Chapter 5

Face It.

Usual disclaimer applies.

This chapter starts with a POV from our beloved potion's master.

If the girl was borne in February she should have been conceived in June, which is around the time…

"Don't be stupid" I whispered to myself as I walked into my house. As I looked around my lounge I remembered Briseida's words the first time I saw her when she walked into the apothecary store in Hogmedane. She was looking for the ingredients for Sleepless Potion.

Flashback

A tall, thin blonde girl approached Severus,

"I was wondering if you have vampire fangs, veela hair and syrup of mandragore"

"Yes, on that shelf" The young man, wearing black pointed to his right.

"thanks, I got a special assignment from Professor Sloughorn and I have to get this potion right if I want to pass this subject" She told him, disregarding his careless expression, that she was a Ravenclaw in her fifth year and that she always had a hard time with Potions. She kept smiling at him,

"You're Severus Snape right? You graduated a few years ago"

"Yes, I am and I did, what is it to you?"

"Nothing, just a mere statement, I'm Briseida by the way, I heard you were quite good at potions"

"I am"

"Would you tutor me?"

"No"

"I can pay you"

"I fear you cannot master potion making with a single lesson every month when you come to Hogsmedane"

"I can come more… there's a secret passing, right through the old portrait hanging in the first floor of this store, the owners don't use it"

"They don't, I do"

"You live there?" He nodded, she continued "don't you have family to live with?"

"If I do or don't it's nothing of your concern"

"Ok, so it's settled, I'll come on Saturday night around ten and we can discuss they payment then" Before he could protest or say something else she was gone, out of the store, without her ingredients

End of flashback.

END OF POV.

While he opened a bottle of elf made wine he thought of that stubborn girl once more. He had found out soon enough that she was no ordinary raven; she made dirty jokes, smoked and enjoyed parties with fire whisky and vodka. He never fell in love with her, but they did become somewhat of friends. She would come to him a lot, and soon she had met some of the friends he had at that moment, Dupond being one of them. Snape knew that his fellow Death Eater fancied her. The last time he saw Briseida they had argued about it over a bottle of fire whisky, they had gotten drunk and the rest was history, soon enough she was married and as the Dark Lord fell she used her pull with Dumbledore, he later found out it was her grandfather, to save the father of her child from Azkaban and they had left for South America. Eleven years later the old man told him that Briseida had a daughter and started pissing him of with the possibility that the young with was in fact his.

Now there was no way out for him now. The idea of having to take care of a teenage girl tormented him and he knew that Dumbledore and the rest of the Order would try to push him into telling her, but there was no way in hell he would do that. He had chosen a life, as a spy, all to save the boy he hated the most, the child of the woman he loved. He could use the girl as an outlet to escape this life he dreaded so much, but it wouldn't be fair for the poor child who had suffered enough already. Was that sympathy he had just felt? Was it care or regard for someone else's life the feeling that was going through his body at that particular moment?

"NO!" He put down the glass and headed towards the stairs but before he could climb the first step he heard a knock on the door. He swore that if it was the Headmaster he was going to shut the door right in his face, but it wasn't the old man who stood right in his front door;

"Severus, my friend, I know it is late but we must speak"

"Come in Lucius"

"Thank you, I see you're enjoying the wine Narcissa gave you"

"Yes, very much, can I offer you a glass?"

"Please, and poor one for yourself, this is not going to please you" Severus poured two glasses and motioned for Malfoy to sit down as he did the same.

"You remember Armand Dupond right?"

"Yes, I do, he ran away when the Lord fell"

"With his wife, who was pregnant with a girl at the time, you must remember her, you introduced them, and of course at the time you didn't know she was the grandchild of Dumbledore"

"Is there a point in all this or you just wanted to walk down memory lane tonight Lucius?"

"Well, the Dark Lord has asked me to fill you in with the events of tonight's meeting as you were spying for him"

"And those are…?"

"Dupond has confessed to the Lord that the old man has taken away the girl and that he's had to confirm that he's indeed no the father of the little bitch" The last word cause Snape to frown but the gesture went unnoticed by Lucius.

"Yes, I have learned that myself during the meeting of the Order, the girl has been put in Dumbledore's care now"

"But this is something I don't think you know, the girl is yours"

"There is a possibility yes, I am aware of that, but it is not certain"

Lucius shook his head and replied "The little rat told our Lord that after he found out the girl wasn't his he confronted his wife, and she admitted to having slept with you, find out she was pregnant and married him out of fear for the consequences"

He was speechless, Dumbledore had been right all along, the girl was his, and he had a daughter.

"I trust our Lord has instructions for me regarding this matter"

"He has, he wishes you to become close to the girl, and seek the proper opportunity to confess the truth, and then when she becomes attached to you, he wishes the girl to be used against Dumbledore"

"I see, well then our Lord will be please to know that I have to teach the girl potions during the rest of the summer to help her be in the same page as the rest of the fifth years"

"Marvelous then, I shall inform him of this, the Dark Lord will indeed be pleased to hear about it"

Malfoy finished his cup and left, congratulating his friend for his achievements.

Severus then wrote to Dumbledore, seeking for advice, but went to bed without a response. That night he dreamt of a younger Alana, learning to take her first steps by his side, buying her first wand while he gave her a warm smile and brewing her first potion under the pride look of her father, him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH

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