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This chapter is going to include Roses's memories , which I am going to try not to be too graphic with , however it will be unpleasant.
I am not going to detail EVERYTHING that Severus sees, so what is written in italics below is just some of what Severus sees in her mind.
The grammar etc may not be correct in those parts, but it's done on purpose , I want it to kind of flow from one thing to the next, the way a childs dreams or thoughts might.
Also it's going to be showing what she's seen and what she and Severus are thinking so just try to go with it.
"OK little one , we're going to start the starting contest in three seconds ok , then you've got to look into my eyes and think about the times daddy was bad, to help me decide how much time away he needs, ok?"
The girl sniffled and nodded.
"Alright, 1...2...3..."
The Weasley boy is holding the girl on his lap, hugging her to him.
The girl doesn't like it. Doesn't like the way he holds her. In her childish mind she doesn't understand why , but she just feels it's wrong.
He's grinning as he hugs her, outwardly appearing the doting father, but his hold is tight and restraining.
Possessive.
Jealous.
Through the girl's eyes , he looks monstrous , eyes sharp and cold as he seems to suck the colour from the room around him.
He smells like grass , broom polish and butterbeer.
She doesn't like it at all.
oOo
Hermione takes the girl from Weasley , and rubs her nose in an eskimo kiss , and suddenly there is light and warmth again.
The girl giggles a little and plants a sloppy kiss on Hermione's cheek , who laughs and it sounds like music to Rose.
She smells of books , and her perfume is vanilla and cinammon.
The girls relates it to baking in the kitchen with her mother, and takes comfort in it.
Hermione misses the jealous scowl from the boy when she takes Rose away from him.
But in Hermione's arms, Looking over her shoulder, Rose doesn't.
And she's afraid for what will happen that night.
oOo
She's broken something of his .
Something quidditch.
It was an accident , she was playing, and he'd not put it away.
The boy is shouting at her , though she only understands every other word, the others sounding foreign and unfamiliar to her.
The girl doesn't want to look at him. Doesn't want to look at his eyes.
But he grabs her face and forces her to look at him while he's shouting.
Ignoring the tears streaming down her face.
Ignoring that she's wet herself because he's frightened her.
Then Hermione walks in, and to the girl she is a hero.
Hermione shouts angrily and puts herself between father and daughter, encouraging the girl to go to her room.
Rosie backs off , but hides behind the doorway.
He hears her telling him that's enough.
Though the rest of the discussion ends with him using his size to intimidate her.
Shouting and pushing her. Belittling her.
He never hits her though. That would be too obvious.
But the way he pushed her back , she's sure to be bruised.
The little girl sees everything , she knows she'll be in trouble later.
oOo
The girl doesn't remember when this started.
It's been a part of her life for as long as she can remember , so she doesn't question it.
The boy is calling her dirty , because she's wet herself, and insists on bathing her.
"To make up"
She cries when she has to have a bath.
She almost throws a tantrum , because she just doesn't want to.
But her mother doesn't understand why she's playing up, and her father insists on taking her anyway.
She doesn't like her father bathing her.
The boy is bathing her, and paying a lot of attention to her.
A lot more that he should be.
The girl doesn't understand why she's crying. Why it upsets her so much.
She didn't cry when her mummy bathed her.
But daddy is rough with his hands.
Sometimes he is too rough when he cleans her, and he makes her hurt.
He cleans places that her mummy doesn't
And she cries .
He tells her to be quiet. Good girl.
Loud girls get punished. it's naughty.
She cries.
But her mother doesn't understand.
oOo
The weasleys frighten her.
Too loud, too frantic.
Too much like her father.
She sees them with her father's eyes and hair.
And she's afraid.
She doesn't want to look at them , doesn't want to talk to them
Doesn't want them to touch her.
Incase their touch hurts like her fathers.
She just wants her mother.
And when she's not there, she just wants to hide, wants everything to be quiet.
Wants to be alone.
oOo
He's shocked when he sees himself through her eyes.
Though the memory is hazy and patchy.
Impossibly tall, almost comically so.
She looks at his eyes, ebony black eyes and jet black hair.
She remembers his smell, parchment, smoke and sandalwood.
She doesn't remember the words he says , but she remembers his face , his expressions.
Remembers how he makes her mother smile, and laugh and she remembers trying to talk to him, wanting to talk to him, but it was before she could form words.
But she'd wanted to.
He'd held her and listened to her , and his hug was open, not stifling.
He feels warm and safe , and she sees him almost as some extension of her mother, a part that comes with her, something that she just accepts without question.
oOo
She doesn't understand why she doesn't go with her mother any more.
Why they don't go to the cafe with the nice buns , and see the man that makes her mother smile.
The man with safe eyes and safe hair , who smells like smoke and gives safe hugs.
She doesn't understand , and she can't ask.
She sees that her mother is sad , and thinks in her mind that she is missing the man that made her happy.
Because she understands that her daddy doesn't make her mummy happy.
She draws a picture of him , wants to remind her mother to go to see the other man. Maybe she's forgotten? The one that makes her happy and smile.
