A Plan and Some Tears
"A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost." Marion C. Garretty
Albus Dumbledore was pacing his office, his brow knit with worry. He was waiting for the ministry to get back to him. A few minutes ago, an alarm had gone off in his office and then went off two more times. The alarm was designed to let him know if a wizard was entering the protected area around James and Lily Potter's home. The Potters didn't know that he had installed this extra precaution as it would worry them more if they knew Dumbledore was anxious about their son's safety. The first alarm had put him on his guard but when two more came in quick succession he began to truly worry. Only a few knew where the Potters were living and only three would be visiting them. James' friends Peter, Sirius, and Remus would be the only three that knew of the house's location besides himself. If they were visiting the Potters for the holiday they would be likely to Apparate together. Dumbledore had not seen any of the self-proclaimed Mauraders in a year's time and he was afraid that Voldemort had gotten to one of them. He sent a message to the ministry asking that aurors be sent to the area to make sure everything was alright. They said they would let him know straight away. That had been 20 minutes ago. There was suddenly a knock on the door leading to his office.
"Enter," said Dumbledore has he composed himself. This was not the time for visitors, but he had his duties to Hogwarts as well. The sight that met him when the door did open sent all thought of composure away. Severus came through the door looking very white and a little bit green. In his arms was a sleeping red-haired girl.
"What happened, Severus?" asked Dumbledore hoping that their presence was not a sign that Voldemort had indeed made it to Godric's Hollow as he assumed.
"The Dark Lord," croaked Snape, "Lily. She's dead. I asked him not to kill her, but he did."
"What about Harry and James?" asked Dumbledore. Now was not the time to fall apart, there was too much at stake.
Snape shook his head, "James is dead too. The boy is alive, but I couldn't…" muttered Snape as he trailed off.
Dumbledore was upset now. "You just left him there?" demanded the headmaster. "I can't believe you Severus. Do you really hate James that much that you wouldn't save his child, Lily's child, just because the boy looks like his father?" As he said this, Dumbledore wrote a hasty note and called Fawks to him. The phoenix accepted the note in his beak and with a flash was gone from the room.
Snape was regretting his decision, but he felt the need to defend himself.
"The Dark Lord was gone," he stated. "He couldn't have left before I got there, but he wasn't there. The Dark Mark is gone as well," he proved this by lifting his sleeve to show the headmaster his bare left arm. This woke Heather and she started to squirm in Snape's arms. Dumbledore continued to look at the bare arm, brow knit and murmuring to himself.
"Are we at Dumbydores?" asked Heather turning around in Snape's arms to look at her surroundings.
"Yes my dear," answered Dumbledore finally pulling his eyes away from Snape's arm, which had moved to help Heather turn around.
"Oh, I slept the whoooole way 'ere. I must be tired like mummy." At this statement the two men in the room balked at her. Dumbledore looked at Snape and spoke mind to mind with him so that Heather couldn't here what he was saying.
You let her see her mother's dead body?
Of course not! Heather was out in the hallway when she saw me looking into Harry's room. I made sure she didn't see into it.
So that means she was there before you got there. I need some answers and I'm afraid the only way we can truly understand what happened tonight is to look at Heather's memories.
We can't ask her to go through that again!
She doesn't know what she saw, and it's the only way to discover if Voldemort is truly dead.
You don't care about any of them! You only cared about Harry because of that stupid prophesy.
Ah, but Severus, if I remember correctly you didn't care about them very much either. Yes Lily and her miniature were important to you, but you put your ambitions and hatred for James ahead of your friendship with Lily. Let's ask Heather, shall we?
Fine!
Heather watched the two men as they looked at each other for a while. They seemed to be in some kind of fight even though they weren't talking. Finally Dumbledore looked at her.
"Heather, I am going to look at some stuff in you head, so I will place my wand on your temple like this," indicating where on his own head, "and then it will tickle a bit, and something like this will come out." He showed her one of his own memories, which was now clinging to his wand. "And then we'll put it back later." He placed the memory back inside his head. "Is that alright with you?"
