"Can I help?" Elizabeth watched as Severus poured waffle batter onto the hot iron, closing the lid and flipping the whole thing to lock it in place.

"You can take the plates out to the table." Severus began to cut fruit, putting the pieces in a large mixing bowl, covering the whole thing with a dish rag to keep insects out.

"I mean with cooking. I cooked all the time at my old house."

"I know what you meant, but you're much too little to be around sharp knives and flames." He frowned as he took the waffle out of the iron and prepped another. "I have half a mind to go back to Surrey and teach your relatives a thing or two."

"Fighting doesn't solve anything." She quipped as she took the plates out the back door, heading into the garden.

"You're right, pressing charges will, however."

"Are you going to?" Elizabeth came back in to watch him cook.

"I was thinking about it." Severus platted another waffle. "Why? Does that bother you?"

"No, not really. I just kinda want to forget about them if I'm being honest." She shrugged and flipped the dish rag up over the bowl, fishing out a piece of watermelon with her fingers, laughing as Severus swatted at her with the towel he had over his shoulder.

"Use a utensil! Don't dig around with your fingers, fingers that I know haven't been washed." He returned the towel to his shoulder, poking at the bacon on the stove with a fork.

"My fingers aren't dirty." She sucked on the fruit as the juice dripped down her hand, popping the entire piece into her mouth, smiling a little at the satisfying crunch sound.

"Elizabeth," his tone changed into one of warning.

"Severus," she sassed, reaching for another piece of fruit, laughing again as Severus smacked the top of her hand with his.

"Wash. Your. Damn. Hands." He pointed to the sink, not missing the fact that even though she was taking a tone that she had never taken before with him, one he wasn't sure was bad or good, she had still addressed him as something other than sir for the first time since she got to Spinner's End.

She rolled her eyes, but obeyed, washing, but not drying her hands, reaching into the bowl once more.

"Elizabeth Renee, get a fork." Severus pointed to the silverware drawer.

"First, it was just wash your hands, but now I have to use a fork?" Elizabeth yanked open the silverware drawer, the one that stuck a little in the summer heat and took out a fork. "Boring."

"Watch yourself, young lady."

"I am, Severus." She speared another piece of watermelon and then took out a cherry. "Can you tie a knot in a cherry stem with your tongue?" She ate the cherry, spit the pit into the sink and held up the stem.

"I've never tried." Severus smirked, unsure of what to make of her exuberance.

"I can." She put the stem in her mouth and quickly tied a knot, holding it up for Severus to see. "Ta-da!"

"How did you figure that out?" He was a little impressed to say the least.

"Jenny taught me." She ate the watermelon she had on the fork. "She taught me a lot of things, like how to do gymnastics and how to ride a bike."

"Well, there will be no cartwheels in my house, understand? Outside is one thing, but not in the house." Severus flipped the bacon. "And even then, I'm not sure how comfortable with you doing gymnastics at all, but as long as you have some sort of adult supervision in case you get hurt, I suppose I can live with that, as long as you're careful, but you will not push your limits."

"I know, I know." She reached out and covered the bowl with the rag once more, quickly washing the fork in the sink and laying it on the drying rack. She turned around to see Severus with an eyebrow raised. "I know! Jenny's mom was the same way."

"Well, that makes me feel a little better." He put the bacon on a plate and handed it to her. "Put this on the table in here, we'll take out all the food when its all ready."

She laid the plate down on the table, turning around when he called her name. "Yeah?"

He handed her another plate, this one with eggs. "Cover that and the bacon. The waffles are nearly done and then we can make the toast." He was hoping that with her picking the menu, she would eat more than she had eaten the entire time she had been in his home.

"This is a lot of food."

"You wanted breakfast for dinner." He ruffled her hair as she passed, picking up the bowl of fruit and taking it to the table. "This is breakfast. And anything we don't eat; we can put in the fridge."

"Okay." She went out the door to the garden, leaving her shoes in the house. She hadn't been in the backyard of her father's home, but it was a wonderful place in her mind. There was a large greenhouse filled with plants that she could and couldn't recognize, some of them looking like they had the same qualities as Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. The yard was spacious, with a huge oak tree in the back corner of the yard and a firepit near the garden furniture, a matching set of outdoor armchairs and a small sofa made of wicker stood next to it.

