I have updated Part 2 and now a new chapter is also published too.
Part 16
About twenty minutes ago, Percy had apparated here from Grimmauld Place, bringing with him both the books he and Katie had read earlier. Katie had opened them with a little blood. The same as earlier in the library.
Stunned, Severus stared at the words in the book. He could not believe it!
He could hardly comprehend the words he read there. Katie had started one of the Blacks' blood spells, but had not finished the spell. Fortunately, anyway.
It was the only reason Katie's name was not yet on the family tree for all to see. But once the spell was complete, everyone would be able to see the name on the tapestry - Catelyn Black.
And that would also be the moment when Dumbledore would become even more fanatical about his search. Dumbledore would search for Bellatrix's child feverishly. A child he would assume Voldemort himself had fathered.
And Severus wanted to prevent that at all costs, Dumbledore was never to know about Catelyn, about Katie. Not as long as there was an ounce of life left in Severus. He would protect Katie - until his last breath. But his daughter was doing everything she could to make sure her true identity came to light.
"What have you done?!" stunned, he shook his head and looked at his daughter.
"It's not like Katie did it on purpose," Percy tried to explain.
" BUT she did! It had been completely thoughtless. And you all seem to have no notion of what it means. What you have unleashed with your actions! Words always have consequences!"
"Not just words, but life, your choices," Katie murmured, so quietly that she could barely be heard.
Severus, however, had understood her perfectly. He knew exactly what Katie meant. Namely, that none of this would have happened if she had never been born. If Bellatrix and he had decided against the baby - against Katie.
Angrily, he stared at his daughter. The anger was bubbling up inside of him, he could feel it rising. Oh, how could she hold it against him? Katie was the best thing he had achieved in his life, the only good thing in his life. And he wanted to protect her by all means, even from himself.
" No way, really never again do I want to hear that! You're-"
"A mistake!" completed Katie his sentence angrily.
At that moment, Katie was so incredibly angry at her father, at the wizarding world, at everyone and everything.
She hated that her father was apparently treating her like a little child. The feeling of being left in the dark and afraid because she didn't know what would really happen if Dumbledore or Voldemort learned the truth about her existence, if it became known that she was the daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange and Severus Snape.
"You're not."
Katie was not a mistake. Ever. Well maybe whatever had been between Bellatrix and him back then had been a mistake. Those clandestine moments. But Bellatrix and he, they had needed each other.
And his daughter was not a mistake at all. She was the best thing in his life.
"It feels like it, though. And besides, you do make me feel that way all the time. That you think I'm a mistake," Katie looked directly at him.
She hoped that if he wouldn't answer her directly, she could at least read a reaction in his face. But Severus' face remained an unreadable mask, as it had been every time Katie tried to talk to him.
"You never explained to me why you guys decided to have me. Why did you choose to have a child if you were going to give it away anyway? You could have made it easier on yourselves. Made it easier for me. After all, there's a spell or a potion for everything. It would have been so easy for you - you would have brewed her the potion and all the problems would be gone. And I wouldn't exist," Katie continued angrily.
"I-"
"Admit it, you had been a coward to take that step. To admit to yourself that the flawless Severus Snape had failed to control something. That he had made a mistake and now had to live day to day with his dirty little secret, his bastard child. So, why didn't you brew her the potion? Why were you so selfish and had a child just to hide it?"
Instead of saying anything in response to finally talk to Katie, Severus stormed out of the room.
He couldn't and wouldn't explain it to her. Bellatrix and he had made a decision then, and he was still convinced it was the right decision.
If he were to die one day, he would die knowing that he had accomplished one good thing in his life, his daughter. And that was reason enough for him.
"You know your words hurt him," Minerva stated.
"He didn't take care of me all these years and now he thinks he knows what's best for me."
"Katie, he knew he couldn't take care of you and that's why he did everything he could to make sure you were okay. Your mother and him, you know their story. They loved you, always, and they still do. They gave you away because they loved you. That's the only way you had a chance."
