His Daughter

Author: Leta McGotor

Disclaimer: I own nothing but some characters like Victoria McDrake, her husband and her family. The other belongs to JKR.

Kidarock, EM, Joelpup62, PrincessSkywalkerOrgana: Thank you for your review. I always like (or love?) it when people read my stories and say what they think about it.

Always Hopeful: Thank you for telling me that with the word conjugation. English isn't my mother tongue and I hope that I can improve my language. Therefore thank you for telling me and for reviewing and reading my story.

DamesFan: I hope your expectations are not that high that I can't reach them. But I hope I have fulfilled them. Thank you for reading and reviewing.

SherbetKitty: Yes, I know I can be cruel. Others have guessed and maybe they aren't that wrong. Thank you for reading (and reviewing). I always enjoy reading my reviews.

All of you are great!

Chapter 3 Trying

It was quiet in the little chapel when Albus entered. He looked around. Nobody was to be seen but the figure of Duncan McDrake standing besinde the dark coffin. Albus sighed. Never had he felt it that difficult to do a few steps but now here was the feeling that he wasn't able to go and stand there like Duncan did. He sighed again and looked around. He had expected many people wishing there last farewell to Victoria but the benches in front of him were empty as all the ways in the chapel. That made Albus sad.

Victoria was always a human who enjoyed the life. She saw the light although all around them was dark. She had always a smile on her face and one special one reserved for him. She had encouraged him when he had thought that there was nothing to be brave and happy for. She was always there, beside him, when he needed her. She had hated it when a room was so quiet, she said that it was depressing. Albus sighed again. Yes, Victoria would have hated the silence in this chapel.

Slowly Albus made his way to the coffin. It was difficult for him. Every step seemed to be as if he had weights at his shoes. After what seemd an eternity he arrived at the dark coffin with the red velvet and with… her. Albus swallowed. He hadn't seen her for 17 years but he remembered her always as a very beautiful and healthy looking woman. But now he was greeted by a very thin figure. She looked three times as old as she was. In her black hair were uncountable strands of grey or even white. White, too, was the colour of her skin. Albus remembered how she had loved it to be outside and that she always had a suntanned colour. But now she looked as if she hadn't seen daylight for… yes, 17 years? In her sleep she always smiled and it seemed for Albus that there was lying an angel beside him. But now she wore a sad expression, sad and exhausted.

"Yes, she has changed since the last time you have seen her." The voice of Duncan McDrake took him back from his thoughts.

"Yes." Was all Albus could say.

"She has never forgotten you. She used to write her thoughts about you in a little diary. That were so many thoughts that she had filled several books with them. When she had finished one she always burned it and let the wind took the ash with it."

"Why… why did she never told me of our daughter? Why did she never told me of her health and all? She always could trust me. Why did she never say a word, never wrote only one line to me?"

"Fear."

Before Albus could say even one word he and Duncn McDrake heard a scream behind them. Both turned around. At the far end of the chapel were two black figures fighting with each other. One of them was a tall man with black hair and a grumy expression. He was shaking the other person, probably a young woman because of her black dress and the hat with the black veil. The woman tried to defend herself but it seemed that her attempts were in vain. The man was too strong for her.

"Let her go, Richard. Let her alone." The man looked up and Albus recognized Victoria's husband. Without a word he turned around and stormed out of the chapel not without pushing the other one so hard that she lost balance and fell to the floor.

"Are you alright?" Duncan McDrake asked but the girl only nodded shortly before turning around as well and running out of the room.

"You see" Duncan continued as if nothing had happened. "It's the best the girl stays with me. You don't know her like we do and you would not be able to handle her. Besides sometimes she is a bit strange. You would thing that she lives from her books. There are days when she refuses to eat." He shook his head. "It's the best she stays here."

The burial was very quiet. Albus looked sad at the coffin when it vanished into it's last place for rest. Accompanied by a tragic piece of piano, flutes and violins all people followed the ceremony with their gaze. Shortly in front of the family vault the men carrying the coffin stopped. Out of the mass of people a girl stepped to it with one single red rose in her hands. She put it atop of her mother's coffin and whispered a few words no one but herself could hear. Then she bowed and stepped back vanishing again between the people.

Albus watched her. 'She looks so sad, alone and defenceless as if the world around her was unfamiliar, strange and full of enemies she isn't able to distinguish from her friends.' Albus thought as she vanished from his view.

After the burial many stayed for dinner but Albus hadn't the feeling that he could eat something. Since the end of the funeral he had looked for the girl with the black dress and hat but she was nowhere to be seen. He dicided to go outside for a bit fresh air. Around the manor was a big forest and many hills. Here and there were a few cliffs, where you have to be very careful. Albus knew where he had to go to see the sunset. Often had he watched it together with Victoria. They always loved these hours.

Quiet and careful he made his way to the forest. When he arrived at the end of the forest at this very cliff he saw the familiar tree, which lay on the ground ready to be used as a bench. To Albus' surprise the tree was occupied. Slowly he stepped nearer and noticed the black figure of Victoria's – no, her and his, their – daughter.

She looked up and stared at him, still with the veil in front of her face. Albus looked back at her trying to notice all what was familiar to him.

"Hello." He started not knowing what he should say. He didn't want to speak about Victoria or the funeral or something like that. The girl only nodded as an answer.

"What are you reading there?" Albus looked at the book lying in her lap. The girl held the book to him that he was able to read the title.

"'Agatha Christie – The Cat among the Pigeons' I remember reading it by myself. It's about some murders in a school, right?" She nodded again

"Do you like reading such novels?" She nodded again. He sighed and looked to the sunset.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked after quite a while. She nodded again. "I don't mean me as your teacher but as your father." Again she nodded. "How long do you know?" The girl held up ten fingers.

"What? Weeks? No? Month? No? Years? That's a long time. I learned about you only a few hours ago. Do you want to stay with your uncle?" The girl frantically shook her head.

"Do you want to stay with me?" The girl looked at him before she shrugged then slowly she shook her head again and stood. She stepped to him and only stopped a few inches away. She gave him the book, turned around and made her way back to the forest. Albus watched her until she had vanished, then he looked at the book and opened it. There he found a little piece of paper:

I don't need someone. I can live on my own. I need neither Duncan and Richard nor you. It's my life and my decision. Let me alone.

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