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Somebody must have found her. Somebody really must have gone out into the cold, down into Hogsmeade and up to the Shrieking Shack. Somebody must have cared, because she was not lying in the cold, wet snow anymore. Instead she was bundled up in warm and soft blankets and a faint smell of chicken noodle soup reached her nose. The light in the room she was in was incredibly bright, brighter than any candle or torch could make a room.
Where am I?" she asked, her voice scratchy and not even knowing if there was someone close by to answer the question.
"In the hospital wing," an utterly familiar voice said.
"Dad?" Violet croaked, not being aware that she used this word for the first time, addressing Snape. She just did not think about it, it was too good to have her father sitting at her bed. But this little word followed a long silence and if Violet hadn't been incredible tired and weak, she would have been insecure, wondering if she wasn't supposed to call her father dad.
"Yes, Violet, it's me," Snape finally said and his voice sounded ever so softly and full of love, like it had not been sounding for many, many years.
Violet smiled a crooked smile and opened her eyes completely. Her father was sitting stiffly on a chair, dressed in his usual black robes.
"Why didn't you tell me," Violet suddenly accused her father.
Snape stayed silent, fact was that he did not know why he didn't tell her. Maybe he was afraid of the judgment, of the disgust on Potter's face, of the overshadowing guilt hunting him once again. Truth was, there were too many reasons he didn't tell her.
In the minutes filled with silence Violet dwelled in her own explanations why her father refused to tell her about a brother she had. A brother she had been living along for almost six months now. Violet was old and smart enough to guess the reasons for herself and so she just dropped it, dropped the anger she had for her father that moment and asked something else.
"What if he wants to kill me?" When she asked this question her voice was quiet, almost frightened and she looked so much younger than she actually was.
The question pulled Snape out of his own musings. "What are you talking about? Who would want to kill you?" He asked it harsher than he intended too, it just seem so silly to him that someone would want to kill his daughter.
"Voldemort," Violet whispered. "He wants to kill Harry, right? And he almost killed me once, so why would he suddenly let go of it.?"
That moment Snape had to admit that Violet could only be Lily's and his daughter, she was just too smart to be anybody else's.
"Maybe he didn't," Snape considered. He wasn't a big fan of lulling people into false security, if there was danger one should look it straight into the eye. "Maybe you are still on his list. But then again so many people are."
A knot in her throat Violet nodded, understanding what her father meant. She was just one among hundreds he wanted to finish off.
"You could go back to France and he might forget about you," Snape suggested, his eyes though pleaded her to stay where she was, in Hogwarts, with him, her father. "Maybe that would be better, you know, I have a mission, a dangerous one."
"So what," Violet said fiercely. "If there is going to be war, I'll fight." She meant those words, she had thought about them many times and now she was sure that she just couldn't go back to where she had come from. She was in it now too.
"Your mother," Snape said softly. "She would have done the same. Fight, not be a coward and hide from all the dismay. She was brave you know, so brave."
"When she was so brave why did she leave me at an orphanage then?"
"I don't think it had anything to do with you. I know she loved you Violet, she just hated me too much to keep you." Snape looked devastated now, half the man he was in the classroom.
"Why though, why did she hate you?" The questions streamed out of Violet's mouth, like she could not hold them back. Deep inside she knew he'd answer them now.
"I've done something entirely and utterly stupid and wasn't able to undo it."
"What was it? I want to know," Violet demanded, her green eyes lighting up, her body full of anticipation mixed with fear.
Snape simply closed his eyes and shook his head. He would not tell her, he could not tell her. What would she think of him? "Not today," he said quietly, hoping she would forget about it and he'd never have to tell her. But he knew that there was just too much of Lily in her that she'd forget. There was enough of Lily in her that she'd hate him for what he had done so many years ago.