The Only Exception
One-shot
Albus Severus Potter/ OC

"Quidditch! Quidditch! Quidditch!" That was one of the Wood-Lee family's most famous topics of argument, particularly when the girl's mother was yelling at her father. "Ye' spend too much time away from home for that stupid game!" or "How is it that you've only had one night with ye' family all month? Huh, Ol?" Or Kelsey's personal favorite, "Why can't you love me as much as ye' idiotic, fucking game?"

Now, ten year-old Quidditch loving Kelsey was definitely not completely oblivious and blind to her parent's fights and arguments; in fact she absolutely dreaded them. She loved both her parents dearly, ignoring the fact that her father was sometimes gone for many long days at a time on "business" trips. She secretly feared that one day her parents would split up and force her to choose between her fierce, ginger, stay-at-home mother and her loveable, sport-obsessed father.

That day came the ninth of May, 2017 only two months before the girls eleventh birthday.

And that was the day Linda Wood-Lee left with her bag and firstborn child in tow.

"When I was younger I saw my daddy cry,
and curse at the wind."

Tears streaked down her Irish-born face as Oliver Wood, her husband, stood motionless staring blankly at his wife and child masking all emotion. "Why, Oliver? Tell me why?" At this point in time, the freshly applied makeup on the small mothers face had all but vanished; smudged in various odd places, giving Kelsey Wood-Lee's mother a rather windswept and savage look on her face as she confronted her beloved for the thousandth time.

"I'm sorry," the two blunt words coming from the dirty mouth of Quidditch-star Wood did not faze her and she started her rant again.

Oliver Wood was used to the incredibly long rants from his wife, he got them often. But what he was not used to, were two words that had never ever came out of either of their lips since the start of their marriage, two words that would change the course of their marriage and, possibly, Kelsey Mays viewpoint of the world around her.

"I'm leavin'," the words stunned him into silence, for once in his successful life, Oliver Wood was downright speechless. Kelsey's mother took his as a sign to signal her daughter, she pointed towards the door, the bags she had packed for the both of them, and lastly the two together. Kelsey paused for a second to think this through; it could be a life-changing decision, and then hesitantly walked towards the door throwing her father a last pitiful look as she exited out with her mother to their muggle car.

"He broke his own heart,
and I watched
as he tried to reassemble it."

Oliver Wood stood, now sobbing hysterically, begging for them to come back. As the old 70's car drove out of sight, the man with "no emotion" cursed at the wind and tried to grab the missing pieces of his heart that had flown out after them on a Nimbus 3500.

"And my momma swore,
that she would never let herself forget.
And that was the day,
that I promised I'd never
sing of love, if it does not exist."

Only one of them lived to see him ever again; that person was only ten years old and had to witness her mother's death.

It also left Kelsey as the only person who knew her mother's real last words. With her last breath Linda swore that she would never let herself forget what had happened.

Crouching next to her frail body, Kelsey whispered, "I promise to never sing of love, mum, if it does not exist." Her brave mother took a shuddering last breath and died peacefully in her sleep.

Several months later, Kelsey turned eleven at last, and was accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And on August 31, Kelsey and Oliver Wood-Lee jogged to Kings Cross Station.

Oliver smiled, taking in the train station he hadn't seen in nearly twenty-three years. It was good to be back. He took his daughters miniscule hand in his as they passed through the barrier of 9 and 10 and onto platform 9 and ¾ Kelsey's grip slightly tightening as she had never been here before.

There were many families crowded in the small station, the brunette dully noted scanning through the eyes of hundreds of small wizarding families. It put her in awe that so many people could possess such an amazing talent, one of a muggle fairytale dream come to reality.

As Kelsey glanced around the room, her father noticed a bright patch of ginger near the middle of the packed place along with some others with dark and deep chocolate hair. Wood immediately recognized them as the Weasleys and the Potters. Oliver grinned his crooked, heart-breaking grin before dashing off to meet them, his daughter following at his feet confused as ever as to why they were headed in the opposite direction of the train as her father had told her earlier where everything was.

"Oi, Potter!" the five Potters and the whole Weasley clan looked directly at the oncoming voice: Harry's old Quidditch captain, Oliver Wood. Harry gave a wide, toothy smile at his old Gryffindor captain before stepping up to hug him.

"Long time no see, mate." Harry chuckled deeply, before noticing a small bump on the right side of Wood. She was about the size of Albus or James so he assumed he was her kid.

