A New Friend
The rest of the Christmas holiday had dragged on for what felt like an eternity to Severus. All due to how no matter what he tried, he could not get Lily to smile the way she had before since she was still upset that Harry had been taken away from them. Where every time she saw any pictures that had been of her and Harry or all three of them, she teared up, prompting Severus to put them away and even ordering Twinkle to pack away those pictures before they returned to their quarters at Hogwarts. He could tell however that Lily was trying to cheer up because Narcissa did bring Draco by as often as she could until the end of the holiday since Severus and Lily were returning to Hogwarts and would be unable to visit with Narcissa or Draco until the summer holiday. During the last visit, Draco had promised Lily that he would write her often and asked for her to please cheer up as there had been a hint of something in the boy's tone hinting that he had grown to care for Lily and wished for her to smile again without tearing up.
Shortly after returning to Hogwarts, Severus had gone to Dumbledore which had led to a disaster. All due to how Severus had said he wished for Dumbledore to allow Harry and Lily to remain in contact, but Dumbledore had flat out refused saying that he knew now it had been a mistake to place Harry in Severus' care, something that set Severus more than it should have, had he not grown to care for the boy in the few years he had raised him as his own son along with his daughter.
"A mistake?!" Severus had asked in a furious low tone. "You are setting that boy up to have severe problems with how you ripped him away from his home the way you did! First he lost his parents at a young age due to his own godfather having betrayed them. Oh and let's top it with how you placed him with his relatives who abused him!" Severus had been near the point of shouting at this point due to how he was so angry.
"I know what I am doing, Severus!" Dumbledore had said as he stood from behind his desk, the twinkle completely gone from his eyes. "It is alright for Lily to stay with you, but Harry needed a more suitable home than the one that you were providing for him."
Just thinking on that discussion made Severus furious because of how that had been the first day after he had returned to Hogwarts with Lily and she had been sitting in the living room waiting and hopeful that they would be allowed to see Harry or at least write to him. He had barely had the heart to tell Lily that she would not be allowed to do so, something that led to Lily crying at the smallest thing as Severus stopped eating in the Great Hall due to how Lily refused to leave their quarters in the dungeons. He found her becoming more and more withdrawn as he became desperate to give her a friend, but he knew that he could not ask Narcissa to bring Draco. So who could he ask to be a friend to his daughter? It was not until a day when he had been walking down the corridor only to spot one of his more clumsy students. A Hufflepuff fifth year by the name of Nymphadora Tonks.
'It would be worth a try…' Severus thought to himself as he stalked toward the lone Hufflepuff. "Miss Tonks." He said addressing her as she seemed to freeze for a second before looking back over her shoulder at him as he noticed as he got closer that the girl seemed to be favoring the odd hair color of pink today. 'Why does she always seem to favor that color?' Severus thought to himself as he stopped walking not far from the eccentric fifth year.
"What can I help you with, Professor?" Tonks as she looked toward him, a nervous look on her face since Severus had been in a bit of a foul mood since school had resumed after the Christmas holiday.
"Come with me." Severus said, knowing that the Hufflepuff did not have any classes at the moment, more so since she had been on her way to the library to possibly study for her upcoming O.W.L. exams that were fast approaching at the end of the term.
"But, I need to go and study, sir." She said rushing to remember to address the Potions Master in a way so that he did not start taking points from her house due to how she had been caught goofing around by him just a few days before and he had deducted ten points for every minute she was in his sight for a total of forty points.
"Do I need to start taking points again, Miss Tonks?" Severus asked glaring toward the student who gave him a defeated look and shook her head after a moment. "I thought not, now come." He said turning and walking away with the defeated Hufflepuff following behind him as they headed down to the dungeons to the potions classroom as Severus held the door open for Tonks to walk in before following and closing the door. "Sit down." He ordered as she sat on one of the stools toward the front of the room.
"Um…what is this about, Professor?" Tonks's asked as Severus walked around in front of her and looked down at her with his cold dark eyes seeming to be contemplating something.
