Disclaimer: All belong to J.K. Rowling

The Truth

Lalla sat up after Severus and Cadfael left the room. She hissed painfully of the wound's movement. She summoned her wand and accioed her notebook. She hurriedly turned the pages and soon found what she was looking for. A potion's recipe. She needed a new plan and it would involve this recipe. She hesitated in telling Severus about this new direction. She had no idea how he would react to what she would finally tell him, which she did not plan to at all.

Lost in thought, Lalla did not notice that Severus came back with a tray of foods. He put the tray on table and put his hand on her forehead to feel her temperature again. His touch for the first time made she flinched away. Her eyes opened wide and almost disbelieved of seeing him there.

"Are you alright?" Severus could not catch her reaction, he asked.

"I'm… fine," she mumbled as she looked down to her note book.

"Let eat first before we want to discuss anything," Severus broke the tense atmosphere around them.

"That sound good," she nodded.

They ate their meal quickly. Neither of them said a word during the meal. The tension was back again.

An hour later, after Cadfael took the tray away, Severus took a shower, and Lalla changed to a new set of clothes, they gathered in the study room. Severus and Lalla sat on the couch and Cadfael left the room after bringing two cup of teas.

Lalla's wound was still in bad shape, so she sat close to Severus and leaned comfortably to him.

"Before you talk about the plan, I want to know more about this ring," Severus pointed to his ring.

"And the questions?" Lalla snickered.

"Fine," he sounded annoyingly. "What do you mean by giving me half of the ownership? Does it have anything to do with Cadfael keeps calling me, Master?"

"These rings are my family's heirloom," she began. "Their original job is used in marriage…"

Lalla could feel his body stiffened but he remained impassive and his hand squeezed hard on her shoulder. His eyes wandered else where, not at her.

"However, not all Master or Mistress has a partner," she continued while rubbing the back of his palm with her fingers. "This particular changes because of my mother. She had me without a husband, or she probably did not want to share his identity. Therefore, the rings can wear together or separate to different people with or without a legally marriage. And the spell I used bonds your power with the ring and by linking to the rings, you can share half of my responsibility of whatever involving with the family."

"In some contexts, it does sound like a marriage," Severus sneered, knowing of why Cadfael referred him as his Master. "Except, we don't put the rings on the right finger."

"That's one of the differences," she chuckled at the word, marriage, which he said more comfortably now.

"But why me? I'm your… protector, not someone you can trust with this much responsibility…" he paused, unsure if it sounded right.

"Do you remember when I told you about needing your power to open the box?" she reminded him.

"Ah, so the ring served as a connection?" he nodded as quickly understood of what she meant.

"Yes," she continued. "In original plan, I would give it to you right before we opened the box. However, we need to change our plan, giving you the ring right now will benefit for both of us."

"And talking about the plan, what do you have in mind now?" his voice seemed to calm down and less tense than before.

Lalla took out her notebook and gave it to Severus. He was surprise because she never let him touched the book before. He sensed something that would change their relationship's dynamic if he opened it now. Nevertheless, he accepted it but lingering of open it.

"I want to tell you something before you open it," Lalla swallowed hard while trying to make the conversation sounded normal. "Lalla Bloodworth… is not my real name and I am not fourteen years old." She paused and searched for his reaction, but again, his face was neutral. "I'm the last heir of Lefevre, Ethelinda Lefevre. Twenty-four years old."

Severus cocked his eyebrows and looked curiously at Ethelinda. He did not feel angry but rather calm and relief. She just answered the mystery he was trying to solve for a while. Twenty four? That's ten years older than she is now. De-ageing potion? Why? He lost in his thought. His mind wondered off to when he first became a Death Eater. Lefevre… Then he remembered about it, the first mission he joined, The Massacre of Lefevre.

"I remember you," Severus suddenly spoke, his voice was calm and gentle, no hint of disappointing but rather guilt. "You're that child in the attic. Right?"

She nodded and smile faintly at him. He still remembers.

In Severus's memories, that particular night of twenty years ago was vivid as it was yesterday. It was a special gathering of Lefevre's family. Everyone was there, from the long-lost uncle to the head of the family, from the main bloodline to different branches. Children were running around the house while the adults engaged in a deep conversation. No one noticed that there were a force that came to their way.

A bright light hit through the protection enhancement, disabled the ward, and smashed the windows' glasses to pieces. Freya Lefevre, the current head of the family, immediately urged the servants to take the children away. The remain adult took out their wand and readied to face whatever was coming. Not a minute away, a wave of dark figured flew in and the peaceful night turned into chaos.

In that midst of fighting, a man took off to the dark hallway. His job was not to kill off those people out there but to look for an item, a book. He went from room to room but nothing came close to what the Dark Lord had described. Then he stopped at a room in the far end, its door did not close completely. He pushed the door and walked in slowly. His senses focused strongly of his surrounding. There was something in that room was different than the rest of the house.

Inside the room was dark. Severus whispered lumos and the tip of his wand lighted up. He looked around and surprised to see it was a child room. Children books, stuffed-animals, and toys were laying on the floor. He strolled the room as he was done with others. Nothing came up. He sighed and planned to walk out, when a tiny sound caught his attention. His eyes moved quickly to adjust the room again. The ceiling had no room for a hidden attic. Perhaps, a hidden room? He frowned and went ahead with his hypothesis. He waved his wand to detect any charm or enchantment in the room. Unfortunately, there was nothing. Then, he heard the sound again.

