Danu finds herself in the large leather chair she sits in each night, waiting on Severus to show. Her knees clutched to her chest, eyes boring holes into the solid door, willing it to open. To her knowledge, the door had not opened in six days. On the third day, she spent hours trying desperately to pry it open, with no use. It was sealed tight, and Severus had her wand. He had grabbed her from behind with his strong arms, thrown her to the bed, and pried the wand from her fist after she had tried to use it to open the door.

"Just like your father!" He spit, turning sharply away from her and striding towards the door. Danu jumped to her feet to follow him out, he turned towards her, put his hand against her chest, and pushed her roughly back towards the bed. "Arrogant, conceited, self-indulgent!" Severus opened the door, smirked down at her shocked face, and slammed it.

She did not know what she had done to make him so angry before their fight. The morning she kissed him for the first time, she hadn't planned it, it just happened. In her half-asleep state, she had felt him wrap his arms around her body, kiss her forehead, and hold her tightly against him. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Of course, she had thought about him in that way over the course of several weeks, wondering what his lips would feel like against hers, what his hands would feel like caressing her naked body. Perhaps it was a form of Stockholm Syndrome, or the fact that he was the only living thing she had any connection to day after day for weeks on end. She had not intended for things to progress to the point that they had, but the feel of his lips on her neck sent shock waves throughout her entire body. His hands on her bare skin made her knees tremble, and before she knew it, he was inside of her, and she was clutching on to him for dear life as he rubbed her with his thumb and moaned against her neck. Then it was over, and he held her for a few moments before heaving himself from the bed. He gave her a contraceptive potion and left without a word while she showered. Severus stayed gone the rest of the day, he returned at midnight, and lie in bed facing away from her.

For weeks he avoided her, only coming to the room in the late hours of the night and leaving before she even woke. Not even bothering to show his face at all on the weekends. When he was there, he was cold and distant, he wouldn't speak to her, wouldn't even look at her. He found her one evening, sobbing in the bathroom floor, he scoffed at her, left the room entirely, and didn't come back for three days. She was frightened and alone. She shouldn't have kissed him, shouldn't have allowed him to take her body. She had pushed him too far, or maybe it was that he was a disappointment. Perhaps he had been expecting more, something better.

Whether it be desperation or complete disregard for her sanity and well-being that made her take these next steps, she did not know. One Wednesday afternoon in early June, shortly before midnight, Severus was in his favorite chair before the fire, reading that day's edition of The Daily Prophet. He had only recently come in and was doing his best to ignore her. She went to the bathroom, put on the silky, emerald green nightgown that she knew he liked, for he couldn't keep his eyes off of her whenever she had worn it, and it was what she had been wearing that fateful morning when everything changed. She stood before the mirror that Severus had finally rehung above the sink and took several deep breaths to calm her nerves. The first time may not have been planned, but this time was. She decided days before that she needed to make it up to him. Danu gulped hard and with a pounding heart, left the bathroom.

Severus did not look up from his paper, didn't even notice that she had reentered the room. Danu tip-toed over to him, and using her index finger, tipped the top portion of the paper down from his face. Severus looked up at her, one eyebrow cocked in what seemed to be surprise, and opened his mouth to say something. Before he could get a word out, she pulled the nightgown up her thighs and straddled his lap, crushing the paper between their bodies. Danu snaked her hand through his silky black hair to cup the base of his neck and planted her lips to the sharp angle of his jaw, right next to his ear. Severus stiffened his body, and before she could land another kiss on his jaw, stood suddenly, dropping her body and the paper to the floor. He towered over her, eyes wide with fury, face contorted in rage.

"What do you think you are doing?" Severus sneered between grit teeth. She tried to answer, but her throat was tight and her mouth dry. She stared up at him, silently pleading with him to tell her why he was so angry with her.

"Pathetic!" He finally spit down at her before pacing to the furthest corner of the room. She trembled involuntarily at the boom of his voice and brought her knees to her chest, not daring to lift herself from the floor.

"You think you can toy with me? Use me for your own sick pleasures?" The coldness of his voice caused her to shrink from him, despite him being clear across the room.

"You've not once even thanked me for saving your miserable life!" He bellowed, his voice vibrating her ribs as it echoed off of the stone walls.

"I never asked you to." Danu whispered finally, eliciting a deep, guttural laugh from Severus. "I'm not sure who you did it for, but it was not me."

