The One

A Sky Full Of Stars

19th of June 1986

Oh God, Mum cannot hear me, Mum cannot hear me, was all that went through my mind as I tip toed across the living room barefeet. If she were to find me sneaking out of the house, she would not be happy. Trust me, it happened quite often. Looking behind both of my shoulders, I closed the door quietly behind me and ran out to the garden. The grass was wet and cold between my toes, seeing as I had not had the time to put on shoes. Smiling to myself, I ran to the little hole in the fence and crept out. My feet instantly met the new surface of mud and moss as I stood up on the other side of the fence and turned around to face the big meadow in front of me. The high grass swayed in the wind, in rhythm with the crickets. I instantly felt calm. At least until I realized that my mum would realize that I was gone any second. Letting out a small giggle, I ran up along the high grass of the meadow, zigg-zagging my way up to the small hill where my favorite tree towered over a small stream. The willow tree had been there for as long as I could remember, and it was where I felt the most at home in the whole world. Not that I had been to many places in my relatively short life. It still didn't matter. This was my favorite one. Even as my long hair got stuck in a small branch when I was about to slump down against the large trunk. After detaching my hair, I let myself fall to the ground with a thump, the sky full of stars spread out above me. I lay there for a few seconds, marveling at the thousands of years old stories of the stars. I had read all about them in school; The zodiac signs, the planets named after the roman gods. You might wonder why I was in such a hurry? Well it was a tradition for me to do this every birthday. In exactly 1 minute the clock would turn 00:00 on the 19th of June. And I would be six years old. I could scarcely believe it. Me, Sally Lewis, was six years old. It certainly didn't feel like it in that moment.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when my watch beeped loud.
   "Happy birthday, Sally." I whispered to myself with a wide beam. The stars were unusually bright that night, almost like the sky knew it was my birthday. I nearly dropped my jaw when a ray of light bounced against the navy blue sky.
   "A shooting star!" I exclaimed, joy filling my heart. "I need to make a wish." Closing my eyes, I was just about to wish for something when-
   "Do you come here often?" I opened my eyes instantly, not daring to move.The voice seemed to be coming from the tree. Finally, I sat up and gazed around me with a frown. The crickets were once again the only sound surrounding me, and everything seemed just as still as it had been seconds ago. Then where had that voice come from? Narrowing my eyes, I lifted my gaze up towards the sky. Something white caught my attention, and I realized that a blonde boy was perched on one of the higher branches of the willow tree, a smirk spread across his face. He let out a chuckle when he noticed my glare, and started climbing down the branches, finally jumping down from the lowest one swiftly.
   "You know you ruined my wish right?" I said and crossed my arms, standing up, once again feeling the dew wet grass between my toes. It was the first shooting star I had ever seen and I didn't even get to make my wish, thanks to this bloody idiot. Now that we were face to face, I could see his features clearer. He seemed to be the same age as me, but he might have been a year or two older or younger. He had sharp, pointed features, that could have looked threatening, had it not been for the smile on his face, and skin almost as pale as his hair. His eyes were a peculiar shade of light grey that I had never seen. Fascinating.
   "I'm Draco Malfoy, what's your name?" He reached out his hand, his beam turning into an apologetic smile. I still wanted to stomp on his foot for ruining my wish, but after a few seconds, I finally gave in and gave Draco a little smile.
   "I'm Salomé, but you please, please, please call me Sally. I hate Salomé." I held his gaze sternly, making sure he understood.
   "Alright, Salomé." He grinned, sticking his tongue out. Okay, who was this imbecile- Calm down, Sally. He was only teasing me. God knew I loved to tease people too. So instead of glaring, I cocked my head to the side, eyeing the boy.
   "Do you live nearby?" I asked him with curiosity, brushing away a strand of auburn hair from my face. This was the first time I'd seen anyone in this meadow aside from me. You see, my family lived in the middle of a forest in Wiltshire. Yes, I know. It took me more than an hour for the school bus to get to school, which was in a small village.
Draco turned around and pointed at the forest behind him, the contours of the trees barely visible against the night sky.
   "My house is behind that forest. I usually don't go this far away from home, but I felt a little adventurous tonight." He answered with a shrug, before turning back to me again. I couldn't help but look at the boy with wonder.
   "Don't your parents know you're here? It's midnight!" I asked, looking behind his shoulder towards the forest. I had never ventured past it either, but I was also almost a hundred percent sure that my parents had told me that there were no other houses nearby for several miles.
   "Nah, my dad's working and mum is hosting a party with some friends. My friend Blaise, the son of one of her friends, fell asleep some time ago, so I decided to go out." By then it was he who eyed me suspiciously. "And you, what are you doing here?" He looked at me as if I was a supernatural creature. It was very strange, but something about him was different too. I was just about to open my mouth to answer, I heard a very familiar yet annoying voice shout through the clearing.
   "SALOME! COME RIGHT BACK IN NOW LITTLE GIRL!" My mum yelled, and my heart filled with dread at the scolding I was about to get. Letting out a sigh, I shrugged at Draco. "Well, that's my mum. As you can see we live right there." I pointed at my old house, which looked to be nearly falling apart. And on the middle of the lawn, behind the wooden fence, my mom was standing with crossed arms.
   "So... I should probably go." I gave him a small smile, brushing my hair behind my ears. Draco grinned in return, shrugging.
   "You probably should."
   "Well... See you around, I guess." I chuckled, still smiling, before backing away down the hill. I waved as I started trotting down through the high grass again, but didn't turn around to check if Draco was waving back. However, as I arrived to the fence encircling my garden, I pivoted and saw that the silver haired boy was still standing under the willow tree, looking in my direction.