So sorry for the late update. I've had a rough time with some things that have recently happened and I couldn't get myself to put the pen to the paper. Thank you to all those who read and review, after re-reading the reviews I have received I was able to write this. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated, and motivating in times like this. (: The chapter begins with a dream, so I typed it in italics.

Snape's POV

The night's air welcomingly brushed its lips upon Severus' pale face as he lay in bed. Outside the worn walls of his home a storm howled its anger against the world, ravaging the tree's worn leaves as they swayed in unison. Ever so often, a crack of thunder would cause the thin floors to shake, lights hanging from the ceiling shifting from off to on. He pulled the thin cotton blanket up to his cheek, nuzzling it as if it were the hand of one he loved.

In the tenor of the rain's pelting, the door to his bedroom creaked open, naked feet slapping against wooden floors. He shifted his hips, turning his body from one end of the room to the other so his line of sight could adhere to the one standing in his doorway.

Her pajamas were a pale blue, with rich, navy pinstripes running down, elongating her slim body. With this feeble blue blanketing her, the youthful, electric blue eyes resting on the brim of her nose were illuminated when another flash of lighting filled his room. At that moment the melancholic atmosphere was lifted when she stepped close to him, kneeling so their faces were equal. Her palm brushed against his aged cheek, and she whispered to him.

"I need you to tell me."

At that moment, she began to fade into nothing more than a mist. Her transparency became clearer and clearer, yet the warmth of her hand against him was still prominent. He clasped what was left of her hand in his.

"No, don't go! I won't let you! I will, I'll tell you everything, please don't leave me," He gasped, the sorrow returning to him, its true home.

"This is our fate. This is what we are destined to be unless you tell me, strangers walking in familiar ways. Tell me," Her voice dispersed, eventually swallowed by the taunting drops of rain, and the belts of lightning.

He awoke with a jump and a suppressing pain in his chest. He leaned up in his bed, supporting himself with his hands behind his back, pressing into the feathered mattress upon which he slept. He panted in the manner of an overworked dog, beads of sweat furrowed upon his brow, his bangs becoming molded and meshed together. He repeated in his mind over and over that it was a dream, nothing more than a fictitious imagery concocted by his mind. Yet, the pain, the warmth, it was all so vivid.

"Bloody hell," He murmured to himself, ripping the sheets of his bed from himself, the air of his dungeons welcomingly kissing his legs. He rose and staggered to the small table across the room, pouring himself a steaming hot helping of tea. He knew he would not be returning to sleep tonight, though he desperately needed it. Sleep, his only escape from this reoccurring problem, had become tainted with her face, his daughter.

Oh, how he had planned to leave her be, something he could have done with time's help. Yet that boy, Ryder, telling him of the joy if she knew who he was, ruined this. Now a persuasive matter was in this mesh, and he had not an idea as to how to handle it. He wandered to the other end of his hidden room in the potions class, sitting himself down in the oversize arm chair that rested next to the window. He stared blankly at the wall, his thoughts scampering about in his mind.

His eyes drifted to the window as he scrutinized the grounds. Still lush with snow, he forced himself not to look towards the lake. Ryder had informed him the girl would sneak out in the evenings and stand by the lake's surface. Curiousity was now inflamed in his bones, and he wondered whether she was. He peered through the corner of his eyes, and indeed, a small figure was meekly wavering, looking at the reflection.

"You are weak, Severus," He told himself as he stared at the beautiful figure that was undoubtedly his daughter.

"Tell her," the boy's voice collided into his mind.

He would.

Setting down his tea, he pulled on a pair of trousers and his thickest cloak, for he was to fight against the bitter cloak. Perhaps this going on a moment's whim was foolish, or perhaps there was something in the tea, yet he did not care, to live in this lie was no longer healthy.

He aspired she would be gleeful though, when he told her.

Shawna's POV

She hummed to herself contently, staring out at the landscape surrounding the lake. Snow capped pines, and frosted greenery blended ever so neatly into the crisp, white ground. As she breathed, her air was visible, arising a giggle to shatter the night's silence. The lake water was still, and at moments like this, she felt so blessed to be here.

She couldn't put a thumb as to how long she had been sneaking out of the castle's walls to stand here under the moon's watchful eye, yet she felt no worry of detention or a lowering of marks, for the peace she felt here was indescribable, and in itself necessary. She enjoyed being alone, perhaps far too much than most.