Her voice cracked as the realization that he did not care for her struck her like a ton of bricks. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked up into his horrifyingly angry face. The flicker of firelight illuminating his features only made him look angrier. It amplified the darkness of his eyes as his hair fell in curtains around his face. He sneered down at her, showing his teeth as if he were and angry dog. Every fiber of her being told her to stay down, do not get up from this floor. She disregarded that primal urge to submit to him and stood defiantly. Knees shaking and hands trembling, she faced him from across the room.

"So, you decide to whore yourself off on me instead?" His words a slap to her face, just like he intended them to be. "Tell me, how well did that work for you?"

"I only wanted to make up for the last time. Clearly, you were disappointed."

"What makes you think I even wanted it the last time?" Severus scoffs down at her.

He is much larger than her, faster, more powerful. He could kill her right now without even lifting a finger and not one person in this entire world would know she was even missing. No one would look for her, no one would mourn her. She was more alone in this room than she had ever been in her life. Her stomach was hollow, and her heart ached at the thought that she truly had no one, if she died right this moment, no one would remember her. At least before, she was in a school full of people, someone was bound to notice her missing, afterwards, she had Madam Rosmerta. Now all she had was Severus, and he hated her guts. She felt foolish, stupid for even thinking he had ever cared for her. Her stomach fell and knotted itself in her intestines.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Danu chokes out between tears.

"Why do you care?" Severus mocks her and smirks as he watches her wipe the tears from her eyes, relishing in her pain.

"Because I love you, you fucking asshole!" She shouts, her face turning red with anger and embarrassment as she clamps her hand over her mouth, eyes widening with the realization of what she just said. The words come out before she can stop them, she hadn't meant for him to ever hear them, but it was true. She loved him, she had for a long time. This outburst caused Severus' eyes to soften for a split second before contorting in rage once more.

"It is not my job to resolve your daddy issues!" He shouts at her, a vein popping in his temple with the force of his anger.

"Tha—"

"YOU ARE A CHILD!" Severus bellows once more, taking a step towards her. She flinches, and he backs away.

"Then let me out. Let me open the door and you never have to see me again. I won't be your burdon any longer, you can have your life back. Tell Dumbledore, or whoever, that I stunned you, that you couldn't stop me."

"You would be dead before the week is out! Albus is not a simpleton, your plan is as flawed and childish as you are!"

"Why does it matter to you? What are you getting out of this? You can't even stand me!"

The two of them stare at one another for several moments, fists clenched at their sides and breathing heavily. Danu backs slowly to her side of the bed to retrieve her wand, she only wanted to open the door, to get away from him. Severus darts his eyes between her and the sideboard that held her wand, knowing instantly what she was going to do. He shook his head, and she turned and darted for the wand. He crossed the room in an instant, wrapped his arms around her from behind just as her fist clenched her wand, lifted her feet from the floor, and slammed her harshly on to the bed. Her body bounced from the impact, but she kept a tight grip on her wand. She was face down on the bed with his body pressed against her back, she struggled for a moment, tried to raise the wand above her head to keep it away from his reach, but his arms were much longer than hers and his fist was wrapped around her own in the struggle. He finally pries the wand from her grip and lifts himself from her body, both of them panting and sweaty from the brief struggle.

Now, a week later, she sits alone, replaying that fight in her head. She knew that he knew Sirius Black, that much was clear from the meeting they had the previous summer. Severus had meant the comparison to be an insult, but she felt nothing but numbness. She didn't know the man, had only met him once. She held no loyalty to him, and certainly did not have "daddy issues" because of him! The fact of the matter was, that she did love Severus. She had loved him since he sent her the copy of The Hobbit for Christmas two years prior. She loved him when he came to check on her every night at The Three Broomsticks, and when he came and saved her when she became stranded in Diagon Alley. She loved him when he held her face in his hand and screamed at her or stealing from him, the thought of him thinking her capable of such a thing broke her heart. She loved him and mourned his absence when he refused to write back to her the previous summer. She loved him when he held her in his arms and rocked her when she first woke in his house. And she loved him each morning when he pulled her against him and kissed her head when he thought that she was still sleeping.

Fourteen days after the fight, Severus burst through the door. His hair disheveled and knotted, dark circles beneath his eyes, and his clothes dusty, wrinkled, and torn in places. She was sitting in her chair, biting the skin around her freshly regrown nails, and thinking of something witty and hurtful to say to him if she ever saw him again. Every word fell away when she looked into his eyes and saw that he had been crying.

"Get up. We are leaving." He orders as he paces the room, grabbing things at random and tossing them on the bed.

