And here is the next part

Part 5

Today, Dumbledore had called a meeting of the Order.

One of the topics, perhaps one of the most important topics for him at today's meeting, involved the search for the child of the prophecy. His years-long search had still not resulted in any success. He still did not know WHO the child of the prophecy was.

"So what about your granddaughter?" turned Professor Dumbledore to Minerva. More than once in the years past, he had asked Minerva this question.

"Katie was born days after a storm. So that prophecy doesn't apply to her. You don't think I wouldn't have told you right away if my granddaughter was actually the child of the prophecy? I know how important the search is to you, to us. My granddaughter is not the child of the prophecy. In fact, she was only born three days after and nothing in the prophecy applies to her. Besides, do you think I would lie to you? Would I hide something so important from you? Never."

For a moment, Dumbledore stared at her as if he wanted to say a few more words. In the end, though, he nodded. After all, there was no reason for him to doubt Minerva's words.

Well, she knew how important the search for these children was to him. And she would not lie to him. No, never.

"You're right Minerva. If I can count on anyone, it's you. You would never betray me," he admitted.

Dumbledore was so distracted by the conversation with Minerva that he didn't notice that someone had tensed up at his question. But someone else had noticed it. That someone confronted Severus in the library after the meeting.

"Sometimes it helps to talk about it," Severus suddenly heard a voice behind him.

And when he turned around he saw Remus Lupin. The latter had followed him here - to his place of refuge.

"What do you want?" asked Severus, trying to put as much indifference into his voice as he could. He could not and would not talk about it. And all he wanted now was to be alone. To be alone to gather his thoughts. To get his feelings under control, because like this, he could not return to the Dark Lord's side.

" You know, I thought, after everything that just happened, maybe you'd want to talk about it."

"Talk? With you? Most of all, there's nothing to talk about."

"I noticed your reaction to Dumbledore's question. About Minerva's granddaughter and if-"

"YOU'RE WRONG."

Mentally, Severus cursed himself. Oh, he should have guessed that the werewolf would notice. I mean, in a manner of speaking, who else could smell emotion?

However, he was a spy long enough, well practiced in lying, to not be able to resolve this situation. He couldn't talk about it. And not even to Remus.

"Something's bothering you. And by that I don't mean spying for the Order, the constant fear of being discovered. It's something else. You know, something that really scares you," Remus said worriedly.

" Did you study psychology now?"

"No, but I worry about it. Talk to me," Remus nearly begged.

But that was something Severus couldn't do. He couldn't talk about Katie.

"No. I can't."

"Severus, there is something bothering you. I've been noticing it for a while."

"Leave me alone. Please. I can't talk about it."

Remus bristled.

That Severus used the word please, that really was a serious indication that something was terribly wrong, that something must be weighing heavily on Severus' mind.

Though they had never been the best of friends, and Severus had even suffered from their sometimes cruel jokes, Remus saw in Severus something like a friend. A friend he wanted to help.

"How about an Unbreakable Vow? Will you tell me then?", Remus made a suggestion.

For a long moment, Severus regarded Remus. So the latter would go so far just to get Severus to talk to him, to confide in him what was bothering him. However, could Severus really trust him? Could he trust him at all?

Well, there was so much at stake.

He didn't really have any guarantee that Remus would keep his secret. But on the other hand Remus had offered to make an unbreakable vow. Plus, he knew Remus wasn't one of those who trusted Dumbledore blindly. More than once, Severus had witnessed Remus questioning a decision Dumbledore had made. Like how he didn't follow him in blind obedience.

Well, then, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to let someone else in on it. You know, if there was someone else around to share the burden with him.

"You see, we were young, we were lonely. It seemed to us that our lives were out of our control. Everything had been decided for us. For once, at least, we wanted to decide for ourselves. The result of that decision was a child," Severus began to tell his story, completely abruptly.

"A child?"

Many things he had expected, but he hadn't imagined that Severus had a child.

"We managed to have a glamour concealing her belly all the time. I was the only one who could see it and then, immediately after graduation, our daughter was born in the Shrieking Shack."

"That' s the night of the storm," Remus concluded.

"Yes. That was part of the reason we had to hide her. Well, there were so many reasons. Her family, and Voldemort, the prophecy, Dumbledore. I mean, everything we wanted was in the best interest of our child."

Remus was silent.

"Minerva was the one who raised her," Severus added.

"So Katie Bell is your daughter, then."

"Yes."

"And her mother?"

Severus remained silent.

Some things should forever remain a secret. And it was not something he wanted to let Remus in on so far.