Disclaimer: I own nothing, just borrowing the world and characters thought up by J.K. Rowling and using some creative license to make some adjustments. Lorelei and Seraphina are mine.

Warnings: Language and **TRIGGER WARNING** This chapter contains references to the murder/suicide of Seraphina and Lorelei.

Italics are character's internal thoughts and/or flashbacks.

Anything written "{Inside braced quotes}" is the character speaking in Parseltongue.

A/N: I won't lie, I wrote this chapter super quick so I'm sure there are typos/errors. I'm not going to be able to post for the next couple of days and I really wanted to get it up before, so I apologize in advance. Once I get back I'll peruse and make any necessary adjustments. I just really wanted to get the final line of this chapter out there.

Many thanks for reading, following and of course to the reviews. :-)

"Hello, Professor, I'm Lorelei Seva Serpens. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Lorelei smiled softly, a mere sliver of pearly white teeth shown between her full pouty lips. In that moment Severus was thrown back to 1976.

"Sev, please?!" Seraphina clasped her hands in front of her in a pleading gesture, batting her long lashes at the unmovable boy. How in Merlin's name did he resist her charms when no other boy could?

"No, Sera. I'm not doing it." Severus continued reading his book as if Seraphina had not thrown herself down on the edge of his bed in a huff.

"You're supposed to be my best friend."

"I am your best friend." Severus raised a dark brow, finally glancing over the top of his book to the redheaded girl laying much like a damsel in distress. It was cliché, her right wrist resting on her forehead, her left arm above her head and hanging over the edge of his bed.

"Then pretty, pretty, pretty please?" Seraphina smiled gently, her pearly teeth peeking through her full red lips.

Severus groaned, tossing his book aside and crossing his arms across his chest petulantly "Fine. I'll be your partner on the project, but if we fail, I'm holding you personally responsible!"

Seraphina's smile grew into a full grin and before Severus could tell her no, the slender girl threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. "You're the best, Sev!"

"Well, I will admit your agape jaw and lack of response has me a bit perplexed." Lorelei's amused tone lured Severus from his thoughts. With a gentle shake of his head, Severus cleared his mind of the flashback and focused on the very real young woman he had been searching for.

"My apologies, Lorelei. The only time I've seen you, or what I thought was you, you looked much like you did before you removed the necklace." He admitted with a slight blush growing on his pale cheeks.

"Ah, yes. My mother's charms. She was very gifted at them." He couldn't help but notice the flash of pain that crossed the woman's gray eyes. It was painfully obvious she missed her mother something terrible and it pulled at Severus' heart strings.

"Perhaps you should sit and discuss." Yuliya offered gently, gesturing towards the sitting room.

"Yes, of course." The young girl nodded and immediately wiggled her legs to signal to Titan to release his firm grip of her. Titan refused to release in hold. Instead he chose to magically shrink his size down to a familiar 26 inches and carefully slithered up the woman's slender body towards her shoulders, resting with his head on her prominent clavicle. "He's a bit protective." Lorelei smiled to Severus.

Severus only nodded in response and followed the young woman towards the sitting room. Despite the frigid temperatures outside and the harsh stone floors and walls, the sitting room was incredibly warm and comfortable. Directly across from the stone arch was a large old piano that glistened as if freshly polished. To the right were floor to ceiling dark wood bookcases that appeared to hold old tomes in both English and Bulgarian. To the left were 6 comfortable looking dark brown leather armchairs with high backs and brass nail head trim arranged in a small semicircle around a round dark wood table that matched the piano and bookcases.

Lorelei sat gently down in the furthest chair, crossing her legs at the ankle much like every proper pure-blood witch would do. Severus chose to sit opposite the young witch to offer them a comfortable distance, but allow them to look one another directly in the eye. Viktor sat himself beside Lorelei with his mother to his right and his father to her right, leaving an empty space between Severus and Ivan.

"Well, I guess it would be easiest to start with what you do know." Lorelei began flatly, her eyes focused directly on her fidgeting hands.

Severus softened his posture, leaning his right elbow on the arm of the chair, hands folded in his lap. He knew that he often times came off as harsh in his stance and the last thing he wanted to do was frighten Lorelei into clamming up.

"Do you know who I am, Lorelei?" He asked calmly.

"Yes." She nodded, eyes still downcast. "You were my mother's best friend at Hogwarts. From what I remember, she was very fond of you. She had several of your photos in a small album she kept in her chest. And my middle name is after you."

Severus gapped once again. He was completely blindsided by Lorelei's revelation. Is that where Seva came from? He had assumed that Seraphina had followed tradition of including an "S" name in her daughter's name. He had even thought maybe it was a play on Seraphina's mother's name, Servilia. Never did he think it was after him.

"She said you helped her escape Hogwarts and assumed Dumbledore played a role in your sudden absence." Lorelei finished softly when Severus did not speak.

