Disclaimer: I own nothing! JKR does!

A/N: Please be nice with me, this is my first and I'm Italian! Maybe it will be full of mistakes!

To Angel of the North: Thank you for beta-reading this chapter, now it flows a lot more.

Story of Them

It was about 10 pm and a young girl was looking out of her window at the city. She was sitting on a sofa near a big window, an opened book on her lap.

The city was New York, and her name was Lilian Smith. She'd been 11 for all of a week, and she was waiting for her mom to come home from the office near their apartment. Shaking her red bushy hair out of her eyes, she smiled at her reflection, she had a smile to be proud of (her grandparents were dentists), and chocolaty eyes that could charm anyone.

It was just her, and her mum since she was born; she'd never known her dad, her mum has never told her anything about him and she has always thought he was dead.

Anyway she didn't need a dad, her mum was smart and organized enough for them both. And she had her grandparents, but they lived near London and she saw them only when they came to visit her.

She didn't know why but her mum seemed didn't want to come back to the place where she spent her childhood. Her mum didn't explain why, but Lilian didn't mind, because her mum was the best mum she could ask for.

She was only 28, but it didn't matter. She was a very beautiful and sweet mother.

And in spite of being otherwise normal, her mother insisted that she was no longer Hermione Granger, but Audrey Smith, and her daughter was Lilian Smith.

Lilian liked thinking that maybe her mum was a spy or something like that, even if she worked as a secretary and spent all her free time reading.

Lilian knew John Cliff wasn't her father, even if he was her mother's boss and lover.

He was 54 years old and was married with children. Hermione didn't know if she really loved him, but thought that this story would be the best thing for Lilian: he had promised her that he would divorce soon and then marry her so that Lilian would have a proper father, and a secure home. But Hermione had been seeing him for years, and he'd never leave his wife.

In spite of the protestations of love, he'd not visited Hermione in hospital when she'd fainted at work two weeks before. He'd shrugged, and said he couldn't find an excuse for his wife. She had a pain in one side and it hurt her so much. This wasn't the first time and she was sure that it wouldn't be the last.

He'd protested that he loved her, but somehow Hermione hadn't seemed happy about this. It reminded her of Lilian's father.

Well, Lilian knew only that John wasn't her father and would never be, also if he was always so nice to her. She didn't like him: he was selfish and possessive. But for Hermione this didn't matter.

That night was a very strange night. Lilian stared at the owls that flew around the city - she'd never seen so many in New York and they looked like they didn't mean to go away very soon.

Far away in the night she heard a scream, The fat old lady upstairs was running about, apparently shocked out of her wits. Lilian heard a male voice trying to calm her down, but she couldn't see what was going on from her vantage point by the door.

Lilian was very curious. Not afraid, just curious. She watched all the scene from behind the half-open door before closing it quietly.

'That's funny' she thought 'I've never seen that woman move so fast!'.

At that very moment a knock sounded - loud and firm, like it the visitor could easily tear down the door if she didn't open it. She stepped back from the door. Now she was afraid.

'What should I do?' she thought.

'I think you should open the door and see who it is !' said a voice in her head.

'How can I be so brave?' she asked herself. Opening the door, she looked at the visitor. And looked up, and up, at a man who had to bend to keep his head off the ceiling.

"Hello! Yeh must be little Lilian Granger! Aren't yeh? Yeh'll be getting tall now. The last time I saw yeh, well, yeh weren't even born yet!" the man stopped for a while "So it's better say that I've never seen yeh! But now yer as tall as she was." he smiled .

"W-w-who a-are y-y-you?" asked Lilian still shocked. He was the tallest and biggest man she has ever seen.

"Oh my. Yer ma's never told yer about me? I'm a friend of hers, an old friend. Hagrid's the name, Rubeus Hagrid. But it's yer I'm here ter see. Pleased ter meet yer."

At that, Lilian froze, but decided that she'd be better off opening the door. He could probably knock it down if he wanted.

'Girl takes after her father, trusting me like that', he muttered to himself. To Lilian he smiled, and moved into the hall. "Nice place yer got here."

He looked round at the shelves.

"Not one much for books meself, but she was always reading, our Hermione. Speaking of which. Where's yer ma?"

"S-she's still at work, but she'll be back soon."

"Hadn't ye better be going to bed, young Lilian. Yer mum won't be happy"

She panicked, wanting to trust this stranger, but scared that she might have let a thief in.

"But it's not p-polite. Y-you're a guest, Mr. Hagrid, and..."

"Just Hagrid. And don't yeh go worrying yerself about me." He looked at her hopefully, and then sighed when it looked as though she was just going to stay put.

"OK, then. These are for yeh. A belated birthday present."

She looked suspiciously at the big box of sweet that he was giving her. "I prefer wait for mum here!" she said looking at him in his eyes "And then she always tells me never accept candies from strangers".

"Yer mum is wise. But I bought them from London for yeh. Take one. Come on."

Hagrid smiled in a encouraging way. So Lilian took the box from his hands.

"Mind the blue ones, but the red ones are OK."

She looked at Hagrid, who was looking back at her with a smile.

She tried a yellow one.

'Strange man...yawn…and how could he know my real name...?... yawn...I'm very sleepy...but I can't sleep.. I must stay up…stay up…up...'.

Before long she was asleep.

"Little Angel - I really must thank those twins for the Sleeping Beauties. With one those she'll sleep like an angel all night."

He went to the kitchen, and stared at all the gadgets.

He'd be happier when he'd seen Hermione again.

Hermione herself was looking at the window of her flat, scowling at the light on in the window. Lilian shouldn't still be up. She let herself in the flat, and called to her daughter, but all she saw was a tall man, with long black hair, and a bushy beard, smiling at her from the kitchen.

"Hermione. Good ter see yer."

"H-Hagrid"