Braeden didn't have the fortune of being a girl and having 238485 different dresses and shoes and hair accessories to choose from. Nope, he was just a guy, so his wardrobe was… limited. An elegant black suit with dress shoes was all he was given.

And then-- OH!
Just as our clumsy lion finished dressing up, he noticed the two choices on one of the dressers: a black tie OR a bow tie.
WICKED.
Of course Brae, being the big derpy dork he is, chose the bow tie. Had it not been there, he would've just worn no accessory at all. A tie was too business-y for a dinner. The bow tie, however? That was just awesome. He could've looked nice and smexy, but instead he looked like this. Derpy expression and all.

Feeling pretty pimp awesome with his bow tie, the boy admired his reflection in the mirror for a half second before turning back to the bed and digging through his bag. He was just pulling out one of his Spider-Man comic books to help pass time when, suddenly, there was a knock. Completely startled to hear a sound after the dead quiet of the last forty minutes or so, Braeden jumped and accidentally dropped all his comics. He didn't bother picking them up, though. He had to get to the door. What if it was a Malfoy?

In a flash, the boy was at the door.

Surprise, surprise.
It was indeed a Malfoy; but not one of the scary ones. It was his favourite one.
And Merlin, she looked flawless. But when did Emma not look like some sort of goddess from a foreign land of perfection, sent just to torture him? 'Cause sure, the girl was nice, but she was kinda mean being so pretty all the time. Brae couldn't kiss her all the time, so therefore it was wrong and cruel of her to look so kissable all the time. A little consideration, please, Emma.

"Hey…" sighed Braeden after a minute or so of just staring at Emma like a drooling fool. "I mean-- you look great, Em…" He flashed the girl one of his lopsided grins, looking a bit awkward as he just stood there not knowing what to do with himself. Was it okay to hold Emma Malfoy in the Malfoy residence? Would an army of murderous pixies suddenly pop out of nowhere and chase him down if he so much as even CONSIDERED getting near her? Brae couldn't be sure.

"Um-- are we going now? Is Ellie ready?" Thank Merlin Ellie was there too. At least with her around, the Malfoys wouldn't focus all of their attention on him. They could get distracted and interrogate her instead. Hopefully.

Still waiting outside the room, Emma heard a slight crash of what sounded like a couple of books hitting the floor. She winced slightly at the noise as she turned her head to check if anyone had heard the noise either. Not a soul in sight. She nodded to herself and turned back towards the door to see it opening. And there was Braeden, wearing a bow tie. The blonde Malfoy couldn't help but smile even more than before when she saw him dressed up nicely with the bow tie. This was her boyfriend after all, dressed handsomely in a bow tie and looking ready to head to dinner.

Emma raised a blonde eyebrow at her companion as he tried to find his words. Merlin, had she managed to make the poor Lion speechless? Hehe. Emma enjoyed doing that. And as Braeden finished his sentence, Emma blushed slightly. If Brae, Ellie, and her had all been here a few years ago, Emma would have brushed all the compliments off with a deep blush and a girly laugh. She didn't believe the compliments. Heck, she didn't even think she was pretty compared to Ellie or Selena back in third or fourth year. Smiling at Braeden, she nodded, "Thanks. You look handsome too. I like the bow tie," she added with a wink.

Merlin. Dinner. That was going to be fun....
The blonde nodded when Braeden asked if they should be headed down for dinner. "Yes, its almost time and we shouldn't keep my family waiting. They hate it when people are late," she added with a small frown playing on her lips. Quickly wiping the frown off her face, Emma replaced it with a smile and slowly took Brae's hand into her own, her fingers intertwining into his. "Don't worry about my Father or Draco Severus. They generally tend to be over-protective for no reason whatsoever. You'll be great," she added with a warm and encouraging smile, meeting Braeden's eyes with her own. Besides, Emma's mother was very excited to see her daughter's boyfriend.

And as Braeden mentioned Ellie, Emma's eyes widened. Yes, they had to go pick up Ellie! When organizing the whole event with Ellie and Brae, Draco Severus had insisted that he would be the lucky man to escort the beautiful Ellie downstairs to dinner. He had told his younger sister that it was his duty and his younger sister merely raised an eyebrow at her brother. But now, all the plans had changed since her father had commanded her brother's presence. "Right, we need to get Ellie. Come on! " she added with a quick grin before turning and leaving the room, still holding Braeden's hand.