She went out into the middle of the yard, enjoying the feel of the soft grass on her feet before she cartwheeled across the lawn.

"I did say no less than twenty minutes ago that you needed an adult with you when you were doing gymnastics, did I not?" Severus brought a few plates of food out with him, settling them on the table as Elizabeth did a backbend, smiling at her father upside-down.

"It's fun, you know, if you haven't heard of fun." She kicked her leg up, sending herself into a back walkover, but remained in a handstand, walking across the lawn a few paces on her hands.

Severus stalked across the lawn, picking her up as she squealed with laughter, tickling her belly and sides. "I'll show you fun." He tossed her over his shoulders in a fireman carry, as she laughed harder than he had ever heard her before.

"Severus, put me down!" She howled with laughter as he threw her into the air and caught her.

"Are you going to listen to me?"

"Yes!" she giggled as he held her on his hip, carrying her to the table.

"Good." He said, putting her on a chair. "Because if you don't, I'm going to eat your waffles."

"No fair!" She climbed up on her knees so she could reach the table easier. Reaching across the table, she speared a waffle as if to prove a point, dropping it onto her plate.

"What's not fair?"

"You're going to eat my waffles, that I specifically asked for, on today of all days." She feigned hurt.

"What makes today so special?" Severus doled out fruit, taking the syrup from her before she covered her entire plate in liquid sugar.

"I spoke to a stranger today and I didn't freak out."

"I'm not so sure I want to reward you talking to strangers." Severus smirked as she made an irritated noise in the back of her throat.

"You know what I mean." Elizabeth dragged a piece of bacon through the syrup, munching on it as she let the waffles on her plate soak in the liquid.

"I know and I'm very proud of you." He smiled at her, filling her glass with juice, dumping a nutrient potion in the drink. "You're taking strides to become a better person and I am so proud of you for even trying."

"I just want to be normal, you know?"

"I know, love." Severus took a sip of his own drink. "But even in this world, I doubt anyone will consider you normal."

"Because of the whole girl who lived thing?" She soaked up a bit of her egg yolk with her toast, taking a bite.

"No, I meant because of me. I am, how to put this… Not the favorite professor in Hogwarts. In fact, I am quite hated. But, it's because I hold very high standards and have very little patience. However, I think you're going to get more flack for that other than children your age wanting to know your life story. Adults, yes, they will be very curious, but school children are going to care more about your relation to me." He smirked. "Just you wait, my girl, the questions from your peers will be centered around me."

"You can't be that bad." Elizabeth furrowed her brow. "I once had a teacher make us run laps up and down the stairs because the class wouldn't stop talking." She reached for her glass and took a sip. "There's no way you're as bad as that."

"I'm sorry, what?" Severus coughed, choking on a piece of fruit as his daughter's off-handed comment caught him off guard.

"Yeah, he got mad that we were talking and made us run up and down the stairs like 50 times. He got fired the next day."

"As he should have been. If I had been around then, and you told me about that, your school would not be pleased with the words I would have to say."

"You're in quite the fighting mood tonight." She ate her waffles, savoring every bite. "First the Dursleys' and now my third grade teacher."

"I will always be in a fighting mood when it comes to people hurting you."

Elizabeth ducked her head, not sure how to respond to her father's fierce declaration of loyalty.

*S*S*

Elizabeth curled up on the outdoor sofa next to Severus, a light blanket thrown over her as the fire Severus had lit with his wand crackled in the June heat.

"Thank you." She mumbled into his chest, his arms tightening around her.

"For what, child?"

"For making this the perfect day." She stared into the fire, enjoying the warmth it gave off as the orange and yellow colors illuminated the inky darkness of the night.

"All it took was a fire and a few waffles?" Severus bent awkwardly to kiss her head. "I'll have to remember that."

"My stomach hurts a little though." She made a face and rubbed her lower stomach. "I think I ate too much."

Severus pulled her to sit up, looking at her in the face. "Why didn't you say anything before?" He summoned a stomach soother, pressing it into her hands. "Drink that, it will make you feel better." He waited before vanishing the vial and pulling her into his lap, arranging the blanket to go back over her shoulders, holding her to him. "If you weren't feeling well, why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought it would go away on its own." She shrugged. "I've never eaten that much food before."

