𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜'𝙨 𝙂𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙃𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪 • 𝘿𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙤 𝙈𝙖𝙡𝙛𝙤𝙮

𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦

I was swimming in the lake. The water was good, the day was even better. I swam out and floated away. I closed my eyes, just thinking to myself. Ive been spending half my time in lake, it was just calming, trust me. If Lisa was here, she would never come out.

I saw someone waving their arms and calling out my name, it frightened me and I flipped. I came from under the water, wiping the water out of my faceZ It was Wayne. I swam back to see what he wanted.

"Wayne, sorry, I didn't hear you." He passed me my towel. Wayne and I had became good friends for the past 2 months now. He's a great guy. Pretty funny.

"You were pretty far out."

"Whats up?"

"Is your uncle home? I tried knocking on the door but nobody answered so I figured that I came round back and I saw you."

"Oh yeah! Follow me." I lead him inside. I knocked on Lucas' office door and opened it. "Lucas! Here you go."

"Thanks." I closed the door behind me and went upstairs to take a shower and change. I kept it classy with some loose jeans, a tank top and a bandana to keep my hair out of my face. My bare feet made its way to the kitchen to get something to eat, grabbing my food and went to the room that we had the piano in. I gently played the keys, sucking in the vibrations. "I didn't know you play." I turned to see Wayne coming out of the office.

"We just keep here for decoration. Let everyone know that we are talented." He had a look, the oh look. "I'm joking." I patted the seat.

"You have a funny way of joking."

"How so?"

"You don't look like you're joking."

"Sarcasm i guess." My fingers danced around the white and black keys. Wayne just watched, admiring.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Valerie would like to meet you. She said that you seem like a nice girl to hang out with. Valerie wanted to know if you wanted to spend some time together, maybe next week Tuesday?" This little girl thinks I'm nice? Im not good with children... My hands fell onto my lap. "I can say that-"

"No! Why not. Spend some time with Valerie isn't going to kill me, right?" We both chuckled. "Does she like cupcakes?"

"She likes everything." Good too know. "I can drop her off then."

"You can stay. Who's going to calm her down from her sugar high." He pointed at me, I was right. If I was being honest, I think it was a good idea for Wayne to stay.

"I'll like that." He looks at his watch, brushing his fluffy hair back. "I have to go, I have to tell my father about what me and Lucas had discussed. Ill see you Tuesday then."

"You will." He flashed a cheeky smile and left. Im glad to have a friend like Wayne here. He made it worth staying here, always showing me around town, spending some time, talk about stuff that we had in common, which turned out be a lot.

✷ ✷ ✷

I had to prepare everything for today. The kitchen was all set, Lucas was gone for the day and that meant the home was all for ourselves. As I was cutting up some strawberries, I heard a knock echoed. It was them. I raced to the door and saw the two smiling at me.

"Well! Right on time I see." I put my hands on my hips. "Come!"

"Wayne said that we're making cupcakes." Valerie said so softly. She had soft brown hair, green eyes, light ivory skin, about 4 feet. She wore a baby pink shirt and overalls and sneakers. Something I didn't wear as a kid but who's to judge.

"You heard correctly. If you both follow me to the kitchen, we will begin." Valerie skips her way there, while Wayne and I stood behind.

"Thanks again for this."

"Come on." I pushed him in. Valerie and I started to make the batter, Wayne was on cutting duty. Us two giggled, Wayne cracking a smile, hearing our conversation. "Not too much or they'll come to take you." I took away the salt from Valerie, who was putting a bit much into the batter.

"Who will?" Well, she's a child. I got to make her laugh. Be funny Daphne.

"The food police. For a-salt and butter-y." Merlins, thats something Lucas would say to me as a child. Im turning into the bastard.

"Oh my-" Wayne laughs at the bad joke. Valerie mixed the batter more and I poured it into the pan as Wayne sprinkled the strawberries into it.

"We didn't get to try it! Here, Valerie, taste test." I gave her the spoon. She hums and nods.

"Absolutely splendid!" I walked up to Wayne.

"Come on Wayne, give it a try." I played around and I wiped the spoon full of batter onto his cheek, purposely missing his mouth. He closes his eyes.

"Uh no." I turned to Valerie. She giggled.

"Daphne-"

"You're-"

"Please don't."

"A batter-d man." Wayne wipes the batter off his cheek and looks at me. "Wayne..." he smeared it on my face. Valeries eyes widen. Wayne just laughs. "You think this is funny?" I threw some more batter at him. Now it was a mess. Valerie was on my side, attacking Wayne with strawberries and batter. Wayne grabbed the bowl and started to chase us around with it. "Run Valerie!" Wayne caught me, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me to him. We both took a second to catch our breath. His green eyes stared into my black ones. This felt... I don't know what it felt. It wasn't bad. I just snapped out of it and grabbed the bowl out of his hands and poured it all over him. He scuffs, wipes the batter from his face. "Merlins, you are a mess."

"Get over here!" He chased me around. Valerie comes back and joins. The kitchen was just horrible.

"What the bloody hell!" We all stopped to see Lucas, already back. He looked like he was going to faint.

"Hello uncle Lucas, you came home early." I dropped the bowl.

"Hello sir."

"I dont want to know." Lucas looks around. "Just clean this up, now." He sighs, heading to his room. Wayne and I started laughing.

"I think his right." I casted a spell and the kitchen started to clean itself. I put the cupcakes into the oven and showed the two the bathrooms so they can clean themselves. I took a quick shower, changed and checked on the cupcakes. As Valerie and Wayne came down, we started decorating. We chatted, Valerie was very tempted to start throwing frosting, but Wayne stopped her. I had an idea to eat the pastries outside by the lake.

"I mean I've had some good cakes in my day but this one is batter." Here I go again with my puns. Valerie giggles and Wayne throws his head back.

"Daphne you are something else." Valerie was getting sleepy and it was getting dark. Wayne decided to go home. He carried her and I walked them out. "Thanks for this. I think that it's the best time she had since out mother passed. I haven't seen her smile and laugh like this since." He gently bends down places a kiss on my cheek. "See you later Nini."

I locked the door and headed to my room. I started writing a letter to Draco, stuffing it into an envelope and hiding it away as Lucas came knocking in.

"Looks like you had fun today."

"Yeah I did."

"I haven't seen you this happy since-" he stops himself. He didn't want to say the wrong thing. "Im glad to see you smiling again."

"Good night uncle Lucas." I waved. I haven't been this happy in a while and it shows. It felt good. I flipped through my journal and it stopped at the page of my drawing of Draco. My fingers traced the outline. Only to see him smile again. Only to see them again.