Lilith refused to leave Roxanna's side. The other children had taken refuge in the kitchen, being served by the House-Elves. All of them ate like they hadn't eaten in days. In fact, that is exactly what Dumbledore assumed happened.
"What are we going to do Headmaster?" Professor McGonagall asked looking at the young girl on the bed still unconscious to Beatrice lying on the next bed complaining about the way she was being treated.
Dumbledore shook his head. "I don't know. This girl obviously has a lot of power in her, but if we keep her here then the other children will be subject to the same pain and suffering that she had endured."
Madam Pompry, Poppy, came into the room at that point carrying a Dreamless Draught potion for Roxanna. She lifted her head and helped her drink it. Lilith watched them and shook her head.
"I don't think that is going to work," she said, drawing the attention of the three people in the room.
"Why do you think so my dear?" Dumbledore asked. Lilith looked over at Beatrice, who was behind a silencing charm to keep her quiet and not disturb the other patients.
"We would hear stories about it from Roxanna. She would tell us that she is immune to most potions, such as Dreamless Draught, and to most poisons because of them constantly being put into her when she was younger."
A noise from the bed turned the attention back to Roxanna. She was waking up. Poppy was surprised. "I gave her enough Dreamless Draught to keep her sleeping peacefully for several hours."
Roxanna groaned. Snape came into the infirmary at that time followed by another child, a young boy with brown hair and brown eyes. He was carrying a plate of food and following Snape.
"This young man wishes to see if Lilith is hungry," Snape said looking Dumbledore. Lilith walked over to the other boy and they sat down on another empty bed and started eating. Roxanna groaned again and opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a man dressed all in black with shoulder length black hair framing his face giving attention to his incredibly intense black eyes and his hooked nose. She remembered him as being the one who protected Lilith in the dining hall.
"Thank you again," she said causing Snape and Dumbledore to turn to her. McGonagall left to check on the other children and Poppy was sitting with the other two children.
"You should be sleeping," Snape said in his classroom voice. Roxanna wasn't intimidated by his voice, instead she smiled.
"I'd like to see you try and make me. I am immune to all the sleeping potions, most healing potions, and I can brew, perfectly, the antidotes to many poisons. Since I have had many of them in my system and had to live to protect the others." Roxanna tried to move her head, but pain rain down her body.
"I would suggest that don't move Miss…" Snape said. Roxanna looked up at Snape with confusion in her eyes.
"I don't have a last name. It's just Roxanna," she said. "What is your name, sir?"
"I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, and this is Severus Snape, Potions master," Dumbledore answered.
"Thank you Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Snape," Roxanna said with the utmost respect. Snape was surprised that the girl was so respectful.
"There is no reason for such formalities, you can call me Albus and him, Severus," Dumbledore said with a smile. Roxanna smiled back. "Thank you, Albus."
Dumbledore walked over to the other children, leaving Roxanna and Snape alone.
"I would prefer it if you would call me Professor Snape," he said. Roxanna nodded. "I figured as much. You don't seem like the kind of person who likes people who barely knows him to call him by his first name."
Snape felt like smiling, but resisted. "Oh? And what kind of person do you think I am?"
Roxanna smiled. "You dress in black clothes that match your hair and eyes. You must have a dark past. Because of this assumption, I can assume that you are unmarried because you feel like the past is something you have to suffer for now. You don't think you are worthy of anyone's love, even if you are. Because of the way you keep to yourself, I assume that you don't let anyone close to you and that you like to keep your emotions hidden. You think that you are complex, but in reality you are not. You are just a man searching for that which you want so desperately, but feel like you are unworthy of. You are searching for love and a family."
Snape just stared at her. In just a few words this girl had pinned him down. She didn't even know him, and yet knew everything about him. She wasn't using Legimancy, or he would have felt it.
"I often watch hopeful future parents come and look us over like we were meat. I learned how to read clothing, body language, and other attributes while staying at the orphanage."
Snape found this intriguing. This girl spent enough time in that horrid place to read people, brew antidotes without knowing what the original poison was, tame her powers to a degree, and protect the several children from the whip of Beatrice Explenta.
"How long were you there?" he asked finally, after a few minutes of silent studying. Roxanna's green eyes locked with his. He could see the sadness welling up in them.
"All my life. All seventeen years of it," she said. Snape looked at the girl. She was healing up nicely, even if it did take several potions to do anything to help her. She looked closer to twenty six than seventeen.
"What happened to you?" he whispered, more to himself than to her, but she heard him anyway.
"I think that is a story for another day," she said. "Right now I am feeling a tad bit drowsy and I need to sleep in order to heal."
Snape nodded and turned to leave, but her voice stopped him.
"Thank you again," she said, "for everything."
Snape turned back to the young girl lying on the bed. She fell asleep. He just stood there and watched her for a few seconds before shutting the curtain around her and heading back down to the dungeons.