It's Just A Scratch

I can still remember exactly what happened that day and, yet, I still can't piece together how a little girl's innocence was snatched so quickly. I was only four.

***Flashback***

Aunt Petunia dressed me in a cute black dress, mustard yellow tights, black flats with bows for straps, and a plain black hat. Harry was forced to wear one of our cousin Dudley's shirts and pants despite his slight protests. Then, Dudley got to wear a nice sweatshirt, a jean sleeveless jacket, new shoes, jeans, and a beanie.

Aunt petunia left the three of us in the living room as she went upstairs to get ready, herself.

"I gonna go on da swing first, doodyhead!" Dudley yelled at Harry.

"Otay. I no care what you want. I'm gonna go on da swide," Harry told him.

I began to walk off when Harry asked me, "What you wanna do, Weni?"

"I gonna sit on da bench!" I exclaimed happily and continued my way to my room under the stairs.

Harry and Dudley followed me to my room (or at least... I used to think it was a room) and watched as I got my new book called Wonder and put it into my yellow Choco Mocha backpack. I got my first aid kit and opened it. I had a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, band-aids, gauze, antibiotic ointment, and a spool of transparent surgical tape. The boys always ended up with a cut or scrape somewhere so I made sure to keep my kit on me at all times. I closed the first aid kit and put it into my backpack as I turned back to the boys.

"Why you so happy to sit on da bench?!" Dudley asked in disgust.

"I want to wead," I answered simply.

"You always wead, Sissy," Harry pointed out.

"I wike to wead," I told him.

I put my backpack on and walked with the boys out of my room. I walked into the kitchen and packed myself a bottle of water, a banana, a small throw-away cup of peanut butter, and a plastic knife wrapped in a paper towel. I zipped up my backpack and began to walk to the door when i saw Aunt Petunia walk into the living room. She was fixing her hair in the mirror as we all stood in a straight line, together, waiting for her. She had a pretty floral blouse with a brownish skirt and white heels on. It matched her well. She turned around and smiled at us.

"Alright, are you all ready to go to the park?" She asked us.

"YEAH!!!!!!" we all shouted with excitement.

"Well, go on then. Get in the car," Aunt Petunia told us.

Dudley and Harry bolted out the door as fast as they could while I remained in the door frame.

"Come on, Orenda! Don't dally unless you want to stay here by yourself," Aunt Petunia ordered.

The thought of being without the boys sounded great but I needed a bit of sunlight. I followed Aunt Petunia out the door and to the car.

There were three car seats in the back seat. Dudley liked to sit in the seat behind the driver and Harry sat in the middle seat so I sat in the car seat behind the passenger. I straightened my legs as much as I could in front of me, sat my backpack on top of my legs, buckled myself, scooted my backpack into my lap, and dropped my legs. I was a late bloomer and barely 2.5 feet tall at the time so my legs didn't drop much but I thought it was a dramatic difference non-the-less.

We drove for about five minutes until the Little Whining Play Park sign came into view.

"WE'RE HERE! WE'RE HERE!!" Dudley shouted on the top of his lungs. He immediately started to try to unbuckle himself but the chest strap wouldn't click.

We parked in front of the park and Aunt Petunia helped her son get unbuckled. I unbuckled myself and Harry, put my backpack on, and exited the car. Dudley and Harry ran to the park and I walked with Aunt Petunia.

"Why don't you go play with the boys?" She asked me.

"But i bought my new book to wead," I told her.

"You always have your nose stuck in a book, Sweetheart," Aunt Petunia chuckled.

"I wike to wead," I stated.

"I know, dear, but you need to be social. You're too young to be an introvert," Aunt Petunia told me.

"What dat mean? In-toe-wort," I asked.

Aunt petunia laughed a little. "You're too little to want to be by yourself. You need friends and you need to be your age."

"Oh. But you wead when we pway," I pointed out.

Aunt Petunia looked at the Promises and Pomegranates book by Sav R. Miller in her hand and back at me. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She looked back at her book to figure out her words then turned back to me.

"Well, I'm too big to play," She told me.

"I too big mentawy to pway," I told her back.

"Oh just go on," she laughed. I giggled a little and ran after my brother and cousin.

I looked around at all the kids playing on all the different playground equipment. I turned around to see Aunt Petunia open her book and dive into the words of the author like what I wanted to do.

I looked back at the park and noticed a small puppy with blue eyes running along the sidewalk.

I walked up to the edge of the sidewalk when the puppy noticed me and ran into the woods behind it. I looked both ways before i crossed the street and followed the puppy into the dark woods.

I ran deeper into the woods until I got tired. I drank some of the water from the bottle in my bag. I looked around and I couldn't see the park anymore. I began to panic but calmed myself down as I started to walk into the direction that I thought was the right way home. I walked until the only light shining through the trees was the illuminating moonlight. I felt tears of fear flood my eyes and cheeks until I heard something move behind me. I didn't even stop to look at what it was before I took off as fast as I could in the direction I was facing.

I eventually found a meadow in the woods with oddly shaped rocks with names and numbers carved into them sticking out of the ground.