"This is what I get for overfeeding you. Poppy said for us to go easy on your stomach and here I am, pumping you full of sugar. You're never going to get to sleep tonight." He sighed and ran his hand through her hair, smoothing it away from her face. "Always tell me when you aren't feeling well. I will never be upset with you for it."

Elizabeth nodded, wrapping an arm around his stomach as she cuddled closer. "Are things going to change when school starts?"

Confused at the change of topic, Severus' brow furrowed. "What do you mean?" As he waited for a response, he levitated another log onto the fire, keeping the campfire going for a while longer.

"I mean… well this." She gestured around her. "Us spending time together I guess is what I mean. I know there's still the rest of summer holiday, but I just met you and I wasn't sure… forget it, its stupid."

"Nothing is 'stupid' if it bothers you." Severus ducked his head to look at her better. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

She shook her head, burying her face in his neck.

"Come now, tell me. What's wrong?" He began to rub her back, unsure where he even knew this 'comfort an upset child' thing. When Elizabeth was a baby, it was easy to soothe her, as her problems were limited to a full nappy or needing to be fed, but now that she was older and had been through so much pain, he wasn't sure where to begin. Perhaps, in a long forgotten memory, Eileen had done the same for Severus, after one of his father's drunken rages, but there wasn't time to dwell on that now.

"When school starts again and your life goes back to how it was before me-"

"Elizabeth, are you asking me if I'm going to forget about you once we go back to school?" he rocked her back and forth, trying not to laugh. "I could never forget about you, you foolish child."

"But what-"

"Stop. I will never forget about you. You're stuck with me now, even if you don't want to be." He pulled her out of his neck, in order to kiss her forehead. "I loved being your father the first time around and my feelings have not changed. I'm not going to abandon you as soon as you get on the train for school."

She smiled a little and then buried her face once more in his neck. Severus leaned back on the sofa, content to just hold her when she stuck out her pinky for him to take with his.

"Pinkies for tradition-" she said, muffled into his shoulder.

"And middle fingers because pinkies don't swear." Severus chuckled, his laughter rumbling in his chest as he looped his fingers with hers', squeezing tight.

*S*S*

The next morning started off well. Elizabeth was eating, which made Severus extremely happy and she was talking up a storm, which seemed out of character for her, but perhaps, Severus thought, it was her real personality coming through. He was pleased with the change. The night before, she had had a terrible nightmare, one that left her screaming in her bed, causing Severus to launch himself out of bed and run into her room like she was being murdered and he had to save her. The only saving he had to do was protecting her from her dream-uncle and his belt, but it was enough to make his heart ache for her.

As they were finishing breakfast, the floo chimed, indicating someone was trying to get through.

"Why isn't it open like the hospital's?" She asked, munching on a piece of toast.

"I like my privacy. I always have." He waved his wand, and Albus Dumbledore came out, followed by another man. "Hello Albus."

"Hello Severus. I brought someone to see you." Albus came into the kitchen, but the other man stayed in the living room, hands in his pockets.

"Stay here and keep eating." Severus stood from the table, wiping his hands on his napkin before heading into the other room. "Remus?"

"Severus!" the other man cried, clearly happy. "Albus told me about the situation. So you don't hate me anymore?" he laughed awkwardly, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck.

"Remus, I'm so sorry, for…for everything."

"Don't worry about it. We all did what we had to. We were in the middle of a war, Severus. I don't hold it against you. If you say anything like you said before again however, I'll kick your arse from here to London."

"Understood." Severus laughed, leading the man into the kitchen. "So, Elizabeth, this is Remus. He's a very close friend to me and your godfather."

Elizabeth looked up from her plate, slowly putting her utensils down, not sure of what to make of the man. "Hello." She said shyly, not making eye contact.

"Elizabeth!" The man moved quickly, his arms reaching out to her.

