A/N: Well. I had 5 items planned for this chapter and ended up writing only one in 5000 words. Oops. The rest of them will be in later chapters, I suppose? Haha.

A time later, Severus had awoken to find Aren still seated in the living room of his quarters, slumped slightly on a side, dozing off. It was just after four in the morning, and she had a book, Of the Uses and Abuses of Blood in Potion Work , in her lap, open a third in. He could see little numbered strips of parchment poking out of the book here and there, and it seemed she'd taken notes in a little notebook at the same time referring to particular stripes.

He made to close the book and get the child in a somewhat horizontal position, but her eyes snapped open at his first touch on the book. He didn't expect that any more than he expected the little hand that immediately slapped itself into the center of his face, a finger poking his eye after scraping the bridge of his nose. Being used to the Dark Lord's crucio hyperactivity, it hardly phased him, but it didn't make the experience comfortable. The hand kept pushing, and he had to grab the girl's wrist to wrestle it from his face. Damn she was strong.

Aren seemed to suddenly snap out of her funk, looking wide-eyed at him, before immediately looking down, hunching over in a posture that reminded him too much of the submissive one Death Eaters took in front of their master for comfort. Her eyes fell in front of his face, and he recognised that , too. She was breathing fast, but not faster , and he thought that it was more due to her panic when waking up than to her present situation; her wrist was still in his hand, although all the rest of her was held as far from him as she could.

"Calm down. I am not attacking you, merely trying to get you to a more restful position." She raised one of her brows, although the expression lacked the bluntness and sarcasm it usually held. "Yes, I suppose you are awake for good now." He let go of her wrist.

"What time is it?"

"Barely past four."

"Oh." She yawned. "Yes, there's no chance I'll sleep again today." She turned to him. "Are you hungry?"

His stomach chose to answer for him with an uncharacteristic growl that would have made him blush had he been anyone else. He was famished .

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"Well, you were out of it for three days so it's not surprising."

"Three days ?"

"Madam Poppy came to check on you two times a day, to make sure that you were not relapsing. She also said that the sleeping was normal. Lets your body adjust to the additional magic."

"Sensible." He made to walk to the kitchen, when the child grabbed him by the wrist as he had done a moment before and dragged him to the table, making him sit.

"She said ' no effort '. I'll make the food, I'm used to it."

She set about making breakfast shortly, with a strange familiarity. She knew already where things were, it seemed, even if he asked her if she needed help for the form. He hated being dependant on people.

"No. I made food for myself in the last two days so I know where everything I need is."

"You cooked for yourself?"

"Yeah- Yes . I learned at the orphanages, both of them. We had to take part in the chores, and it was a rotations for everyone. Sometimes mopping the floor, sometimes laundry, sometimes ironing. Cooking was more often though. You can wear somethings several times if you need, but you need new food at every meal." She left unspoken the fact that sometimes they were not allowed food, but he knew it and he knew that she was aware that he knew.

"I am, ah, glad to know of your skills, but I meant that more as an inquiry as to what did you do the last three days? Surely you left at some point?"

"I didn't, actually." She flipped an egg. "Spent the whole time here. Luna brought me everything I needed… Sorry, she knows the Slytherin password, although I'm not the one who gave it to her."

"I am starting to think that there is very little Miss Lovegood doesn't know. What do you mean, everything you needed?" He said just as she slid the eggs into a plate and put stripes of bacon in their place. One, two...

"Well the food was brought here by a house elf, a weird one named Dobby, but for the rest of it she had to bring it here. Toothbrush, soap, pyjamas, my books and homework…"

"Are you telling me that you stayed here, waiting for me to wake up, skipping your classes in the process?"

"Yeap— Yes. "

"And there is nothing striking you as wrong in this? Aren't you in a school and here to learn?"

"If I wanted to learn, I'd stop going to class altogether and just read books. You know as well as I do that I haven't learned anything while in class since at least three months, and I'm also starting to be caught up to Luna's year as well."

"The fact that you missed class without authorisation is still—"

"I didn't," she interrupted him. "I wrote a letter to Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout as soon as I took the decision, asking politely for their comprehension and ensuring that I would be back to class as soon as you would be up and about. I didn't expect them to be so supportive but there was no objection voiced, so I just stayed here." She brought the two full plates to the table.

Severus sighted, but he supposed she was right in that regard; it's not like she'd have learned anything. And he had to admit, although you'd have to kill him before he'd say it aloud, that the sentiment touched him somewhat. He rarely got recognition and care from his peers, much less from students, most of whom despised him.

