Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: It turned out that there was slightly more to this story than the first chapter which was originally a one-shot. This chapter is basically concerned with the steps by means of which Severus implements his deception in the months after Hallowe'en 1981. It's essentially, to my mind, colouring in some of the background scenery, to later events, and a certain amount of 'hand-waving' of details has gone on in the writing of it.

Further Note: This story is rated 'T'.

Severus knew that he should have done something about her eyes, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to do so – that would have felt like violating her very nature. Between himself and the goblins he had already taken her name and replaced it with Harriet Jemima Prince, turned the auburn hair black, and replaced her perfectly respectable family history (if one discounted her father) with vague hints of an illicit affair and some secret which needed to be kept. People assumed she was some distant cousin, or half-sister, or even (to Severus' bemusement) his own illegitimate daughter. However, the emerald green eyes (which in Severus' opinion ought to be so telling) – a legacy, as with so much about her, of her mother – were, it turned out, insufficient on their own to cause even the chancest of comparisons of Harriet to members of the deceased Potter family to arise.

The chaos of the end of the war made it easy to deal with the much more mundane inheritance of the Potter gold – the goblins put it about that it had been legitimately withdrawn by a wizard resembling the tragically deceased Peter Pettigrew earlier in the very same day that he had expired at the wand of Sirius Black. This story sent those with an interest in trying to find it for their own purposes (mostly tax-officials from the Ministry, but also occasional distant pure-blood relations of James) off on a variety of highly speculative and wildly erroneous wild-goose chases, whilst the gold in fact quietly sat in a vault where it was identified as 'Prince' gold, exclusively for Harriet's use. Severus supposed that as her guardian, however illegally he had come by possession of her person, he could have made some claim on it, but he refused to touch so much of a knut of it. What loomed larger in his thoughts was the matter of those whom James and Lily might have legally named as guardians for their daughter. The Potters had actually died intestate, without having made wills, although Lily had apparently left written instructions regarding care of Hellebore. The goblins had been able to check up on those directions, under the pretence of considering whether 'if the Potter gold ever showed up' such personages might be considered heirs, and had subsequently informed Severus that nobody so named was both free and able to execute those duties – so Lily's daughter basically would have been up for Ministry officials to place where they saw fit, anyway.

It was of some comfort to Severus to know that none of the named guardians were in a position to take up their responsibilities. It would have pained him to be going against Lily's written wishes.

The matter of Lily's sister vexed Severus for a time though. He considered that she and Lily's daughter should at least be aware that one another existed, even if they were unaware of the relationship between them.

In the end Severus invented a story especially for Petunia (who it turned out had no idea what arrangements, if any, Lily had made for the event of her own demise) that Lily had left a will, in which she had left clear instructions that someone was to periodically drop by to check that the Dursleys were 'still safe', and that said someone was to undertake measures for the Dursleys' ongoing protection. Severus told Petunia that Albus Dumbledore had assigned him to the task, Severus reasoning that it was highly unlikely that Petunia would ever bother to communicate with the Hogwarts headmaster to double-check this – and that even if she did, the headmaster was likely to do no more about it than get some silly idea in his head that Severus was doing this off his own initiative out of some sentimental attachment to the memory of Lily. And then Severus proceeded to drop around to see the Dursleys every few months, bringing 'Harriet' with him as often as was convenient. In case Albus Dumbledore should ever hear about these trips and come to investigate to ensure that Severus wasn't actually doing the muggles any harm, Severus obviously did put some protections and alarms in place.

Petunia sneered at these visits, until Severus was alerted (by the wards he had erected) to Walden Macnair, out looking to take revenge on the muggle relations of the woman who had helped to defeat the Dark Lord, attempting to gain entry to the Dursley residence in the early hours of one morning. After that 'excitement', Severus' presence became politely tolerated in the Dursley household, and Petunia declined to use the word 'freak' or any related terms to refer to him in his company. Harriet was politely ignored too, if Severus brought her with him.

Obviously the Walden Macnair incident did bring it to the headmaster's attention that Severus was engaging in extra-curricular activities, although the headmaster did nothing about it as far as Severus was concerned. In fact he seemed to have lost interest in Severus altogether, other than as a teacher at his school, and indeed seemed to be avoiding contact with him as much as possible, even if something came up involving the activities of former Death Eaters. Severus supposed that Albus thought that without Lily alive he could not rely on Severus to do anything risky or potentially embarrassing for him – and also perhaps wanted as little interaction with him as possible, in case Severus held Lily's death against him. Severus just hoped that, if the headmaster no longer considered Severus of primary use to him in anything but an academic sense, he wouldn't decide to sacrifice Severus in one of his schemes one day without bothering to ask Severus first. Severus had obviously made what arrangements he could with the goblins for Harriet's ongoing care, should anything befall him, but she was a lot safer and better off, in his opinion, if she continued in his active guardianship…

Author Notes:

I hesitated over whether to post this chapter or not. The next one (covering the 1991-1992 school year, Harriet's first as a pupil at Hogwarts) has a lot more 'going on' in it, but I wanted to give some consideration to the steps that Severus initially takes, having acquired Lily's daughter, and some of his early concerns. At this point, he considers that keeping her safe (including from former Death Eater colleagues, some of whom he knows all too well) justifies his abduction of Hellebore/Harriet, but he's desperate not to take any more from her than he already has done ('for her safety').

There is no mention in the original books, as far as I am aware, of James and Lily Potter ever having left 'Last Will & Testaments'. Rather than go the route of numerous fanfictions with the Potters actually having left wills which have been suppressed, I've instead opted in this story for the Potters simply not having made them (too distracted/disorganised - or maybe their circumstances with the war going on prevented drawing up of witch/wizard versions). Despite whatever existing circumstances resulted in James and Lily not putting wills in place, however, I had difficulty imagining this story's Lily having not tried to leave some kind of directions regarding the care of their child, should something catastrophic befall. I imagine she probably left such written instructions with someone she trusted, such as Albus Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall. With the Potters all seeming to have expired on Hallowe'en, 1981, presumably these instructions lost much of their significance to their keeper (and priority for guarding them) other than in any sense of having to keep them around still, 'for legal reasons'. However, even if those instructions were kept somewhere that he could access them, Severus had no wish to check them himself, because that might raise questions in peoples' minds (for a start, why should he have any interest in what instructions Lily left regarding a child who's believed deceased?) and it would certainly draw attention to himself - hence he got the goblins to take a look instead. Note that as a consequence, though, Severus hasn't seen said written directions in this universe. The goblins looked at them and reported back to Severus. It's possible that the goblins tailor their report of what they discover to omit any facts that they consider it might cause difficulties for Severus to know. No point in telling a wizard something that might bother what scruples or conscience he has, if there's more profit in it for the goblins that he not know...

Severus doesn't like Petunia, and he trusts to Hellebore/Harriet's discretion and future judgement that she won't think much of her, either, but at some point he intends to tell Harriet (once she's of age, most likely) what her origins were, and he anticipates (especially if she's inherited Lily's temper) that she might get quite cross at that point. Whatever else she ends up holding against him, he does not want the charge laid against him that he denied her the opportunity to know what closest living blood relatives she did have still alive - so, that requires inventing an excuse to visit Privet Drive in a capacity for which he can take Harriet along, so she can observe the Dursleys in close proximity to an extent which he considers ought to be sufficient to satisfy any future curiosity she might otherwise develop regarding her relatives if/when she becomes enlightened as to her origins.