Snape's Daughter

From behind the door her father emerged, hair over his face. The sword was bucked 'round his waist and he held something lumpy in his arms. Serena was alarmed. With tears of worry in her eyes, she dashed through the paths and as she emerged onto the lawn she saw what her father was holding, and why he had streaks down his cheeks. She too cried tears of pain and sadness. A body was lying in his arms, limp and utterly dead...

"Kayley!" yelled out Serena in anguish, moving with great speed towards her father. Dead. The faithful servant of the Snape family for years, and now she was dead. The House-Elf who had roused Serena with great patience every morning for school, dead.

Severus Snape laid the body on the floor as his wife came dashing at the sound of Serena's wail. Serena had already reached her father, and was kneeling down beside the body with tears running down her face. Kayley was the only House-Elf that the Snape family owned, and she was all Serena's own. Now she was dead.

Severus knelt behind his weeping daughter, and put a loving arm around her shoulders. She leant back into his warm embrace, and buried her head in his chest. She was only an eleven-year-old girl, and had very little experience of life.

Going to school, of course, was out of the question. SATs results didn't matter any more; Serena was a witch, and a good one too. He had to make a quick decision, and now. They would go to live at number twelve, protected by the Fidelius Charm and away from the Death Eaters. He would stand up and be counted as a good man, not a Death Eater any longer.

They buried Kayley in the garden under a beautiful rose bush with Henry and Radar watching. Serena went through her memories with Kayley, who had been with her since she was three. With Kayley's help, she had become an animagus; with Kayley's help she had come to understand more about the history of the magical world. That she would never learn from Binns, according to her father.

Her parents stood a few metres away from her while she knelt by the gravestone, weeping. She slowly came back to her surroundings and wiped her eyes, and heard the end of their conversation.

"Look, Severus, I can't go and just tell him that I have lied to him, I can't see him again!"

"Please, Catherine, you must. I think it is time that we told the truth, to everyone," said her father encouragingly.

"Must I?" she replied.

"What are you talking about?" asked Serena curiously. Catherine took a deep breath and began.

"My maiden name isn't really Jones," she said, softly, "it's Lupin. When my brother was bitten by a werewolf I still stood by him, but he kept his distance from me. Then we grew apart. He thinks I am dead, my brother Remus," she said sadly but calmly.

"You're Remus Lupin's sister?" said Serena amazed at how calmly her mother had spoken. "Then I'm his niece, right?" she asked.

"That's right," said her father. "Now the problem is that Remus, your, um, uncle, is staying there. If we go to live at number twelve Grimmauld Place, then he will realise that he has been lied to for a very long time. He'll probably kill me and who knows what he'll do to your mother!" However, at the last part Serena knew that he was joking, or at least exaggerating a little, so she smiled.

"But it's simple!" she burst out suddenly, after thinking for several minutes..

"What?" said both her parents at the same time.

"Dad, you go to Grimmauld Place and admit you lied, and tell him so he's prepared. We can come on the Knight Bus, and then we give him a big shock!"

Severus narrowed his eyes in thought. "Has anyone got a better plan?" he asked. No one did, and so they prepared to leave.

*~*~*

Serena had taken the news surprisingly well. Perhaps it was because she had never met any of her mother's parents, and she had never mentioned what had happened to them. They were, in fact, dead. They had died of natural causes, if smoking can be called a natural cause. However neither of the Lupin children had taken up their parents' habit, but had avoided it altogether. Catherine, or Katherine as was her real name, used this as an excuse to try and get her husband to change his mind, but her refused.

"Your brother can stand Fletcher's smoking, so can you," he said closing the matter. Katherine sighed and continued to pack her things into the bottomless case she shared with her husband. Serena, in her room next door with her owl, Horace, who had managed to survive by flying away, began to pack her school things and clothes into her own, smaller one. Smaller in the sense that it took up less space when it was held anyway, and smaller inside too. Bottomless was, of course, not true. It was impossible to make anything with purely infinitesimal space or you would never be able to get anything out again. However, the suitcases, which were originally Muggle, did have an extraordinarily large space inside them.

Serena checked her list again. She was not taking everything, because there was no real point. Some things there she would never need again.

"Casual robes, check, school robes, check, school books, check, Muggle clothes, check, alarm clock, check, books, check, check, check, check..." said Serena, ticking off the list with her raven feather quill.

The door opened and Severus came in, holding the sword.

"So, what's all this about?" he asked curiously.

"Well when I went into my room at Hogwarts I found this diary belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw on the table..." she began, and launched into the long story. As she came towards the end, an owl flew through the window bearing a copy of The Daily Prophet. It dropped it on Serena's bed, and she gave him a bronze Knut. However, the owl would not leave. She looked at the front cover, and then glanced at her dad.

"Price has gone up, it's two Knuts now," she said, delving in her robe pockets for another one. She handed it over and the fierce-looking bird left.

