After all of the shopping that day, Claudia was so tired and her feet were so sore; she was practically sleep walking. Severus noticed this, however, and he picked her up to walk her the rest of the way back up to the castle. These things that people were doing to her and for her were foreign in her eyes. No one has ever done something like this for her anytime of her life, and she didn't know how to take it. She soon feared that these people would turn her away and see that she was a freak like her relatives have told her so many times in her life.
She didn't noticed that her grip had tighten onto Severus's shoulders until he wrapped his arms around her tighter as if to shield her from all of the pain that she went through in her short life.
"What's wrong, little one?" He asked softly so only she could here.
"Nothing, just felt like I was slipping a little is all." She told him hoping that he wouldn't see through her lie. Unfortunately he did see through her lie, but didn't call her out on it and decided to talk to her later about it once they were alone at home.
He looked ahead at the castle as the sun was setting behind it, and the stars and moon were coming out and into the purple sky. He didn't think that it would take all day to go shopping for her and she still didn't have everything in their list. Buying the clothes for her was what held them up. He didn't know how much she would need in her life, but then again she was a girl and they needed different things then boys did. They walked back up to the castle with Severus caring Claudia and, him and Minerva talking back and forth about the new school year and what to expect this year. Claudia was practically falling asleep on his shoulder from the deep rumble coming from his chest that she was pressed up against when he talked. She closed her eyes and took in the feel of this man, her man, the only one that actually wanted her for who she was.
She listened to the rumble of his voice and thought long ago to a similar rumble of a voice that would sing to her at night to get her to sleep. She remembered the dark hair and the tone chest of the person. She remembered the strong arms that would hold her in her sleep when she was little and then it was gone soon enough. Her eyes shot open and she held onto Severus as tight as she could until her knuckles turned white. Severus looked down at her in worry, but she wouldn't meet his gaze. He just tighten his grip on her even more into his chest and shushed her into her head to calm her down. She loosened her grip on his robes and looked up at him.
He looked down at her questionably and she just answered, "Bad memories is all." She then lowered her head back down onto his chest.
He knew there was more then what she was implying, but he didn't push it right now. He would talk to her more when they got back home. Waite when did it start being just home and not his home when he was referring to the two of them. Wow, she really was starting to rub off on him and he only met her yesterday. What is up with his girl? Maybe it was the idea that she's Lily's girl and she reminded him so much of her of everything that she did. It really did feel like Lily was back with him and it was liked he never made the mistake what so ever. They made the trip back up to McGonagall's office and Severus thanked her for watching Claudia.
"It was no problem, Severus. I was really happy to see her again. She looks so much like her mother, don't you think?"
"Yes, that's not the only thing. She acts like her to."
"Hope she's good in her classes like her mother was as well." They said their good-byes and Severus took them home through the floo.
When they returned home, Severus brushed the soot off of them both and then took her to her room so she could get some sleep before dinner was served. He set her things on the floor and used his wand to place everything in its place. There was still a lot of open space on her bookshelves; not even all of the books that they bought filled one bookcase. As she was sleeping for right now, Severus walked over to her bag and pulled out the photo album that she brought with her. He walked down stairs and placed a pot of pasta with water and salt over the fire to cook while he put some ground beef into a skillet with onions and one garlic clove. As he let the food cook, he opened the book and looked at what she brought with her. He looked at the pictures of her mother and her aunt when they were little and even some of them had pictures of him when they became friends. It was all full of her childhood. All of the people that she knew where in this photo album with her and her sister. He closed the book with a snap and wiped the tears that were threatening to pour from his eyes. He sent the book back to her bag upstairs and continued with his cooking.
He finished up the meal and then walked up to Claudia's room. Once he walked into her room he found her tossing and turning in her bed from another nightmare. He ran to her side and lifted her into his arms; shaking her gently to wake her up from the nightmare, she snapped her eyes open and clung to Severus with all of her might as a scream tore from her throat. Her eyes were unfocused and sweat poured down from her forehead.
"Shhhh, Claudia, concentrate on my voice and nothing else. Listen to my voice and calm down, you can do it. I have you nothing will happen to you ever when you're here. I promise that I will protect you always. Please, just calm down." Claudia's breathing started to slow down and her eyes went back into focus.
