A Little Girl's Wish

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and characters belong to JK Rowling. Just borrowing them for fun.

A thumbs up to snarkyroxy for beta-reading

Songs listed in every chapter are recommended as background music.

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Chapter 2: A Little Girl's Wish

"Kevin Kern - Hide and Seek"

She couldn’t help but feel the burst of love and pride flowing through her as she watched her daughter walk – well, hopped would be a better word – her way to Santa Claus.

She sighed wistfully. My baby girl is growing up.

Who would have thought this little darling is mine and mine only? She had hoped against hope that she wouldn’t wake up one day and realize that the hospital had given her the wrong baby.

She was jolted from her reverie when she felt something tugging at the hem of her suit jacket.

“Oh, Mummy, look!”

“What did Santa give you, ma cherie?” She watched as her daughter exuberantly unwrapped the gift, uttering a squeal of delight when she discovered it was a little dollhouse complete with a miniature kitchen set.

Hermione crouched down to her daughter’s level and smoothed the black wavy hair that had become tangled in her energetic bouncing. “Did you tell Santa your wish?” Seeing her daughter’s nod, she then winked and asked, “So, what did my darling daughter wish for?”

Giggling, the girl replied, “I want a daddy.”

“Aww, sweetie.”

“Mummy, why don’t I have a daddy?”

It was one of those questions that Hermione had been dreading. How was she ever going to explain the complexity of adult relationships to a four-year-old?

“Everyone has a daddy. Amy has a daddy; Sandy has a daddy and even Carlo at the library too. How come I don’t?”

“Mummy will explain to you when you’re older, sweetie. CoCo is meeting us soon, so we have to get going,” Hermione paused, “unless you don’t want another Christmas present?”

At the mention of Christmas presents, all else was forgotten. But unbeknownst to the two of them, their entire conversation was deliberately overheard by a tall figure in black.

Meanwhile, Severus Snape was trying to work out what he had just heard. Unfortunately he reminded himself of the meeting that he was supposed to attend in five minutes. Snapping his fingers, a man in black suit discreetly appeared at his side.

“Find out everything you can about that woman and her child.”

“Yes, sir.”

With that said, he left in a swirl of black overcoat.

It was nearly six o’clock by the time Hermione and her daughter returned to their rented townhouse situated on the edge of city London. The little girl chattered all the way home, her round, black eyes alight with every new discovery. People on the street couldn’t help but smile at the sweet little girl who smiled and waved at everyone she passed.

Once home, Hermione spelled the groceries to the kitchen and the unwrapped gifts to her own room. They had a guest coming for dinner this evening, and Hermione needed to bathe the little munchkin first; it would be difficult otherwise with “darling CoCo” doing nothing but making a mess of everything.

Hermione found her daughter in the living room, playing with the present she got from Santa Claus. Sneaking up behind the little girl, Hermione tickled her until she giggled.

“Mummy! Stop, it tickles!” the little girl squealed.

“You need to take a bath, cherie,” Hermione reminded her. “You don’t want to smell like a piglet when CoCo gets here, do you?”

The little girl shook her head earnestly.

“What bubble bath do we want today?”

“Strawberry!”

“Strawberry, it is.”

The little girl was up to her neck in strawberry scented bath bubbles and splashing about with a rubber duck until Hermione decided it was time to dry up.

Just as she was drying her daughter with a large fluffy towel, the doorbell rang.

“That should be CoCo, cherie. Finish drying yourself, would you, darling? Your clothes are on the chair. I’ll go and get the door.”

The doorbell rang again.

“I’m coming, impatient git!”

She yanked the door open.

“Hello, Mudblood.”