Her mind had been working far too hard. Lately, she had been thinking of her biological parents. She wondered fiercely as to who they were, what they did, as she always had. Yet as time passed, smaller details came into play. She wondered whether her mother would've rocked her to sleep at night, humming the sweetest of spring's tunes. She dreamed her father to play with her in the summer's musky evenings, protecting her from scraped knees and boys. She guessed her mother would have taught her lady like things such as sewing and clanking away on a piano. All the things her friends had told her their parents did with them, she wondered if perhaps her life would have been the same.

Such bitter sweet thoughts came close to brining a tear to her eye, yet she remained calm. She had to wonderful adoptive parents that had raised her with the most tender love and care.

"But they are your parents." Her heart whispered.

"I know." She would always reply.

Her mouth ran dry, and her throat ached. She was about to turn it in for the night, maintaining a poised face when her thoughts were so dark was no longer simple. She would retreat to the confinements of her bed where she would drown herself in the tattered potions book, for it always kept her secrets.

"Miss Zemphoria," A monotone voice greeted.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, yet that cold, hard voice was softened, as though it were truly a greeting, not a chastisement.

"P-professor Snape, I-I'm so sorry, please don't give me detention," She turned, the tears in her eyes becoming harder to clasp onto.

He stood with a proper straight back; as usual his habitual black robes billowed around him grimly. Where the long sleeves of his cloak ended, two pale, lengthy hands emerged, folded together in front of him. His hair was unusually clean, yet it still curtained his pale, blank face.

A miracle happened there where no one was there to judge, or to gasp.

He smiled, so gently as if it were undetectable.

"If I were to do so, I would be hypocritical. I too, used to find myself spending evenings past hours here when I was a student." His footsteps trampled in the snow as he stood next to her, his eyes gazing upon the lake.

At that awkward moment, she was unaware as to whether she should leave and return to her dormitory, or stay into what seemed to be folding into a meaningful conversation. It seemed as though gravity held her firm to where she was standing. Nevertheless, the muscles in her back tensed with fear, and caution.

They stood a few moments in the silence, hearing nothing but wind as it blew against the trees.

"What brought you here all those nights ago, Professor?" She asked, her voice as gentle as that of the winds.

"A mind desperate to escape all the trials of my youth. I found it was here I was most happy." He answered her, his voice equally gentle.

She smiled at the thought of a happy Professor Snape, for he seemed far too irate, and sad. She wished everyone could be happy in the world for one mutual moment, and perhaps it would give birth to more moments like it.

"Me, too." She muttered, her eyes widening. Was it true, that she was having a conversation with the man who she felt so uncomfortable with? However, the discomfort seemed to have faded.

Another moment of silence rang through the atmosphere, but it was Snape who broke it this time.

Snape's POV

"Dumbledore tells me you are adopted." Despite the cold around him, he felt the warmth she radiated.

She sighed, "I wish I wasn't."

"I can imagine that would be something very difficult to carry on one's shoulders, especially one who is so..." He began, turning his line of sight to his daughter who stood next to him so innocently. She looked up at him because of his pause; her eyes opened the doors to her, and everything she was.

"Fragile." He finished.

She looked away, back towards, the lake.

"It is certainly not a walk in the park. But I have no options, so this is my fate, to be alone." She cantered gloomily.

"Perhaps you don't have to be." He muttered, and with this, she looked up one more.

She looked confused, and slightly concerned. There was no turning back at this point; he made to find exactly what to say, and how to say it. He hoped it would end well, and that she would finally find the happiness she had searched for, even if that was him.

"Miss Zemhoria, I…I'm your father." He spoke tentatively as he watched her expression change from the confusion to the shock.

She blinked a few times, and breathed heavily. Her brows were furrowed, and Severus could tell the words she wanted to say were not coming out. He was unaware as to what she was thinking, what she was feeling, and this bothered him. She bit her lower lip, and cupped her face with her hands, moving them to run hands through her hair. Every portion of her body language was unreadable, she was a closed book. She stood in silence; a silence so petrifying Severus would have rather found sanctuary in the lake's icy waters.

"How long have you known?" She asked slowly, her voice hard.

"A few months," He muttered.

She would not have it.

"No, no you can't be. A few months? A few? How could you not-why didn't you? You've known all this time, and I, I have waited eleven years, raised by strangers when it should have been- no, this isn't. You aren't. Don't lie to me." Her voice shook with tears, with anger, and with this, Severus felt his heart fall victim to the hatred for himself he had been battling all his life. He succumbed to his usually anger to hide the pain, heavens forbid anyone could see his pain.

