Chapter 7

July 11, 1981

"Hee, hee, hee." Mae giggled as she bounced on Severus' knee. Dumbledore walked in on the two of them playing in his office.

"Ahem," Dumbledore said as he walked towards Severus. "She seems to have taken a liking to you, Severus."

"Don't stop, Uncle Rus!" pleaded Mae as Severus had stopped bouncing his knee when Dumbledore announced his presence.

"Or should I say Uncle Rus?" Dumbledore stated cheerily.

"No more, Mae. I want you to go over to the table and color quietly, please." Severus told her. Mae did as told and continued over to the table. She was quite the artist as they had discovered over the past few days.

"Dumbledore, she's the Secret Keeper to her own secret. And she shared that with me. No one else knows about her, except you. How is it that you know about her?" Severus stated.

"Same, as you, I presume. She shared her identity with me." Dumbledore mused.

"And you can see her, when she's invisible right? Because you're one too?" Severus mused back.

"What would you like to happen here Severus. You agreed to change sides on one condition. What is your condition?"

"I want her to be safe, to grow up here. Out there, she doesn't even exist. No one will see her, let alone take care of her unless she shows them. And if she shows them, and they're a Death Eater… well you know how the Dark Lord prefers to deal with loose ends…" Severus remarked.

"I won't tell anyone, Uncle Rus!" Mae said. "Mummy said to find Dumbledore if something bad happened, and there he was, with you!" Mae said while not looking up from her coloring.

"You looked so sad, I thought maybe you knew Mummy." Mae continued.

"I did know your mum, we were in school together. But I was friends with one of your Mummy's friends, Ms. Lily. Do you know her?" Severus asked.

"No," Mae replied. "But I seen her picture and Fiona's middle name is Lily! Mine's Alice after Mummy and Daddy's friend Alice. Only Alice doesn't know me. No one does."

Dumbledore and Severus looked at each other. "She will live here in the servants quarters. No one will know who she is unless she lets them know." Dumbledore reasoned.

"Will she take classes like everyone else?" Severus questioned.

"We can discuss that when the time comes. But I think for now, just settling her in here is enough. As for her identity, I will help her to release the old Fidelius charm and set a new one on her. She will be know from now on as Maelene or Mae to the staff. I will tell them we took her in as a boarder, a casualty of the war we are fighting, who does not remember her past." Dumbledore decided.

"Do you understand, Mae? You cannot tell anyone who you really are." Mae nodded.

"Well, none the matter, I'll charm her for now anyway. However, we should discuss whether or not you should continue to keep a part of her life." Dumbledore stated. "I would like myself, Mae, and you to be secondary Secret Keepers. I will find a primary Secret Keeper unrelated this predicament. Is that suitable for you?" Dumbledore proposed.

"An excellent idea, Sir." Severus replied as he turned to look at Mae, his new little niece.

"Excuse me a moment, Severus." Dumbledore stated as he walked down the stairs of his office.

Mae looked up from her coloring at Severus, and smiled. God she's like the perfect combination of Marlene and John, Severus mused.