Severus stepped through the door of the Hog's Head and stifled a sigh. The person he'd come to see, as with most patrons of the dingy pub, wore a hooded cloak, but the upright posture and aura of arrogance, as well as the black-and-silver cane leaning against the table, provided the wizard's identity as clearly as though he'd shouted it aloud.

"What do you want?" he asked without preamble, seating himself across from Lucius Malfoy.

"Many things." Malfoy smirked, the expression just visible under the rim of his hood. "The downfall of my enemies. A proper ordering of society. The return of the Dark Lord. But I'm being redundant, aren't I?" He leaned forward. "We plan to strike another target soon. With Goyle in Azkaban, we're one wand short. You'll be coming with us."

"Will I." Severus kept as firm a hold on his temper as possible. "And why would I do that?"

"Because I have copies of the evidence Albus Dumbledore covered up all those years ago." Malfoy's smirk returned, broader than before. "Evidence that you, of your own free will, joined our side of the war and provided information to the Dark Lord." He chuckled softly. "You wouldn't care for the Daily Prophet getting hold of that story, would you? Or the other school governors? Whereas if you simply join us on this one expedition, no one ever has to know." His hands turned palm-upwards, cupped like the pans of a scale. "Your job, your reputation, and Dumbledore's, against a few spells thrown at some dozy Muggles. What do you say, Severus?"

Long practice of Occlumency kept Severus's face neutral as his mind raced. Dumbledore will weather this storm as he does all others, and my place at the school is hardly a matter of life and death. The world is wide. Perhaps it is time for me to see more of it.

On the other hand, if I go with them, I will be on the spot, anonymous among their ranks. Perhaps I can keep them from their worst excesses, or even find a way to bring the Aurors there in time…

"Very well," he said, allowing his reluctance to creep into his voice. "When and where do we meet?"

"I thought you'd see reason." Malfoy pushed back his chair and rose. "Next Saturday, at eleven, at my home. After our last two expeditions were betrayed, I will be telling no one where we plan to strike until the moment of our leaving." He stopped beside Severus's chair. "And I will be keeping a very close eye on you," he said softly. "Don't think you can sell us out, or the Muggles won't be the only ones who die."

I can still warn the Ministry to keep their eyes open for magical activity in an unexpected location on that day. Severus watched Lucius stride out of the Hog's Head, turn in place on the street, and vanish. Perhaps it will be enough.

And perhaps it will not.

"An unknown location?" repeated Rufus Scrimgeour, his voice rising from its usual well-moderated tones. "You want to call in extra Aurors, have the Trace Room monitored, be prepared to move out in force, based on a tip about an unknown location? Absolutely not!"

"I must point out, sir." Kingsley Shacklebolt pinched his thumb and forefinger together behind his back, cutting off his apprentice's outburst before it could begin. "The last two tips of this sort we've received have paid off. The second one actually netted us a Death Eater, one of the lot that got off on technicalities after the war."

"Small fry." Scrimgeour waved away the detail of Horatius Goyle's arrest impatiently. "For all we know, they set him up to be captured so we'd keep believing these leads are good! No, Shacklebolt, I'm not having it this time. You're not to move from this office without something more specific to go on, and that's an order. Do you understand me?"

"Absolutely, sir." Kingsley nodded once and turned to leave, grasping Tonks's arm firmly above the elbow. "Don't give him the satisfaction," he murmured into one red-flushed ear, and Tonks nodded curtly, following her mentor out into the corridor and around a corner to an alcove.

"What is wrong with him?" Tonks exploded when Kingsley had laid a Privacy Spell around the two of them. "There's going to be an attack! People might die! Doesn't he care?"

"To be honest? No." Kingsley traced a figure in the air with his wand, leaving lines of smoke to mark its passing. "And I've seen times and places where that's necessary. Where the ability to make dispassionate decisions, to take the human element out of the equation, saved lives and got us the outcome we needed. But I've also seen it used to justify inaction in situations where a little bit of help could have done a lot of good. And I'll point out." He swirled his wand around the figure, dissipating it. "The only person ordered to stay at the Office was me. And there's no rules against apprentices talking to other apprentices, or even full Aurors. Not against sharing information, either. Or paying visits to the Trace Room…"

Severus regarded his masked and robed figure in the mirror with distaste. I had hoped never to wear this apparel again. It feels like a betrayal, both of myself and of the one woman I ever truly loved. A slight smile touched his lips as he thought of the witch he had passed in the hallway on his way to this room, with whom he had traded a polite nod. The inventive imaginings of my dreaming mind notwithstanding…

"Are we all prepared, then?" said Lucius's voice, shattering Severus's momentary foray into a world both like and unlike this one. "Excellent. Our target is here." A flick of the excessively long Malfoy wand, and a map of the greater London area unrolled across the desk, a spot on it highlighted with a dot of green ink. "A shopping mall, the Muggles call it. Attractive to families with children, or so I've been informed." He laughed once. "We shall see how they feel about it after today. Let us depart."