This time, Severus turned his heels to his left. He located the sound, which led him to the wardrobe. He curiously opened it, moved all the clothes to one side, and revealed a hidden door. He smirked. This's too easy. However, life tricked people sometimes. When he reached to the hidden door, it only fit a kid, a small one to be exactly. Bloody hell! He cursed under his breath. For a Muggle, that would be a problem, but for a Wizard, nothing was impossible. He mumbled a spell and the door's size became bigger and an adult would definitely could go through.

He stepped in and found a ladder led to the ceiling. Interesting. He smirked as he climbed up the ladder. By the time, he reached to the attic, it was pit dark. He looked around through the light from his wand, but barely made out a thing.

"Hey," a soft and childish voice suddenly called him, making him grabbed the ladder a bit tighter.

Severus looked to the direction that the sound came out. When the light from his wand touched the face of the person, he froze at the spot. A child with black hair and black eyes looked curiously at him. She wore a simple white dress which gave out a very ghostly look. She crawled carefully toward him. Before he knew, her small hand touched his face. A cold and chilly feeling shot down to his spine. She leaned her head to a side as she tried to look at the face hid behind the long black hair.

"You looks lonely," she whispered.

He lost in words, not knowing why the girl made him wanted to run away as fast as he could, but at the same time, wanted to stay and felt her cold and inhuman touch. He involuntarily reached out and touched her small cheek. The same cold and chilly sensation sent out from her skin to his fingers.

"Stay still and don't make any sound, kiddo," he whispered gently to the girl, wanting to hug her for some unknown reason.

A voice approached in the distance and alarmed him immediately. He looked at the girl one last time and climbed down, disappearing into the dark. That was the last time he saw and heard from her.

That night Voldemort successfully erased the name of Lefevre from the Wizarding World.

Severus looked back at Ethelinda, his thumb was rubbing her cheek. It was no longer cold or chilly, but warm. Her eyes met his, his gaze was different, it was happy and love? It was an emotion she did not expect to see from him and it made her a bit of curious.

"What happened after I left?" He asked gently as his eyes never left her.

"Cadfael found me and sealed up the door led to the attic," she grabbed his shirt and buried her face in there. "The next day, he took me to one of my mother's acquaintances, Jonathan Reid. Cadfael could not leave the mansion for a long time, so he entrusted my life to Jonathan. After that, we moved to America to prevent anyone to track me down. I lived there under a different name and attended Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when I reached to the age of eleven."

"Then why did you use a de-ageing potion?" He continued as he brushed her hair as he always did.

"Before my graduation date, a letter came to Jonathan warned him of someone began to investigate my whereabouts and headed to America very soon. Without further delaying, he took me back to England, stating that if I attended Hogwarts, I would be safe. Therefore, I drank the potion and became Lalla Bloodworth," she sighed, seeing her life had been steering around by other people.

He pulled her close to chest as his arm wrapped around her comfortably, whispering softly to her ear, "Mystery solved."

Ethelinda looked up to Severus with clueless eyes. He chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"Your behaviors always bothered me," he leaned his forehead to her own, noticing how close their face to each other. "You acts, talks, and dresses are not a normal teenager. At first, I thought you tried to be a grown up, but after sometimes, I realized you did them as a habit.. And that made me even more confused. But listening to your confession just now, all my doubts or rather curiosities can rest peacefully."

Now it was her turn to laugh with a bit of moaning due to the pulling of the muscles near the wound. He joined her laugh as well while trying to pull her even closer to him. Neither of them expected an outcome as this one.

"So, my little Mistress, how can I assist you in this new plan?" He playfully asked her without noticing he called her, his little Mistress.

Ethelinda took the notebook, which laid on the couch for sometimes, and opened to where the mark was.

"I need an Ageing Potion, my Master," she did not fail to play her word back to him.

Severus tried to hide his flushed by grabbing the notebook away from her hand and started to read. She calls me her Master. Merlin, I am hopeless against her now. He frowned as he was in a very deep thought. His other hand still rested on the back of her waist, rubbing small circles to it.

"Most of these ingredients are for a normal ageing potion," he said flatly. "I don't mind to brew one for you, but where on earth do I look for the blood of a hybrid between a vampire and an angel? Do they even exist?"

"You're looking at one of them," she cupped his chin and moved his face back to her.

He stared at her, trying to process another confession threw to his face again. And when the process finally came through, he said in disbelieving voice, "You're a hybrid?"

She nodded and said, "I won't bite you, if that's you are worrying."

"Really?" he chuckled and kissed to her forehead again. "I'm the bat of the dungeon, do you think I will fear a little vampire?" He joked and hid his surprise to know about her status. He knew the Lefevre's family had a little bit of unknown power but he never imaged that it actually related to their blood.

He gave her a face more like I-am-dare-you-to-bite-me and she laughed her head off. His lips twisted up to a faint smile as he watched her.

"Now, you need to rest. And I can ask Cadfael where I can set up a lab to brew the potion," he lifted her up and carried her back to her room.

After she settled comfortably on her bed, he leaned down and kissed her again, whispered gently to her ear, "Sleep well, my little Mistress." Then he turned around and left the room, leaving a very flushing girl.

Outside of her room, Severus stumbled at Cadfael, who waited for his Master's new order.

"Good job, Master," Cadfael's voice was calm and polite, but did not fail to mock Severus.

"Oh, shut up, Cafael!" Severus groaned but could not hide the crimson color on his cheeks. "We have more things to do. Show me the basement now."

"Yes, Master."

Author note: I planned a very serious discussion between Ethelinda (Lalla) and Severus, but it turned out a bit soft, especially Severus. A friend says that my version of Severus is cute as Alan Rickman's cute. Haha. I will leave this chapter as it came out. I tried to fix it but it just went back to the same soft, cute, and lovely atmosphere. So I gave up. Anyway, enjoy reading and reviewing the chapter. Love to everyone!