Here's an early Christmas present for all of my Sweet Child of Mine followers. This is a companion piece that's set after ScoM is set to end. I hope you all enjoy this little one shot and have a wonderful holiday season. (Reviewing would be a wonderful gift, thank you for asking! ;) I'm just kidding.)
Happy Christmas!
~`~ Meg ~`~
Daughters
"I know a girl
She puts the color inside of my world
But she's just like a maze
Where all of the walls all continually change
And I've done all I can
To stand on her steps
With my heart in my hands
Now I'm starting to see
Maybe it's got nothing to do with me
"Fathers be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
"Oh, you see that skin
It's the same she's been standing in
Since the day she saw him walking away
Now she's left cleaning up the mess he made
"So fathers be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
"Boys you can break
You find out how much they can take
Boys will be strong
Boys soldier on
Boys would be gone without warmth
From a woman's good, good heart
"On behalf of every man
Looking out for every girl
You are the god and the weight of her world
So fathers be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too"
'Daughters'
-John Mayer
I'll never forget the days that my children were born.
James's birth doesn't stand out as much as it used to, but Daisy's is as if it happened yesterday. I think that I probably subconsciously blocked James's birth because Harry wasn't there with me.
I'd always wanted a daughter. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my son more than life itself, but there's something special in thinking that you have this little woman to raise. But when Daisy was born, I could tell right away that I was going to be fighting her father for her. When Luna laid her in Harry's arms, she stopped crying and opened her huge green eyes at him.
It grew progressively worse over the next few months. I couldn't change Daisy's diaper; she'd scream. I couldn't give Daisy her bottle; she'd scream. I couldn't even rock her to sleep; she'd scream. When he was there, Daddy did it all. When he wasn't, Mummy did... And she'd scream. Mummy and Daisy would scream.
When she turned three, she started primary school at Madame Marie's Primary School for Magically Gifted Children. She'd come home, sit herself in Daddy's lap and ramble on and on about a new word she had learned or a new book that she had checked out of the library.
But as all girls do, she grew farther away from her father and closer to me. I embraced it. I loved actually having my daughter.
Daisy started Hogwarts the year that I was hired to teach Transfiguration. We moved into the castle together and Remus... Erm... I mean, Headmaster Lupin allows her to have a bedroom in my tower as well as in Gryffindor. We've lived in perfect harmony for the past six years... Harry visits occasionally and still treats Daisy like she set the moon into orbit.
She loves it. She'll never admit it, but I know she loves having him wrapped around her little finger. She loves being the Minister of Magic's daughter and getting whatever she wants. Harry lets her get away with murder and she loves it.
So you can see why I was a bit surprised when Daisy came stomping into the tower five minutes ago.
I leapt up out of my armchair. "Daisy? What's wrong?"
She threw up her arms and sighed in disgust. "How could you marry- Ugh!" She turned and stomped up the stairs.
"Okay..." I sighed and looked up to see my husband enter the tower, his eyes livid and his missing invisibility cloak in his hands. "Do you want to explain what's going on?" I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at him.
He slumped onto the couch, removed his glasses, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I feel a lot older than forty-two right now..."
"Well, thank you..." The fact that I'm ten months older than my husband was never a touchy subject. We're always teasing each other about it. But my joke doesn't work this time.
He shook his head and sighed.
I sat beside him. "Harry..." I said gently, placing my hand on his knee. "What has gotten you this upset?"
He shook his head again and threw the invisibility cloak down as he stood. "I found our daughter snogging Malfoy behind the suit of armour on the third floor."
"Julian?"
He nodded. "Then I tried to talk to her and-"
"Did you try to talk or did you try to yell?" I asked calmly.
"I tried to speak to her like her father and... Where are you going?"
I stood and headed up the stairs towards Daisy's room. "To talk to your daughter."
He slumped onto the couch. "She's your daughter when she acts like this."
"No, sir..." I shook my head. "I was never the one that threw temper tantrums in the middle of Number 12 when my friends wouldn't give me information."
