(( Alrighty then. So clearly people are now saying I'm immature and need to grow up for not taking their bashing of my story and me as a writer? Mature guys. Real mature whoever you are. Just so you know, nobody likes asses reviewing their story and being called gross and disgusting for writing a story with a large age gap. If you don't like the age gap, whatever *shrugs* that's your choice, but the fact that people are saying I should be ashamed of myself for writing my own fan fic? That is what pisses me off. Like I said, Jane Austen can do it and no one will say a word against her, someone else does it, and suddenly it's like all sin on earth is radiating from my pores xD Like seriously, why don't you grow up and realize if you started the story and knew Lilia was only 13 and Snape was already a professor, so over 30, its gonna be a huge age gap. If you don't like that, then you should have just been mindful of those who DO like it and dropped the story right there.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the affiliated works. If I did, I would be very very poor… because I would have bought all the books I want, all the clothes I adore, all the shoes I'm in love with, and all the anime and manga I could possibly stuff into my bedroom xD … I would also undergo one hell of a shopping spree at Sephora xDD fml ))
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He read the contents of the letter, fury raging a war inside him, growing more and more blood thirsty the further he read. The Ministry was holding Lilia. His Lilia.
She had been caught by Snatchers right outside Hogsmeade at the train arrival station, brought there and undergone, no doubt, intense interrogation. Worse yet, she had claimed he was her father. He had to hand it to her. The family tree she had allegedly given herself was very convincing. And better yet, he knew that she knew he would indeed vouch for her.
And he knew how to do it.
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"She claims to be your daughter," Umbridge said with obvious irritation. "Is this the truth?"
Severus looked at Lilia who sat in the chair before Umbridge, her green eyes darkened with the loss of him, as well as hatred for the situation she had been put in. He slowly turned to look back at Umbridge and raised his brows ever so slightly. "Yes," he responded in a chillingly cold and calm voice.
Umbridge stiffened at this unexpected fact, looking at Lilia, then at him. "But… then why is her name Gunner? Not Snape?" she demanded to know.
He remained quiet, mulling the thought over for only a second before it came to him. "Clearly… Lilia took her stepfathers name after her mother married him," he said simply.
Lilia glowered.
He smirked. "Obviously… not very willingly," he said.
Lilia rolled her eyes a little and then looked away.
Umbridge huffed. "Then how do you know she is your daughter? What proof do you have she is your child?" she asked sternly.
Severus looked at Lilia. "I knew it when I saw her. It was only confirmed when I learned her mother's maiden name was Sutcliff," he smirked. "You see... back when I was first a Death Eater... I involved myself with the woman. I left when I learned she was pregnant," he stated calmly. "A child simply wasn't in my plans."
Umbridge looked like she wanted to scream in outrage at this turn of events. "And what exactly is your plan from now on then?" she snapped.
He looked at Umbridge cooly. "I'm taking her back to the school with me, of course…" he replied. "Her accusation was wrongly instated. She is a free witch, is she not?"
Umbridge glared hatefully at him. "You still haven't proven it," she said.
Severus narrowed his eyes. "Do you really wish to defy my word, Umbridge?" he asked, folding his arms, looking menacing as he eyed the pink clad pig down. "Are you insinuating you do not believe me, a Death Eater, newly appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts?" he asked menacingly, his tone just daring Umbridge to say she didn't believe him.
Umbrdige looked at him with hatred in her eyes, but a fake plastered smile upon her face. "No. Of course I believe you, Severus…" she said, her tone clearly stating she was done with Lilia and him, reluctantly of course.
Severus nodded. "I believe you owe her a wand…" he said.
Umbridge smiled. "Of course," she said, holding it out to him so he could give it back to her.
He took it and then headed towards the exit, motioning for Lilia to follow him.
Lilia glanced back at Umbridge who looked ready to burst in anger that a potential prisoner had slipped through her grasp. She felt a smirk tugging on her lips as she followed Severus down the corridors of the Ministry. When they were alone, he held his hand out and she took it, her hand taking her wand at the same time, both of them together apparating form that horrible place and into the headmaster's office, which was now Severus'.
