Summary: Because she is Harry Potter's only daughter, Cerasi is forever burdened by her father's legacy and mother's death. And just when she feels as though her life could not be any more pointless, a mysterious and intriguing stranger appears that may be able to help her learn more about her empty past and her own amazing destiny.

Disclaimer: I would like to thank Mrs. JK Rowling for writing the Harry Potter series, (even though they are children's books and fools like me waste their time writing PG-13 fanfictions about them…) I hereby declare that character's and plot in this story belong to her and Warner Brothers. Please don't sue.

A/N: Please review me if you read this fic and tell me if you like it. Flames accepted as long as they aren't rude. Because I am a loser and have no life to speak of, I have put real effort into writing this and would appreciate it if you don't stomp on every idea I have in this story. After all, it's only a fanfiction…

Now, since my plot might be kind of confusing at first, I'm going to write a character list, which you don't have to read if you don't want to, it will just make the story more understandable. Anyway, you can always come back to it if you don't want to read it right away. So here goes.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter seemingly vanished from existence after his last confrontation with Voldemort, in which the latter was defeated for good. He is believed in the wizarding world to be dead, but his fame lives on. He is still known as the Boy Who Lived, and is viewed by most as the savior who delivered the world from deathly destruction. Certain events, however, may bring up the question of whether he is really gone…

Hermione Granger

A person little known by most of the wizarding world, she accompanied Harry Potter in his search for the four remaining Horcruxes, and stayed by his side until the end. Following his supposed death, she vanished from the country a few weeks later, leaving behind nothing but a note promising her remaining friends that she would return to England one day.

She did not appear again for another decade, but when she did, she was an inch from death (and died a few days later) and had with her a ten-year-old girl named Cerasi, the illegitimate daughter of Harry Potter himself.

Ron Weasley

He moved to the Middle East shortly after Harry Potter's death and his ex-girlfriend Hermione's disappearance. His only wish was to get away from everything. He quickly lost contact with his family and soon became involved in Pakistan's Ministry of Magic. He has returned to England in an attempt to build a relationship with his newly discovered Goddaughter, though this may be a harder task than he expected.

Professor Mcgonagall

She quickly replaced Dumbledore as Headmaster after his death and took to the job reluctantly. Now, fourteen years later, she has had to modernize Hogwarts School Policies after centuries of the same regime. She keeps a watchful eye on Cerasi, who now attends Hogwarts as a fourth former, and is often exasperated by her idealist attitude and rebellious behavior. Though she may appear to be very open, she has many secrets, and is sensitive about certain events in her past life.

Cerasi Potter

The main character of the story, she reveals very little about her past life with her mother Hermione. (Even she doesn't understand everything that happened) The only obvious thing is that the two of them lived in the United States, where Hermione served as a sort of ambassador under the US's Wizarding Federation and it's current President, Aravis, Dumbledore's niece.

Cerasi often covers up her feelings on sensitive matters with rudeness or sarcasm, and is viewed by most of her classmates as a silent, cold person. She trusts few people and often shows little affection for anyone. However, deep down, she's really good at heart and has a fair sense of justice.

Joelle Marigold

A new student at Hogwarts, Cerasi met her in her second year from the Foreign Exchange Program. She is half French Canadian, half Australian, and Cerasi was forced to be her caretaker as punishment for putting a For Sale sign on the Hogwarts school grounds. Over time, she and Joelle became friends, and Cerasi is rarely seen out of company with her and the other Foreign Exchangee, Marco Dietman.

Joelle is a hopeless romantic, and though she sometimes can be naive, she has an artistic emotional personality that sometimes takes others by surprise.

Marco Dietman

Cerasi often calls him Deitman the Queer because of his homosexuality. He is Cerasi's reluctant but close friend, and was her hated enemy until she saved him from the school stream's Kelpie.

Deitman is Galacian, meaning he comes from a poor, northwestern corner in Spain where the Irish have intermixed with the Spaniards. This also explains why he speaks Spanish, but wears a leather kilt and has a fondness for wine.

