Harry groaned and tilted his head back, away from the papers before him. Three Death Eaters - three! - had mentioned the mysterious "daughter" since Dolohov's capture two weeks prior. He was no closer to figuring out who she was. The only things he knew was that she attended few meetings, rarely spoke, and was only seen at Voldemort's side. Rowle had told him she was a young woman with dark hair and dark eyes, but that hadn't gotten Harry anywhere either. Another thing he knew was that the Death Eaters hated her. Selwyn said she'd disappeared last March, two months before the Final Battle. Voldemort had apparently gone on a rampage, killing some and torturing others.

Harry had been put in charge of finding her. Three weeks in, he still had no idea who she was and where she'd gone. Less of an idea, really, since he'd managed to eliminate a few candidates.

He needed something, anything. Perhaps he could get more information from someone who wasn't headed to Azkaban. Lowering his eyes back to his desk, he jotted a quick note and headed for the owlery. He sent it off, hoping that he would respond soon. Or at all. He'd received a letter from Calypso on Boxing Day thanking him for the card, but he hadn't heard from his former professor since he'd been released from St. Mungo's.

In the meantime, his supervisor gave him permission to look in the records again. He'd looked a few times, but maybe if he tried a more general search, something would come up. He greeted Miss Wright as he passed, and she smiled brightly and let him in.

Once inside, he narrowed his search. The girl was female, obviously; she was in her twenties, and she hadn't been seen since March 1998. He watched as files began to glow. He peeked down the aisles, looking for them all. There were twenty nine files total. After discarding the files that didn't match the given physical description, he was left with seven files; Zenobia Purcell, Cassandra Davies, Malva Watchorn, Helena Marshall, Evangeline Kemp, Alethea Stubbins, and Lucille Wimborne. He examined all of them, searching for some connection to the Death Eaters. There was none. The closest he'd gotten was Watchorn having been a Slytherin at Hogwarts.

Greatly disappointed, Harry put the files away. He stepped into the aisle where Alethea Stubbins' file belonged and immediately noticed a file out of place. Puzzled, he replaced Stubbins' file and walked to the disturbed one. He glanced around and made sure no documents had fallen out, then looked to see who it was. Calypso Snape.

Who was messing with her file? He flipped through it quickly; nothing seemed out of place. He looked around, but there was no one to be found. He put the file in its proper place. Something seemed off, but he couldn't place what it was. Shaking his head, he left the records. The record keeper's smile died on her lips when she saw Harry's troubled face. "No luck, then?"

He sighed. "Unfortunately… Has anyone else accessed the records today?"

Miss Wright blinked. "Julius Gorman and Alistair Wickfield from Magical Transportation stopped by this morning with the new apparition licenses," she answered. "Why?"

"It's probably nothing. There was a file that wasn't put away properly. Everything looked in order, though."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. One of them probably disturbed it on accident." The woman's smile returned, though it seemed a little dimmer. "I'll go make sure everything else is in order. Have a good day, Mr. Potter," she added hastily before disappearing down an aisle.


The following afternoon, Harry found himself sitting across from his former professor. The man had agreed to answer his questions, which left Harry both surprised and pleased. Snape had arrived in his normal black robes and sat with his usual scowl. It was almost comforting to see that some things would never change. Harry could have laughed at how surreal it all was; it had only been two years since Snape had been his professor, but so much had changed in that time. Harry stopped that train of thought before it got too far away from him. He had a job to do, after all.

He glanced down at the papers in front of him. "I asked you here because some of the Death Eaters we've talked to have mentioned a girl," he began. "We're trying to find her, and I wanted to know if you knew anything about her."

Snape looked at the boy lazily. "A girl? You've got to be more specific than that, Potter," he said, his voice dry. "Then again, you never were interested in the details. You preferred to make accusations with as little information as you could."

Despite himself, Harry grinned. He had had that often problematic tendency. It had lessened considerably after the war, but it was still there, and Harry knew that. He just had a much more level head nowadays. "I'm afraid there aren't many details to go off of. That's why I've come to you. I've been told by several people that she rarely attended meetings and that when she did, she was at Voldemort's side. She went missing two months before the Final Battle, and she was only ever referred to as 'Daughter'. Do you know who she is, sir, or where she could be?"

Harry knew Snape had been a spy for two decades, through two wars. He knew the man had endured more than Harry could imagine and kept his cover through it all. He knew Snape was, either by nature or espionage, a cold and guarded man. He knew all this, but he also knew he saw something in the man's eyes. It was gone too fast for him to identify it, but it was something. Snape knew something. He had to. But the man opened his mouth to say, "I've no idea who that is. There was never any girl, Potter. Perhaps their time spent in hiding has deteriorated their minds."

