William James Michaelson. My goodness, he was such a little asshole. I hated him. Truly I did. When I thought I hated my father; it was nothing compared to the hatred I felt for Michaelson. Michaelson, as he wanted people to call him, was one of those spoilt trust fund children. He wasn't the eldest son so he wouldn't inherited the vaults of money his family had, but he did get a hefty amount, enough so he could live the same lifestyle, comfortably, for life plus a few generations thereafter. That is one big trust fund.

His brother, Charles was a third year. He's really cute. The two look alike, but only in features. Other than that, it was obvious that Charles was the looker, along with the one with the money. He was really tall, I mean, most of the third years at school were only maybe 5 ft tall or something. Charles was already past five feet five inches tall. He carried the same shaggy brown hair as his brother, and brilliant blue eyes. He was also on the Gryffindor quidditch team and so yummy! Ananda shared the same sentiments. But…he's taken. He was dating some fourth year in Ravenclaw. Lucky cow.

So for the rest of that year Michaelson taunted me. For little things, "you should be careful, with how skinny you are you might break!" Or, "your face…something has to be wrong with it." Or maybe his favorite, "oh, did I make you sad? What are you going to say about it" before falling into laughter with his friends. I had taught myself not to cry, but that didn't stop my eyes from watering at night. I tried to eat. I swear I did. I picked up the fork and brought the food to my mouth, but I couldn't move my hand to make the food go in. I tried to talk. I opened my mouth and tried to call Ananda but nothing came out.

It wasn't my fault. It just wasn't time.

"She is not healthy!" Hermione exclaimed. It was about a week before Maleah's twelfth birthday and Hermione and Ron were visiting, yet again.

They weren't married, not exactly. They had been dating for many years, but Hermione never felt it was right to marry him. They broke up when Maleah was about nine, and Ron married Luna Lovegood when she eleven. They were happy and their child was due in two weeks.

Hermione and Ron sat in Harry's office in front of his desk, and Ginny sat on the window sill behind Harry's desk with her hands massaging his shoulders. She rolled her eyes. "She refuses to do anything she is told to. She's so ungrateful."

Hermione, who taught History of Magic, had two children now. Not Ron's. She adopted them from the Magical Orphanage, and her dream was to empty it out. But, as Ron jokes, she'd never be able to do that on a teacher's salary.

"That's not the point," Hermione argued. "I was able to convince the teachers to let her use magic minimally, but she's going into second year. If she uses that magic, she will die!"

Ginny nearly snapped "good riddance," but she knew her comment wouldn't be appreciated. "Well, what exactly are we supposed to do?"

Hermione ignored Ginny and stared right at Harry. "This is up to you," she said quietly. "Whatever is holding her from speaking or eating is your fault and you have to fix it."

"What makes you think this is his fault?" Ron asked incredulously.

"Ronald, please," Hermione said with her nose upturned. "I'm not stupid, I know exactly what I'm talking about."

"I'm going to agree with Ron, how is this my fault?" Harry asked.

"She was uprooted from her home at age five," Hermione ticked off her fingers, "given a stepmother and new brother at age six, a new brother at age seven, and a dead mother at age eight. You do the math," Hermione said sarcastically.

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll talk to her, but she won't answer back."

Confident, Hermione replied, "If you give her the answers she needs, she will speak."

That evening Harry found himself watching his daughter sleep. He smiled gently because she slept exactly like her mother did: one arm clutching a teddy bear (up to her death Katia slept with a stuffed animal by her side), one foot curled above the sheets with the other leg straight under the sheets, the other hand was holding her waist and her hair was already a wild mess. Tonya would have a job of fixing her hair come morning.

Tentatively, Harry took a step inside the door and shut the door behind him. He didn't notice Ginny come behind him a place an extendable ear through the door. "Maleah?" he asked as he shook her awake.

Maleah yawned-with no sound-and sat up. The question on her face was obvious. "Nothing's wrong," Harry assured her. "We need to talk though."

Maleah patted the seat beside her and let her father sit.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out. "I'm sorry that you had to live so horribly and I'm so sorry that I caused your pain."

Maleah remained silent.

"It was hard. It seems wrong that I would just abandon my wife and child for someone else, but, it was a decision I had to make," Harry continued.

Maleah was still silent.

"Your mother and I, Merlin," he breathed. "It was like electricity. From the moment we met it was just there. I couldn't imagine how my life would be like without her. Then we had you and in the back of my mind it made me love her even more, but I distanced myself. I didn't know how I was supposed to be a father. I can't say I wasn't ready, because who is, but-.

"She loved you, you know," Harry went on. "Katia loved you more than she loved her stuffed animals," he said with a grin that turned into a beam when he saw Maleah smile fondly. "I love you too," Harry whispered. "I hope you know that. I love you so much, and I'm sorry I didn't realize how much until your mother died."

Maleah was still silent.

0"Well," Harry said standing. "I just wanted you to know that. I hope that you'll be able to forgive me."

"I-I-I," Maleah croaked out before her father left the room. He turned in surprise. "I wanted to remember," she whispered hoarsely.

"Remember what?" Harry asked coming to the bed again.

"Her face, her smell, her everything," Maleah said. Her face became red and she began to cry. "I wanted to remember because I wouldn't have her anymore. And you made me leave! You killed my mother!"

Harry looked away, ashamed. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Maleah began to sob and heave big breaths. "Why didn't you choose her? Why didn't you save Mummy?"

Harry shook his head and held Maleah. "I don't know. I'm sorry, I didn't know."

For the first time in a long, long time, Maleah felt her father's hands around her in a loving hug. She sagged into his arms and soon her sobs turned into deepened breathing. Suddenly light, Harry tucked Maleah back in and smiled fondly when he saw her take the exact sleeping position of her mother before walking out.

Ginny had returned back into her bedroom when she heard Maleah sobbing. She sat up in her bed when Harry walked in and shot him a glare. "I heard your conversation with her."

Harry got into bed and bound up his pillows. "Yeah? And?"

Ginny hit his shoulder. "I can't believe you! You still love that woman!"

Harry turned over and his bright green eyes were darkened with anger. "You mean my first wife? Of course I still love her! She was the mother of my child. But don't you worry, Ginny," he shot sarcastically, "I'm sure she won't come from the grave to try to steal me from you."

Ginny took her pillow and hit Harry with it when he turned around. "Get out! Get out of my bedroom!"

"Are you kidding?" Harry asked incredulously as he sat up. "This is my room! You have a problem then the door is that way and I'm sure you will be able to find your way out."

He made a big show of fluffing his pillows again and setting himself back down. Ginny was surprised though. Never had Harry spoken to her like that. He always did whatever she asked, except get rid of the brat, but she was working on that. Humiliated, Ginny lay back on the bed and faced away from Harry.

"You are such an asshole, Harry," she whispered into the air.

"I've heard it before," was the reply she got back.

Sorry for the wait...I had stuff to do. I won't be able to update until late May because school is going to end soon and there are finals to study for-prom to get ready for-plus the end of the year parties! I can't wait, but I will be writing to procrastinate against homework so once finals are over updates should come every couple of days!

Thanks for reading!