Braeden, indeed squirmed and shrunk in size as Draco Sev continued to tease him before Emma's arrival. The Gryffindork was a little used to his girlfriend's brother's teasing by now, but that didn't mean that he stopped finding the professional Quidditch player to be absolutely terrifying.

Also, as Emma had observed, the boy did get older.
Braeden Stonem was nineteen years old now. Nineteen! It was just yesterday he was wandering the halls of Hogwarts as a first year! So, for the past two years our little lion boy continued to live at home, where his mother nearly cried at the sight of him each morning. Her little boy was growing far too quickly. Anabelle, his little sister, had to warn him to watch out. It wouldn't be long until their mother would be handcuffing his ankle to the kitchen table. She wasn't going to let him go easily.

But Mrs. Stonem wasn't worrying without reason. Braeden wasn't only getting older and bigger, but he was also - surprisingly enough - maturing! Meaning, he was beginning to crave a life of independence. He'd gotten a job at a muggle video store right after leaving Hogwarts and was doing short films on the side, in his free time. The Gryffindor would travel from city to city where small film festivals were being held, and submit his films and scripts. Quite a few of those trips had been successful, and our cowardly lion was slowly beginning to build a name for himself with the more indie, underground scene that attended these festivals. He still had a long way to go, though. His goal continued to be Hollywood.

However, Brae knew that being an amateur, traveling filmmaker and a video store cashier was going to get him NOWHERE when it came to the Malfoy clan. If he wanted to stay with Emma, he would have to impress her parents, and he'd need more than what he had in order to do so. That's why the boy had a plan.

"Oh-- don't worry about it," said Braeden with a soft chuckle as Emma apologized for her brother. "He was perfectly courteous," he added, and whether he was being sarcastic or not was hard to tell. However, Braeden didn't often use sarcasm, so he was probably being honest. You could greet him with a punch in the face and he would probably still think you meant no harm.

As the couple reached the oak tree Emma was leading them in the direction of, Braeden slowed to a halt. "I've been good," he said as the girl beside asked about his well being. "Missed you a lot," he added with a lopsided smile, taking Emma's hand and pulling the girl a little bit closer as he leaned over and kissed her lips.

He'd been DYING to do that.