Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Jessica heard the door across from hers close and knew that it would only be a few more minutes before she was on her way to the Owlery. She knew that she probably shouldn't go alone at night, but she didn't want anyone to know that she was sending an owl to Molly. If anyone found out, they would tell Severus. Then Severus would want to know why she was sending an owl to Molly, and Jessie couldn't possibly tell him about that, not if she and Molly were to succeed in their plan.

Finally, Jessie tiptoed out of her room, through the living room, and out the door leading to the dungeon corridors. Pulling her dressing gown tighter around her small frame, walking as quietly as she could along the walls, she made it to the Entrance Hall without running into anyone and couldn't believe her luck. She stopped just before the Entrance Hall, her heart speeding up as she wondered if she would be so lucky to make it through the open area without getting caught.

Nibbling on her lower lip, Jessie decided to just hurry as quickly as she could and get up the stairs as fast as possible, hoping that no one would hear her. She made it up to the first floor and hesitantly smiled at her continuing luck. As she was walking through the second floor, she was sure she heard Peeves teasing someone inside the bathroom and sent out a prayer that he would not hear her, for if he did, she would undoubtedly be caught.

Still staying as much in the shadows and along the walls as possible, Jessica felt her heart jump up into her throat as Mrs. Norris came from around the next corner, her small yellow eyes searching the corridor. Sucking in her breath, Jessie slipped back into a small alcove to wait for the cat to pass her by. Her breathing sounded so loud that she was sure that Mrs. Norris would be able to hear her, so she tried to hold her breath as long as possible. Finally, Mrs. Norris turned to go search another corridor, and Jessie climbed out of the alcove, hoping that Mr. Filch wasn't following his cat around.

Shaking in fear of being caught, she was filled with relief when she finally reached the staircase leading up to the Owlery. Shivering against the cold air, she ran up the steps and into the large, circular room where the owls lived. As she crossed over to the school owls, careful not to slip on the owl droppings, Jessie pulled out her letter to Molly and tied it to an owl's leg with a piece of string.

"Please, would you get this to Molly Weasley in the morning?" she asked in a whisper.

The owl hooted in response and went back to preening its feathers. Satisfied with the success of her journey, Jessie turned to leave the Owlery, a small smile on her face. She climbed back down the staircase, her hand reaching up to lightly trail along the banister. As she made her way back into the castle, Jessica thought about how much she wanted Molly's and her plan to succeed. If they could just get Severus to be friends with Hermione, she could convince him to adopt Maria. She didn't understand why Molly was so insistent that it had to be Hermione, but she liked Hermione just fine and knew that Severus would, too, once he got to know her.

As she turned the corner, someone stepped out of the shadows, blocking her path. At the sight of a wand pointed at her by someone she couldn't recognize, Jessie screamed as loudly as she could.

A flash of light hit her and everything went black.

* * *

Severus shot up in a bed as a scream echoed throughout the castle. Cursing, he pulled on his cloak, grabbed his wand, and made to seek out the cause of the scream. Just as he reached the door leading to the corridor, he doubled back to check in on Jessica. He pushed her bedroom door open, cursing as he immediately noticed that her bed was empty, looking as though she hadn't even slept in it that night. Instinct left no room for fear as he tore through the castle searching for his charge. If anything happened to her, he didn't know what he would do.

As he reached the third floor, Albus and Minerva joined him, wands out.

"Jessica's missing," he said simply as he continued searching through the corridors.

Albus turned to the nearest portrait, one of a medieval couple engaged in a dance. "Find the girl." The man in the portrait nodded and was off in a hurry.

"Headmaster, a young girl passed by about thirty minutes ago. She was heading toward the west towers," the lady supplied helpfully.

"Thank you." Albus caught up with Severus. "She was seen heading toward the west towers. Perhaps the Owlery?"

"Who in the bloody hell would she need to owl at this hour?" Severus muttered as he changed direction to make his way to the Owlery.

