A/N: See? I told you I'd update sooner. How's that for soon? And thank you for all the wonderful reviews and encouragement to continue I got last chapter.
Chapter Eighteen:
Severus's fingers drummed dully on the desktop. It was 7:46 pm. Potter was late. Severus was certain the boy was doing it just to rile him. He glared at the clock again. 7:48pm. He would give him two more minutes and then he was going after him.
Severus was already on his way out the door when the clock's minute hand ticked over to 7:50 pm. He stormed towards the boy's rooms, becoming more irate when every corner turned failed to reveal the Gryffindor hurrying to the dungeons for his detention. Reaching the Infirmary corridor, Severus didn't bother to knock politely at Potter's door: he snarled his override password as a House head and slammed into the suite.
Two strides in, he froze. Something was wrong. The still form of the Weasley chit in front of the nursery door was testament to that. She had been petrified in a state of defense: her eyes were still wide with fear, and anger sparked in their depths.
The nursery door was ajar, and the room beyond was heart-rendingly silent.
In his rush to reach the room, Severus leapt over Ginny, paying her no mind. His eyes darted frantically around the room, taking in its state of disarray and coming to rest on the cradle. The painfully empty cradle. It hung askew, the blankets spilling over the side. Severus's heart clenched.
Lying in a heap at the base of the cradle was Harry, his wand gripped in a white-knuckled hand. Severus fell to one knee beside him and gently turned him onto his back. Harry's face was slack, and pale except for the top of his right cheek. It was purple, swollen and split, and when Severus touched his temple, his hand came away wet with blood.
Severus cursed vehemently. He wanted to destroy whoever had done this to Harry… whoever had taken his daughter.
Severus whipped off his robes and settled them over Harry. He pried the younger man's wand from his fingers and pocketed it. That done, Severus left him lying there and returned to the main room, intent on reviving Ginny Weasley.
Standing over her prone form, Severus cast finite incantatum and, almost before she'd managed to shake off the petrificus totalus, he grabbed her by the arm and hauled her to her feet, demanding to know what happened.
"Lucius Malfoy," she gasped, "I don't know how he got in, but he was halfway across the room before we even realised he was there. I pushed Harry into the nursery and turned to block the doorway -" Ginny paused, and bit her lip, "The bastard petrified me before I could even get my wand up.
"He kicked my out of the way," she winced in remembered pain and rubbed her side, "And followed Harry into the nursery. I could hear them dueling: Harry must have held out for at least ten minutes. Then there was this thump. And the baby started wailing. Then everything went silent. A couple of minutes later, Malfoy came back out. He was holding Harry's little girl in one arm like a rag doll."
Severus's grip on the girl's arm was tight enough to bruise, "How long ago was this? How long has he had her?"
Ginny bit her lip, "Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty."
A small wounded sound escaped Severus's throat, and he pushed Ginny away from him. He went back into the nursery and swooped down on Harry, pulling a hair from the unconscious man's head. Straightening, he pulled another hair from his own head and wound them both around his wand. Balancing the wand in the palm of his hand, Severus commanded, "Point me." The wand spun in his hand and settled pointing out the door, as Severus knew it initially would.
He followed it out of the nursery and across the sitting room to the suite door. Once there, the wand changed direction, pointing away from the stairs and deeper into the castle. Severus paused a moment, considering.
Malfoy couldn't apparate from within Hogwarts. Nor could he Floo out: the only external Floo was in Albus's office. Flying was not a choice available to him while he was carrying a baby, and there was no way he could reach the edge of the wards in fifteen minutes, not without being seen. Malfoy had to be heading somewhere within the castle; somewhere he thought he would be safe – at least long enough to complete a Naming Ceremony.
Severus muttered a curse – Malfoy would be heading for the sub-dungeons. The place was positively labyrinthine.
"I'm coming with you."
