So very sorry for taking forever to upload this. It's been sitting on my computer forever, waiting patiently to be published. I hope you like it! Xoxo
"What was that name you called her earlier?" Dumbledore asked, eyes twinkling. The idea was growing better every second. It would be absolutely perfect. Flawless.
"Emvila, I'm just saying it how she says it." Severus stated. He felt slightly nervous about being caught doing a childish thing. Arabella Figg gave the black haired man a look but he didn't bother to give her any reaction.
"Emvila…usual…very unusual indeed." Dumbledore sat silently at his desk for a few minutes, contemplating his, or rather Violet's, options. If she continued at the Dursley's who knew if she would ever make it to Hogwarts, let alone defeat Voldemort, if/should he come back. Orphanages would place her in the same position young Tom had, perhaps to even sympathize with him. No, that wouldn't do. If he could guarantee she would be adopted though, it wouldn't be a problem. Which brought him right back to Severus's words. "Would you protect her? Love her like your own? Even hide who she is from herself?" He asked quietly.
"Dumbledore you can't be serious! He-" She stopped at Dumbledore's raised hand. She fumed.
"Arabella, you don't know Severus like I do. First, he saw her as his enemy's daughter. But one look proved to him, she is his loves daughter as well." Dumbledore explained. Arabella's gapping mouth snapped shut as she glanced at the black haired man. She didn't necessarily believe it but…
Severus nodded once at her. "You…" the old squib said, "You loved Lily?" Arabella had only met the witch once but could see how many people adored her. She had known James while he grew up and saw what a difference Lily made in his life. She wondered how many other men Lily had changed.
"I loved her then as much as I do now." He croaked. He had already said his beloved's name once that evening, he wasn't sure he could say it again.
This gave the elderly woman an idea that Dumbledore wished he would have thought of. "If you really do, and you want Violet, I'm sure you wouldn't object to a Vow…"
The Hogwarts kitchens were always hubs of excitement. Not many students wandered passed the staff kitchen. It was for the most part, food that was being cooked specifically for the staff to eat. Professor Trawlany herself ate a very particular diet: green food every other Tuesday, food that started with an R on Saturdays, and every third Friday she needed melted ice from Antarctica to "cleanse". On a few occasions though, she declared she couldn't eat the food for some reason or another and would join the rest of the staff at the Head Table.
This was the kitchen Violet currently sat in with her legs dangling off a counter. "Where the friderwator?" she asked the house elf, who currently was measuring out flour for cookies.
"Itsy doesn't know what that is, miss." The little elf continued onto the sugar, magically lifting a measuring spoon into the clear container and pouring the ingredient into a large yellow bowl.
"Friderwator is…big box that keeps cold things cold. Like..." Her little face scrunched up in thought. "Like milk." Violet thought for sure Itsy was just being a silly grown up, though Severus had said she was an elf. Grown ups sometimes asked silly questions to see if you really knew things.
"We don't need a friderwator, Emvila. We have magic for that." If it were anyone else, Violet would have been a little upset about a grown up, or elf-up? as she guessed was what Itsy was, making fun of the way she talked. But Itsy sounded so nice and sincere that the little red haired girl just nodded.
"Okay." She continued to swing her legs back and fourth. She changed the subject. "Do you make pwesents fo' Santa? Santa didn' give me pwesents last year."
"No I don't work for Santa," Itsy stirred the final ingredients all together and snapped her fingers. Chocolate chips suddenly appeared in batter. "Those are different elves. I'm a house elf. I do cooking and cleaning and things like that."
"Like me!" Violet exclaimed. Petunia Dursley had been trying to get the young girl to start on the household chores, to "earn her keep" as the family said. Violet did the vacuuming and the dishes and the dusting and the sweeping and the mopping. "Am I a house elf?"
Though disturbed by the thought of the little girl doing such things, Itsy plastered a smile to her face. "No silly, yous a little girl. House elves have pointy ears. Do you have pointy ears?" Itsy attempted to change the subject, though she would talk to the headmaster later.
"No!" Violet giggled, though she reassured herself by subtly touching her own ears.
"So yous not a house elf then. Itsy has pointy ears. Yous want to touch them?" Muggle born children were very curious about house elves, Itsy knew. They were the ones that most often didn't know what to say to house elves, or would come down and have long chats with working elves to see what they did.
Shyly, the little witch reached out her hand and hesitantly touched the elf's rather large, rather pointed ear. It felt just like her own. "Ouch!" Itsy cried.
Violet jerked her hand back to her body, horrified at what she had done. Then she noticed the little smile on the elf's face. "You're just kidding!" The girl proclaimed. She paused though, unsure of her conclusion. "You kidding right? I didn't hurt you Itsy." That last part sounded like a question.
"Yes Itsy just teasing Miss Emvila." The two giggled together. "Lets bake these cookies shall we?"
"Do you Severus promise to love and protect Violet Potter as if she were your own?" Dumbledore asked. Both men's faces were stern. They're right hands gripped each other's right fore arms. Cobalt blue magical vines wound around the two.
"Yes, I do."
"Do you promise to care for her and treat her with kindness as if you were her father?"
"Yes, I do."
"Will you keep her from harm and forsake Voldemort, and all others, to keep her safe?" Dumbledore added that last part without telling Severus, wanting to prove to Arabella that the black haired man was sincere.
"Yes, I do."