Lilia let go of his hand and looked around quietly, her gaze falling on everything in the room, and then onto him. She felt elated to see him standing by her side again. She swallowed slightly and then stepped forward and hugged him tightly, afraid he might not return the gesture when she felt him tense, but felt relief flooded her heart when he placed a hand gently upon the small of her back. "You know my mothers name…" she said softly lifting her head to look up at him after a moment.
He frowned, this clearly not being what he'd expected her to say. "Clearly," he muttered, turning away and heading to his desk. "I know the names of several students' parents. Mostly Slytherin," he explained. "Yours in particular," he said, glancing over at her. "Alex and Anabelle Gunner," he murmured.
She felt a shiver travel up her spine at the mention of her mothers name. "Sutcliff," she said.
He glanced at her.
She looked away. "I don't like her having his name attached," she said simply.
He nodded. "Anabelle Sutcliff…"
She looked up at him then. "Thank you…" she said.
He turned away, unaccustomed to being thanked for doing something for someone else. Even coming from her it felt strange and he felt uncomfortable saying she was welcome.
She understood, turning away and then hesitated. She then looked at him again. "Why did you never write?" she asked him.
He turned to face her, raising a brow.
She looked at him in frustration. "I wrote every week hoping you would reply but you never did. Not once."
He bristled at her words. "It would have made you a liability. You should know this, Miss. Gunner," he said.
She glowered at him.
"Oho, looks like Severus has upset the lady," said a voice.
Lilia looked up and suddenly felt like a prize idiot, seeing all the previous headmasters looking down at her from their paintings. She swore in her head, mentally punching herself out. She then looked at Severus with a deep frown. "Sorry…" she murmured.
He nodded, watching her intently.
She swallowed, and then glanced at the door. "I should go," she said, heading towards the door.
He nodded again. "I'll notify your teachers of your arrival and I'll have one of the prefects deliver your schedule to you," he said.
She glanced back at him and nodded, opening the door and slipping out, sighing with relief to be back at school. She proceeded down the steps and then out into the hall. She fixed her hair up a little, then headed to the Slytherin common room, hoping she would find Dawn there.
She did.
Dawn looked up from the parchment she was working on, looking utterly exhausted from all the work that Professor Carrow was giving the Defence Against the Dark Arts students, as well as depressed, there being slight dark circles under her eyes. Her eyes widened though, when she saw Lilia step through and she immediately threw down her parchment, scrambling up and ran right to her, throwing her arms around her in shock. "You're alright!" she exclaimed.
Lilia was caught off guard by the amount of emotion radiating off Dawn.
The red head backed up a bit and touched Lilia upon her cheeks, her hair, her arms, making sure she really was really there. "Oh god… I was so frightened when they made me and dad leave," she said, her eyes welling up as she looked at Lilia. "I thought for certain you would be sentenced to Azkaban," she whimpered.
Lilia was extremely uncomfortable with this emotional display so she pulled Daw in and hugged her again, awkwardly patting her head while Dawn sniffled, furiously wiping her eyes, forcing herself to stop the sob fest.
When she was done, she pulled back again, sighing shakily and looked at Lilia again. "How did you do it though?"
Lilia blinked. "Do what?"
"Get out, of course," Dawn gasped. "The Ministry has been arresting Muggle born witches and wizards since the beginning of August. The school is half empty because of them right now," she said, bringing Lilia over to the couch. "If you can't prove that you inherited your magic rightfully, they send you to Azkaban," she said. "For stealing it," she said, swallowing.
Lilia glowered. "That's a load of poppycock," she blurted.
Dawn was throw by this statement and sniggered. "Poppycock?"
Lilia smirked faintly. "Yes, yes it is," she said.
Dawn chuckled. She then sighed and her smile vanished. "I was terrified I wouldn't see you again…" she said, looking down. She then reached for Lilia's hand and squeezed it tightly, looking up at her firmly. "You're my best friend. If you got dragged away by a pair of Dementors I think I would lose my mind," she said.
Lilia looked at Dawn in surprise. She didn't think she meant so much to her. "Do you know who's been sent to Azkaban already?" she asked.
Dawn shrugged. "I know that boy in Gryffindor, Dean Thomas was sent there already. He couldn't prove he was a half blood since his father left before he could know," she shrugged. "I know Angelina Jones was sent there, from Ravenclaw. I don't know anyone else. I imagine it's quite an alarming number, but off the top of my head I don't know who else," she said and looked at Lilia. "But that isn't important… I want to know, how did you manage to not get sent there?" she asked.