Heather thought it was strange, but Dumbledore seemed very nice and he said it only tickled so she nodded her head.
Snape bristled as Dumbledore came up to Heather wand raised, but allowed the headmaster to put his wand to her head and draw away the white clingy memory. Dumbledore placed it into the pensive in his closet and moved the bowl now containing the memory to the desk.
"Would you like to join me Severus?" asked Dumbledore pointing at the pensive. Snape was uncertain. He didn't want to see Lily's death, but it would be the last time he would ever see her alive as well. Dumbledore looked patiently on as if he knew of Snape's internal struggle. Finally, Snape nodded his head.
"Alright then we will require Professor McGonnigal's assistance." Dumbledore then turned to the fireplace and shouted, "Minerva, please come to my office." Suddenly the flames turned bright green and the deputy-headmistress stepped out into the office.
"Yes, Albus?" she asked.
"Minerva, will you please be a dear and watch over Heather until we are through with our journey through her recent memories?" Minerva nodded in reply before Dumbledore added in a whisper, "Whatever you talk about, don't ask her about tonight's events."
Minerva looked slightly confused, but simply nodded and took the three-year-old from Severus' grip. She didn't understand why the Order was supposed to trust Severus Snape now after all the proof that he was a death eater. Seeing him hold what could only be Lily Potter's daughter had caused her some concern, so she was happy to take the little girl away from the man she refused to trust. She watched as Severus and Albus both moved towards the basin and were suddenly inside the pensive. Minerva then turned her attention to the girl in her arms.
"So Heather, what do you want to do?" she asked.
Snape and Dumbledore found themselves inside Godric Hollow about an hour before their current time. They were in a little girl's room and they turned around to see Heather peeking through the cracked open door to look into the hallway. They heard some shouting below and saw Heather cringe as she opened the door fully and walked out into the hallway to bravely await her fate. The two men followed her as she walked towards the nursery. Lily came out of the room to their left in a panic.
"Mum, I'm sorry I hit Harry," they heard Heather say. Lily seemed to soften at her daughter's apology. Snape stared greedily at the woman before them. He knew what was about to occur and he didn't want to miss this last chance to gaze at her.
"It's alright sweetheart," Lily soothed, patting Heather's head with tears in her eyes. "I need you to go back in your room and stay there. Don't make any noise. Okay?"
Dumbledore was amazed at the woman's strength. He could hear the struggle below between Voldemort and James and knew that Lily was already accepting his and her own death as long as her children could survive somehow.
"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort hissed from the bottom of the stairs.
"NOW!" yelled Lily. Heather ran into her room closing the door behind her as Lily ran to Harry who was now crying. Suddenly, Snape and Dumbledore were back inside Heather's room. The girl was standing in the middle of the room obviously torn between her fears and her determination to help her mother. While her brain battled with the two decisions they heard the conversation in the nursery.
"No! Not Harry! Please! Take me, not Harry. Please not Harry!"
"Stand aside you silly girl." Dumbledore eyed Snape, telling the ex-death eater that he knew Voldemort was offering to spare Lily on Snape's behalf.
"Please! No, not Harry! Have mercy!" At this point Heather seemed to reach a decision and she strode to the door and opened it.
"Avada Kedavra" There was a bright flash of green light and a high cruel laugh. Snape balked. He had killed her again, this was just too much for him. Dumbledore reached for him and guided him through the doorway into the hallway to follow Heather. Heather made her way slowly down the hallway looking around nervously. She just made it to the nursery door and looked inside when Voldemort turned his wand on Harry. The two men looked inside; Lily was lying on the floor next to the crib and Harry was sitting calmly in it.
"Avada Kedavra," hissed Voldemort for the third time. The curse was accompanied with the normal flash of green, but it seemed to rebound off Harry and back onto the caster. The house began to shake, but just before Heather ran towards her room, Dumbledore caught a glimpse of Voldemort exploding due to the sheer force of the rebounding curse, which ripped the room in two.
