Seven Years

"Spinning, laughing, dancing to
her favorite song
A little girl with nothing wrong
Is all alone

Eyes wide open
Always hoping for the sun
And she'll sing her song to anyone
that comes along

Fragile as a leaf in autumn
Just fallin' to the ground
Without a sound

Crooked little smile on her face
Tells a tale of grace
That's all her own

Spinning, laughing, dancing to
her favorite song
A little girl with nothing wrong
And she's all alone"

-------

"I'm sleepy, Uncle Ron," Jamie yawned sleepily rubbing an eye with her fist.

"C'mon, shrimp," he said off the couch. He groaned a bit as he bent over to pick her up. "You're getting bigger. I remember you used to be this little baby-"

"I'm not a baby," she pouted in protest.

He laughed trotting up the stairs with her. After helping Jamie into her favorite pair of pajamas, he picked her up and tucked her into bed. After making sure she had her favorite stuffed animal (a black, shaggy monkey, oddly enough) squeezed in her arms, he leaned over to kiss her goodnight. "You're always going to be my baby," he whispered, making her giggle. Her little jade green eyes sparkled with the glow from the lamp, making him smile even more at that adorable face. "Sweet dreams." As Ron made his way back out, she cuffed her monkey around the neck even tighter.

"Uncle Ron?"

"Yes, sweetheart?" She paused for a moment to turn on her side, facing him.

"When's my daddy coming home?" Ron hated having to answer that question at least once a week. He'd run out of excuses months ago. Yet, he was still able to keep her happy. But tonight he didn't know what to say. She had just asked him that the night before.

"I don't know, honey," was all he could say. He went back to her bed and sat down. "I really don't know. Your daddy is a busy man." Jamie stared at the wall ahead of her and nodded that she understood. All he could do was stroke her long, raven black hair. "He loves you, Jamie... But he can't come home yet. In fact, I wish he were here right now, too."

Jamie looked up at her uncle and showed the ghost of a smile. He felt a little hand on his and couldn't help but feel his heart get lighter. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pecked his cheek. "I know you miss him," she said. 'This is just like her to be as smart as her mother.' After pecking her goodnight too, he tucked her in again and turned out her lamp.

"Goodnight, shrimp," he whispered as he closed the door.

Seconds later, Jamie's eyes snapped open. She lay perfectly still, ears perked to listen for an movements outside her door. Quietly, she slipped out of bed and gently eased her door open, not making the slightest creak. Still gripping her monkey tight, she made her way to the stairs, where everything could be heard loud and clear (this used to be her favorite place to spy on her parents from). From the sound of it, Uncle Ron was still there with Aunt Ginny, along with her mother.

"Hermione, are you sure you don't want us to stay with you and Jamie tonight?" she could her Ginny say. Someone sniffled quickly several times.

"N-no, Ginny. No, you and Ron go on back home. I'll be okay- We'll be okay." She was crying again. Jamie knew it. She'd been crying for two months now and she knew perfectly well why. "Seriously. Go. I don't want to bother you with my petty problems."

"This is not a petty problem," came Ron's voice sternly. "We're as hurt as you are. Don't think that Harry's- ... Don't think it didn't affect us." Ron's voice began to shake and waver. A couple more sniffles echoed in the lounge.

"Oh, Ron... I'm sorry... I just don't know what to do-" Hermione couldn't take it anymore and broke down completely. Ginny wrapped her in a hug and tried to comfort her, but was losing a battle with her tears as well. "I- I miss him- s-so m-much," she cried between hearty sobs.

"Let it out. That's it... Just let it all out. We're right here," soothed Ginny. "I miss him, too... We all do, sweetie. We all do..."

