Chapter 4

Snape balanced the eagle quill across his fingers, allowing a single drop of jet black ink to fall from the tip onto the forest green blotter laid over his desk. There was a stack of pathetic essays before him, and while he could normally muster the fortitude to work through them, he could find no motivation today. The Fideliused house and the little witch preyed on his thoughts, but he had a mere minute's worth of memories to ponder over, and he was growing tired of analyzing the same slow shuffle of her feet, the same way she vanished between the houses, the way he couldn't help but think about the paranoid Black family and their habits of hiding themselves amongst the Muggles they proclaimed to hate.

The quill tipped precariously in his grip, and he tapped one end of the shaft to right it. Another dot of ink fell into the green felt and was immediately soaked in. The essays remained untouched.

Really, he had no way of getting any information unless he was able to get past the secret keeper, and there was no viable way of managing that feat of wonder. And since Snape had a healthy survival instinct, he had no desire to approach Bellatrix to ask her for the secret.

He hated the Fidelius Charm.

It reminded him too deeply of another family who had gone under the spell, believing that they were protected from anyone who might want to harm them. Their deaths were proof that the charm wasn't infallible. But someone could only get in if they were allowed in, and Snape could see no way past the enchantment.

He dropped the quill onto the blotter, lacing his fingers behind his head and stretching out in his chair. The muscles in his back protested mildly at the action before loosening and relaxing. His mind, however, continued to race.

There was a strong possibility that the Dark Lord was involved somehow, and prying into affairs of the Dark Lord never ended well for the person who decided to pry. Snape had very little desire to encourage the wrath of either of his masters. Bellatrix, if asked directly, would simply turn around and inform the Dark Lord if she thought it would benefit her and destroy Snape.

No, it would not do to be caught nosing into Bellatrix's affairs red-handed.

Snape tucked the quill back into its drawer, which slid shut into his desk with a quiet thump. Rodolphus had a point about the house-elves and their ability to access Bellatrix no matter where she was. There had to be a way he could use them without getting hit on the barrier that the Fidelius created.

He dragged a finger through a particularly large ink blot on the green felt, staining a fingertip that was already darkened by years of handling potions ingredients. Snape suddenly regretted not having learned more about house-elves and their capabilities. What if he was looking over something entirely simply because he had no idea it was possible?

Snape pushed back from his desk and got to his feet, pacing in front of his bookshelves. A quick scan revealed nothing that would contain useful information on house-elves, which was not entirely surprising, for he had never needed to know more than the basics of house-elf abilities. A trip to the library might be in order, although he despised having students around him while doing personal research. He snatched up his outer cloak and draped it over his shoulders, feeling the heavy cloth settle around him like a shield. His hand was inches from the doorknob when a sharp crack echoed through the room.

Two green ears poked out on either side of a silver tray, where a teapot and a cup balanced alongside a creamer and a bowl of sugar. The tray shifted until it was level with the small coffee table in the middle of the room and slid onto it. The two ears resolved themselves into a small creature with impossibly large eyes, who gazed up at Snape happily.

"Dobby brings Master Snape's tea things, sir!" he squeaked. Snape's eyes narrowed at him.

"I don't believe I ordered any tea from the kitchens." Snape stepped away from the door. In fact, he rarely ordered tea from the kitchens at all.

"Professor Headmaster Dumbledore sent it for Master Snape!" Dobby chirped, bouncing from orange-stockinged foot to turquoise-stockinged foot.

"Ah."

And really, that explained everything.

"Dobby will be back to fetch the tray," Dobby said, lifting his hand to snap his fingers.

"Wait!" Snape called out, and Dobby's entire body froze in anticipation. "No. You shall stay here, momentarily."

Dobby's hand slowly lowered. Snape sunk back into the chair behind his desk, then steepled his fingers under his chin to look at Dobby.

"I have a question for you," Snape began, "regarding the powers of house-elves."

Dobby blinked once, quickly, but didn't answer.

"I am aware that house-elves can bypass the Fidelius Charm if they have been told the secret. However, I am... curious to know if they can also enter a Fideliused house if they have not."

Dobby's large ears quivered. "Dobby does not know if house-elves are able to be doing such things, because Dobby has never tried!" He dropped to his knees and began pounding his head upon the stone floor.

"Desist that nonsense immediately!" Snape shouted. He took a deep breath and felt his pulse settle. "Could you try?"

Dobby paused in his self-abuse to peer up at him. "Try, sir?"

"To get past the Fidelius."

"Dobby does not know, sir. Which house does Master Snape be needing to get at, sir?"

At least he wasn't trying to impale his own forehead upon the floor anymore.

"There is a house," Snape said, "with the address 48 Kingham Close."

"Kingham Close!" Dobby said excitedly, jumping to his feet. "But, sir, Dobby does not need to get through the Fidelius Charm for Kingham Close!"