Harry eyed the older man. "Are you sure? She wouldn't've been seen often. Do you remember seeing any strange women?"

"No, Potter, I don't. I do, however, think this is nothing more than a wild goose chase." He stood to leave.

"Will you let me know if you remember something?"

Snape breathed a small sigh. "Mr. Potter, allow me to give you some advice: no one can truly disappear. If she was… real, she would have revealed herself. No one can stay hidden for so long without someone discovering them. Unless of course, the only thing to discover is a body. You say she disappeared in March of last year. Why would she go into hiding when, by all accounts, the Dark Lord was set to conquer the wizarding world? This girl is either imaginary or dead, and both are a waste of your time."

Harry nodded. "I see. Thank you for coming in, sir."

The older man glowered in response. "I am only here because my daughter all but forced me to, Mr. Potter. I would not voluntarily spend a moment with you, I'll have you know."

The younger man had the audacity to laugh as if he had been told a good joke. "Noted. How is Calypso?"

"Uninvolved," he snapped.

"Of course, sir," Harry said with a rueful smile. "Sorry for bothering you." Snape nodded sharply before striding out of the man's office.

Ten minutes later, Snape was sat in his chair in his daughter's sitting room absently sipping the tea the witch had thrust in his hands when he'd arrived. "He's looking for her," he informed her.

The girl's face remained unaffected, but her fidgeting hands betrayed her. "And how close is he to finding her?"

"Much closer than I expected," he admitted. Harry Potter had changed more than Snape had realized. Perhaps it was the war, perhaps it was his career, but the boy had matured and grown the slightest appreciation for observation and subtly. "He will, undoubtedly, reach out to the Malfoys next, though I've no idea if they will be forthcoming." The Malfoys had narrowly avoided Azkaban, but ultimately, Harry had repaid his debt to the Malfoy matriarch by speaking at their trials.

Calypso was silent for a moment. "Perhaps it would be better if they were," she said. Her father raised an eyebrow at her. "He's more tenacious than anyone gives him credit for; the Malfoys saying nothing won't deter him. He's bound to figure it out eventually. At least if his information is coming from them, we can control it a bit."

Snape nodded. "I'll write to Lucius then."

Her hands fidgetted again, and she worried with her lips for a moment. "Don't… don't tell him about me, alright?"

He eyed her briefly and nodded before rising and disappearing into his room.


Severus felt a weight collide with him the instant he apparated home. His hand twitched for his wand before he recognized the familiar presence. "I've been so worried, Father!" His arms went around the girl, and he heard her sniffle. After a while, she broke the hug and began inspecting the man. "Are you alright? Has he done anything to you? Have you been eating enough? You look a little thinner."

"I'm fine, daughter. How long have you been here?"

She looked away shyly. "Since I found out two weeks ago."

Severus fixed her with a glare. "Have you lost your mind? The Dark Lord knows I live here; he could have sent someone here at any time," he scolded. "You could have been killed! I sent you away for a reason."

"I know, but I had to see you! You never sent me anything. How was I supposed to know if you were even alive?"

"You assume," he hissed. "This is war. We can't be careless anymore, and you can't be here."

"What am I supposed to do then? Go back to my apprenticeship and act like nothing's wrong? Like my father couldn't die at any moment? I can't just do that! I've been doing calculations, trying to figure out how this is all going to end, and none of it is good! There are too many variables, too many unknowns. I just want you to be okay. I just want you to live." Severus watched the first tear fall from her eyes and drew her into another hug, ignoring the growing damp spot on his shirt.

"Arithmancy cannot give you a clear outcome. You know this. There is no use working yourself into a fit over possibilities," he said gently, stroking the girl's hair.

"I don't know what else to do," she mumbled into his shoulder. "I'm worried for you."

Severus pulled her back and looked into her tear-stained face. She met his eyes with her own brown ones. He was reminded of a far simpler time when she was a child and there was no Dark Lord to deal with. "I know you are. I am worried for you as well. Nevertheless, you can't come here anymore. You will have to presume I am, at the very least, alive. Just as I will have to do with you."

She nodded miserably. "When will I see you again?"

"When this is over." He spoke with an air of finality that struck her. There was to be no argument about it; she would not see her father again until the Dark Lord was defeated.

"Goodbye, Father."

"Goodbye, Edith."


So, updates might be slowing down soon. I go back to school next week, and I'm not sure how stressful everything's going to be yet. I'm going to try to update at least once before then, but we'll see.

The Malfoys will be introduced in the next chapter, and a new piece to the puzzle will be revealed ;)