Chapter 9

Snape emerged in his own quarters in Hogwarts, fists clenched and shoulders tense, wishing that there was something substantial to smash against the wall. He imagined that sinking his knuckles into Bellatrix's face would be incredibly satisfying, although he had never fancied himself a woman-beater. Instead, he made do with throwing his entire set of whiskey tumblers against the stone walls, where they shattered into a glistening waterfall of tinkling shards of glass. When he'd thrown the last one, Snape turned and rested his forehead against the fireplace mantle, closing his eyes.

For several long moments, he focused on keeping his breathing smooth and even, hoping to calm the raging anger that flowed through him. When his pulse had settled, he opened his eyes and found himself nose-to-pot with the ceramic container he kept his Floo powder in. Snape's long fingers reached up and caressed the sides of the small pot, wondering how easy it would be to slip into the Black household and simply spirit the girl away. He had gone so far to lift the lid and dip his fingers inside when a soft pop behind him caused him to whirl about.

Dobby was crouched alongside the broken glass, carefully piling it together and waving his green fingers over it all. The shattered glass came together in a gentle motion, separating clearly into six sections before settling back into their original forms. He had picked up two of the glasses to set them back in their proper place when he noticed Snape watching him.

"Pardon Dobby, Professor Potions master, sir, but Dobby was only wanting to help clean the mess before Master Professor Snape steps in it, sir."

"Yes, yes," Snape said irritably. "Get on with it, then."

It was somewhat frustrating to see that his anger had not had any lasting consequences, although it was likely for the best. The small elf placed the last of the tumblers back where they belonged before bowing deeply to the wizard.

"Dobby was wondering, sir, if Potions master Professor has been to visit Miss Hydra again?" The elf's ears twitched with barely suppressed hope. Snape sneered at the creature.

"I have, not that it is any of your business."

"Master Professor has found a way past the blocking enchantments!" Dobby exclaimed joyfully.

"I have not done any such thing," Snape said grouchily. "I merely saw her in the park."

Dobby's left ear twitched harder. "Meaning no offences to the Professor, sir, but Dobby would be honoured if the Professor would allow Dobby to take him to Miss Hydra whenever the Professor is wanting to go see her."

There simply had to be a way to teach elves to talk in the first person instead of the third.

Snape rubbed at his forehead roughly, willing away the headache that threatened to overcome him. Then, suddenly, he looked back up at the elf, who was shifting from foot to foot as he waited for an answer.

"As a matter of fact, you may take me to see the girl right now."

Dobby let out a gasp of delight and instantly lunged forward to grasp Snape's robes in his small hand. Snape pulled his wand from his sleeve and let Dobby whisk him away.

They appeared with a pop back onto the doorstep of 48 Kingham Close. "Can you tell me who is currently inside this house?" Snape whispered.

"The young miss, of course, and her grandmother."

Bellatrix had not yet returned to her daughter, and that was more than Snape could have hoped for. He let himself into the house again, closely followed by Dobby, wand extended before him. He narrowly missed running into the troll leg umbrella stand and crept up the stairs with a Silencing Charm on his feet.

The door to the yellow room was shut, and he pressed his ear against the dark wood. For a moment, he could hear nothing inside, but then the faint sound of tuneless humming reached his ears. She was awake, then, and likely on the right side of the room.

Snape's hand closed over the doorknob, and he felt Dobby's fingers tighten on his robes at the same moment. "Apparate us out the moment I have hold of her," he hissed to the elf, who nodded silently.

The knob turned under his grasp, and the humming stopped short. The girl opened her mouth to say something, her eyes wide and alarmed, but Snape covered the distance between them with two long, quick steps and grabbed her wrist. Dobby awkwardly bounced along beside him, keeping grasp of his robes. The first note of a shrill scream had erupted from the girl's mouth before Dobby snapped his fingers, and they were away.

She continued screaming when they appeared back in his rooms, a long, high note of despair. Snape released her immediately and cast Silencio upon her, wondering why he had not thought to do so while still in the house. Her grandmother would have heard the beginnings of the scream quickly cut off, and she would investigate. Within minutes, Bellatrix would know that her daughter was no longer in the custody of her grandmother. And while it was unlikely that Bellatrix would think her daughter had simply run away, the scream made kidnapping, and Snape's involvement, much more obvious.

The scream died away as the girl appeared to realize that nothing horrible was happening to her beyond being transported away from her bedroom without warning. Her face was pale, and her eyes darted around the room nervously.

"You've nothing to fear," Snape said finally, feeling unaccustomed to having to soothe someone. Even when the homesick Slytherin first-years approached him, he often gave them a mug of hot chocolate before sending them off to the seventh-year prefects. He was not well-versed in comforting others, preferring to make them quake under his glare instead, and it was not often possible for children to both fear and trust you. When faced with the choice, he nearly always chose for children to fear him rather than trust him. It was easier that way.