Severus cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He knew it wasn't his fault that he had a memory charm placed on him, but it didn't remove the guilt he felt.

"Yes, I did. About that, do you know - "

"That my mother was raped by James Potter and Albus Dumbledore demanded the immediate termination of the pregnancy?" Lorelei interrupted, eyes snapping to his. He could see the barely veiled rage burning in them. "Yes, I do. My mother hid nothing and wrote extensively in journals detailing about the events leading up to her death. She even kept memories for my viewing at a later date."

"I see." Severus dumbly responded. How did he even begin to respond? There was absolutely no justifiable reason for Dumbledore to have acted in the fashion he had. Seraphina had been the victim, not the perpetrator and yet she was the one driven into hiding to protect her child.

"Professor – "Lorelei sighed, wringing her hands in her lap.

"Severus."

"What?"

"Please call me Severus."

Lorelei nodded. "Very well, Severus. I think it might be easiest if I just explain what happened just before and on that cliff the day my mother died."

"Yes, I think that would be a good starting point."

Seraphina knew on the morning of October 24, 1981 it would be her last day amongst the living. It had been a risk going to see James Potter the day before, but a risk she had to take. Having been cast out by her family and forced into hiding in hopes of escaping Albus Dumbledore and his opinions of right and wrong, she was barely managing to scrape by. James inherited a vast fortune. Any amount, no matter how small, would have made a world of difference in Seraphina's life and especially for their daughter. It didn't need to be a large sum, anything would have helped. When her landlord had posted the notice on her apartment door that she had 7 days to come current or move out was when she decided to risk seeing James.

Seraphina placed the charmed necklace upon her daughter like she did every time they left the apartment. Lorelei had inherited her mother's distinct features and it was too risky to allow her daughter to be seen in public. Dumbledore had eyes everywhere. The charm was simple and designed to make Lorelei unremarkable in every way. Her hair would be limp and dull. Her eyes would be flat and simple. Even her clothing was simple. Anything to make her blend in. With Lorelei now concealed under intricate glamour charms, Seraphina and Lorelei left for Godric's Hollow.

Lily Potter had a routine. Every Friday morning she would take Harry for a play date with Neville Longbottom. Harry and Neville would play on the floor of the Longbottom's sitting room while Alice Longbottom and Lily would drink tea and share stories and laughs. She did this every week. Seraphina knew that as she had been observing the Potters for some time in hopes that she could find the perfect opportunity to approach James.

Seraphina did not want nor need James to claim Lorelei as his daughter. It was preferable for her if he didn't, but she did feel James owed his daughter at least some courtesy seems her existence was the direct result of his own actions. The meeting hadn't gone well at all. No sooner did James open the door did he slam it in Seraphina's face. The Slytherin woman knocked relentlessly for nearly 3 minutes before James finally opened the door and roughly pulled Seraphina and, by default, Lorelei into the house. Lorelei may have only been 4 at the time, but she would forever remember the first and only words ever spoken to her by her own father. "You are an abomination."

The argument was short lived when the front door flew open and unexpectedly Lily and Harry entered the house. Lily, assuming the worst, immediately cast a body-bind curse upon Seraphina and sent a patronus to Dumbledore alerting him of Seraphina's presence in her own home. A home that was supposed to be under a fidelus. The elder light wizard had alerted all in the Order that Seraphina Serpens was a dark witch and part of Voldemort's inner circle and was considered highly dangerous.

It was as the crack of apparition was heard outside the Potter home that Lorelei had a spontaneous burst of magic and was able to lift the body-bind curse from her mother. Seraphina grabbed her daughter and before James could stop them, they turned and disapparated away landing safely inside a small abandoned park only a few blocks from their apartment. That was the moment Seraphina knew her luck had run out.

She could have run. She could have packed her and her daughter up, again, and fled, but Seraphina was tired of running. Lorelei was a child and needed stability and deserved the chance to grow up as a normal child. Seraphina knew she could not give her daughter that and so she made the ultimate sacrifice. She spent the early hours of that cold, cloudy Saturday morning packing her daughter's things up and sent them to her good friend Yuliya in Bulgaria. Yuliya had cried. Oh how she had cried when Seraphina firecalled and told her what happened. The Bulgarian woman knew what it meant and she knew that Seraphina was not calling her to arrange a visit, she was calling to ask the biggest favor any parent could ask.

Yuliya and Ivan did not need any time to decide their answer, it was an immediate yes. Lorelei and their own son, Viktor, had become as close as siblings over the years. It seemed only right that they take custody of the young girl as raise her as their own. After the tearful conversation and goodbyes, Seraphina dressed her little girl for the last time. Lorelei could still remember the slow movements her mother made, savoring every second of the simple task. With both ladies dressed, they left their small apartment for one last time.