But her daddy doesn't like that.
He punishes mummy for it.
Then punishes Rose when her mother's in bed.
oOo
She sees her father as some two faced monster, almost demonised him in her brain.
From the face he puts on for her mother , to the man that comes into her room on a night.
She's conditioned almost.
He's drilled it into her that this is her fault.
Tells her to be quiet. Not to say anything.
She doesn't want anyone to know how bad she's been does she?
Doesn't want to tell people she's been punished for being bad.
A part of her doesn't understand what he's doing to her , but another part knows this isn't right , but she's too cowed by him, too afraid.
She's starting to feel like she deserves it.
oOo
When Hermione goes back to work , things get worse.
Free from the worry of being caught by her, he increases his attentions on her.
What had been over attentiveness in the bathroom , becomes full blown assault.
He starts to touch her on the inside as well as the outside.
The girl really cries then .
And he's worried he's done something that will get him found out , so he stops.
Next time he gets in the bath with her, and has her touch him.
Tells her that she's helping him wash.
She started wetting the bed again.
He'd get angry and make her have a bath.
And the cycle would repeat.
oOo
She won't look at anyone in the eye but her mother now.
She won't try and talk to them, doesn't even attempt the babbling she had as a toddler.
She won't be touched or hugged by anyone.
However men are the worst.
She fell over at the burrow but screamed when her Grandad Arthur picked her up , and her mother had to come home from work because she cried so much she made herself sick
She won't eat in front of people , and only eats what her parents make, and even then only certain things.
She won't touch anything or pick anything up unless it's from her mother or father.
She just wants to hold her mother when she's home , and cries when she has to go back to work.
Her mother is never happy now, and the don't see her happy man anymore.
Her mother is the only safe place.
oOo
She's hidden by the door.
Watching.
Ronald is shouting at Hermione.
She doesn't understand what the argument is about.
But the boy pushes her into the wall so hard she hits her head and falls to the floor.
He apologises then , but she knows he doesn't mean it.
Her mother's eyes are red and puffy when she kisses her goodnight.
She wonders if daddy punishes her mummy, like she does her.
oOo
With Hermione at work he pushes it more and more.
She's throwing a tantrum and she kicks him , and gets a hard slap on her backside in punishment that makes her scream and cry with the pain of it.
That night he comes into her room.
He tells her that she's hurt him , and he wants her to kiss it better.
Then she'll be forgiven.
She does what he asks, too scared to do otherwise, even though it makes her sick and cry.
She wants her mother , but she's scared her mother will find out that she's been bad and not want her anymore.
It's her being bad that's making mummy sad , that's what her daddy says.
If Rose keeps being bad and mummy keeps being sad , daddy will take her away from mummy.
That's not the last time he makes her kiss him better.
oOo
She doesn't want to be a bad girl.
oOo
Severus breaks free from the girl's mind and his breath is hitching, as he tries not to cry at the same time he tries not to tear from the room like a hound of hell and rip the boy into pocket sized pieces.
"Rose , You're not a bad girl , do you understand ? You have done nothing wrong. Nothing. It is your daddy that is a bad man. "
His voice has a tremor to it , and he notices the girls trembling bottom lip as she sniffles in her mothers arms.
"You're a good girl Rose. You are. Don't listen to your father , listen to your mummy ok?" He says softly
"You're a very good girl Rose, you're mummy's best girl in the whole world , you've never been a bad girl, ever. If daddy told you that, it was a very bad lie. Mummy loves you so much baby"
Hermione had tears down her eyes as she comforted her crying daughter.
Severus stood to retireve the aurors, though froze in place when he heard a soft whimper and a gasp.
The gasp was Herminoe's and the whimper was Rose.
Hermione had gasped in shock at Rose's uncharacteristic actions and he looked down to where Rose's chubby little hand had shot out and grabbed his coat when he'd gone to leave.
Though from the look on her face she was already regretting her action , as she whined as though about to start crying and dropped her eyes to the floor.
"Rose , I'm not mad" He was quick to assure her, after seeing her memories. "Do you want me to stay here with you and your mummy?" he asked softly.
The girl wouldn't meet his eyes. But she also didn't let go of his coat. She nodded, the move almost hidden as her face was once again buried in her mother's chest.
"Alright sweetheart, then I'll stay." He whispered, and returned to his seat near her mother. She let go of his coat once he was safely sat by her mother again.
Sneaking glances at him through the curtain of her hair.
With a lurch in his heart, he remembered clearly a shy young boy who developed the exact same habit. Who kept his hair long for that exact reason.
Unsure he'd be able to conjure a patronus with his current emotional state, he used his wand to flick the door on the room open.
A clear signal for the aurors to enter.
"Do you wish to be here for this ?" He asked Hermione softly , as she put a gentle privacy charm around Rose to shield her from their conversation.
"No. No I don't want anything to do with any of this. But I must" She whispered and he squeezed her shoulder in support.
He extracted the memories once the two men walked back into the room , and then began to explain what he saw.
