Hello people of the interweb! Sorry for the long wait on the next chapter. I hope you like it, I've spent a while on it, trying to make it a decent chapter. Sorry for how short it is, I'll try to make them longer in the future! Thanks for all the support, it really surprised me by all the reviews, favorites and follows, so thanks a bunch!

I do not own any of this, it all belongs to JKR! So, let me know how I did and Review, Favorite and Follow!

Enjoy! :)

Previously:

"I am here with the concern of your niece, Hope Potter," Severus drawled, craning his head in a vain attempt at looking for the little girl.

"Who," Vernon spat, acting dumb, not that he had to act that much. The slight nervous twitch of his eyebrow gave him away, "No one by the name of that lives here."

Severus raised a suspicious eyebrow, flicking his wand out, showing it to the Dursleys, a rather tackless intimidating factor, "No? Now don't make me ask you again, where is she?"

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Once at Malfoy Manor, a house-elf appeared once again with a small pop. In hindsight, it would have been better to prepare the occupants of Malfoy Manor of their becoming guest, but as it appears, they didn't think of the arrangement. The sudden appearance of the strange creature with floppy, triangular ears and large, orb-like eyes made Hope shriek in alarm, quickly hiding behind Severus' legs.

Severus and Lucius traded a glance, both mentally cursing themselves and the house-elf.

"Can I get you anything Mr. Malfoy," The house-elf squeaked hopefully.

After a moment of consideration Lucius replied, "Yes, actually Dobby, could you prepare the guess room, the one closest to Draco's, for our guest?"

The elf nodded, glancing curiously behind Severus' legs, it's ears flapping wildly from the momentum, "Yes, sir!, He disappeared with another pop.

"What was that," Hope asked astonished, eyes wide, slowly coming out from her hiding place.

"That was a house-elf," Stated Severus, beginning to follow Lucius as he walked towards a rather wide hallway off towards the right.

"What's a house-elf," She asked, a slight limp in her step as she tried in vain to catch up with the two Wizards' rather wide steps.

"A house-elf is a magical creature devoted to serving a wizarding family for its whole life unless the family sets it free."

She nodded, content with the answer, and then began to inspect the scenery around her, sticking fairly close to Severus' legs the whole while.

They entered a large room, the living room it seemed to be, filled with rich, velvety green couches that were scattered around the room along with several side tables occupying the small spaces between each couch or armchair and a fireplace filled with black ash rested in the center of one of the cream colored walls, with the furniture facing towards it. The two men settled themselves on one of the couches, motioning for the little girl to join them, which she did after several moments of prompting.

Lucius looked around, his pointed face set in confusion, "I wonder where Draco and Narcissa are."

Severus shrugged a shoulder mildly, eyes on the small child as she continued to look around the room from her now heightened view from the couch. Hope seemed to sense his gaze on her because she swiveled her head around to face him, emerald green latching onto dark brown. Hope blinked once before quickly looking at Lucius, who had stood up, announcing he was going to go find Narcissa. Severus nodded and looked back down at the child, "Now Hope, I'm going to have to do something about that bruise on your head and arm, I'll also have to do something about your leg."

Hope frowned slightly, hesitation clear in her eyes, "Like what?"

Severus stuffed his hand in his robe pocket and produced a container full of a thick, yellow paste. He slipped the cap off and showed Hope its mucky contents, "This is a bruise removal paste. It will help remove your bruises."

Hope peered at the jar suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

In order to prove it wasn't harmful or dangerous, Severus applied the paste to his own arm and waited a moment and watched as the paste soaked itself into his arm, "See? It won't harm you."

Hope gave a sharp nod, "B-but it won't hurt right?"

"No," he shook his head, black hair swaying with the slight notion, "You will only feel a slight tingling sensation as the paste begins to take affect."

"Okay."

The Potions master deliberately dipped his fingers into the paste and started to smear it along her forehead and arm, Hope's bright eyes tracking his hand sharply, going slightly cross-eyed as she attempted to see what he was doing to her forehead. Once done, Severus set the container on the couch and sat back to regard the girl carefully.

"Are there any other bruises you want me to heal, Hope?"

Hope bit her bottom lip timidly, glancing around the room before reluctantly settling her eyes back on Severus, which she then shook her head vigorously. Severus' eyes softened, or softened as much as they could, "Hope, your safe here, it's alright."

Hope narrowed her eyes, seeming to try and gage if he was lying or not. Ultimately she must have decided she could trust him because she gave him a slow nod.

"Are they under your jumper," She nodded again, "Hope, would you take your jumper off please? I won't be able to heal them properly unless you do so."

Hope faltered, remembering the time her Uncle had asked her to take off her jumper. The incident had resulted in her back being covered in welts and bruises, made from the belt her Uncle had used on her due to her 'freakiness'. Hope shrunk further into the soft pillows that were seated around the couch.

"Hope, you're safe here," He repeated, this time his voice softening, something akin to a fatherly manner leaking through.

