He was laughing but reached out his hand to help me. I grabbed his hand and pulled him in, he fell in. "Gahhh!" I pushed him down. We splashed around trying to get up until the maid that was supposedly watching us ran over with towels. She got me and Blaise out of the fountain and wrapped us both in big warm towels. "That was fun" I started, stifling a yawn.
"Yeah." Blaise said fully yawning. Before we knew it, both of us had fallen asleep on the grass…
We were shaken awake by an angry Draco. "Lunch." He said walking away. I rubbed my eyes and got up noticing I was dry. We walked into the dining room in silence until I noticed who was sitting at the head of the table…
"Daddy?" I questioned. He turned and gave me the most shocking twisted smile I'd ever seen. I breathed in deeply and prepared myself for the acting I do every time I see him. "Daddy!" I ran over and he ruffled my hair.
"Gabrielle."
"It's Adrianna."
"She always did favor that name. I don't know why I let her have her way naming you…" I looked down. I don't know why but I leaned into his chest he put his hand on my shoulder. I felt his wand right above what I believed was his heart. I guess I just needed to be near one of my parents. Mrs.Malfoy was nice but she wasn't my mum. I sat there for a couple minutes until father asked. "Has she been eating?"
"Of course my lord."
"Aren't you hungry?" He asked in more of a whisper. I shook my head no. He held a forkful of his untouched lunch in front of my face. "Eat." I ate it and laid my head back down. After lunch they sent us back upstairs for a while, until we could go swimming. I looked at Blaise who grinned. I stuck my tongue out at him and Draco watched us with a confused glare.
Voldemort's POV (never saw that one coming did you?)
As soon as the children left the room I sighed. I knew that she missed her mother. She'd slowly slip into a depression. Had I done this too early? No. She was becoming too soft with that woman. I don't know why I went with Calista anyways. Of all the other witches, of all the other girls, why caring Calista diCarlo. I knew this would happen. But she is influencable. For now, she doesn't need to know anything. She's obedient, docile and alive (providing she actually eats), that's all we need.
"Lord?"
"Yes, Lucius?"
"Not to undermine your authority but-,"
"Then don't."
"Excuse me my lord but don't you think the girl is getting a little too much freedom? We don't want her to get too free-spirited."
"She is fine for now, she is nine and is docile enough for her age."
"Yes, my lord."
"And Lucius?"
"Yes, my lord?"
"Next time, if I don't ask for your advice, keep it to yourself. I can raise my heir to my own fashion."
"Pardon me my lord."
"Oh stop excusing yourself and start doing things right."
"Yes, my lord."
"You are dismissed; I need the ball to go off without a hitch."
"Yes, my lord." I waved my hand in the air and walked out to deal with a few affairs.
Adrianna's POV
I got back up to my room and found it completely trashed. "What the hinkypunk on a stick?" I thought back to what it looked like before and it went back to normal, apart from the mirror. The mirror lay shattered on the floor. I stared at it and slowly dazed, completely forgetting what I was doing.
Blaise's POV
"Adrianna! We're going swimming! … Adrianna?" I watched as she walked slowly to the shattered glass of her mirror. She stepped in the middle of the pool of shards and they all lifted. They floated for a couple seconds before starting to spin rapidly around her. Suddenly, her hand shot out and grabbed a piece of glass and clutched it. I ran over to her and stared right into her eyes that were now a scarlet color. She snapped out of it, the glass fell and her eyes returned to their bright green color. She looked up and finally noticed me there.
"W-w-what happened?" I was about to answer when her pupils dilated. Her eyes almost looked black. As fast as it came, it left. "Someone's coming." She ran into the bathroom and started cleaning her cut. I ran in afterwards.
"How do you know?" Just then the door opened.
"Told you." I peeked out through the door of the bathroom and saw Draco with Pansy hanging off of him in a frilly pink bikini. ugh Flint peeked in from behind Draco who shot me a glare.
"Where's Dria?" he asked coldly.
"In here." I pointed to the bathroom. He walked in completely ignoring the broken mirror on the- wait where's the mirror? I looked at Adrianna who already changed and smiling innocently. She waked out before me and we all went down to the pool. When we got there, Draco ran in, Pansy ran after him, Crabbe and Goyle ran in to stop her and Adrianna lay down by the pool with a notebook that I hadn't noticed before. I got in the pool before Draco had another one of his fits.
Adrianna's POV
I drew in my notebook trying to avoid the sound of the splashing laughing and screaming from Draco who kept swimming away from Pansy at top speed.
