Chapter 36- Little Snape
"Can I go out?" Harry asked Lily as he lazily swung his leg back and forth while sitting on the kitchen table.
"It's almost lunch, why don't you go out in the evening." Lily suggested as she added carrots to the pan.
"But I am bored!" Harry whined. "There's nothing to do. Ron is visiting Charlie again, Hermione is visiting her grandparents, there's literally no one I can hang out with!"
"Ouch, Harry." Anora said as she entered the kitchen.
"You don't play Quidditch much." Harry pointed out.
"And Hermione downright adores it." Lily chuckled at Anora's comment.
"That's not what I meant." Harry said as she sat down beside him. "You met Kai that day, I want to meet Ron and Hermione too."
Anora rolled her eyes.
"You want to go down to the lake?" She asked him.
"Yeah, okay." They both got up.
"Okay, hold on right there." Lily turned with a spatula in her hands. "No going down to the lake alone after the little stunt you pulled in Christmas. No swimming for you both because you don't have your full strength. And-"
"Where are we? Azkaban?" Harry asked her.
"In the hands of concerned parents." Severus' voice came from behind them.
"So what, we stay in the house forever?" Anora asked him. "It's July! It's been 2 months!"
"And yet you cannot come to us when your hands hurt. And you," He looked at Harry. "cannot determine when you have exhausted yourself until you almost pass out."
Both the children had the decency to redden at that.
"I will take you out this evening." Severus said and took a seat on the table,
"How about we go in to town? We need some groceries. We can have tea there and come back." Lily said.
Severus looked at the children who sighed.
"Alright." They answered simultaneously.
"Excellent." Severus smirked.
/
"How do we go there?" Anora asked as they stepped out of the house.
"The garage doesn't stand there for no apparent reason, Nora." Harry grinned at her.
"You have a muggle license?" She asked Lily.
"Merlin, not me. I hate the car. Your father has the license." Lily said.
"Chicken." Severus whispered not so softly and the children laughed as Lily sent a stinging hex at his direction.
Severus went inside the garage and a sleek black Audi was steered out.
"Wow." Anora breathed and ran a hand over the car.
"Beauty, isn't she?" Severus asked and rubbed the steering wheel lovingly. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Can you teach me how to drive?" Anora asked.
Lily gave a short laugh at that before giving her a pointed stare.
"Funny." She said to Anora before reluctantly sitting in the front seat. Severus gave Anora a wink and Anora smirked before settling in the backseat beside Harry.
"So, what's good in town?" Anora asked Harry.
"It's pretty small. You have a school, some good shops, a supermarket, and a few amazing restaurants." He told her. "We should have Italian someday, Mum. Anora will love Enea's Kitchen."
"We'll see." Lily said, not exactly paying attention to him, but rather paying attention to her husband's driving.
"She's paranoid." Harry whispered to Anora who snickered.
"No kidding."
"Severus! Slow down!" Lily said haughtily.
"So…you don't have any phobia about cars?" Harry asked her.
"I love cars." Anora shrugged, not really in a mood to discuss it.
Harry noticed that and respected her wish.
/
The town was a jolly one. People were doing their evening chores everywhere. The butcher had a line for fresh meat for dinner, a delicious aroma of freshly baked bread drew the Snapes and a few other down to the baker.
"Ah! If it's not the Snapes!" A man with a white mustache hollered.
"Hello, Anthony!" Lily greeted him.
"How ye doing?" He asked Severus.
"We're good, Anthony."
"The usual, Mrs. Snape?" The man asked and Lily nodded.
"Got family visiting ya?" He asked and pointed towards Anora.
"Meet Anora, Anthony. Our new daughter." Lily said proudly.
"Ay! Welcome to Frownville, Anora. Harry must be glad to have someone, eh?" He winked at the boy who grinned.
After the baker's, the family went into the small market in the town.
"Are there no wizards and witches in here?" Anora asked Severus.