"How's Linda, mate? Haven't heard from her lately, complaining about you, as always." Oliver flinched, and the little girl suddenly found her black, worn-out Converse extremely interesting along with the edges of her gray jeggings. Harry certainly wasn't as dumb as Snape use to think, before he died, of course.

"I'm sorry, Oliver. Really," he offered his condolences to his mates loss not quite sure what to say.

Wood shook his head, plastering a fake smile on his face before noticing Kelsey trying to tell him something.

"Da', who the bleedin' hell is that?" Kelsey stage-whispered, earning a laugh out of Harry and a scolding from her dad. She rolled her eyes.

"Okay," she sarcastically reasoned. "Dad, if you don't tell me who that is I'll turn to America." It was an inside joke between the two of them that, most of England and Scotland's team now sucked eggs and that America, (more to the U.S.A.) would beat all of them without beaters. "I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the Unite States of-" the rest of her speech was mummified by her dads hand over her mouth as she recited the pledge of allegiance.

"Harry, this is my daughter Kelsey Wood. Kelsey, meet Harry Potter." The girl was amazed at the person in front of her; her dad had told her that, -aside from him- Harry was the best Quidditch player on the team next to Charlie Weasley.

Kelsey shook his hand confidently before saying, "Hi, Dad said you were the best Quidditch player ever." Harry and his wife laughed, probably at some inside joke they had.

"Well Kelsey, as you know I'm Harry Potter. This is my wife, Ginny," Harry's black unruly hair shook as he gestured towards his wife. The young girl winced inside: the woman bared a strong resemblance to her mother. "These are my two sons, James and Albus." The eldest waved, he looked almost identical to his father except for his eyes. The second kid, Albus, had his father's dark, enchanting hair but besides that looked like the male version of his mother. He nodded at me, then immediately began arguing with his elder sibling over what sounded like, Quidditch.

Harry continued on. "And this is my youngest daughter, Lily." Lily was the spitting image of Albus, except the dark hair. Instead she had the bright, ginger hair which seemed to be a trait in the Potter-Weasley family. Harry took a look around the train station, searching for someone. Maybe another son or daughter, Kelsey supplied in her head.

"My godson, Teddy Lupin, is busy doing something of some sort. Probably talking with friends."

James jerked towards my ear, "He's over there snogging one of our cousins, Victoire." The young girl giggled softly into the palm of her hand. James already seemed like quite the character.

The aforementioned boy's father glanced down at his old worn out watch, "It's nearly eleven, you'd better get on board.(*)"

Both parents promptly hugged their children; Ginny than said something that got an eye roll out of James. And soon enough, James ran off with his friends with Albus staying behind a little longer to chat with his dad.

Kelsey leaned upright, slightly awkward with the whole family hugging and crying whereas her father had left a few minutes ago, "I have an important meeting with my coach at eleven on the dot."

Kelsey had been staring into space for a good few minutes while Albus talked to Harry and didn't notice when Albus snuck up behind her.

"Hey, Kelsey right? We're going onto the Hogwarts Express now." Kelsey smiled and turned her head towards Albus who was ruffling his hair, waiting for her answer.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" And with that the girl sprinted of in the direction of the train, her father's straight yet messy brown hair bouncing off her back as Albus ran after her.

"But darling,
You are the only exception.
You are the only exception,
You are the only exception,
You are the only exception."

I stared into his forest green orbs, his forehead slightly touching mine as we swayed to the beat of the slow music from one of the Wikked Witches more slow songs. The moment Albus had asked me to go with him to the Yule Ball, I had simply thought it a friendly gesture, like an "I-owe-you" thing. But resting against his muscled chest, I realized he had an ulterior motive.

I swooned inside as his soft lips met mine, crashing like waves in the middle of the ocean. I had slightly fancied Albus during my fifth year but had ultimately denied it. Now as I pulled back to get some air into my poor lungs, I come to a conclusion.

I softly whispered the lyrics to a familiar melody as we came closer. "You are the only exception, you are the only exception."

A/N: So how did you guys like my first Next Generation fic? Huh? Huh? Did you hate it? Love it? Was it okay? Did it make Hans von Hazel's work look good? Tell me in a review. This is my first romance fic so sorry if something's not right. (*) This was a direct quote from the Epilogue of HP 7.