They ate in silence, Aren sneaking off the table between two bites to grab the book again and read it as she munched on bacon. When they were done, she made to move to wash the dishes, but a wave of Severus' wand sent it all to wash itself instead, and they were left staring at each other over the table. Severus was the first to talk.

"So. I think we should discuss… what we learned. About how we're related."

"Yeah."

"Yes."

Cue awkward silence. It was too enormous a thing to grasp all at once, and neither of them knew where to start. Still, a few details had to be discussed eventually, and they both knew that the sooner they did that, the better for all involved. Aren was the first to get a grasp of things, and asked, her eyes resolutely staring at the table between them:

"Do you know who my... mother is?"

"Yes."

"Is she alive?" She was beating around the bush, she knew, but she could not decide whether hearing yes or no would be worse, because then came the real question.

"Yes."

She had to tear the question out of herself, and to Severus it looked like she had grasped at a nerve inside an open wound to brutally tug at it.

"Was there any good reason at all for why she left me on the doorstep of an orphanage of more than dubious reputation?" Was I that disgusting, that much of a freak that she had to get rid of me as soon as she could? She did not have to say those words; they were clear enough to both of them.

"I… have my suspicions as to why she did it but either way, it is no excuse for what she did." He waited for a few moments to see if she'd answer anything, inquire further, but she was still staring at the table between them, and the only hint that anything was going on in her head at all was her tightly clenched fists. He saw one or two drops of blood —still looking deceptively red— fall on the table top, and moved to try to unclench her hands softly with his own. "She was a french cousin of the Malfoy line, significantly younger than Lucius —that's Draco's father—, when she was pawned off to the only Selwyn still living to produce a pureblood heir. She was nineteen, I believe." He paused for a moment. "She was barely twenty when I met her, at a meeting with… former acquaintances. I was…" he had to swallow and brace himself for what was sure to turn the girl against him. "I was drowning my sorrow in alcohol, as was my tendency at the time, after losing the only real friend I ever had. To put it bluntly, I was wasted. She was trapped into a marriage of convenience, and I was a handy tool to distract herself from that. A non-reluctant tool, though I'm not sure you can call it willing considering I was barely aware at the time. We parted in the morning, and saw each other from a distance at later meetings, but I never had any reason to suspect that she might be pregnant with you. She hid it well, and now that I think about it, she stopped coming to meetings after the fifth month."

He managed to open her hands at last, and saw a row of small red semi circles in each of her hands, although the charm on her blood was probably only active on visible blood because the red faded to light blue next to the marks. He brought out his wand and wordlessly set about healing the small cuts.

"She probably realised what was up the moment she saw you. From what I understand, not only is Anselme Selwyn sterile, as he learned a couple years ago, but he's not even a latent bearer of the blue blood gene. He'd have known the moment he saw you, so she probably passed you off as dead."

"She sent me to Spurgeon's so that her husband would not know she had cheated on him with an unwilling partner. I spent six years fearing that thing we had as a superintendent, because she didn't have the guts to admit she fucked up." He looked up from her hands to her face, surprised to see she wasn't crying, as he'd thought from the wobbling of her voice. It was shaking from rage instead.

"To her defense, she'd probably have been killed if he had know. She probably wasn't aware I was a latent bearer in the first place, so she thought she could pass you off as his child. Until she saw you, that is. But knowing what I know of her, she didn't leave you at Spurgeon's. She'd have had you killed to avoid the risk that the whole thing would be discovered."

"Why am I alive then?"

"She wouldn't have gone to kill you herself. Too much of a risk, if she had been seen doing it. The one to… spare you? Was probably the one sent to kill you in a narrow alley."

"What is her name?" She asked.

"What will you do with that information?" He retorted.

"I want to confront her. I was to ask her why." When Severus opened his mouth to answer, she didn't let him. "I know you just told me. But you said yourself it was suspicion more than fact, and I want to get it from her."

"I won't give you her name. I can't keep you from looking from it, but the moment she knows that you are alive and that you know who she is, she'll try to eliminate you, and that is a risk I'm not willing to take."

Aren's feature lifted in surprise at this.

"Would you care?" She asked.

"Care about what?"

"That I might be hurt. Or killed. Does it really matter to you?"

"I… What? Of course!" Damn, very eloquent, Severus. "I told you yesterday, I am still unused to the idea, and will be for some time, but I am glad I have a child and that this child is you." He could not refrain from showing some snark at the end, and added with a smirk, "you are, after all, slightly less dunderheaded than the average student."

