Chapter 1

A 15 year old girl sat sobbing in the corner of her four poster bed, her arms around her knees. Her dark hair was falling elegantly into her eyes, while large tears were falling from them. Her grey eyes were full of pain and the purple specks in them that were usually dancing looked unusually dead. Her ghostly pale face looked – if possible – even paler, and her normally slightly pink cheeks were totally drained of colour. Her red lips that were quick to pull up in a heart-warming smile were quivering and bore absolutely no signs of a smile. It's my fault, the girl thought to herself. It's my fault he died…. The young girl continued her endless sobbing until she heard footsteps pounding on the stairs leading up to her dorm. She wiped her face hastily, although she knew that whoever it was would be able to tell she had been crying from her swollen eyes, red nose, and the tear-tracks on her face.

Surprisingly, the door didn't fly open like she had expected it would. Instead, she heard a very gentle knock on the door.

"Come in," she said, her voice thick. The door opened and there stood a tall man with long white hair and a long silver beard and half-moon glasses resting on his crooked nose. Though his face was soft, there was no mistaking the powerful aura that surrounded his body and the obvious intelligence in his eyes. There wasn't a doubt in the World that this was one of the most powerful individuals that had ever been known to walk on the face of the Earth. She jumped up right away as soon as she had seen who it was. "Professor!" she said in surprise. "Is something the matter? Is everyone fine? How about Harry, has something happened?" she questioned endlessly. The Professor raised a hand to silence her, a small sad smile on his face.

"No, Crystal, nothing has happened. I assure you everyone is physically fine." Crystal didn't mistake the implication behind his words. She simply raised an eyebrow at him in question. The Headmaster sighed. "Come Crystal, let us sit and speak peacefully."

The tall, powerful man led the grief-stricken girl to the bed and sat down beside her, his hand resting on her knee. Crystal looked down at her feet, trying to contain the tears that were threatening to fall again. The professor had seemed to sense that because he squeezed her knee in a comforting gesture – just to show her that he was here for here – and she completely broke down. Her thin mask had shattered into a million pieces, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to pull it back together.

She brought her hands to her face and sobbed openly into them. The professor sighed again and put his arm around the broken child, saying soothing words.

"Shh child, everything is going to be okay," he consoled her. The child shook her head.

"No it isn't! It's my fault! It's completely my fault! I should have known better! I should have protected him, for God's sake!" She sobbed harder than ever. The professor then put both his arms around the girl and she turned to him and sobbed into his chest instead, soaking his purple robes with salt-water.

After a few more minutes, the child managed to control herself and pulled away from her Headmaster, her expression sheepish.

"Sorry, I totally soaked your robes, sir." Her eyes were downcast and shameful – like she should have known better than to breakdown. The Headmaster smiled sympathetically at her.

"It's quite all right my dear." He reached his right hand into his left sleeve, bringing out his wand, and with one wave he dried his robes. Crystal had turned around and walked up to the only window in her and her roommates' dorm, looking out at the sunset. The sky was painted a deep orange and the sun was halfway through setting. She felt a hand on her shoulder, but didn't shake it off.

"It's my fault," she repeated, this time with defeat in her voice. "I failed him. I told him I loved and that I would always make sure to protect him as best I could – and I failed him." Her voice was devoid of emotion – dead.

"Crystal, child, look at me." Crystal turned to face her Headmaster, her eyes devoid of emotion. She saw that his face was full of sadness and pain. "You cannot keep blaming yourself! Do you really think that your father would appreciate this? Your depression? All of this? Any of this?" The professor's usually twinkling blue eyes bore into the usually sparkling grey ones. Crystal looked down and shook her head slowly, her expression still dead. "Of course he wouldn't have! He would have wanted you to move on with your life!" The girl's head snapped up and her eyes flared.

"So I'm supposed to forget about him, then? How can I do that?" Crystal turned away from the professor violently. "You don't know what it's like! Losing your parents, feeling like there's no hope left in the World… to getting one back and learning to love them… only to have them taken away from you the last minute!" she exclaimed. She turned to face her Headmaster once more. "Do you know what that feels like, Professor?" Without waiting for an answer, she shook her head and smirked, turning back to the window. "Of course you don't – I didn't expect you to. I don't expect anyone to – except for maybe Harry." She sighed and turned around again. "I'm sorry, Professor. I know I was being extremely rude. I'm sorry," she whispered a second time, tears filling her eyes again. The Headmaster felt his own eyes water at the girl's pain. The fact that the girl was being rude in itself was a very big thing. Even Severus thought she was… tolerable… despite the fact that she was Black's daughter. Even though he had abused her constantly, she had never been affected by his jeers.

The kind Headmaster pulled her to him and hugged her again. She tried pushing him away, but he just kept his arms firmly around her so she wouldn't be able to escape. She had protested, but the professor had just shushed her and told her to let it all out. When she had complained about destroying his robes he had just gazed down at her through his half-moon glasses, effectively shushing her up and even making her give a watery chuckle. The Headmaster knew that this wasn't very professional of him, but he knew that she needed it badly. Her World had been crushed in one instant, and in that one moment, she had been crushed as well.

They stayed like that for what seemed like hours before Crystal felt that she had shed practically every single tear in her body. She felt so drained – both emotionally and physically.

"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore," she whispered. He wiped the tears from her face and smiled softly at her.

"You're welcome," he quietly responded.