Jenny Phinwick

The daughter of Hermione's irritating cousin Katherine, she is nonetheless Cerasi's only family. She is more like Cerasi's sister than anything else, and the two are close. Though she is a muggle, she owns an owl that she often uses to send letters to Cerasi, mostly to relay episodes with her boyfriend Luigi Desanto. (Who, in Cerasi's opinion, closely resembles a doped up gorilla) She attends a Muggle school called Stalag 14 and often spends a lot of her time playing Star Wars video games, despite her appearance, which is often perceived as odd because of her affiliation with unusual colors of eyeliner.

Stephanie Beachwood

Cerasi's other distant cousin, and another sister-like friend, though no one really knows how she and the latter are really related. She is a witch, but lives with Jenny and Mrs. Granger. Therefore, she is no stranger to muggle life. She often hangs around with Cerasi at school, and is usually emotionless to a point of being inhuman with a bothersome phobia for germs. She hates Canadian quarters and has a fondness for classic rock. Part of the reason why she is attempting to learn to play the bass guitar, however unsuccessfully.

Sirius Lupin

The son of Remus and Tonks and a handsome metamorphmagus, he was on the Griffindor Quidditch team until he decided that flying a broomstick messed up his hair too much. Instead he often helps Stephanie with her bass guitar lessons (he himself plays the twelve-string guitar) and goes on 'Cat Patrol' with Oliver Weasley. He is Cerasi's friend and teases her often, though he would never admit it's because he has a thing for her.

Ginny Weasley

She currently lives at Hogwarts, where she serves as the school Transfiguration teacher and Professor Mcgonnagal's Deputy Headmistress. Every chance she gets, however, she goes to her home, number four Privet Dr., to see Dudley her (believe it or not) husband.

The two of them have a daughter named Sophie, who attends Baeuxbatons instead of Hogwarts, so as not to have her relationship with her mother interfere with school.

Dudley Dursley

He is married to Ginny and has inherited his father's drill company Grunnings. He doesn't do or say much these days, except to Ginny, whom he adores. Most believe this is a great improvement in his character. He is surprisingly well mannered to Cerasi, his second cousin. And to his daughter Sophie, he often also says little, but merely shows his affection by spending a lot of money on her.

Adele and Oliver Weasley

Two fraternal twins, their parents are Bill Weasley and Fluer Delacour. They are both in the same house as Cerasi and so it is unavoidable that she spends time with them. Oliver Weasley is a boy and on the Quidditch team with Cerasi. He loves girls and wizard sports, and thinks of little else.

Adele is a gorgeous red head who looks like her mother. Though she can be air headed and shallow, she is also an intelligent journalist for the Hogwarts Newspaper, Frog Warts.

Aravis Dumbledore

The daughter of Aberforth, Dumbledore's brother, and the President of the Wizard Federation, America's Magical Government. She is beloved by all in her country and seems to take after her uncle in oddness and sharp intelligence, and is well known throughout the entire Wizarding World. Because of her work in Astrology with Cerasi's mother and the discovery of elemental uses in magic, she is hailed as one of the most revolutionary witches of her age. Cerasi remembers her from her days in America, and though she doesn't know it, she may find that Aravis watches over her as closely as Professor Mcgonnagal.

Percy Weasley

His reluctance to reconnect with his family is still clear to this day, and he often acts superior to them on many occasions. He is famous for many things, including the fact that he is the youngest wizard to ever become Minister of Magic, and he is married to Penelope Clearwater, though they have been unable to have children so far.

Petunia Dursley

She is more open to magic and wizards than she used to be, though this may be because she has gone slightly senile. She quickly fascinates Cerasi because she is the only person she has ever met who hates her father.

Hagrid

He mourns the death of Dumbledore and Madam Maxine. He cares about Cerasi deeply and often scolds her, saying that she should not be so passionate and learn to stop getting into trouble. He sometimes gets drunk and tells her that she and Grawp are the only reason he stays alive. In which case she usually has to stay with him the rest of the night and allow him to sleep it off.

Draco Malfoy

He is the current Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts and well suited for the position. Many stay away from him because of his past affiliations with the Dark Side. He enjoys taunting Cerasi, and does so often, but it's really because he's very fond of her.

