July has always been Danu's least favorite month. It is hot, humid, and miserable. The days seem to never end, and the month itself feels eternal. She would rather be at home, a cool glass of lemonade in her hand and Lorna on her knee while she read to her; or perhaps sitting beneath the large tree in the park, Lorna playing in the gross before her. Instead, though, she is stuffed into a fancy dress, sipping champagne beneath a crowded tent, a fake smile plastered to her overly powdered face, surrounded by a hoard of Weasley's, with a sweating and incredibly fussy baby in her arm. She hadn't wanted to come. Hadn't wanted to risk anyone who didn't already know that Severus had abandoned her to ask where he was, or worse, for Severus to actually show up, despite no one knowing where he was. Of course, she was thrilled for Harry and Ginny, they deserved all of the peace and happiness imaginable, yet, a piece of her was slightly jealous.
Twice now she had been married to the same man. The first was a fake, the second was real. Never did her court her, there was no proposal, no one even asked her how she felt about it either time. She never got to plan her wedding, didn't get to choose a dress with her mother, or walk down an aisle on her father's arm. A single signature was the extent of her wedding the second time, and she was already heavily pregnant by that point. The same man who had given her his name, his child, and his home, abandoned her and their child after less than four months. He left only Lorna, a couple thousand pounds in a Muggle bank account, a leather sack of gold, and his wedding ring on the kitchen table in the dead of night while she slept. There was no note, no explanation, no final goodbye. The sadness that consumed her was still raw. She poked at it occasionally, just to know that she could, in fact, still feel anything at all.
Danu stiffens at the memory of waking to find Severus gone, pushes back the tears, and makes her way to the far end of the tent to try to calm Lorna. She takes her seat at an empty, round table, and forces Lorna to lie down in her arms while she rocks her and pats her back. Before long, the tiny terror relents and drifts off into a fitful sleep as people laugh and smile around her. She didn't feel much like smiling and would have skipped the wedding entirely had she known it wouldn't break Molly's heart completely. Harry and Ginny would have understood, Molly would not have.
Danu studies her daughters sleeping face in awe. The love she felt for this small person was something she didn't know was even possible. It consumed her, filled her to the brim with hope, and terrified her all at once. She is perfect, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen or experienced. Lorna scrunches her brow in her sleep and opens her mouth slightly before bringing one arm up to cover her eyes. Exactly the way Severus slept. How could he know how perfect she is, and willingly leave her? She hopes the pain consumes him, keeps him up all night and eats his soul until he feels he might shatter completely; she hopes that he regrets it every waking moment of his life.
"Thank you for coming." A voice whispers behind her as a warm hand is placed on her shoulder. Danu turns to find a grinning Harry standing behind her, dressed immaculately in a lovely black tux with a pink rose pinned to his pocket, a golden handkerchief peeking out behind it.
"I wouldn't have missed it. Congratulations." Danu beams up at him. The first genuine smile she had had in months.
Harry's eyes travel from Lorna, then up into the crowd. Danu follows them to Ginny, who was making her rounds through the groups of people scattered throughout the tent. Her lovely red hair is half pinned up, the rest falls in tight spirals down her back. Small pink rosebuds are placed strategically throughout her hair, and a golden tiara pins a long, cathedral length veil to her head. The dress she chose was a disaster, in her mother's eyes, but looked truly breathtaking on her. The outer fabric is thin and lacey white, but the inner portion is a beautiful satin fabric colored pink, with golden roses that peak out from the white lace.
"You should take her inside. I'm sure Missus Weasley won't mind if you put her in her bed." Harry says as he bends down to kiss the top of Lorna's head.
"Oh, it's okay. We might leave soon. I don't think she'll really be in the party spirit once she wakes up." Danu smiles as she glances down at Lorna, her face slightly pink from the heat, and her hair matted with sweat.
"If you change your mind, you're welcome to stay. I'm glad you made it. It really means a lot to have family here." Harry squeezes her shoulder with a smile and makes his way into the crowd after his new bride.
—
Danu stands on a crowded sidewalk during rush hour traffic, parked in the very spot Severus had brought her to on Christmas night. The afternoon sun beats down on her head as people knock into her, curse under their breath at her unmoving figure, and scurry on in the opposite direction.
Across the narrow street a woman identical to her climbs a steep stoop, a child's hand clasped tightly in each of her own. The woman is her mother, the girls are her little sisters. Danu had come here several times since Severus had left. Had imagined walking up those steps, knocking on the door, and the woman answering knowing exactly who she is. She would scoop Lorna out of her arms, beg them both to stay for dinner. Lorna would fall asleep on her step-grandfathers arm, her aunts cooing over her.