The three professors searched the castle, but could not find the missing girl anywhere. They questioned the portraits, but could not find out what had happened to her. Severus was sure that there was only one person who could have screamed and was quite uncomfortable with the worry for Jessica's safety that began to cloud his mind.

He could not deny it any longer now that he was faced with losing her to an unknown danger. In the three months since she had come to live with him, he had grown to love that little girl. Realizing this only made losing her all the more difficult, and Severus slammed his fist into the wall in frustration.

Minerva transfigured a wrap for his bleeding knuckles and handed it to him.

"Strange how easy it comes, isn't it?" she asked softly, understanding in her eyes.

"What?" His voice sounded foreign to him.

"Worrying."

In a moment of open vulnerability, Severus asked, "Does it ever go away?"

Minerva shook her head, a small, sad smile on her face. "We'll find her, Severus."

"We have to find her," he said simply.

* * *

Jessica woke up to an unfamiliar face hovering above her own. She tried to scream again, but no sound came out. Fear had her scurrying away from the man, whose wand was still pointed at her. Her eyes frantically searched the room to find that there was only a table, two chairs, and one door. If she could just get to the door, perhaps she could run and find Severus. He would be angry with her, but at least she would be safe. The unknown man advanced toward her, stopping just a couple feet away from her.

"Jessica." Her eyes widened as he said her name, but she knew that she didn't know who he was, so she wondered how he knew her name. She was shaking in fear of what he would do to her, wondering if she would ever get to see Severus and Maria again.

"I looked for you for a long time, but I never could find you. Then, I found out that Professor Snape had adopted you. I found you, but you were still out of reach. You look so much like your mother, you know." She flinched as his hand reached out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"My cousin picked a beautiful woman to marry, and he was blessed with two beautiful girls. You should be with family, Jessie, not with Professor Snape. If you were with me, you and Maria would be together; you would be able to learn all about your family. Snape can't teach you about your family, our family."

Jessie's eyes widened in understanding as she realized that this must be Blaise Zabini, the man who had tried to take her away from Severus. She couldn't believe that he was still lying about being her relative. She was happy with Severus, and she didn't want anyone to take her away from him. Blaise moved a bit closer to her, and in a moment of rage, Jessie flung her arm out at him, and he was thrown across the room to slam against the other wall.

She hurriedly stumbled toward the door, tugging and turning the handle, trying to leave the room, but it would not let her leave. Tears started rolling down her cheeks and she wished desperately that Severus would come and find her. She was so scared that Blaise was going to hurt her or take her away.

"Petrificus Totalus." Jessie's arms and legs locked together, and she fell forward with a dull thud. Blaise turned her over and spoke quietly. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk, okay? I just want to talk," he repeated in a whisper. Now that she had no other choice, as her eyes were stuck open, Jessie noticed that Blaise didn't look angry or mean.

"I'm going to do the counter-curse, but you'd better not pull another stunt like that again, all right?" She couldn't nod, but he seemed to think she was agreeable because a moment later he performed the counter-curse and Jessica was able to move away from him and curl up into a ball.

Blaise stood up and sat at the table, motioning for her to do the same. After a few moments, Jessica decided that she should do what he wanted so that he wouldn't hurt her. She was still so scared, even though he said that he wasn't going to hurt her, but he was the one with a wand, and she knew that she couldn't control her magic yet. Sliding into the empty chair, she crossed her arms over her chest and waited for him to speak again.

"You probably don't remember me," he started, "but I'm your cousin, Blaise. I remember that when you were born, Jason and Sarah had a party a few days later to show you off. You were so tiny and your eyes were so big. You were so curious right from the start."

She was listening to him, wondering if what he was saying could possibly be true. Was he really her cousin? Had he really known her when she was just a baby? She suddenly felt like she was betraying Severus by wanting to know, but she couldn't help it.

