Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters.
Summary: It's been twenty years since the Battle of Hogwarts. Life has been quiet for Harry Potter, but things are about to change. A new professor at Hogwarts, an unfulfilled prophecy, and something left behind by the Half-Blood Prince will quickly put him back up against old
foes.
Author's Note: Slight change to the first chapter so if you've already read it before this chapter was posted, I'd suggest going back and rereading the last part of the first chapter. It's kind of a slight difference but important to the story. As always, reviews and follows are welcome.
Harry paced around Hermione's office at the Ministry as his friend looked through record books. While many things had changed in the years since the friends were at Hogwarts, one thing that didn't was Harry's dependency on the witch to help him research things. Luckily, even though they worked in different departments, their offices were not very far from each other, so Harry often asked her help.
One thing that had improved their quest for any and all research, however, was Hermione's creation of a more efficient way to do it. Working with records that dated back centuries so often, she had created a spell that would allow her to scan books for specific words or phrases without having to read through all of them. The process was had taken a lot of time to perfect, but Harry and Ron often verbalized how they wished she had done it as a student. It would have made their lives a lot easier.
As quick as the process seemed compared to the usual way of doing things, it still took a long time to search through all of the resources that Hermione had at her disposal. It was a solid two hours after Harry had arrived that the last volume went back to where it belonged on the seemingly endless shelves in Hermione's office. "Nothing." Hermione said, looking up at her friend.
Harry frowned. "Nothing? Nothing at all?" he asked.
Hermione nodded. "Maybe if you gave me a little more information to go on…"
"What makes you think I have more information to go on?" Harry questioned.
The woman rolled her eyes at him. "Well for one, I would have hoped you had grown out of believing every potions professor at Hogwarts is hiding something and have a better reason for wanting me to search all these records for her name."
Harry ran a hand through his hair as he sat down heavily in the chair across from Hermione's desk. When he had come to her, he had simply asked her to search for the woman's name and didn't reveal anything about the conversation he had with her. "Well, there is one more bit of information, but I didn't want to mention it and influence how you were looking for it. Problem is, what I'm thinking is probably impossible." When Hermione looked at him like she was impatiently waiting for him to simply spill what he knew, he sighed. "I think he's related to Snape."
Hermione immediately shook her head to dismiss the idea. "That's impossible. We researched the Prince line, remember? Snape was the last of them. The only other possibility is that she's a muggleborn and related to him through his father's family."
"I don't think that's it." Harry said before beginning to retell the story the professor had told him about how McGonagall had found her on the grounds of Hogwarts. "If she was at Hogwarts at her birth, there was no way she could be muggleborn."
Hermione frowned. "What is it exactly that makes you think she's related to Snape then?"
"She has the Half-Blood Prince book." The wizard replied in explanation. "She told me that when she moved here, there was already a vault in her name at Gringotts and the book was in it."
To say Hermione was stumped was an understatement. While Ana having the book seemed to back-up Harry's belief that there was a connection between her and their former teacher, it wasn't much evidence to go on. "Don't you think if Snape had somehow had a child in his care at that time, there would have been something about her in the memories he left you? Those memories were his last thoughts after all. I feel like a baby that would otherwise be abandoned would have come up in them."
Harry deflated a bit because he knew she made a good point. "You're right. I just can't seem to shake the feeling that there has to be some connection there."
"I'll keep looking, okay? Search through some other books and widen what I'm searching for. Just don't get your hopes up." Hermione replied, knowing that Harry was unlikely to accept defeat so easily.
Harry sighed a bit in resignation and nodded as he stood up. "Thanks, 'Mione." He said. "I'm going to head back to work. Let me know if you find something." He said before exiting her office and heading back to his own.
A few hours later, Harry sat in his own office with Ron sitting across from him. He had been just about to leave for the day when his best friend showed up to catch up while he waited for his wife to be done working. As they waited, Harry caught Ron up about his suspicions about Ana and how Hermione was helping him.
As they were talking, Hermione walked into the office quickly holding up a book. "Good. You're still here." She said before turning to her husband to greet him. "I'm glad Harry's caught you up because I think I've found something."
Harry's eyes widened and he jumped up from his desk to move closer to her. "You did? What is it?"