"Am I to guess that you arrive in just a few moments?" Dumbledore asked Snape, who nodded in response. "Then I think we have seen enough here." As he said this Dumbledore gripped Snape's arm and they found themselves standing back in the headmaster's office.
Minerva looked around as the two men reappeared. Heather had been trying to explain how to play hippogriffs, trolls, and goblins to the very confused deputy-headmistress, who was more than relieved that the men had returned.
"Will you tell me what's going on now, Albus?" asked Minerva impatiently.
"I am sorry Minerva," answered Dumbledore glancing at her with such sadness in his eyes before turning them back to his desk. He took out parchment and began to write furiously.
"Albus, the aurors are back. They found nothing physically unusual at the scene, but did pick up some dark magic being used in the vicinity recently." The voice issued from a portrait on the wall of one of Hogwarts' past headmasters.
"I know that now," said Albus impatiently, "Minerva could you take these to the ministry? Hand them out to the aurors I assigned to the case first, Everard will tell you who," he said nodding to the portrait that had spoken and sending a few pieces of parchment into her waiting hand. She nodded grimly and swiftly left the office just as Everard left his portrait.
"I think we next must try to find Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew," announced Dumbledore.
"Black!" screamed Severus "It was him, he gave the Dark Lord the house's location!"
"Severus, please calm down. Did you see Sirius speak to Voldemort?" asked Dumbledore.
"No, but Mulciber told me that L-Lily's secret keeper had come forth and was telling the Dark Lord their location when I arrived."
"As we don't know for certain who their secret keeper was, all three of the potential candidates are innocent until proven guilty," replied Dumbledore.
"As if Potter would trust anyone besides Black with something like that, and don't forget where Black comes from. He may have appeared to change, but he still comes from that wretched family," protested Severus.
"He comes, if I am not mistaken, from a family with the same type of prejudices that your family has." Severus opened his mouth as if he was going to argue, but seemed to think better of it and closed it suddenly.
"Now then," continued Dumbledore, "I am going to the house now to find them and discover what truly happened tonight." He began to search in a nearby cabinet. "Of course, Severus, James and Lily made Remus Lupin Heather's godfather. So, if he is cleared, he will become her guardian, but for now I ask that you look after her. Take her to Poppy to give her a dreamless sleep potion. Ah! Here we are!" Dumbledore emerged from the cabinet with a large bundle of silvery material.
"I'd best be off now." And with that Dumbledore threw the silvery material around himself and disappeared. Severus looked around the office, but Heather was the only other person in the room. He gathered her into his arms and bounced her as she giggled gleefully. At least you can laugh now. Tomorrow we will have to explain everything.
"Moony!"
Remus sighed inwardly; Sirius was always too bloody cheery. The two of them had been working around the clock for the Auror department for the past few weeks working on a big case, and at the moment Remus was swamped with paperwork that he had to finish that night. In addition to that, the full moon was the next day, and it was his goddaughter's birthday.
"Moony, come on! We're going to be late!" insisted a too cheery Sirius, as he poked his head around the cubicle were Remus looked up at him incredulously.
"How can you be late for a surprise visit, Padfoot? And will you stop using that nickname? What if people figure out what it stands for?"
"Relax! No one is going to figure it out. And, well," Sirius thought for a moment, "I guess you can't be late, but if we don't get going soon, Harry and Heather will be in bed. And what's the fun in just visiting Prongs and Lils? Besides, Peter is probably over there already, and we don't want him influencing our godchildren, do we?" This finally got a slight smile out of Remus.
"No, we wouldn't want that," admitted Remus, "But, I have so much paperwork to get done right now. Why don't you go on and make sure Wormtail isn't messing up the kids, and I'll join you in a bit?"
"You are no fun!" protested Sirius, but he knew when Remus had made up his mind, there was no changing it. "Alright, I'll go, but you'd better not be too long."
"Just go, I'll finish up here as quickly as I can," insisted Remus.