"There are." He nodded. "See Mrs. Palmer over there? She runs the clothes shop, she's a witch."
"Literally." Harry supplied and shuddered as he saw the lady. She was in her early 50s and had a scowl etched on her face as she talked to a man.
"Then there's Devon Grennings and his family. He has twin boys who go to Hogwarts. And the owner of the Chinese restaurant is a wizard but choses to live like a muggle." Severus said.
"Not many then." Anora commented.
When the Snapes were came out of the supermarket, Severus was supporting 3 huge bags along with Harry who was grumbling about unfairness.
"How come Anora gets a featherlight charm and I don't?" Harry whined to his mother.
Lily gave him a stern look. "It will do you some good to carry a bit of weight. And Anora gets one because her hands cannot take the stress."
Anora smirked at Harry who just glared at her.
He suddenly yelped as the bags on his hands lost weight. Anora looked at him and mouthed 'You're welcome', causing him to shake his head in amusement.
/
Once at home, Harry fell down on the sofa beside Anora.
"Tiring day?" Severus' drawl reached their ears.
"Very."
"I like the town, though. It looks like there's a certain amount of fear for us over there." Anora said thoughtfully.
"We are not here mostly, they aren't scared, they are curious." Lily answered.
Anora had noticed that Harry was quite quiet today. He made a mental note to ask him about it later.
"I think I'm going to go and take a nap or something." Harry mumbled and went upstairs. Lily and Severus shared a concerned look but no one commented.
"Guess he finally knows when he gets exhausted, huh dad?" Anora threw a smirk at Severus as she got up to get herself a glass of water.
She occupied her seat again after a while and looked at her parents.
"What's wrong?" She suddenly asked.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked her.
"You all are acting pretty strange!" She accused them.
"Anora…" Severus sighed.
Somethings was definitely wrong.
"What is it?" She asked. "Why can't you tell me? Am I not a part of this famil-"
"Don't you dare complete that sentence, Anora Elizabeth." Severus warned in one of his most threatening voice.
Anora instantly regretted her words but didn't make any move to take them back or apologize.
"Then what's wrong? Harry's been quiet all day! You guys are acting strange too!" She said, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. She wanted to beat herself for crying but the feeling of betrayal was too strong.
Lily looked at Severus and nodded her head. Her green eyes were so full of misery and pain. She then stood up, and with a kiss to Anora's head, went upstairs.
"We are taking a walk." Severus pulled the girl from the sofa and guided her to the door.
Once outside, Severus took her on the same trail that Harry had taken her when she had seen the house for the first time. She forgot to mask her emotions and Severus instantly caught on it.
"You have been here before." It was more of a statement than a question.
Anora sheepishly smiled at him.
"Don't tell Harry, but he brought me here last Christmas." She said.
Severus laughed at that.
"Harry doesn't know that I know about his little secret trail." He said.
They walked for a bit before Severus cleared his throat.
"Today's date is 12th July." He said. Anora nodded but didn't say anything.
"10 years ago, when Harry was 4, Lily was pregnant again." Anora's eyes widened slightly as she got a rough idea of where Severus was going. She opened her mouth to tell him to stop but Severus cut her off.
"No. Let me speak. I need to say this." He said. Anora snapped her mouth shut and gestured him to continue.
"As I said, Lily was pregnant. The threat of Voldemort was gone for a while, so we thought why not bring another little angel in our lives." He smiled a little. "Harry was ecstatic, and so were we. Lily refused to know the gender of the baby until and unless it was born. The baby was supposed to come out in July, near, or on 31st. Harry would have shared his birthday with his sibling." He ducked a bit as they passed a tree whose branches were a bit low.
"We were in Diagon Alley on 12th July. Lily wanted to buy some clothes for the baby. She was adamant that it was a girl and bought all girls clothes, along with small ribbons and cute little shoes. We had even thought of a name." He chuckled sadly. "It was summer, and it was hot. Harry got irritated due to all the shopping and started crying. Lily said she suddenly was craving ice-cream, and Harry loved ice-cream."
