Snivellus

62

'Shit.' Darah looked frantically around the pier on the Black Lake. She spotted Neville in the distance and ran to him. 'Neville, have you seen Hermione and Ron?'

'Um...' he paused to think. 'I'm really sorry. I don't remember seeing them today. If they're not here, they might be in the castle though.' He said thoughtfully.

Darah forced a little smile of thanks and walked back to the castle.

She was late to the second trial and intended to meet Hermione and Ron hours before the trial started but she'd looked everywhere and couldn't find them. She wanted to be there for Harry but she felt a sense of dread that something was wrong with the others.

She pushed open the castle doors and used eeny, meeny miny, mo to decide which direction to look in. Harry hadn't started the trial yet but it wouldn't be long until he did so she had to think fast.

She speed walked towards the Gryffindor common room but paused, looking at the gargoyle staircase. She did a quick double check down the hall and said the passcode, which she had heard Harry say previously at the start of the year.

She ran up the stairs and into Dumbledore's office. Empty. Darah swore.

She wondered around the room for a minute, looking at all of Dumbledore's belongings.

There stood a bowl that reminded Darah of a bird bath. She walked over to it, curious. She looked down into the bowl, an essence floated around in a swirl. She stared, transfixed on the motion, something pulled her towards it.

'You need to put the memory in first, girl.' A portrait on the wall said to her.

'Memory?' She looked up. Along the walls were stacks and stacks of little vials containing a tiny amount of liquid in each of them. She dug into her pocket. The vial Snape had given her: it was a memory.

She emptied the liquid into the pool off essence. It swam around and transformed into a more sparkling version. Then, as if by instinct, she dipped her head into the bowl.

She saw her father, Snape. He looked to be about thirteen. He handed a girl, who appeared a similar age, a flower and smiled to her. It faded away.

The same girl appeared again but this time she appeared to be around eighteen years old. She was waiting by a tree. After a while, Snape appeared. They talked but the speech was muffled. They were smiling, it was obviously a happy conversation.

The picture faded into crying- no. Screaming. The same girl: she had luscious red hair and a fair face with freckles. She was crying in agony, sat on a bed that was covered in blood, gripping onto the sheets tighter than anything.

Darah stood at the end of the bed, in shock as someone from the side told her to push, resulting in more agonising pain for the poor woman.

Finally, the screaming stopped and the woman relaxed, focusing on her breathing. She had given birth.

The person at the side of the bed handed her the baby and disapperated away. The woman looked down at the baby, sympathetic and grateful.

'Lily.' A small voice came from the side of the room. Darah turned her head towards it immediately. Snape. Darah snapped her head back at the woman on the bed, trying to make sense of who was who.

Snape walked slowly over to her and shakily held out his arms. The woman slowly lowered the baby into his hands and he brought it close to his chest, staring down at its bubbling face.

'It's... me.' Darah gasped, walking so slow towards the baby, she almost lost her balance.

Snape smiled. Not a normal, muted smile, but a genuine smile, something Darah had never seen before until now.