"No." Danu stated flatly as she continues to chew the skin around her thumb. Severus stalks towards her and looks down at her at what she was sure he meant to be a menacing look, but was actually quite pitiful, her heart nearly hurt for him in that moment, but it did not make up for the anger bubbling inside of her.

"Do as you are told." He hisses, then turns and continues throwing random items on to the bed.

"You do not own me." She declares, glaring at him. Her eyes flicker towards the door, but he had been sure to close it securely behind him as he entered.

Severus whirls to face her, and stalks towards her once more. He grabs her wrist and jerks her from the chair in one swift motion. She nearly falls to the floor, but he is faster, and he grabs her by the elbow to steady her.

"I said. We. Are. Leaving." His teeth are gritted, his face mere inches from her own. Tiny droplets of his saliva pepper her face and she must clench her first to keep from striking him.

"And I said no." Danu attempts to be firm, but his eyes are sad. They are red and swollen from crying, sagging from exhaustion. She wants to wrap him in her arms as he had done for her, make him feel as safe as he had once made her feel.

Severus put his other arm around her, spins her around forcefully, and pins her arms to her sides with his arms. Danu looks down at his arms around her chest, and through a rip that traveled from elbow to wrist in his black shirt, causing the fabric to lie open like a gutted fish, was the image of skull with a snake protruding from its mouth like a tongue.

The Dark Mark.

Danu gasps and struggles in his arms, desperate to get away. He wraps her tighter, and the world goes dark. Her eyes bulge from her head, her body squeezed tight, her heart in her stomach. It felt like being squeezed through a tube while on a rollercoaster cart.

When her vision returns to her, they are standing in the front parlor of his home. Severus continues to hold her tight as she pants and struggles in his arms. Suddenly, he releases her, and her knees buckle. She grabs the nearest bookshelf for support as she tries to control her breathing. Severus stands like a statue guarding the front door, and she whips her head around looking for another way out. She straightens herself and begins pacing the tiny main floor, searching for any other door to run out of. In the kitchen, she finds a rear entrance and races towards it, behind her, Severus still stands guard at the front door.

"You can try. There is a rather tall garden wall, and a sharp drop directly beyond that. You won't get out that way." Severus' voice rings in her ears as she slings the door open and hurls herself out of it.

The evening sun is too bright, momentarily blinding her, and she must stand still for a moment to gain her bearings. Finally, her eyes adjust, and just as Severus had said, there was a large fence encircling the garden, with overgrown rose bushes growing against them, making climbing the wall nearly impossible. Danu paces the garden for several minutes, searching every inch of the garden wall for a weak spot, a hidden ladder in the rose bushes, anything at all to lead her out of there. On the east side of the wall, barely visible between the rose blooms, is a large flat rock with a crudely carved E. At the base of the rock sat a large bundle of forget-me-not's; someone had been back there recently. As she stands staring down at the flowers on the ground, Severus' deep voice booms in her ear from across the lawn, startling her for a moment.

"Stop being stubborn and listen. It is important." Danu whirls around to find Severus standing in front of the rear entrance to the house, his hands clutched behind his back. The image of The Dark Mark burned into her mind as every ounce of respect she had for him melted away, replaced with fear and betrayal.

"No. I don't care what you have to say. You're one of them. I didn't believe them; everyone at Hogwarts who said you were a Death Eater. I didn't listen, I thought they just hated you and needed a reason to justify it, so they made up rumors. But they weren't rumors."

"Remember what Albus said to you."

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT DUMBLEDORE SAID TO ME!" Danu shouts as she picks up the pacing again. "Does he know? Does Dumbledore know what you are?" She asks, eyeing Severus suspiciously as he takes all of her anger, his face emotionless as she shouts at him.

"Albus trusts me." He states dryly.

Danu bends at the waste and laughs, a deep, maniacal laugh that she did not know was in her. The sound, the force of it, starling even herself. Why was she laughing? Nothing about this was funny!

"There is something important that I need to tell you." Severus shouts above her laughter, she straightens herself and looks into his eyes as she wipes the tears of laughter from her own. "Sirius Black is dead. He was killed a week ago."

"My father is dead, and you wait a week to tell me?" Was all that she could manage. The weight of him even being her father had not even sunk in, and this was the first time she had ever even brought herself to call him anything other than Sirius, even in her head. She did not feel the soul crushing sadness that so many people experience when losing a parent, she did not feel the urge to cry, nor was she angry. She was simply numb.