Katie was silent.
Maybe she had gone too far with her words, but she had managed all these years without her father. It didn't mean she hadn't missed him, though.
There had been so many moments in the past when she had missed her parents. Her first day at Hogwarts. Her first win with the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The Christmas Ball. The nights when nightmares kept her awake. Professor Umbridge. The confrontations with Percy's mother.
And while Remus followed her father, Katie dropped into the armchair. She took a deep breath before reaching for the book and contemplating the remaining words of the spell.
Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for her to complete the spell after all.
She would be protected and wouldn't always have to wonder what would happen when the truth finally came to light. She would then be able to simply react to what was happening.
"What if I do finish the spell?" she looked questioningly at Professor McGonagall.
"I think you should discuss that with your father calmly. Family spells can be dangerous."
"Talk to him calmly? I'd rather re-pot mandrakes without earmuffs."
"He's your father, he's just worried about you. Can't you understand him? And with what you said to him, you did him wrong. He loves you, he wants to protect you, he only wants what's best for you. Even if he can't always show it," Minerva tried to appeal to her reason.
But Katie didn't want to be reasonable, not anymore. She was old enough to make her own decisions. And she had already made a decision about how to proceed. With her life.
At the same time, Severus was back at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, talking to Remus. However, with the ranting that came out of his mouth, it was not possible to call it talking.
"Katie couldn't have known what she would set off. She was just looking for a solution," Remus tried to explain Katie's actions.
"She didn't have to do that. I already have a solution for her. She doesn't need another solution!"
"But maybe we should think about it again," Remus suggested.
Remus, like Katie, didn't think much of Severus' plan. He had once seen a Fidelus Charm fail to provide protection - for Lilly and James Potter. Even though it had been Peter Pettigrew who had betrayed the two.
"No," and that word had an air of finality.
He, as Katie's father, had made a decision and no one would change his mind.
Not his daughter, and not Remus either.
"And what are you going to do about the spell? It's not complete-"
"It won't be completed. Katie will forget that spell and never look at that book again, never look at any of the books in the Blacks' library. I don't understand her. How can she be so stupid? So careless? She's like-" Severus broke off.
He knew exactly who Katie reminded him of.
She was just like her mother, and just like himself. But most of all, she reminded him of the woman he had once felt something for. The woman he had had feelings for. Bellatrix Lestrange.
"She's like?" inquired Remus cautiously.
"Like her mother. Bellatrix is the same way. Hot-headed. Wants to get her own way. Short-tempered," Severus counted up all the traits Katie had in common with her.
"I know someone else to whom that applies," Remus commented, a brief smile creeping onto his lips.
Severus paused in his movement. He knew who Remus meant. Very well, in fact. But that didn't make things any easier. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Severus stepped to the window and looked out. This whole situation, he felt so helpless and that was exactly why the situation had escalated just now. And those words, it had hurt him. His daughter had hurt him.
" Katie's sorry," Remus said then. He had seen the pain in Severus' eyes.
"You always were a bad liar."
"It's not a lie."
"I don't think-"
"She's sorry, only she doesn't know it yet. But soon, she'll realize that you did the right thing. And that you had her best interests at heart. That you always think of others, but never of yourself."
"I can't ever be thinking about myself."
"Yes, you should."
Remus approached Severus, who was standing at the window with his back to him. Very close behind him, he stopped. It was only a step that separated them. A thin line they had not crossed - until now.
"Severus, you need to think about yourself for once. You don't carry the burden of the wizarding world on your shoulders. Please let us lend you a hand. Let me be the one to help you," Remus begged.
Their eyes looked in the glass of the window. Wordlessly they looked at each other.
In the end, it was both of them who took that step. And Severus found himself in Remus' arms. The other had his arms around Severus from behind and was just holding him.
For Severus, it felt good just to be held. Unconsciously, his hands moved forward and intertwined with Remus' fingers, which were clasped in front of his stomach.