Severus half-turned, growling in annoyance. "You are staying here. You will make sure that Mr. Potter gets the care he needs from Madam Pomfery. When he wakes up, you will make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
Severus didn't give Ginny a chance to protest: he took off running down the hall, following his wand. He bellowed at students when they didn't get out of his way as first as he would have liked, and he took entire flights of stairs in a few bounds. He skidded to a halt in front of a statue of Merlin and nearly blasted it off its plinth when its secret passage didn't open quickly enough. Severus raced down the pitch-black, tightly winding secret stair to the sub-dungeons, falling repeatedly against the walls in his haste.
Eventually he emerged into a passage not much better lit than the staircase he had just descended. The walls were thick with grime down here, and the floor was slick with moss. Severus paused briefly to catch his breath and to re-cast the 'point-me' spell. His wand spun in his palm and settled pointing away from him down the corridor.
Severus proceeded more carefully here, knowing that wherever Lucius Malfoy had taken his daughter, it couldn't be too far away. And, with such an important hostage in the hands of his opponent, Severus couldn't afford to give up the element of surprise. He didn't even dare to cast a cloaking spell for fear Malfoy would detect the ambient magic.
He padded down the corridor, clinging to the deep shadows of the walls. Reaching an intersection, he paused and allowed his wand to reorient. He followed it to the left, the floor sloping downwards beneath his feet. He let his wand guide him through each junction he came to and every time, it pointed him down, ever deeper beneath the castle. Around him, the walls gradually ceased to be dressed stonework and became rough-hewn, raw rock. Severus knew by now where his wand was leading him.
Eventually, there came a sense of space ahead of him, and the sound of water. The tunnel ended and Severus lingered in the deep shadows of its mouth. This was where the lake's waters welled up out of the earth. This was, also, the seat of Hogwarts wards. It was a place so thick with magic that any form of scrying would never penetrate it. It was the perfect place for Lucius to perform the Naming Ceremony on Severus's daughter completely undetected.
Lucius was standing by the water's edge, his back towards Severus and a chalice in one hand. Beside him, a brazier smouldered. On the ground behind him, lying on a blanket, was Harry's daughter, naked as the day she was born and blue with cold. She was crying weakly. As Severus watched, Lucius threw a contemptuous look over his shoulder and bent to scoop up a chalice-full of water. He was casting a circle – the salt already marked the ground around the baby girl. Severus bit back a sigh of relief – he wasn't too late: Lucius had barely had time to begin the Ceremony.
Rather than charge across the intervening space and give Lucius a chance to react – Severus was not willing to take any chances with his daughter's life – Severus edged out of the mouth of the tunnel, and careful to stay silent, crept through the shadows, circling around til he stood much closer to the man and off to his left.
Once there, Severus slowly bent and plucked a small stone from the ground, not once removing his eyes from the other man. Straightening again, Severus waited. He would allow Malfoy to complete the protective circle – there was no reason to put his daughter in the middle of a magical duel.
Lucius cast the water and traced the circle one last time, his wand drawn and chanting under his breath. He completed the circle, it glowed blindingly blue for a moment, and Severus – who had wisely closed his to preserve his night-vision – threw the stone he held. It landed with a clatter by the mouth of the tunnel.
Lucius whipped around, his wand out stretched, blinking furiously. Severus cast an expelliarmus at his back. Unfortunately, Lucius heard it coming, and threw himself flat. He flipped himself over and back onto his feet and cast a widespread slashing curse in Severus's general direction.
Severus blocked it, threw back a blasting curse and, while Malfoy still could not see properly, moved. The blasting spell hit Lucius in his left shoulder, dislocating it and spinning the man around. This, unfortunately, left him facing the direction Severus had moved in, and he saw him. Severus threw off another spell before Lucius could react and it left a laceration on the other man's leg.