Instead, Lorna is with Molly, the only woman she would ever know as her grandmother. Danu watches as her mother closes the door behind her and draws the curtains in the front room tight. Danu turns to leave when she slams hard into someone's chest. She looks up to find the dark skinned man with the bald head and dark curly beard she had seen through her mother's window. She freezes a moment, hopeful to get past him without him noticing the resemblance.
"Pardon me, ma'—" He begins, his voice softer and higher pitched than she had expected it to be. He furrows his brow and stares down at her. "Do—do I know you?"
"No." Danu's throat constricts, she clears it harshly to get her words out. "No. I'm not from here."
"You look familiar." The man, her step-father continues. He is much taller and broader than he looked from across the street, through a window. "You look….you look just like my wife!"
"Oh, wow. That's—"
"Come across the street and see! She's just there!" Danu follows his pointing finger, where her mother is pulling the curtains back slightly and looking down the street, in the opposite direction they were standing.
"I really must go. I have to pick my daughter up." Danu objects as she slowly backs away from the man who was looking back and forth between her, and her mother's figure in the window while scratching his head.
As his head is turned ever so slightly towards her mother, Danu slips into the crowd and around the corner before he can say another word, or gesture for his wife to join them in the street.
—
Lorna brings her fat, dimpled fist to her mouth and gurgles, blowing mashed banana all over her fist before shoving the entire thing into her mouth and sucking. She is now six months old, rolling over, sitting up on her own, and has recently discovered that semi-solid food are fantastic. She squeals loudly and flails her arms after she sucks every remnant of banana from her fist.
Watching her daughter draws every ounce of fear and anxiety from her soul. The pouch of gold Severus left on the table hadn't lasted two months, the money in the Muggle bank account wouldn't last much long if it were her only source of income, Severus had initially opened it with the intention of her using it for the homes upkeep. Something was always breaking, leaking, or clogging, and even with the aid of magic, repairs added up. So, she does what she has to do, and takes the first job that contacted her back when Lorna was four months old. A Novel Idea, a secondhand book shop owned by a young Muggle born woman named Brianna in Diagon Alley, newly opened after the war.
The mere thought of leaving Lorna while she worked ripped her heart to shreds the first several weeks, but they both relented and took to the routine. Danu drops Lorna off with Molly at seven every morning, uses the Weasley's Floo network to get to the book shop where she will work until four, pick up Lorna from Molly, and rush home to cook dinner, bathe Lorna, and get her to bed at a reasonable time before they start it all over again the next morning. Molly insisted that Danu need not pay her for her time, but she still managed to sneak several galleons into the wooden junk bowl Molly kept on the kitchen counter for the post each week when no one was looking.
A knock sounds at the door just as Lorna takes her final mouthful of mashed banana. Danu scrunches her brow at the door with every intention of ignoring it. Anyone who was welcome, who came to the house on a regular basis, simply walked in without knocking and shouted to announce their presence. Danu turns back to her daughter, ready to ignore the knock, when it sounds once more, a bit more forceful than before. Scoffing as she lifts a fighting Lorna from her highchair, Danu makes her way to the front door. She flings it open, ready to strike at whomever was on the other side, when she spots the blond haired man before her. She smiles warmly at him, and steps aside to allow him to come in.
"Long time no see." Danu smiles as Draco Malfoy steps inside and surveys the nearly empty room before him.
"I was away. I've only just returned." Draco responds with a sigh as he nervously smooths his already sleeked back hair from his face. "It's Lorna, right? She is lovely."
"How did you know her name?" Danu asks as she glances down at Lorna, who was now smearing the banana up her face and into her hair.
"The Prophet ran a couple of stories. The world still can't seem to wrap their heads around Severus being a human and not a….vampire, I suppose."
"Hmm." Danu takes her wand from the coffee table and uses it to quickly clean the banana from Lorna's hair before placing her on a quilt in the center of the room to play with her toys. Draco takes a seat in Severus' chair, as Danu perches on the arm of the sofa.
"They say he's missing." Draco finally announces as his eyes scan the room before finally landing on Lorna once more. "She looks like him."
"Not missing. He left on his own accord. I haven't read the papers since the war."
"Did he say why?"
"No. He just left." Danu admits, her eyes prickle with tears. She stiffens her jaw and buries them with anger. "Don't tell me you came out of hiding to talk about Severus. I haven't seen you in nearly a year."