Lorelei sat quietly on the swings, her small patent leather shoes kicking at the sand. Her mother had left her only briefly to do the unthinkable, to send a patronus to Dumbledore with their exact location. Within minutes, the man had apparated and hidden himself behind bushes with a disillusionment spell cast upon him.

Seraphina looked positively haunted as she looked directly at the disillusioned form of Dumbledore. Her near white gray eyes immediately filled with tears and her perfect pouty lips began trembling. Her naturally dark red hair was pulled back in a loose chignon at the base of her neck and her body was hidden underneath a thick, black cloak. This was it.

"Mummy?" Lorelei jumped off the swing and approached her mother, drawing the woman from her tear-filled stare. Seraphina shook her head slightly and looked down at the little dark-haired girl who was gripping her clock in her chubby little hands. It pained her that in her final moments with her own daughter she could not look up her little girl's real form, but this was for the best. It was always to protect Lorelei.

"Yes, my darling, it's time to go." Seraphina responded with a false smile, her voice quivering in what sounded like a cross between fear and sadness.

Seraphina lifted the small girl and held her tight, one hand on the back of her head, one supporting her bum. Once again the haunted witch looked directly at Dumbledore's disillusioned form. "You will not get my daughter."

Turning abruptly, Seraphina headed towards the cliff, whispering softly to Titan, who had curled his small body around Lorelei's arm with his small head peeking out from under her collar. "{My dear Titan, please get Lorelei to safety. You must wait until just before you hit the water to disapparate. Please my friend, take care of my daughter.}"

The small dark green snake hissed a simple response. "{Yes, Miss. I will take care of young miss.}"

"{No mummy! No mummy! Don't leave me!}" Lorelei wrapped her arms tighter around her mother's neck.

"{I'm sorry my darling, I must. When Titan gets you to safety, say 'home' and the necklace will take you home my love.}"

Lorelei began crying, squirming fiercely in her mother's arms as the ladies approached the edge of the cliff, but her mother held her tightly held her tightly. Seraphina stopped, her toes nearly hanging off the edge and pulled her squirming and screaming daughter away from her slightly to allow her to kiss her forehead.

"{Mummy loves you so very much my darling. Please never forget that.}" Seraphina whispered to her daughter, rocking her gently before closing her eyes tightly. With tears streaming down her face, she quickly pulled her daughter from her and threw her over the cliff while yelling "Titan", Lorelei's screams suddenly stopping only milliseconds later when Titan and Lorelei disapparated quietly just before hitting the rough water.

Seraphina turned back towards the playground and looked at Dumbledore, who had since removed his charm and was staring at Seraphina intently. Tears poured down the young woman's face as her lips moved. "You will never touch my daughter, Albus Dumbledore. NEVER!" She screamed. Spreading her arms out beside her, Seraphina looked upwards and fell back.

"She wanted Albus to think you had died as well." Severus commented softly.

"Yes. It would make sense that a young child's body be taken out to sea. I was too young and too small to survive such a fall and even if I had, I would never have been able to survive the rough waters." Lorelei raised her head, looking towards the window as her eyes filled with tears.

"But your mother – "

"He had to see the body to be satisfied."

Severus closed his eyes tightly, allowing his head to drop so his chin touched his chest, his face hidden behind his hair. It was awful. There was no other way to describe the hell that Seraphina was forced to endure as well as her daughter, simply because Seraphina didn't want to terminate her pregnancy. It was cruel. It was heartless.

"Where," Severus voice cracked forcing him to clear his throat, "where did Titan take you?"

"Columbia. Titanoboas can only apparate to their homeland. There is a vast amount of land hidden from Muggles and most magical folks. It can only be accessed by Titanoboas and anyone who has received the Serpent's kiss." Lorelei's voice was flat and emotionless, despite the obvious pain still reflecting in her eyes.

Severus raised his head, forcing himself to look at Lorelei. He had one lingering question that would not rest until he knew the answer.

"Lorelei, what I do not understand is why Sera was so scared of Albus. He had said at one point there was much I did not know about Sera. What was it?" The surly professor didn't care that his voice was pleading. The young witch chuckled softly, shaking her head as a tear finally escaped. When she finally turned to face him, the look of pure unadulterated hate that shone bright in her eyes pinned him in place.

"He really didn't tell you?" She raised a dark brow.

"No."

"Well, I suppose he doesn't want everyone to know." Lorelei smiled, reaching up and petting Titan's resting head. "He wished to see my mother and I dead to all due to my mother's father."

"No one knew who Sera's father was. Servilia never married and she never said who fathered Sera. Sera never said." Severus leaned forward slightly in his chair, suddenly feeling like the room was overheating.

"My mother's father, my grandfather, is none other than Morfin Gaunt."

A/N: And that wraps up the flashbacks ladies and gentlemen. Now that we know the full back story, time to go forward. :-)