"I am needing someone to help my daughter." Severus said as Tonks's face shifted to one of surprise. Though before Tonks's could speak, Severus continued. "She is without anyone she can talk with and has been refusing to socialize with anyone besides me and a house elf that takes care of her while I am teaching, so I was wanting you to be the one to help get her to see it is alright to do so again." Severus said as Tonks gave him a skeptical look.
"Why do you want me to do that, I thought she had Harry to keep her company." Tonks said as Severus glared to the point that the Hufflepuff before him scooted the stool she was on back a few inches to try and escape the harsh gaze. "I-I take it do not mention him?" Tonks asked nervously as Severus nodded. "Though you do realize that I am busy studying for my upcoming exams, so maybe it would be better if you had someone else do this?" Tonks asked as Severus shook his head.
"My daughter needs someone she can look up to, and right now you fit the qualifications for that." Severus said as in truth he was unsure if having this one particular student around his daughter was a good idea, but he was running out of choices due to how Lily was becoming more and more withdrawn by the day. "So go and study and then after dinner I will bring my daughter here and you are to come down and spend at least an hour with her." Severus said figuring to at least do a trial in his presence to be sure that Tonks was up to the task of visiting with Lily and behaving. He walked over to his desk and got out a scrap of parchment and wrote a simple note to be sure if anyone questioned Tonks on why she was out in the corridors instead of in her house common room, that she would not be held up. "Now go." He said thrusting the parchment into Tonks' hands as she scrambled to her feet and grabbed her bag only to stumble on her way out due to her tripping over the hem of her robe for a second before rushing from the room.
Severus had finished his remaining classes for the day and made his way to his quarters to find Lily curled up on the couch sound asleep with a book laying on the floor before the couch with her small hand extended down toward it. Severus smiled sadly as he walked over and picked up the book only to realize it was an album that contained pictures from before, only thing was that one occupant had left the pictures. Glancing toward his daughter he noticed the trails on her face from tears she had been crying as he shut the book and left her there resting and took the album to his room. 'I thought Twinkle and I had gotten all of them…' he thought to himself before he realized something. 'Lily did not want this put away and hid it in her room before Twinkle or I could find it…' he thought to himself with a pang of sadness as he knew that it would be even harder to get Lily to fully accept that Harry was not going to be returning to their family.
He went to his room carrying the album as he opened the door on the bedside table and placed the album inside before shutting and as an extra precaution he cast a small spell on it so that Lily would not be able to find it. He had been about to turn to go back to the living room when he heard a small voice from behind him.
"Dad?" the soft voice spoke as he looked back over his shoulder to see Lily standing there, her jeans and matching sweater wrinkled a little from how she had been sleeping on the couch.
"What is it, Lily?" he asked with a soft smile toward her as he watched her yawn showing she was still slowly waking up.
"Where did my book go? I was reading it only to find it gone when I woke up from my nap." Lily said not knowing that her father knew full well that she had not been reading a book but looking through an album she had managed to keep her father and Twinkle from finding.
Severus sighed ever so slightly. "Lily, I know you snuck an album to your room and hid it and that you were looking at it before you fell asleep." He said as Lily gave him a sad look at how he had found out that she had been looking at the pictures from before. "You are not in trouble, Lily." He said gently as he walked over and knelt down before Lily pulling her into a firm but gentle hug. "I just wanted to not see you upset since there is no way we can get him back at the moment." He said as he continued to hug her. "Though I have a surprise for you." He said as Lily shifted to lean back so she could look up at her father.
"What is the surprise?" Lily asked but Severus merely smiled at his daughter.
"It will be revealed after dinner." He said as he was hoping this would work since he felt Lily needed someone to talk to, but sadly everyone in the school was at least a few years to a few decades older than her.
/
After dinner Severus took Lily from their quarters, leaving Twinkle to tend to cleaning up their small dinner. Once they got to the potions room he opened the door as Lily walked in being near timid as she walked over to one of her favorite spots that was right in front of her father's desk as she climbed up on the stool and sat there glancing around with a near nervous look on her face. The minutes ticked by as Severus started to wonder if Miss Tonks was flaking on what he said he wanted her to come and do only for there to be a knock on the door. Severus moved away from where he had been near Lily as he went to the door, feeling the soft blue eyes watching him as he went to the door and opened the door to reveal the pink haired Tonks in the doorway. "Come in." he said shortly as he stepped to the side allowing a nervous Tonks to come in.