"Well well well," a male voice called from behind me.

I spun around to meet the dark red eyes of a young man around his early adult years with greasy black hair, pale skin, and a long coat.

"What's a sweet little girl like yourself doing out this far, especially this late at night?" the man asked.

"I saw a puppy and got wost," I admitted. tears continued down my cheeks as the realization of my situation settled in.

"Oh you poor thing," the man said as he approached me and rested his hand on my cheek. I jolted at the frosty temperature his flesh was and the man chuckled.

"Am I cold?" He asked. I nodded. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

"It otay," I said.

The man gently lifted my hand to his face and smelled me. The man smiled as he looked at me.

"You have such a sweet scent, princess," he complimented, "Pure."

"Tank you," I told him.

"No, my dear," the man said with a smile, "thank you."

The whites of the man's eyes turned black, his teeth became pointed with two of them being longer than the rest, his skin began to show blue lines all along his face neck and hands. I shook in terror but no noise escaped my mouth. Tears submerged my face in its salty water.

"Aww," the man spoke but, this time, in a deep dark tone, "Don't worry, my dear. I'm not going to hurt you. It'll only be a quick pinch before you fall into a deep sleep and become what you see in front of you."

Suddenly a loud howl echoed through the still air and the man's face grew worried. He shot his head to the left and i did the same. In the woods was a black wolf growling at us.

"Dammit!" the man yelled and disappeared. A sudden strong wind threw me to the side as hard as it could and I felt something scrape the back of my right leg. I felt a bit of warm blood slowly drip down my calf from its burning wound.

The wolf ran toward me. I screamed and covered my face until it was right on top of me. The wolf stopped growling and nudged my arm with its nose. I opened my eyes to see her calmly sitting in front of me. She smelled my wound and rubbed it with her paw. I saw that the wound wasn't deep at all. It wasn't even deep enough to draw a lot of blood.

"Oh, I otay. It jus a wittle scwatch," I told the wolf as I took off my backpack. I took out my first aid kit, applied some hydrogen peroxide to a piece of gauze, and placed it on the wound. It stung for about ten seconds but that was it. I then applied a new piece of gauze and some surgical tape to keep it there.

The wolf helped me up and picked up my hat for me with her mouth. i didn't even know it had fallen off but I didn't think much of it. I thanked the wolf and put my hat back on my head. I heard a playful growl from below me and turned my head to look at the ground. The puppy from earlier was playing with the strap of my backpack. I giggled at the sight and the puppy looked up at me with its innocent eyes.

"is dat your baby?" I asked the wolf. The wolf nodded back and the puppy wagged its tail joyfully.

I giggled some more, picked up my backpack, took out the banana slices and peanut butter, and looked at the puppy.

"Want some?" I asked it.

The puppy woofed happily and wagged its tail. I opened the peanut butter container, smeared some peanut butter on a banana slice, and fed it to the puppy. The puppy happily ate the snack but started making a face as the peanut butter got stuck to the roof of its mouth. I laughed hysterically and the mama wolf put her paw to her forehead, which made me laugh even harder.

After my laughter calmed, I put some peanut butter on another slice of banana and offered it to the mama wolf. The mama wolf shook her head but nuzzled her nose on my hand as if saying, "No thank you. You can have it."

I ate the piece of banana, put the snack away and picked up the playful puppy. The mama wolf began to walk in front of me before turning back. Somehow I knew that the wolf wanted me to follow her, so I did.

We walked for a while until a man with long blonde hair dressed in a nice suit came into view.

"There you two are!" the man said approaching me and the wolves. The mama wolf walked up to the man and rubbed her head into his hand.

"Are the puppies yours?" I asked the man.

The man looked up at me and answered, "Yes they are. And who might you be, little one?"

"I Owenda!" I told the man, "What your name?"

"Lucius Malfoy. Pleased to meet you, my lady," Mr. Malfoy greeted.

"You too, Sir," I said happily.

"What are you doing out in the middle of the woods late at night?" Mr. Malfoy asked.

"I got wost," I told him honestly.

"Would you like me to take you home?" Mr. Malfoy offered.

"Pwease," I begged.

"Alright. But I don't have a muggle engine box on wheels," Mr. Malfoy admitted.

I laughed and asked, "You mean a car?"

Mr.Malfoy blushed a bit and said, "Yes, that."

"Then how do you get home?" I asked.

"Well I can do things that other people can't."

"Like what?"

"If I show you, you have to promise to keep it a secret."

"Otay."

Mr. Malfoy took my hand and I immediately felt like I was being squished and squeezed through a tight water slide. After a minute or so, I stood in front of my house. I looked at Mr. Malfoy as he let go of my hand. The puppy dropped to the ground and Mr. Malfoy and the wolves walked across the street. Mr. Malfoy put his finger to his lips and disappeared with the wolves.

Then the door swung open and my Uncle Vernon stood in the doorway screaming at me. He drugged me inside the house by my hair, slamming the door shut behind him. He threw me into my room and locked me in from the outside. I was crying again and really tired. I felt a sharp pain in my leg and a massive headache until I rested my head down and the world around me went black.