A/N: ** means a flashback. Ok, I have skipped a few weeks. In those weeks not much has happened, Heinali been to lessons and kept good grades. Or so we think....

The Loneliest Girl - Ch. 4

...And We All Fall Down

On Halloween Heinali woke up early and wrote a quick note to her dorm mates telling them she would meet them for lessons. She quickly got dressed and headed out onto the grounds to see Aries. The stallion saw her coming from his run and let out a whiney to his friend. Heinali opened the gate and gently climbed onto his back with the use of the fence. As soon as the two came in into contact with each other, the stallion took off trotting across the school grounds. The wind whipped through the stallion's mane and the girl's hair making it seem as if they were one. After a quick warm down Heinali put Aries back in his run and headed toward the castle.

Severus was sorting through some notes and smiled at Heinali as she walked in. My gods, she is beautiful just like my wife, rest her soul. I'm glad she's my 'daughter'.

Heinali smiled to herself as she walked towards potions with Gryffindor, the first class of the day. She strode in and took a seat front and center before she took out parchment and a quill. After Snape wrote the ingredients on the board for the truth potion they would be making the class went to get the needed ingredients. Some of the other students sent murderous glares at Heinali for being Snape's 'favorite'. But she was unusually happy that day and was flirting with the one person Severus despised in that class, Oliver Wood. She lightly tossed her hair over her shoulder and playfully batted her eyelashes as Oliver swept past grinning. After Oliver gave her the ingredients she started on her way back to her desk. After a few steps she tripped on an uneven stone sending her things flying as her head hit the ground with a dull thud.

Girls in the area around where she fell screamed at the crimson trail of blood coming from the back of her neck. Severus rushed over and muttered a spell healing the cut. Picking her up he ended potions early, he whispered softly in her ear.

"Come on Hein, its time to wake up. Albus will kill me if you die, that is if I don't kill myself first." Sighing he placed her on a couch in his personal study and turned to a roaring fire, "Albus I need to talk to you. Heinali's out cold. Bloody hell man, she needs to go to the hospital wing!"

Not more than ten seconds later the headmaster walked out of the fire and kneeled beside the still form on the couch.

"She'll come out on her own Severus you know Pomfery would ask questions. I might as well get a blood sample now to run the tests you wanted me to do." Dumbledore pointed his wand at the girl's arm and then at a glass vial. "I'll see you later Severus. Oh, I found out there are some pills in her bag so check them out. She hasn't told you the whole truth Severus."

Snape nodded as Albus disappeared the way he came. "Accio backpack." Snape reached out and grabbed the flying bag. As he dumped its contents on his desk a small bag fell out and opened spilling clear pills everywhere. His thin fingers picked up a pill and turned it over.

"Well isn't this grand, lets see what they do." He dropped the pill in a vial with a pink substance and waited. The potion took on a purple hue indicating that the pill relieved pain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Albus held out the vial looking at it wondering if he should continue the process. Well, we have come this far so I might as well continue. Damn you Snape, this is one thing I would have left alone. He sighed as he began a simple chant designed to show the image of the relative.

"Show yourself hidden one, your blood needs you in their time of trouble and in their time of joy."

A ghostly looking figure appeared in the room, foggy at first and becoming clearer each second. After two full minutes a tall male figure stood in the room beside a medium sized witch. It was Severus Snape and Heinali's mother. Oh dear! He's a real father. I can't believe it. He will be surprised. Dumbledore quickly got out a quill and parchment composing a note to Severus telling him of the news.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the dungeons Heinali had woken. Severus looked at her and held up the pill bag, she winced at his glare.

"So when were planning on telling me about these?" she blushed and looked at the ground. "Ah, so I'll take that as when you graduate."

"Not exactly Professor Snape. I intended on telling you when I started to run low. I'm sorry."

"Heinali you have to tell me these things. We need to be honest with each other, well at least as honest as two Slytherins can be." He sat in the chair across from her.