Anora was hanging on to his every word.
"We went to Fortescues's and got three cones. We exited the shop, thinking of eating it while sitting outside on one of the tables." Severus took a deep breath. "Lily was in her ninth month, she couldn't see down, so she used to climb and descend the stairs with my help. But Harry was extra fussy that day and had decided to not leave me, so I was carrying him. Lily, with the help of the bars, was slowly coming down the stairs when…" Severus's throat constricted at the memory.
Anora took his hand in her, giving him the courage he needed to talk. She was rewarded when Severus gave her a small squeeze.
"She didn't see that a little girl had spilled her ice-cream on the stairs and she…she slipped." Anora stopped in her tracks and as did Severus. "She fell, face down." He whispered and tightened his grip on Anora's hand. "Everybody rushed over to her. I put Harry down and ran over. She was in pain. A lot of pain. I quickly picked her up and instructed Harry to hold on to my robes before apparating to St. Mungos. The healers immediately took her inside and I floo called Sirius, asking him to look after Harry for a while. I was there for 3 hours, thinking up all the worst-case scenarios, trying to console myself. Remus came in after a while and sat with me but he was no help."
Anora was already in tears when Severus looked at her.
"The Healer came outside and told me that she…she couldn't save my baby." A small tear trickled down his cheek. "She said Lily was fine but the baby…" He gulped. A small body slammed into his chest as he spoke and he pulled her closer. "Apparently, Lily was right, it was a girl. A small girl with black eyes as mine and a small tuft of raven hair. I held- held her." A small stream of tears was flowing down his cheeks now. "She was our little Harper Emily Snape."
Anora held her father tightly. She wanted him to stop talking. When Remus had accidently slipped a bit of information last year, she had no idea it would be this severe.
"I am sorry." She croaked out.
"Every year we try to distract ourselves from the pain, we try to imagine what our life could have been if she…" He wiped his face but didn't let go of Anora. "This year, we knew what our life could have been if we had a daughter. Because we have her now. We might have lost Harper but we got you. And we are so thankful for that." He kissed Anora's head and rested his own on hers.
"I am sorry." Anora said again.
"It was a long time ago." He said as Anora pulled away.
Anora was wiping her face with her hands when Severus suddenly took them in his big ones.
He looked at Anora in the eye and spoke.
"I don't ever want you to think that you are some kind of replacement for Harper, am I understood?" He asked her strictly. Anora nodded her head.
"You are our daughter and we took you in because we love you like our own." He said and waited for a response. Anora nodded her head again. "A verbal response, Anora."
"I know, dad. I won't ever think of such a thing." She said.
"Good." Severus kissed her forehead again before leaving her hands. The rest of the walk was in silence and no one tried to break it.
When they reached home, Anora went upstairs to talk with Lily. After more hugs and tears and kisses, she went into Harry's room.
He was lying on the bed, looking out of the huge windows which were similar to Anora's.
Anora couldn't think of anything to say to him, so she went and sat on the bed beside him.
"Dad told you." He said in a controlled voice.
"Yes." Anora whispered.
When Harry didn't say anything, Anora lay down beside him and grabbed him from behind, burying her face in his back.
"I am sorry." She said.
"I was small, but I still took a hit." He said and pulled Anora closer. "I love you, Anora. And you are best sister I could ask for."
"I love you too, Harry." Anora replied.
And they just lay there as the sun sank below the horizon and an orange gleam filled the sky. They didn't budge when Severus came to check on them.
They just lay there, providing comfort to each other.
Doing what siblings do…
A/N: My big brother stays continents away from me and I was missing him majorly that day, maybe that's why I was possessed to write a sibling chapter.
I know you all were rooting for Anora to be the secret long lost daughter, but that would have been too predictable and easy. I am sorry!
Hope you all liked it.