Disclaimer: I don't own any of it. I'm sure hundreds of others have thought of the plot before me, too.

Author's Note: I was reading and a plot that has hit me before hit me again. I was left unable to continue my reading until I had at least begun it.

This is simply a little thing. There are two parts: one from her perspective and one from his. There is not a happy ending. If you want a happy ending, perhaps reading something else will work better for you.

She stared out the window, watching the water lap at the shored of the lake. The sinking sun struck a beautiful cast of blues, reds, pinks, and oranges across the sky. She sighed, wishing that she could feel the beauty of the sunset, but it had not affected her for years. Ever since he had left.

She was Rowena and she was standing in a vacant hallway at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As she watched the sun sin beneath the horizon, she allowed herself the bittersweet memories of the time when he had been there.

The time, when they were mere children, when he had brought her a somewhat wilted rose and told her his name. They had played together often as children.

As they had gotten older, they had been permitted to spend less and less time together. Their parents did not approve of them spending so much time with a member of the opposite gender. Her parents had been particularly appalled. His social status was so much lower than theirs. He was merely the son of a servant, doomed to be so himself.

She had rebelled. At any chance, she would run off to watch him do his chores about the manor his father worked at. He was often working with the horses. They reminded her, even then, of him; strong, quiet, and handsome.

Years went by and her parents wished for her to marry some well off gentleman with a long bloodline of magic. He had all the intelligence and grace of an ox. He was nothing like her servant boy. He was disgusting.

So she had sent an owl to a friend, who had been more than happy to start a school for magic. She had also managed to escape in order to see him. He was fully capable of magic. She had been teaching him for years. He had always wanted more than a servant's life. The two of them had severed all ties with their families and had headed for the north of Scotland.

He had sent a letter to friend. His friend had also come and the four of them had worked quickly on their school. They were happy.

With time, Rowena had found herself falling in love with the boy whom she had saved from a servant's life. It seemed he felt the same, for years later they were married.

All had been wonderful within the school until she had had their first child. Contrary to what others said, he was gone because he was afraid that he would be a terrible father; he would be like his own father had been. He had been domineered and abused as a child and wished better than that for his own child.

She sighed again as she came out of her reverie. Her friend found her in the hallway and knew without being told what her friend was thinking. After all, sunset had been their time. They had always gone for walks and the like at sunset. Rowena staring out the window at sunset meant that she was thinking of him.

It was saddening, really. She had been slowly getting better at falling into her memories less. She was struggling to live in the here and now so that her – their – daughter would not feel that she was an accident, unwanted by her parents.

Rowena smiled at her friend and then headed for her quarters. There she found young Helena, her nose buried in a book. She was so like both of her parents. She looked like her father but she was like her mother in personality.

Helena looked up at her mother and smiled, greeting her warmly. She had never felt that her mother did not love her. She was aware, however, that her father had run off. She did not know why. When she had been younger, she had felt that her father did not love her. Now she wondered if he had not loved her mother.

She was not blind. She knew that her mother still loved her father. She knew that her mother had left everything that she knew because she was so fond of him.

Apparently, fondness had not been enough and he was gone.

She looked at her mother, looking out the window at the sky, still painted various colours even though the sun had disappeared beyond the horizon.

Rowena whispered one word - a name - that Helena knew so well.

"Salazar."