This chapter was a result of a pity party, friends leaving, karate classes, and a new ear piercing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter they belong to J.K. Rowling.

PAIN has an element of blank;

It cannot recollect

When it began, or if there were

A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,

Its infinite realms contain

Its past, enlightened to perceive

New period of pain. --Emily Dickenson

Day: August 4

My door creaked open as little footsteps came to my bedside. I felt a little body snuggle close to me. Soft, little blonde curls brushed against my arm. Finally I opened my eyes to see two smaller versions of mine staring back.

"Mommy? Are you up?" asked a little voice

"Yes, I'm up." I said smiling "Come lay down here." I pulled the little boy onto the bed resting him between me and the person next to me. "Lydia is he up?" said a familiar voice. The person next to me rolled towards and it was...

"Why is Wolfe coming to see you?" shouted Draco, waking me up, as he entered my room.

"Huh?" I mumbled barely awake

"Why is your oaf coming?" he asked annoyed

"Kasper's coming here? When?" I asked a little excited to see my former boyfriend.

"He set you an owl this morning but you were asleep, so I took the letter."

"Give me that letter. It's invasion of privacy." I said leaping out of bed and towards the boy holding my letter. I smacked Draco as hard as I could and he let go of the letter. I smiled as the flourish of the letters they were in fact Kasper's writing.

"I thought he broke up with you last Christmas." smirked Draco while he was holding his arm.

"Not that it matters to you but we broke up in June." I said reading the letter.

"I will not have him visiting all day, when I've planned better things to do today."

"Really because you're mother probably wouldn't mind another guest and he's coming in an hour. Tell me though what have you planned for today?"

"Well..."

"That's what I thought. I'm going to go tell Narcissa." I walked out of room and heard the door to Draco's room slam shut. It was true that Draco and Kasper didn't get along. I smiled thinking about Kasper; we'd meet two years ago when he came for the Tri-Wizard Torment. He had graduated from Drumstrang the same year Lawrence had from Hogwarts. Kasper in a lot of ways was anything but Draco Malfoy. People had wondered why we broke up but that had, thankfully, been kept private. Kasper had realized that I wasn't in love with him but had tried to make things work. In the end we broke up because he knew a part of me would love someone else. All things aside we decide being friends was the best route for us, so that's what we'd been most of the summer friends. I found Narcissa in the dinning room eating scrabbled eggs and toast. "Narcissa..." I stop and wait for her attention "Um...well Kasper sent me a letter and he's asked to visit for two days. He...um...willbehereinanhour." I said the last rather quickly.

She looked at me for a few minutes then said "There seems to be a lot of people here but I'm sure it would be fine. He'll have to stay on the third floor though."

"Thanks Narcissa." I said running back up to my room. I walked into the bathroom arms full of clothes and found half of my stuff strewn across the floor. I found a spot on the counter to set my clothes and picked up my myriad of things. Upon setting things down on the counter I looked in the mirror and noticed the bruises around my wrist. They looked like yellow and green finger prints. I'd been wearing stuff over that spot and hadn't paid much attention to them. Now in the light of the bathroom they looked grotesque. I quickly searched for the cream I so desperately needed to find. It was a vain attempt because I knew that I'd left it at home thinking I wouldn't need it. Looking at the clock ticking away I knew I only had thirty minutes until Kasper came. I took a shower and changed into my clothes. It was when I went back into the closet that I notice a plastic black cuff with a butterfly on it. Cata had given it to for Christmas and I realized that it would cover the bruises. As I entered the hall I heard Narcissa's cool voice welcome Kasper at the foyer. "Lydia!" Kasper said before taking long strides up towards me. I smiled as he came towards me and hugged me tightly. "Wie geht es Ihnen?"