Ellie! Ellie! Ellie! She beamed. She still couldn't believe that Ellie and Dallin were finally tying the knot. Walking across the hallway and past three rooms, Emma knocked on Ellie's door. "Ellie? Are you ready? Can we come in?" she asked with a warm smile. Hopefully Ellie was still in the room....

"You do?" Braeden asked with a lopsided grin as Emma complimented him on the bow tie he'd chosen to wear. "It's pretty nice, isn't it?" he added, lowering his gaze to his own hands as they fidgeted with the bow tie for a moment.

But there was no time to stand around and admire Mr. Stonem's goofy bow tie, Emma was now taking the boy's hand and explaining that her family could not be kept waiting. Yeah, the boy definitely didn't need to be told twice; the last thing he wanted was to make a bad impression on the Malfoy clan when he had every intention in the world to take their daughter away sometime in the near future. With or without their consent. Preferably with it, though.

"If I had a daughter as pretty as you I'd be worried too," said Brae with a soft chuckle as the couple walked down the hallway and Emma explained that her father and brother were overprotective for no reason. As an older brother, though, the boy could completely understand why the male members of the Malfoy family would be hesitant to give their little girl away. It was just an instinct.

A second later, Emma was calling out to Ellie.

"Wait," Braeden whispered, taking Emma's hand from Ellie's door and taking a step away from it, bringing the girl with him. "I just-- I don't know when I might get another chance to do this again, for as long as I'm here," began to explain the slightly flustered little lion, his words stumbling upon each other, "So I just-- I-- I want to…" but he didn't get to finish that thought. Talking had become too complex, and Emma's pretty brown eyes were too distracting. Without another word, the tall boy leaned in toward his girlfriend and allowed his lips to land gently upon her own sweet ones.

Yeah.
Brae was probably not going to be getting many kisses the next few days, so he'd better start saving 'em up now.

Ellie was pinning her hair back just as she heard Emma call her name from outside her bedroom door. "Yes, I'll be out in a second!" she called back out and stuck a couple sparkly pins to hold half of her hair back. There. That added some nice flair to it. Heh.

Ellie was actually kind of nervous for this dinner. Sure, Ellie had met the Malfoys before, but this was a little different. It was a lot more formal and it just seemed more... important. And official. And... intense. But Ellie really wasn't the one that needed to worry a ton. That was probably Braeden. The goofy boyfriend of the Malfoy daughter. That was a scary title to hold.

Once Ellie was finished with her hair, she slipped her tall heels on and opened her door. Just as Braeden kissed Emma. Like, right in front of her door.

Err...

Well, it was cute. But Ellie didn't really know what to do. She didn't want to break them apart, but she didn't really want to watch them snog either. Not that it was gross, but... anyway. Ellie cleared her throat politely. Heh. Hai guys. "Ready for dinner?"

As they waited for Ellie to arrive, Emma nodded at Braeden’s question. The bow tie looked quite nice and Emma thought that it matched Brae’s personality perfectly. Perhaps the blonde Malfoy would buy him a couple for his birthday? That could work.. Or maybe she should save up for a couple of tickets to that movie premiere.. No. No.. Brae would prefer the bow ties, right? She couldn’t make up her mind. Laughing softly and nodding, Emma glanced up at Braeden as he mentioned that he would be quite overprotective if he had a daughter as pretty as her. Then she tried to imagine what Braeden would be like with his daughter- well if he had one. He would definitely make a great father but Emma saw him as a more laidback and easy going than her own father. She could imagine herself doing all the lecturing. She liked that future.

But before Emma could actually add another word in, Brae took a step back and gently brought her closer to him. She smiled as she listened carefully to everything that he was saying. They probably wouldn’t have much time together under her parents’ roof without Draco Sev being there. Plus, it would be kind of unfair to Ellie if they were just being a couple all the time. She didn’t want Ellie to feel left out and she was sure that Braeden felt the same way. She arched her right blonde eyebrow curiously at Braeden as he began speaking. Wouldn’t get a chance to do what? she wondered but then he paused mid-sentence, leaned in, and kissed her softly. How long had it been since they had kissed? She couldn't remember but every time she kissed him, she felt as if it was the first time they had kissed. Sparks. Fireworks. The blonde returned his kiss gently and then she heard someone cough behind them.

