Severus received an urgent message via Patronus two days later. It was an anxious two days, and he was nearly about to go back to the library when it appeared. Though he never saw it before, he knew the instant he saw the shimmery wolf patronus that it had come from Villalobos. "YOU MARRIED THE NO-MAJ?! Don't come to my library. I'll come to you tonight."
More waiting. Severus paced around in the small hotel room he had been in. As the evening drew later, he finally heard the knock at the door. Villalobos entered and immediately sat down. She carried a smug, confident smile as she took a seat in an armchair.
"You've been busy." She said starting the conversation.
Severus rolled his eyes. "What have you found?"
The witch shrugged her shoulders. She remembered how stoic he was. Remembered he was not one for idle chit-chat or small talk. She smirked. "I'll tell you everything I know, but I want some questions of my own answered first."
"I haven't the time for this!"
"I have all night." She said in reply as she leaned back into the chair crossing her legs. Severus sighed. His frustration was boiling over. He wanted to yell at her, but this woman held all the cards.
Severus stayed his expression of contempt. He clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace before her, inviting her to ask a question.
Villalobos took her opportunity. "The No-maj turned witch?"
Severus only nodded offering no further information. "Cupidus?" He responded with his own inquiry.
"Her last known whereabouts were in New York." She eyed him as he continued pacing. She was enjoying this game of quid-pro-quo. "Is she really a full witch?" The story of the No-maj turned witch was the most sensational news throughout America at the time. Kindred recalled reading about it, though very few details were ever released.
"She is." He responded stoically. "Do you have an address?"
Villalobos sighed. "I have her last known address, but I don't think you will find it useful. The home was destroyed 3 years ago. A fire. It killed three no-maj's. Cupidus was suspected of starting it."
Severus grunted in frustration. This wasn't helpful. He was no closer now than when he arrived. He rubbed his temples. He had obtained no useful information to send back to y/n. He thought about his wife, wondered what she was thinking, but he need not wonder. He knew what she was thinking. "And the child. Cordelia Prince." Severus knew he couldn't return to Hogwarts without something useful.
Kindred sat up. "Now that is where it gets interesting. The little girl. I was able to confirm she was born here in America." She pulled a document from her pocket and handed it to Severus. "Cordelia Prince. Born April 20th, 1998 in Rochester, NY. No father listed on the birth certificate." Kindred shot Severus a suspicious glance before she continued. "Mother chose to give the baby up. The little girl was adopted by a no-maj couple. It was their second adoption. They, along with their adopted son, were the ones killed in the fire. It's purely speculation from there, but you're lucky I have good friends within MACUSA. The rumor is, Cupidus turned up to the No-maj's, and being the good people they were, took the young woman in. She lived with them for a while and then her and the child disappeared following the fire. Current whereabouts unknown."
Severus looked at the paper she had handed him. It was a muggle news article detailing the fire and the deaths it caused.
"Is the baby yours?" Kindred asked, breaking his focus from the article.
Severus didn't answer, his focus was on the article. "This is all the information you could find?"
Kindred stood from the armchair. "There's one more thing. A man she was known to associate with. I only have a name. Damien Craven."
Severus nodded as a subtle thanks for the information. He let the name sit in the front of his mind for a moment. The witch proceeded across the room to leave but stopped before she opened the door. She turned back to Severus. "I could stay a little longer?" She said teasingly as she eyed him up and down.
"Get out." Severus said.
Kindred was not one to leave without getting the last word. As she stepped through the door, she turned back one last time. "Your no-maj is a lucky girl."
Damien Craven. A name he had hoped to never hear again. He remembered it well, a fellow Deatheater, cruel and twisted, with a penchant for dark magic and a sadistic streak that rivaled even Bellatrix Lestrange's. He hailed from America and when in England leading up to the last war, had been one of Voldemort's most loyal followers, a true believer in the cause of pureblood supremacy. Intent to bring Voldemort's ideals to America in the next steps of their corrupt plan. Severus had never met him personally, but knew Craven had been obsessed with Cupidus, and had wanted her for himself. Severus recalled her parents arranging a sort of perverse marriage between the two. Could he be behind all of this? Was he the one who had attacked Y/n, who had sent the package with the black moths? It made a sick kind of sense, the more Severus thought about it. Damien had the motive, the means, and the opportunity. And if he had somehow discovered the truth about Cordelia, about her parentage... Severus shuddered to think what he could be capable of.