"Yeah." Draco chuckles and runs his hand over his face. "I was in France, lying low until mother and father calmed down."
"France?" Danu points at the golden ring on his hand.
"I've asked Astoria Greengrass to marry me. We've been seeing one another since before the war. She's of age now. Her and I went to France during the summer, and I asked her to marry me after she finishes her seventh year."
"Are you happy?" Danu asks, raising her brow. Draco nods, a bright smile plastered to his face. "Then it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. They'll get over it sooner or later. Why don't they approve, though?"
"Astoria does not have the same thoughts that my parents do. Not to mention the blood curse, but I'm working on that. Which is partially why I'm here."
"Severus took all of his books with him." Danu gestures towards the bare shelves lining the walls. "You'd have better luck hunting him down and asking him for help."
"I had hoped he would have left some books here. But I also wanted to apologize to you."
"For what?" Just then Lorna begins to whimper and rub her eyes. Danu stands and scoops her from the floor while she rocks back and forth on her feet as she pats Lorna's back.
"I don't know if you remember this or not, but I once knocked a basket from your hands and called you a mud-blood." Draco's face turns a slight pink shade as he averts his eyes from hers to look down at the stained carpet.
"You remember that?"
"I was an awful child; I know that now. Astoria helped me to understand, not just her though. Everything that happened. I don't…I don't believe those things, not really. I mean, maybe I did at one time, when I was younger and it's all I heard mother and father talk about. Not anymore, though. That's not who I am, not who I want to be."
"I never thought you were a bad person, Draco. You didn't have a choice in the things they taught you when you were a kid, or the people that they had around. Severus wouldn't have asked you to look after me, he wouldn't have wanted you to be Lorna's godfather if you were truly who you were taught to be. I'm proud of you for having the courage to go against your parents. I'm sure it isn't easy."
"He…Severus wanted me to be her godfather?" Draco's eyes soften as he glances up at Lorna's small figure curled on her chest as she rocked back and forth.
"He mentioned it the day she was born."
"I thought he was mad at me. I was mad at him for a long time, and if I'm being honest, I still am."
"Yeah." Danu sighs and looks down at her daughter drifting off to sleep in her arms, her chubby cheeks squashed against her chest and her mouth slightly opened. "Me too. I don't know that I can ever forgive him for this."
"What are you going to do? If you don't mind me asking."
"I don't know, yet. Don't even know where he is to divorce him. I guess the Ministry could find him, but I don't even feel like dealing with it right now. I'm just doing the best I can to be what she needs."
"I'm sorry." Draco whispers, his eyes softening with sincerity.
"Don't be. It's his loss, he's the one missing out." Lorna jerks on her chest, indicating that it is now safe to lie her down in her cot without her waking. "I'm going to put her down. I'll be right back."
Draco stays for hours, laughing and drinking tea until their hands began to shake and their eyes water with laughter and exhaustion. It felt good to laugh, to smile genuinely and have a conversation with someone who did not look at her with pity in their eyes. Like Severus had told her in his letter over a year ago, Draco can be trusted, and was becoming a dear friend.
"There is one more thing." Draco begins finally as the moon hangs high in the sky. "Before you married Severus, when you were in the cellar at Malfoy Manor—"
"How did you know about that?" Danu asks, all of the color draining from her face.
"I was there the night the Carrow's brought you there. It was summertime, just before term started back. Your screams would keep me up at night. I couldn't hear you down there, but I remembered them when they drug you in. They just kept playing over and over again in my head every time I laid down, and I imagined you were down there screaming without anyone being able to hear you. I would sneak down there after Carrow left, just to make sure you were still alive. I wrote to Severus to tell him to try to help you, he was the only person I could think of. Mother somehow intercepted the letter, though. I know Dobby, our old house-elf, he would help you. I saw him down there a few times during Christmas break when I would sneak down there and hide behind the crates. I knew if Dobby knew you were there, someone else had to know too, so I didn't say anything. When I came back for Easter and you were gone, I was so scared that they had killed you. I didn't know that it was you that Severus had married. Mother and Bella only referred to you as, 'The Stain' at the time. When I saw you at the first meeting, I was relieved and scared at the same time. I didn't want anything bad to happen to you. I'm glad that you are my cousin, but I'm sorry for it too. You are too good to be a Black."
"Draco, I—" Danu begins as tears stream down her face before Draco cuts her off.
"I just wanted to say that I am sorry for not being brave enough to help you. I'm sorry for what they did to you down there."
"Draco, you didn't do anything wrong. It isn't your fault at all. If it helps at all, I don't remember any of it."
Danu's heart shatters for Draco, the things he had seen and been forced to do. The poor boy was just as much a victim of this war as everyone else, even if his parents were the hosts for The Dark Lord himself. Draco had no say in it, he truly had no choice. He may have been an arrogant, spoiled, racist child, but anyone raised in that home, with those parents, they would have wound up the exact same way. Draco, at least, had the intelligence and strength to see past his parents bullshit and blood status, and begin to become a good man, a better man than his own father. He is truly apologizing for his mistakes, trying to make amends for the wrongs he had done, and working to be a decent person. He had already apologized to Harry, Hermoine, and Ron, Danu herself had been witness to that in the days where Severus lie unconscious in a hospital bed. Whether they truly believed him or not was between him and them, Danu knew the sincerity of his words.
"You don't remember any of it? Nothing at all?" Draco raises a brow at her, his eyes sparkle with unshed tears in the candlelight.
"I have small snippets of memories, but no. I don't remember any of it." Danu offers him a small smile.
"Why not? I'm glad that you don't remember it, but why don't you?"
"I don't know. Dumbledore thought it was because I was blocking bad memories out to protect myself, and it's why I can't use non-verbal magic or Apparate, and why no one can use Legilimency on me."
"You know," Draco begins as he stands and makes his way to the kitchen for another tea, Danu follows behind him. "Bella taught me a lot of stuff she learned from…You-Know-Who. He was a master of Occlumency, he taught Bella himself, and she taught me. Even Severus had a hard time getting into my head there towards the end, and he was even better than Bella. I could teach you some stuff, help you bypass and control it, and maybe you can get some non-verbal magic out of it, or at the very least learn to Apparate. I could teach you that, too."
"I would like that a lot." Danu smiles as she holds her mug out for Draco to drop a sugar cube into, Draco returns her smile with a warm one of his own.
—
Lorna rolls from her front to her back, pulls her feet up to her face, and lets out an ear shattering scream just as Danu walks into the parlor. The mug of tea in her hand shatters instantly, Danu pulls out her wand and diverts the rain of scalding liquid and broken porcelain away from her daughter lying on the floor beneath her. Before she knows it, the candles lighting the room shoot up angrily before dying down completely.
"That was you the whole time?" Danu asks as Lorna screeches once more. "I thought I was going mad, and the whole time it was you. Lorna, you're a witch!"
Danu bends down and scoops her daughter into her arms, and she wiggles and squirms against her. She plants a kiss on her forehead before lifting her high above her head and blowing on her stomach.
"You're a witch, Lorna! You're a witch!" Lorna laughs and reaches her fat, dimples hands out to grab two handfuls of Danu's hair in her fists.
A knock sounds at the door, halting the joy in the room. Danu slips her wand into the sleeve on her jumper, the way Severus had taught her to do, and opens the door, Lorna jumping and babbling on her hip. There at the door is a young, dark haired man holding a clipboard in one hand and a briefcase in the other.
"Yes?" Danu asks, not bothering to mask her annoyance.
"Yes ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you. Is—" The young man stops speaking abruptly as he places the briefcase at his feet on the stoop and shuffles through the pages attached to the clipboard. "Is Mister Snape available?"
"I'm Missus Snape, the homeowner. Mister Snape isn't available at the moment."
"Oh!" The man says, thrusting his hand out to shake hers. "Apologies, ma'am. It's nice to meet you!"
Danu shakes his sweat hand and stares at the young man before her, waiting for him to finally get to the point.
"Missus Snape, my boss asked me to stop by once more to offer another price."
"I'm sorry?" Danu asks, raising her brow at the man. Lorna chooses this time to belch and spit up mashed peas all down the front of her top.
"I'm sorry, I can come back at a better time Missus Snape."
"My name is Danu, and no, it's alright. She's a baby, this is what they do." Danu shifts Lorna to her other hip and puts her foot out to push Bram back as he slinks between her feet to try to make his daily escape. Danu steps out on to the stoop, inadvertently pushing the man back down the stairs despite the fact that she was half his size.
"Danu. That is a lovely name, can't say I've ever heard it." The man rambles as Danu narrows her eyes at him in annoyance. "Sorry, my name is Josh. Anyway, my boss, Mister Jefferies, sent me here with another offer. He is prepared to offer seventy-five thousand pounds, ma'am. This is his final offer."
"I'm sorry, Josh, is it? I truly have no idea what you are referring to."
"Oh! Sorry, ma'am. The offer is for the house."
"The house? This house?" Danu asks, gesturing towards the house standing behind her.