Cerridwen

One of Voldemort's extremely mysterious past followers who had been a sort of second in command to his power. Because of her short reign and quick disappearance, many fear she is still alive. Cerasi secretly wishes to take revenge on her for killing Madam Maxine and Stephanie and Jenny's parents.

Aunt Marge

She hates Cerasi and delights in tormenting her, which, for the most part, doesn't bother the latter in the slightest. After all, Cerasi doesn't see her very often. She is rather stupid about her niece-in-law's family, and, rather than realize their wizardry, explains away their oddness by saying that they're Irish and probably drunk.

Mrs. Granger

Cerasi's grandmother serves as her Guardian and is very quiet, and not as lively as Professor Mcgonnagal insists she once was. She lives with Jenny full time and also watches Stephanie, as both of them are orphans like Cerasi. Many things about Mrs. Granger are mysterious to the three of them, and they wish to find out about what happened after her husband died.

Mrs. Weasey

She resents Cerasi for many reasons and sometimes can be very minimizing to her. Cerasi isn't very quick to realize why, and merely thinks she, like Petunia, has turned senile after losing her husband.

Sophie Dursley

Ginny and Dudley's daughter, she is often the butt of Cerasi's practical jokes because she, like Mrs. Weasley, is minimizing and often shows off, as she takes after her father in extravagance and her mother in female superiority. She Attends Baeuxbotans Academy, prompting her to tease Cerasi about learning in 'a garbage dump.' She enjoys calling Cerasi names in French that no one but the two of them can understand; usually ensuing into violent catfights and wizard duels between the two with a lot of shrieking and French swear words.

Grawp

Hagrid's half brother has become reasonably civilized, and Cerasi often accompanies Hagrid to visit him in the forbidden forest.

Prince Xach

An alluring and mysterious being that appears at first in Cerasi's dreams, and then changes her life from the moment their eyes truly meet.

A/N: Well that turned out to be a longer character list than I thought it would be. My bad. There are more characters, but some won't be introduced till later and others aren't really important to the story.

PROLOGUE

Malfoy had believed this day would never come. The day he saw Hermione Granger again. When she had vanished he'd believed she would be gone for good. Though he had not been sure whether he was pleased or sad about this.

Oh, she had promised the Weasley's she would come back, of course… But really, if Granger was a lot of things, she certainly wasn't stupid. Putting aside certain circumstances that alone could grant the whole rotten family grounds for taking revenge on her, Malfoy had heard four years ago that she was somewhere near Los Angeles. He personally couldn't see why she would want to leave a place like that to come back and touch unpleasant bases with those grubby losers.

But what can you expect from mudbloods? Certainly nothing sensible.

Naturally, when Malfoy had heard, some ten years after Potter had banished Voldemort, that Granger was on her deathbed at St. Mungo's in London and had expressed her wish to speak with him one last time to the Weasley's, he had been unsure of what to feel. He decided to go and see her right away, and was somehow calmly unsurprised by her request.

So maybe Malfoy felt as though he had a connection to her. After all, ten years ago, she had saved his life. And as for what she had done for Snape… Malfoy had never been able to understand. It was unfathomable to him. After that, he never saw her again, but found himself thinking of her all the time, and hating Potter more than ever for taking yet another thing away from him.

He dawdled on the way to St. Mungo's, unable to figure out what to do or what to say. It only took him imagining her life dwindling away to get moving.

When he had arrived, the healers took him to the room on the highest floor that was hidden from the rest of the hospital. Inside he saw Granger slumped on a hospital bed, sitting on top of the covers with her entire body sagging. Malfoy stepped up next to the bed and looked her up and down, seeing how much older she looked. She had died her hair very dark brown, and she looked almost royal, as she was wearing expensive looking gray and white robes that indicated her importance as a person. However, she looked pale and sickly, her whole face colorless and waxy, looking almost as though she was a walking corpse, often convulsing or twitching with some sort of terrible pain.

She looked up and almost smiled at him. 'You're starting to look like your father Malfoy,' she said in a weak voice. Malfoy's insides were churning with sickness. This wasn't the Hermione Granger he remembered. This wasn't the jumpy, overenthusiatic, hyperactive, smart-mouthed girl he used to hate.

