Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

She sat a bit away from the others, distractedly tapping the feather end of her quill against her cheek. She had to find a way to bring them together. Severus had been making such an effort to be kind to her; she wanted to help him find some happiness. She had an idea, but how to make it work out the way she wanted? She supposed she would have to start by getting closer to them both, then go from there...

* * *

Severus sat in his chair by the fire, the book he'd sought out in the library propped open by his hand, his other hand holding a steaming mug of tea. Jessica had fallen asleep in the other chair; the book she'd been reading had fallen to the floor. Looking over at her small form curled up in his large chair, making her look even smaller, a war was waging in his mind.

Jessica's head had fallen forward at an odd angle, and he knew that she should go to bed. He didn't want to wake her, though, and he wasn't sure he was entirely comfortable playing 'Daddy' and carrying her to her bed. The only time he had carried her before had been completely by instinct, and he hadn't thought about it until she'd been out of his arms and running off to play with Maria. All he'd known was that someone had hurt her and he, therefore, needed to protect her.

Finally, he set his book aside, stood, went to her, and picked her light frame up easily. She mumbled softly and turned her face toward him without waking. Breathing a sigh of relief, Severus made his way to her room and laid her in her bed, pulling the covers up over her torso. Standing, he looked down at her small, innocent form for a moment, then turned to leave. Feeling a pull at his carefully guarded heart, Severus turned, his hand reaching down to brush her hair away from her cheek. Moments before his hand brushed her skin, though, he pulled back, turned, and left.

Whatever my subconscious thinks I should have done, he thought as he sat down with his book once more, I certainly am not ready for. Shaking his head slightly, refusing to think on it anymore, he turned back to his book.

The Zonlicht Serum has two means of usage, which, when used in conjunction with one another, create a block against the sun's rays. The first aspect of the serum is a potion that, when ingested, quickly spreads through the bloodstream. This protects the internal organs and eyes from the sun, but leaves the skin vulnerable. To protect the skin, murtlap essence needs to be added to thicken the potion into the salve that is to be spread over the skin. This salve protects the skin by both creating a barrier over it and pulling the potion from the bloodstream through the skin. The Serum is then in the bloodstream, skin, and the surface of the skin, thus creating a nearly impenetrable block of the sun's rays.

The Zonlicht Serum is reported to work in ninety-nine percent of mild and intermediate allergies to the sun. Unfortunately, in severe cases, there is a chemical in the individual's body that weakens the effect of the Serum so that the person cannot endure more than a few minutes to an hour of sunlight. Any more than one hour would likely be lethal. Research is currently underway to improve the Serum and, ultimately, find a cure.

Sighing, Severus rubbed his forehead and set the book aside. He wasn't going to get any more information out of it anyway. He needed to contact Ginny Potter to see if she'd give him information on where her team was in their research. He really didn't want to cover ground that they already had. Deciding he would pen her a letter in the morning, Severus got up to go to his bedroom. He stopped at Jessica's door, put his hand on the handle, and debated checking in on her. Finally, he quietly pushed the door open.

Jessica was laying on her side, facing the door, curled up with her hands tucked under her chin. Her blonde hair was splayed over the pillow, and her mouth was slightly open. The dungeons were so quiet this time of night that he could hear the quiet sigh of her steady breathing. A burst of emotion coursed through him, and he couldn't help but wonder, yet again, what the Ministry was thinking, letting him take in such an innocent child.

* * *

He heard the footsteps before the firm knocks on his door. Severus looked up from the tests he was grading and called out, "Enter." Ginny Potter walked in, but she wasn't alone.

"Harry Potter: an unexpected and not entirely welcome surprise. Surely your wife is capable of meeting associates on her own?"

Harry glared, but Ginny grinned widely, seemingly refusing to allow Severus's bad mood to be spread. "Calm down, Professor. Harry brought you a notice from the Ministry."

"Aren't those normally delivered by owl?" he asked with no small amount of sarcasm.

"Arthur asked me to bring it to you personally. Apparently this particular notice has raised a few eyebrows around the Ministry, including mine. Did you do something to piss Blaise Zabini off? I thought you Slytherins stick together?"

