When she woke up the next morning Lilah realized that this was the second time in 24 hours she had woken up somewhere she didn't recognize. The room she was in now had a large bookshelf on the wall filled completely with leather-bound and if she had to guess expensive books; beyond that the room as incredibly simple. There was a small dresser and a closet which appeared to only have dark cloths from what she could see in it. The walls were all grey bricks and the woods for the shelves, dresser and bed were all dark as well.

As she got up to find Severus she noticed a couple of pictures hanging on the wall. The first one had two young children probably around ten years old. The girl was smiling with shoulder length red hair and the boy had black hair and a scowl. Next to that was a picture with who she would guess was the same two people but they were moving. This time they were both obviously in the middle of puberty, thirteen or fourteen. The girl was running up behind the boy and jumping on his back causing the boy to startle and then smile for just a moment.

Next to those sat a picture of the Severus she recognized with Draco's mother. They both appeared to be at some sort of formal event. He looked uncomfortable in his dressy outfit. Narcissa would reach over and squeeze his arm before they would both turn and look out.

The next two photos were the ones that shocked her. The first was taken in front of the castle. It was a picture of Severus and her mother sitting down reading under a tree. They both looked to be deeply entranced but the book and were whispering to each other. It was the only photo she had ever seen of her mother when she was young. The second photo was from the Easter Ball. It showed her and Severus dancing. She could see his smile as she twirled out and back in. She watched herself laughing with her green dress flowing out and him finally relaxing just the tiniest bit.

Her stomach chose that moment to make noise both alerting her that she was starving and pulling her gaze away from the pictures. Moving towards the door once again she found herself in a cozy living area. The couch in front of her was a brown leather and seated in front of a roaring fire. To the sides were more bookshelves. It was becoming a theme in wizard housing. Lack of TV Lilah assumed. There was a small four-seater dinning table in the deep wood again and another doorway. Making her way over she found herself in a small kitchen with off white tiled floors and counters. A small stove and some white cabinets.

The room was shocking when coming from the rest of the apartment. She moved over to the refrigerator, wondering not for the first time how it worked without electricity. She pulled out a wrapped plate and found a note on the top:

Here is some breakfast. I have

a class to teach but I will be back around Lunch.

Snape

Don't break anything!

Sitting at the table she lifted of the cover and helped herself to the plate of eggs and a few strips of bacon. Looking around for a clock she noticed for the first time that the room was lacking windows. Once she was done she made her way back into the living room and with a few glances over to the main door she sat down with a book and began to read.

A little over an hour later the main door opened and Snape made his way in. He looked around the room presumable to make sure she hadn't trashed it and sat down on the couch next to the sleeping girl.

"Lilah, wake up please," Snape shook her gently until her eyes began to open. Sitting back as she moved to sit up he studied her head to make sure the wound had indeed closed.

"Did the frightening Severus Snape just say please?" Lilah asked as she stretched and turned to sit correctly on the couch. "I'm in shock."

"Yes, I did in fact you seem to be a bad influence," Snape joked. The turning serious suddenly he asked, "How are you doing?"

"How am I doing with the pain or with the fact that my father caused it? I'm not doing great but I'll survive. I always do," Lilah replied with a sigh. Her muscles did hurt slightly but the realization of who her father was hurt her more. She had realized that he wasn't the nicest of people but the fact that she had seen so many of his people come to Snape after being hit by this curse astounded her. Why would they want to be around him? She knew she wasn't to keen on it.

"How are your injuries? I gave you a number of draughts and potions last night so you should be feeling better. Though you did fall asleep rather rapidly last night," Snape informed her. "As for your father, I'm not really good at this tender moment's thing. Do you need to talk about it?"

"I really don't want to. I just have this one thought that keeps going through my head. How can you be around him so much? I mean you aren't exactly a teddy bear but you are a good person and he, he just isn't," Lilah asked genuinely confused. The person she had seen growing in the pictures in his bedroom wasn't bad. Angry, defiantly but not evil.