The only answer the girl gave to that was a hollow laughter, so Severus kept going. He guessed she would need time to internalise the fact that he was happy with her, although a bit wrong-footed by the revelation.

"We do have a couple issues to solve urgently, though. The first is: do you want to acknowledge what we discovered?" A blank stare was the only reaction of the child. "I mean, would you be alright with being my daughter? You know that I can be… 'bad', if you put it in simplistic terms, but you do not know my worst."

"I don't care. I'm a pain in the ass to most people anyway so we'll get on juuuust fine. Right?"

"I suppose, but I think you'll need more information on what I mean first. I can't give that information to you without consulting with the Headmaster first, so my second question is: are you fine with discussing this with him? Properly taking you into my custody cannot be done before that, for reasons that I cannot tell you without his agreement."

"He's my guardian in the first place anyway, right? So we would have to talk to him regardless."

"You make sense." He looked at the clock. "It's almost five… he should be up shortly, if he isn't yet. We'll make our way there at half past six."

"Excuse me," she deadpanned, "but I remember saying ' no effort '. If anyone here move, it'll be me, and to fetch the headmaster." She paused, "anyway, he'll need an explanation as to why you couldn't take your classes this past week." She got up, put her chair back in place against the table, and walked to the door before turning towards Severus again. "I'm going to clean up. You are not to move. You get your butt into that couch, take a book if you want, but you're not even supposed to be out of bed."

She stood there, looking at him and him looking back, until he got up and, with much grumbling, took a book at random in his shelves and went to sit on the couch. She then opened the door and disappeared in the hallway, closing it behind her.

He turned back to his book, before noticing the forgotten potion book on the low table, grabbing it instead and choosing to look at what notes Aren had taken.

"Oh fine! I'll go there by floo then!" He snapped at Aren.

"Hell no. You're calling him and he's the one who will move his arse over here. He's not the one with an integration illness."

"And you intend to keep me from going there how, exactly?"

"Calling Madam Pomfrey?"

"That's low."

"All is fair in love and war. Now call him over and sit in that couch. You. Should not. Be standing."

"Fine." He had to admit to himself though, that she was probably right. His legs hardly supported his own weight, and walking was a trial in and of itself. He still wondered how he'd gotten himself back to his quarter from the infirmary, and strongly suspected that it had more to do with Aren's magic than with his capability to walk. He didn't dare imagine what going up the stairs to the Headmaster's office would have been like.

He promptly complied, and while Dumbledore made his way over to the dungeons, he sat back in the couch, Aren's book, which was actually his, still in his hand. When the Headmaster arrived, he made to get up to greet the old man but a sharp and loud ' tsk ' from Aren's general direction made him stop the motion and get back to sitting. The fact that, as he realised, he was still in his sleep clothes made it all the more humiliating to be ordered around by an eight years old student. The old man chuckled at the scene, and Severus thought that indeed, it would be all the more humorous to the batty headmaster considering that he didn't know yet the truth of their family link.

"Good morning, Headmaster," he greeted.

"Severus, my boy! How good to see you up and ab-" He was interrupted by the loud sound of someone clearing their throat, obviously Aren. Severus closed his eyes as the girl walked to Albus' side and tugged at his sleeve.

"Albus, please, don't go giving him ideas. It's already hard enough to keep him in his quarters, and I've had to threaten him twice with Madam Pomfrey already. We don't need him to go strutting around in the castle when he can barely stand."

"Oh dear, you're right, Aren. Well then," and he sat in a chair like it was his own quarter, "Severus, what prompted this… convocation?"

"There have been news regarding why I am… in this state, as well as a couple of Aren's peculiarities. I would have given her more information, but I wanted to run it by you first."

"And what would these news be?"

The younger man took a deep breath.

"Poppy probably told you, or maybe she didn't, but…" Stop stalling, Severus ! "What got me in the infirmary was an integration illness."

"Severus, are you sure of that? Aside from the fact that you're already thirty-four, which is unheard of for an integration illness, you've also already had your integration; you can't have it twice ."

"Actually I can, Sir, if the magic that I have to integrate does not come from my own core."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you do remember that Aren had a collapse in the hallway a couple weeks ago, and that you subsequently put her in my temporary custody?"

"I do, yes, but what does this have to do with that?"