So, that's where I am now. Poised to knock on my daughter's oak door. I rap a few times.
"Go away!" comes her voice from inside. "I don't want to talk to you, Father!"
"It's Mum, Daisy."
The door opens a few seconds later and my daughter's green eyes, looking even greener because they're blood-shot, peer into mine. "Come in, Mum."
I step into her bedroom and look around at the purple walls. She insisted on having them painted when she moved in here. "Oh, you've put up a new poster of Ian Wood!"
She nods and throws herself down on her bed. "D... Did Daddy tell you what happened?"
"Yes," I answer her and sit beside her. "and, I must say... I never would have thought that-"
"That Julian and I would be together considering we're almost like first cousins?" she says quickly, chewing her thumbnail.
"No... but now that you mention it, it is kind of strange."
She widens her eyes at me. "Really?"
"No, Daisy! I'm just kidding!" I laugh. "Now if your brother went for one of Charlie's twins... Well, I might have a problem with that one..."
"But you were married to Ron for a little while," she states simply.
"I was... But you never knew Ron as your father... So, if you're okay with dating Julian..."
She half-smiles at me and picks up the stuffed hippogriff that Harry bought her the day she was born. "Is Daddy terribly upset with me?"
"I've seen worse," I nod.
"Well..." she sits up and tucks her right leg underneath her. "Why does he hate Julian so much?"
"Your father and Draco Malfoy did not get along at all while they were in school and your dad-"
She nods. "Yeah, I know that... But Julian isn't Draco."
I smile at her. "I know that... And you know that..."
"But Daddy doesn't know that..." she completes my thought.
"Oh..." I sigh. "Deep down, I'm sure he does. I just think... Maybe... Daisy, I was nineteen when I had your brother."
"I know, Mum."
"And I think that your father is worried that you and Julian will make the same mistakes that we did and you'll end up messing up your chance of everything that you've ever wanted because of one person."
Her brow creases. "Are those Daddy's worries or yours?"
I blink. "Wh..."
"I'm so sorry, Mum!" She leaps up and throws her arms around my neck. "I just didn't think..."
I shake my head. "It's fine, Daisy... Don't worry about it... But I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did, all right? Can you promise me that one?"
She nods. "Yeah... Mum... Do you think that Daddy will ever be able to accept Julian?"
I raise an eyebrow. "Why?"
She shrugs. "Because I love him."
I put a hand to my head. "Now, Daisy, what did I just tell you? Don't rush into these kind of things! How long have you and Julian been together? A month?"
"A year," she retorts acidly.
"And you didn't tell me this a year ago?"
"And you wonder why? Look how you're acting!"
"Daisy..." I rub my temples. "I'm sorry. It's just a little hard adjusting to the fact that my daughter's in love..." I can feel my eyes burning as I remember when I realised that I loved Harry.
"He wants to marry me, Mum..." She giggles. "Then Daddy and Draco would have to get along."
I laugh. "Just don't make me a grandmum anytime soon."
"You don't... You're not... Objecting to me marrying Julian?" She stares at me open-mouthed.
"Daisy, if you're only doing it to show your father that you can, then yes, I am objecting! But if you really love him..."
"It wouldn't be anytime soon, Mum..." she explains. "I mean... I want to be a MediWitch and he wants to be an Auror... I mean, I'd be at least... Twenty-five... And who knows?" she shrugs. "I might find someone else that I like much better anyway."
"Ian Wood, perhaps?" I question glancing at her autographed poster hanging right above her bed.
"Please, Mother..." She says coolly as her cheeks flush crimson. "He was a silly school girl crush."
"Mmm-hmm..." I nod. "And he also signed your poster, 'For my Daisy-Love... Thanks for this summer.'" I look at her. "Summer before last when you went to his Quidditch camp?"
She nods and smiles innocently at me. "Oh, Mum... We kissed a couple of times. It wasn't anything major!"