Concentrating on the place Lucius had indicated, on his need to be there immediately, Severus turned on the spot. The image of Cassandra's face, terrified or twisted in pain or lax in the stillness of death, attempted to rise before his inner eyes. Ruthlessly he shoved it away, and arrived at his destination in one piece, if with a rather louder noise than his usual soft pop. Screams and pointed fingers indicated that the Muggles had already begun to notice the masked men in black robes appearing out of nowhere.

And now, to delay and hinder as much as possible, while keeping myself alert for the arrival of the law…

Time flexed and warped around him, in the usual contrary manner of a battlefield. At one moment everything moved in slow motion, allowing him to swing his wand in a wide arc and think Impedimenta! just in time to keep Patroclus Nott from casting the Cruciatus Curse on an old woman. At another, he sensed Lucius's eyes upon him, forcing him to throw what spells he could into the crowd of fleeing Muggles and pray that none of them reached too vulnerable a target. At another—

"Avada Kedavra!" bellowed a gruff voice from the floor below, and the rushing wind of the Killing Curse filled the area. Swearing to himself, Severus Disapparated, the black compression lasting only an instant as he reappeared behind Ulysses Crabbe. A middle-aged Muggle woman was collapsing onto a bench across the concourse, and beside her—

"Aunt Amelia!" shrieked an anguished voice. "No!"

Severus froze in place, shock and disbelief holding him prisoner for a split second.

"You killed her!" screamed the dark-haired little girl who stood beside the woman's body, pointing her finger unerringly at Crabbe, her strong features twisted into a mask of fury. "I hate you!"

Crabbe only laughed, and began to raise his wand once more. "Avada—"

"Stupefy!" shouted a different voice, one Severus took a moment to recognize as his own. Crabbe collapsed on the spot, his wand falling from his hand.

The girl across the concourse gasped, turning to stare at Severus. For one instant she hesitated, her blue eyes fixed on his form with a look of disbelieving hope.

Severus reached up and pulled off his mask, revealing his face.

With a little sob, the girl bolted towards him, leaping into his arms and clinging tight. Loud bangs on the floor above, shouted spells and curses, hinted that the Aurors might indeed have arrived, but Severus no longer saw any reason to care. Turning in place once more, he envisioned the sitting room of his home at Spinner's End.

Safety and privacy would both be needed for the conversation he was about to have.

The compression of Apparition safely past, Severus gently disentangled his small passenger, guiding her to the dusty sofa. "Are you hurt?" he asked, looking her over as she sank onto the cushioned seat. "Did a spell hit you, or any debris?"

"N-no." The girl shook her head jerkily. "M-my aunt…is she really…"

"I'm afraid so." Severus chose to kneel beside the sofa, keeping himself on a level with the child. "What's your name?"

"M-my name?" The girl drew a deep, shuddering breath. "Cassie," she said, just over a whisper. "I'm Cassie. Cassandra, really, but only if I've been bad." She ducked her head, the ghost of a smile touching her lips. "Sometimes I do that. Be bad, I mean. Talk back to my teachers, or forget about my homework, or do magic accidentally-on-purpose. Is that why the men came today?" Her eyes fixed on Severus's face. "Because I was bad?"

"No." Severus took the girl's hand in his, speaking with quiet intensity. "Nothing you did, or did not do, caused this, Cassandra. You are not to blame. Never think that."

"Okay." Cassie produced a tiny, watery giggle. "Thank you for helping me."

"You're welcome." Swallowing an inappropriate laugh of his own at the surreality of this conversation, Severus noticed a gap in his knowledge. "What about your last name?" he asked, ruthlessly suppressing the eager uprising in the back of his mind. The resemblance is a coincidence, he lectured himself sternly, the name likewise. This girl is nothing to do with me, and once I have her whole name I can return her safely to the parents who are likely worried sick about her…

"Oh, right. That's kind of important." Cassie giggled again. "It's Evans. I'm Cassandra Evans." Her eyes rose to his face once more. "That's the name my mummy gave me when I was born," she said in the tone of a child reciting a solemn lesson. "She needed to hide me away from bad people, so it wouldn't be safe for me to have her name, or my daddy's. But she said this name would tell my daddy, whenever he got to meet me, that I really did belong with him."