"Why don't you come in?" I looked up at Draco who was resting his head on his elbows on the ledge.
"I don't like water…" which was a full out lie because I loved the water more than anything and not being able to swim was killing me on the inside.
"What's the real reason?" I held up my bandaged hand. "How did you get that?" I shrugged. He could tell I really didn't want to tell him so he went back to the group. I sat there for about an hour before I dipped my feet in the water. The water rippled as I ran my fingers over it. I kind of phased out after that, which is why I almost fell in the pool when I heard Mrs.Malfoy yell,
"Time to get ready!" It was a wet scramble back up to everyone's respective rooms and houses. When I got upstairs, Mrs.Malfoy was already in my room. She made sure I was completely squeaky clean and sent a maid to wash my hair and hand me a big fluffy towel. I put on my underwear and Mrs.Malfoy came out holding a little off white dress with thin straps and a gauzy mesh over the skirt. A laced ribbon ran down the front tying at the waist. The dress had fresh flowers laced onto the mesh of the skirt. I tipped my head to the side. "Oh I think it'll look just fabulous on you darling. The flowers just…" She kept ranting for about five minutes until she just randomly slipped the dress over my head. "There we go-what's that?" She questioned as she finally saw my hand.
"Nothing…" I hid my hand behind my back.
"Give me your hand." She demanded. I looked down. "Your hand…" I held it out. She hook her head and muttered a spell, the cut disappeared.
"Thank you ma'am." She was frowning, but when I looked back up at her, she smiled half-heartedly and helped me get on my shoes.
"Mother!" came a whining voice from outside, "Are you done yet?"
"Yes Draco." He opened the door and peeked through, then came in.
"Hiya!" I waved to him. His mom had just finished doing something to my hair and he looked from her, to me, to her again and back and forth for a couple seconds before starting.
"I, uhm… I… forgot…" He paused for a moment. "Oh father wants you downstairs."
"Oh dear" She ran out of the room and down the stairs. I turned back to Draco.
"You, um, look nice." He started, shifting nervously.
"Thanks…" There was a bit of awkward silence before there was an earsplitting shriek,
"DRAKIE! WHERE ARE YOUUUUUU?"
"Oh Merlin." He grabbed my hand and ran all the way to the stairs. The he suddenly remembered I was there and helped me down the stairs. We walked all the way to the ballroom where he opened the door. The ballroom was filled with people. I stopped in my tracks and tensed.
Draco's POV
I was still holding her hand when we walked into the ballroom, which was completely filled with people. Wait- car screeches in background- I'm holding her hand? I was just about to let go when I felt her tense. I turned and saw her widen, she was shaking slightly.
"Dria, are you okay?" She turned her head slowly and shook her head no. "What's wrong?"
"Th-there's t-too m-man-ny people." She stuttered back.
"What do you mean?"
"It's too crowded…" She started backing up to the corner of the room.
"Dria, come on, it's okay."
"No, it's not!" She squeaked
"What's wrong with the people?"
"I-I don't know… my head hurts." She grabbed her head and slid down the wall onto the floor.
"Want me to get mother?" She nodded. I darted through the crowd, glancing back to see if she was still okay. "Mother." I tugged at her dress.
"Draco, not now." She hissed.
"But Adrianna-," she looked down at me shocked then demanded,
"Where!" I pointed her out and ran back.
"Dria… Mum's coming okay?" She was still holding her head and staring at the floor. Mother appeared behind me.
"Dear, what's wrong?" she didn't answer.
"Her head hurts…" She pulled out her wand and conjured a glass and some clear liquid inside. She lifted Dria's head and poured the liquid into her mouth. Dria's eyes glazed over for a second and it's then that I realized her eyes almost looked black. Then suddenly, they went back to normal and she seemed to snap out of a daze.
"Forest." She whispered. Mother hadn't heard, but I cocked and eyebrow. She shook her head and got up. "I'm fine, better, really." She reassured mother at least 10 times before she would go away. Just then Lord -Vold –Mold –Gold-umm… Mr. Riddle called from the stage.
"I would like, on this occasion, to introduce you all to my daughter-," there were gasps from around the room, "and heir to the Dark Empire, Gabrielle." Her name is Adrianna. Mother fixed her up before pushing her onto the stage. "Come on Gabrielle." She walked onto the stage and almost hid behind her father. He pushed her out from behind him, and she stared down at her shoes. There was a moment of silence..."Well I think this deserves a dance, young mister Malfoy, please get up here." I looked around blankly and realized he'd just called me. Of course I ran up to the stage. He waved his hand and music started to play. I reached out my hand and Dria took it nervously. I brought her down from the stage and put my arm around one side and kept a hold of her other hand.
