Author's Notes

1. I want to thank my wonderful beta, Trickie Woo, who took the time to help out a new fan-fic writer. It really means a lot to me.

2. This story is not DH or HBP compliant, Snape lives, because it is just a better world with him around. And I decided to keep Dumbledore too because he is just so good at getting Snape all riled up.

3. I love to hear from my readers, so please leave a review!

Prologue

"I'm twenty-nine, Emily, twenty-nine and alone. My little sister, who happens to be a bouncy twenty-year-old blond, is getting married next week."

Madelyn sighed into the receiver as she turned to her reflection in her vanity mirror. It was just another one of those days in which she was forced to realize that when it came to joy in life, her sister seemed to have it all. In short, Maddie was suffering from a severe case of jealousy-induced doldrums and there was only one person who could save her from her despair.

"Look, your sister is just getting married to spite both you and his mother. I give it two months tops."

Emily Matheson had always been a person to reject false reassurances in favor of the truth and she often spoke these realities in the bluntest fashion. Sometimes that quality could get both of the girls in trouble, in fact it usually did, but there were times when the brutal truth went in Maddie's favor.

"Emily! That is an awful-Do you really think so?"

Maddie couldn't stop the sound of her relief from bleeding into her voice.

"Of course I do! She is such a snot, Maddie, always trying to rub your nose in her good fortune."

Emily let out a malicious giggle. "Think of it this way, the first one to get married will be the first one to get divorced."

"I don't want her to get a divorce. I want Evie to be happy, I honestly do. I just don't want her to be happy before me."

Even Maddie had to cringe at how resentful and petty her statement sounded. It seemed immature to be so vain about a thing like her little sister getting married before her. But no matter how she tried to deny it the feelings of envy and anger were real and so very intense.

Deep down Maddie knew that the days of her youth were slowly slipping from her grasp, and the long stretch of maturity yawned before her in a chasm of loneliness. The reality of the situation was that soon she would be thirty and she would be both single and childless, and while to some it may seem as though that was both normal and ideal for a young woman, in her house to be thirty and unmarried was simply unacceptable.

Maddie knew that most of her tumultuous feelings were a product of the importance her mother put on marriage and her own biological clock chiming in. But as she continued to critique her reflection in the mirror she couldn't help but see the small signs of aging. Like the way her skin seemed to be dull and lifeless, or the little lines that seemed to have popped up around her mouth and eyes. She was only twenty-nine years old, but why did she look and feel so tired?

"Is it too late for me, Eme," Maddie whispered into the phone. "Have I passed my prime already?"

"Maddie, you're twenty-nine, hardly on your death bed. Your life is just beginning; there is someone out there for you. In the meanwhile…"

"In the meanwhile," Madelyn interrupted, "I get to watch my sister walk down the aisle, preen and prance at the reception, and then drive off in a limo." Maddie stopped to take a breath.

"She's going to Martha's Vineyard, you know. Two weeks spent doing nothing but laughing and making love."

"I hadn't heard…isn't it cold this time of year?"

"Emily," Maddie said, her slight smile evident in her voice, "It is the middle of July."

"Whatever, she's going to yuppie paradise for two fun-filled weeks of spending her husband's money."

"Exactly," Maddie said on a sigh, "she is going to a romantic place to spend time with her husband, who is so in love with her that he simply can't refuse her anything."

"Yet," Emily said softly, "he can't refuse her yet. That will change when the shine of newfound love wears off. I hate to say it, Maddie, but the truth is she likes his money and the life-style that comes with it. That isn't true love, and it won't last."

"Some love is better than no love, and at least she gets to be happy for awhile."

"You're kidding me, right?" Emily's voice was warm with her budding annoyance.

"Who are you to complain? You're going to Scotland in less than a month to pursue your career as a writer. Sinister little sister will be happy for two weeks, you will find memories to last you a life-time."

"Yeah, I guess." Maddie agreed half-heartedly, but she really wasn't so sure anymore.

"You're going to be okay, Maddie, I promise. Who knows, in between writing and researching you may find a man. You know, a guy to fall madly in love with, or at least get laid by. I'm sure you can find a man to do that for you."

"I don't know, Eme," Maddie said, "I am beginning to doubt my appeal."

"You may doubt it, Maddie, but the guys sure don't. You just watch you're going to find the man of your dreams!"