"Is it apparent through that thick skull of yours that it was nothing short of difficult on my end either? If I had only known that I was your father when you were born I wouldn't have blinked an eye before I was there to take you to where you belonged. I would have taken responsibility-not because that is what a man does, but because I would have wanted to! Does it occur to you both our lives would have been completely arranged if I shed news to this? I was thinking of your best interest! How would I have known what you wanted if I didn't know who you were! Judge me not on this procrastinated delivery of news, but for the courage it took to came here! To tell you these truths! This was not some simple decision; I could have hid this, and allowed you to continue on! If it hasn't come to your attention, I am nothing shy of a monster, a shallow cold being. Why would anyone, especially you, one of the kindest, purest things I have ever seen walk the halls of Hogwarts, want me in any part of your life? You, you are nothing shy of your mother. I wanted to protect you, because that was the only way I knew how to love you, yet preserve the life you were making for yourself here," He rambled, yelling at times, speaking softly at others. He had lost his thoughts in the midst of his speaking, unable to portray a clean point as he was always able to.

He looked at her, her eyes glistened with many emotions-anger and sadness being most presumable.

"If you'll excuse me, I think I'll retire to bed. You aren't my father, you just…" She shook her head, losing her thoughts completely. He watched her as she walked away from him off to the castle, and perhaps out of his life.

"Please, don't go." He whispered as she became nothing more than a dot that had molded in the black night.

He fell to his knees, curling up into a ball. He was weak, pathetic, worthless. He had managed to chase away everything he had loved, even one who he had scarcely knew. He brought his knees to his chest like as he did when he was a child, forced to endure the fighting of his parents. He burrowed his head into the pit of his knees, he would have been content dying now, leaving this hell, as there was truly nothing left. He let his pain show, and he was sure he was quite a site at this moment.

He felt a hand grasp his shoulder gently, giving it a tight squeeze. He peered up through the hair obstructing his vision to see Albus Dumbledore, looking down upon him with sorrowful eyes.

"Arise, Severus." His hoarse voice cooed, and he aided Severus into standing on his own two feet like a man should have done.

He faced him, regaining his poise, hiding his pains as he always did.

"Yes, Headmaster?" He asked, clearing his throat.

"Give her time. This is such news for one so small."

"Headmaster, I've managed to chase all those who have held some significance in my life away. Look past this false hope you see in me, for I am nothing. Your ignorance is no longer needed." He sneered, shaking his hand off of his shoulder.

Dumbledore curved his chapped, pink lips. "Perhaps it is not me who is ignorant, dear Severus. For it is you who can not see all the worth your soul is, and you haven't, nor will you ever, chase me away. I would assume it is also genetic, due to the fact she is ignorant as to the wonderful man she has as a father, pretending you are not him."

Severus stared into the twinkling eyes of the man in front of him, sending a thank you through his bleak spheres. While this was not enough for most people to understand, it was enough for Albus, and his smile grew.

"Come Severus, to my office. I received a new box of lemon drops; these ones change the color of your tongue! We will discuss this over a piping cup of tea, what do you say? I'll speak with her within the coming days, for I feel she will be lashing out in one way or another, we both know she is in tune with her mother as much as she is with you."

Severus said nothing as Albus towed him along to his office.

Shawna's POV

She sniffled angrily, tears rolling down her cheeks. Muttering the password, the door to her common room opened. A dim fire's flame crackled as a few students who suffered from a case of insomnia conversed quietly. She didn't meet eye contact with any of them, though few had noticed she had entered.

Loosening her tie as she climbed the stair case, she entered into her bedroom as her roommates snored sound asleep. Throwing it under her bed, she didn't bother taking off her cloak. She pulled her potions book out from underneath her pillow, planning on indulging herself in the words she had memorized by now.

Unfortunately, his face, Snape's face, echoed in her mind with each word. She too, threw it to rest by her silver and green tie. She crossed her legs, resting her elbows on her knees, propping her head up. Her fingers clenched wads of hair as she let the tears fall silently.

Was it true? Was he her father, or was this all a lie? There had to be some reason for his lie, she was determined to find one. Though she could not figure any rational reason as to why a man she scarcely knew would say she was her father, she knew there was. Was this her being stubborn, irrational? She didn't know, nor did she care. She was enraged, confused, sorrowful. She wanted to immerse herself in the covers of her blankets as if it were some sort of makeshift cave, never to emerge.

She sat like this for what she felt like was hours, though in reality it was a very sleepy half an hour. She found her irate behavior faded into exhaustion, she would rest her eyes for one moment, and she would continue to search for the reasons behind his lie. Her eye lids became heavy, and her yawn became the tune for drifting off into sleep.

"He'll be sorry he lied to me. Prepare yourself for the worst student ever." She thought, and with that, she slept.

And with that, I close the chapter. The story is not over, though it might seem like that, but I promise I have a few more chapters! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I know I enjoyed writing it! (: