Severus' Daughter: Year One

Chapter 16: Returning Home

Severus blinked his eyes open and shut a few times as he tried adjusting to the light seeping into the hospital wing. The bed he was lying in was comfortable and warm. His mother was in a bed on one side, and Regulus in the bed on his other side. He could hear and see through the window that Poppy was bustling about in her office.

He was safe with these three people, he knew that.

And yet, he wasn't.

Somewhere in the castle was his… was Albus… Dumbledore.

He wasn't safe.

His daughter wasn't safe.

His family wasn't safe.

He wasn't safe.

He tried to stop fidgeting but it was rather difficult when he wanted nothing more than to escape the castle, perhaps forever.

He stood shakily from the bed and grabbed his robes from the bedside table they rested in the drawer of, trying not to make any noise, but it was hard to not make noise when he felt as uneasy as he did.

"Sev," Regulus said tiredly as he moved to stand in front of Severus, gently holding his shaking arms, "What are you doing?"

"Going home," Severus muttered, rather exhausted himself, a slight tremor in his voice and anxiety in his veins.

"Severus, you-"

"No," Severus shook his head, "I can't… I can't be here anymore. Not with him somewhere in the castle. I can rest at home. I need… I need to go home. I can't be here. I can't be around him. Please don't make me stay here," Severus said, almost desperately.

"Sev… You know that you will have to return at the beginning of the school year? To teach? I know we will work on punishing him for everything he has done, but it will take time. He will still be here then, probably. You need to prepare yourself for that," Regulus said gently.

"I know," Severus whispered, his heart clenching in pain, "I know he probably won't ever be punished. He is too powerful. He has too much support. It will take too long to gather evidence and… I know I will still have to work with him. But I can't… I need to be somewhere else, now. Not whilst it's all so fresh. I need to go home. I need to see Rosalie. I need to be away from him until I absolutely must come back,"

"Okay, Severus," Minerva said gently from where she had just placed herself next to her son, "We can take you home. But you are going straight to bed, young man. You need to rest," her voice was a touch stern, but mostly it was soft, gentle, warm.

Severus just nodded, too dead inside to do much else.

Too desperate to escape.

He let the two lead him gently by the arms to Poppy's office. He let the two of them explain that he needed to escape. He let the two of them lead him into the floo and his mum call out the address.

He almost collapsed as the spinning stopped and they stepped out of the fireplace, but they held him up. At least until two small arms wound around his waist and he crumbled to the floor with his daughter.

His daughter who had to die.

Just like his son had died.

"Mummy, are you okay? Why weren't you here? Grandma said you were in the hospital wing. But why? Are you ill? Are you hurt?" he had never heard a child sound so worried, or looked so worried as her green eyes looked up at him from where her head lay against his chest.

"I…" what was he supposed to say? "I'm sorry, Little Snake"

"No. Mum, it's okay. You need to rest. Come on, we'll get you in bed," she said, sadness in her eyes as she stood and helped him stand.

She started leading him out of the room and Regulus went to follow, as did his mother.

"Regulus, wait," Sirius said gently as he stared at his brother in awe.

Regulus stopped and looked at his brother, Severus also stopped and looked between the two.

"Sirius, can we talk later please? I need to be with Sev right now," Regulus said gently.

"O-Okay," Sirius nodded, looking slightly solemn.

Regulus nodded in return before following Severus, Minerva and Rosalie up the stairs and to Severus' bedroom.

Severus promptly threw off his robes and collapsed into his bed, still shaking somewhat, but it had eased now, still wearing his hospital pyjamas. And Rosalie, who looked a lot like Severus, but with Lily's eyes and softness to her features, laid next to him, snuggling into his chest as he held her close.

Regulus couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain in his heart at the sight of father (although she had called him 'mummy') and daughter snuggled together. But he regretted it instantly. It wasn't Severus' fault. It wasn't Lily's fault. It wasn't his fault. And it certainly wasn't Rosalie's fault.

No, it was all Albus Dumbledore's fault.

But that didn't matter at that moment.

All that mattered was Severus.

Their son.

And the girl in Severus' arms who had been raised like a pig for slaughter rather than with her father.

"Reg," Severus called for him gently and Regulus slowly made his way over to the bed and sat next to Severus, who was curled on his side, back to Regulus. But Regulus sat there, with his back against the headboard as he ran his fingers gently through the man's hair.

"What do you need, Sev?" Regulus asked.

"You," Sev muttered as he hid his face in his daughter's dark hair.

"I'm not going anywhere. Never again if you will allow me to stay," Regulus whispered.

Merlin had he tried to get over Severus, but nothing worked. Every date he had gone on, every kiss he shared… It all felt so wrong.

He wished he had tried harder, had realised what was going on sooner. He wished that they hadn't been played like they had. He wished he had forced himself to remain at Severus' side, even despite the words the boy had said to him.

He knew it would take time to figure things out between them. He knew they would need to heal. If they ever could. He knew they would probably have some problems. And they would need to figure out what to do with the old fool who had broken them apart in perhaps the worst way possible. And figure out how to destroy Horcruxes without destroying the containers.

But part of him knew that they could do it. That they could get through it all. Together.

It would just take time, and effort, and… well, a lot.

Regulus saw Minerva leave the room, closing the door quietly behind her as she left the three of them to it. He had briefly seen Sirius and Remus in the doorway, too, watching Severus with concern in their eyes, though Sirius had been glancing at him occasionally also.

"Mummy," Rosalie said quietly as she tilted her head to look Severus in the eyes, concern in her own green ones.

"Yes, Rosie," Severus said, just as quietly as his daughter.

"What… What happened? I… You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but… You were here, and you were crying, and Uncle Padfoot wouldn't let me see you. But then you were gone. And you didn't come back. And grandma said you were in the hospital wing. And… I've been worried," she said, almost desperately.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Little Snake," Severus said, guilt passing through his voice, "I… I had some memories returned to me. Painful ones. So I've been… upset… overwhelmed, really. I-I will tell you about them when I'm ready, if that is okay,"

Rosalie nodded, "I'm sorry you're overwhelmed, and upset,"

"You have nothing to apologise for, Little Snake. Never," Severus kissed her forehead gently and Regulus hated the twinge of… something in his heart.

"Neither do you," Rosalie said genuinely.

Regulus thought he could see the corners of Severus' lips tug up slightly, but he wasn't sure, the change wasn't big enough, and he could still see the pain in his l… in his eyes.

Not that the pain was much of a surprise really.

"Rosie, this is Regulus. He's Sirius' brother. Regulus, this is my daughter, Rosalie," Severus said gently, trying to think of anything other than… well, everything that was swirling through his mind.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Regulus," Rosie said, beaming up at him, and Regulus sucked in a breath as he got a proper look at her and could see all of the parts of Severus she had in her face.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Rosalie," Regulus said, smiling down at her.

"Mummy, is Regulus your boyfriend?"

It was Severus' turn to suck in a breath as he tried to control the blush that was trying to cover his body, and his rather erratic breathing.

"Oh, erm, it's… c-complicated," Severus muttered painfully.

Rosalie pouted somewhat, "What does that mean?"

"It means that we have some things to work out, Little Snake," Regulus said gently, adopting the nickname Severus had used, "We… We have been separated for a while, through no fault of our own, and… We are working things out, I hope,"

He saw Severus blush harder at his words and he couldn't stop himself from smirking.

"Hm," Severus hummed, "Yes, we are working things out,"

Severus couldn't stop the butterflies that were fluttering through him as the gentle hand in his hair tightened its grip just a little. Though it only lasted a second the action, and the look of hope, love and awe on Regulus' face when he glanced briefly up at the man by his side, was enough to make him relive all of his old feelings. The ones that had been snatched from him for so bloody long.

