I'm on vacation for a few days, so I use the time to rewrite the chapters. Today is the turn to rewrite part 3.
Part 3
A few moments later, Severus and Katie sat facing each other in silence. Neither knew how to begin. What else did one say at such a moment?
Severus had never thought the moment would come when he would sit across from his daughter. Well, as a teacher, he had taught her and he had always known who she was. But just now, when she had called him Dad. Severus had never believed that the day would eventually come. After all, to Katie he had always been just her surly professor.
Until now, anyway. Now Katie knew that he was her father. That she was Severus Snape's daughter.
Just the idea that he was her father. Katie had a little trouble associating him with the man Minerva McGonagall had spoken of earlier. To recognize in him the man from the stories of her childhood. When she was younger, she had heard stories from her grandmother - about her father. And her mother.
Now that Katie knew who her father was, she naturally wanted to know who her mother was. But there was another question that Katie was dying to find answers to.
"Why?" asked Katie then.
Severus looked at his daughter quizzically. He had an idea what she wanted to know from him. Surely there was one question that plagued Katie the most. Why had her parents given her away? And now it was up to Severus to answer her question.
"You want to know why we gave you away?"
Katie nodded.
"We didn't take the decision lightly at the time. But we always knew we wanted you. Except we both knew, your mother and I, that we couldn't raise you. Back then, those were not easy times, for either of us. Your mother had already been promised to another man. And we had only gotten carried away then too, one night we had had together."
Well, that was only part of the truth. Yes, there had been that one night. However, after that there had been many more secret moments that he didn't want to talk about. For months they had clung to each other, seeking one another's closeness. They had always known, however, that this relationship, if it could be called that, would have to come to an end very soon. And then they had parted ways - after Katie's birth. At least for a while.
"So I was an accident," Katie interrupted him.
"NO," he vehemently contradicted her, " You are the only good thing in our lives, the only good thing we have ever accomplished. The only thing in our lives that we are proud of."
Severus had never been so outspoken about private matters. He had always tried to make a secret of his life. But some secrets had to be shared, had to be told. So did this one. Katie should know that he was not ashamed of her.
"You know about the prophecy?" he inquired instead.
"Yes. My grandmother, that is Professor McGonagall, told me about it. And about her hiding me because of it. And that she changed my name," Katie replied.
Severus nodded. Yes, it had all been for Katie's own good. The danger she would face if anyone learned the truth - they couldn't risk it.
"What is the name you have given me?"
"Catelyn. Catelyn Belladonna Eileen," Severus replied.
"Catelyn, that's a beautiful name," Katie agreed.
"Your mother picked that one out."
Katie looked at her father for a moment. Now that she knew who he was, she actually wanted to know who her mother was, too.
"My mother? Who is she?" she had a vague guess as to what name would cross her father's lips.
She had noticed the resemblance to her mother, recognized it without really having any idea who she was. And she had often looked at herself critically in the mirror. Wondered if she had inherited the wild untamable curls, which she always wore strictly tied into a knot, from her mother or her father. And which one of her parents had the piercing dark eyes like hers.
Severus wasn't sure if she really wanted to hear the answer. Everyone knew what a monster Katie's mother was. But could he keep the rest of the truth from her when she already knew so much? If she already knew who her father was. And why her parents had given her away.
"Bellatrix Lestrange," he said then.
Katie swallowed. She hadn't expected that. But then again, after realizing that Severus Snape was her father, she should have been ready for anything.
So she was the child of two Death Eaters. Her mother was one of the worst kind.
"Bellatrix Lestrange," Katie repeated her mother's name.
She was the child of Bellatrix Lestrange and Severus Snape.
"No one must know the truth. You have no idea how dangerous it can be for you. Should even one of the wrong people learn who you really are, we will all be in danger. Above all, Dumbledore must never know," Severus warned his daughter.
Yes, he was right. Her mother's name, her parents' name had to remain a secret.
Katie couldn't and wouldn't imagine how other people would react to the identity of her mother, her parents. But she didn't have to try to imagine it. She knew how others would react to it.