"I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm good now that I've seen you." he said smiling broadly. He was still holding me when I heard the sounds of someone coming down the stairs. Narcissa had wandered off sometime and was no longer around. Kasper must have noticed someone was coming because he let go of me. I now had the chance to take in his appearance. He looked tried and worn out. His hair had grown a little longer and his face was unshaven. Layton came down the stairs and shook hands with Kasper. Soon Blaise came down but Kasper had wanted to go to his room and clean up after hours of traveling. Soon Kasper and I were walking through the mansion; we'd managed to shake Layton and Blaise. "That looks nice. Did Cata give that to you?" he said referring to the cuff

"Yeah, I like it a lot." I said while readjusting it.

"I've missed you a lot."

"I know but we're friends."

We had reached the third floor landing. Light was creeping through the hall and for a brief moment I wonder why I had ever broken up with him. His brown eyes seemed to shine in the summer light. He was tall and tanner than I remembered. "What've you been doing all summer?" I asked without thinking.

"I've been traveling with my brother in Germany."

"You don't get that tan from being in Germany..."

"I've been traveling with my brother. We've been helping with..."

"Stop I won't hear any more." I said interrupting him. It was a little known fact that my father was a Death Eater and that Kasper's family was fighting for the light. We were opposites in a lot of ways although we never spoke of our family's ties to light and dark. I looked up to see that we were standing in front of the room Kasper would be staying in for the next two days. "I should let you get settled." I turned to walk away but felt the plastic being pushed into my wrist.

"I want you to stay. I need to tell you something important." He said releasing my wrist. Turning away he opened the door and waited for me to enter. The room was burgundy which made the walls almost look blood like. Oddly the room had white carpet in it. I sat down in a chair facing a large window which over looked the northern gardens. Kasper went rummaging through his small trunk and produced a small box. I opened the box and looked down at the reflective surface. "How did you get this? I thought it'd been destroyed." I said taking the antique mirror out of the box. It looked like new to say the least and shined brightly in the light.

"It was just sent to me with a note saying it need fixing and I was to return it to you."

"I broke this mirror three days ago." I whispered. I put the mirror back in the box for fear of breaking the item for a second time. My cuff had slipped down my wrist as I adjusted it I knew I'd made a mistake.

"You're hiding those from me. He hurt you again." Kasper said with clear annoyance in his voice.

"Don't give me that look." I said digging the toe of my shoe into the carpet.

Kasper let out a long sigh before saying "You're not safe. I know you've been having dreams again. We want to help you but I assume you already knew this."

"I know that I'm not safe. We can't change things that are supposed to happen and I've learned to accept that. What kind of help are you offering?"

"Well, we'll try to protect you in every way possible. Example being that I've made the mirror into a portkey but it'll only work when you're in danger."

"Okay. Don't tell how you'll protect me just follow it through."

"Lydia. Promise me you'll keep your guard up no matter who you're around."

"I don't make promises you know but I'll do my best." I said as he came over to me and held me close for a brief time.

"I think I'll try and get some sleep before dinner." he said

I walked down to the second floor and lay down on my bed. I looked at the clock it was two in the afternoon. Sleep was a demon always waiting to capture me. Today I willingly gave into captivity.

Suddenly I couldn't breathe precious oxygen was being forced from my lungs and I was having trouble replacing it. A weight was bearing down on me. I opened my eyes and saw cool sliver looking down on me. Draco was lying stretched across me most of his weight was on my chest. When he saw that I was awake he moved to the side. I sat up gasping for breath. "What did you do that for?" I said regaining my breath and voice.

"I wanted to wake you up."

"What time is it?"

"It's one in the morning."

"Oh." I realized that I'd slept through the afternoon and dinner. My jeans and shirt seemed to strain. I got up and changed into shorts and a large shirt before crawling back into bed. I noticed that Draco was sleeping in shorts but a bandage had been placed on his arm. I didn't really care to ask. Tonight wasn't any different from nights before as soon as a laid down an arm snaked around me and pulled me close.

He put his head close to my ear and whispered "I don't hate you, Lydia. I don't love Pansy either." I stayed silent and wished for sleep to take me once more. I thought it an odd thing to say and realized that pain was another demon that haunted me and Draco was at the core of it.

Author's note: Would someone please have some courage to praise me or tare me down!