Jamie had had enough. She was about to cry herself. Silently, as before, she got up off her step and made her way through the hall and back to her room. She went over to her window and opened it, letting the cold breeze smack her little cheeks to a cherry red. She couldn't feel the cold much as she crawled out to sit in the big weaved arm chair on her little balcony. Tucking her legs under her pajama gown, she squeezed her monkey tighter and looked up at the clear star lit sky. Immediately the memories flooded back to her.

~~~

It was her seventh birthday. That night, after her parents threw a little party for her with some friends and the family, her dad blindfolded her and took her upstairs.

"Daddy, what are you doin? Can I look now?" she asked in a desperate whine

"No, Munchkin. Not yet. It's a surprise." He picked her up and bounded up the remaining stairs to her room, making her shrieks of laughter bounce off the walls. After setting her down in her room, he took off her blindfold. "Open your eyes." She did. But all she saw was her room. Her face fell.

"It's my room." A malicious grin spread across his face.

"Why don't you go open your window?"

Suspicious, just like her mother was when he had something up his sleeve, she did as was told. A split second later her shrieks of joy could be heard around the house. She was standing in a little balcony with enough room for two full grown people. The view from there was absolutely amazing. "Some sight, eh?" said Harry proudly to his daughter, interrupting her thoughts. She glowed back at her father. He sat down in the tattered, weaved arm chair (it seemed like a perfect addition to Jamie's present) and watched his little girl try to take in the entire view with one breath. She beamed at the sight before her. Their house was near the foot of the mountains in their little village. The back yard was as wild as the forest grass feet away from the fence. If that wasn't there then one couldn't tell the difference (except for maybe the rose bushes near the house). A vast sea of dark green trees stretched out as far as they eye could see and up most of the distant mountains. Jamie turned back to look at her father, sitting there in the old chair, watching her every move, glance and smile. She loved him deeply along with her mother. But she was always happier being hugged and smothered by him. She never missed a chance to snuggle up with him on the couch when he'd fallen asleep after a long day. Even though her eyes matched his exactly, she realized how green they were reflecting the forest behind his round glasses. "Come here," he smiled opening his arms. Not needing to be told twice, she ran into his embrace. With a playful groan he lifted her to sit on his lap. They sat there for what felt like the entire evening. Even though the air was beginning to chill, she felt perfectly warm in his arms.

~~~

Listening to her mother's footsteps fade and her door close with a light click. Jamie's cheeks were cold (and so was her monkey), but she sat there. The moonlight shone on her balcony, illuminating everything around her. She looked down at her stuffed animal and smiled to herself, remembering how she wound up never wanting to let it go.

~~~

"A monkey?" he asked, his silly grin beginning to appear. "Why a monkey?"

"Well," she began examining the odd creature in her hands. She held it back for a better look, flipping and turning it this way and that. "I like it." He let out a chuckle and pulled out some money to pay the witch at the register.

"Rather odd looking doll, isn't it?" smiled the witch.

"Yes, well, my daughter seems to love it."

On their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, he kept watching her swing around her new stuffed animal. "Again... why a monkey? You told me you wanted that little bear in the window."

"It looks like you." He took a good look at the monkey. It was covered in black, shaggy fur. It was impossible to even get a good look at the face from all of the hair. Long, gangly arms and legs, big paws- With a set of brilliant green eyes, peeking out of the shadows of its head.

"Like me?" She nodded. "So, you see me as a big, hairy gorilla with large hands and feet and shaggy hair all over my body?"

She started laughing, trying to imagine her father, the great Harry Potter, covered in black fur from head to toe with clumsy hands and feet. "Well," she thought, "Maybe without the big hands and feet he looks like you." As an act of revenge, he lifted her up over his head and flipped her upside down, carrying her by the legs back to the pub. The whole time she couldn't stop laughing and shrieking.

That night on her balcony after telling her a bedtime story, they sat there for minutes, like every night, watching the stars. Every now and then he'd point out a constellation to her. "And you see those two stars really close together?" She nodded. "That's called Gemini."

"Gemini?"

"It means 'twins'."

"Oh," she said turning her attention to the furry doll in her arms.

"So what's his name?" he asked shifting her on his lap.

"Little Harry," she said in a thoughtful voice. He stared at her in silence. "He looks just like you. I'm sure mom would say so." He chuckled lightly.

"Yes she would." Amusement was clearly in his voice. "Okay," he said after a moment, "Little Harry it is... I've always wanted a son."

"Dad, you're so dumb!"

~~~

'You are dumb, Daddy,' Jamie thought to herself getting up out of the chair. She looked down at Little Harry. It had been three months since her father bought him for her. It was the last present he ever gave her, making it the most precious. A final breeze blew past her, this time sending chills through her. It didn't matter though as she looked up at the starlit sky, watching two little stars twinkle and shine side by side. He had once told her that was them. No matter what happened to him, he'd always be with her, just like those two stars. 'You're brave, too.'

Climbing back into bed, she pulled the covers tightly around her and squeezed Little Harry tight. For a moment, she thought she could hear her mother try to stifle a sob. A tear came slipped out and landed on the furry thing under her cheek. It was hard to hear her mother crying. She had been this way since the owl came two months ago. Even though she never told Jamie, she knew what it said. Daddy died. With a final glance out her open window to the stars, she closed her eyes and whispered in her sleep. "Goodnight, Daddy."

~~~

Hermione had stopped in front of her daughter's room and heard her whispered goodnights to her father. She couldn't fight back the tears that fell from her eyes.

The End.