She appeared to recognize him, finally, and the utter terror faded to mere fear. She stood barefoot in front of his sofa, her entire body quivering. "Where am I?" she finally managed to say, although her voice was as shaky as her limbs.

"Hogwarts, in my quarters."

This was clearly the right thing to have said, because the remainder of her fear seemed to melt away instantly. "Hogwarts?" she asked, perking up noticeably. "Like, Hogwarts School?"

"As I know of no other Hogwarts, the answer seems to be obvious."

Her toes scrunched in her excitement. "I never thought I'd see it!" She gazed around his sitting room as if everything she needed to know about Hogwarts was located in that room. "You have an awful lot of books," she added, her eyes falling on the two walls that were filled with books from floor to ceiling.

"I am a scholar: it comes with the territory."

"Dobby!" she exclaimed, spotting the elf where he was half-hidden behind Snape.

"Miss Hydra!" Dobby chirped. "The Professor permitted Dobby to visit you again!"

"I'm glad he did," the girl said, smiling fondly at the elf. Snape chanced a small step forward, but she seemed to ignore him in favour of chatting with Dobby. "Would you like to sit down?"

"Am I here for tea, then? I've never been so far from home without permission. Or did you ask my grandmother and she forgot to tell me? She's so forgetful sometimes, I don't know what she'll do without me to remind her where she put her wand. Of course, then she uses it to try and jinx me, so perhaps it's all for the best."

Oh, lovely. Bellatrix had left her daughter with a crazy, senile old woman.

Tea seemed to be a decent idea though, and he sent Dobby to fetch some. The girl folded herself onto the furniture, her long limbs tucked neatly beneath her. Snape sank into the chair beside the fireplace, the headache that had only threatened before now racing through his skull at full speed.

Dobby popped back in with tea, and Snape sent him away once it was served. The girl dosed her cup with two spoonfuls of sugar before cradling it between her palms. "So did you ask my grandmother?" she queried.

"I did not."

"My mother?"

"No."

The girl took a long sip of her tea before resting it against her knee. "Did you ask anyone for permission to take me away?"

"I believe that it is fully within a father's rights to see his daughter when he so wishes."

There was a long pause as they stared at one another. She blinked slowly, then set her cup down onto the tea tray.

"I suppose that's true," she said. "Although I'm not entirely certain how that applies to you."

"Don't play daft with me; I know you've figured it out," Snape snapped.

"I'm not being daft; I just want to be certain before... before I get my hopes up," the girl said, her voice tapering off at the end. "You're my father then? The Potions master?"

"I am."

They sat in silence once again. The girl swung her bare foot, the delicate sole scraping against the floor.

"You must be cold," Snape said abruptly, rising to his feet. The chit was sitting there in nothing more than a sundress without even a pair of shoes to keep her toes warm.

"Oh," she said, as if surprised. "I am, a little."

Snape strode through to his bedroom, opening the wardrobe and finding one of his black teaching robes within. A search through the bureau presented him with a pair of socks that he Transfigured into black slippers. He returned to the sitting room and handed her the clothes, which she immediately donned. She looked rather ridiculous, drowning in his too-large robe with fuzzy slippers on her feet, but he would not be responsible for her freezing to death.

"I am going to ask you some questions, and you will not evade them this time," he told her sternly. "Your mother has told me some things, and I want to know how much she has told you."

The girl gave him a rather imperial nod, giving him permission to continue.

"The man she plans to marry you to---"

"I don't think it's marriage, precisely," she cut in.

Snape raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm to be a companion, I think. And give him children, if he asks for them. But beyond that, I'm really not certain. Why are you so hung up on this subject anyway?"

Not a wife, just a consort and a broodmare. Hardly the future little girls dreamed of. "The man that your mother has chosen for you is not... appropriate."

The girl's eyes narrowed, and her forehead wrinkled. "Why not?"

"He is... well, frankly, he is not mentally stable." Ah, the beauty of understatement.

"Then why...?"

"Your mother, you may have noticed, is not entirely within her mental capacities either."

The girl didn't deny it. "Is that why you've taken me? So that I don't have to go to him?"

"That is part of the reason, yes."

"And the other part?"

Snape didn't answer at first, attempting to choose his words carefully. "A father's duty is to protect his children from negative influences, even if the bad influence is that child's own mother."

The girl gazed at him with wide brown eyes. "Do I get to stay here with you?"

He scoffed. "Merlin, girl, I have no idea what I should be doing with you, besides ply you with tea and keep your toes from getting frostbite."

"My name is Hydra, not girl."

"Hydra," he repeated, rather doubtfully. She beamed at him.

"Daddy," she replied, the smile still firmly fixed across her face.