A/N: Wow! 13 reviews for the Prologue??? That has never happened to me
before!!! Thanks, everyone! Keep it up! Sorry I haven't updated so far, but
I had a really huge history exam and I had to study. I have a lot of exams
right now... I think I'll won't have a lot of time until June or so. Until
then, my updates will not be so often... I'm sorry... but I must work hard
if I want to succeed... I promise you, the more reviews I get, the more
often I'll update, because I know people out there are waiting!
~*~
"Hi, Mom." The ten-year-old blond boy came out of his room, ran over to Hermione Granger and hugged her tightly.
"Hey, Daniel sweetheart," Hermione answered with a big smile on her face and hugged him back. Then she raised his chin with her forefinger and looked at him closely. "How was your day at school?"
"It was okay," Daniel replied.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked. "None of the kids picked on you?"
"None."
"Why are you here, all alone?" she asked, stroking his soft hair. "You know I don't like it when you're all alone for so many hours. I wish I could finish work earlier, but in the meantime I can't. But that doesn't mean you have to be alone! You can visit Grandma and Grandpa, or ask Ryan to come and be here with you."
"I like to be alone," Daniel answered. "But if it's so important to you, Mom, I'll do it."
"Good boy," Hermione said and smiled. "I love you."
~*~
After dinner, Daniel was back in his room, doing his homework. It was a little hard to concentrate. It's not easy to concentrate when you feel so bad because you don't have any friends at school.
He had lied to his mother before. The kids at school always picked on him. He didn't tell anyone he was a wizard. But somehow, they knew he was different. Maybe that was because he was so insecure in class. Every evening, when he ate dinner with his mother, he asked her about Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry. It was almost impossible to believe such a school really existed, when the only school he knew was so Mugglish. Daniel didn't like Muggles.
His mother kept telling him he should not hate Muggles – just because they didn't have magic, didn't mean they were inferior to wizards. Daniel thought he could have liked Muggles if they had been nicer to him, but the only nice Muggles he knew were his grandparents, his mother's parents. They had always been nice, kind and loving. All the other Muggles were obnoxious and mean.
Daniel went to a Muggle school because his mother worked long hours and didn't have time to educate him herself. Daniel would have preferred to be educated by Mrs. Weasley, or by his grandmother, but his mother wanted him to gain experience of studying in a school before going to Hogwarts.
"But when will I get to go to Hogwarts?" Daniel complained.
"When you're eleven, you'll get the letter," his mother replied. "Then you'll go there. Just be patient."
Easy for her to say! She hadn't known she was a witch before she received her letter. She hadn't been picked on at school. Probably not like him.
Daniel didn't know why the kids hated him so much. He tried to look at the "cool kids" in his class: what was it that made everyone like them? They weren't richer or smarter or more beautiful than other kids. The only difference he could see between them and him was that they were much more confident: they were never afraid to talk, they had no problem making new friends, and they had a great sense of humor.
So Daniel tried to be more confident, but it was very difficult, because wherever he went, he remembered what really bothered him. He knew what it was that made him feel so insecure, so inferior to everyone else. And that thing was his f a t h e r .
He didn't have a father. And that was the problem. Everyone knew he didn't have one, and everyone but him had fathers. This was one of the reasons everbody picked on him.
**FLASHBACK**
When Daniel was five years old and started going to the Muggle kindergarten, he discovered everyone had both a mother and a father. He realized something was missing from his life, something he had never thought of before. His mother had always been there for him, always so helpful, so loving, that he didn't feel something was wrong. In addition, his mother had many friends: Harry Potter, the Weasleys, Luna Lovegood and their children. So he never felt lonely.
In the kindergarten, however, he heard the kids telling each other: "If you don't stop, my dad will beat you up." Or: "My dad is the strongest man on the planet!" Daniel, who was a pretty clever child, soon realized everyone had something he didn't – a father, and this father gave them a feeling of security and confidence.