"Thef are tho 'ummy!" Violet squealed, her mouth filled with cookie. The elf next to her just laughed. They had baked the cookies the "muggle" way, because Itsy wanted to spend some more time with the red haired human child. Also, in elven culture, it was a great way to teach patience in children.
"You mustn't talk with yous mouth filled, young miss Emvila," Itsy motheringly reprimanded her. The she-elf knew that magical parents hated when the children talked with their mouths full. She had heard stories from the other kitchen elves about some families dealing out worse punishments than elves did to themselves. From what she had seen in the little witch so far, she knew those stories were true.
Tucking her hair behind her ear, the red head replied. "Sorry." The girl wasn't sure if she should expect a blow. She ducked her head just in case. They always came unexpected, she knew, so it was always better to be prepared. Even if Itsy had been nice to her, she wasn't sure if it was pretend or not. Aunt Petunia had pretended once when Mrs. Next Door called the nice social worker. Pretend games were very confusing, Violet concluded.
"Yous is fine Mistress Emvila, I don't want yous to gets in trouble," Itsy explained. The pained look in the little ones eyes explained everything. Carefully, the elder of the two stroked the younger's hair. After initially flinching, Violet moved her face into the affection. "Itsy won't hurt young mistress. Master Dumbledore would never like that."
"Okay," Violet said as she put another cookie in her mouth, pushing the subject from her head as young children often do.
"What will you do now then, my boy? Where will you raise her?" Albus asked.
"Well…" Severus started. He thought for a few moments before answering. "My mothers family has place outside of Amsterdam. I have yet to visit it but I've been told it is an delightful property. I'll have to send my elf there to investigate and have it prepared for our arrival. I'd like to have her checked over by Poppy for tonight though. I'm worried about lasting emotional and probably physical damage." Severus brushed a long strand of black out of his face. It was going to take a while to gather his new bearings…and new charge.
"Might I suggest a few things to you Severus? This is, after all, Violet Potter. She needs protection." Dumbledore was thinking a mile a minute trying to think of possible ways to keep the child safe.
"Yes of course, Albus. Your insight is always welcome."
"We need to keep her identity a secret. Your cover as a spy is not to be disturbed unless it's completely unavoidable. So I propose we invent an entirely different history for her. I do like that name you gave her. Emvila sounds lovely. Any idea on a middle name?" Severus shook his head. "We will think of something. I'd also like to do a familial linkage. I'm assuming you've heard of magical adoption?"
"Somewhat," Severus made it sound like a question. "Adoption isn't common among purebloods, so of course it's not in many books."
"I agree. Purebloods do control much of the written word. Magical adoption as you may know requires blood magic. It takes the blood from the parent, or parents, and mixes it with the child's. In the genetic make up, as the muggles call it, it would look like the child has three or four parents. Instead of the child having two options for a gene code, there are three or four. If the adopted father, lets say, had a dominant nose trait that was stronger than the original parents, it would change the child's nose. It also helps prevent hereditary issues as well." Severus nodded along. "There's also inrita sanguinem adoptions. It's a dark version of it. It completely deletes one of the donor's blood. It's very painful for the child. Instead of adding to the genetic makeup, it alters it. If a child was being adopted, the parent could over ride the original mothers make up, cancelling all ties. Blood wards and blood inheritance mean nothing."
Severus scowled. "Of course some pure blood idiot would invent a stupid thing like that. If you can't do something to improve a child, why do it?"
The gray bearded man look downcast. "It was originally invented to cut some one off of a family tree. A bastard child could have no claim to an inheritance." At this, the younger man was horrified. "I know Severus. I feel the same. Anyways, what I suggest is doing a blood adoption. She will look a little like you. People won't question it. If there's not many traits, people will assume it's the mother."
Severus realized he had started to pace at Albus' words. It was a good idea. No one would guess. He stopped pacing. "What will I tell people though? I slept with some random witch and now I have her after three years? Lucius will question it."
"Not if the witch happened to be visiting from… America? Or maybe Australia? That could help put distance. The mother could be dead too." Albus stroked his beard. Yes this is a good sounding plan.
"Brilliant! Some witch was visiting that I slept with; I knew about the child but kept her a secret. She just died so now I'm sole guardian. Brilliant," he said, almost to himself. Lucius would buy that. He didn't know many witches or wizards outside of England, let alone the continent. He would also believe that Severus would try and cover up a mistake like that. The only foreseeable problem would be whether the "mother" was a pureblood or half blood. "Half blood," Severus spoke outside his head without realizing. "Sarah Wood, from the United States. Visiting for a…potion masters conference? No. Herbology. I remember Yaxley complaining about a convention back then. Too many people around the ministry."
"Perfect my boy. Emvila Snape, daughter of the departed Margo Root. A half blood like her father. Its settled then." Albus smiled and stretched out his hand to Severus. They shook hands. "Congratulations, it's a girl."
Severus left the head office, eager to see his new girl. She really was a beauty, all of the good parts of Lily with minor details of James. He hoped for the blood adoption, she would at least keep her one green eye, and perhaps the other got his instead of James. Wishful thinking, he knew. Perhaps her hair would turn black like his, he wouldn't care if it were red or black. He suddenly realized he didn't care how much of him showed up. She would be his. Emvila Snape. His daughter. Emvila something Snape.
Reveiw please xoxo
L. Lee