"You've heard of You-Know-Who, right?" She nodded. "Well, when he came back to power when I was at Hogwarts, your mum and dad disappeared. We thought that maybe You-Know-Who had got to them, but there wasn't any trace of them. I figured they must have gone into hiding, and I kept hoping that you all were safe. After You-Know-Who was defeated, I tried so hard to find you, but I couldn't. I didn't know about Maria at the time, but when the Adoption Act was filed, I found a list of all the children that had been orphaned, but it didn't have a Jessica Zabini on it.

"I was relieved because I had thought that your parents were all right and it would only be a matter of time before they came back out into the open again. A week later Hermione was going through the orphans' files, trying to find her neighbor's file so that she could request that he become her charge, when I saw your file. You had grown up so much from the last time I had seen you, but you looked more and more like your mother. I recognized you right away and tried to request you as my charge, only to find out that Professor Snape had already adopted you."

Jessica interrupted him by waving her arms and pointing at her throat. She had so many questions, and it was so difficult to not be able to talk when she so badly wanted to talk. She watched as he pointed his wand at her and flinched when the soft ray of light hit her, unblocking her voice.

"Sorry about that...I just didn't want you to scream again," he explained.

"Where are we?" she blurted out. That was not the question I wanted to ask!

"The Room of Requirement. Don't worry; we're still at Hogwarts. This is a room that changes into whatever you might need at the time if you pass by its entrance thinking about what you want."

They sat in silence for what seemed like hours before he finally spoke again.

"I was so upset that I had finally found you, only to have you snatched up before I could claim you as family. I was angry with Professor Snape for being the one to take you away from me before I even could get you back in my life. Hermione didn't understand. She thought that Snape would do a fine job with you and that if I just cooperated, perhaps he would let me still be a part of your life. We argued about it a lot until she decided that it was just too much and broke things off with me."

"But she was right...Severus is really good with me," Jessie pointed out.

Blaise frowned. "I didn't want him to be in that position, though. I even went so far as to contest Maria's and your adoptions with the Ministry, but that didn't work, either, as they thought I didn't prove that you are my family."

"But how do you know we are?"

"I told you, you look just like your mother. I recognized you from your picture immediately. After I lost the hearing, I did some more research and found out that your great-grandmother's maiden name was Augustus, which would have gone even further to proving that we are related."

There was another long pause, during which Jessie thought about everything he was saying. It seemed as though he might be telling the truth, but it didn't change how she felt. She loved Severus and she didn't want to leave him. She was happy and wanted him to be her dad. It didn't matter to her if Blaise was related; she wanted to stay with Severus.

"How did you know I'd be out in the corridors tonight?" she wondered aloud.

"I didn't. I was actually leaving Hermione's rooms when I happened to see you walking toward the Owlery. I decided to wait until you came back to get you somewhere to talk."

"I thought Hermione broke up with you?" Jessie asked.

"Yeah, she did, but her birthday's tomorrow and I wanted to give her a gift, see if maybe she'd forgive me."

"Did she forgive you?"

"Yes, but she just wants to be friends. Mark's not doing well, and she's really busy here, so she really doesn't have a lot of spare time," Blaise explained.

"Who's Mark?"

"He's Hermione's charge. He was her neighbor that she wanted as her charge. He's very ill, but Hermione's hoping that they'll find something to help him soon."

An uncomfortable feeling filled the young girl. "Can I go? Severus is probably really mad at me."

"He didn't know you'd gone to the Owlery, did he?" She shook her head. "He'll probably have heard you scream. You've a good set of lungs." He paused. "I suppose so, but, Jessie, I really don't want to lose you. I know you don't know me, but you are my cousin, and I'd like to be a part of your life."

"You'll have to talk to Severus, I guess, because I'm not leaving him," she said stubbornly.

* * *

A/N: 50 house points to whoever is first to tell me where Minerva's comforting words came from. Many thanks to my wonderful beta, Soul Bound. Please review, for they fuel the muse!

Chapter polished up on January 29, 2010. (Again, not much changed.)