Sirius made his way out of the Auror office and onto one of the Ministry lifts. He knew he made the rest of the occupants nervous with his unflappable grin, but he was so excited to be seeing Prongs for the first time in weeks. The lift clattered to a halt and a smooth voice announced that they were at the atrium. Sirius made his way over to the visitor's entrance and rode the phone booth to the muggle streets. He got onto his motorbike, parked a few meters away and turned on the invisibility drive before taking off into the air.
Godric's Hollow wasn't too far away from London, so it only took about 30 minutes for Sirius to get there. When he approached his best friend's house, the silly grin he had been wearing in the Ministry and throughout the flight faded from his face. He landed as fast as he could and ran to the front door, wand raised. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight he was about to see. The entryway showed visible signs of a struggle, and as Sirius looked into the living room all the blood in his face drained away. Lying prone in the middle of the room was his best friend in the world. Sirius suddenly found his voice, "JAMES!" he screamed bending over the body. He laid his head on James' chest willing it to move, hoping that James was just sleeping. Sirius didn't know how long he lay there, but he jumped up when he heard a stair creak. Raising his wand, he slowly exited the living room to face the stairs and a very startled Rubeus Hagrid.
"S-Sirius!" stammered Hagrid. Just then the small bundle in Hagrid's arms let out a wail.
"Where's Lily?" growled Sirius. Hagrid let out a loud sob as his only reply. "Heather?" asked Sirius in a strained voice. But Hagrid only shook his head.
"I' was you-know-who, an' now jus' Harry's left"
"Hagrid, give Harry to me. I'm his godfather; it's what J-Jam, he would have wanted," said Sirius with visible effort.
"I've got me orders, I'm to take 'im to Dumbledore." Sirius let out a chocked sob, but nodded as the tears began to flow. Hagrid continued down the stairs and was passing Sirius when he grabbed the bigger man's arm. Hagrid looked at him expectantly as Sirius took slow laboring breaths.
"Take my bike," Sirius managed to say.
"Wha?"
"My bike, its outside. Take it. Use it to bring Harry to Dumbledore. He should fall asleep right away. I don't need it anymore," and with that Sirius bent down to kiss Harry's forehead, noticing the lightning shaped scar for the first time. I won't let him get away with it, promised Sirius silently. He let go of Hagrid's arm and nodded to him. Hagrid hated to leave Sirius in such pain, but Dumbledore had given him orders.
After hearing the sounds of the motorbike fade away, Sirius called out to the house in general, "I'm coming for you Wormtail!"
"I swear if that man sends us on anymore wild goose chases, I mean we have enough real attacks to worry about."
"I know. What's going to happen in Godric's Hollow on Halloween besides a few witches and wizards partying too much? Doesn't You-Know-Who know it's a holiday?"
Remus perked his head up at the mention of Godric's Hollow. It could be just a coincidence, but Remus had seen too much in his short years as an Auror to believe in coincidences anymore. Remus poked his head out of the cubicle he was working in, and saw two senior Auror's heading towards him still discussing what Remus assumed to be a mission that Professor Dumbledore had sent them on.
"What's he done this time?" asked Remus casually.
"Oh, yes Lomein is it? Well, the headmaster of Hogwarts decided for some unknown reason that something was happening in Godric's Hollow of all places!" explained one of the men. Remus couldn't remember his name, but the man didn't know Remus either so he didn't feel too bad.
"The Dark sensors picked up something, but it's Halloween! When we're celebrating we don't really care if a spell is Dark as long as it has the desired effect, right?" continued the other man. It was all Remus could do to keep his face calm at the news that Dark magic had been used recently in the vicinity around Lily and James' house. He nodded politely at the second Auror's question.
"Well, still better report it to him," suggested Remus. "He'll probably connect it to some attack made three months ago in Bristol." The two men burst out laughing at Remus' 'joke.'
"Yeah, that'd be just like him," agreed the first man.
"Bristol? How did you come up with that? Good one," exclaimed the second as they continued past Remus' cubicle. Remus waited for them to reach the head of the department's office to give their report before rushing out of his cubicle and onto the lifts. The ride to the atrium never seemed to take longer than it did just then, but finally Remus was at the Disapparation point. He turned on the spot and arrived right in front of Lily and James' house where the bottom fell out of his stomach.
