Karen Moffett had put this off long enough she thought as she opened the front door of their small home, grocery bags hanging off of her large arms. She had gone into the next town over to shop for her daughter Aoife's 9th birthday. It was bitter cold this November, but it would be worth it, except for one thing...

'If she had just left the topic alone I wouldn't have to think about this.' She thought as she set the groceries down and got several things from the bags, a cake, (bought from the store, Aoife was the aspiring cook, not herself.) balloons, flowers (Not Aoife's favorite, but her favorite didn't grow in November), and plastic plates so Karen could have a day off from washing dishes.

As she set up the small and simple kitchen for a makeshift party, Karen's mind wandered to previous birthdays, most of them consisted of a small cake, a few presents, and listening to the radio after it was all done. Except for last year, when Aoife asked that question:

"Mum, where's dad?"

St. Canice's Primary School was located about one mile outside of the village of Feeny. This meant it was a bit of a walk for Aoife from school to home. The family didn't have a car, there wasn't a whole lot of magic in the home but enough to break down any car that her mother could afford.

Aoife didn't mind the walk home, her mother had told her as long as she went straight to Feeny after school and didn't go inside any of the pubs in Feeny, she could take any route home that she wanted. Today however, she was taking the fastest route home. For today was November 30th, both a Friday and her own Birthday. Aoife practically ran home, getting a few looks on the way.

It sounded like it would be a typical birthday, but today Aoife was going to ask her mother one question. She stopped at the entrance to the farm and looked down at her small feet before looking back up and sighing.

"Mum, I want to know where dad is." She said to herself, as if to practice telling her for real. She then slowly walked up to the front door of their home and the door had opened on its own. Aoife smiled as she went inside, happy that she could still make the door move or unlock when she wanted it to.

Karen has heard the door open and stood up straight. The cake and balloons had been set up on the table and floor as she heard her daughter walk in. Pushing thoughts of her former husband aside she turned around and put on a smile.

"Happy birthday Aoife." She said as Aoife came up to hug her. "How was school today? Are you being good?"

Aoife nodded. "Yeah, lunch was one of my favorites, beef sandwiches, and I got to climb to the top of the outside climbing thing first and see outside of the playground."

"That's good." Karen smiled before suddenly grabbing her daughter and turning her upside down. "Now before we eat cake, you know what it's time for!"

"Muuum! I'm not five anymore!" Aoife laughed, luckily she was wearing pants today. "You can't keep doing this until I'm grown up!"

"Who says?" Karen retorted before lowering Aoife down until her head bumped the wooden floor. "One..."

Of course it was time for the birthday bumps. Aoife wondered if her mother's parents had done this to her when she was young. But her mother was from America so maybe not. Aoife's thoughts were interrupted by her head bumping the floor for the second third and fourth time.

"So, Aoife...I did four, how many left?" Karen asked, pausing while holding Aoife high up and upside down.

"Um...Five!" Aoife replied.

"Wrong! One more for luck too!" Karen laughed as she continued to bump her daughter's head on the floor. Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine....and an extra for good luck!

Aoife thought the "Birthday Bumps" as they were called were a bit silly, but her mother was in a good mood so Aoife was still happy. She was even more happy when Karen set her right side up with her feet on the floor.

"Alright, that's enough of that." Karen turned and got her wand from the counter before pointing it at the nine candles on the cake.

"Incendio!" With that, the candles became lit, the fires flared up for a moment before settling as if they were lit by a regular match. Aoife walked up to the cake and closed her eyes as Karen begin to sing.

"Happy birthday dear Aoife...

Happy birthday to you!"

"Make a wish now, these candles don't last very long without melting." Karen eyed the candles, which were starting to drip wax.

"I..." Aoife hesitated before thinking hard.

'I wish I could ask mum about dad.' She thought before blowing on the candles hard, getting them all on the first try.

"Alright, time for cake and then presents." Karen then pointed her wand at the cake, concentrated hard, and then...

"Diffindo!" The cake was instantly cut into small triangular pieces. Aoife sat down, she knew her mother wasn't trying to show off her magic to her daughter, but it didn't stop the jealousy of her being able to do magic while Aoife was still too young.

Once her mother had served her the first piece of cake, Aoife just looked at it. It looked delicious, but Aoife's mind was wandering to her father and how little she really knew about him. She had tried hard to remember something from her toddlerhood, but nothing would come.

'Maybe I shouldn't ask her...' She thought before her brow narrowed. 'No. I gotta ask her now or I'll never ask her.'

As causally as she could make it sound, Aoife looked up at her mother, who was currently getting her own slice of the cake and asked, "Mum? Where's my dad?"

Karen's arms went stiff, she lost control of the cake server, causing her piece of cake to fall off and on to the table.

With that question, the memories of Sean came flooding back. Karen bit down hard on her lip as the memory of their wedding 12 years ago, and the fall of the Ministry seven months later, flashed in her mind.

"Why..." Karen stopped before trying to continue. "Why do you want to know about him? Are those brats at school teasing you for not having a dad again?"

"No!" Aoife replied, nervous now. "I just want to know where he is."

Karen sighed before using a quick cleaning charm to clean the piece of cake off of the table. She then sat down and put her hands on the table.

"I guess you're old enough for this. I haven't really talked about him with you, have I?" Karen asked her daughter. Aoife shook her head.

"I met him in California-" Karen started before:

"I thought you were from Massachusetts." Aoife interrupted, Karen sighed again.

"I am." She said, "I was going to Laevenstromes's. Now I know I told you about that place, maybe I'll send you there when you're out of Hogwarts, not many further education places in the U.K....I'm getting off track."

"As I was saying..." Karen started.

It was only the second week of classes at Laevenstrom's and Karen was already swamped with homework. She had just gotten out of her "Lost History of Wizarding America" class and the class had already been assigned an essay and had to begin work on the ongoing class project.

Karen walked to her usual spot to Apparate, by a giant Valley Oak tree. Her stomach rumbled as she sighed and got ready to apparate. She checked and made sure she had all of her books and supplies, while checking, she heard footsteps but just assumed that it was someone walking by her. That is, until she looked up and saw an older man standing about three feet away from her.

He was taller than her, though not by much. His head looked like one big oval with some facial features plastered on. He had short dark brown hair and wore rectangular glasses, which he was pushing up at the moment.

He obviously wasn't a student, maybe a teacher? But he looked too young for that, looking like he was in his mid-20's. Karen's thoughts were interrupted by him holding his hand out to her.

"Sean Moffett, reporter for The Daily Prophet." He said, his hand still reaching out.

"He managed to impress me." Karen told her daughter as she began to clean up the piece of cake that had been dropped. "Maybe it was his age or how he seemed so calm and in control...But he convinced me to move to England and marry him after four months."

Aoife looked confused as Karen frowned. 'Isn't four months a long time to know someone? Why does she sound sad about that?' Four months sounded like a long time to Aoife, she certainly hadn't been able to keep a friend around that long.

"So what happened after you got married?" Aoife asked. Karen's frown got even bigger as she finished cleaning up the cake and sat back down.

"Well, in March, I found out I was pregnant with you. By that point, we were having some problems...