Severus planned to return to Hogwarts the following morning and begin his search for any evidence that might lead to Craven's whereabouts. He sat before the fire in the small hotel room for many hours reviewing everything he recalled about the Deatheater. Though his thoughts were still moving at a rapid pace, his body was succumbing to exhaustion. Severus had not allowed himself any semblance of proper rest since the day the Black Dahlia arrived. Though he tried to fight it, his eyes slowly started to drift off to sleep.
He was plagued by nightmares. He pictured a small child, cold, hungry, frightened, her head shaved and her clothes threadbare. He knew in an instant it was his daughter. She was coming into her magical abilities and it was beginning to escape her by reaching out for any connection it could find. She was looking for help.
Severus was at a loss for what to do. He had no idea where she was, how to find her, he couldn't even form the thoughts needed to try to sooth the girl, to let her know he was out there, he was looking for her and he would save her.
Severus woke in a cold sweat. He stood to pace around the room, angry and furious with himself for not having done more for her before the connection was lost.
His only hope was that her magic would find him again.
The next day, Severus burst through the front doors of Hogwarts Castle. He took no time to head to his dungeon rooms looking for y/n. Muscle memory carried him swiftly towards their private rooms in the dungeons where he found her. He revealed the nightmare he had, the lost sense of longing he felt from his daughter. Y/n listened to him intently before he collapsed on his familiar old armchair, a single tear escaped the corner of his eye as he finished speaking.
Y/n name grabbed his hand and stood him up before her. "We will find her. And soon." She promised as she wrapped her arms around his neck and reached up to kiss him. He enveloped her mouth in a hungry desire for her, backing her towards the bed. The warmth and comfort of her presence only fueling the fire within him. He needed her. He needed her body pressed against his in a warm embrace, a warmth he hadn't ever allowed himself to feel. They tumbled onto the mattress in a tangle of limbs, their hands eagerly exploring each other's bodies as they shed their clothes piece by piece.
Severus lay beside her, his chest rising and falling with each labored breath. He could feel the warmth of her body against his, the softness of her skin, the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. It was a moment of pure bliss, a rare moment of peace in the midst of the chaos that had become their lives. He turned his head to look at her, drinking in the sight of her flushed cheeks, her tousled hair, her eyes closed in contentment. She was so beautiful, so perfect, and in that moment, he knew that he would do anything to protect her, to keep her safe from harm. He reached out, his fingers brushing against her cheek, tracing the line of her jaw. "I love you," he whispered, his voice barely audible. It was a simple declaration, three small words, but they held a world of meaning. He had never said them to anyone before. With y/n, everything was different. She had changed him, had shown him what it meant to be loved, to be truly cared for. And now, he couldn't imagine his life without her or his daughter.
He fell asleep that night imagining a life with both of them in it. A future that wasn't full of disdain or indifference. A life that was filled with the sounds of laughter and joy.
His dreams that night were plagued again with Cordelia's visions.
Severus schooled his dreams. Though Legilimens was a type of magic he had not used since before the battle of Hogwarts, his abilities were as sharp as ever. He transversed the astral distance between himself and the girl looking into her mind. He saw her alone in a dark room, nothing but a thin blanket to cover herself. The window where she was being kept was broken letting the cold night air creep in. He could feel the burn of the frigid air on his cheeks just as the girl could feel it on her own. The window! Severus used the girl's mind to look out the window, he was trying to find any landmark, any confirmation that indicated where she might be. And he saw it, the unmistakable skyline of London. Severus's heart ached at the sight of her, and he felt a surge of anger and determination.