Lucius ignored it and threw blasting curse of his own at Severus. Severus blocked it easily, but did not have time to block the jelly legs hex that followed it. He quickly cast the counter curse but not before he stumbled. And not before Lucius hit him with a hamstring curse. But his stumble had aided Severus here: it lashed painfully into his hip instead of the curse hitting his legs and incapacitating him.
Severus hissed in pain. He retaliated with a binding curse, but Lucius dodged it. Severus cast a Dark bleeding hex at the man. Lucius avoided it by stepping into the protective circle. Severus froze and the low-level stinging curse Lucius had just thrown hit him full on. Severus quickly threw it off, but it was too late: Lucius had already seen his weakness.
Lucius threw a Dark pummelling curse at Severus, who blocked it with a hasty protego but didn't attempt to retaliate.
Lucius laughed and dropped his wand to his side, deliberately leaving himself open to attack. "Don't tell me you're worried about hurting the whelp, Severus."
Severus snarled and brought up his wand. He stopped.
Lucius laughed again, "By Hecate, you really are! Who would have thought the cold and heartless Snape would care about a baby. And Potter's, no less." Without taking his eyes off Severus, Malfoy bent and picked up the still weakly crying baby. "Here's your chance, man. You can kill me and Potter's brat all in one go. Wouldn't that be the ultimate revenge?"
Severus stayed silent, his grip white-knuckled on his wand. He ran through all the spells he knew, trying to find one that would penetrate the protective circle but would not harm his baby. His shoulders sagged slightly. There were none. And Lucius knew it too.
He put the child down again and moved to the very edge of the protective circle.
"You're a fool, Snape," he spat contemptuously and cast a disarming hex. Severus's wand flew out his hand and he was thrown onto his back. Lucius quickly followed the spell with a full body bind.
When he was sure Severus was securely bound, Lucius pocketed his opponent's wand and left the safety of the protective circle. He sauntered over to Severus's side and stood looking down at him for a long moment.
"You really are a fool," he repeated and drew back his foot and slammed it into Severus's side.
"Did you really think I'd let anyone stop me now? I'm about to do what the great Tom Riddle couldn't. I'm about to defeat Potter and I'm going to use his own child to do it. Poetic, don't you think?"
Severus glared mutely at him. Lucius curled his lip. "You're weak, Snivellus. You managed to convince everybody – even that old coot, Dumbledore – that you're completely harmless. And then you didn't take the opportunity presented to you on a silver platter: you didn't take the most powerful child born in our times.
"Crucio!" Lucius smiled in grim amusement as Severus's body stiffened and trembled under the force of the Unforgivable. "You know what I think? I think you bought into all the crap they were peddling, Snape. I think you really believed that Potter would defeat Voldemort and everything would be sunshine and roses and you… would get... everything you think Voldemort and the Potters and the whole world denied you. Dumbledore sold you a story of redemption and a happy ending all of your own and you bought with your whole, blackened heart.
"Well, guess what, Snivellus?" Lucius bent down and placed his mouth by Severus's ear, whispering, "It's all bullshit."
He stood up again, smiling maliciously. "This – right here – this is you getting what you deserve.
"You're not going to save the day this time Severus. You would have been better off killing me – and the brat – when you had the chance. Now, when they eventually find their way down here, me and the baby will be gone, and you'll be left here, defeated."
Lucius took and step back and cast the Cruciatus Curse again, "I'm not going to kill you Snape. That wouldn't be nearly enough fun. Instead, I'm going to let you lie there and watch while I complete this Naming Ceremony and turn Potter's own flesh-and-blood against him. And you won't be able to do anything about it, will you Snape, lying there all broken and defenceless.
"And then I'll leave, taking this precious little Potter-spawn with me. And they'll come and find you and they'll forgive you – isn't that what they do best? – they'll forgive you because you tried to stop me.
"But you'll know better, won't you Snape? You'll know that you didn't try hard enough – that you failed. And the guilt will eat at you and eventually destroy you. Knowing that you failed. Failed to save the world and failed to redeem yourself."