Oh no! Was that her brother? Her father? Please. Not her father. Not Draco Sev. Not her mother either........ Please Merlin. If it had to be someone, let it be Ollie or perhaps Ellie? No, no definitely not.. Ollie! PLEASE BE OLLIE..
The blonde pulled away from her boyfriend quickly, her brown eyes turning towards the open door to see Ellie all dressed up.
Oh..
Hello there.....

Emma’s cheeks turned a bright pink as she smiled sheepishly. Oh wow. Hah. Poor Ellie. “Hey Ellie! Yes, we’re ready for dinner. Right Brae?” she asked, glancing over at her adorkable boyfriend with a wide grin.

Braeden jumped a couple steps back from Emma, as if touching the girl had burned him, when Ellie suddenly appeared on the scene. He hadn't expected that at all. And boy, that must've been a little awkward for poor Ellie.

"He--hey." The Gryffindork flashed his old Ravenclaw friend a lopsided grin. "You, uh-- you look great, Ellie." And indeed she did. But Ellie had always been a pretty girl, she didn't have to put much effort at all.

As Emma then announced that they were ready for dinner and turned to her boyfriend for confirmation, Braeden smiled and nodded his head. Yep. All ready.
NOT.
The poor boy was a mess of nerves, his legs were beginning to feel like jello and his hands and arms refused to stay still as he ran a hand through his hair, then fixed up his bow tie, straightened out his jacket, and simply continued to find things to do. He just couldn't stay still. He was too anxious.

As the group began moving, Braeden repositioned himself to walk behind the girls, not wanting to stand between Ellie and Emma. He'd hogged up Emma enough; it was Ellie's turn to enjoy her friend's company now.

Aha. There. Heh. Ellie grinned and chuckled at her two friends. "Didn't mean to interrupt," she said with a playful wink. Good thing she loved those two so much. So it wasn't that awkward. And they were blushing. How cute.

Ellie smiled when Braeden said she looked great. He was always so sweet. "Thank you. You're looking rather handsome yourself, Mr. Stonem." She flashed him a pearly smile and then reached up to fix a lock of his hair that was standing on end. There. And wow. He looked extremely nervous. Poor kid.

But yes, it was time for dinner. Ellie didn't think it was a good idea to keep the Malfoy's waiting. Ellie smiled when Braeden let Ellie walk with Emma. That was sweet of him. Ellie linked her arm through Emma's. "Shall we?" she asked, starting to walk down the hall. But she didn't really know where she was going so... hopefully she was going in the right direction.

Emma gave Braeden a reassuring smile. Everything would be alright. Her father had to be on his best behavior. And so would her brother. Though Emma couldn't help but feel a little nervous. She bit her lip briefly. Turning around to link arms with Ellie, she grinned at her Ravenclaw best friend. It was great to have Ellie here with them. "Yes, let's," she said as Ellie led them off down the hall in the right direction. Well the quickest direction. Malfoy Manor was such a huge house that if you kept turning one direction you would eventually end up back in the place that you started.

"We'll reach the staircase soon so we can just head down the stairs and take a right," explained Emma, guiding her two friends to the dining room. She winked at Ellie, "So Ellie. How's things with Dallin? Is he well?" she asked with her famous Malfoy smirk playing upon her lips as she led her friends down the stairs. Mwaha.

She loved hosting dinner parties at Malfoy Manor.

Once everything was perfectly set in the dining room, Emma's mother made her way to the bottom of the stairs to greet Emma and her friends. Lilianna Malfoy, dressed in an elegant black dress, was looking forward to this evening. Both Draco Severus and Scorpius had promised to be on their best behavior so everything was going to go perfectly. Or if it did not, she would be furious. If there was one thing that anyone would need to learn about Lilianna Malfoy would be the fact that she is an absolute perfectionist. If a dinner napkin was not folded perfectly, she herself would redo it before scolding the person who had done a bad job in the first place. In her mind, if a task was not completed to 165% than it was not complete.

Clasping her hands in front of her, she waited for the three young adults to arrive whilst Draco Severus and her husband waited in the dinning room. A smile played upon her thin lips and her eyes sparkled with excitement. She was going to make this night absolutely wonderful for her daughter's friends, Mr. Stonem and Miss Johansen. Both young adults seemed quite lovely. Braeden was a little clumsy at times but had a good heart whilst Ellie was witty and delightful. She approved of both of Emma's friends.

