A/N: Enjoy. :D

Curious

Shrouded in the darkness, Snape walked towards the secret door that led to his private lab. He carried Angel, who currently cooed softly in his arms. While he'd never admit it to anyone, he felt a bit nervous as he walked in. He knew that if his wife found him with their daughter in his lab that he'd see the crazed look in her eyes. After all, he could understand why she would think it wasn't safe for a week-old baby to be around dangerous ingredients, but it wasn't as if he'd allow anything to happen to his daughter. He'd sooner give his right arm before that would happen.

A few seconds later, Snape quickly transfigured a spare bench into a temporary crib. He softly scoffed as he looked over his work. He may not have been anywhere close to an 'O' in Transfigurations while in school, but that would have earned him at least one now. He gently set Angel into the small crib to ensure that she wouldn't accidently harm herself and cast a temporary shield around her crib that block out anything harmful to her. He watched her for a bit to make sure that she settled in. Once he was sure that she wouldn't try anything, he turned around to his already lit caldron. He glanced into it to look at the pinkish liquid. So far, everything was normal.

Snape held out a hand, which made several ginger roots fly from their area on the shelf to it. He quickly laid it down and started to chop them diagonally with his knife. It didn't take long before he tossed the freshly cut roots into the caldron. It immediately hissed in response, but remained rather calm for the most part. He then held his hand out again, which made two eyes of newt fly to his hand. He tossed them in before turning towards Angel, who was fussing.

"What's wrong, Angel?" he asked. Within seconds, she started to wail at the top of her lungs. Snape quickly went to her side, ended his spell on her crib, and picked her up to calm her again. However, it only made her cry louder. Using every technique he knew, he tried to put her back to sleep. He rocked her gently. He softly whispered a lullaby. Nothing worked, though. Instead, it only made her cry louder. "Hush, my Angel," he said. "Everything is fine." She screamed louder in response, which made his already sore head hurt even worse. He couldn't understand why she was so upset. She had always calmed down in his arms before. Nothing that he was doing this time was any different from what he had done previously.

Shaking his head a few moments later, Snape decided his experiment could wait. It wouldn't do him any good for Aurora to find him and Angel in his lab with their daughter screaming her head off. He quickly headed back to his secret door to his rooms.

As soon as they walked in the rooms, Angel went quiet. Snape's eyes narrowed at her peculiar reaction. Deciding to experiment a bit, he took a step back into his private lab. She immediately wailed at the top of her lungs until he stepped back into the rooms. His teeth gritted. Not even a full week old and she was already acting like her mother. He had hoped she would take after him, but that seemed unlikely now. He gave her a mild glare, which surprisingly she met with her own. He couldn't hold back the chuckle. There was no way he could be mad at this beautiful being in his arms.

"All right, Angel, you win," Snape said in a fatherly voice. His face relaxed. "We'll stay in the rooms until your mother returns." He quietly walked over to the couch in front of the warm fireplace and sat down. A few seconds later, he stared down at his daughter and watched her turn her head towards the roaring fire. Her eyes were lit up with sheer curiosity as she watched the flames flicker. He felt a slight tug on his lips as a rare smile threatened to engulf his face. Since it was only Angel and him, he allowed himself to indulge in it. Slowly, he watched her little head roll back towards him. Her dark eyes caught his again, and she lolled her head to one side. "What are you scheming?" he asked rather amused.

Angel cooed in response. He raised his eyebrow before gently tickling her stomach. Loud giggles erupted from her and shook her entire body. He chuckled quietly at her reaction. She was so adorable at times that no matter how hard he tried, his Occlumency barriers always failed to hold back his emotions.

"Come on, Angel. What are you scheming?" Angel quickly turned her head to look back at the fire. "Oh, so we're going to be silent, are we? I see. Unfortunately, my angel, that doesn't work for my Slytherins. Sadly, it won't work for you either." Snape gently pushed a finger against his daughter's small chubby cheek to make her look at him. "What are you up to?" Her dark eyes quickly glanced away, which made him chuckle again. She was doing a classic Slytherin move already at a week old. He slowly drew in a deep breath before raising her up closer to his face. "I know that face, Angel."

When a familiar teddy bear appeared next to him on the couch two seconds later, Snape's eyes quickly darted to it. It hadn't appeared as if a house elf had snapped it in. Instead, it just appeared unexpectedly. He reached a hand out and picked it up. He glanced at the Slytherin-robed bear for a few minutes before he heard the soft giggle from the little girl in his arms. His eyes darted towards Angel. Her eyes were lit up and focused entirely on the bear. She looked like a little kid in a candy shop. He softly sighed before handing the bear to her. Within seconds, she nuzzled against it.

However, Snape didn't have time to reflect on his daughter's behavior. The main door to his rooms quietly creaked over as Aurora walked in. She had a soft smirk on her face as she stared at them. The smirk quickly disappeared when she caught his confusion, though.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Her bear appeared again," Snape replied.

"Maybe a house elf—"

"It wasn't a house elf," Snape interrupted. He heard the soft sigh next to him. He glanced from Angel up to his wife. When he saw her stifle a yawn, he narrowed his eyes on her. While he could understand why she was tired since their daughter liked to cry a lot, he couldn't understand why she was tired today. Angel had slept through the entire night, which meant both parents slept rather well.

"Well, if it wasn't a house elf, who was it?" Neither parent said anything for a while as they both thought of possible suspects. However, each suspect they considered, there were several reasons immediately eliminated them.

"Have you spoken with the Headmaster this morning during breakfast?"

"Yes, and he's going to speak with the ghosts. On my way down here, I asked the Bloody Baron again. He claims it wasn't him." She then sighed heavily. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of this bear. Sorry, sweetheart, but Mommy's going to put your bear away. " Aurora then calmly plucked the small Slytherin teddy bear out of her daughter's arms and started to walk towards the nursery with it. However, the bear instantly disappeared from her arms two seconds later. It reappeared back in Angel's arms. She quickly whirled around and her eyes widened. "Severus, you…you don't think that…" Her voice trailed off before her eyes motioned towards their daughter, who was currently giggling and snuggling into the bear.