"As you required, I found a way to control her magic; or rather, to transfer it to her closest living, mature relative. I used this old recipe in a family book to come up with a new potion, with similar effect but without the drawbacks and the damage it would have caused on Aren's health and sanity. The thing is, the day after we applied the ink, which you can see on her neck, wrists and ankles-" Aren lifted the bottom of her pyjama leg, "I started feeling light-headed, weak and mildly delirious. By that evening, I was running a high fever that would not subside with the help of a fever-reducing potion."

Dumbledore did not speak, but waved his hand at Severus in a manner that clearly invited him to continue. He conjured a cup and a teapot, and helped himself to what smelled like blueberry and vanilla mixed with black tea. Aren had trouble imagining what that tasted like.

"When Aren and Miss Lovegood came to check on me, the effort to get to the door actually made me lose consciousness. Next thing I knew, I was in the infirmary, feeling way better, hearing that I'd had a nasty start to a second integration illness, that Aren had helped quite a bit in keeping me alive through the night, and that she is my daughter."

That one surprised the Headmaster, because he promptly spewed out the sip of tea he'd been taking in Aren's face, who was still next to him.

A low "ewww, ick ick ick" and a loud " what? " overlapped in the next instant. Aren quickly charmed the liquid off her, just as Albus continued.

"She's your? How? How long have you known? Wait, you just said that, the infirmary. How was it checked?"

"A potion to ensure that we are magical relatives, then upon Poppy's suspicion a paternity spell."

"Therefore accurate enough." Dumbledore hummed for a few seconds. "You realise, Severus, that considering your role, you cannot publicly admit paternity?"

"That's exactly why I wanted to discuss this with you. Doing so would put her, me, and a number of other people including Potter in danger, if only because my cover would be blown. The stars know Rookwood has been enough of a suspicious pain in the a- backside recently."

"You can say arse in front of me, you know." Aren interjected. "If you need the reminder, I grew up in the streets. I'm pretty sure my vocabulary is more flowery than yours in terms of profanities."

Dumbledore chuckled at that, only making the girl's smirk widen.

"I keep a certain sort of decorum for my own satisfaction, Miss Dumbledore-"

"Aren. We both know what my name should be."

"Aren." Then turning back to the Headmaster. "I would still like to be able to talk frankly about the situation with her. I won't give her any of the minute details, but it'll still explain the big picture and why I can't allow myself to be publically her father."

"You have my permission, of course," Albus easily agreed, "but are you sure you are not rushing into this? Far from me the idea of keeping you from family, but once you decide to acknowledge each other, magic will not let you go back, administrative forms or not."

Severus, pensive, looked at Aren. The girl had reverted to that posture he was beginning to hate because of what it meant: back hunched, shoulders drawn slightly up and inward, holding her arms in front of her stomach as if she was feeling a particularly aggressive bout of cramping in her digestive system. The girls was obviously terrified, and if the manner in which she had reacted in the infirmary was in any way indicative, it was because her crippled sense of self-worth did not let her imagine anyone would want a ' freak ' relative like her. He faced the old man again, holding his head high to compensate the fact that he was still seated.

"Had I been aware that she'd been born, she'd have lived with me. I wouldn't have known her before hand either, would I? It's not exactly her fault that I didn't know, and she has as much right to this as any other child. And since we're going on about why I would actually want her to be my daughter, she happens to be trying to keep me alive, which is rare enough these days to make me want to keep her around. Now why she'd want me around is another mystery but she appears to be set."

Dumbledore stayed silent during his whole declaration, the twinkle in his eyes growing more intense by the second till it was impossible to ignore, though all involved chose to not mention it. Snape, feeling uncharacteristically naked after the admission, chose to get up but was immediately stopped by Aren.

"I am only going to the bathroom, Aren. I will have to go at some point regardless of where you want me to sit."

When he'd passed the door into the hallway leading to the bedrooms and bathroom, the Headmaster turned to Aren.

"You know, my girl, let me tell you something before Severus comes back and tries to save his dignity: I don't think I've ever seen him as… soft, I'd say, as he is now. You know very well how he can be during classes, but that is oddly enough his 'mild' I-am-mean personna; with adults, he tends to be even more prickly. Even as a child, he was bitter and aloof and distanced himself from everyone, except Lily. And I want you to keep a thing in mind for me."

"What is it?"

"Sometimes, he will probably sort of 'relapse'. There is no recovering from hiding yourself from everyone for thirty-odd years in a fortnight; it will take time if only to break the habit, although I'd say you're on the right path for that. But please, when he gets snarky or aggressive or downright painful, remember that he's hurt just as easily as you are and that it's usually his way of hiding that." The twinkle in the old man's eyes only intensified. "You are quite similar, in that regard. But though I'll never tell him less he sting me with a hex, I love him as if he were my own son, and I love you this way as well, and I am glad to see that you might forge this bond together. And think, this way I get to keep you in the family!"

