Finding You
By warriorofthesea08
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that appears in any of JK's fantastic books…although I wish I did.
Prologue: Beginnings
Looking across a lengthy hallway a small girl, perhaps around the age of ten, sat quietly on a marble bench peering inquisitively at the artwork that hung in front of her. Icy blue eyes containing a hint of silver around the pupil, adorned with long, dark lashes, stared curiously as slightly wavy, silvery hair framed a small, pale oval face with pink cheeks. Rosy lips turned into a frown as she sighed dejectedly and cast her eyes downward to her small hands. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't pin point the true emotion of the painting.
Frustration was quickly overcome with another emotion – loneliness. She took a quick look around herself. She sat in the middle of a small room at the end of a deserted hallway. Nothing to be heard only portraits of people and places long since forgotten lined the white washed walls. There wasn't a living soul to be found. Of course the place wasn't completely empty. No, just all the visitors happened to be on the floor below her.
This was her mother's art exhibition/gallery. Most of the art featured had been passed down through the generations, but some had been recently added by her mother through auctions she attended. Even a few of the small girl's works were hung in a few of the rooms.
Even at the tender age of ten she had already displayed an acute talent for art; although it really wasn't her passion as her mother had wanted it to be.
What she wanted most of all was just to have someone to talk to, to be around. Just someone who cared, or seemed to. Her father was rarely seen, due to his import/export business and her mother barely even had time to acknowledge her presence in some events. The reason why she had come here in the first place was because she didn't want to be at home with her tutor who constantly tried to instruct her how to "be a proper lady." She couldn't stand the plump, horrid, shrill voiced woman. Yet, even here she found herself lonely, surrounded by silence.
She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the subtle sounds of footsteps coming from behind. She jumped when she heard a voice from behind her.
"It's pretty, although the lady looks a little sad…and lonely. I wonder why and what she's sitting there waiting for," another small, childlike voice sounded.
The small blonde girl turned around in surprise to see a young girl, seemingly a few years younger than herself, staring skeptically at the work. Chestnut brunette curls fell to about her shoulders as large, warm brown eyes scanned the painting, then drifting to meet her own.
For a moment there seemed to be a mutual lock between both girls as they looked at one another. However, a far off voice broke the connection.
"Hermione, dear, where'd you run off to?" a woman's voice echoed throughout the hall softly.
"Uh oh, that's my mum," the small brunette whispered, looking away for a second, but pulled back to the blonde's gaze just as quickly. "Um…I have to go, okay? I'll see you later." For a quick second she ran forward and gave the other girl a hug before running off.
The small blonde just sat there stunned. Even if it had been for just a moment, she had never felt that…was it…content? She moved back to take a final glance once more at the artwork. Remembering what the other girl had said, she realized she had been right; the woman in the painting did look sad and lonely. She could sympathize; she wished that girl hadn't had to go so soon. She missed her company and hoped that some day, maybe they would be fortunate enough to meet again.
With that she got up to leave, the memory of the hug and the girl still fresh in her mind.