Lucius finally lifted the curse and watched in twisted delight as tears of relief ran down Severus's cheeks. He lent down to whisper maliciously in his ear again, "And you know what will eat at you the most? The fact that you could never make yourself worthy of your parents. Not evil enough for Daddy, not good enough for Mummy. But Mummy loved you anyway, didn't she? Her precious. Little. Failure."
Lucius bounced up, a civilised mask on his face. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a ceremony to complete and a daughter to adopt."
Lucius turned his back on Severus and re-entered the protective circle. He picked up the chalice of water and carried it over to the brazier. He carefully poured a little of the water into the fire and the flames spat and leapt higher. Lucius began to chant, calling upon the ancient powers to witness the ceremony.
And all Severus could was lie there, staring at his tiny daughter, whom he'd only ever held once.
The waters of the underground lake were stirring now, pushed by a non-existent wind, as the spirits of magic responded to Lucius's summoning.
Lucius was wrong about one thing. It wouldn't be Severus's failure to live up to his parents' impossible expectations that killed him: it would be his failure to save his daughter.
Severus closed his eyes, unable to watch as Lucius took the remaining water in the chalice and poured it over his daughter's body.
He only hoped that it was Harry that found him first. There was no doubt in Severus's mind that the young man would kill him for this. And rightly so: if Severus had only spoken up, their daughter would have been named weeks ago.
Severus opened his eyes long enough to see Lucius sanitising a knife in the by-now blue flames of the brazier. He shut his eyes again. He couldn't bear to watch his daughter's future destroyed.
His snapped open again when she screamed. Lucius was crouching over her, making ritualistic cuts on her chest. Severus's whole body jerked in reaction. Lucius was performing a dark-magic adoption.
Bugger that! Severus could less about the world and he didn't give a damn about his pride or his dignity or living up to his parents' expectations. But Hell would freeze over and he'd wear a pink tutu before he failed his daughter and let Malfoy adopt her.
By sheer force of will, Severus broke the body bind he was under and drew Harry's wand from his pocket. It wasn't his own, and he wouldn't be able to do any high level spells with it, but it was better than nothing.
Severus staggered to his feet and moved up behind Lucius – as quickly and quietly as he could. His wounded hip gave out on him just as he neared the man, and he collapsed to his knees. With all his strength, Severus plunged the wand into Lucius's thigh and gasped out the first spell that entered his head.
Lucius roared and surged to his feet, dropping the knife – thankfully nowhere near the baby. He stared, shocked, down at the wand protruding from his leg, Severus's hand still grasping the haft. He knocked Severus's hand away and Severus let him – the spell was complete anyway, and only time would tell if it had worked.
Lucius pulled the wand from his thigh and threw it away. He laughed.
"So there is some fight left in you after all, Snape. Pity it didn't work," Lucius rubbed at his thigh, and then at his hip.
His expression turning sour, Lucius viciously kicked at whatever part of Severus he could reach. Severus didn't attempt to stop him, just rolled away from the baby, wanting her to come to no harm.
"You stupid, wretched son of a diseased hippogriff!" Lucius screamed, "I'm going to be walking with a limp for months now!"
He landed one last kick in Severus's kidney and stopped. He rubbed at his chest and then brushed his hair out of his face. "It hardly matters anyway," he went on, calmly, "You haven't stopped me from completing the ceremony, just delayed me." He shivered with cold.
Severus flopped onto his back and a small smile curled his lips, "Sometimes, Lucius, a delay is all that's needed."
Lucius scowled and rubbed at his chest again, pressing the heel of his hand over his heart, "You don't honestly think that the cavalry's going to arrive at this late date, do you Severus? I –" He stopped, his hand stilling over his heart. His eyes widened, and he looked down at his body, finally noticing the cold that was spreading through him.
"What did you do to me?"
Severus huffed an attempt at laughter, "I'm not the one that's cold-hearted now, Malfoy."
