(Disclaimer: Characters and world are J.K Rowling's, original characters and plot-are mine)

Ok, I know that I'm in the middle of another story Magic That Binds, which is another SS/HG story I'm doing, except much longer, (check it out btw the way. It is an M fic, but that's for language and some violence, I promise it' not extremely gory or anything like that) but this idea would not leave me alone.

That being said, my priority is still on Magic That Binds, but I won't give up or abandon this story either. It will definitely not be that long, but more than 5 chapters…soooo probably 10 chapters? I don't know, we'll see where this goes. This is a Romance/family fic with ALOT of fluff (come on, its Snape with a little kid!)-so be warned.

Hope you enjoy the story!

Chapter 1

Smoke rose into the sky creating a dark cloud over the Rosebush Orphanage. The once pristine building, overcrowded after the war, was now a sad sight, as flames licked across its brick walls. Nearby, evacuated caretakers and children huddled in fear, staring in dismay as their home was slowly destroyed.

Not too far away from the innocent crowd, a group of aurors were gathered around the criminal responsible for the devastation. The crazed arsonist squirmed on the ground, his hands magically bound behind his back and his legs tied up. He was screaming incoherent obscenities as one of the aurors walked over and pressed his boot into his back to keep him in place.

A dark figure, standing apart from the magical enforcers watched, indifferently, as his one time associate was man-handled. One of his thick raven colored brows rose imperiously as the captured man called for his help.

His mouth twitched up in a smirk, amused that the criminal, who not even a minute before had tried to take off his head, was now begging for his aid. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

"Severus," a young dark haired auror called to the observing wizard, adjusting his glasses as he walked over.

"Mr. Potter," Severus answered, dragging his eyes away from the amusing scene to give the Boy-who-lived his attention. He silently waited for the younger man to speak.

"They're taking Yaxley away now," Harry said, looking over at the distraught group of children. "The building is a lost cause, too much Fiendfyre, but at least there were no causalities. Thank Merlin today was field trip day."

Severus grunted in response. Though the relationship between the two had cooled after the end of the war, they still were not bosom buddies. Nor would they ever be, not if Severus could help it. Still the two had reached an understanding and though their relationship wasn't exactly friendly, it was still amiable.

"Listen Severus, I just wanted to thank you for tracking down Yaxley and coming with us on this run. We couldn't have done this without you," Harry said, holding out his hand.

Severus hesitated only a second before he grabbed the other wizard's hand and shook it. "It's of no consequence, Potter. It's fortunate that Yaxley is the last of them."

Harry let out a relieved smile, "yes. I'm glad that we only have to worry about the lesser deatheaters now."

"Hmm," Severus agreed.

The two wizards were about to leave with the other aurors when a frantic woman ran up to them. She grasped onto Harry's arms, tears streaming down her face.

"Please," she cried, pointing towards the burning building, "we're missing a child."

"What?" Harry asked, alarmed. He took the woman's hand trying to calm her down so he could get more information. "Who's missing? Do you know where she was last?"

The woman nodded, gripping him tighter. "We counted, then recounted the numbers, then we realized that Selene was not with us. Please, she must be in the building!"

"Are you sure she's in the building? Did she not go on the field trip with the rest of the kids?" Harry asked urgently.

"No! She had a tummy ache, so she was put to bed in the dorms on the third floor. Please, you have to help her!" the woman sobbed. Behind her the children were beginning to panic.

Before Harry could organize the aurors for a rescue, Severus was speeding past him and broomlessly flying up to the third floor windows. Casting a Bubblehead charm around his face so he could breath, he raced across the floor, dodging the questing flames of the Fiendfyre.

"Selene!" his deep voice called out, as he conjured up a stream of water to fight against the growing fire. "Selene!" he called again.

He rushed into another room, water gushing out of his wand. He was just about to leave, to search the next room on the floor when a small voice whimpered, "here," from behind a turned over bed.