For several moments Tonks stood by the door staring across the room at the small child that was seated near the front of the classroom, looking almost every bit the daughter of the potions master, except how her eyes held no coldness in them, but were curious. "So, now what, Professor?" Tonks asked tearing her eyes away from Lily to look up at the potions master.
"You do as I said. Visit with her." He said holding out his arm as Lily slid off of the stool she had been sitting on and walked over as it was obvious that she was timid about doing so. "Lily, this is Miss Tonks." He said as he brought his hand down to Lily's shoulder as she stayed close to him.
"The one who blew up the potion in class shortly after term started?" Lily asked looking up at her father missing the nervous look that Tonks had on her face at hearing that the child remembered something like that.
However Severus laughed a little at how good his daughter's memory was. "Yes." Severus said as he smiled down at Lily noticing how Tonks looked as though she thought the apocalypse was going to happen because the sullen potions master had smiled. "Though I have some papers to grade, so I asked Miss Tonks to keep you company since you need interaction with more than me and Twinkle." He said as in truth he wished she could interact with children her own age but he knew that was not a possibility at least until the summer holiday. "So can you be a good girl and not cause to much trouble?" Severus asked with a smile still on his face as he knelt down beside Lily as she turned to face him as she nodded. "That's my girl." He said still smiling but when he saw that she was not returning it, his smile fell slightly. "Can you smile for me?" he asked as in truth not seeing his daughter smile was making his heart ache. For all he wanted in the world was for Lily to know nothing but peace and happiness.
During the exchange Tonks had stood to the side watching in shock until she saw how the girl was not one to smile much, something even she had noticed in the short time since the return from Christmas holiday. So in an effort to help, Tonks knelt down. "Come on, you should be happy and smiling. Or do I need to use my secret power to make you smile?" she asked as Lily looked toward her with confusion. However when Tonks saw no sign of a smile she focused for a brief moment as her hair turned bright yellow and her nose and lips changed to that to resemble a duck beak. "Quack!" Tonks exclaimed as Severus was just about to ask if the girl was mentally ill until he heard a soft sound, something that sounded foreign to him.
Lily had started to laugh a bit as a smile had returned to her face. She could not help it because of how seeing her laugh Tonks had crossed her eyes and quacked once again sending Lily into a fit of fresh laughter. Something that made Severus believe he had the right decision to pick Tonks to be one to be around Lily unsupervised.
"Just stay in this room." Severus said as he stood as Tonks changed her mouth and nose back to normal and spoke showing that she understood. "And should either of you need anything, just call for Twinkle and she will see to any needs the two of you have." Severus said taking his leave to go into a small office just off of the classroom to do as he had said he needed to, grade some essays that he planned to return the following day to the sixth year students.
However once Severus had left the room, Tonks looked back at Lily to see curiosity was there as she was unsure what to do. She had no younger siblings so she did not have the faintest idea of how to keep a child occupied and she was sure doing her animal impressions with her ability would only keep Lily occupied for so long before she got bored or upset. "So, what do you like to do for fun, Lily?" Tonks asked after a moment as Lily got a thoughtful look on her face before smiling and answering.
"I like reading, but dad said he wants me to lay off of reading for a while." Lily said as Tonks had a look of hope on her face then of defeat. All due to how the one thing she could have done to insure Lily did not get bored or anything had been shot down by her guardian. "Though what do you like to do?" Lily asked staring at Tonks.