Rationally, Elizabeth knew he was probably going to hug her, but in her stomach, fear and panic took over, propelling her out of her seat and around the table, putting a few feet between her and the man. Her eyes were wide, and her breathing was heavy, her breakfast threatening to make a return. She pressed her back into the corner of the room, knowing it trapped her in the space with this strange man, but she could still see him coming and wouldn't be ambushed from behind either.

Severus came over, waving for the two other men to stay where they were. He put his body in between her view of the others, pulling her into his arms. "It's alright. You're alright." She was shaking like a leaf in his arms and looking a little green around the edges. Tears threatened to spill over and he cursed Albus. He should have known better than to bring a stranger into her home, knowing she was just out of an abusive household. Severus should have been given a heads up that Remus was coming, that he would be able to warn his best mate and his daughter. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going to happen when Remus came into the house. He was hopeful that she wouldn't become physically ill like the last time she had an anxiety attack, but he was mistaken.

"I think I'm going to be sick." She pushed out of his arms and flew over to the sink, vomiting up the contents of her stomach, while Severus sighed and rubbed her back.

"Can you two go into the living room for a moment?" Severus called over his shoulder, holding her hair out of the way as she dry heaved, coughing a little at the force of her sick spell.

"Severus, I had no idea-"

"I know Remus, but please, give me a few minutes."

"Really, I'm so sorry-"

"Yes Remus, I know, but right now, I need to get her taken care of. I'll meet you in the living room in a few minutes." The two men left the room, Remus before Albus.

"Severus?"

"Albus please. She doesn't need an audience."

"I'm going to get him settled, then I'll be taking my leave. This seems like it should be a family affair, and as your employer, it seems a little strange for me to be hovering. He closed the door behind them.

"Do you need to take a shower?" Severus wet a cloth, wiping her mouth clean.

Elizabeth's face flushed, remembering the last time she got so sick, but she shook her head. "Not this time." She turned the faucet on and drank, rising her mouth out of bile. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. And we still have glasses for drinking." Severus picked her up and carried her across the kitchen to what looked like an unused cabinet.

"Severus? This is a cabinet."

"No its not." He pushed the door open, revealing a hidden staircase. "My mother had a few of these put in the house, so I could escape the abuse my father put us through." He carried her up to the second floor, coming out in an unused bedroom, with a narrow path through to the door. "I thought you would rather have a few moments to yourself rather than parade through the living room where they are."

"You're not wrong." She was placed on the bathroom counter, where Severus wiped her eyes. With a shaking hand, she pressed her fingers to her cheeks, finding them wet. She didn't know she had been crying.

"You're having a panic attack. Take these." He handed her two vials.

"What are they?" She eyed them critically, trying not to look at her shaking hands.

"Stomach soother," he tapped the vial on the left. "Calming draught." He tapped the other.

With a steadying breath, Elizabeth downed the two, feeling the effects nearly instantly. "I really am sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you."

Severus leaned against the counter. "I am not embarrassed. You, and I can't believe I'm saying this yet again, are coming from an abusive home. I cannot and will not expect you to be fixed like that-" he snapped his fingers. "Just because you're no longer in that house." He kissed her forehead. "I didn't know they were coming. If I did, I would have warned you. I'm sorry he charged at you like that. When you were a baby, the two of you were inseparable. You and he were best friends."

She took a shaky breath. "So he expected everything to be the same a decade later? I have no idea who he is. If he remembers me, that's fine. I 'm sure there are plenty of people who knew me as a baby, but I'm not going to have any idea who they are." She laughed a little, wiping her hand over her face. "God, this is so frustrating."

"What is, Rennie?"

She held her hand up, showing her father how it shook with tremors. "My whole body is doing this. I'm so sick of it." She rubbed her hands on her legs, trying to smooth the shaking away.

"There aren't many options until we get you into therapy sessions. Once we get a routine, if you want, we can talk to Saundra about medications for your anxiety."

"Wizards have Prozac?" Elizabeth laughed a little, raising an eyebrow, like Severus so often did.

"Yes, but without the brain zaps." Severus kissed her forehead. "We can look into it." He handed her another vial from the cabinet. "If you want, you can take this and go take a nap while I explain what's going on to Remus?"