"Well, it's strange. While there was no wizarding documents or records that suggest Snape had any living relatives, there was something that stood out to me in a muggle book." Hermione explained.
Harry deflated a little bit at her response. What good would a muggle book do them? Ron voiced the thought before he could though. "How's a muggle book supposed to help anything?"
"When I was searching, the name Septimus came up in it. I was going to ignore it but then I realized the title of the book it came up in was 'The Prince'." Hermione replied, showing them the book. "It's a book on political philosophy."
Harry glanced at the book. "It's just a coincidence though, isn't it?"
Hermione shook her head. "It could be but there were more coincidences that made me think it could be more than just that. The Septimus that the text refers to was a Roman Emperor." She began to explain but was cut off.
"Still would have been a muggle though. One who probably lived a very long time ago." Ron replied.
"Let me finish." Hermione said, glaring at him. "His name was Septimus Severus. And now read this quote that describes him." She said handing the book to Harry.
Harry took the book and skimmed the words to the section that had a light glow around it where Hermione had marked it. "Whoever examines in detail, then, the actions of this man will find him a most ferocious lion and a most cunning fox, and will see him to have been feared and revered by everyone." He read.
Ron frowned and looked over Harry's shoulder to see it. "Sounds like Snape."
Harry nodded in agreement. "You're right. It does seem like a lot of coincidences." He said, handing the book back to Hermione.
"Precisely." She said. "Which is why I decided to find Snape's will. Normally, a wizard would have no need to write one because by law, all of their possessions should just go to their heir and they would transfer automatically with magic. However, if you don't have an heir, you would have to write one, like Dumbledore did. As it turns out, Snape wrote one at the same time Dumbledore did, I'm assuming under the Headmaster's wishes. But when I found it, it had been nullified automatically because when he died, he had an heir."
Harry's eyes widened at the implication. "So, you're saying she is a relative of his then?"
"Not just a relative, Harry. She has to be his child." Hermione responded.
"A daughter?" Ron replied, voice rising in surprise. "How is that possible?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "How do you think?"
Ron groaned. "I know /how/. I just mean…if she was born during the battle, who could have possibly been her mother?"
"I have no idea." Hermione shrugged.
Harry sat back down in his chair as he allowed all the information to really sink in. He couldn't believe Ana was Snape's daughter. It didn't make any sense to him. Why wouldn't he have included her existence in his memories? Had he not trusted Harry with that information?
That didn't seem likely though. The older wizard had trusted Harry with his most important and painful memories. Surely, he would have included his daughter in those too. Wouldn't he have known that Harry would have made sure she was safe? Maybe not because at the time, Snape had thought Harry would soon be dead as well.
Or maybe Snape didn't even know himself? It was a possibility. Maybe the girl's mother had kept the child from him, or she simply never had the opportunity to tell him. Thinking of the girl's mother seemed to annoy him though. Harry had spent the last twenty years believing fully that the only person Snape had ever loved was his own mother. Maybe he had been wrong.
It seemed even after all of those years; Severus Snape still had secrets.
Harry was pulled out of his thoughts by Ron and Hermione who had realized that he had stopped paying attention to their conversation. "I'm sorry…what were you saying?"
"Ron asked who Snape had left his things to in the will he had written." Hermione explained, at this point completely used to Harry zoning out of conversations when the information became overwhelming. "And I told him that he left most of his things to the school. Though he also left a few things to Draco and you."
Harry frowned. "Me?"
"Yeah, a few things, including the book itself. Apparently, he thought you should keep it." The witch replied.
That took Harry by surprise as well. Snape must have gone looking for the book himself after Harry had hid it. For some reason he wanted Harry to have it back. Maybe it was because besides the memory of Lily Evans, that was the only thing that connected the two of them. "This is a lot of information." He said, putting his head in his hands.
Hermione patted his shoulder and opened her mouth to comfort him but was cut off by a knock on the door. Harry looked up just in time for Ron to open the door and reveal the girl that they had just been speaking about.
Ana was clearly shocked to see other people in the office with the man she was looking for. "Umm hi. I was just wondering if I could have a word with you Harry."
The quote used above is from Chapter 19 of The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.