The question had caught Tonks off guard for a moment as she reached up rubbing the back of her head thinking for a second. "I usually like messing with people with my ability that lets me change my appearance at will for others amusement." She admitted as Lily smiled ever so slightly as Tonks felt a rush of relief as she thought for a moment to see if there was anything else she enjoyed that maybe could be of amusement to the daughter of the potions master. "That or studying seems to be all that I do anymore because of how I have exams in a few months." Tonks said as Lily looked at her in confusion but Tonks continued speaking. "Because this year is my O.W.L. exams." She said as Lily nodded in understanding. As the hour continued Tonks found herself relaxing more and more around Lily as she found that she was just a lonely child in need of guidance in some things. Mainly because of how Lily was being raised by her single father with no mother figure to look up to. Something that actually was a sad thing to Tonks because she had both parents and did not always get along with them. And yet this young child was one who never knew what it was to have the love of a mother.
It seemed that as soon as Lily started trying to stifle her yawns, the door leading to the office off of the classroom opened only for Severus to come in and easily pick up Lily who rested against him already drifting off to sleep in his arms as he looked down at Tonks. "Thank you for spending time with her, Miss Tonks." Severus said as his student shook her head and smiled at him, though mostly toward the sleeping child in his arms.
"It was a pleasure to be able to visit with her, Professor." Tonks said as the potions master seemed to be in a good mood so she figured she would dare to ask something that she was actually wondering on. "Would it be alright if when I am not busy studying for my upcoming exams if I visit with her more? She seems like a really sweet kid and I would like to get to know her more." She said as the dark professor seemed to think it over for a moment only to nod.
"I see no problem with allowing that." He said as he figured so long as he or someone else he trusted was nearby to keep an eye on them then Lily would be fine and safe. "Though you better get going since it will be curfew soon." He said only for his clumsy student to scramble to run from the room. An act that would have usually prompted him to take points from Hufflepuff and give the girl a week of detention, but not this time. No at the moment he was focused on the sleeping angel in his arms as he made sure she was securely held by his left arm as he moved his right hand into the folds of his cloak only for him to pull out his wand and wave it diminishing the candles and torches around the room casting it into darkness.
He was careful while carrying his daughter back to their quarters as he found that Twinkle was nowhere to be seen. 'She must be helping out somewhere with the other house elves in the castle.' He thought since he had told her they would be fine for a while. So Severus moved through the living room and down the hall toward his daughter's room as he flicked his wand allowing the candles in the room to be dimly lit so he could see what he was doing so as to make sure that he did not accidentally wake Lily as he went over to her bed and pulled back the blankets as he then carefully put her down on the bed before straightening waving his wand over her as her clothes changed from what she had been wearing to her blue night dress. Leaning back over her, Severus pulled the blanket to her shoulders and proceeded to tuck it around her to make sure she felt safe and secure while she slept before he leaned up over her and gently kissed her forehead. "Good night, my little Lily." Severus whispered before he straightened only to turn and head toward the door. As he got to the door he did a slight flick of his wand as the lights went out so that it would not risk her waking her up. Reaching back, he caught the cold handle in his hand as he pulled the door shut as he looked back at the sleeping angel in the room. 'I will do all I can to bring back your smile.' He thought to himself since seeing Lily as upset as she had been since Harry had been placed with the Weasley's had torn at Severus more than anything else could have. He found that he would have preferred to endure the cruciatus curse rather than the pain he felt at his daughter being sad.
/
Harry lay on his bed in the room with the youngest son of the Weasley family, one that Harry had found was named Ron. He had felt alone and distanced himself from those who said they were to be his family all due to how he did not want to be part of this family. He wanted to be allowed to return to Severus and Lily. Though as Harry lay staring at the ceiling as some of the pale moonlight filtered into the room he felt like there was a heavy weight on his chest and that his heart would soon give out at the thought of how he had been forced away from Lily. 'I want to see her again...I want to be with her...' Harry thought not realizing the full extent of what he was thinking at the moment. All due to how he was only eight and did not understand caring for another as much as one who was twice his age.
Though thinking about the one he had seen as more than a sister, though he was not yet sure what that was, he kept seeing her with tears streaming down her face as she cried out his name while Severus held her back before everything was consumed in green light. In that second Harry sat up as his bright green eyes were wide, all due to how he had a vague memory or was it a dream? He was not sure, but one thing he remembered was hearing distant yelling that he could not make out then a flash of green light.