"Yes Professor Snape, those are pain killers I only use them when I need them though." she nods at the bag still in his hands. "I've needed them for about a year now. As to how come I need them, lets just say I was in an equestrian accident."

Severus nodded and shuddered, "It is a dangerous sport." He stood up and walked over to a cabinet pulling out a shot glass and a bottle of whisky. "In my younger years I was...... well I guess you could call it being an arse. Those who hated me or made fun of me ended up on the receiving end of some nasty pranks and potions."

**Severus Snape woke up late on Christmas morning to find his dorm in an unusual state of disorderliness. "Damn Maurders!" He pulled him self out of bed and carefully made his way to his trunk trying to avoid the glue and honey puddles on the floor. As he rummaged through the trunk he emerged with four slim bottles, magnetism potions. Severus quickly got dressed and ran to the great hall where he found the maurders still eating. Snape slowly walked up to them and sneered. "Hello pigs, I have a Christmas present for you." He threw a lump of coal on the table and while they looked at it Severus quickly emptied the contents of each vial in the goblets. He turned and strode away taking his seat at the Slytherin table laughing silently as the four boys unknowingly drank the potion.**

Heinali laughed at this image, "I'd never imagine you as a trouble maker."

"Oh I wasn't. I was more of a problem solver. Those four idiots were always the ones provoking my revenge." Severus poured himself a shot and took it all at once savoring the fumes.

The teen looked him in the eyes and sighed. "That stuff will kill you."

"I'll be dead in a few years anyway. Some people just don't care what happens to those who help them."

"Well I do! I would want a dad like you, someone to talk to and who knows what its like not fitting into the norm."

He hung his head and thought, 'You have no idea what its like kid.'

"I have a class I need to get ready for and I believe you have divination next."

Hein stood up taking the hint. She hesitantly grabbed her bag and slowly repacked it sending a pleading glance back at him as she left. During divination they were supposed to be making star charts, but according to Heinali's she was suppose to have increasingly bad luck for the next two months. She got so frustrated with it that she pulled out some paper and started to draw letting what came to mind flow onto the paper. By the end of the class she had drawings of at least five dresses and a quidditch game.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the fifth year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw potion lesson Professor Snape spent most of the lesson terrorizing an unfortunate Ravenclaw boy who came in late. Near the end of class a sudden gust of wind sent the class room door flying open and a phoenix swept into the room. Severus looked at the bird and regarded the parchment it held. He ran a finger over the seal and sat at his desk reading.

Severus,

I have the pleasure of informing you that you are a father. I don't know how, but Heinali Snape is your real daughter. Her wings have been clipped in America and she needs to fly again.

~Albus Dumbledore

Severus read the note three times letting the words sink in. His hand stroked the phoenix and he shook his head. Snape stood and walked around checking potions (Five points from Hufflepuff, its supposed to be blue not red.) and sent the students away ending lessons for the day.

As he sat in the teacher's lounge he muttered to himself. "Ashes, ashes, and we all fall down." He shook his head, "Albus told me her wings have been clipped, I guess it is best she should know the truth from me."

**The April Heinali was born her mother, Zoie, came down with polo and double pneumonia. Every day the nurses would write to Zoie's beloved, Severus, telling him of her condition but kept from telling about the child she had born. In the cold mansion Zoie died from suffocation in her sleep and Heinali's cries could be heard as she was taken from her warm crib and given to an American witch from the American Ministry of Magic. The following day the nurse wrote one last note to Severus.

She died in her sleep last night. I'm sorry about your loss, but we figured she wouldn't make it much longer. Her funeral will be in one weeks time.

Severus went to the funeral to say goodbye to his one hope that he knew of before he joined Voldemort having the dark mark branded onto his arm.**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*****Thanks to my lovely beta reader, hugs to all who reviewed my muses are happy now!*****

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything you recognize, just the plot. I don't even own the names Heinali and Ghanima. Although I do own a few articles of Snape's and Wood's clothes. *giggles and smirks at the half bare men*