"Well, Claire… I guess this is good-bye." I speak these words in a choked voice even though I'd seen this coming for a long time. Like everyone else in the family, my cousin- Claire Potter- had shown signs of magical ability since she was quite young. Me, on the other hand… I've never so much as accidentally made a small item float. Still, I refused to give up hope that I would receive a letter from Hogwarts, no matter how feeble the optimism became. Even though I did have doubts that I was a witch, it still hurt incredibly when Claire got her letter and I didn't.

Well... Let me paint a picture for you. All in all, I live a great life that I'm quite pleased with. First off, I'm pretty content with how I look: my eyes are hazel and decently big; I've got loads of blonde hair on my head, rippling midway down my back in semi-curly ringlets; I'm scrawny, but that doesn't really bother me. I'm loved the way I am, why would I want to change anything? I mean, yes, I kind of wish I had magic powers like so many of my family members… But just kind of. I mean, my father is a Squib- someone with at least one magical parent but no powers themselves- and apparently so was my great-grandma! So having the mere abilities of a Muggle doesn't faze me that much.

While we're on the topic of family… I never met my real parents. My mum was a Muggle-born troublemaker, expelled from Hogwarts in her fourth year. She had me when she was only 15- can you believe it?- and she barely even knew my dad. The only information I have about him is that he was a Muggle. So, no witch-ness for me. But the thing is, I really don't care that my mum gave me up. Why would I want to be raised by an uncaring, irresponsible woman like her? Besides, I love my parents- the ones that adopted me when I was about a week old. There's one major problem though: most people have a mum and a dad, while I have two fathers. I honestly don't see why so many people find that so wrong. Daddy and Papa love me to pieces and take much better care of me than some straight couples care for their kids!

I'll fully introduce you to my parents. Papa- he's the Squib, and his name is Cyrus. I've never met his side of the family… Apparently, his siblings treated him worse than an animal and his parents shunned him since he ruined their family's reputation of turning out perfectly fine witches and wizards. If what he's told me about them is true, he really was the odd one out, and not just because he's a Squib: he's probably the sweetest man you'll ever meet.

The Ueda family- Daddy's side, that is- on the other hand, is fantastic. You see, Daddy has 2 brothers and 3 sisters. His oldest brother had only one son, as his only younger sister had just a daughter; his middle sister- Claire's mum and the wife of James Potter II- had 3 kids, and the other 2 siblings had two children each. Not to mention my grandpa had a brother with two kids, and a sister with an adopted son… But those details aren't really as important. I'm the closest to my Grandma and Grandpa Ueda, my 5 aunts, 5 uncles, and 9 cousins. You should see my family tree sometime, it's really something!

Now, about that scene this story started out with… You know, me saying good-bye to Claire as she heads off for Hogwarts without me… I don't see how you could forget it, it's just at the top of the page, you could scroll up if you like… Well, anyhoo, I'm not going to return to that. Not just yet, anyway. Before we can get to that extremely important moment of my life, I have to tell you about other events that occurred first. But where to start? Well, not start, the story has obviously already begun- I know! I'll explain my first day of kindergarten.

I had never been to school before, since Daddy didn't want me to leave for preschool. I was scared, of course, but at the same time really excited: I was wearing a brand new pink dress with white frills on the edges, plus Papa put some lovely red ribbons in my hair. Besides, I couldn't be scared when I knew my best friend ever was going to be coming with me. As it turned out, Aunt Kathy and Uncle James decided to let Claire attend the same school as me! Whenever I started getting nervous, I remembered I would be with Claire all day and my troubles faded.

However, Papa claimed that he was feeling under the weather. This struck me as odd: he looked completely healthy to me. "Come now, Cyrus, you can't let a little stomach bug keep you from coming with us…" Daddy insisted a little more sternly than I thought he intended.

"Yes, and I truly do want to, but…" Papa trailed off, his demeanor making it obvious that he agreed with Daddy but for some odd reason wanted to counter him. That was especially unusual, since my fathers never fought… "Ah, never mind, I'm speaking nonsense. Let's head on out!" Papa exclaimed, wrapping his hand around my own. Face lighting up, I used my free one to grab Daddy's, and I hopped out the door with my dads close behind.

I was in the highest of spirits as we walked about 5 blocks to the kindergarten. I let Daddy and Papa swing my arms back and forth, giggling as I made it an effort to step over every single crack in the sidewalk. More than often, I beamed upward to see both of my parents smiling serenely; that being said, I didn't understand why something else in Daddy's face- his eyes, maybe- clearly displayed some sort of sadness, regret, and a tad bit of frustration. My 5 year old mind decided not to dwell on it, so I instead continued on my upbeat way.

"Well, here we are, sweetheart," Papa declared at one point. The very second he halted walking, I froze and stopped my smiling. Here I imagined going to a relatively tiny, single-story schoolhouse with flowery bushes lining the walkway plus rainbows and butterflies decorating the windows. This was completely off: the brick building was humongous, having about 4 stories and taking up at least an acre of land. Kids of quite a variety were bustling up the front steps of the structure in mobs. Some older girls that I'd never seen before in my life squealed "Aww" when they saw me. I clung to Daddy's pants and hid behind his leg, my eyes watering.