'I am thinking too much into this...' Harry thought to himself as he heard the loud snoring from Ron not too far from where he was. 'I hate it here!' Harry thought as he wished more than anything that Severus and Lily would come and take him away from the Burrow. However, Harry knew deep down that Mrs. Weasley was a kind woman and was doing all she could to try and make Harry accept being adopted by the family, but there was no way Harry could accept it. Not when they had been the ones to tear him away from the family he had been happy with for the last three years. With a man who at times was cold and seemed distant, but in his own way, Severus had always shown that he did care for Harry and that he deeply loved his daughter. That and Mr. Weasley was alright, but in Harry's opinion he wondered at times why it was that the man had been obsessed with things that muggles developed. Maybe it was because Harry had spent four years being raised by muggles that he could not bring himself to be fascinated.
Then there were the Weasley children. Bill, one that Harry had met while being raised by Severus. He had always liked Bill, though sadly he had graduated recently and he was not living at the Burrow with the rest of the Weasley family. Then there was Charlie, the second oldest and one that Harry had first met when he had been at Hogwarts along with Severus and Lily. Charlie was another one that Harry had grown to like, though now he along with the third oldest, Percy, were all back at Hogwarts where Harry was wishing he could be. Though Harry had known he never cared for Percy, more so with how he was always hanging around with Levi Lupin who seemed intent on always picking on Lily when he had a chance. Fred and George, the twins, were ones that Harry beyond enjoyed being around because they were the complete opposite of Percy who was a stuck up jerk. Then there was Ron, the youngest Weasley boy, who was the same age as Harry. However, from the first time they had talked, Harry had an instant dislike of Ron. All due to how Ron had said that he had heard that Snape was nothing but a heartless bastard who delighted in torturing students. That and he was sure that the girl Snape was raising was no better, something that had led to a full on verbal fight between Harry and Ron in the first few hours of Harry being brought to the Burrow.
Something that Harry remembered all too well because of how he had been sitting on his bed facing Ron figuring he would try to make the most out of what was going on, only for Ron to say such horrible things about the two most important people in the world to Harry. A fight that had ended with Harry being put in the same room as Fred and George for a few days and Ron being grounded, a punishment that Harry saw as minor compared to what he had in that moment wanted to do to Ron.
Though another one of the Weasley children that Harry found he was okay with was the only girl, Ginny. She had been shy if not timid around him at first but she had soon gotten past it and now she was the one he visited the most along with the twins. She was a friendly young girl who was willing to go out with him around the yard and let him just vent what was he was angry about. Her kind yet fierce nature made him wish that she was the one who would be going to Hogwarts in the same year as him and Lily, not the bigot Ron.
'I hope that I will be allowed to see Lily and Severus soon…' Harry thought to himself as he felt himself slowly drifting off to sleep, tuning out the annoying snoring from Ron. 'I want to go home…' was Harry's final thought as he drifted off into sleep.
/
Lily woke early on Saturday as she slowly sat up feeling a bit out of it all due to how she was not sure what to do that day. She knew her dad would be grading essays that he had collected throughout the previous few days from the different years, and she was sure everyone else in the school even Tonks would be too busy to play with her. 'I wish Harry was still here…' She thought with a pang of sadness. Pushing that thought away, Lily slowly moved the blanket off of her as she got up from her bed only to go to the bathroom to start getting around, returning to her room a short while to get dressed in a pale blue sweater and blue jeans before she got out a blue winter cloak that her father had gotten her before the start of the term. Once she finished getting dressed she walked out to the living room to find that her father had not yet gotten up, though she was feeling hungry and thought to eat on her own. That and she knew her way to get to the Great Hall, so surely he would not mind if she went up there and sat with Hagrid if he was there, if not one that she had once called Professor Kitty until she got where she could actually pronounce the woman's name.
So with that figured out, Lily went over to the door and let herself out of the room, quietly closing the door and the portrait behind her before she headed off up the corridor toward the exit to the dungeons. Once she was in the Entrance Hall she glanced around not seeing anyone else as she felt a pang of sadness, wondering if maybe she woke earlier than she had thought. Though she figured she would at least check the Great Hall and hope that someone was already there since she did not like the thought of walking back down to the dungeons alone. So she slowly walked over toward the large doors that were slightly open as she peeked in to see that there were a few students at one of the house tables, she thought the table was possibly the Gryffindor table, but she could not be for sure.