Braeden gave one of his goofy, childlike smiles as Ellie complimented him back before she went on to fix his hair. Gahh, was his hair starting to get all… lion-y again?! No time to fix that now. The girls had already started moving and Braeden was so nervous that he lost control of his legs, stumbling for a step before catching up. Yeah, he was pretty hopeless.

As the two girls walked on with their arms linked, smiling and chatting with each other, the Gryffindork looked around at his surroundings, admiring and in awe of the greatness of Malfoy Manor. Merlin. This place was even bigger than he remembered it… how had Emma managed to learn her way around? How had any of the Malfoys learned their way around?! He wondered if they even used all the rooms. There must've been 200.

Braeden was so immersed in a family painting that featured an eleven-year-old Emma, that he didn't notice when they'd started going down the stairs, successfully managing to miss a step and fall forward. Halfway through the fall, though, our clumsy lion managed to hang on to the handrail and prevent the rest of his fall, which would have resulted in him landing on Emma and Ellie and possibly causing the group of three to fall and roll their way down the rest of the 8738478 steps.

With his heart in his throat and brown eyes wide as saucers from the fright, Braeden stood frozen for a brief second before straightening up and continuing his way down the stairs, his hand clutching the handrail as if his life depended on it. Which it kinda did. He was NOT going to stumble again! & GAH. Was that Mrs. Malfoy at the end of the stairs?! He squinted his eyes.

Why indeed it was none other than Mrs. Malfoy.
Time to get it together, Braeden Stonem.

Well, Ellie couldn't help but blush at the mention of Dallin. And Emma's wink. Hehe. "Things with Dallin are fantastic." She grinned. The wedding plans were coming along nicely, too. "He is well. He's amazing." That time she couldn't help but giggle. "It's hard to believe we're actually getting married soon..." Time flew, didn't it? It was kind of crazy. Ellie was beyond excited, though.

Her train of thought was interrupted as they went down the stairs and she heard some loud thudding behind her and Emma. Ellie turned around a little to see Braeden's eyes as wide as the moon. Allllllrighty then. Good thing nurse!Ellie was here. Just in case he really did fall down the stairs. But of course, if Braeden fell down the stairs, they ALL would. Huh.

Speaking of stairs, Ellie noticed Emma's mother at the end of them. Ellie smiled at her when they got to the bottom of the stairs. "Hello, Mrs. Malfoy. It's good to see you again. Thanks for inviting us to your home again." Ellie always liked the woman. Well, she liked the whole family. Even though a lot of people found them scary.

The blonde Malfoy grinned as Ellie blushed at Dallin's name. Aww.. That was way too cute. Emma blinked her brown eyes as Ellie spoke about her wedding plans. Merlin's Beard. She still couldn't believe that Ellie was getting married. She remembered meeting Ellie in her third year. Ellie had been fourteen years old then. Emma couldn't believe that it was only four years ago. Merlin. How did time fly by so quickly? "That's wonderful! Merlin, that's good news. I've heard that planning a wedding can be quite stressful. If you ever need any help at all, please let me know! I'd love to help you!" beamed Emma. She was excited for Ellie and Dallin. The two made a cute couple and seemed very happy together.

Emma turned her head around from Ellie as soon as she heard Braeden trip. Luckily Braeden had grabbed onto the handrail otherwise he would have fallen on top of the two girls and then they would have all fallen down the stairs into Emma's mother. Merlin's Beard. She gave him a worried glance before turning back to Ellie and looking at the stairs ahead of her. Looking down at the bottom of stairs, she saw her mother waiting for them. She felt her shoulders straighten a bit more. "Hello Mother. How are you? I hope we haven't kept you waiting." she added with a quick smile.

"No, no. You haven't kept anyone waiting. I just arrived by the stairs a few moments ago, dear," she replied to her daughter with a grin before turning to welcome her daughter's friends and the Malfoy's guests. "It is wonderful to see both of you here. I hope you have both been keeping well" she began, pausing as Ellie began to speak.

How sweet of her! And well-mannered too.

Lilianna Malfoy grinned as Ellie spoke to her. Ah, Miss Ellie was a sweet girl. "Hello all. You are most welcome, Ellie. It's wonderful to see you again too, I hope you have been keeping well. You are welcome. I'm glad that both you and Braeden could make it. Congratulations on graduating from Hogwarts. What have you two been up to?" she asked, directing her question towards Emma's two friends.