I need a mother

Author: Leta McGotor

Disclaimer: I owe nothing but Cassy. The other belongs to JKR.

I'm really sorry for the long gaps between my updates but I have my examinations now and I don't want to fail them. So please don't be upset with me.

Chapter 6

'Severus, where are we?'

'In the back of the manor of the Dark Lord. Look there.' He pointed with his finger to an impressive building crowning a hill near the edge of the forest. She stared at it. The manor was really huge with several floors, uncountable windows and rich ornamentations of the façade. She swallowed.

'And you have a plan how we go inside, have you not?'

'Well, it could be a bit … well, difficult. Don't look at me like that. I wasn't prepared that my daughter would me kidnaped by some of those idiots. No, I have no plan. I… Are you mad? What are you doing there?' He asked with a horrorfied expression. Minerva had run to the building and was now waiting under one of the winows. She stared at him and showed that he had to be silent then she pointed to the window which to his great surprise was open. He hurried to her.

'The window is open.'

'I see but it's impossible. The Dark Lord would never be careless like that. It's impossible.'

'But it is open, isn't it?'

'Yes, but…'

'I know it is strange but why kick your luck with your shoes? We have two possibilities. The first one is that we are careful, go back and wait to the night or longer to enter the house. Or the second one: Do it now. What do you think?'

'It's like commiting suizid but I want my daughter back. Therefore let us try.' He looked around to see if there was anybody. Noticing that there was nobody he stand up and climbed through the window into the house. Minerva followed. They found themselves in a what seemed like a boxroom. Here and there they saw several old and broken furniture and useless odds and ends.

'It seemed like he sorted some things out.' Some things was an understatement. The room was more a little hall than a room and all things stacked until the ceiling. 'With some luck we can find the door.' They needed almost half an hour to find it and move the things standing in front of it away.

'I hope nobody has heard us.' Severus looked in the corridor but it was emty.

'Are they all asleep? Not that I want them around us but it is more than a bit strange that here is not a single Death Eater. What do you think?'

'Yes, normally here are about twenty of them, no matter what time it is.' He answered with a worried expression on his face. Surely he was confused by what they had found but he was also worried about Cassy. Therefore his surroundings didn't matter to him as much as the welfare of his daughter. Some might think it could be dangerous with him and his thoughts not at what he is doing but to their luck and astonishment they met nobody, neither Death Eater nor a single rat or even a fly. The only thing they met was the silence. It was so quiet in the house that they wondered whether they were the only ones in the whole building. But they were careful. They creeped along the corridors, looked around the corners and didn't speak a single word. So it went on for nearly an hour and now they were near the rooms of the Dark Lord himself.

'Minerva, if you want to … to turn around and go it will be ok. You know you don't have to … and… and..'

'Severus, stop telling me what I can and what I don't have to do. Tell me rather what we should do now. These are the last rooms in this house and they are the rooms of him, you know. We can't go inside and demand that he gives us your daughter. That won't work. So I hear your idea.'

'Why can't we go just inside? It's the shortest way to get Cassy back.'

'Yes, but I doubt that you will be still alive after that.'

'Oh, yes. What shall we do instead of that? Maybe we could …'

'Maybe you could come with me. The Dark Lord is waiting for you both.' Said a sniggering voice behind them. Severus and Minerva turned around. Behind them there stood a half dozen Death Eaters with their wand at the ready. Without waiting for a reaction the Death Eaters disarmed them.

'Now follow me, please.' The man in front of them laughed and with him all of the others, too. Minerva felt a sharp pain in her heart. How could they have been that stupid? How couldn't they hear the Death Eaters behind them? They should have known. It was all too easy and now they had a real problem. A real big problem.

The man lead them straight to the rooms of Voldemort. Minerva didn't dare to look at Severus. Had she checked where her niece lived she had been able to prevend her kidnapping. They would have kidnaped her instead of the little girl and she and her father had been safe. She never would have known the frights the Dark Lord's spreading everywhere, at all events not at her age now. But she didn't. She didn't check where Cassy and her father lived, she didn't even know that Severus was her father. She sighed. It was all her fault.

Severus looked at Minerva besides him. She forced her gaze straight to the ground. What had he done! He hadn't only brought his beloved daughter in danger but also the woman he loved. The whole situation couldn't be worse. He felt as if he had already lost Cassy. Minerva said they couldn't use the girl. Probably she was already dead. They would use Minerva instead and he shuddered at the thought. What had they done to Cassy and what would they do to Minerva?

The man in front of them knocked and opened the door. He bowed and they could feel the Death Eaters behind them bowed as well. The Dark Lord sat in an armchair his red eyes fixed on Minerva and Severus. And he smiled. It was not the happy, innocent smile of a child unpacking its birthday presents. This smile was an expression of cruelty, of contempt, of determination about the win.

Without saying a word he moved his right hand and Minerva and Severus felt a force to bow like the Death Eaters had done it before. They tried to oppose but in vain, they only heard the high and cruel laugh of the Dark Lord ringing in their ears. After they stand straight again Voldemort moved his chair and they could see the little girl sitting on the ground next to him. Cassy was tied up from head to toe. She was unable to move her lips although she tried hard while seeing her father. Cassy gave them a look of pure horror as Voldemort started speaking.

'Welcome on my beautiful home. Guests have to keep their manners but you two didn't looked like you wanted to bow but I'm a helpful host.' He smiled again his satisfied smile before leaning back in his chair.

'You are here because of her?' he pointed to Cassy. 'She is a very nasty little thing completely without manners. She doesn't know what is good for her but I won't make her a reproach. Her father is the same.' He looked at Severus and with a fast movement of his wand a hot pain shot through Severus body. It seemed like hours to him that the Dark Lord released him. Severus find himself kneeling on the ground unable to move because of the remaining pain.

'The girl was of no use for me, you know. I wanted to kill her but then I heard that you are here. What a chance. Severus, do you want your daughter back?' Severus stared. He couldn't be serious. The Dark Lord asked him if he would want his daughter back. He sighed. Voldemort looked at him and he felt the gazes of all the Death Eaters upon him. He had to say something.

'Yes, but alive.' Voldemort laughed.

'I see, you know me far to well, Severus. Your daughter is a pure blood. Probably she will see how nasty such mudbloods and mugles are. She will see that the only right way is my way, see that the people whom she should have contact with carry out my ideas. There will be a time when she will know that her father, yes, her own father, once chose the right way but was too weak to go on and went back to that muggleloving, chocolate-drinking fool of that school. So Severus, tell me why should I murder her. With a bit of the right education she will be strong enough to go on and not to fail like her father.' His smile broadened. 'Bellatrix, take the girl and show her the right way.'

'Of course, my Lord.' Bellatrix Lestrange took Cassy with her. With a last pleading look she vanished out of sight.

'Severus, I hope you won't fail me in the future or you will never get a chance to fail me again. Is that clear? Understood?' he said in a low, dangerous voice. To Severus nothing was as unclear as now. The Dark Lord wouldn't murder him? Why? He didn't understand. Voldemort didn't wait for an answer. He gave some of the Death Eaters a sign and they lifted Severus up forcing him to stand straight and face the Dark Lord.

'And now to you, Minerva McGonagall. You want to replace the girl? What a great idea.' And he laughed and all the Death Eaters laughed, too and it felt that all the Death Eeaters of Voldemort laughed as well as the rest of the world. Minerva McGonagall looked up. To Severus Snape's horror she nodded sadly, nearly guilty in his eyes and looked to the ground again. For Severus it all couldn't be true, it simly couldn't. But it was.

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