"Your mother," said Severus in a tone which astonished him with its normality, "sounds like an intelligent lady. I hope to meet her someday."

And I am not sure, on that occasion, whether I will want to kiss her or throttle her senseless.

"I like her." Cassie smiled, then blinked a few times. "Er. Can I use your loo? Please?"

"Yes, of course." Severus helped the girl to her feet. "Through the kitchen, on the left there."

When the door had shut behind her, Severus indulged himself in one silent, vehement, comprehensive curse. Then he drew his wand and began to speak into its tip, pausing between sentences to be sure he was not talking nonsense.

As much as he hated to admit it, he was going to need help.

Aletha Freeman knocked on the door to which the Patronus-messenger had directed her, schooling her face to neutrality. The breathless tone in which the messenger had spoken, the wavering edges on what was usually a crisply cast spell, told her more about its sender's current frame of mind than she thought he was aware he'd revealed.

The door was yanked open from within by that same sender, in a state that would have startled most of his students and colleagues considerably. His dark hair was in disarray, his robes gaped open at the chest to reveal a faded green T-shirt beneath them, and his black eyes darted back and forth, scanning the street behind her. "Come in," he said, stepping back to allow her to do so. "Thank you for answering so quickly."

"It didn't sound like something that should wait." Aletha entered the house and slipped past Snape, letting him close the door behind her. "All right, I'm here," she said, setting down the bag she was carrying on the rickety table situated between the sofa and the armchair. "What in the world is going on?"

"I was…somewhere. Doing something." Snape paced restlessly along one wall of the tiny room, in time with his jerky speech. "The details don't matter. What matters is, a child was in danger. I saved her, and brought her here. She needs to be examined, to be sure she wasn't hurt. And…" He turned to face Aletha, his eyes now full of a strange, desperate hope. "I need to know whose child she is. The name she gave me…the things she says…"

"I understand." Aletha nodded once. "And now I see why you asked me to bring a few of Meghan's things. I have them here, if they're needed."

"Thank you." Snape turned at the sound of an opening door from the back of the house. "Cassandra," he called.

The girl who appeared in the doorway was small and slender, a long fall of dark hair spilling over her shoulders. Her blue eyes rested on Snape with a mixture of hope and fear, as though she longed to run to him but feared that he would push her away.

"This is Healer Freeman." Snape gestured to Aletha, who nodded to the girl with a smile. "We went to school together, some years ago. Will you let her check you over? To be sure that you're all right?"

Cassandra nodded briefly, and advanced into the room, seating herself on the edge of the sofa. Snape drew his wand and pointed it at one of the bookshelves against the far wall, which swung outward, revealing a narrow staircase. "I'll be upstairs," he said, beginning to climb. "Call me if I'm needed."

"Of course." Aletha waited until the bookshelf had closed behind Snape, then sat down beside Cassandra, angling herself towards the girl. "Was it frightening, what happened to you today?" she asked softly.

"Mm-hmm." Cassandra sniffled once. "Strange men, wizards, they came to the mall near our house. They did bad curses, the kind you're not ever supposed to do. And my auntie, who I lived with, she…" Another sniffle. "She died. One of the men killed her. But then he was there." Her eyes indicated the bookshelf through which Snape had vanished. "He stopped the man, and brought me here. And he's…" She cut herself off, pressing her lips together firmly, then looked Aletha up and down. "Do you have a little girl?" she asked. "One about my age?"

"I do." Aletha nodded matter-of-factly. "Her name is Meghan. It means 'pearl'."

"That's funny." Cassandra smiled shyly. "Sometimes I have nice dreams, and in the dreams I have a friend named Pearl. Her mummy looks like you." She looked down at her hands. "I have my own mummy and daddy in those dreams, too. I wish I could in real life, but Mummy says it's too dangerous. The bad men might find out, and then everyone would get hurt."

"Well, let's try to keep that from happening." Aletha extended a hand, and Cassandra laid hers in it trustingly. "I'm going to do a couple of charms on you, Cassandra—or is it Cassie? I thought it might be. In any case, I'll do those charms, Miss Cassie, and no, they won't hurt, though one of them might tickle for a moment. And after that, I need a strand of your hair, so I can check on something very important…"

Standing at the window of what had once been his parents' bedroom, Severus gazed unseeingly out into the cloudy afternoon. His usual clarity of thinking was gone, replaced by a hazy wash of disbelief and uncertainty. It cannot be, he repeated in the silence of his mind. It cannot be.

