Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter are not mine, though I wish.

A.N. Yet again, another story! This one came to me, literally, in a dream. I sat and stewed about it for awhile, then sat down to write. Let me just warn you now, I will be incorporating the Italian language into this one, as you shall see. I'll put the translations in parentheses right after the Italian usage, so you won't have to go scrolling around all the time to find out what I'm trying to say. So have fun, enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Imperfect

Chapter One: Enough

Three Weeks Ago. . .

Dinner had been interrupted, yet again, but another argument. The meal had started off silent and tense, due to a disagreement between her mother and father about her education and life in general.

You see, Sienna Palmero was no ordinary girl of sixteen. She was the daughter of notorious Italian mob boss, Anthony "Tony" Palmero. And to complicate matters, she was a witch. Her mother had brought the magic into the family, and only told her father a few years ago, when Sienna started to make things "happen." Now, at sixteen, she had several years' schooling, though none magical. Her mother had been giving her private tutorials to trim her magical habits.

The argument that had turned dinner sour had started when Sienna's mother, Amalié, bravely brought about the subject of wanting a better life for Sienna. Tony had big and bright plans for his daughter. Since she wasn't a boy, he couldn't carry out the "master plan" he'd always had about taking over the "family business," but he could do his best. Son instead, he wanted to marry her off to a close associate's son, Angelo Ricardi. He trusted the Ricardis, and knew the family business would be in good hands when he died. The problem in Amalié's eyes was that Angelo Ricardi was almost ten years Sienna's junior. Amalié knew it would essentially be the end of Sienna's life if she married Angelo, and Sienna had too much to give to life to be locked and repressed into the role of a mobster's wife.

"Tony, have you not thought of what Sienna wants? Have you not thought of her feelings? I'm tired of living this way, and Sienna needs a better life. If you would just let her attend school-"

"No!" Tony yelled, slamming his fist into the dinner table and sending silverware flying. "This magic nonsense will do nothing for her! She needs to see how the business works so that one day she can help run it!"

Sienna laid down her fork. "Don't think I'm stupid, Papi. I can hear the disdain and scorn in your voice. Don't think I have no clue how this will turn out. I notice you said 'help' run it. You plan on marrying me to Angelo so he can have full control and I'll be stuck. And that's what you want, isn't it? I'm not allowed to have a life of my own, am I?"

"Life? You talk of a life of your own? What of this life you live now? Answer me that!" Tony roared, his face reddening, a dangerous sign.

"Non questo é la vita che ho scelta! (This is not the life I chose!)" Sienna yelled, her temper and frustration rising.

"This is the life you will accept! There is no other life out there, Sienna! Kill or be killed, die weak or die strong! Power will get you to bigger and better things!"

"Well, maybe I don't want to be powerful! Maybe I don't want bigger and better things! Besides, the moment you step aside, Angelo will take the reins completely and I'll be nothing more than a servant locked in a loveless marriage!" Sienna screamed.

In one swift movement, Tony leaned across the table and backhanded his daughter across the face. Sienna gave a cry of shock and her hands went protectively to her face.

"I will not be spoken to that way! Angelo is a good man, he knows what to do!" Tony yelled, agitated.

"Tony," Amalié began.

"Shut up woman! She doesn't need to be babied, she will not go to school you will cease teaching her those crackpot magic tricks, and she will marry Angelo Ricardi! End of story!"

Sienna looked up from her hands. Her face still stung from the slap, and one glance in the back of her spoon showed a dark red handprint on her cheek.

"No, Papi. This is not the end of the story. I will not marry Angelo, I will not stop my magic, and I will go to school. I don't care if you don't like it or not. This is my life, I will do what I want with it, and if you can't accept that, then disown me. Lasciarme va! (Let me go!)"

"You will marry Angelo if it's the last thing you do. Refuse, and you shall pay dearly," Tony hissed in cold fury, his face now purple with rage.

Silence. Then-

"Fine! That's it! I'm through with this! I'm through with you, Papi! I'm tired of being stuck in a nonexistent life! L'odio! (I hate you!)" Sienna screamed, jumping up from the table and fleeing the room.

She ran from the back of the villa and down the hall, intending to leave the house and her father.

"Sienna, ritomare qui! (Get back here!)" Tony bellowed from the dining room.

"No! I've had enough!" She screamed back.

She threw open the front door and started down the terraced steps, quickly trying to get to the bottom of the steep hill upon which their villa sat.

"Tony, no!" Sienna heard her mother scream.

"I will not put up with those who defy orders!" He bellowed.

BANG.

Sienna was stopped dead in her tracks. She fell to her knees, gasping for air as the warm sensation of blood escaping her body flowed from her upper back. She fell forward and collapsed onto the ground, wounded and helpless. She fell facing the house, and as she tried to get air into her now collapsed lung, she watched her mother dissolve into hysterics and run down the steps to get to her.

"Amalié, no! She chose to defy us!" Tony yelled, waving his 9 mm handgun in the air.

"How could you! Your own daughter! You monster!" Amalié screamed through her tears, continuing down the steps.

Sienna gasped for air, feeling everything sliding away. She heard another BANG and saw her mother fling forward, tumbling down the last ten steps before landing, crumpled and still, at the base of the steps.

"I have no use for traitors!" Tony bellowed one last time before turning and going inside, slamming the door behind him.

Sienna struggled to sit up and get to her mother, but it was no use. Her head hit the ground a final time, and she felt the life slowly drain out of her as she laid helpless and alone under the blood-red sunset.


Three weeks later, a brunette girl of sixteen stood before a gravestone, looking down upon it quietly. She leaned against a wizened old man with a long white beard a matching hair.

With great difficulty, she knelt down and reached out to touch the gravestone.

"Che lei ha fatto, Mama? (What did you do?)" Sienna whispered, her fingers running over the delicate carving of her mother's name.

The old man placed a hand on her shoulder. A tear escaped her turquoise eyes, trailing down her olive complected cheek.

"Non questo é la vita che ho scelta, Mama. (This is not the life I chose.) Sono spaventato. (I'm scared.)" She whispered to her mother.

"You don't have to be afraid, Sienna. Your father cannot hurt you anymore," the old man said quietly.

Sienna looked up into his kind blue eyes. "Professore (professor, duh) Dumbledore, can you promise me this? Can you promise me that his men won't be able to find me?" Sienna asked, stumbling over the English she spoke.

"No Muggle can get inside the grounds. You're safest with us," Dumbledore said.

"Mama, it's what you dreamed. I'm going to attend school. I'm going to learn magic!" She whispered, still fingering the gravestone.

"Sienna, the sun is setting. It is not safe for you after dark," Dumbledore said gently.

She struggled to push herself up from the warm ground. Dumbledore's hand closed around her upper arm, helping her to her feet.

"Arrivederci, Mama. (Good bye.) L'amo. (I love you.)" Sienna whispered one last time.

Dumbledore smiled down at the young Italian girl. "Are you ready?"

Sienna nodded, closing her eyes and saying a quick prayer to her mother.

'Wherever I go, whatever I'm doing, you'll always be with me. A mother's sacrifice leaves no greater protection. I'm starting over. Questo é la vita che scelgo. (This is the life I choose.) Ci é nessuno ricordando. (There is no looking back.)'