She blinked a few time before she looked up at Severus with tears forming in her eyes. She was afraid that he would be mad at her. He pulled her into his arms tighter and held her close to his chest with all of the strength that he had without hurting her.
"Are you alright now?" He asked into her hair. She lowered her head and nodded her head.
"I'm sorry." She told him, looking at the buttons on his coat. He lifted her chin up with one hand and looked deep into her emerald green eyes.
"I will never get mad at you, promise."
"You promise?"
Severus looked down at her with a small smirk on his lips and answered, "Always."
She looked at him with tears in her eyes and then threw her arms around his neck, holding on like he would disappear as soon as she would let go. He was shocked at first and soon he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her as well, holding her close. After a while he pulled her away and told her that dinner was ready. He took her hand and they walked down the stairs together into the kitchen. Claudia sat in the same place that she sat the night before as Severus placed the plates in front of her as he sat down in his spot with his plate across from her. Severus reached for the plate of garlic bread and then handed it to her as he took his piece. The food smelled wonderful to her as she never smelled anything like it before. Her aunt never bought anything like this before and she never made anything like it.
Severus watched in amusement as she tried not to wolf down the food like she was starving for years. Severus walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a pitcher of water. He walked over to the one of the cabinets to the left of the sink and pulled out two tall glasses. He poured the water into each glass and placed the pitcher back into the refrigerator. He grabbed the glasses and walked back over to the table. Setting one glass in front of Claudia, he sat down with his glass and stare at her for a little while over his glass. He set it back down on the table and continued to eat.
After a while of eating in silence, Severus spoke up to her without looking at her, "What happened today when you tightened your grip on my robes and with the two nightmares?" Her fork was halfway up to her mouth when he asked her. She lowered her fork back to her plate and pushed it away from her.
She looked down at the hands that she just folded in front of her and answered, "I was afraid that all of this would be a dream and that I would wake back up in my cupboard under the stairs with my aunt screeching for me to wake up and start my day. I don't want to leave when I have just found people who are like me. Ever since I ran into you the first day that I came here and you took me in, I thought that you would beat me as well, but when you did the magic, I found out that I'm not the only one in the world that could strange things. I'm not the only kind like me; there is more people like me. I have never felt so wanted before and I was afraid that it was all fake. I didn't want this to end; to wake up in my room and find out that it was all untrue. It scares me." She whispered the last part so softly that Severus almost missed it.
Severus got up from his chair and walked over to the girl that was sitting in his kitchen. She looked up at him with her eyes shining with tears as he pulled her up from her chair and led her into the library. Severus sat in his chair by the fireplace and pulled her into his lap with his arms wrapped around her.
They sat there for a while before he finally said something to her, "I will never let anything happen to you. I will never let those people go near you or hurt you ever again. I will fight for you and will make sure that the Dark Lord or anyone that wants to harm you will never get close enough to hurt you."
"Who's the Dark Lord?"
Severus looked down at her with a sad look on his face and answered sadly, "He was the man that killed your parents."
She looked up at him in shock before answering, "But Aunt Petunia said that they died in a car crash and that's how I got my scar." She raised her hand to her forehead and felt her scar. He took her hand into his and kissed it.
"I'm sorry, but she lied to you. If I knew I would have told you what happened."
"Would you tell me everything?" Severus closed his eyes and gulped.
"Some things… Some things are hard for me to talk about, but I will tell you things that I am not afraid to tell you." So Severus sat there and told her everything that he knew about the Dark Lord and what happened the night of her parent's death and what her mother did for her. She sat there for the whole time as tears streamed down her face as he told her all that happened. At the end she looked up at him and he looked down at her with tears in his eyes.
She threw her arms around him and held on tightly to him, never wanting to let go, "Thank you for telling me about what happened; for telling me the truth." She whispered in his ear.
He pulled her in closer for a hug and let out a soft sigh. Severus set her down on the floor and they both went up to bed forgetting about their unfinished dinner; not wanting to finish it really from the mood that they were in they couldn't finish it. Severus took her to his bed and walked over to the desk in the room. He knelt down on the side that he would sit on and opened one of the cabinets.
