Severus cringed as Albus simply stated the words; the old man never had been much for tact. There were half a million ways to better phrase, better tell her. A long drawn out silence followed, seeming to overpower the peaceful serenity of Dumbledor's office. Indeed, Melody looked stunned. Surely she had never imagined that her father would be Lord Voldemort, the most sadistic wizard to ever live. Severus almost laughed, what a shocking revelation. He could only imagine what he would be thinking if someone told him that he was the spawn of something so shamelessly wicked. It wouldn't really be that surprising, when he thought about it, ex-Death Eaters were not exactly perfect sinless gods.
Clear sapphire blue eyes stared at Dumbledore, plainly asking him how something like this could be truth. How could the blood that rushed through her veins be that of the cold cruel murderer that had taken away every bit of goodness from her life? He was her father. Father. Voldemort…her father.
"Why are you telling me this now? Why not sooner?" Melody's voice had taken on a harder edge, a stronger tone.
"There is a war going on around us, within us. Voldemort has followers everywhere; some of them have children living in this school. Dementors have taken over Azkaban prison, releasing the Death Eaters again. One of the escapees was your attacker. Lucius Malfoy. We, the Order of the Phoenix, believe you are one of the keys to defeating Voldemort. Just as he has immense power over the minds of wizards, you have greater power. Your mother was quite powerful as well, power to rival my own as well as Voldemort's. Combined, you have power that no other wizard has ever possessed. Even our legendary Harry Potter." At the name 'Potter' Severus made a disgusted noise, the angry scowl was once again imprinted over his features. "Of course you cannot do this alone, you will have help along the way. The Order will make sure of it." Harry Potter, a legend. She knew they were similar in that both their parents had been killed when they were too little to remember. Except his parents had been important enough to be murdered by Voldemort himself, while her mother was simply tortured by some Death Eater…which was worse?
Pray you never find out.
Watching her face he thoughtfully added, "You are among friends here Melody. You can trust us." The million dollar question, could she really? Life had been so simple just last week; finally things had started going right, but now she had been tossed into a whirlwind of confusion. She glanced at Severus, his eyes seemed more tired than earlier, no longer was that smirk there. Back to Dumbledore, he knew all about her family, and yet had never once sought her out to tell her. Anger overwhelmed her, taking place of some of the confusion. How dare these men sit there and tell her they needed her to help them with some damn war. What about her? Why didn't they tell her these things before?
"How dare you, both of you!" Both men sat back a bit, in surprise of her outburst. "I would have loved to know about my mother years ago! I would have loved to know who my father is! You knew these things, and yet it never crossed your minds to tell me, that is, not until it was convenient for you, until it would benefit you somehow. Right? Isn't that right?" Neither man spoke; for once Dumbledore was at a loss for words. She was right. He had never considered telling her about her family, always believed it would be better if she never knew. Gravely he realized what a sad mistake it was proving to be. "Do you know how long I dreamed of finding my father? What it would be like to finally hug him, and he would tell me he was sorry for never being there, tell me that he loved me."
Tears sprung into her eyes. "And my mother, just to visit her grave once…but I never knew where it was, but I'll bet you do. Do I have any brothers or sisters out there? You would know that too. I sure as hell wouldn't." The words sunk in and hit the mark with Dumbledore, but Severus simply sat there, staring at her coldly, he didn't feel sorry for her at all. "All these years I just wanted to KNOW. I didn't matter what the story was, so long as I knew. My past, my family. You knew my mother, why didn't you at least see to it that her daughter was taken care of? No, you sat here in your cozy little office and let me shiver in the cold midnight without a home. Obviously these people are after me, if I had known, maybe I could have protected Caleb." The revelation dawned on her right as she slipped the words off her tongue. Caleb, he could still be alive if they had told her, told her just a week early. These bits and pieces of information were critical, things could be so different, and she would still have a life to go home to, she would be so much more likely to help them, but now she just wanted to die. To her, it was inconceivable that Caleb could live, he could be alive. He could be here with her, holding her hand or putting his arm around her shoulders. Caleb could still laugh, smile, or say something stupid. They had made it impossible, they were just as to blame as the man, Lucius Malfoy, was.
Now the tears were flooding rivers, filling the crevices of her face, falling in droplets off her chin. Severus watched her coolly; didn't she see that this was so much bigger than her? It wasn't about her; it was about the whole world. If she were to go back living like an ignorant muggle, Voldemort would crush her world just as fast, if not swifter, than he would crush the wizarding world. She was so selfish, with her "what about me" speech. What about everyone else, surely she didn't believe that she was the only person who ever suffered?
"You are just as responsible for his death. You knew! You could have warned us…oh my god…I just want to go home." Her voice shuddered and she wiped her tears away quickly, humiliated by her lack of control.
"Melody…" Dumbledore stood, but she wasn't to hear what he had to say. Severus cut him off, interrupting with rage of his own.
"No. No she will not go home. I will not sit here and watch you pity her Albus; she is being nothing short of selfish. There is no use ranting about what "ifs" girl, this is how the story played out, and this is what you have to go with. None of us can go back in time, we can only go forward. Yes we made a mistake, but our destiny lies with you, and you are still here. You can still do something worthwhile at this point." His wrath was building the longer he stared at her.
"Bloody hell girl, do you really believe that if you go home all this will go away?" Standing, he swept his arm around himself in a wide circle. "I know that is what you would like, as long as your precious world of ignorant bliss is stable then to hell with the rest of us." He was perilously close to her, towering above her, hands gripping the corners of the chair she inhabited.
Without thinking twice, Melody made a mistake. Her emotions had her torn to pieces; all she wanted was some sleep…attacking her like this was not something she needed, so she slapped him. Melody hit Severus Snape in the face.