He slowly made his way into the slightly smoking house and turned to see James' body in the living room. His breath caught in his chest, but he moved on up the stairs, first checking the master bedroom, which was empty. He then made his way to the nursery, which was completely open to the night sky. At the sight of Lily's body he fell to the ground weeping. After quite a long time, Remus felt a hand on his shoulder.
"They died to protect their son," said Dumbledore from behind him.
"Look what good it did!" argued Remus, suddenly angry.
"Harry is alive and safe for now," replied Dumbledore.
"Does that mean Voldemort is dead?" asked Remus unbelieving.
"I still have yet to figure that out, but it does seem to be true." Without looking at Dumbledore, Remus got up and abruptly left the house. Dumbledore could not say why he didn't tell Remus that Heather was also alive, but something about their conversation prevented the truth from coming out for many years to come.
Remus made his way through the crowded house and lawn, where Ministry officials were analyzing the situation and some had even begun celebrating Voldemort's demise. They disgusted Remus. Didn't they know that three people had died to save the wizarding world, and that their hero would grow up without ever knowing his family? Remus was blinded by anger: anger at the celebrators, anger at Voldemort, anger at Black, but most of all anger at himself for letting this happen. He turned on the spot and immediately found himself in front of Number 12 Grimwauld Place. Remus had never liked this place, but now he hated it with an intensity that would have startled him had he been himself.
"Black!" shouted Remus loudly after entering the front door, which opened upon recognizing him. When no one responded for a long time, Remus preformed the homium revelio spell. Satisfied that Sirius wasn't there Remus settled down to wait in the drawing room, twirling his wand between his fingers as he anticipated Sirius' return.
Peter was muttering to himself and trying to keep his mind off of the snakes that were circling the place where he sat when he suddenly felt his arm burn. He quickly pulled up his left sleeve to look at the forearm that the Dark Lord had branded. His Dark Mark was causing the terrible pain as it faded away into nothing more than a scar. Peter could guess just as easily as the Death Eaters outside the door what that meant: the Dark Lord was dead. Peter quickly stunned the snakes and morphed into his rat form. Picking up his discarded wand between his incisors, Peter made his way to the door. The door was flung open to reveal Belatrix with a crazed expression on her face.
"Let me at him!" she shrieked, as her husband held her back.
"We don't know what's happened yet," argued Rodolphus, "Wait! Where is he?"
Peter didn't want to stick around and wait for them to find him. He stealthily made his way outside the room and ran along the pathways leading to the street. Many Death Eaters came running in the opposite direction in a panic.
"Dead? How do you know?"
"Its everywhere! The Ministry says that Potter boy survived his killing curse and somehow killed the Dark Lord instead. We need to leave now. We can't be seen here! They're rounding us all up."
Peter continued to run along in the shadows, hoping that everyone was too panicked to notice a rat carrying a wand between his teeth. So Harry survived. That wasn't supposed to happen. If Remus and Sirius don't kill me, Harry will. The Dark Lord was supposed to protect me. Peter suddenly found himself outside on a muggle street in the bright morning light. He transfigured back into his human form and joined the muggles on their way to work, trying hard to blend in. He was a little ways outside of the city where the roads were less congested with people, when there was a loud crack right beside him. He turned and saw Sirius pointing his wand directly at his chest. Thinking quickly, Peter drew his own wand and walked straight up to Sirius.
"L-Lily and James? How could you Sirius?" he shouted so that the muggles could hear him.
Sirius glared viscously at him and whispered through clenched teeth, "How dare you speak their names?" Suddenly there was an explosion, which knocked both men off their feet, and when the dust cleared Sirius was looking down at Peter's wand and one of his fingers. Sirius knew that Peter had just framed him for the whole thing. Wormtail was running around in rat form with a missing finger, while all the muggle witnesses would swear that the 'dead' man had accused him before Sirius killed him. Maybe it was from the idea of Peter as a rat with four toes, or maybe it was a strange way to release all the pain that he felt at that moment, but Sirius started to laugh. It was a strange maniacal laugh, but he couldn't stop it no matter how hard he tried.