"I don't know how to waltz." She whispered.
"Just pretend, thats what I do..." She nodded and followed along. We were pulling this off pretty well considering we'd never waltzed before. Why are we waltzing? When the song ended, she bowed slightly and ran off, out of the ballroom.
Adrianna's POV
I sat outside on the grass for a minute before I heard footsteps behind me. I jolted up and faced them. It was just my father. I let down my guard for a second and before I could react, I was on the floor with a sharp stinging in my cheek. He had backhanded me.
"I don't like that little stunt you pulled in there. You're going to be my heir; you need to grow a backbone. Now get back in there, you need to be introduced to very important people." I cowered on the ground, shaking and still holding my cheek. He looked down at me. "Up!" he roared. I jumped slightly and heard a crackling noise around my head. He stopped and stared at me, then slowly reached out his hand. I winced and shifted to avoid his hand. He stopped me by grabbing a handful of my hair and held me in place. He pulled my head up and looked deep into my eyes. And then, he laughed, not a regular laugh, a more maniacal laugh, enough to make me shudder. "You take after your mother! That dirty slut found a way to spite me beyond the grave!" He gave me one more sharp slap before disappearing into the house cursing under his breath. I sat on the ground still shaking slightly. Then suddenly, I broke out into tears and instinctively went into the fetal position. There was a rustling in the bushes and a head popped up. I jolted up, but fell back down, my legs shaking too much to hold me up.
"Dria?" I looked up, tears still flowing freely. There was only one person who called me Dria.
"Draco?" I said weakly.
"Dria, are you okay? I saw what happ-wha?" his face held a confused expression.
"What?"
"Fire..." I turned and noticed the small fires in the nearby bushes. One of the lamps shattered near the house. I jumped. He kneeled down and looked me in the eyes, which started to fill up with tears again. "Are you hurt?" I shrugged. I really didn't know. I mean I did feel pain but was I hurt? More scared than hurt. "Come on, let's go inside." We walked into the house and most of the guests had cleared and Mrs.Malfoy peeked her head out of the ballroom.
"Oh there you two are." She rushed over and in the rush of the moment hugged Draco too. He looked shocked and confused. "Come on." She said pulling us into the hallway. She waved her wand and we were instantly changed and clean. I was wearing a red skirt, yellow shirt and a pink sweater. She buttoned my sweater, undid my hair and pulled it up into two pigtails. She was about to send me off when father came out of the kitchens holding a knife, lightly fingering the blade. I started to shake again and heard the crackling again. The wine glass Mrs. Malfoy had been holding shattered.
"Ow." She whispered.
"Come here Gabrielle. I need to get rid of those wretched things."
"What?" He lunged forwards. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" I emptied my lungs of all the air they could hold, screaming before I ran as fast as I could in the direction of the backyard. But everywhere I turned, he would just apparate in front of me. I ran outside but tripped barely two feet away from the house. I gasped and started to breathe awkwardly. I slowly turned around to him standing over me. I started to cry again, staring up at him, my green eyes shining with fear. Then, all of a sudden, he jolted forwards and his hands were behind his back.
"You don't want to do that my Lord. It might affect her stability. She's already very unstable, mentally and physically and this could set her off. If you do this, you might not have an heir at all."
"If I wanted your opinion, I would have asked Lucius." He snarled trying to escape Mr.Malfoy's clutches. Mrs.Malfoy, finally regaining what little confidence she had left and ran to hold me. But I couldn't calm down. He was still lunging at me.
"Please, my lord, don't hurt her." Mrs.Malfoy pleaded. I looked back up at him and tried to blink the tears away but they just kept flowing. I looked up and he stopped struggling, defeated. He walked back into the house with Mr.Malfoy at his heels. Mrs.Malfoy ran after her husband leaving me and Draco alone in the yard. I stifled a sob and stayed sitting on the ground. Draco looked back and forth from the doors to me. He slowly walked over and sat down in front of me.
"Are you okay now?"
"I don't know." I said slowly. Suddenly, there was a blinding blue light. I gasped and turned-
Dum dum dum... What will happen to our dearest Adrianna and Draco now? and what happened to the rest of the gang... what about her stability... and what about those mysterious fires and the shattering glass? A little light has been shed on Dria's mother, but is it enough to shed light on this whole stability business? oooohhhh sketchy aren't I?
Everybody happy now?