Hope watched him, tugging absentmindedly on a stand on her hair, but began to slip her jumper off her head anyway. Once the overly large jumper fell to the floor, it revealed a rather larger bruise covering her torso and her back was littered with scars and welts, both old and new. Severus sucked in a sharp breath, shocked, but quickly mastered a neutral look upon his face. He slowly began to reapply the bruise paste.

When he had finished, Hope quickly throwing the ratted jumper back on, did he look around for Lucius, who had yet to reappear. He was about to send a Patronus when he heard the familiar boots the blonde-haired man often wore clicking against the flooring. Lucius smiled apologetically when their eyes met, "Sorry, I couldn't located Narcissa or Draco, but as it turns out they were at Diagon Alley, shopping. I brought Hope a set of Draco's old clothing he doesn't wear anymore, though they will need to be shrunk some."

Severus smirked, taking the clothes and presenting them to Hope, "Poor Draco, no man should have to go through shopping with Narcissa.

Lucius chuckled in agreement, crouching down beside Hope, "Hello Hope, how are you?"

"Good-sir, thank-k you," Came the muffled reply made from the jumper Hope had managed to pullover her head, causing her hair to stick up in different places.

"I see the bruising has come down quite a bit," Lucius commented after a moment, "What about her leg?"

Severus thought about it for a moment, watching as Hope attempted to jump into the pair of pants without toppling over, "I'll probably just perform the 'Episkey' spell."

"Sounds good. Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll go and check on the guest room."

When Severus nodded his consent, Lucius went to walk up the stairs, but stopped suddenly, "Also, I've been ordered by Narcissa to get Hope's clothing size, she wants to take her shopping.

Severus sneered in a fond manner, "What does Draco think of all this?"

"I actually haven't told him yet. Narcissa and I didn't deem him fit enough to know yet, with all that's happened, we're betting she'll need time to settle down."

"I agree, a lot has happened in the past few hours."

Lucius nodded, heading back up the stairs.

Severus settled back onto his heels, focusing on the girl that was now swamped in Slytherin green clothing, "Alright, Hope. Would you roll up your pant leg for me, please?"

Hope looked down at her leg, looking up with a frown, "What are y-ou going to do to it?"

"I'm just going to use a simple healing spell, it'll make your leg less swollen and it won't hurt as much."

"Alright," She rolled up her pant leg, revealing a slightly swollen, red calf. She peered at the man in amazement, the kind of amazement only found in a small child, as he wisped out his wand and muttered 'Episkey'. The skin on her leg immediately healed and became the pale coloration of her normal skin clor, deflating the skin so that it didn't appear as swollen as it had.

"How did you do that," She gasped.

Severus looked up with a look of mild confusion, "With magic of course."

"Magic? B-but, magic isn't real," Her eyes widened even more, as if the very words Severus just uttered were the ultimate taboo.

"Magic is very real Hope," He told her slowly, beginning to piece together what was happening, and not likely it one bit.

Hope shook her head stubbornly, "No, my Aunt and Uncle said it wasn't."

"Hope, your Aunt and Uncle are wrong, very wrong in fact. Magic is very real. I'm a wizard- and you're a witch."

She gasped again, "I-I'm a w-what?"

"A witch," He repeated gently, but with meaning.

"No, that can't be," She was as stubborn as her parents. Maybe even more so, "I'm Hope, just Hope."

Severus heaved himself up, positioning himself beside the girl, repositioning his robes as he thought about what to say, "Hope, have you ever done something, something you couldn't explain?

Hope seemed to think about it, biting her bottom lip as she thought, "U-uh, once I, um, w-when my Aunt Petunia tried to make me wear this really u-ugly sweater, it was, like, all orange and purple, but every time she would put it over my head, it would get smaller and smaller."

"Well, that was a bout of accidental magic, your magic inside you showing itself when you needed it most. At your age, you don't have much control over your magic, so sometimes, it will only resurface at times that you really need it.

Hope's eyes lit up, "Really?"

Severus nodded, a smile tugging at her lips due to her uncontrolled enthusiasm, "Yes, really, but Hope, there is something we need to discuss."

Hope's visible excitement deflated slightly at his sudden change in mood, her lips slowly forming into a frown, "U-uh, okay."

Severus took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the discussion ahead, "Hope, how are your relatives?"

"M-my relatives," She repeated, hesitant.

"Yes, like, lets say, do they treat you well?"

Her eyebrows pushed together as she digested the question. A stubborn mask settled across her face, "Yes, they do."

Severus' eyebrow rose, as if the simple notion would prove to her how wrong she was, "Hope-"

"I-I'm sure, sir. They do."

"Hope, You and I both know you didn't get those bruises and scars just by being clumsy," He spoke gently, his voice deep and low.

Tears started to pool in emerald depths, reminding him too much of that fateful day on the Hogwarts grounds.

Severus' shoulders dropped ever so slightly, "Hope, you're safe here and you won't ever have to go back to your relatives- I promise you."

"B-but, then where will I go," She seemed astonished by the very thought.

"I'm sure you could either stay with Lucius or-" He was cut off by the seemingly innocent, but stubborn redhead.

"Why couldn't I just stay with you," She blinked imploring eyes up at him, a gentle cock to her head.

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Episkey- healing spell that heals relatively minor injuries.