"All right..." I stand up. "Well... You need to talk to your father."
She nods. "All right... Wait... Mum, is he going to give me The Talk again?"
"Wh... The... what?"
"You know... 'When two people love each other very much and they want to show that person that they love them-"
"Daisy! You were six years old! That was ages ago!"
She throws down a pillow. "Mum! I was sixteen! That was a month ago!"
I laugh and step out of the door and down the stairs to the living area.
"Well?" Harry greets me from the couch.
I sit beside him and throw my legs over his lap. "I think she'll speak to you again. But, love, before you go..." I nestle my head into his shoulder and play with his tie. "Why exactly did you overreact so much?"
"She's my baby girl..."
"She's sixteen, darling... She's not exactly a baby anymore..."
He chuckles. "It feels like we should still be the ones snogging behind suits of armour on the third floor."
"We had some pretty good times up there, didn't we?"
He shakes his head. "I miss her... I miss how she used to run and jump up in my lap... How she used to tell me all about everything... How she used to make up stories and songs... How she used to steal my wand."
I laugh. "Do you remember the time she turned James into a rabbit?"
He grins. "I miss them both..."
I nod. "You have to let her go..."
"It's Draco Malfoy's son, love..." He runs his fingers up and down my arm.
"Yes, I know... But... Don't you remember why Snape hated you?"
He smiles. "Because he was a smarmy git?"
"Because you were James Potter's son."
He stares at the ceiling for a moment. "What's your point?"
"My point is, Harry Potter, is that you're turning into someone that I know you don't want to be." I sigh.
"Who is that?" he breathes against my skin, beginning to nuzzle my neck.
I pull away from him and look into his eyes. "Severus Snape, darling... You hate Julian because of who his father is."
"No, I don't!" he exclaims.
I close my eyes and breathe deeply. "Well, then, you need to tell your daughter that..." I say softly, opening my eyes again.
He starts up the stairs and I follow him. When he reaches Daisy's door, he pauses and looks down at me.
"Go!" I whisper sharply and he knocks on the door.
As he steps inside, I hear him greet her, "Hi, Daisy... Will you speak to me now?"
"Sure, Daddy..." I hear her answer and I creep up the stairs.
I know that I shouldn't listen in on their conversation... But my curiosity gets the better of me and I rest my head against the heavy door.
"So why do you hate Julian, Daddy?"
He sighs. "I don't hate Julian, Dais..."
"Because if it's because he's Draco Malfoy's son-"
"I don't hate him, Daisy... I just don't want to see you hurt. I don't want you to mess up everything that you've got going for you!"
"Which would be?" she pleads.
"You're the head of your class, you're popular, you're a prefect, you're probably going to be head girl-"
"Daddy, don't you realize that the only reason that I am these things is because I'm your daughter?"
"What?"
"What do you think of when you hear the name Julian Malfoy?"
"Erm..." he falters.
"What do you think people think when they hear the name Daisy Potter?"
I have never been prouder of my daughter than in this instant. She's managed to throw her father a curve ball and prove just how mature she actually is.
"Daddy..." she says tearfully, "I'm not stupid."
"I know you aren't, Daisy... Which is why I'm trusting you to make your own decisions..."
"What?!" I whisper in my hiding spot.
"What?!" Daisy echoes from inside the room. "You're... what? But... why?"
"Your mum said something to me a few minutes ago that made me realise something," he says simply.
"What?" she questions.
Through the crack in the door, I see him rest his forehead on hers. "That I'm turning into someone that I really don't want to be. I love you, Daisy... No matter what you choose to do."
She throws her arms around his neck. "I love you, too, Daddy! And don't worry... I won't make you a granddad for a very long time."
"Yeah, you better not." He winks at her and stands to leave.
"Hey, Daddy?" she calls to him. He turns and shrugs. "Want to hear what happened at school today?"
He sits on the corner of her bed and nods. "I would like nothing better."
I can tell I'm going to be fighting her father for her.