"Don't worry darling, just stick with me," Daddy instructed soothingly. Placing his hand on my head, he led me further down the sidewalk to a path that much less people were following. Apparently, it led straight into the room of my kindergarten class. Now this looked more like how I pictured it: lengthy bookshelves lined with thin books; colorful paper cutouts of shapes hanging from the ceiling; signs displaying slogans such as "Reach for the stars!" blanketing the walls; square tables with baskets of crayons in the center and colored chairs lining their edges. I automatically identified my teacher as the young woman wearing a plaid dress, her hair in a braid, and a friendly smile on her face.

I drew in a gasp as I acknowledged the woman having a conversation with my new teacher. She had short, wavy, light brown hair, and eyes the same exact emerald green as Daddy's behind a pair of glasses. In other words, my Aunt Kathy. She held the hand of none other than Claire, immediately recognizable with her wild black hair and green eyes. Her dad- Uncle James- would occasionally creep his hand toward his daughter's waist, quickly tickle her, and laugh as she jumped with a shriek, smacked his arm, and clung back to Aunt Kathy.

"Claire! HI!" I squealed, slipping my hands free and bolting over to my cousin. The irritation melted out of her expression and she grinned broadly.

"Daisy!" I giggled joyously as we pounced over to each other and hugged. She whipped her head around to look at our teacher. "This is Ms. Emmeline, she is going to be our teacher," she indicated matter-of-factly as if she'd been telling people this for months. Ms. Emmeline kneeled down and smiled straight at me.

"Hello, dear! Welcome to my class! You're Claire's cousin?"

I nodded; then, I assumed everyone just knew Claire and I were cousins, but now I realized that she only knew this because Aunt Kathy had been going, "Nice to see you, baby brother," to Daddy.

"Um, hi, miss…! I'm Daisy," I told her. It wasn't often I came across people who weren't related to me… I guess I didn't have the opportunity to embrace my true shyness. But it turned out that I really was timid: I soon found myself staring sheepishly at the ground, hiding behind Papa's legs as more people showed up.

Once all of my classmates were present with their parents, we were instructed to sit in a circle on a carpet in the center of the room. I sat on Daddy's lap while he wrapped his arms around me protectively, plus I held Papa's hand at the same time.

"Okay kids, we're going to go around the circle, and you'll introduce yourselves and family," Ms. Emmeline instructed in a high, friendly tone. She looked to her right, where Claire lay sprawled out on Uncle James's with her head in Aunt Kathy's lap. "Let's begin with you, dear."

Claire lifted an eyebrow and sat upright. "I'm Claire Potter. My grandpa, Harry Potter? He's really famous. This is my daddy, and this is my mummy. I have a big brother Edwin, who's wimpy, and my big sister Marie is kinda snooty," she droned.

"O-oh, that's, very nice, Claire…" Ms. Emmeline tried to widen her smile as she looked at me. "What about you, sweetie?"

I hugged Daddy's arms tighter and shared a timid grin with everyone. "My name is Daisy. Claire is my cousin! We're best friends." Claire nodded sharply to confirm my words, and for some reason it reassured me. "And these two," I motioned at Daddy and Papa, "are my daddies. I love them a bunch!"

Papa chuckled sadly as everyone's eyes widened simultaneously and their smiles faltered. He nodded sideways at Daddy. "He's my cousin, see. Ever since Daisy's mum walked out, he's helped me with her, and he's grown so much on her that she's come to thinking of him as another dad," he explained. I had never heard this story before, but Papa gently shot me a look informing me that I should just go along with it.

"I see… Please let Daisy do the talking, though, sir," Ms. Emmeline murmured.

"I'm sorry," Papa replied calmly. He patted my hand and moved ever so slightly closer to me.

The rest of the day was wonderful. We scribbled pictures and got to know each other; I'm pretty sure I made a few new friends! The trip home was super pleasant, but before heading to bed, I heard something that made my fantastic day considerably worse.

I had been hugging my stuffed toy kitten to my chest, decked out in a My Little Pony nightgown, when I walked in my parents' room to say good night. They were having a conversation, and since I knew better than to interrupt adults while they're talking, I took a step sideways and waited until they were done. If only I'd gone back to my room to wait: I wasn't enjoying what I was hearing.

"-can't just lie like that around our daughter!" Daddy was hissing. Papa had his eyes narrowed and arms crossed.

"I was lying to protect her, Kiseki. She's a smart little girl, she knows that story wasn't true."

"That makes matters worse, if anything!" Daddy snapped. I never, ever heard him sound so exasperated, or seen my dads looking angry at each other. "She'll think it's okay to tell such big lies if you do it!"

Papa sighed irritably. "Yes, lying is awful, I just may go to Hell for doing it I front of Daisy, but I assure you it'll help her in the long run. So many other people will find it unnatural and wrong for a child to have two parents of the same gender; it'll be so hard for her to make friends if the other kids' parents don't approve of us! Life is cruel, Kiseki. It's how it is."

Daddy got dangerously close to Papa's face, and for once he didn't do so to give him a kiss. "Don't you DARE tell ME that life is cruel. Are you forgetting who I am? What I've been through?" It was at this point that I couldn't take it anymore. Tears streaming down my cheeks, I spun around and dashed down the hall to my bedroom. This couldn't be happening… Daddy and Papa couldn't fight...

I felt like it was all my fault: after all, I was the topic they were mainly arguing over. For a five year old girl, that guilt was nearly too much to handle. I had to go to my second day of school suffering from a headache due to crying throughout the night.