Wish Upon A Star (Cont.)

Skeeter Strikes Again

The door opened and her mum walked in.

"Draco left?" she asked.

"He had something important to do," Ashlyn said as her mother sat down beside her and stroked her head slowly.

"You didn't have to do that," she said slowly, eyes brimming with tears.

"Mum, any chance that I get to save your life, I'll take it," Ashlyn said. "No matter what the consequences,"

A tear rolled down Mrs Clarke's cheek, her lips trembling as she gazed at her daughter who was smiling up at her.

"I'm really blessed to have you as my daughter," she whispered, kissing her forehead as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Mum, I think I should tell you this now so that you can't get mad at me," Ashlyn said sheepishly.

"I might have sorta, sneaked out of school, and I brought Draco along with me...Please don't be mad!" she said hurriedly. 

"I just wanted to visit you and get Draco to visit his parents, but he didn't want to go, and so I decided I'd take him around for a while and convince him...and it ended...well, you know," she shrugged.

"But please don't tell anyone I sneaked off the castle," she begged.

"I find it impossible to be mad at you right now," her mother said. "But that was very irresponsible,"

"I know, I won't do it again," Ashlyn said. "Until necessary," she added.

Mrs Clarke shook her head, then handed her a paper bag.

Ashlyn opened it curiously and tipped the contents onto her lap. 

Thank goodness, she had all her things intact. She slipped the time turner into its box, and locked it again, then put it into her keychain bag. There was her spare quill, which looked a bit tattered now, but she could fix it.

And then her locket. It was unharmed. 

Ashlyn smiled slightly as she clasped it around her neck, and fingered the pendant softly.

"That's a beautiful pendant," her mother said.

"It is," Ashlyn said still looking at it. "Draco gifted it to me for Christmas,"

"Draco...so, are you two going out now?" her mum asked. "I like him. Your father will be fine as long as it's him. He's taken a liking to the boy...Although, he might try to scare him off with  that gun of his,"

Ashlyn chuckled. "That would be quite the show...But we're not dating, mum," she said. 

"But you'd like to," her mother pointed out.

Ashlyn sighed. There was no denying it. After her near-death experience, she was finally starting to see how the others viewed their little adventures. To them, it was a situation of life and death, but she had only ever just viewed it as living a story she loved.

Once she realised this and had her first-hand experience, the plot looked so puny suddenly. Whether she was going to die like this, maybe by vanishing or whatever she didn't care, anymore. She wanted to live to her fullest now, and hell, she was going to do everything she wanted to.

"Why don't you tell him that?" he mum said breaking the silence.

"Not yet," Ashlyn said. "He has still got so much to do, and then, maybe if I somehow summon the courage, I'll do it," 

"Should I get the wedding invitations ready?" her mother teased.

"Really, mum?" Ashlyn sighed incredulously.