Prologue.
"Surely you are not serious about this, Headmaster." Said a man with greasy curtains of black hair that hung about his pale, thin face as he peered down his hooked nose at the little girl that was sitting with her arms hugging her knees under Dumbledore's desk.
Her turquoise eyes stared back up at him through her blonde bangs in fearful curiosity as she edged a little closer to the hem of Albus Dumbledore's robes so as to feel more secure. The girl's silky hair had been carefully braided into pigtails and she wore a pink t-shirt along with a small pair of jeans.
"I am most certainly sure of this, Severus. I do believe it will do you good to take in a child, both to help clear your record and to develop healthy relationships. I, for one, think that to raise this child as your own is the perfect chance to create a special bond, one that exists only between parent and child."
Snape averted his gaze to the silver bearded wizard in front of him. "But, Headmaster, I do not even know the girl's name. Surely it would be awkward and furthermore traumatizing for her to be taken in by someone she has never met before."
"Precisely the reason you will spend time with her, Professor. So you can get to know her, gain her trust, then raise her as your own. She needs a father figure in her life, and I," Dumbledore gave an amused chuckle. "Am most definitely too old."
Snape gave a sigh. "I suppose I have no choice in the matter?"
Dumbledore shook his head, smiling gently with his hands folded on the desk in front of him.
Snape returned the smile rather sarcastically as it didn't look right on his face, while he leered from the little girl under the desk to the elderly wizard who sat before him.
"Very well, then," He gave in, getting up from his seat and inclining his head in respect to the Headmaster before turning to leave.
"Severus," Dumbledore called sternly.
Snape stopped in his tracks and turned back to face Dumbledore quickly. "Yes, Headmaster." He responded calmly, though he felt quite annoyed at the moment.
"You're forgetting something," Albus smiled, gesturing towards the little girl who had poked her head out of her hiding place in curiosity, to watch Snape's retreating back, still clinging to the hem of Dumbledore's robes.
Snape strode reluctantly forward. "What am I to do with her, Headmaster? I have classes to teach tomorrow and I haven't a place for her to stay."
"Oh, I think you will find the perfect place for her in your office, Professor." Dumbledore said with a mysterious smile that said he knew something the other person did not.
Snape, again, inclined his head in respect to the Headmaster of Hogwarts and looked at the girl. "Come, then." He said curtly to her, holding out a hand reluctantly, as if disgusted with himself.
The girl shrank back a bit, staring at his pale thin fingers, then gazing up at Dumbledore as if to ask him what she should do.
"Go on, little one. Professor Snape's a nice man, he'll look after you."
She looked back at Snape, not so sure if Dumbledore referring to this scary looking man as nice was quite accurate. But, trusting the Headmaster, she obeyed and slowly reached up to grasp Snape's pale hand.
He jerked her to her feet and turned around to stride quickly out of Dumbledore's office, the little girl running and nearly tripping over her feet to keep up with him, sucking on her thumb.
Once the door to the Headmaster's quarters had snapped closed, Snape let go of the girl's hand and motioned for her to follow him. "Listen here, you little prat, I have no desire what so ever to have a child messing around in my office so you behave yourself or I'll send you straight back to Dumbledore. Understand?"
She nodded her head, still sucking her thumb.
"And get your thumb out of your mouth!" Snape ordered, disgusted.
The girl removed her thumb.
"Good, you are never to do that again in my presence, understood?"
She nodded again.
"Don't you speak? From now on the proper response is: 'Yes, sir.' Can you say that?"
The girl shook her head.
"Surely you know how to speak," Snape said, giving her a strange look.
She looked down to avoid his gaze.
"What's your name?"
She continued to stare at the stone floor as they walked.
Snape sighed. "Since you refuse to speak, I suppose I ought to find you a name, then?" He inquired, opening his office door.
In the corner of the office that had shelves all along to walls full of pickled potion ingredients and the strangest of objects and creatures, was a bed just big enough for a child her size to sleep in, there were toys and books surrounding it, as if that little corner of the office was now devoted to the girl's room.
Her turquoise eyes lit up and she hurried over to the bed, jumping on it and then looking curiously at a book that was on the dusty stone floor of Snape's office.
Snape sat at his desk, looking over a book he'd been reading to plan a lesson for the next day, before he was called up to Dumbledore's office.
Glad that this child was quiet so he could indeed concentrate on his reading, Snape sighed and massaged his greasy temples, trying not to ponder what name he should give the child who was now reading a child's book quietly in his office, his eyes darting from side to side of the page. He looked at the name of the inventor of this particular potion: Chloe Kirwan.
He looked back up at the small blonde haired, turquoise-eyed pale girl who was humming to herself as she turned one of the brightly colored pages to continue her reading.
"Chloe…" Snape mouthed to himself, eyeing the newly permanent occupant to his company.
yea, this is just the prologue of a harry potter fic i found on my computer that i obviously had going somewhere and it seemed cute so i figured what the heck, might as well post it :P tell me what ya thought plz. :)