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Chapter Two: Severus Meets His Past
Christina gazed out of the window of the room she had taken in the inn the night before. The English countryside was truly beautiful, and she wished she could be here for any reason other than why she was here. Dressing quickly she left the room, determined to find her father.
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Severus Snape, feared Potions Master of the Hogwarts School of Witcraft and Wizardy, didn't appear all that frightning as he drank a cup of tea and relaxed in his favorite chair. Hearing a bang and thud he groaned. When will those two settle down, they're 17 years old for the love of Merlin. He smiled to himself. No one in the wizarding world would ever believe that he, Severus Snape, would be the fatherly type, let alone that he would adopt one Harry Potter, and one Draco Malfoy. Smiling more he thought of the circumstances around the adoptions, how Harry had accidently become friends with Draco, and how Draco had been disowned for not taking the Dark Mark. Merlin was he proud of Draco for that, and when Harry's muggle relatives had turned him out halfway through the summer holidays after his 5th tear, Albus had forced Severus to take in both boys, where he grew to love them both as sons. Another thud had Severus out of his chair and calling up the stairs.
"What in the name of the Gods are you two doing up there!" He shouted, two heads popped over the banister and were smiling innocently, too innocently." Down here right now." He said, hoping he sounded menacing. He could tell by the looks on their faces that he didn't. Both boys came down the stairs and trudged into the front sitting room. Sitting on the couch they seem to use some sort of code to confer before Draco finally said
"We were experimenting with some Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, we didn't know you could hear us down here, we won't do it in the house again." He said the last part quickly, and both boys made to flee but Severus blocked their escape.
"Back on the couch, you're not getting off that easily. How on earth do you to think I'd buy a bull-" Severus was interupted by a knock at the door. He immediately froze, no one knew where this place was, not even Albus, muggles didn't come here, and he had wards up to sound alarms should a wizard try to walk on the property. " Upstairs now, no noise what so ever" He hissed, both boys moved quickly and quietly following his orders. Severus moved to the front door cautiously. When he opened the door his brain reeled. Standing on his front porch was someone who looked very much like Tena, but he knew it was Tena because there were differences.
"Can I help you?" He asked, not liking the appraising look he was getting.
"Uhm yeah, are you Severus Snape?" The girl asked in an american accent. She was staring at him, waiting for his answer.
"That really depends." He said, his breath catching in his throat.
"That depends on what?" She asked.
"What your mother's name is." He replied, knowing the answer before she drew the breath to speak the words.
"You knew her as Tena Hathaway, the day she died she was Tena Neville." She said, an intense look of soul pain crossing her eyes.
"Come in, we need to talk." He said, he couldn't believe Tena was dead, she was only 46. Christina walked into the house and looked around. Severus guided her to the front sitting room. He couldn't believe that a few minutes ago he was about to lecture his sons in this room, now he was going to have to face his daughter, and by the looks of it she was gonna give him a fight. "How did she...?" He trailed off.
"Car accident, well technically it was a heart attack, but we were in a car accident when it happened." She said, her eyes slightly unfocused.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"I'm fine." Her voice sounded bitter, and he couldn't determine if it was because of him or something else.
"She swore she wouldn't tell you." He said, hating how harsh and mean that sounded.
"She swore she wouldn't tell me while she still drew breath, I was given a letter after her death explaining everything." She said, but Severus could tell there was something the girl didn't know.
"Uhm, I don't know how to say this but I don't even know your name." He confessed.
"Christina" Was all she replied. Severus didn't need to test her, he knew she was who she said she was, his soul told him so when he looked at her.
"Christina, I'm not a man to slight my duties, I had a very good reason for what I did. Now that you're here, and your mother's gone, I want to take you in, share my life with you." He said carefully, not sure whether she inherited his temper or not.
"Sounds good, I don't really have any place to go anyway, nothing tying me back home." She said, her voice sounded hollow.
"If this will work, you need to know some very important things about me, three things in fact. When I tell you the first one, you must promise you'll believe me... no matter how skeptical you are." He said, hoping she wasn't going to explode with something like 'You left me, you expect me to trust you?' or something very similar. She surprised him again
"Okay." She said staring him straight in the eyes.
" I am a wizard, I placed a charm on you so you wouldn't look like me and give your mother's infidelity away." He said, waiting for her to scoff, to laugh.
"Didn't work well, he still knew I wasn't his, and he took great pleasure in telling me so." She said, she quite honestly felt like she could trust this man in front of her.
"If you wish I can take the charm off of you, and you can see what you truly look like." He said, not liking her simple answers. It took him a moment to realize she was still grieving her mother.
" I'd like that." She said. Severus drew his wand and performed the counter charm. Christina's light brown hair turned raven in color, he dark brown eyes turned black. Her height incresed by two or three inches, and her skin turned a few shades lighter. She looked at herself and smiled. "I always felt like I wasn't what I looked like on the outside, damned if I wasn't right about that." She said laughing. Severus liked the way she looked like him, and was very glad she still had Tena's nose, and eye shape. "You said there were three..." She prompted, looking uncomfortable under his gaze.
"Well the second thing is... well the reason I couldn't claim you was because there is a very Dark Wizard in our world. He's pure evil, and would no doubt kill you, your mother, and your sisters for being connected to me, and he would have killed me for being with a non magic woman." He said, glossing over how evil Voldemort really was.
"That makes sence." She said still gazing at her arm.
"And third, and I really must ask you not to become angry... I have two sons, adopted, who live with me." He looked at her waiting for her reaction. He finally got the reaction he had been expecting.
"It's all well and good for you to leave me for my own protection, but you can have two sons?!" She screamed, anguish and rage pouring out of her. " I spent 20 years believing I was the daughter of a crazy bastard, 4 years being told I wasn't his child so it was okay for him to beat me, 20 years believing that I was worthless, fighting against everyone to prove that I was worth something, and my own father can have his own merry fucking life with two kids who aren't his own when I spent my whole life suffering. AND YOU ASK ME NOT TO BE ANGRY?! YOU EXPECT ME TO JUST TAKE THAT, AND PRETEND IT'S NOT AN INSULT TO ME, TO MY MOTHER, WHAT KIND OF SADISTIC SON OF A BITCH ARE YOU!!" She screamed, tears pouring down her face. Severus felt like the worlds biggest asshole. He should have just let her think Harry and Draco were his nephews or something, but damn if he didn't have a honest streak in him. His mind was drawn back when Christina took a great breath of air. Then she looked at him, and he was confused, because she wasn't angry anymore.
"Are you.. okay?" He asked, being cautious in case this was just the eye of the storm.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I have a tendency to lose my temper, and well this day has just been choc full of surprises. I'm not really angry at you, it just hurt that you had two adopted sons." She said her voice tired and small. "I'd like to meet them" She added. Severus went to the stairs and called the boys down. No doubt that they had heard what she had screamed at him, he'd worry about explaining later.
"Christina I'd like to introduce you to Harry and Draco." He said. "Harry's the one with black hair, Draco's the one with the blonde.
"It's nice to meet you both." She said, and then fainted.