"What Miss Granger walked in on , was not the only instance of inappropriate behaviour that Mr. Weasley has displayed towards his daughter"
Hermione let out a harsh sob , and buried her face in the girls hair.
"We suspected as much" Kingsley added solemly."The first instance ?"
"I was unable to pinpoint the first instance, though his behaviour escalated when Hermione returned to work , I viewed instances of inappropriate behaviour going back to when Rose was around 2" His voice was shaking , gone was the solid and steady timber he'd relied on throughout his years as a spy.
He could not stop himself from trembling, and forced himself to speak in a monotonous dialogue. Simply rehashing the info whilst trying not to be overwhelmed by it.
"Most of the incidents occured in the bathroom. He was always more attentive to her than he should have been ,when bathing her , though this became more so as she got to around 2 / 2.5 . "
"Have you...I am sorry that there isn't a more tactful way I can ask this Miss Granger... Severus , have you witnessed any penetration"
"Yes...and though I doubt it the word only should ever apply to these circumstances, it was only one instance and only with his hand..."He chanced a look at Hermione who was still crying but had a hand clenched tightly in his.
"He's not forced intercourse?" The Minister asked cautiously.
"No. We have that small mercy at least. He has on numerous nights forced the girl to touch him physically like Miss Granger witnessed tonight , and he also has forced the girl to...to...kiss him in an intimate area. There was the one instance of penetration , there was some bleeding..." The word hurt his mouth on the way out and made Hermione sob "...but that frightened him. He was afraid of being found out so did not repeat the action again"
"I think we have everything we need Severus" Shacklebolt said rising and Hermione released the charm on Rose.
"Be sure. For once this interview is over, I shall be removing Hermione and Rose to my protection , and after this day I shall not be letting Rose go through any of this again, nor will I be letting them out of my sight until that boy is detained."
The Auror and Minister considered him carefully for a moment, then shared a look.
"We are done here Severus, we have everything"
He nodded brusquely at the men as they left, with one last sorrowful look towards Hermione and Rose.
"Let us be off Hermione , you look as though you're dead on your feet , and it's way past Rose's bedtime" He spoke softly and she nodded.
The Adrenalin had well and truly worn off , and she was shaking with the physical and emotional exhaustion, and was deathly pale.
The girl was fussing in her arms, overtired.
She went to stand only to collapse back on the bed behind her , when her legs gave out under her.
He quickly moved to her side.
"Are you ok? Do you think you can walk to the apparition point ? I can't side along you both from here" He asked softly with concern.
"I don't know if I can with Rose" She whispered sadly. "Rosie baby, mummy is very very tired and we need to apparate with Severus , do you think you can hold mummy's hand and walk by my side"
The overtired girl shook her head and buried her face in her mother's robes and Hermione let out an exhausted sigh , and stood carefully on shaking legs.
Severus stood wrongfooted , and wishing there was something he could do.
Hermione stood unmoving for a moment as she tried to gain her balance on shaking legs.
oOo
Soft blue eyes looked up to her mother then , when she felt the arms holding her tremble and shake.
Saw the way she leaned into the tall man's side for support, and he put a hand on the bottom of her back for support.
Saw the trust in her mother's eyes
Concern in the mans.
She didn't want to make her mummy sad or tired.
She didn't want to go on the floor.
She wanted to be held. She wanted be safe.
She sniffed the hanky in her hand.
Parchment, Smoke, Sandalwood.
Looked at midnight black eyes, clothes, hair.
She made her choice
oOo
Two little hands cupped hermione's face, then planted a sloppy kiss on her cheek.
Causing Hermione to give a watery smile.
Then they reached out towards Severus.
A small noise, almost a grunt. It wasn't quite a word, but if it was, it would have been 'up'
Hermione froze.
Severus froze.
And still the girl held out her arms to him.
Slowly and carefully after sharing a look with Hermione, making sure that all his movements were visible , he gently took the girl under her arms and lifted her into his chest.
Hermione was frozen so still , he wasn't sure she was breathing.
But then again he wasn't sure he was either.
When he had her securely against his chest, with her legs around his waist and arms around his neck she paused.
Severus and Hermione both held their breath , awaiting the meltdown.
Rose leant backwards with a hand resting on his chest, looking at his face. at his eyes.
Hermione covered her mouth with both hands, tears flowing freely as she watched her baby girl actually looking at and interacting with someone. a male someone no less.
The other small hand hesitantly , reverently touched his cheek.
Then his eyebrow.
Then traced his nose.
He tried not to, but he scowled a little at that.
There was a little quirk to her lips then. not quite a smile.
He arched his eyebrow and the lips quirked again.
A chuffed breath. Not quite a laugh. Not quite. And yet...
Suddenly he had a sloppy kiss on his cheek, a mirror of Hermione's just a moment ago.
And he stood breathless, as Hermione quietly cried, he was holding the girl in his arms for the first time in over a year.
Then a tiny face was pressed into his neck , and he felt a familiar tugging on his hair.
He could tell from the way her breathing evened out she was almost instantly asleep.