She then glanced toward the head table to see that none of the Professors were there yet, meaning she would be by herself all due to how her dad had sat up a chair at the table for her beside his own. Taking a deep breath, Lily walked into the hall and headed up to the head table only to head straight for her seat, feeling like at least one pair of eyes was watching her closely, but she tried to pay no attention to it. It felt like it took her longer than usual to get to her seat as she pulled it out and sat down at the table only for Twinkle to appear beside her. "Good morning, Twinkle." Lily said forcing a slight smile, still feeling like she was being watched, but she was focusing her attention on the small house elf beside her.
"Good morning to you too, Mistress." Twinkle said in a happy tone as it seemed that the house elf thought that even seeing a forced smile was a step in the right direction to getting Lily to genuinely be happy again. "What is Mistress wanting this morning?" Twinkle asked as she was beaming up at Lily.
Lily found she did not know what she wanted so she glanced around the table as there was food already there as her blue eyes fell on some toast not far from her. "I will just do toast this morning." She said glancing back at Twinkle to see her smile fall as she rushed to continue. "I am just not super hungry right now. Though could you go tell my dad where I am so he doesn't go crazy looking for me?" Lily asked as Twinkle nodded, still with a sad and worried look on her face as the small elf vanished with a small pop.
Once the house elf had departed Lily shifted closer to the table and reached for some toast not far from her as she sat one slice on the plate before her only for her to bring the second one she had grabbed up to her mouth as she started to nibble at it. However soon a shadow fell over her as Lily looked up to see that it was the second year student, Levi Lupin. "Can I help you?" she asked looking up at him as Levi looked down at her with hard blue eyes. Something that made Lily feel more and more uncomfortable with each passing second as they remained there, him standing before the table staring down at her while she was sitting in her seat.
"You should have died when you were born…then there would be less pain for everyone." Levi said in a low tone as Lily stared up at him in confusion. "Granted everyone seems to think that you won't be what you were born to." He said as Lily moved back away from the table, standing from her seat as she got up and left her mostly untouched breakfast as she went to go around the table away from Levi, thinking to leave the hall and go back to the dungeons. However, Levi followed her. "Afraid to hear the truth of what you are?" he asked as he met her at the end of the table glaring down at her as Lily tried to draw herself up even though she was still shorter than Levi and unable to act as intimidating as her father could.
"I do not even know what you are talking about or why you have a problem with me besides that my dad is hard on those from your house." Lily said as Levi shook his head at her. "That and I have never once done anything toward you to provoke you to treat me in such a way." Lily said as she thought in that moment to call for Twinkle, more so when Levi reached out gripping her left arm between her elbow and shoulder. "Let go of me!" Lily demanded as she tried to pull back but Levi merely kept a firm grip on her.
"It is your fault…" he said in a low tone before another voice was heard fast approaching them.
"Lupin!" a female voice called as he released Lily's arm only to turn slightly toward a pink haired Hufflepuff that was running toward the two of them. In an instant, Lily recognized that it was Tonks. Though when coming around the corner of the table, Tonks caught her arm on the corner slightly but did not slow down. Instead she rushed over to stand between Levi and Lily. "I suggest you go back to your table or else I will inform Professor Snape of what you were doing." Tonks said in a low threatening tone.
"It wouldn't matter if you did or not, Tonks. You are not a prefect so it is not like you can really do anything." Levi said showing he saw her threat as nothing but empty words. "Besides I was doing nothing wrong." He said in an offhand tone.