The ones that were just as powerful, as magical, and as hopeful as they were during the time they were actually together.

Severus sighed and went back to focussing on his daughter, the feelings not diminishing in the slightest no matter how he tried. But they would talk, eventually.

And maybe they could figure things out.

Maybe…

Any feelings of hope that came were quickly pushed aside by the memories swirling around in his mind. He couldn't feel hope when… when all he could think about was his son, and his daughter needing to die.

Severus fell asleep in the mostly comfortable silence that drew on, holding his daughter close still, and relaxing under Regulus' gentle touches.

Regulus didn't move for a good half an hour after Severus fell asleep. Rosalie fell asleep shortly after him, safe in her father's (mother's) arms.

But then he sighed, remembering that his brother had wanted to speak to him.

He carefully stood up and quietly exited the room, making his way to the living room where the other three occupants of the home were, drinking tea in a worried silence.

Sirius stood as soon as Regulus entered and went to hug his brother. And Regulus couldn't stop himself from wrapping his arms around his older brother's waist.

"Merlin, I thought you were dead," Sirius breathed.

"Clearly that isn't the case," Regulus said.

Sirius snorted.

"What happened? Where have you been?" Sirius asked as he pulled back, looking his brother up and down with worried eyes.

"I… I nearly died. Kreacher saved me. And I went into hiding," he said simply.

Sirius nodded, knowing that there was a lot more to the story, but letting Regulus have his privacy. For now, anyway.

"Would you like some tea?" Sirius said as he let his brother go and moved back to his seat.

"No, thank you. I thought I would head home to grab some of my clothes and bits. I shouldn't be too long but if Severus wakes up can you let him know that I will be back," Regulus said, looking at Minerva who nodded solemnly, "Thank you. I'll be back soon,"

As soon as Regulus had exited the floo in his living room he went to his bedroom to pack a bag. Trying to fight through the trembling of his body as his mind replayed everything, from the day Severus told him he was pregnant, to the day he was living at that moment. He tried to fight the pain and emotions that were soaring through his body, mind and heart.

He dropped his bag to the floor in front of the fireplace.

And he collapsed alongside it, his shaking knees giving out under the pressure of the emotions that burst out of him in heavy cries that wracked his body.

Hiya, how are you all?

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Now, I know that we are nearing 20 chapters and Rosalie hasn't started her schooling yet. But that is why I will be doing time jumps in the next chapter so that we can get her to Hogwarts in the next chapter, or the chapter following. Albus will be punished, but it will take time and he will be the Headmaster for a little while at least. They need more things against him to get any charges to stick, and such, and that stuff takes time. But he will be punished for his actions, Severus and Regulus just need some time for healing before they can focus on that. But what are you thinking will happen in the story? How will her meeting the twins go? How will Severus' and Regulus' relationship progress?

Anywho, I am working on some spotify playlists for my fanfics, so if you can think of any songs you think work with the stories as they are so far, or where you think they are going, or songs that give you the vibes you get from the stories, then please do let me know and I will give them a listen, then potentially add them to the playlists. I will let you know as soon as they are ready, though it may take a few weeks because life.

Anyone want an essay/rant regarding my completely honest opinions about my favourite character, Severus Snape? Or a petition as to why I think I should be cast as Severus in the HBO series despite being a woman? You know, just so he is played by someone who loves, understands and respects the character properly?

All jokes aside (are they jokes though, really?) I have a Facebook group called Maraudering_Paige which you are all welcome to join if you would like to and are able to. It is where we can talk about Harry Potter, fanfics, life, share memes and more. It is also where I have somewhat of an update schedule for my fics and will be keeping you up to date on what I am working on, in regards to fanfics, original works, and more things. So if you are interested in joining then I am more than happy to accept you all.

I hope you are having an amazing day!

Kind regards,

Paige xx