Pulling out a bottle, he resealed the door and walking back over to her saying, "I really shouldn't give this to you, but seeing as how many nightmares that you have been getting, this should help."
Severus handed her a tablespoon of the containment as she stood next to the bed. She looked at the red liquid and then swallowed it all in one go. After she finished it, she started to gag from the taste and her legs soon gave out from under her. Severus caught her in time before she hit the floor and laid her down onto his bed. He wanted to keep her close in his eye range to see how she responded to the Sleeping Drought. This was going to be a long night for him. He went back over to his desk and opened up the potion cabinet again and pulled out a Pepper-Up potion to help keep him away. He took the whole thing in one gulp and waited for the steam and his flushed face to settle back down. That was so much better than caffeine. Severus summoned his book that he was reading and sat in the chair next to the bed. The night went through with no problems at all.
When morning came, Claudia woke up happy for once. She looked around and saw that it was not her room or the room that she was given to sleep in, but Severus's. Why was she sleeping in Severus's? She looked over to see that he was reading in the chair next to her.
She smiled a soft smile at him, "Morning." She said quietly. Severus looked up from his book to see that she was awake.
"Good morning. I didn't think that you would be up so soon. How did you sleep, any nightmares?" She shook her head no and sat up in the bed.
"Are you hunger?" He asked as he set his book to the side.
Before she got to answer, her stomach growled loudly when made Severus's eyes grow big at the sound. They both started to laugh at that and Severus took her by the hand to lead her down the stairs. Once they were down there, Severus cleared last night's dinner with his wand and set the dishes to clean themselves as he started on making breakfast.
"Why do you do thing like non-magic people do instead of using your magic?" Claudia asked from the table. Severus looked at her over his shoulder and then back to the bacon and eggs that he was frying.
"I like to do it; it relaxes me to do so. All of the time using magic gets old and it makes me feel like I am always relaying on it constantly. It makes me feel good that I can do things without magic. Some people think that I'm crazy to thing that way, but it helps me remember that I am human and that I can do things without help."
Claudia nodded her head and said, "I see your point and I don't think that you're craze. I would probably think the same way as you do."
Severus finished breakfast and set two plates in front of them both. Just as she was about to start eating, an owl flew through the open window. Claudia held the fork half way up to her open mouth when the bird flew in with what looked like a newspaper in is talons. Severus just took out some bronze coins and gave them to the bird as it held out its foot. With that, the bird flew out of the window leaving the paper behind. Severus picked it up and went back to eating not noticing that Claudia was still staring at what happened just a few moments in confusion and a little freaked out.
"Um, Severus?" She asked cautiously.
"Hmm?" He asked not looking from the paper.
"What was that all about?" She asked him putting her fork back down.
Severus placed his paper and looked at her in confusion. He then remembered that he didn't tell her about the mail system.
"Right, the mail system that I didn't tell you about. Well you see all mail and news is delivered by owls. It's just how it goes in our world. There are other things that go on in our world that you will understand later on and I will tell you about as it comes up in time. I don't want to bombard you with all of the information all at once." He said. Claudia nodded her head and went back to eating her breakfast. Severus lifted up the newspaper again and started to eat his breakfast as he read. She looked at the front of the newspaper and saw a familiar face on it.
"I know that man." Claudia said not knowing that she said it out loud. Severus looked at her and then the front of the page.
Severus so paled a little and looked at her, "Where did you see him?"
"Yesterday while I was standing in front of the store that you found me at while you were shopping at the dark store, am I in trouble?" She asked a little scared.
"No, never at you. This man is just a very manipulating man. His name is Albus Dumbledore; he is the headmaster at the school that you will be going to this year. I want you to be careful around him while you are at school, I don't want him to fill your mind with things about our world. He is a very manipulative man, do you understand me?" He asked very seriously. She nodded her head because he now scared her, this man named Albus Dumbledore.
Severus nodded his head and reached across the table to take her hand into his. She looked up at him and into his dark eyes.
"I am not mad at you." He told her.
