Tear-Stained

A/N: Just a pointless little ficlet I wrote last night while on an airplane. Thanks to Bec for always making me wanna post :) I realize I never say names, but c'mon, figure it out, kids.

Disclaimer: Don't own it, don't own it, don't own it. Leave me alone or I will send the monkeys after you.

When she was sixteen and her heart was broken for the first time, she found him alone in the common room and threw herself into his arms, sobbing. It took him a while to figure out what was wrong through her pained sniffles and devastated words, but it turned out her first love had dumped her by owl. He held her to him and patted her arm awkwardly, cursing that terrible man who had hurt her, telling her she deserved better, whispering that she'd find someone to love her.

He didn't say what he wanted to say, which was that he would be better, that he would love her. He didn't lift her head up and kiss her lips and wipe away her tears with his thumb, and then kiss her again until she forgot Viktor Krum. He just held her until her sobs died down and she used her sleeve to dry her face, and then she smiled a tear-stained smile and told him he was such a great friend. He watched her as she walked up the stairs to her room and ran his hands through his hair and wished he had the nerve to tell her everything he wanted to tell her.

And the next week, when she received another owl asking her to go out with that guy she loved again, and she jubilantly told him yes, she ran straight to him and hugged him excitedly, telling him that everything was okay for her now. And he hugged her back, less excitedly, and told her how happy he was for her, with a smile on his face and a tiny crack in his heart.

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When she was nineteen and she heard tell that the man she was still with was seeing someone else, she showed up at his parents' house and threw herself into his arms right at the front door and cried. He held her and listened as she told him how betrayed she felt, how stupid she was. He told her he'd find someone else, and he pushed a strand of hair behind her ears and offered her some tea. They drank their tea together and he wanted to say all those things he'd wanted to say for years, but he didn't.

And she smiled that tear-stained smile and they fell asleep together on the couch, and his mother came in and kissed them both on the cheek and thanked God her son had found someone to love, because she didn't know that girl in his arms was in love with someone else.

And then the next week that man she was in love with, that man she couldn't seem to forget, begged for forgiveness and asked her to marry him. She said yes, because people who are in love are blind, and she wanted her happily ever after. And he, who loved her more than anything else, watched her walk down the aisle with a smile on his face and a crack in his heart that seemed to grow larger every moment.

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When she was 24 and pregnant, she fought with her husband, and she walked a mile in the rain to get to his apartment and by the time she got there the tears mingled with rain on her face and clung like crystals from her eyelashes. When the man who loved her finally got her to pull her hand away from her face, he saw the big, ugly black mark that made him fill with horror. She insisted that it was nothing, that she'd fallen, but she started crying again and he could do nothing but hold her and comfort her as she wondered desperately what she was going to do.

And the man who loved her told her that it would all be okay, but he didn't say what he wanted to say, that he would make it all okay, that he wouldn't let him hurt her anymore. He didn't promise to love her until the end of time, to love her baby like it was his own, that she'd never have to worry about anything ever again. He just held her in his arms and kissed her hair and rubbed her sore feet, and she told him he was the best friend she'd ever had and smiled that tear-stained smile.

She slept in his bed alone for a fortnight before she gave in to fear of being alone and went back to her husband, who bought her a pretty necklace and kissed her and said he wanted their baby to have a family, and she did too, so she stayed and waited for the ugly black mark to fade from her face. And that man who loved her watched as she carried her brand-new daughter out, a beautiful pink, screaming baby, and her husband put his arm around her and they were perfect. He watched with a smile on his face and a crack down to the very core of his heart that made his eyes fill with tears that he could never cry.

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When she was 28 and she found her husband in bed with another woman, she made up her mind. She packed her clothes, calmly lifted her daughter from her bed, and rode the Knight Bus to his home in the city. She knocked on the door in the middle of the night but this time there were no tears in her eyes. The man who loved her took the small, sleepy girl from her arms and placed her on the bed, and they watched from the doorway as she fell asleep. The woman leaned into his arms and told him it was finally over, that after all this time she had finally left.

And courage filled him, and he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the lips for the first time in his life as her daughter slept just a few feet away, and she kissed him back and when she pulled away she was smiling that tear-stained smile, but this time she was crying tears of joy.

He told her everything he'd ever wanted to tell her. He told her that he loved her and that he'd make her happy, that he would protect her and her daughter, that he would love her until the end of time. And she burrowed herself in his comforting arms and whispered that she loved him too, and they watched that little girl that would call him Daddy in a home that was safe.

And finally, finally, finally, they got their happily ever after.

A/N: Like it or not, I'd love a review. Much love.