Therefore, he started to feel a little inferior and thought: How come everybody has a father, and I don't? Why do I only have a mother?
He was used to tell his mother everything that bothered him. He loved her and trusted her more than anyone else, and whenever he asked her something, she always answered patiently and explicitly. As a result, he dared to ask her about his father one night, when she tucked him into bed.
"Mommy, I want to ask you something."
"Yes, honey?"
"Do you promise you'll answer me?"
"Of course I'll answer you. You know you can ask me anything, Daniel."
"Mommy," Little Daniel said, looking at his mother straight in the eye, "why don't I have a father?"
He saw his mother's shock; he heard her gasp. He thought he saw tears in her eyes, and he didn't understand why. What was wrong? Maybe he wasn't supposed to ask her this?
"I thought you might ask soon," his mother said heavily.
"Don't you want to answer, Mommy?" Daniel asked.
"I don't really have an answer, sweetheart," Hermione said. "You do have a father. Everyone has a father, because a baby can only be born when a man and a woman are together. But your father is gone."
"Where has he gone? Doesn't he want to see me?"
"Daniel, don't ask me these questions. Please."
Daniel saw her chin quiver as if she were about to cry. He felt sorry for her, but he had to know more. "But why, Mommy?" he protested. "Everyone in the kindergarten has a father. Why am I the only one whose father is gone? I want to meet my father!"
"You can't, Daniel. And you have to face it."
"Is my father Harry?" Daniel asked.
"No, of course not!"
"Is he Ron?"
"Daniel – stop it. Your father is not here, and you don't know him. Don't try and guess. And please, I know it must be hard for you, but please try to overcome it. Okay?"
Daniel started crying. "It's not fair! It's not fair, Mom! I want my father! I want to meet my dad!"
Hermione tried to calm him down, but Daniel was too upset. He just kept crying and crying...
**End Flashback**
Daniel was no longer a five-year-old; he didn't ask his mother about his father anymore, because he didn't want to hurt her feelings, and anyway – he knew she wouldn't answer him.
He was not angry with his mother anymore. He didn't know why she was so unwilling to tell him the truth, but he was older now and more mature, and realized his father had probably hurt his mother terribly. Maybe he betrayed her, or broke up with her when she still loved him. Daniel had no way to find out. He had once tried to ask Harry, but Harry refused to tell him anything. He tried Ron and Ginny, but their reaction was just like Harry's. He then understood they had all made an agreement with his mother not to tell him anything, and that he had no chance to find out that way.
~*~
Hermione's intentions were not selfish. She didn't tell Daniel about his father, because she didn't want him to feel what she had felt when Draco left her. She, at least, had memories from Draco, but Daniel did not have any memories, and she thought it would make it even more difficult for her.
Meanwhile, she thought Daniel handled the situation pretty well. When she saw him with his friends, he seemed like a totally normal, healthy, self- confident boy. And if he didn't have many friends at school, so what? When she had been his age, she hadn't had many friends at school either.
Daniel had good relationships with everyone, all of Hermione's friends. The Weasley family had grown a lot in those ten years. Harry and Ginny had got married and now had two girls; Ron and Luna had a boy and a girl; Fred, George, Charlie and Bill also had children. Bill's eldest son, Ryan, had just graduated from Hogwarts, and he and Daniel were very close. Ryan would come to visit Daniel at least twice a week.
Hermione sighed and opened her drawer. She had never shown Daniel the diamond bracelet Draco had given her just before he left. But sometimes, when she was alone, like now, she liked to hold it close to her heart... drown in her dreams... and remember.
~*~
Daniel liked to stand in front of the mirror and look at himself. Not because he thought he was so handsome, but because he tried to imagine what his father looked like. Everyone said he didn't look very much like Hermione, except for his nose, perhaps.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he could easily state his father was blond. No one in his mother's family was blond. What about his eyes? Daniel's eyes were blue, unlike Hermione's. Maybe his father's eyes were blue, too? Daniel looked at himself intently, trying to imagine the face of the man who had brought him to the world.