"I know, I'm just scared of this Albus Dumbledore. He seemed so nice at first, but the way that you describe him, it makes him seem like there is a darker side to him." Severus smiled a sincere smile and nodded his head. As soon as he was about ready to finish up with his breakfast, another owl came through the window. This one was a mean looking Screech-Owl with a letter tied to its leg. It landed gracefully next to Severus who took the letter and paid the bird two sickles. As the bird flew away, Severus opened up the seal to see that it was adoption papers. Down at the bottom was the signature of Petunia and Vernon Dursley giving up Claudia. Severus looked at the papers for a while and smiled a genuine smile.
He pulled out his wand, and soon a quill and a pot of ink flew through the air over to the table. He grabbed them from the air and placed them next to him as he moved his tea away. He uncorked the bottle and dipped the green quill into the pot before signing his name on the line down at the bottom.
With a flourish movement, he signed quickly and then rolled up the paper and walked into the seating room, "I'll be right back." He called over his shoulder. After a minute, there was a whooshing sound and then Severus walked back in.
Claudia looked at him questionably as he sat down across from her and he answered, "Claudia, that paper that was just here, it was adoption papers. It's not a permit fix with me if you do not want to stay with me, but it means that you will never have to go back to the Dursley's home. Now, if you do not want to stay with me and want to go to someone else, you can, but for now you will be staying with me. Do you have any questions?"
She looked at him for a few minutes before asking, "What if I want to stay with you?"
He looked at her for a while gathering his thoughts together and then took a deep breath, "You can stay with me and we can draw up papers, but I want you to wait until the first school year is over with before you decide." She nodded her head at that a little stiff at what she was told. She was still processing it all in her mind.
"So how about we celebrate today. At lunch we can go out in to the town. There is a pond that a lot of the children in the area like to go to for a swim in the park area. We could have a picnic and you could go swimming. What do you say about that?" He asked leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed.
She looked up at him with a slight blush on her face, "I don't know how to swim." The smile on Severus' face vanished as he looked at her.
"Well; I can teach you if you want." She looked back up at him with delight written on her face.
"Wait; I don't have anything to swim in."
Severus smirked at that and then pulled his wand back out and started to twirl it in his fingers, "You are forgetting that I am a wizard that can do magic."
She looked at him and smiled. He smiled back at her and they went back to eating their breakfast. Afterwards, they went into the sitting room and sat by the fire to read. Severus was sitting in the Kelly Green arm chair closes to the door leading to the kitchen, it seemed to be to his favorite chair in the room, reading his new potion book while Claudia sat in the other green chair across from him reading the book that he let her borrow. She had been so engrossed in that she never noticed when Severus got up from his chair and walked into the kitchen at around eleven o'clock. When he came back, he had a wooded weaved picnic basket with a green and white plaid picnic blanket sticking out.
"Are you ready?" He asked her. She jumped up when he spoke to her and dropped the book to the floor.
She quickly picked up the book and held it close to her, "I'm sorry."
He just shook his head and smiled, "Its fine, I just startled you and you didn't know."
She blushed a little with a sly smile on her face and placed the book down on the table. She walked over to him and watched as he changed his clothes into black jeans and a white dress shirt with the sleeves folded up halfway to his elbows so it still covered most of his dark mark that his father forced on to him. He changed her clothes to an emerald green knee high flowy summer dress and white strapped light brown base sandals. She looked down and what she was wearing and spun around making the dress fly up a little, but not too high even though she had on a green bathing suit underneath.
She looked up at him and smiled, "How did you know green was my favorite color?"
"I didn't, it just seemed to go good with your eyes and now that I look at you, you look wonderful in green just like your mother." He told her with a smile.
She blushed at his words and smiled. Severus offered her his arm and she looped hers with his. They walked out the door and into the morning sun. They walked down the cobble sidewalk and soon came to a dirt path under an iron gate. They walked through the gateway and into the park. After walking a little further away from the main park area, they came to a place with a bunch of trees.
"Here we are." Severus said as he pulled out the blanket and laid it down on the ground before sitting on it with the basket. Claudia sat down next to him as he pulled out a book that he brought with him. He opened it and inside was a maple leaf, but it was not any ordinary leaf, the leaf was blue with a white little flower attached to it.
"This came from the tree that your mother and I went to all of the time. We made it our little hiding place, it's only over there." He said pointing to the blue and white tree in the distance.
