A/N: Things are moving right along….
Lilyana Karkaroff was kind old woman. She was very short, especially compared to her husband and late son. At the discovery of her grandchild she had been overjoyed that a piece of Igor was still among them. No parent wish to outlive their child. And Nathaniel looked so much like Igor did as a child. Except, Igor's son was different from his father. He was just as intelligent, but much more happy. Truly happy. He didn't give smiles that didn't reach his eyes. Igor had. Especially once he started to follow the Dark Lord. He never truly smiled after that…
A pure black bird (hawk? falcon?) interrupted her thoughts with its tapping against the window. Receiving the letter she gave the bird a gentle pat. Clearly the bird had been told to wait for a response because it started to make itself comfortable on the sill. Finally looking closely at the letter she found that it was from Severus Snape. Ah, she remembered Severus. A well mannered boy who'd been friends with her son, but then they had a falling out...To this day she hadn't a clue why. Although if she had to guess she would think it had something to do with Voldemort.
Opening the letter, she sat down to read it.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Karkaroff,
It may seem shocking to you, to receive a letter from me, but I pray that whatever reservations you have against me-they will not deter you from reading this letter. It is of the utmost importance that I am writing to you. As you are well aware, your late son bore a child with a muggle woman. It just so happens that said woman was the late aunt of war hero, Hermione Granger. To make a long story short, it pained her greatly when the Bulgarian government removed the child, Nathaniel from her custody. How does all this pertain to me you ask? Well, Hermione has recently become my wife and I too, love Nathaniel. Please, if you have any positive feelings towards me at all- I ask that you draw on those and accept a meeting with us. Perhaps we can come to some sort of an arrangement? I await your response.
Much obliged,
Professor Severus Snape
Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
It was a very moving letter. Lilyana knew the Severus of the old would not have willingly put himself on the line like that. It was this rare display of vulnerability that she took the letter to her husband to gage his response. "Well," she said as he finished, "what do you make of it?"
Vladimir turned to his wife and looked into her soft blue eyes, "I think we should meet with them."
Often times life has a way of throwing you a curve ball once you've reached a level of complacency. Such was the case for Harry Potter. As he walked into his office he was surprised to find a stressed looking Kingsley. "What's the matter Minister?"
"It appears someone's been using the Lentus Mortemagain."
"We need to go to Hogwarts."