Severus Snape saw his sixteen year old daughter's emerald eyes widen.
"No," she stated, shaking her head, as though it would make his words become untrue. "No! It can't... It's not true… It can't be!"
"Ariel I'm sorry," said Severus softly.
Ariel scrambled to her feet and backed away from him.
"No," she repeated. "No, no, no, no, NOOOO!!!"
Severus watched as she screamed at him, tears falling in torrents down her beautiful face, her ebony hair flying in all directions as she continued to shake her head.
Severus rose from the floor and went to her, grabbing her flailing arms and tried to comfort her.
"Ariel, sweetheart, I am so so sorry-"
"Daddy, please," she sobbed looking into his eyes, pleading. "Please, please tell me you're lying, PLEASE!"
Severus looked away from her tear-stained face, closing his eyes at the painful tugging on his heart as guilt and remorse set in.
He looked back at Ariel and reached out to brush away a strand of stray hair that had fallen over her eyes.
"I am not. He is gone. He is dead."
Ariel took a great shuddering gasp as the full impact of his words hit her.
The man who was supposed to save them all from Voldermort was gone. What hope did they have now?! Despair coursed through her as acceptance took hold. Never again was she going to be able to look into those sparkling blue eyes, bask in the warmth of that comforting smile. No more being able to run to this extraordinary man with what seemed like an unsolvable problem then be reassured that there was a way to fix it and that there was nothing to worry about. No more him. No more good.
Ariel took short, sharp breaths as she tried not to hyperventilate.
Severus realised she was on the verge of a panic attack and pulled her into his arms, holding her tight as she cried loudly into his shoulder, sobs racking her entire body.
They stayed like that for what seemed like hours, Severus holding his daughter as she cried, his mind whirring away in his head as images of the night flashed through his head, exploding like fireworks in his minds-eye:
Flitwick rushing into his office to tell him that Death Eaters had gotten inside the school; stupefying Flitwick, so as to get to the top of the tower unhindered; telling Granger and Lovegood that Flitwick had fainted; running straight through the barrier the Death Eaters had cast; arriving at the top of the tower and seeing Dumbledore slumped against a wall, surrounded by Death Eaters; Draco standing there, his wand outstretched but unable to do it; he remembered how his heart had sank as he realised what he was going to have to do; the look on Dumbledore's face as he uttered those life-ending words…
After a while Ariel's tears subsided as she regained her composure. Severus released her from his hold and she went and sat down in one of the armchairs occupying the room, waving her hand as she went, unfreezing the objects that were suspended in midair, which dropped and clattered harmlessly to the floor.
Severus watched her sit down with a sense of foreboding in his stomach. Soon she was going to start asking questions and demanding answers. And he would have to give them; he couldn't lie – he knew that the story would be all over the morning papers anyway and it would be far better for her to hear from him what happened than to discover from short snippets of blaring headlines that he was a murderer, that he had killed Albus Dumbledore, good's answer to evil. The only person who could rival Voldermort. The man who had shown him mercy when no one else would have. The man who had shown compassion for everyone, good or bad, rich or poor, pure-blood or muggle born. He was dead and Severus had killed him and he knew that he would never be able to forgive himself for that. He didn't expect anyone else to either. Least of all Ariel…