Aren giggled just as Severus walked back into the room, and Albus winked at her. The potion master suspiciously squinted at Aren and Albus in turn, clearly sensing something had been said, but gave it up as a lost cause.

"Severus, you can of course get her up to date on your role, but everything must obviously be kept under wraps." He got up and grabbed some floo powder, throwing it into the fire. "Well, I'll be going back. The day is starting soon and I have to be present at breakfast. Oh," he stopped just before stepping into the fire, "Aren, do you have anything you need me to pass onto your professors? I expect this discussion might take a while, so I doubt you will be present at least this morning. Poppy did tell me that you had taken to watching over Severus anyway," he gave a pointed stare at the tall man, "and that you would probably refuse to leave his side for the moment, though I understand your reasons better now."

"I have two essays, one in herbology and one in defense. I'll get them."

She wasn't gone long from the room, barely a minute, but Severus had to go through the whole thing with Albus staring at him with that same sort of benevolent, grandfatherly smile he always had one when he knew he was right and was getting kicks out of it. Damn old coot.

"Here. Thank you, Albus."

"You're welcome, child. Well, I'll be taking my leave. I believe you have much to discuss." He made to step into the floo, but stopped again at the last moment. "Oh, Severus, this means you and I, and Aren of course, will need to talk about the summer arrangements sooner or later. Preferably before the summer." He went for good then, not even waiting for Severus' surly nod of confirmation, the characteristic whoof sort of sound produced by the floo.

"I don't give a flying fuck about your dignity! Now, get your arse back in bed or I'll drag it there myself !"

"I do believe I'm still the figure of authority in here and I will take a shower if I want to ."

"You know exactly what I think about authority, and you also know that I will call Poppy if I have to."

"I haven't seen her here yet, so I'd like to see you try."

Aren squinted at the dour man — her father — then turned around resolutely towards the living room. Snape was slow to follow, in his state of weakness, but he did nevertheless; too late to keep her away from the floo powder, or to keep her from calling Poppy and telling her all about the current situation.

"I'll be over in half a second," replied the stern woman, before her head disappeared from the fire and she made her way over in person. Aren turned to Snape and could see his face slip from mightily-pissed-offness to oh-shitness the moment he saw Poppy in the room.

"Severus."

"Hello Poppy."

"I've been told you were being difficult."

Severus swallowed loudly, but his face was back to his usual stoic mask.

"I think I am allowed the dignity of a shower."

" I think you are allowed the dignity of not getting back into a magical coma, nor of collapsing in the middle of said shower because your legs decided to go on strike at the wrong moment. So unless you want Aren or myself to assist you during that shower —and I don't mean being there just in case, I mean actually, physically helping— you will get back to your bed and give yourself a magical cleaning, and you will stay in your damn bed . Is that clear?"

"I am perf—"

"Is. That. Clear." There was no bartering with Poppy at that moment, and her tone made that very clear. Snape sighed.

"Yes."

He turned back to go to his bed, Aren and Poppy following right after him. He leaned on the hallway wall slightly as he went, and Aren knew that his spunk had been for show. She suspected he was starting to regret even just standing up, and upon reaching his bed he just let himself fall on it.

"I'll take that chance to do your morning check-up," declared Poppy, and she was greeted with a heated but tired glare from Snape, and he got himself seated properly against the headboard. The nurse turned towards Aren. "Can you go and get some tea going? Green and with a bit of ginseng, I think that would help." Aren nodded. "Thank you, sweetheart."

Just as Aren was leaving the room, she saw the woman grab Snape's left arm, and softly but swiftly pushing his sleeve back. Aren made herself less easily spotted, leaving the door open by only a crack, and she looked at Snape's forearm while Poppy placed the tip of her wand to the crook of his arm.

A large, black tattoo was there, slightly faded but still extremely deep in colour. It represented a human skull, and out of its mouth hung a snake that appeared to be knotted around itself. If she looked closely, it almost seemed to move. Aren shuddered.

She closed the door some more and went to make tea.

A/N: I have been cross-posting this story on here and AO3, and I just caught up here, so both version are now up to date. That means that updates will slow down (I write a lot but I'm not that fast) but will still be somewhat regular until Exam Hell™ begins (that's in two weeks).