Lucius tried to advance on him, but found he couldn't move his legs. He tried to scrabble for his wand, but his hands weren't responding. "What did you do to me?!" he screamed.
"Conglacio," Severus whispered, and enjoyed the expression on Lucius Malfoy's face as the last of his blood turned to ice, and the life died in his eyes.
Severus wasn't sure how much time had passed. The brazier was still burning and his daughter was still making sounds of disquiet. Severus turned his head to look at her. Her face was red from crying, but her hands and feet were blue with cold, and there was blood drying on her chest.
Severus turned onto his stomach and pushed himself to his hands and knees. Slowly, trying not to aggravate his hip, he crawled over to her and sat himself down. He gathered her into his arms, wrapping her warmly in the blanket she had been laying in. He held her close to his chest and unconsciously began to rock, whispering soothing nonsense under his breath. "My baby, my little girl. It's okay. I've got you. You're safe now, my baby."
Slowly she calmed down and stopped fussing. She blinked up at him and yawned. Severus smiled widely and it was only then that he noticed the tears of relief running down his face. He swiped at them with his thumb.
There was a sense of expectancy, of insistence in the air, and Severus realised that the Powers That Be were still there. That they were waiting for the ceremony to be completed.
Severus looked around. The knife Malfoy had used to cut his daughter was lying within easy reach, but Severus scorned it. It was tainted: it had been used in dark magic before. Instead he used his teeth: he bit his tear-stained thumb until it bled. Severus shifted his daughter onto his knees and moved her blanket with his unblooded hand.
Sitting there all alone on the floor, deep under Hogwarts Castle, Severus Snape, dabbing his own blood on the forehead, lips and chest of his daughter as she stared, wide-eyed and solemn, up at him, named her "Siobhan Aisha."
Again, an indeterminate amount of time passed before Severus was brought back to awareness. This time, he and Siobhan weren't alone. Somebody was there. And that somebody was trying to take Siobhan away from him.
Severus lurched upright, clutching Siobhan to his chest with one arm and fending of the intruder with the other, "Don't touch her!"
There was a silence that conveyed surprise. The person laid a gentle hand on Severus's shoulder, carefully clear of his daughter.
"Severus, its Albus."
Severus blinked and looked around. Albus and Kingsley Shacklebolt were standing over him, expressions full of concern. Severus attempted to get to his feet, but found he couldn't with just one hand.
"Here, allow me to take Harry's child and Kingsley can help you to your feet."
Severus snarled and turned away, shielding Siobhan with his upper body, "I said not to touch her."
Albus looked taken aback, "My dear boy, I-" He stopped when Severus glared hotly at him, "Yes, alright. I suppose… Kingsley, if you would be so kind?" The headmaster grasped Severus by the elbow, and the auror wrapped an arm about his waist and between them both, they managed to get the injured Severus to his feet without him having to relinquish his hold on his daughter.
When it was clear that Severus could not stand on his own, Kingsley continued to support him.
"Wands," Severus said, indicating his own in the pocket of Lucius's robes and Harry's where it had been thrown. Dumbledore obliging retrieved them and handed them to Severus, who stuffed them in his pocket.
He turned himself and Kingsley about to face the tunnel mouth and hobbled towards, forcing the other man to go with him. The headmaster looked around the cavern briefly before following them.
"I don't suppose you'll tell what happened down here, Severus...?"
Severus didn't reply, just held Siobhan closer.
"No? Well… perhaps later, after Madam Pomfery has checked you and little Miss Potter over."
TBC
A/N: Sorry if Severus is a little OOC here, but I think he had to be. In the next chapter he will be back to his usual surly, snide self.
A/N: Oh, and I'm sure you all guessed a few chatpers back that her name wasn't going to be Aisha Cearo (even though I really like that name). Her name has -always- been Siobhan, even before I first posted this story. Siobhan means 'praise' and Aisha means 'life'.