"I made a number of mistakes before you were born and they have repercussions still. But don't worry about that. Why don't we go see the other teachers and we can test your proficiency levels."

"Sure, why not."

"I think that went very well. Though next time please try to transfigure a less vicious creature. It was a beautiful tiger, but all the same," McGonagall informed her. Three hours later and she had pretty much worn out her magical knowledge and her energy.

"Thanks, so can I go now. I think I need to eat and the pass out," Lilah asked leaning her whole body against the wall.

"Yes, of course Miss Riddle."

It was half way back to Snape's rooms that Lilah caught on. Professor McGonagall had used her actual name. The one she wasn't supposed to use.

"Sev, how does the she know my name? My real name," Lilah asked looking up at Severus.

"I told Dumbledore about you when you arrived. He knows everything I know, at least anything important. He must have chosen to share that with her," Snape said without stopping causing Lilah to run to catch him.

"Can I ask you a question," Lilah asked in a timid voice. The shock of her not sounding self-assured caused Snape to stop and turn to her.

"Yes, but wait until we return to my rooms."

For the rest of the walk Lilah wondered if she really wanted to be asking questions. She was sure that she would not like the answers. Not just the ones about her father but what she would learn about her mother and her faux-uncle too. As she moved to the couch she tried desperately to hold onto the bits of courage she still had.

"Snape, why can't I tell people my name. Why is it so important that no one know who I am?" Lilah asked the questions she had asked herself since the ball.

"You can never start off easy can you," Snape complained. "As you have recently learned your father is not the nicest of men. There are a number of people out there who would not take kindly to any relation of his should they find out who you are."

"So, he has enemies?"

"Lilah," Snape muttered. "No, he is the enemy. Do you remember the first night we met? I told you your father was the leader of a group looking to purify wizards?"

Lilah looked up at him and nodded. She was already regretting asking and that was just based off the face Severus was making.

"Well, the way they plan to do that and the way they have been is to kill any witch's or wizard's who was born to muggles. They believe that the only truly magical people are the purebloods, that the only people worth keeping are purebloods. They kill everyone else. They hunt muggles for sport," Snape paused to look at the look of horror that had spread over Lilah's face. It hurt him to be the one to tell her this but she needed to know. She couldn't go through life not understanding the entirety of her situation.

"When I was still in my fifth year I was approached by your mother and Lucius Malfoy. They wanted to groom me to join their group. I was a misfit and had just lost my best friend so I followed them. That is a mistake I have regretted my entire adult life."

"The red-head?" Lilah asked

"What?" Snape looked at her somewhat confused.

"Your best friend, the red-headed girl from your pictures. She looked nice, happy. Though you just looked like you," Lilah responded on auto-pilot. She was still trying to process the information that he had just given her. As everything began to sink in she became nauseous and was thankful she had done this before they ate.

"Yes, the red-head. Her name was Lily. She was the only important person in my life. The only one and I am the reason she didn't live long enough to raise her son into the person she was." Snape spoke softly. He took her hand once he noticed how pale she had gotten. "I was stupid and I destroyed our friendship and then my life."

"My mother," Lilah spoke softly as well. "She couldn't have believed this. We lived with the muggles my entire life. She had friends, boyfriends. She couldn't have had that much hate."

"Lilith was a beautiful girl when I knew her. She was the nurse's assistant here at Hogwarts. She was happy and dare I say bubbly. I would never have picked her for a Death Eater until she approached me." Snape remembered. "But she did believe in the cause. I don't think she was evil, simply misguided like the rest of us."

"Death Eater?" Lilah asked. It was not sounding promising and she wasn't sure how much more she could take.

"That's what your father's followers are called. They all have this tattoo as well," Snape explained pulling his left shirt sleeve up to his elbow.

"Oh," was all Lilah could think to say. She was still trying to comprehend how she could have come from such anger and such evil. How people she should love could be capable of hunting other human being for sport.

"Why don't you wash up in the bathroom off the kitchen and go to sleep. You can have my bed again. I believe there should be a nightgown in the room for you."

And with that she was dismissed and grateful for it.