The Prince's Daughter
"Being deeply loved gives you strength;
loving deeply gives you courage"
-Lao Tzu
Prologue
November 7, 1981
The little girl sleeps soundly on his shoulder as he walks in the night to the house on Heathgate. It's the hardest thing he's ever had to do, but after his first love's death, he worried for her safety. The wizarding world isn't a safe place for someone so young and he doesn't want her carrying a horrible reputation due to his part in this past war, even if he has had all his charges cleared by the wizengamot.
Out of the corner of his eye, he catches movement before a cat appears on the porch of he's going and he smirks to himself at its inability to stay away for long. Even when he'd been scoping the area out earlier this week, it's in the same spot it was then. Upon reaching his destination, he pulls out his want and conjures a pillow before laying the child down and draping the black blanket that he'd carried her in over her. He then sets down the bag of important paperwork against her back pinning a note on it with instructions and casts a warming spell on the blanket. The cat cautiously moves onto the pillow so it doesn't disturb the sleeping form and looks up at him with its hazel eyes in bittersweet emotion. He pets its head twice, places a kiss on the child's temple affectionately, and turns his attention to the feline.
"Watch over her for us, my darling," his deep baritone voice whispers. He brushes the little girl's ringlet away from her face and allows his thumb to caress her cheek, "Good luck my sweet Natasha," he murmurs before turning to the pair of them and saying, "I shall see you in nine years."
He stands and rights his robes before disillusioning himself and ringing the doorbell. He moves to a nearby tree, watching to make sure someone came to open it and find her. He doesn't have to wait long for from the entrance's windows, he sees a light come on and a woman of about twenty-five in an ankle length flannel robe open the door. Her hair is a warm brown and long in a braid. She peers down gasping, startled to see the sleeping form on her porch and covers her mouth before spotting the note he'd left for her to find.
The cat goes up to her; rubbing against her leg as she bends down to read it while petting the feline.
"Okay," she whispers, "you both may stay," and she picks up the child and everything with her before going inside, shutting the door and locking it. He continues to watch until all the lights are off and he lets out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding before disapparating to Hogwarts in his private quarters.
AN- Hey guys, I know it's been forever since I've posted anything! And I'm sorry; all I can say is that I've had no inspiration what so ever. For this story, it's going to get dark at times, and it will shift between past and present which will be labeled at the beginning of each chapter with years. I do hope you enjoyed this first chapter even though it wasn't very long.