Floating the bed away, Severus searched through the smoke, trying to find the owner of the voice. "Selene?" he asked, coughing as the cursed smoke began penetrating his bubble charm and getting into his airways. He strengthened the charm around him.

"Where are you?" he tried again, waving away the smoke in frustration. When he heard no answer, he growled out, "answer me child!"

"Here," the little voice croaked, weakened by the damaging smoke. Severus blew away the smoke, and inched forward until he found a small soot covered girl wedged under a night stand. Her legs were drawn close to her chest and wrapped up in her tiny arms. Deep brown eyes, leaking with tears, stared at the dark wizard. She was shaking in fear.

"Selene?" Severus asked, the girl nodded. "Give me your hand. I'm going to get you out of here." Around them the flames grew more vicious, circling the two of them like watching vultures.

The girl let out a relieved sob as she crawled out from under the nightstand. Just as she had finally managed to free herself, an ominous crack echoed throughout the house.

Severus' stomach dropped at the sound. The floor beneath creaked and the wizard barely had enough time to roll out of the way, before the floor gave out where he had once been kneeling. Flames shot up from the floor below, eagerly crawling through the gapping hole that was now between Severus and the crying girl. The floor shook under Severus, jolting him onto his back and knocking his wand away.

Mentally cursing, Severus tried to snatch his wand back, but it was too late, it had rolled straight into the hole, and was quickly eaten by the Fiendfyre's flames. "Shoot!" Severus looked at the weakening floor under the girl and knew that it was about to go out too. He wouldn't be able to jump over and get her without risking the entire thing collapsing. And now that he had no wand….

Across the gap, Selene had begun crying again, recapturing Severus' attention. "Selene, you're going to have to jump," he instructed loudly, trying to speak over the roaring of the fire.

Selene did not seem to like this idea. She shook her head emphatically, her eyes pleading with him to find another way, as she trembled with fear. She cried helplessly as they heard another loud crack.

The building was coming down.

"Augumenti!" Severus shouted, throwing a weak stream of water at the flames separated them. Without his wand the water wasn't nearly powerful enough to get rid of the flames, it was only able to temporarily keep them at bay. He didn't have much time to get them out of there before it was too late.

"Selene," he tried again, this time in what he hoped was a soothing tone. The girl lifted her head, her lip quivering. "Listen to me," he continued, "I promise you, I will catch you, but I need you to trust me."

"Look at me," he said and brown eyes met black. He held out his right hand, wandless shooting more water at the flames with the other. "See, I'm keeping the fire away. I can get you to safety too. You want to get out of here right?"

Selene nodded cautiously.

Severus released his breath, glad that he was finally getting somewhere. "Good, I can get you to safety, but I need you to trust me and jump." When Selene whimpered helplessly again Severus stretched his hand out further.

Keeping his eyes locked with hers, Severus motioned for her to move closer. "I'll catch you. Trust me, I'll catch you."

Selene, coming to a decision, began crawling towards the older man. With an encouraging nod from Severus, she squeezed her eyes shut and jumped across the gap.

Standing up, Severus rushed forward, snatching the girl mid-air and clutching her to his chest. Not stopping to check her over he immediately began running towards a window, tripping as the ground rumbled below them as the entire building began splitting in two.

The roof above them started to collapse under the stress and the floor shifted as one side of the building began tilting towards the ground. "Come on, come on," Severus muttered to himself, pushing through the falling debris, while trying to keep his cargo away from the flames.

With no time to spare for opening windows, Severus sent out a magical blast that blew away the whole wall, and provided a much needed escape. Just as Severus was about to jump out of the building and fly away to freedom, a falling beam hit him in the head, making him stumble forward through his impromptu exit.

Disoriented and in pain, the wizard fell, unable to save himself or the small girl still clinging to his neck. The last thought Severus had before he fell unconscious, was that he hoped Potter would be able to catch the two of them.

A/N: and there it is the first chapter. Let me know what you think. (to those waiting for the next Magic chapter-it'll be up soon!)