Remus was still at Sirius' house when he got the call that someone had blown up a muggle street, and that back up was needed. He reluctantly left for the site. He never expected to hear the man he had been waiting for laughing when he arrived.
Sirius saw Remus arrive and saw the terrible pain in his friend's eyes. He tried again to stop laughing, and managed to shout, "Moony" in between whoops of laughter.
Remus felt all desire for revenge leave him at that moment. Sirius was crazy, and he was being led away to Azkaban. That place would cause him to relive all the deaths he had caused, and that was enough revenge for Remus. He turned away from the scene and with a loud crack he was gone.
"Albus, is it true? Is You-Know-Who really gone?" asked Cornelius Fudge. Both men were in the Minister's office discussing the recent events.
"It does appear that way minister, but I think that part of him may have escaped. He cannot have a body, but Voldemort" Cornelius shuddered at the mention of the name, but Albus glanced over this. "was deeply emersed in dark magic, and I believe that he may have found a way to survive without his body. I will, of course, be looking into it right away. Now, Minister, I must get back to Hogwarts to check on Harry."
"He is our hero, Albus. I'd like to do something for him."
"If you really want to do something for him, let him grow up as a normal boy. He doesn't need to be famous for something he doesn't even remember."
"I can't keep this quiet. Our people have been living in fear for too long. They deserve to enjoy this," insisted Fudge as Dumbledore exited the office.
When Dumbledore arrived at Hogwarts, he found Remus Lupin waiting for him at the gate. He nodded to the obviously grieving man and made his way to Hagrid's hut. Albus knocked on Hagrid's door and was greeted with the sound of a baby crying. The door was flung open to reveal Hagrid with his crossbow aimed at the two men waiting outside his door. Remus brushed passed Hagrid towards the wailing infant inside.
"Remus, Dumbledore I did what you told me t'do," said Hagrid as he lowered his crossbow and allowed the headmaster to enter. Remus was sitting on the edge of Hagrid's large bed, rocking Harry and whispering soothing words to the baby.
"I just finished feedin' him," explained Hagrid as he cleaned up the table, which was covered with flecks of food.
"I ask that you bring Harry to Number 4 Privit Drive in Surry at midnight tonight." At Dumbledore's pronouncement, Remus looked up in shock at the headmaster.
"Why?" he chocked out.
"Harry has to stay with Lily's sister. It's the only way to keep him safe," explained Dumbledore.
"So you don't think I can keep him safe? You don't think that a werewolf would make a good enough guardian?" shouted Remus as the final straw broke. He had lost everything today. Lily, James, Heather, and Peter were dead thanks to Sirius, and Harry would be taken away from him and there was nothing he could do about it because Remus would be incapacitated at midnight thanks to the full moon. Remus stared down into Harry's deep green eyes, Lily's eyes. He noticed a lightning shaped scar above those wonderful eyes and lost control for a moment. He let two tears fall as he kissed Harry's forehead.
"Remus, this has nothing to do with your ability to care for Harry. This has everything to do with Lily's sacrifice, and her family's ability to protect him from our world," Dumbledore explained. Remus wasn't listening, he said goodbye to the sweet baby in his arms and handed him to Hagrid before leaving the hut, Hogwarts, and the wizarding world for the next 12 years.
"Where's mommy?"
Severus hadn't slept at all that night nor did he leave Heather's side, so when she called out for her mother in the morning he was awake to hear her and comfort her.
"She's gone away for a while sweetie," explained Severus as he brushed a hand through her coppery hair.
"What 'bout Daddy and Harry?" she asked.
"Daddy's with Mommy, but you'll see Harry soon," he assured her. No sooner had he said it, than Dumbledore came into the Hospital wing followed by Hagrid, who was carrying Harry.
"Poppy, could you please have a look at Mr. Potter," asked Dumbledore.
