Snape's Daughter (Book Three)

Chapter Twenty-Three : The Alteration of Fabric

Ellia scurried up the stairs to Hogwarts, entering the castle as she found the corridors to be bare. Dragging her cloak along the floor, which had been sock add in both her father's blood and water that was on the streets of Spinners End back in 1981. As she continued her way to the Headmistresss office, she prepared to explain to Minerva how she had saved her father from death, after finding his antidote to Nagini's venom. But as she entered the office, now without a password, she noticed that it was barren like the corridors. When she finally came into the main office, she was shocked to see her father sat at the desk, Minerva nowhere in sight. Ellia also noticed an empty space where her father's portrait used to hang, and smiled to herself. She did it. She successfully saved her father, and it appeared to her as if he had resumed his position as Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"Child, did I request your presence?" Her father asked, placing down his quill back in the ink, before looking up at his daughter. He first noticed her clothing, how dirty and filthy they were, then at her beaming face. He didn't get it at first, he just thought it was the everyday Ellia who he greeted everyday in the Great Hall.

"No father, no I don't think you did," Ellia replied, attempting to step closer before her father held his hand up.

"Not any further in those filthy clothes," He demanded, studying the style and shaping of them, "Are they mine?" Ellia looked down at his altered clothes, before picking the train of the cape up of the floor.

"Yes father," Ellia replied,"I borrowed them and altered them to fit me. I hope you don't mind father."

"Well I'm obliged to say that I do not mind currently, however I wish you hadn't gotten my clothing covered in what appears to be a mixture of..." He paused, leaving his chair and stepping closer to his daughter, studying the dirt more thoroughly on them, "... Blood and water." His eyes widened, his eyebrow arched up as he looked up at his daughters pale skin, "Why are these clothes covered in blood and water?" His eyes were stern and his expression blank.

"Father that doesn't matter right now, there are more important things in life," Ellia said, still smiling at her father, "I have to tell Minerva that you're here, in the flesh. Alive and breathing."

"Minerva is dead child, you know this," His voice continued to be cold and emotionless as Ellia's expression dropped, "She died in the Battle of Hogwarts along with your friend Miss Ravenclaw, the Weasley twins, Remus and Nymphadora Lupin, as well as Weasley and Grace's child if you didn't remember."

"What." Ellia's jaw dropped, her breathing increasing rapidly in pace. That's what Draco meant. But she didn't understand how. Her father dying was a small part of history for the second part of the battle, it was until after the battle that it had a major impact. And little Marley, sweet innocent Marley who was at home during the time of the Battle. How could she have been harmed?

"Child close your mouth, you'll start catching pixies," Severus insisted, turning on his heel as he thought about why his daughter would suddenly forget the past, "Have you hit your head, or been injured in some sort of way?"

"No father, I thought they were all alive," Ellia said, biting down on her lip as she wished Draco would walk straight though the door. But he didn't. Despite the fact Ellia had seen him in the boathouse, she was 100% sure that he was okay. And she didn't want him getting hurt after the incident with Patricia. "Did Draco survive without an injury?" Ellia asked her father, as he snapped his neck around to give her a glaring look, before storming up to her and grabbing hold of her cheeks. Looking straight to her eyes as he furrowed his brows, he grabbed hold of her arm and begun dragging her out of his office.

"Come child, I must take you to Madame Pomfrey immediately," He demanded, pulling her down the flights of stairs and into the empty corridors.

"But Draco, was he alright afterwards?" Ellia continued to ask her father, his pace increasing as he spun her around, clasping onto her shoulders as he shook her once.

"You have not seen Draco Malfoy since last Christmas when you split up after he publicly announced you had him under some sort of spell. You are lucky to still be here if it wasn't for the fact that I cleared your name!" He snapped, letting go of her shoulders and dragging her further along the corridors.

"But he loves me," Ellia said, desperately trying to clasp hold of the situation as her father continued to take her to the Hospital Wing.

"He doesn't love you," He spat, "He loves Patricia. A far more suited match according to his father." Ellia's mind paused for a minute, however her body kept moving. Patricia? That was Patricia's spell, and last time Ellia checked she was in Azkaban for life because of it and her work for the Dark Lord. Her heart broke again at the thought of Draco not wanting to be with her, yet she remembered the Draco she brought with her. He was still her Draco, not this realities Draco. She still had him.

As they reached the infirmary, Severus almost threw his daughter down onto a bed before storming off to find Pomfrey. She was in her small office, awaiting the headmasters arrival.

"Before you say it, yes I know there is something wrong with your daughter," Poppy informed Severus before he even had time to speak. As she exited her chair, she pointed to a occupied bed, a couple of beds down from Ellia. Sat on the bed was Draco Malfoy, rubbing his head as he looked across to his confused girlfriend. "Mr Malfoy came in asking for your daughter, and asking where the headmistress was."

"Ellia expected Minerva to be in that office," Severus explained to Pomfrey, "She didn't understand that she had died along with others in the Battle of Hogwarts."

"Neither did Mr Malfoy, when I informed him of his mother's death," Pomfrey sighed, as the two students stood up from their beds and walked over to each other. Severus and the nurse watched their every move, as the begun talking to each other in a more loving manner than previously.

"She has blood on the cloak she is wearing, I suspect something or somebody has injured them both mentally, and physically by the excessive amounts of blood," Severus inspected, pointing to the train of the black cloak Ellia wore.

"Patrick Parkinson?" Pomfrey suggested, looking up to Severus as he shook his head in disagreement.

"No, his mind is too focused on marrying his daughter to Draco," Severus disagreed, rubbing his forehead as he continued to watch the pair communicate with each other. Both teenagers wore worried expressions, Ellia more than Draco. She didn't understand what had happened, but her father was alive. To her, that mattered. However Draco appeared more sullen than Ellia - he'd just learnt of his beloved mother's death. Yet Ellia was trying to figure out in her head how events could have possibly ended up like this, none of it made sense. Narcissa's death, George's, Panemia's, not to mention little Marley.

"I will contact Miss Grace," Pomfrey informed Severus, "She may have information on their situation."