Lilia looked at her quietly. "I lied," she said simply.
Dawn raised a brow. "Lied?"
Lilia nodded.
"But how? It's the Ministry for goodness sakes," she said and looked at Lilia questioningly. "They aren't easy to fool," she pointed out.
Lilia shrugged. "They're easy to intimidate if you do it right, though," she said.
Dawn frowned. "What do you mean? I highly doubt you said boo and that monstrosity, Umbridge, just let you go," she said sceptically.
Lilia shrugged. "I had help."
Dawn looked at Lilia with a raised brow. "No."
Lilia looked at her curiously. "No what?"
Dawn grinned mischievously. "Did you bribe one of the guards to let you go?" she asked.
Lilia rolled her eyes. "No, Dawn. It wasn't nearly so… promiscuous," she said.
Dawn giggled. "So?" she prodded, looking at her.
Lilia sighed. "I lied about who my father was."
Dawn frowned. "Wouldn't it have been easier to lie about your mother? She's dead after all," she explained.
Lilia glowered at Dawn.
She winced. "Sorry… that didn't come out right…" she said.
Lilia shook her head. "Forget it. If I said my mother was a witch but she was dead, they would have said I was lying on the spot and thrown me into Azkaban… so I went with the other option; saying my father is a wizard," she said.
Dawn raised a brow. "But they would know Alex is a Muggle," she pointed out.
Lilia looked at Dawn calmly. "I didn't say Alex was my biological father," she said.
Dawn looked confused by this, her silence indicating for Lilia to elaborate.
Lilia stifled a yawn softly, the lack of sleep she'd gotten at the Ministry inside their cells finally creeping up on her. She sighed, looking at Dawn. "I told Umbridge, when she was putting me on trial, my father is Severus Snape," she said and shrugged.
Dawn looked at her wide eyed. "You said what?"
Lilia winced. "I told Umbridge my father is Professor Snape."
Dawn looked completely floored by that statement. "And what did he do?"
She looked at Dawn. "He said it was true," she shrugged. "He chose to help me for his own reasons I guess."
Dawn looked at Lilia in shock. "So… what did Umbridge do?"
She grinned. "She refused to believe it but then he asked her if she was seriously going to tell him he was a liar. After all he's the Headmaster now and is a Death Eater," she smirked. It was quite refreshing… the expression on her face," she chuckled and shook her head.
Dawn laughed. "I would imagine," she smirked. "But… why would he go out of his way to help? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm glad he did and everything, but I never would have expected him to be… the helpful type," she pointed out.
Lilia shrugged and stood up. "Maybe he isn't as awful as you think… Anyways, I need to sleep. The Ministry cells aren't exactly comfortable," she said with a yawn.
Dawn nodded, watching Lilia pass by to go up to the dormitory's. She turned to her parchment again, sliding off the couch and onto the floor, picking up her quill. She was about to begin writing again, just relieved that Lilia was back, when a thought and very serious realization hit her. Her eyes widened and she spun around, looking at Lilia wide eyed. "Lilia!" she exclaimed in alarm.
Lilia paused and turned to look at Dawn drowsily. "Mmm?"
She hesitated, her eyes watching Lilia almost desperate, not wanting to ask. So she didn't… She swallowed, and smiled very weakly. "Goodnight…" she said.
Lilia raised a brow and looked at Dawn curiously. "Er… goodnight," she responded, turning away slowly and heading up the stairs to go to bed for an hour or two.
Dawn turned slowly back to her homework, her heart racing wildly in her chest. "Oh god…" she whispered, laying her forehead down on the tabletop, closing her eyes. She hoped she wasn't right about what she was thinking… she really hoped she was wrong…
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(( DUN DUN DUNNNN xD So I hope you're all sitting there going OMIGODD! Right now xD I would laugh, haha. So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter :D I know I had fun planning it out haha :D Anyways, off I go to yet another day of closing shifts at work xD Ugh, my feet are already so messed up from standing for eight hours straight haha :P ANYWHOOOO Please review and lemme know what you all thought :) I hope the end was like OMIGOODDDD for you all haha :D Peace my lovely amazing readers and reviewers! :3 (minus the lame trolls) -w- ))