"Okay." Elizabeth took the vial and slid off the counter, heading into her bedroom. The idea of sleeping wasn't as appealing as hiding in her room was, but she had a feeling that Severus wouldn't let her stay in her room if she admitted that was her reason. She was glad that she had the foresight to wear sweatpants that morning, as she could just slip into bed and take the potion, laying her head on the pillow.

Severus came in after her, tucking the covers tightly around her, sitting on the side of the bed until her breathing was slow and even. When he was sure she was sleeping, he left the room after he took her glasses off her face, leaving the door open as he went down the stairs.

As he appeared in the living room, Remus jumped to his feet. "Severus, is she okay? I had no idea… you can't understand how sorry I am…" he trailed off as Severus held up a hand.

"I think I need to explain a lot to you before you meet her." Severus settled in his armchair, the one he had expanded once Elizabeth came to live with him so she could sit in the chair with him comfortably.

"I have no idea what you can say that's going to explain what just happened, Severus." Remus looked around. "Where is she?"

"Sleeping. I gave her a sleeping draught so with any luck, when she wakes up, all the adrenaline that's built up in her system is gone."

"You drugged her?" Remus looked shocked. "Severus!"

"I offered her the potion. She took it on her own. I don't think that classifies as drugging." Severus wiped a hand over his face. "This is the second time she's been physically sick in less than a week."

"Wait, how long has she been here?"

"Four days." Severus sighed. "This is the fifth."

Remus looked at the staircase, clearly confused. "So what's going on that would cause her to projectile vomit into the sink?"

"Anxiety and panic attacks, mostly. There's some PTSD in there too, I'm sure, as well as some other unresolved trauma."

"PTSD from the night her mother died…?"

"No, if only it was that easy. PTSD from her uncle beating her within an inch of her life. PTSD from being starved and abused. From being abandoned by her relatives. The people we trusted to care for her when we could not nearly killed her. You saw her. She's tiny. She can barely reach the countertops. She's the size of a seven year old at the most, not a ten year old. When she came here, she was terrified of my furniture, because she was beaten for sitting on the furniture in Surrey. She barely ate, barely slept, called me sir until last night. I've arranged for her to have a mind healer it's getting so bad."

"Holy shit. No wonder she reacted that way."

"It's a miracle she's lived this long. Not only that, but she told me a couple nights ago that her aunt used to give her medication to make her get ill to make sure she wasn't sneaking any food in the summer. Since she wasn't in school, and therefore there was no one to notice if she was eating or not, Petunia could do whatever she wanted. Her and that oaf of a husband were profiting off my daughter's suffering. Albus has been giving them money in a stipend to raise her, but clearly they never spent it on her. I'm preparing a lawsuit against them to sue for the money she's owed."

"Good for you. I would do the same." Remus sighed and settled against the back of the sofa. "So, I royally mucked up, didn't I?"

"No, she'll come around. She just needs to get used to you. I found that being slow and calm around her for the first day or so really helped. Now she lets me pick her up and cuddle her, which she desperately desires. She can't get enough physical attention. I promise, once you two work this out, you'll be fine."

"So where are the Dursleys' buried?"

"I didn't kill them, Remus." She needed someone not in Azkaban to raise her." He turned toward the stairs as the floorboards creaked. Casting a minding charm, he turned back to Remus. "She's had so many people walk out of her life. I need to know right now, before she wakes up, are you going to be here to stay or are you going to be in and out?"

"Severus how could you ask me that?"

"Remus Lupin, right now, I'm trying to make sure my daughter, my ten year old abuse victim daughter has a solid support system. If you cannot promise me, right here, right now, that you plan to be just that, then you can get out of my house, friendship be damned."

"Of course I'm going to be, Severus. That's what I signed on for, you know. When I accepted the role as godfather?" Remus looked shocked that he would even be asked that.

"I'm serious, Remus, I can't let that little girl who didn't ask for any of this to have to endure anymore bullshit in her life."

"I don't blame you. I would do the same thing."

"You know, I don't even know where to begin with helping her. She prefers to be on the floor, rather than the chairs. Do I teach her that I won't beat her for sitting on the chairs? Do I focus on the fact that she eats like a bowtrunkle and on top of everything in her life, I now have to worry that she's going to develop an eating disorder? Do I focus on her fear of strangers? Hogwarts will be full of them. Do I start with her crippling fear of loud noises or the sudden movements or the nightmares that started last night? Do I start with teaching her it's not her fault? She blames all the abuse on herself." He laid his head in his hands. "I'm at my wit's end. I don't know how to help other than get her therapy, but until then, her pain is my pain."