Severus was staring with what seemed like amazement at the headline. It read, in bold capitals: "HOW PETTIGREW STUMPED AURORS" and underneath was a picture of a rat with a missing toe. The caption read: 'Picture taken by Ronald Weasley when Pettigrew was hiding as a rat in his house.'

Peter John Pettigrew, who was revealed yesterday to be a Death Eater and under the influence of Veritaserum admitted the innocence of Sirius Black blaming himself instead, has been an illegal Animagus since 1975, reveals our reporter Rita Skeeter in an interview with Pettigrew's ex-friend the Werewolf Remus Lupin.

"They had to mention that he was a Werewolf, didn't they?" said Katherine from the door. "He's perfectly normal really."

"Yeah, I know that," said Serena, thinking that her mother was talking to her. "You made me read Hairy Snout, Human Heart enough times for that."

"And now you know why," said her father, smiling rather grimly. He had never really liked Lupin, although he had tried to get on with him after he had met Katherine. Serena shut her trunk with a snap, and then opened it again. She had just remembered the diary. She put the small book in, along with the beautiful, rustless sword. Then she closed it gently.

Pettigrew was made the Potter family's secret keeper at the suggestion of Sirius Black who had been the secret keeper originally. Pettigrew then ran to You-Know-Who, who was told the location of the young family. The Dark Lord apparated to Godric's Hollow, where the then one-year old Harry Potter famously defeated him after he had murdered the boy's parents.

"Sirius went to look for Peter, and found him gone. He knew instantly what had happened and blamed himself for James and Lily's deaths," said Lupin, aged 36. "He went looking for Peter, and found him in the neighbourhood a few days later. Peter ran down the street yelling that Sirius had arranged what - what happened." At this point the Werewolf broke down in tears.

"So they've finally worked out that Werewolves have feelings then," said Katherine scathingly, shaking her head. Serena walked over to her mum and hugged her tightly. Uncle Remus, as she had begun to think of him, really was badly treated.

Through his tears Lupin told how before Black could get to his wand, Pettigrew blew up the street killing twelve Muggles. Then he turned into his rat animagus form and hid in the sewers. Sixteen-year-old Ronald Weasley took up the story.

"Well he needed to stay with a magical family didn't he, just in case Voldemort returned," he said, confident and unafraid of saying You-Know-Who's name. "So he came to my family. We thought he was just an ordinary rat, and he'd lost his paw in some fight with other rats, he'd cut off his finger before he transformed. Percy, my brother, looked after him for a while, then when Percy became a prefect he got Hermes, his owl, and I got Pettigrew. Back then I called him Scabbers.

"So I came to Hogwarts, and made friends with Harry Potter. In our third year, Hermione my girlfriend got a new cat called Crookshanks. He recognised Pettigrew for who he was straight away. It took us until late in the Summer term, when Buckbeak was going to be executed. We found Peter in Hagrid's Hut - I thought he was an ordinary rat still - and then he escaped from me. Sirius tried to get Peter away from me but ended up dragging Peter and me into the Whomping Willow. I broke my leg," the boy smiled ruefully.

"Sirius stayed as a dog all the way down the tunnel and then we got into the Shrieking Shack. He let go of me and transformed. I couldn't move, because I was so frightened, and then there was my leg. Then Harry and Hermione came in."

"It basically tells what happened what happened two years ago when Potter saved Sirius. Doesn't portray me very well of course."

"Yeah well you did steal Potter's invisibility cloak and weren't exactly prepared to listen to them," said Serena, but she was grinning.

Severus grinned back as he rolled up the paper and banished it to the dustbin. Although he did not get on well with the Potter boy for personal reasons, he still found it funny during the holidays. From inside the bin they heard the sounds of chewing followed by a long, loud belch. Katherine rolled her eyes at her excitable daughter; Serena had insisted upon buying the bin three years ago and had never tired of it. Even now the young girl was clutching her stomach, filled with never ending laughter.

Severus left the room again, rolling his eyes. Katherine remained, and looked at the books Serena had not packed. 101 Potions for Remedial Use, The Warlock of Wales, and The Squib who Swam. She took the first and left the room with it in her hand, it could be useful.

Serena stopped laughing and flung herself on her bed. She winced; several books were hiding under the covers. Pulling them back she saw the books she had been unable to find before. Trees waved in the wind and leaves blew across the path; several men on horses trotted around in circles underneath the shimmering runes in the air.

"The Lord of the Rings" declared the title on the green book, just above the words "The Fellowship of the Ring - Magical Version". The other three books were The Two Towers, The Return of the King and The Hobbit. She opened her suitcase again and put them carefully in. It was nearly full despite its expanded interior and when she picked it up, it was heavy despite the lightening charm.

Hauling it out of her room, Serena paused to look around the hall for the last time. Horace perched on her shoulder - his cage having been packed away too. Then she went down the stairs and looked at the carving in the wall alcove by the dining room door. She stood there silently for a while and just looked at the man portrayed there; then she looked at the stairs where her mother and father were coming down, floating the trunk before them.