She looked over and saw that it was a willow tree with blue leaves and white flowers. She turned back to him and he nodded his head in the direction. She turned back to the tree and soon her feet started to take her over to the direction of the blue willow. She walked over to it faster than she thought that she would. Once she arrived at the tree, she looked around and saw what was carved into the tree. It was a heart with Severus + Lily Forever carved inside. The way that she was able to see the heart and letters was because the letters were glowing in a blue metallic color. She placed her hand on the marking and ran it down as a blue light came from the heart and onto her fingers. She saw some of the memories of when her mother and Severus were little, but took her hand away just as a hand was placed on her shoulder. She turned to see Severus standing behind her looking a little sad, but not towards her. She looked up at him and then wrapped her arms around him while baring her face into his shirt. He stumbled back a little and then wrapped his arms around her as well.
"I wanted to show you this since she was your mother."
"Thank you." She told him into his shirt. Severus pulled her away to look into her eyes and smiled. He led her back over to the picnic and sat down on the blanket with the basket next to him.
"Do you want to go swimming first or eat?"
Claudia thought about it for a minute and then answered, "Swimming."
Severus smiled at her and nodded, "Turn around so I can untie your dress." She did as she was told and Severus untied the belt so it would be easier to take off of her. She lifted the dress over her head and kicked off her sandals. Severus smirked at her and then proceeded to undress himself. This only left him in a pair of swimming trunks. This was also the time when Claudia got a good look at him. His skin may have been pale, but it suit him along with him muscular form. Claudia turned to look at him and smiled; he was perfect in her eyes.
He looked up to her and smiled back, "Well, ready?" He asked as he held out his hand to her.
She nodded and took it into hers. Severus led her over to the pond and right up to the edge. He lifted her up into his arms and proceeded into the water. Once he was waist deep in the water, he slowly lowered her down into the water, but never let go of her as she descended into the water. She clung to his arms as she watched the water come up around her. She tried not to panic seeing as how Severus had a hold of her and wasn't going to let anything happen to her. Once the water was up to her chest and her feet were on the underwater ground, Severus let go of her.
He got on his knees so he was her height and looked into her eyes, "Are you ok?"
She nodded her head and looked into his eyes with a smile. He smiled back at her and just held her there for a while to let her get use to the water. After about a half an hour, he told her it was time to eat and she was happy to get out of the water. Even though she was able to hold her wits together, she still didn't like the water. Severus pulled out of the basket; two sandwiches, a thermostat of lemonade, and two slices of apple pie with two forks. They sat there together while Severus told Claudia some stories about her mother when they were kids like how they first met and when they first went to Hogwarts together while they air dried before they got dressed again. As Severus was bringing his glass of lemonade up to his lips, Claudia saw the Dark Mark for the first time since Severus used a concealing charm on it to hide it from her.
"Severus?"
"Hmmm?" He asked as he took a drink.
"What's that on your arm?" Severus looked down at the mark and then clutched to it to try and hide it from her.
"It's a magical mark that my father made me get along with my brother to follow the Dark Lord." She looked at him in shock and in curiosity since this was the first time he ever made mention of his family.
"What happened?" She asked as she moved his hand gently away from the mark so she could see it.
He looked away from her as he started to explain, "While I was still in Hogwarts my last year, my mother passed on to the other life. When this happened, my father made my brother and I get the mark so we would stay close to him since he didn't want our family to fall apart more than it already did. My grandfather, my mother's father, blamed my father for her death and wanted to take us away from our father so our father made us get the mark so our grandfather couldn't take us seeing as how he is part of the light. Grandfather still fought for us even after the mark, but my brother went to the side of our father, but I wanted nothing to do with them and the stupid war so I left them all and started my own life."
Claudia hugged him and apologized to him about everything that he went through, "It's not your fault." He told her, but he still held her close liking the feel of the close connection to her.
After a while, when they were both dry, they redressed and Severus went back to his book while Claudia laid her head in his lap and fell asleep. Severus couldn't really concentrate on his book as his mind still wandered to the conversation that they just had. He petted her head and hair that fell over her shoulders as he sat there in thought and thought about the idea of his family coming back for him and them finding out about Claudia, the one who killed the Dark Lord.
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