"God lord, Sev. And these people are still alive?"

"Yes, I think it would be a far better use of my time and resources to take them to court. With any luck, the idea that they could lose their little suburbia will be punishment enough. Worst case, I do know some good poisons that are undetectable."

"She's going to need a lot of help."

"Absolutely she is. That's why I got her a therapist last night. She's seeing her for the first time Thursday."

"That's good. Therapy helped me a lot in the aftermath of the war."

"It would have helped me to, but you know how Albus likes to keep me in his pocket. I never had the time. I would like to avoid my daughter having the same fate." Severus leaned back in his chair. "I have decided to stop being Albus' spy, which I'm sure he's seething over."

"What will that mean for the Order?"

"It means that Albus needs another spy. I'm not risking my life for his bigger picture bullshit when I need to focus on my daughter now. Not the bigger picture of her life, but now, getting her help, making sure she's secure here. That's what's most important to me, not being Albus' pet."

Remus seemed to consider the point. "Understandable. Do you think she'll ever come around? Seriously, not hopefully."

"Truthfully, I think she will, but it's going to take time. Just be patient."

Remus looked like he was going to say something else, when the stair creaked and Severus perked up, a clear sign that the minding charm had gone off. Elizabeth was awake, but hopefully in better spirits than she was the hour before.

Sure enough, Elizabeth came down the stairs, silently wedging herself into her father's chair, laying her head on his chest. She was ignoring the other man in the room, seeming to refuse to even look at him, which worried Severus, but he understood her fear.

"How are you feeling?"

"Mmmkay." Her voice was muffled from his jacket fabric.

"You need to eat something, considering you were sick." Severus rubbed her back, hoping the calming draught was still working.

"I'm not hungry right now." She shook her head, tucking her legs underneath herself.

"You need to at least take your potion." Severus summoned the vial of nutrient potion and a small bottle of orange juice, mixing the two before he handed it to her. "It's not up for debate. You have to take these until you begin to gain substantial weight."

Elizabeth nodded, sitting up to unscrew the cap when she noticed Remus was staring at her. Turning her attention away for the time being, she chugged the juice before handing her father the bottle. "Severus told me about you." She addressed the wall, not looking at her godfather.

"Did he?" Remus shifted on the couch, remembering the last time he was here. Elizabeth was 15 months old and he held her on his lap, bouncing her while she laughed. She was his ''oony', as she called him, as she couldn't pronounce the M. She had him wrapped around her finger and it pained him to see the girl he so desperately loved and protected terrified of him, like he had been the one to beat her. It wasn't her fault, he knew, but he was still disappointed that they didn't have the same closeness as before.

"Yeah." She turned the face him for the first time, her fingers playing with the hem of her shirt, a sure sign of anxiety. "You're my godfather?"

"I am. You and I were very close when you were a baby. I was here every day to spend time with you." Remus smiled a little. "I'm sorry I scared you like that. I realize now that while I have memories of you, you most likely do not remember me and to have a stranger reach out to grab you must have been terrifying."

Elizabeth nodded. "My uncle used to move that fast. I got freaked out, I guess."

"It makes sense." Severus pulled her into his lap. "As much as he would love to be here as much as he was when you were a baby, it's up to you if you want him here."

"What do you mean?"

"He can leave for a while and until you're ready, whether it be hours or days or weeks, whatever you need, he can stay away, until you're more comfortable. I know strangers scare you."

"I just… It reminded me of my uncle is all." She examined her nails, making a bit of a face. "I'm sure Severus explained everything to you?"

"Yes he did. He told me that you're getting help for it, though?" Remus said quietly, not wanting to upset her further with a loud voice.

"Yeah, Saundra's great. I'm looking forward to getting this under control." She sighed. "I guess I'm just not used to you being here, but if Severus is even willing to let you in the house, you must be, at least, not a terrible person."