"Blaise Zabini?" Severus asked with a furrowed brow. What reason could he have to send him a notice through the Ministry? Severus remembered their impromptu meeting a couple weeks prior and his past student's odd behavior concerning his adoption of Jessica, wondering if it could have anything to do with her.

Harry set a sealed envelope on his desk. Severus picked it up, broke the seal, and pulled out the folded parchment. Unfolding it, he read:

Professor S. Snape,

Melinda Bathalda

Frowning, Severus looked up at the couple. "This makes no sense, but I appreciate you delivering the letter. Now, if you don't mind, it seems I've a hearing to prepare for."

"All right, all right," Harry said, holding his arms up in defense. "We'll leave you to prepare. Come on, Ginny."

"No, wait. Severus, you forgot, the Zonlicht Serum."

"Oh, right," Severus said, noticing the folder in Ginny's hands for the first time.

Ginny moved to his desk and set the folder on it, a contract sitting on top. "Because it is a privately funded project, I'm not supposed to even share this information with you. However, I convinced my team to let me, as long as you sign this contract. It just says that any new developments you uncover are to be forfeited to my team. You will, of course, get credit for any discoveries you make; it will just be part of the credit the whole team will get if we can make some headway!"

"Thank you, Mrs. Potter, for that long and drawn out explanation. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to read it for myself," he said with barely concealed sarcasm.

He read carefully through the contract to ensure everything in it was agreeable. Finding everything in order, Severus dipped his quill into his ink and signed the contract.

* * *

"Severus!" Jessica came running into the room, tears in her eyes and panic in her voice.

Severus jumped to his feet, toppling a stack of third-year essays to the floor. "Jessica! Are you alright? Have you been hurt?"

"Severus! Are they taking me away?" Jessica asked, waving a piece of parchment at him, the tears threatening to fall.

"You're not hurt?" Severus asked as he knelt in front of her, relief pouring through him. He took her chin in his hand and looked into her eyes. "Now, what's this about someone taking you away?"

Jessica sniffled, handing him the piece of parchment she'd been holding. "I was looking for a book in your office, and I saw this on your desk. I swear I didn't mean to find it; it was just out in the open! Are they really going to take me away?"

Severus looked at the parchment, mentally berating himself for leaving the letter from the Ministry out where she could find it.

"No, no one's going to take you away." Not if he had anything to say about it.

"But...but it says there's to be a hearing, that I still have family out there. I..."

"Do you still have family...other than Maria?"

"No, Mum and Dad, Maria and I, we were all we had. You-Know-Who... He killed everyone else," she told him quietly, her eyes downcast.

Pushing back a twinge of guilt from his days as a Death Eater, Severus pulled her chin up to look at him. "Jessica, look at me. It will be fine. Don't worry about it. I'm going to work it out."

He wondered why he was going to so much trouble to reassure her when, not too long ago, he'd been dead-set against taking a child in? Had she, in just a few short months, grown on him so much? He thought back to the other night, when he had carried her to her bed. He had felt something completely foreign to him, something he wasn't quite ready to name...not yet.

"Can I go?" Jessica's small voice broke through his thoughts.

"Go where?" he asked.

"With you to the hearing."

"Absolutely not," he said in a voice that warned against argument.

"But I can tell them I don't want to leave, that I want to stay here with you. Please!"

"No, you'll stay here and let me take care of it." Of you.

"But..."

"No. Now, drop it."

She let her head fall forward in defeat. "Yes, Severus."

Severus was glad that she let the subject drop. The Ministry was no place for children. He couldn't deny that it might help for her to say she actually wanted to stay in his care, but he would find a way through the hearing, keeping Jessica's involvement at a minimum.

"Severus?" Jessica posed timidly. "What will you do? I mean, if I have family out there that I don't even know about?"

"We will worry about it if and only if it does come to pass. Now, though, you need to go to bed."

"All right," Jessica said, nodding, then turned and walked down the hallway. When she reached the bathroom, she turned back to look at Severus, her hand still on the handle. "Severus, you are my family now."

* * *

Author's Notes: I want to give a huge thank you to my beta, Soul Bound. She has been a great help in making this story a better read for you all! Thank you all so much for reviewing this, it truly does inspire me to write more.

Chapter polished up on January 29, 2010.