Malfoy attempted to keep his voice steady as he said, 'What's happened to you, Granger? Who did this?'

Hermione didn't answer for a moment, she sat slumped over, twitching, and then said, 'It's a long story Malfoy… I don't have a lot of time left… I… I haven't told anyone what's happened, in fact, I'm only going to tell you, and… I want you to pass the information along to the order, the Weasley's too…I'm afraid. If you want to ask me a question, do it now, so you… don't interrupt me.'

Malfoy felt the first question he had been dying to have answered pour out of his mouth. 'There are rumors going around about a little girl you had with you, they're saying she's at Potter's muggle relative's house. Ridiculous things they're saying. They actually think, and you'll never believe this, they're saying that she's you're DAUGHTER! And Potter's the father! Ha!'

Malfoy waited for her to laugh, to say how ridiculous this was. But she didn't, she merely looked at him, almost irritably.

'No,' Malfoy whispered. 'It… I can't… it can't be…'

Hermione didn't reply.

What's her name?' he asked hoarsely.

'Cerasi'

Malfoy's mouth was dry, he blinked and continued. 'They say you were a foreign ambassador for the American Wizard Federation. They say you helped Aravis Dumledore in revolutionary discoveries in astrology and invention, and that you've been living in LA… also true?'

Hermione nodded weakly. 'Actually, it was Oakland, but I haven't been there as of late…I… I've spent the last two years in New York City…'

Malfoy nodded and said, 'How much time do you have left?'

Hermione looked terrible. 'No more than a day…'

'What… what kind of magic is this?' Malfoy asked. 'What could possibly have done this to you?'

'They call it the black curse…'

'Black curse?'

Hermione laughed. 'I remember when I thought the killing curse, Avada Kedavra, was the worse curse there was. Avada Kedavra is nothing. It's quick, and painless. This… this…'

She seemed to sag a little more and Malfoy caught her by the shoulders. He pushed her down so she was lying on the bed and said, 'But who? Who put the curse on you?'

'Death's hand,' Hermione said weakly. 'They're a major terrorist organization in the United States, bent on a revolution of the dark arts. Nobody knows where they came from, but… they seem to have unnatural power. Like… like something from another world.

'I found out through stealth that they were planning to assassinate Aravis. I had to stop them, so I headed them off. It took everything I had to defeat the assassination party. I only managed to get them to flee because I had called the reinforcements…Warlock Elite Squad. But they laughed as they fled, and somehow I knew I had to go back to the loft. Cerasi was there and she was alone. By the time I got back, there were Dementors and one of them had their hands around her face. I fought them off with a Patronus, but there was another death's hand member there. He was a high ranker and in the end he tried to cast the black curse on Cerasi… I couldn't… I knocked her down, out of the way; the curse hit me instead. She was only half-conscious at the time, because of the Dementors. The Death's hand member died instantly. The Black Curse is powerful, so a wizard can't cast it without killing himself.

I took Cerasi, and I apparrated us both across the Atlantic, it was terribly dangerous. I don't know how I made it to the train station without splinching us both.

'I got to the burrow with Cerasi, and I don't know what happened after that… I blacked out, I was in such terrible agony… and I woke up here…'

Malfoy clenched his fists. 'I won't rest,' he said furiously. 'Until every member of Death's Hand is put to death.'

Hermione shook her head. 'You won't see them for another few years, they're going into hiding after this. The whole country will be looking for them. People will forget about them…'

'You'll be a national hero in the United States after this,' Malfoy said. 'Everyone will love you, probably as much as Aravis… But you'll have vanished… I have to let them know where you are… I expect they'll give you…'

Malfoy's voice died, as he was about to say "a beautiful burial."

'Malfoy…' Hermione said dazedly. 'I want you to help Professor Mcgonnagal look after Cerasi… I want her to stay here in England, where her mother grew up… I… I've left her everything I have in my will. Everything. Have the Weasley's arrange everything… getting everything over here to England, I mean. And… don't forget to open a Gringotts vault in her name…' Her eyelids slid down a little..

'I won't forget,' Malfoy said solemnly.

Hermione dazedly pulled a plain, but heavy gold locket out of her pocket. 'And Malfoy… give her this… and tell her I love her.'