"There were things Albus and I had to take care of. I did not want to keep it from you." His eyes are soft, kinder than she had ever seen them. His eyes flicker between her and the stone with the E carved in it.

Severus leaves his post at the door and marches towards the stone. He rests his hand atop it, rubbing the warn stone with his thumb as he eyes her. She judges the distance between him and the door, calculating how long it would take her to reach the front of the house. And go where? She had nowhere to go. Danu admits defeat and plops down in the dry grass in the garden.

"There is one other thing. He left everything to Harry Potter." Severus spits his name out as if it were an insult. She didn't care about any of Sirius Black's things, didn't want a damn thing in that house. All she ever wanted from him was to accept her as his own, and in the end, he couldn't even be bothered to do that. "I did manage to get one thing for you while Albus and I were at his home."

Severus reaches into his pocket and produces a thick, tattered piece of paper. Carefully, he holds it out in her direction, and ever so slowly creeps towards her. When he finally reaches her, she snatches it from his hand and watches as he slinks back to the stone once more. The paper was actually a photograph of a young red-haired woman smiling down at a small baby in her arms. It was the photograph that Sirius had told her about; the one her mother had given to James Potter to give to Sirius.

Only the left side of her mother's face was visible in the photograph, Danu clutches the left side of her own face as she studies her mothers. This was the first time she remembered seeing her. As a small child, a blurry image of her danced through her dreams, but nothing ever concrete, nothing ever identifying. She looked so much like her it almost drove her to tears. She had her mother's deep blue eyes, her high cheek bones, the exact shade of red hair, and freckles peppered her skin. She had Sirius Blacks deep cupid bow, but Rose Evans full bottom lip. The tips of her ears belonged to Sirius, but her chin came from Rose. What little of Rose's fingers that were visible also resembled her own, and Danu removed her left hand from her cheek to study it compared to her mother's in the photograph.

"I have to find her." Danu whispered, more to herself than to Severus.

"Okay." Severus answered warmly, and she looked up to see him sitting next to the stone, legs stretched on the ground in front of him, staring at her intently. "When this is over, I will help you."

"Why?" She asked accusingly, cocking her head to study him in the light of new revelations.

"I do care for you. I am sorry I was…cruel." His eyes were still swollen, but no longer red. His face no longer contorted in anger had smoothed the crease in his forehead.

"How can I trust you now?" She asked, gesturing towards his left arm that he was absent mindedly gripping.

"Remember what Albus said to you. What I said to you. I will not harm you." Danu scoffs at his words, but does her best to soften her face, recalling exactly what Dumbledore had said to her that day so many months ago.

"This is my mother." Severus breaks the silence and jerks his head towards the stone he was seated next to.

"What is her name?" She asks, looking into Severus' eyes for any hint of emotion.

"Eileen." He sighs as he runs his fingers through his tangled hair. Danu crawls towards him in the dirt and sits on the other side of the stone, not minding the thorns from the rose bush tearing at the bare skin on her arms.

"That's a pretty name. Was she a good mother?"

"She….did her best."

Danu accepts this answer and looks one again at the photograph she held in her hands. She tried desperately to remember what kind of mother Rose was but could not. Severus extended his hand across the dry, brown grass and left it palm up next to her thigh. She took it, as she always did when he allowed her this small bit of intimacy and gripped it tightly.

The two sit in silence as they watch the sun begin to set. Bugs dance high above their heads, a dunnock cries in the distance, and finally, Severus sighs deeply before standing to his feet, not daring to release her hand from his grasp. He pulls her to his feet, releases her hand, and wraps her in his arms. He smells of dust and dirt, and it tickles her nose. Severus kisses the top of her head, before reaching down and taking her hand once more. He leads her into the house and sits her at the small kitchen table. Severus begins riffling through the cupboards and closing them when he finds them empty. He opens the yellowing refrigerator, and slams it shut when the smell from inside permeates throughout the room.

"I will shower, and then we can order out. There's nothing here. Tomorrow, we can go to the shops, if you would like."

"We?" Danu asks, looking up at him with a confused expression on her face. She was under the impression that she would not be allowed to leave the house.

"Yes. You and I. It's a bit late for it tonight, so we can just order out. Pizza, burgers, whatever you would like." He runs his hands through his hair again as he leans against the counter, looking at her expectantly.

"I—I don't know. Whatever you want is fine."

"Okay. I will shower quickly. If you make a decision, let me know." Severus makes his way out of the small kitchen but pauses briefly in the doorway and turns back towards her. "Please, do not leave." He pleads, his voice sounding small, it cracks on the last word.