Author's Note: It has been five years since I had the courage to even write a piece of Fanfiction that I deemed developed enough to post upon here. I have a lot of expectations for myself, therefore please do not flame too badly. This is a slightly AU, but sticking to canon as much as possible story. The chapters will follow the sixth Harry Potter book, but there will be italics/chapters here and there to fill in the details of my character's growing up.
Disclaimer - I Do Not Own Harry Potter, If I Did I'd Be A Billionaire By Now. I Invented Sariah Snape :)

Broken Frames

Prologue – The Birth of a Daughter

A red haired witch screamed as she pushed hard, giving birth to a tiny screaming baby girl. "Mrs Potter, it's a girl!" cried the medi-witch, placing the screaming girl on her mother's chest. Lily Evans Potter refused to look at the baby, closing her eyes as the pain vanished slowly from her body.

"Fetch Severus and send the girl to him," said Lily with her eyes closed.

The medi-witch nodded, and it pained her to see how detached she had made herself from the screaming baby girl. The baby was cleaned, as several nurses attended to the after-birth and the cleaning of Lily Potter, and wrapped in a bundle of white blankets. The medi-witch walked from the room where the baby was cleaned, to the foyer where Severus Snape was waiting. Black robes billowed around his skinny figure, his face framed by soft long black hair. His eyes were just as dark as he accepted the bundle from the witch.

"She refused to look at the baby. It's a girl, Professor," said the medi-witch. Severus nodded, and signed some paperwork that enabled him 100% custody of the girl in his arms.

"A name, Professor?" asked the medi-witch as she finalised the paperwork.

"Sariah Eileen Snape," said Severus quickly, using his wand to charm the baby's blankets black to match his robes and cloak. It made it easier for him to hide the tiny black haired baby in his arms.

"Very well, Professor Snape. We'll send her finalized certificate to Professor Dumbledore, who shall forward it to you," said the medi-witch. Snape nodded, and in a swish of black robes, left the building to his home in Spinner's End.

Lily Potter had hidden her second pregnancy from her husband, James, and had given birth under the most secret of circumstances to the little girl that was now Sariah Snape. She loved Severus Snape, but she loved James Potter and her son, Harry more than anything. She'd successfully gotten away with the last six months of the pregnancy, saying she had to go away for a Healer's course. The conception of little Sariah was the result of Lily forgiving Severus for the mistakes of their childhood, and the use of the word 'Mudblood'. Of course, it had happened within a Muggle setting... heaven forbid if James knew of the tiny baby, half a wildly beautiful Evans, half an articulate, pensive Snape.

Severus laid Sariah down in the little wooden crib he had bought with the money his mother's family had left him. It sat at the foot of his four poster bed. The little girl had a mess of wispy black hair, and her face was very much like Lily's, except with Severus's pointed nose. He brushed the hair from her face, watching as his daughter opened her eyes, to reveal emerald green irises.

"Your mother's eyes," he murmured, stroking his daughter's face. "I love you Sariah Snape," he added, leaning down and kissing his baby daughter as she fell into a small nap.

1st November 1981 – Five Months After Sariah's Birth
Severus was slumped forward in a chair, a terrible sob wracking at his throat, his small daughter asleep in a pram beside him. She was too young to stay at Spinner's End when he had to see the older Professor, and he did not own a house-elf to care for the baby girl. Albus Dumbledore was standing over him, looking grim as Snape raised his head.

"I thought… you were going… to keep her… safe…" he said slowly, his eyes fixed upon his infant daughter.

"She and James put their faith in the wrong person," said Dumbledore. "Rather like you, Severus. Weren't you hoping that Lord Voldemort would spare her?"

His breathing was shallow. "Only for the sake of my Sari," he whispered.

"Her boy survives," said Dumbledore. Snape's head jerked, but his eyes stayed fixed upon Sariah. "Her son lives. He has her eyes, precisely her eyes You remember the shape and color of Lily Evans's eyes, I am sure?"

"Of course I do," snapped Severus. "They are the exact eyes shared by my Sari. Eyes that I see every time I look into my beloved daughter's eyes. Gone… dead…"

"Is this remorse, Severus?"

"I wish… I wish I were dead…"

"And what use would that be to anyone? What use would that be to Sariah?" said Dumbledore coldly. "If you loved Lily Evans, if you truly loved her, then your way forward is clear."

Severus peered up, watching as Sariah awoke. He lifted the baby girl from the pram, with her black hair and emerald eyes, looking a lot like her own half-brother, into his arms, and held her close. She hardly ever cried, and today was no exception.

"What – what do you mean?"

"You know how and why she died. Make sure it was not in vain. Help me protect Lily's son… Sariah's brother…" said Dumbledore.

"He does not need protection. The Dark Lord has gone –"

"The Dark Lord will return, and both Harry Potter and Sariah Snape will be in terrible danger when he does… because they share the blood of their mother. There will come a time where Harry and Sariah must know of the truth of their relationship, for that will be a time where both of Lily's children must rise up against the Dark Lord."

There was a long pause, in which Snape stood, and slowly regained control of himself, bouncing his young daughter to sooth her when she sensed he was agitated. At last he spoke, "Very well. Very well. But never – never tell, Dumbledore. This must be between us! Swear it! I cannot bear… especially Potter's son… I want your word that I must be the one to tell Sariah the truth of her mother and brother! It will break her heart… for she is already so much like Lily."

"My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you?" Dumbledore sighed, looking down at Severus's face, and the face of the quiet baby girl in his arms. "If you insist… Oh, your rooms are prepared, and an elf will be along to assist with Miss Snape..."

Severus Banished his daughter's pram to his rooms, exiting Dumbledore's office. He held his tiny daughter in his arms tightly, heading to his quarters. People just assumed the baby girl's mother had died giving birth to her, which was almost true. Severus just said it was a witch he used to know who had always been sickly. Sariah Snape was very much like her mother, but had a quiet demeanour like her father and shared his hooked nose, but it did not look out of place upon her face.

He entered his rooms, and placed baby Sariah down in what he assumed was her bouncer, noticing that his belongings had already been fetched from Spinner's End. The little girl was playing with the sparkly toys above her head, cooing here and there as her father got lost in his thoughts. It was that moment, that Severus Snape hardened his heart to all except his baby girl.