Will I ever know who my father is? He asked himself. Will I ever get to meet him? Will I ever call him Dad?
He didn't know...
~*~
A/N: Next chapter will be better. This one is still the background.
~*~
"Hi, Mom." The ten-year-old blond boy came out of his room, ran over to Hermione Granger and hugged her tightly.
"Hey, Daniel sweetheart," Hermione answered with a big smile on her face and hugged him back. Then she raised his chin with her forefinger and looked at him closely. "How was your day at school?"
"It was okay," Daniel replied.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked. "None of the kids picked on you?"
"None."
"Why are you here, all alone?" she asked, stroking his soft hair. "You know I don't like it when you're all alone for so many hours. I wish I could finish work earlier, but in the meantime I can't. But that doesn't mean you have to be alone! You can visit Grandma and Grandpa, or ask Ryan to come and be here with you."
"I like to be alone," Daniel answered. "But if it's so important to you, Mom, I'll do it."
"Good boy," Hermione said and smiled. "I love you."
~*~
After dinner, Daniel was back in his room, doing his homework. It was a little hard to concentrate. It's not easy to concentrate when you feel so bad because you don't have any friends at school.
He had lied to his mother before. The kids at school always picked on him. He didn't tell anyone he was a wizard. But somehow, they knew he was different. Maybe that was because he was so insecure in class. Every evening, when he ate dinner with his mother, he asked her about Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry. It was almost impossible to believe such a school really existed, when the only school he knew was so Mugglish. Daniel didn't like Muggles.
His mother kept telling him he should not hate Muggles – just because they didn't have magic, didn't mean they were inferior to wizards. Daniel thought he could have liked Muggles if they had been nicer to him, but the only nice Muggles he knew were his grandparents, his mother's parents. They had always been nice, kind and loving. All the other Muggles were obnoxious and mean.
Daniel went to a Muggle school because his mother worked long hours and didn't have time to educate him herself. Daniel would have preferred to be educated by Mrs. Weasley, or by his grandmother, but his mother wanted him to gain experience of studying in a school before going to Hogwarts.
"But when will I get to go to Hogwarts?" Daniel complained.
"When you're eleven, you'll get the letter," his mother replied. "Then you'll go there. Just be patient."
Easy for her to say! She hadn't known she was a witch before she received her letter. She hadn't been picked on at school. Probably not like him.
Daniel didn't know why the kids hated him so much. He tried to look at the "cool kids" in his class: what was it that made everyone like them? They weren't richer or smarter or more beautiful than other kids. The only difference he could see between them and him was that they were much more confident: they were never afraid to talk, they had no problem making new friends, and they had a great sense of humor.
So Daniel tried to be more confident, but it was very difficult, because wherever he went, he remembered what really bothered him. He knew what it was that made him feel so insecure, so inferior to everyone else. And that thing was his f a t h e r .
He didn't have a father. And that was the problem. Everyone knew he didn't have one, and everyone but him had fathers. This was one of the reasons everbody picked on him.
**FLASHBACK**
When Daniel was five years old and started going to the Muggle kindergarten, he discovered everyone had both a mother and a father. He realized something was missing from his life, something he had never thought of before. His mother had always been there for him, always so helpful, so loving, that he didn't feel something was wrong. In addition, his mother had many friends: Harry Potter, the Weasleys, Luna Lovegood and their children. So he never felt lonely.
In the kindergarten, however, he heard the kids telling each other: "If you don't stop, my dad will beat you up." Or: "My dad is the strongest man on the planet!" Daniel, who was a pretty clever child, soon realized everyone had something he didn't – a father, and this father gave them a feeling of security and confidence.
Therefore, he started to feel a little inferior and thought: How come everybody has a father, and I don't? Why do I only have a mother?
He was used to tell his mother everything that bothered him. He loved her and trusted her more than anyone else, and whenever he asked her something, she always answered patiently and explicitly. As a result, he dared to ask her about his father one night, when she tucked him into bed.