Snape stared at the elf, whose sudden transformation of personality was somewhat alarming. "And what do you mean by that?"

"Miss Cissy sends Dobby there always!" Dobby's ears drooped a little. "Miss Cissy used to send Dobby there always," he corrected.

"What for?" Snape demanded. "Why did Narcissa send you into a Muggle city?"

Dobby fingered the hem of his child-sized shirt nervously, his eyes shifting away from Snape's. "Miss Cissy told Dobby that Dobby was not allowed to tell. Not anyone."

Snape shoved the chair away from the desk and knelt in front of the small elf. "Dobby," he said carefully. "This is very important. There might be something... untoward happening on Kingham Close."

Dobby's eyes snapped up to meet his. "To Miss Hydra?" he asked tentatively.

Snape wished he could just shake all the information out of the damn elf. It would be so much easier than playing this ridiculous game.

"To Miss Hydra," Snape confirmed, unsure of what he was agreeing to.

Dobby's small chest expanded slightly as he took a deep breath. "Miss Hydra is Miss Cissy's niece!" he exclaimed, slapping his hands over his mouth.

Snape rocked back onto his heels, still crouching on the floor. His mind raced. Narcissa's niece, not Lucius'. That meant the child, because the girl he had seen could only be the Hydra that Dobby referred to, belonged to either Andromeda or Bellatrix. Andromeda had her child and was unlikely to leave a second child buried in a Muggle city under a Fidelius Charm.

Had Bellatrix had a child? A secret child, that not even her husband knew about?

It was impossible to tell just by the girl's appearance; Bellatrix and Andromeda looked quite similar, both with the same dark hair that the girl possessed. And who was the girl staying with? Snape knew for a fact that Bellatrix lived with Rodolphus, and she could not have left a child to raise herself from infancy.

"The girl, your Miss Hydra," Snape said to the quivering elf before him. "Who does she live with?"

"Miss Hydra lives Miss Cissy's mother, sir!"

Ah, and so it all came together. Brouny had indeed taken him to the Black family home, where Rodolphus had expected Bellatrix to be. The girl lived with her grandmother in secrecy, with occasional visits from her mother, because only Bellatrix could hide the existence of a child so thoroughly from everyone around her. And it was these very visits that had made Rodolphus suspicious enough to require Snape's time and attention to finding out the truth.

But it was time to discover the truth for certain.

"And Miss Hydra is Bellatrix's daughter?"

Dobby's whole body shook violently. But his head began to nod so strongly that Snape feared it would fly right off his shoulders.

Snape found himself sitting on the floor, elbows propped up on raised knees, staring at the elf. "Dobby, I need you to do something for me," he said after a moment. For several long seconds, he was sure that the house-elf would refuse, but Dobby nodded again. "If you are still able to get past the Fidelius, I want you to go to Kingham Close and tell me who is currently in residence there."

"Go... go back to Miss Hydra?" the elf asked in wonder. He stopped fiddling with his clothes. "Dobby gets to see Miss Hydra again?"

"See her, not talk to her," Snape clarified.

Dobby hardly seemed to care. "Dobby shall see Miss Hydra again!" he wailed happily. And before Snape could say another word, Dobby had cracked out of the room.

Snape stayed on the floor, rubbing at his temples with long fingers. Bellatrix as a mother. The idea was simply too much to comprehend. The fact that the Black family appeared to be hiding the child from everyone was only slightly more astounding. He cursed himself for not asking how old the girl was; it might give him a clue to her paternity. Surely Rodolphus was not the father, for there would be no reason for Bellatrix to hide a child born to her husband. Had the girl been born before or after their marriage? Did Bellatrix even know who the father was?

He had not moved by the time Dobby returned, a pleased grin on his face. "Miss Hydra is home, but Miss Black is not, sir!" he exclaimed, seemingly uncaring that he was blatantly breaking the rules his former mistress had set. Snape pinched the bridge of his nose once, then let go, climbing to his feet.

"I expect you can get me there?" he asked the elf, holding out his hand. Somehow, he expected that this elf's sheer desire to return to Kingham Close would allow Snape to pass the charm when tagging along after Brouny had not.

"Yes, sir!" Dobby said, grasping the pale hand with his own green one.

The crack was nearly drowned out by the squeeze of the elf Apparating them past the Hogwarts wards and through the Fidelius Charm. Snape stumbled only slightly upon arrival, finding himself on the inside of a small gate that led up to number 48. Dobby peered up at him.

"You will stay with me," Snape said softly. He did not want to find himself stuck in a Black family residence with no escape, should someone discover he was intruding on their property. He strode across the tiny yard to the front door, Dobby at his side. His fingers closed around his wand as he withdrew it from his robes, holding the tip up to the worn brass doorknob.

"Alohomora."