But if it somehow is…

The silver form of a Patronus-messenger materialized beside him, startling him out of his circling thoughts. "Congratulations, Severus," said the tiny winged horse in Aletha Freeman's voice. "It's a girl."

He managed, somehow, to cross the three steps to the bed and sit down on its edge, gripping the covers tightly with both hands.

My daughter. My Cassandra. She is real, and she is here.

But how? How can she be? When her mother—her mother is—

Memory crashed over him, a memory he had tried to blot out, obliterate, relegate to the back rooms of his mind.

That night. That single, marvelous, impossible night. I was still half-mad with grief and shame, driven almost to distraction by the contrast between reality and my bizarre, recurring dreams, and then I opened the door to a knock and there she stood, gazing at me…

Neither of us spoke a word. Neither of us wished to speak. We simply took what the other had offered, shared the sanest moment of madness I have ever known, and then we parted ways once more. I pushed it out of my mind, relegated it to the same place as my hopeless desire to salvage some good from the wreck I had made of my life, and slowly, slowly I began to forget.

"I had almost come to think that night itself a dream." The words emerged in a hoarse whisper as Severus stared at the floorboards of the room. "But no. It was as real as I am. And now—and now—"

Now I am a father. The word nearly staggered him with its weight, its implications, but Severus squared his shoulders and lifted his head. The one aspect of my dream-self I have envied most deeply all these years, and the one I thought could surely never be mine.

But is it, even now? He sighed deeply. As much as I want to keep my child with me, she has never met me in reality. She may prefer returning to her current home, or to go somewhere else. A reluctant laugh surfaced from the turmoil of his thoughts. Perhaps, depending on the result of today's little contretemps, she could even live openly with her mother…

Andromeda Tonks looked up at the knock on her door. "Stay here," she told the person sitting at her kitchen table. "This could be nothing, or…"

"Yes." The person nodded once. "I can wait."

Making sure her wand was ready for a quick draw, Andromeda crossed her house and pulled the door open. "Can I help you?" she inquired.

"I certainly hope so." Aletha Freeman's tone was oddly neutral. "Are you the right person to tell the whereabouts of a little girl named Cassandra?"

A clatter sounded behind Andromeda, and Narcissa was there, her blue eyes enormous in her face. "Is she safe?" she whispered. "Has she been harmed?"

"She's alive, and unhurt." Aletha folded her arms. "And this may be none of my business, but why didn't you tell her father about her years ago? The poor man looked like he'd been hit over the head with one of his own cauldrons."

Narcissa swayed, and put out a hand to the wall for balance. Andromeda stepped back to help steady her sister. "Would you care to come in?" she inquired. "This might be a better conversation to have sitting down."

"Most likely it would." Aletha stepped in, closing the door behind herself. "I apologize for being rude," she said to Narcissa. "But it was such a shock to see Severus taken aback. He prides himself so much on never letting anything rattle him, and now one little girl has his world flipped upside down."

"So she is with him." Narcissa sank shakily back into her chair at the kitchen table. "Thank heavens. When Andromeda told me of the attack, that Amelia had been killed and Cassandra was missing, I feared…" She drew a long breath and pressed her hand against her chest, visibly calming herself. "You are not wrong," she said, as Aletha pulled out a chair on an adjoining side of the table and Andromeda filled a teacup for her second guest. "I should have told Severus, long since, that our child existed. But I was afraid. Afraid that he might look at her and see only a weapon, a means to hold an enemy at bay, or even a nuisance to be destroyed. And to me, she was the most precious creature in existence. I did not dare to take that chance."

"I can understand that." Aletha nodded slowly. "Fear is terribly powerful, until you're able to find the right way to fight against it. And since that right way is different for every person, and every fear, it's not an easy fix by any means," she added with a twisted smile. "In any case, I've examined Cassandra, and physically she's just fine. Shaken up and unhappy, obviously. Having her foster mother killed right in front of her eyes—a cousin of your husband's, she said?"

"Yes, Amelia was Ted's first cousin. Their mothers were sisters." Andromeda handed Aletha her tea. "And I have to be honest, her husband isn't taking this well at all. He was never very close with Cassie, and apparently she's the one who coaxed Amelia into going to the mall today. Phil's worked that around to 'if the girl hadn't been here, Amelia would still be alive'. Not particularly useful, but that's human emotions for you."