"Mommy, I want to ask you something."
"Yes, honey?"
"Do you promise you'll answer me?"
"Of course I'll answer you. You know you can ask me anything, Daniel."
"Mommy," Little Daniel said, looking at his mother straight in the eye, "why don't I have a father?"
He saw his mother's shock; he heard her gasp. He thought he saw tears in her eyes, and he didn't understand why. What was wrong? Maybe he wasn't supposed to ask her this?
"I thought you might ask soon," his mother said heavily.
"Don't you want to answer, Mommy?" Daniel asked.
"I don't really have an answer, sweetheart," Hermione said. "You do have a father. Everyone has a father, because a baby can only be born when a man and a woman are together. But your father is gone."
"Where has he gone? Doesn't he want to see me?"
"Daniel, don't ask me these questions. Please."
Daniel saw her chin quiver as if she were about to cry. He felt sorry for her, but he had to know more. "But why, Mommy?" he protested. "Everyone in the kindergarten has a father. Why am I the only one whose father is gone? I want to meet my father!"
"You can't, Daniel. And you have to face it."
"Is my father Harry?" Daniel asked.
"No, of course not!"
"Is he Ron?"
"Daniel – stop it. Your father is not here, and you don't know him. Don't try and guess. And please, I know it must be hard for you, but please try to overcome it. Okay?"
Daniel started crying. "It's not fair! It's not fair, Mom! I want my father! I want to meet my dad!"
Hermione tried to calm him down, but Daniel was too upset. He just kept crying and crying...
**End Flashback**
Daniel was no longer a five-year-old; he didn't ask his mother about his father anymore, because he didn't want to hurt her feelings, and anyway – he knew she wouldn't answer him.
He was not angry with his mother anymore. He didn't know why she was so unwilling to tell him the truth, but he was older now and more mature, and realized his father had probably hurt his mother terribly. Maybe he betrayed her, or broke up with her when she still loved him. Daniel had no way to find out. He had once tried to ask Harry, but Harry refused to tell him anything. He tried Ron and Ginny, but their reaction was just like Harry's. He then understood they had all made an agreement with his mother not to tell him anything, and that he had no chance to find out that way.
~*~
Hermione's intentions were not selfish. She didn't tell Daniel about his father, because she didn't want him to feel what she had felt when Draco left her. She, at least, had memories from Draco, but Daniel did not have any memories, and she thought it would make it even more difficult for her.
Meanwhile, she thought Daniel handled the situation pretty well. When she saw him with his friends, he seemed like a totally normal, healthy, self- confident boy. And if he didn't have many friends at school, so what? When she had been his age, she hadn't had many friends at school either.
Daniel had good relationships with everyone, all of Hermione's friends. The Weasley family had grown a lot in those ten years. Harry and Ginny had got married and now had two girls; Ron and Luna had a boy and a girl; Fred, George, Charlie and Bill also had children. Bill's eldest son, Ryan, had just graduated from Hogwarts, and he and Daniel were very close. Ryan would come to visit Daniel at least twice a week.
Hermione sighed and opened her drawer. She had never shown Daniel the diamond bracelet Draco had given her just before he left. But sometimes, when she was alone, like now, she liked to hold it close to her heart... drown in her dreams... and remember.
~*~
Daniel liked to stand in front of the mirror and look at himself. Not because he thought he was so handsome, but because he tried to imagine what his father looked like. Everyone said he didn't look very much like Hermione, except for his nose, perhaps.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he could easily state his father was blond. No one in his mother's family was blond. What about his eyes? Daniel's eyes were blue, unlike Hermione's. Maybe his father's eyes were blue, too? Daniel looked at himself intently, trying to imagine the face of the man who had brought him to the world.
Will I ever know who my father is? He asked himself. Will I ever get to meet him? Will I ever call him Dad?
He didn't know...
~*~
A/N: Next chapter will be better. This one is still the background.