The men laughed a little, Severus in amusement and Remus in relief. He was so worried she was going to make him leave, kick him out and tell him to never come back. After being told that his best mate remembered him once more and that he had his goddaughter at her childhood home again, he was so excited to see the both of them, but he was so nervous when she reacted so violently to a hug. For her to allow him to remain in her life, even for the time being, he was alright with that. Hugs could come later.

*S*S*

"Are you staying for lunch, Remus?" Severus asked, looking up from his book.

Remus and Elizabeth were playing a game of Wizard's chess, the latter being so shocked when the pieces fought each other.

"If you'll have me. I don't want to intrude."

"Nonsense." Severus stood. "We've been eating a bit plainly, for Elizabeth's sake. Her stomach can't take a lot of foods at the current moment."

"That's not an issue. I saw the kitchen menu board, is that new? I don't remember Lily having that up."

"I put it up a few days ago. It helps Elizabeth know what to expect for meals and what time we'll be eating."

"A creature of habit?" Remus moved a pawn on the board, starting another game.

"I just like knowing what to expect. My aunt and uncle made me cook, but I really wasn't allowed to eat. Sometimes they would let me have what I made, but only after everyone else ate all they wanted." She shrugged. "Severus said I'm not going back, so I never have to deal with that again."

"We could go and egg their house, if you want. I hear it's a good bonding activity." Remus watched as Elizabeth's knight beat the snot out of the rook he had just moved. "Your dad said we weren't allowed to kill them."

"Severus has a car. He promised to take me to Surrey to see my friend who lives there." Elizabeth considered the board. "We can always swing over to the Dursleys' and do it. Maybe set the lawn on fire."

Remus looked at Severus with a hopeful look on his face.

"No, we are not doing that." Severus went into the kitchen and pulled out a few pans. "We are not destroying their property, no matter of how relaxing we may find it."

"Jenny and her mum would do it." Elizabeth called to her father, as her back was to the door. It wasn't lost on either of the men that she repositioned herself to keep Severus in her line of sight. "I mean, Mrs. Ashter slapped Aunt Petunia once for not giving me a jacket to wear in the winter. I got in trouble at home, but it was still kinda funny to see."

"She slapped her?"

"Mhmm." Elizabeth moved a pawn of her own. "And then when she found out that they were mad at me, she threatened to call child protective services if they didn't let me stay with her family for a while. She saved me a lot from them."

"We'll have to thank her the next time we see them." Severus moved chicken into the pan as the oil was hot.

"Did they have magic?" Remus asked, taking a sip of the tea he had been drinking from for the last half hour.

"Not that I know of. At least they never said anything." Elizabeth frowned as her knight got flattened by his queen. "It seems unlikely that there would be another witch on Privet Drive."

"I'll ask Albus if she's on the list for first years." Severus turned to look out the kitchen door at his daughter. "It would be good for you to know someone going into Hogwarts."

"If she doesn't have magic, can she still come visit me at school?" Elizabeth looked up from the board when she heard Severus sigh.

"Unfortunately, she can't Rennie. If she's a muggle, then the wards around the school that keep magic a secret will keep her out. Perhaps we can arrange a weekend or two for you to go to her house, but I'm not sure. I would have to talk to your head of house and the headmaster, not to mention her mother and explain our situation and our world."

"That's stupid." Elizabeth moved another piece.

"It protects us." Remus looked at her with compassion. "It keeps magic secret from the non magic world. I know it doesn't seem fair, but it's just what we have to do."

Elizabeth made a face, but didn't comment, returning her attention back to the board. "It still sucks."

"I never said it didn't. And watch your mouth. We don't cuss in this household." Severus left the stove for a moment to lean against the door jam, watching the two and their game.

"You do sometimes." Elizabeth said, looking up at his face after her rook was squashed.

"A lapse in judgement, but the statement still stands. No cursing, or I'll wash your mouth out." He pointed a finger at her, giving her a stern look before he went back to the kitchen.

Elizabeth stuck her tongue out at her father's back before she jumped when Remus snorted a laugh. She smiled a little, returning her attention back to the game.

I had a teacher like Elizabeth described in this chapter. We thought it was funny that he made us run up and down the stairs when we were 9. Now at 23, it's not funny anymore.