"Which answers my next question." Aletha sipped from her cup. "That's no place for her to go back to. And I assume she can't come home with you," she said to Narcissa, who nodded. "In which case, strange as it sounds, the problem may have already solved itself…"

"Minerva," said a familiar voice, though its undertone quavered slightly. "Could I have a word?"

"Of course, Severus." Minerva turned to look at her colleague. He seemed outwardly much the same as usual, but several emotions seemed to be warring for place in his eyes. If she had to choose a single word to describe it, she decided, 'baffled' came as close as any. "I hope nothing's wrong?"

"No. Not at all." Severus shook his head jerkily. "Though I will need, or rather I want to ask for…" He stopped, closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. "I apologize," he said, his voice sounding a bit calmer. "A great deal has happened today. I would like to formally request a brief leave of absence. Two weeks, if I may have it."

"I'll need to check it with Albus, whenever he returns, but I can't see why not." Minerva frowned, running over the calendar of the term in her head. "We'll have to find a substitute, of course…"

"Aletha Freeman has already offered to cover my classes for the time," Severus interjected. "If she would be acceptable."

"A fully qualified Healer, with a subspecialty in potions? I'd certainly think so." Pulling her daily notebook from her pocket, Minerva flipped it open to her current page and withdrew an Everfill Quill from its slot in the back, beginning to make notes about this situation. "She can always Floo up from Hogsmeade for the day. Or I suppose we could give her quarters in the castle, but I don't like asking her to uproot little Meghan all over again, just for two weeks." She glanced up at Severus. "Unless there's something else?"

"There is." Severus looked away for a moment, as if gathering his courage, then returned his eyes to her. "I have a daughter," he said simply. "Until recently, it was best for her to live elsewhere, but her circumstances have changed. She's mine to care for now."

"So you'll need new quarters to accommodate her, then. And possibly some adjustments to your class schedule." Minerva nodded, tucking away her surprise to be examined at a later point. "How old is she?"

"Nine, so there should be little problem with my continuing to teach. Although…" Severus hesitated. "Healer Freeman had broached the possibility of an adjunct position, such as Lupin already holds under Quirrell," he said after a few seconds. "If she were to take over the lower-level Potions classes, third year and below, that would free a significant portion of my time, as well as accustoming her to the routine of Hogwarts. In the event that I choose to explore other avenues, after this year ends."

"Giving advance notice, Severus?" Minerva smiled a little. "You'll be missed. But family comes first. What's her name, by the way?"

"Cassandra." The look that lit Severus's eyes removed the angry wariness from their depths and made him look his proper age for the first time Minerva could remember. "My daughter's name is Cassandra."

XxXxX

Cassandra Snape hummed to herself as she lifted the lid from the breakfast tray the house-elves had delivered to her parents' quarters, turning over one of the mugs and picking up the insulated carafe to fill it. The song was a waltz her mother had taught her to play on the piano, taken from a book of show tunes her pen-friend had sent for her seventh birthday.

And now we can play together. She smiled broadly, bending down to enjoy the rich scent rising from the mug. In more ways than one.

"Stealing coffee, young lady?" asked a deep, teasing voice. "That's against school rules. I'm going to have to give you a detention."

"But I'm not even a student yet," Cassie protested, looking up innocently at her father. "And I wasn't stealing it. I was just getting it ready for you."

"Oh, were you, now." Her father chuckled, leaning against the doorframe. "Well, I suppose I can let it slide this once. If you bring it over here right away, that is."

Picking up the mug, Cassie carried it carefully in both hands to her father. He accepted it and took his first sip, then slid his free arm around her. "I had a rather pleasant dream last night," he murmured. "Did you, little one?"

"Mm-hmm." Cassie leaned into her father's side. "Except for the beginning part. That was scary, and sad. Do you think Aunt Amelia is all right?"

"We can firecall your Aunt Andromeda after breakfast and ask her." Severus reached up to stroke Cassie's hair. "For now, let's enjoy the good things that happen in our dreams, and let the bad ones drift away until we hardly remember them at all…"

(A/N: Well, that set of scenes came together quickly. Hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.

I need to take a moment to apologize to a couple of my readers, after whom Cassie's foster parents were named. I'm sorry for killing off one of you and having the other one be a bit of a jerk! You are in fact super awesome people and I appreciate you very much, for leaving me beautiful reviews and updating the Dangerverse Wiki! That's at dangerverse-books dot fandom dot com slash wiki slash Dangerverse_Wiki if anyone is interested. It contains summaries, trivia, character bios, and other fun items for your amusement.

Next time: a long-awaited letter arrives, several secrets are revealed, and a story you've all been wanting to hear begins. Stay tuned!)