"Yes ma'am. Mister Jefferies has bought all of the houses here in Spinner's End in the last twenty years, and yours is the last one."
"Why is this Mister Jefferies buying all of these houses?"
"For demolition. The plan is to clean up the river, tear down the old factory there, and rebuild this entire area. We've come out several times over the years, and Mister Snape has always turned us down. We can't move forward with the project if everyone isn't on board. With your home being the last one, we're at a bit of a standstill, you see."
"I see." Danu replies, unsure what else she should say.
"If you don't mind me saying, ma'am, I think that's a good deal for this place."
"It certainly is a lot of money." Danu glances down at Lorna, the thought of accepting on the spot almost tempting. But this isn't her home; it's Lorna's.
"You could move somewhere better for your little girl. It can't be healthy having her live near that." Josh points towards the filthy, foul smelling river on the other side of the houses across the street, the smell permeating into the house each time it rained, you couldn't escape it.
"Can I think about it?" Danu asks, not wanting to give the poor kid any false hope in case she decided that she couldn't leave the only true home she had ever had.
"Of course! I can come back after the weekend; would that be enough time for you?" Josh's face lights up at the hope that he had finally warn the Snape's down after so many others had obviously failed.
"That would be fine, Josh." Danu says as she slips back inside of the house without saying goodbye and closes the door on the poor young man standing on her stoop.
The thought of selling the house and moving far away truly is tempting. She could move somewhere, safer, cleaner. Lorna could grow up breathing fresh air. She could have the chance of making friends who didn't judge her based on the side of the river she lived on. Lorna wouldn't be haunted by her father's empty presence in the home, wouldn't have to see the remains of her grandfather's wrath throughout the house. It was the only thing she had of her father, though. Besides his name, the house was the only thing he had left for her.
Severus hated this house, could barely stand being in it. She herself wasn't in love with it. If it weren't for Eileen resting in the back garden, she would have said yes in a heartbeat. Although, Severus did tell her twice that the home was hers to do with as she pleased.
—
"Draco!" Danu announces as she flings the door open before he even has the chance to knock. "I need your help."
"Uhm. Okay. With what?" Draco stands on the stood, one fist still raised to knock at the door.
"I need you, well, not necessarily you, but someone, to help me move a body."
"Wh—what?"
"Eileen. Severus' mum. I need to move her body. She's buried in the garden, and Lorna and I have decided to move. I'm not leaving Eileen here; she's coming with us."
Danu stands out of the way and lets Draco into the house, where he follows her out into the back garden where Harry and Mister Weasley are standing, staring down at the large marker where Eileen lies beneath the ground.
"You know," Mister Weasley begins as Danu makes her way out to the garden. "She may not be here."
"What do you mean?" Danu asks as she watches Mister Weasley produce his wand and move it slowly over the ground, a dim yellow light flickers at the end.
"Our magic leaves a trace, even after death. I'm not picking any up."
"Well, she has been gone like twenty years. Maybe it's just been too long?"
"No, there should still be something. I don't think she's even buried here."
"So how do we find out where she is buried?" Danu runs her hand over the worn stone, the rock cool beneath her hands.
"The ministry will have a record of it. I can take a look tomorrow when I go in and let you know what I find."
—
The following morning, Josh shows up with another man, each with a briefcase in their hands. Danu lets them in and directs them to the quaint kitchen where she pours them each a mug of tea.
"We can't say enough how pleased we are that you have agreed to meet with us, Missus Snape." The second man begins as he takes his seat at the table and accepts the mug of tea she holds out to him. "My name is Andrew, an associate of Mister Jefferies. We have been trying to get Mister Snape to agree to this for a decade now, and before that, another developer tried to persuade him to no avail."
"My husband can be rather hardheaded." Danu admits as she takes her own seat at the table and sips her tea.
"We have all of the paperwork here, ready for you to sign." Andrew begins, clearly the one taking the lead, like he had been the one to convince her of anything.
"How long would we have to leave?"
"We can give you two months to get your affairs in order. No big rush."
"I'm sure I won't need that long. I just need a few weeks to find somewhere else."
"Well, if you're ready, we can get started." Andrew produces a paper from his briefcase and slides it across the table to her.
With a shaking hand, Danu signs her name on the dotted line and accepts the check Andrew passes to her with smile.
Later that day, Danu finally has her answer from Mister Weasley on whether or not Eileen Snape was buried in her garden. She, in fact, is not laid to rest in the garden of the home she despised. Instead, her final resting place is an unmarked pauper's grave outside of Cokeworth Cathedral's gated cemetery.