"Oh? Then what would you call you having a hold of her and her demanding that you release her?" Tonks asked as Levi gave her an annoyed look. "And I think I will go ahead and let Professor Snape know what you were doing." She said as she turned slightly and held out her hand to Lily. "Come on, I'll take you back to your dad." She said as Tonks had not intended to be one to look out for the girl, but she found she could not help but do so. It was not more than a second or two later that she felt the small hand of Lily rest in her own as Tonks closed her hand around it only to start and lead the young girl from the Great Hall. Once they were out in the Entrance Hall, Tonks looked down at Lily with a worried look on her face. "Are you alright?" she asked as she had a feeling that whatever had been said between the two may not have been pleasant.
"Y-yeah…" Lily said as her voice shook ever so slightly all due to how what Levi had said kept repeating in her mind. That she should have died. She fought to keep her composure as they soon were heading down the steps into the dungeon. "Tonks…?" Lily asked after a moment as she felt the gaze of the older girl rest on her but she remained silent. "Why would one say it was better if someone died?" Lily asked in a hesitant tone.
Tonks stopped when she heard what Lily asked as she looked down at the young girl in pure shock. "Is that…what he was saying to you?" she asked in a hesitant tone as Lily nodded at her. 'That little…' Tonks thought before she knelt down before Lily only to pull her close into a hug. "Do not pay any mind to what he said. You know that you are loved." Tonks said as she knew she had no place to claim something like that toward the child, but she knew she did not wish to see Lily suffer any. That was when she came to a decision. "How about I take you to check in with your dad and then the two of us go out and walk around the grounds?" Tonks offered as Lily, something that seemed to cheer the younger girl up instantly.
/
The day had been a full one as Tonks had done as she had said, she put off her studying for that one day to spend with Lily to try and cheer her up. Though when it got to be late, she ended up carrying the small eight-year-old back toward the school to find Professor Snape on his way up from the dungeons. "Professor!" Tonks called getting his attention as he headed over, easing his sleeping daughter away from Tonks as he nodded at her in appreciation. "Oh, sir!" Tonks said as the professor had gone to turn away.
"What is it, Miss Tonks?" he asked as he continued to hold Lily in his arms.
"I wanted to let you know something I witnessed and that Lily told me when I was bringing her back to the dungeons to ask your permission to spend time with her out on the grounds." Tonks said as the dark professor looked at her with a questioning look, so she continued quickly so as to not test his patience. "I arrived in the Great Hall this morning for breakfast only to see that no professors were at the head table, just Lily by herself." Tonks paused for a second. "Only thing is Levi Lupin approached her and the two spoke for a moment before Lily got up from the table and went to walk away with an upset look on her face, but Levi cut her off and grabbed her by the arm before I could get to them to stop him." Tonks said as she started to feel fear of her professor grow within her due to the murderous look on his face at hearing that Levi had dared to lay a hand on his child. However, to try and be able to escape in one piece, Tonks rushed to continue speaking. "I managed to get Lily away from Levi and on our way down into the dungeons she asked me why someone would say another should have died." Tonks said as the look on her professor's face was one that beyond terrified her.
"Thank you for letting me know that." Was all Severus said as he turned and headed toward the dungeons with his daughter in his arms, since he knew he was not about to take her into the Great Hall where Lupin was. 'As if it was not bad enough that the older one tormented me in school, now his damned son has to do the same to my daughter!' Severus thought, but he knew deep down there was much more to this. All due to how from what the headmaster had shown him, Lily was actually Levi's younger sister and that her birth had caused their mother to fall gravely ill. 'But that does not matter, I will not let anyone ever hurt her.' He thought as he got to their quarters as he put Lily down on the couch and summoned Twinkle to order something simple for dinner for the two of them as he sat down near Lily's head and lightly brushed some of her dark hair out of her face as he was already deciding on a punishment fit for what Levi had done that morning.
A/N: Finally got this chapter done! I am so sorry that it took me so long, but I am hoping that I can rotate updates (yes I know I have said that in the past, but I think I have it figured out now). Where the next story slated for an update is Eternal Star and Blood Oath: Destiny then I will update Second Chance and then this one again. Now time to thank a few people. I want to thank POTTERPHILE, risi, and Becklii for having reviewed the last chapter. I hope this chapter is to everyone's liking, especially since it took me so long to update. I will hopefully get the updates up soon so it will not be as long of a wait for the next one.