Serena Harker (Draco Malfoy X OC)

Prologue

Severus Snape looks down at the small girl in the crib. He could not help but scoff at the small creature before him. The girl was half-vampire in the line of Vlad Dracula Tepes himself. He thought for a moment why the Dark Lord would ever have a child with a woman with tainted blood of night creatures. Maybe he had a plan in mind, he thought.

The child suddenly let out a small whine. Its eyes were closed, still deep in slumber. The whine was not an animalistic noise as he would have thought, but instead that of a normal small child. Then again, there was nothing normal about this child. Even if she was not a half-vampire, she would still be a witch.

And a damn powerful one at that.

Even at such a small age, when she cried, items would suddenly take to the skies around her. He knew not of the magic in the Tepes line other than the child's mother, Vasilica Tepes, being a half-blood witch to her mother's side. Vasilica's mother was very adept at elemental magic, from what Professor Dumbledore had told him. 

Ah, Professor Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard on the side of the light. Snape was surprised that when he took the child to see the Hogwarts Headmaster, he told him that he should raise the child - just as the Dark Lord had commanded him.

It was a strange conversation that occurred between Snape and Voldemort before he set off on his plan to kill the Potters. He had asked, "Severus - my most loyal follower, if I were to somehow fail, I command you to watch over my successor. Raise her to be the most powerful dark witch that will make even Bellatrix cower in fear." 

Severus had had no idea what he meant until he found the child had been transported to his home. The girl was surrounded a snake; a snake that Snape knew too well. Nagini had raised her head when the Potion's Master came up to his doorstep. Using both her head and tail, the Dark Lord's pet gave the child to him before slithering into the forest. 

He had given the child to his house elf, Bisky, while he set to make arrangements for the girl. He, with the help of Professor McGonogall, bought a crib, dresser, and changing station for the child. Her grandfather set over a baby mobile once he was notified of Severus taking care of his granddaughter. After setting up the room, Bisky had put the child down to bed.

Snape stared into the child with furry filled eyes. The blood running through that child is the very same blood that killed the woman he loved. He lost Lily once to his own selfish and idiotic mistake, then again - for good - to this very child's father. Part of him wanted to leave the child out on the steps of an orphanage so he would not have the constant reminder of his mistakes roaming his household. A darker part of him wanted to turn the child in to the Ministry, and they would get rid of it themselves. He sighed, dismissing that dark thought immediately. Lily would not want me to become that.

The child's wail rang through the house. Bisky had left a little while ago to get some baby food for the child's "special" diet. Whatever that had awoken it terrified it. The scream bounced off of the walls of dark house on Spinner's End. Snape jumped a bit at the sudden noise, waving his wand. With a simple spell, the house became soundproof to the others around him. He looked at the small child's crying form. It flailed in fear from what it had just awoken from.

"Shh, shh," Snape cooed as he attempted to pick up the child. Once the child was securely in his hand, he picked it up. He put it into his arm, cradling it as it cried. He bounced up and down as he had seen Albus do when the child had awoken in his office the day before. "Shh, shh, there's no reason to fear," he said sternly.

This did not help in the slightest. The child reacted towards his aggressive tone with another howl. This one, he thought for a moment, shook the walls of the smaller home. "Shh, shh," he cooed again. He put his hand on the child's chest. 

The simple gesture seemed to calm the child a bit. The howl dissipated into small disconnected cries. He began tapping his index finger against the child's shoulder. He stopped bouncing a moment, remembering his mother comforting him as a child. 

Softly, he began to sing.

"Cruel and cold like winds on the sea

will you ever return to me?

Hear my voice,

sing with the tides,

my love will never die."

As if by, well - magic, the child calmed down. Snape looked into the young girl's eyes. He did not see the dead stare of the Dark Lord looking back. Instead, he saw the blue, soon green eyes of the baby girl he held. And, for the first time since he found Lily dead in Godric's Hollow...

Severus Snape smiled.

"You're not what I thought," he whispered. "I'm sorry for judging you." The girl stared up at him curiously and confused, not understanding anything the man was saying. She wrapped her small, pale hand around his index finger. Snape was taken aback by how warm the child was. He expected her vampire genes to turn her skin to ice - turn her skin to that of the dead. Instead, the child was full of warmth; the child had a beating heart. 

There was suddenly a knock at the door. "Sir," the high-pitched voice of Bisky came from outside. She slowly opened the door to the child's room. "Oh, the child awoke. My apologies, Master Snape, I'll put her down."

"There's no need, Bisky," he replied calmly. Snape never shouted to his mother's house elf. Bisky was like an old friend - a nanny of sorts - than a servant to him. When the girl was brought to his home, he told Bisky she would be caring for her, not him. However, "Forget what I asked about raising her," he exclaimed, "I will do it." 

"Are you sure, Master?" she asked softly for the child's sake.

He smiled, making the child smile and laugh. "A child should never be judge for the actions of their parents," he explained. He brushed the small tuft of black hair beginning to grow on the girl's head. 

Bisky smiled to herself. "Does she have a name, Master Severus?"

Snape thought about it. The Dark Lord had never given him a name, nor was there a note from Nagini when the child arrived. Minerva did not tell him of any name written down for her in the Book of Admittance since she had already shown magical aptitude. Severus shook his head. Bisky then asked, "If she hasn't a name, then what do we call her?"

So, with a stern and confident voice, Snape exclaimed, "Serena. Her name will be Serena."