Last hope (a marauders era story)

13.

I sigh, and tie the letter to my owl's leg, and open the window for her to fly out, and lean back on my chair, and spin it around, my head thrown back, and my arms thrown out, and i hear shrill crying, i groan, and stand up, and walk down a flight of steps, and into my one and a half year old little sisters room, and to her crib, i pick her up, and cuddle her close, "hey Cassie, girl" i say, spinning her around, and rubbing my cheek against her soft brown hair,

i change her nappy and and clothes and put her in a little mint green jacket, and a silver hat with little shoes, and grab mums baby carrying thing, its a bit like a backpack but it goes on the front and you put a child in it and you can carry them around, and yeah, i lift Cassie into it and pull a black coyboy hat on my head, and walk out to the stables, and climb onto my horses back, and ride her out to the field in front of my house, and start to speed chika up, Cassie giggles and waves her tiny fists around, i smile, but it falters when i see a figure clad in black stalk towards me, i sigh, and stop the horse, and swing my leg over the horse and swing down, i stand in front of the horse, and wait as Severus comes storming up to me, "what the hell is this about!?" He yells, not noticing Cassie, "first you get your stupid friends to make my life miserable, then you ignore me for over a bloody year, then all of a sudden this!" He tells, Cassie's face screws up, so i stroke her cheek, she chuckles, and i smile, "are you even listening to me!?" He asks going red, i nod my head, and gesture for him to follow, he follows albeit a little grudgingly, "ok so as i said in the letter, your father found out where i live-" i start, "and I'm supposed to care?" He spits, i glare at him, "you know what I'll just cut to the chase, your dad, came to my house shouting the odds, saying if you didn't leave his house he would kill your mum and all of my family too, so get your head out of your fucking arse, and grow up;" i snap, he pales, "and i was going to offer you a place to stay, and for your information, i did not get Sirius and James to make your life hell, in fact i didn't even want to tell them, i went mental at remus when he brought it up, the thing is they would have left you alone, if you hadn't bruised me!" I yell, Cassie starts to cry, and i sigh and unclip the carrier and pull her out and hug her to me, and rock her back and forward, after ten minutes of her crying her breaths even out, and she falls asleep, i continue to rock her, even though my arms hurt, i wince, Severus' face softens, "is that Arabella?" He asks, i smile, "Cassie" i say, he frowns, "what?" He asks, "everyone apart from mum calls her Cassie" i say, adjusting her slightly, she whimpers and i hold my breath, but she settles down, "I'd be happy to stay here" he says, i smile slightly, "I'm sorry Severus, about what happened" i say swallowing my pride, he looks taken aback, "it should be me saying sorry, i went a little over the line" he says, i since again and slowly adjust Cassie, "i can carry her" Severus says, i smile, and carefully hand her to him, she whines and snuggles into severus' chest clutching a handful of his robes, "can you take her back to the house, while i put chika back?" I ask, he nods, and starts to walk off in that direction, "oh and Severus, if you see my mum tell her she's had her daily horse ride" i say as i,start to run, after a minute i reach the horse, and limb onto her back and dig my heels into her flank, she sets off at a canter and after a minute we reach the stables, and i lock her up, and muck out the stalls of every horse, and run back up to the house, and see Severus rocking Cassie, i smile and creep into the bathroom and shower quickly and cast a drying spell on my hair, and pull,on a spare set of green skinny jeans and a silver top that stops mid way down my thighs, i tie the belt attached to it, and dump my clothes in the laundry basket, abs walk into the living room, " so Severus, I'm going to go back to your house, and get your things" i say, and floo into his house, i see Eileen, she jumps, "charm, what are you doing here?" She asks frantically, "I'm only here to get Severus' things" i say, "charm there is something i need to get off my chest" she says, quickly and i frown, "you must know that i am not actually related to the black family, my mother was not related, and she cheated on my father, and i was the result, they kept up pretenses" she says quickly, i nod, "severus' room is second on the left up the stairs" she says and starts to sew frantically, i nod, and run up the stairs, and wave my wand and each and every one of severus' belongings, and cast a featherweight charm on the trunk, and an undetecable extension charm, and lug it down the stairs, and to the fireplace and grab a handful of floo powder and fling it down in the fireplace, "Saltford manor" i say clutching the case, all of a sudden i feel like I'm getting sucked up a straw by my nasal, i stumble out of my fireplace and trip and land on my face, i hear giggles, i look up, and see that Cassie is using Severus as a climbing frame, i push myself up, and dust my clothes off, and pull his trunk from the fireplace, and set it down, and walk forward and scoop Cassie from severus, and spin her around, she shrieks, and i sit her on my hip, "so did you see my mum?" I ask him, he nods slightly, "did she cause you any trouble?" I ask, "no, she was quite pleasant, offered me some fire whiskey" he said, i frown, "oh god" i say, wrinkling my nose, "i am so sorry, ever since she had Cassie, she's had that muggle thing, i think it's called post natal depression, have you heard of it?" I ask him, bouncing Cassie, he nods, "where's your brother ad sister?" He asks, i look to the door, "they moved in with uncle Abraxas and aunt Abril" i say walking towards the door, and gesturing for him to follow me, i lead him up the stairs to the third floor, and along several corridors, coming to a door, " this is your room" i say, opening the door,