"Of course. Come here dear boy," said Madame Pomfrey as she lifted the one-year-old from Hagrid's arms. "My aren't we a big boy."
"Harry!" called Heather. At the sound of his sister's voice, Harry turned around. When he saw her, he began to reach out for Heather.
"My, it looks like we're going to examine you over here then," said Poppy as she took Harry to the foot of Heather's bed. Heather immediately crawled over to Harry and began playing Harry's favorite game: Peek-a-boo. Severus got up to speak with Dumbledore.
"What's happened?" Severus asked.
"Voldemort appears to be gone, but not for good I fear," Dumbledore continued to explain that morning's events.
"But that means that Heather and Harry have no one to look after them," surmised Severus.
"I am impressed that you thought of Harry, Severus. It seems you have grown after spending just one night with Heather. They do have an aunt; however, who can look after them. You remember Petunia, I'm sure."
"That wretched woman hates magic. She would be an awful guardian for them," insisted Severus.
"Regardless of her views on magic, she is their only blood relative. Harry, at least, must stay with her. I've already asked Minerva to cast some protective spells around the house, and Petunia's blood should help to protect Harry because it now carries Lily's sacrifice in it," explained Dumbledore.
"I'm not letting Heather go to that woman!" insisted Severus.
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at his outburst, but replied calmly, "I didn't want to separate them, but I think that Heather will have a hard time blending into a muggle family at this point, and Harry has no other option. I could make you her guardian, but it will be suspicious for you to suddenly adopt a little girl. If I am correct in my assumptions that Voldemort is not gone for good, we may need you to continue your spy work later. In order to make this work none of the other death eaters can know that you have adopted a Potter."
"If you feel that I will be needed, we must also come up with a story for my whereabouts when the Dark Lord was killed," said Severus as he gazed at his new daughter.
"She's at an age, where changing her name would confuse her, but we must obviously change her last name. Have you ever mentioned your family around any death eaters?" asked Dumbledore. When Severus shook his head he continued: "Then you will announce that your sister and her husband were killed last night, and you were called away suddenly to pick up their daughter, your niece." Dumbledore nodded to Heather. "Call her Heather Malvern, related to the French Dark Wizard Alceste Malvern on her father's side. That should keep them from asking too many questions, but we shall have to do something about that suspicious red hair." With that, Dumbledore flicked his wand, and Heather's copper locks became much lighter.
Severus looked over at the now blonde Heather playing with her brother, and felt a twinge of guilt. Was it really right to separate them? He knew that it would allow her to grow up as any normal witch would, but at what cost? He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice that Dumbledore had said something right away.
"Hmm?" he asked.
"I said that we must cast a spell to keep people from wondering what happened to Heather Potter. I think the best way to do that would be to cast the Fidelius Charm to keep her true identity secret. Those who have not spent a great deal of time with her before now will forget that she even existed. The only people excluded from that would be you, myself, Harry, Remus and Sirius. Sirius has gone insane, so no one will believe him, Remus is in too much pain to tell anyone about her, and Harry is too young to remember much. Both of you will be protected by keeping her identity a secret. The death eaters would search for her if they knew the truth. We must start on the charm immediately as I must get Harry to his new home by midnight. Bring her to my office in five minutes." Dumbledore strode from the wing as Severus wondered how he could pry the two apart.
"Heather, you need to say goodbye to Harry for a while. He's going to go live with your Aunt Petunia."
"I go too," she announced and continued to play with Harry as Madame Pomfrey looked him over.
"No sweetie, you're going to live with me," said Severus as calmly as he could. Heather looked at him and seemed to consider this statement as a question.
"Okay," she shrugged. "Bye Harry! You be good for Aunt Tuney." She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, which made Harry giggle immensely.
"Byebye 'ea-tur," waved Harry as Heather walked out of the wing holding Severus' hand.
A/N: I am so sorry that it's been so long since I posted. I've just started my summer vacation, so things should be calming down enough for me to update more regularly. Thanks for reading!