Secret Life (as Severus Snape's Daughter) - English

Chapter 13: Be True to Who You Are

The days following the death of Albus Dumbledore were mostly spend in a solemn silence. Professor McGonagall had been appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts for the remainder of the year and she had cancelled all Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. Nobody knew where Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy had gone, but obviously the rumours had started and the entire school was speculating about what had happened that fatal night. The only people who knew what really happened were Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood and Lily-Anne Reves. Minerva hadn't even told the other teachers about the events on the Astronomy Tower, and the fact that the Slytherin girl knew about it, wasn't known as well. But Lily-Anne did know, and it had changed her. She was silent, hardly ate and didn't seek contact with anyone. It was just her in her personal bubble. One afternoon she was sitting underneath the tree adjoining the Black Lake, where she had spend an evening with Draco half a year earlier. She couldn't imagine what was happening to Draco right now, scared, in hiding, not sure what would happen to him. And her father, who was, as far as she knew, still with Draco. He had become a murderer, to protect Draco of course, but still, a murderer. She would forgive him of course, she couldn't be angry with her father, but she still couldn't understand how he could have killed professor Dumbledore, a man who had always trusted her father. Severus Snape had betrayed this man, without a reason, aside from protecting a 17-year-old boy who was scared to death by his mission. Lily-Anne looked up and stared across the lake, the sun shone brightly, trying to cheer up the people on the grounds, but not really succeeding. Dressed in her robes, with a Transfigurations book in her hands she stays there, studying for the final O.W.L.'s that would not be taken until the beginning of the next year. When she looked up again a little while later and looked around, she saw a group of people approaching the lake. Immediately she closed her book and packed her bag again. She got up and when she was about to walk away, she ran into Harry Potter, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Harry looked at her, and for a while they just stopped there, a mere inch apart. Lily-Anne scoffed.

'Move it, Potter.'

Harry looked at her, but didn't step aside.

'Harry?'

Harry seemed to be startled awake from a daydream when he heard Ginny's voice calling his name. Those eyes, Reves's eyes. He had never looked at them before, because everytime they would meet, they would get into an argument that often initiated from nothing more than the fact that she was a detestable Slytherin. He had never seen her as anything more than that, a Slytherin with black hair and dark eyes, a friend of Draco's, but with more personality than Crabbe, Goyle or Pansy Parkinson. Still, that had never been a good thing in Harry's eyes, since she was just as annoying and prejudiced as Draco. But now, he hadn't seen her when they approached the lake so seeing her now surprised him and caused him to look into her eyes, which were at about the same height as his. They were dark, yes, but the sun made them seem more green, a glistening he knew, from when he saw his mother in the Mirror of Erised, over five years ago. But he shook it off and Lily-Anne scoffed again, what she was going to do now would be something she would only do to keep up her image. She had to, Harry had to hate her, and forget what he had just seen. She knew what he had seen, his mind was almost too easy to penetrate, the occlumency lessons by her father a year earlier clearly hadn't worked for her half-brother.

'Daydreaming about your dead Professor, Potter? Really, the man doesn't deserve your piece of mind, he was just another old man, they die, too bad. But here's a piece of my mind for you, get over it, he's dead. If you miss him so much, you should join him.'

A shock went through the group in front of her, Harry was the first one to regain his voice.

'Professor Dumbledore was more than just an old man Reves, he was the most powerful wizard of all time. The fact that you don't see that says more about you than about me. As for missing him, of course I miss him, but I swear, his murderer will not escape his punishment.'