"Dad?" Serena asked him, suddenly remembering something.

"What is it?" he asked.

Serena pulled something out of her pocket. It was the scrap of paper which she had carefully copied the runes on picture for picture, space for space. It was an exact representation. She handed it over to him, saying,

"I found this written in Ravenclaw's diary, so I copied it out. I know you're good at runes so can you translate it for me?"

Severus nodded, and tucked it into his belt thoughtfully.

*~*~*

Severus had apparated to Grimmauld Place in order to talk to Uncle Remus. Katherine looked very nervous as she stuck out her wand by the roadside. With a loud 'BANG!' the Knight Bus appeared and the door swung open. The conductor Stan Shunpike stepped out and began to speak.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand and we can -"

"We would like to go to Kings Cross station please," said Serena's mother interrupting him pointedly. The man fell silent for a while, then stepped back to let them on board.

"That'll be eleven sickles, but for firteen you get -" he was about to start rambling again, and Katherine interrupted again.

"That makes one Galleon, five Sickles, here you go," she said handing over the large gold coin and the five smaller silver ones. They walked onto the bus and took their seats. Very quickly, Katherine performed a sealing charm to affix the legs of their chairs to the floor of the bus. They would not be thrown around on the journey.

'BANG!' the bus took off, going from place to place; Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Anglesey, Cardiff, and soon London. Although shaken up, the pair managed to totter off the wildly driven vehicle and headed for the underground at Euston Station.

They bought a pair of tickets for Tufnell Park, and then waited a short time for the Northern Line train to arrive. Once it had done so they slipped quickly on board and took a pair of seats. It was not the rush hour, and so they were not crushed. After a couple of stations, they left the train and emerged onto a dusty pavement. It was fairly empty as they headed towards Grimmauld Place.

As they walked down the short road into the square, Serena spotted two children of her own age playing with a ball. It was not a proper football, but they appeared to be having a lot of fun.

Knowing that they would not be able to see number twelve, they waited by the fence in front of number eleven. They did not have to wait long before Severus emerged looking flustered.

"The Weasleys have gone back to the Burrow, it's just Fletcher and Tonks living here now, and Remus," he added after a minuscule pause. "I've managed to translate your runes Serena. But let's go inside," he said. He drew from his pocket a piece of parchment, which read:

Nymphadora Tonks, Mundungus Fletcher and Remus Lupin live at:

Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

After they had read it he pocketed it again as the old building sprung into being between numbers eleven and thirteen. The family went inside, but did not notice the scrap of parchment that fluttered out of Snape's pocket onto the floor.

*~*~*

They were sitting in the kitchen, and Severus laid the runes out on the desk in front of him. He pointed out some odd parts of it to Serena and Katherine. Uncle Remus was out for a few days, although according to Tonks, who had been as surprised at Serena at Katherine's revelation, he would be returning soon. Mundungus Fletcher, Tonks' fiancée, was oddly enough not shocked by the news. He seemed to have known for a long time.

Severus began to explain the message of the runes. "Here, instead of having a single rune for each word as is in the rest of the message, we have single letters. It also occurs here. The same letter begins each of the words in the first pair, and in the second pair the same thing happens. The message reads:

You have been to the lowest,

The place of death,

Guided by the Smooth Slider.

Now, go to the highest,

The place of life,

Led by the Ready Rider."

"That is odd," said Katherine. "It doesn't make sense."

"I think I understand," said Serena. "The first bit anyway. It means I have been to the lowest part of the castle, the Chamber of Secrets. It's the place of death because of Ravenclaw and Slytherin's coffin, and the Basilisk. I got there because of my snake animagus form."

Severus looked at his daughter in surprise. Even though he had looked at it for ages, he had not understood the message in the writing. Serena looked shocked too. It was as though she had not said the words, but someone else was talking through her. Then she remembered something else that had been troubling her.

"Dad, if I'm the heir of Slytherin then how come You-Know-Who hasn't come after me yet?"

"The blood of Slytherin was always considered to be stronger in the female line. Hannah and Jacob Snape were born as twins, and the line went Hannah's way. People forgot that the Snapes were direct male-line descendants from Slytherin. It's on the family tree in the kitchen at the manor."

He went on to say that many of the pureblood families were interrelated. The Blacks too were descendants of Slytherin and Ravenclaw, although their line had broken off much earlier. The Malfoys too were related in this way, they had split from the female-line after the Snape family. Most of the pureblood families forgot that Ravenclaw was married to Slytherin, although one of the Ravenclaw children, a male, had carried on the Ravenclaw line until the last Ravenclaw girl became infertile and there were no men due to the wars.

As he was about to continue talking about the Ravenclaw and Slytherin lines, the currently red-haired Tonks burst into the room carrying a letter.

"Remus has been arrested!"