Enchanter

Chapter 26

a/n: im back a lot of shitty things have happened in my life and when you throw in nursing school, I discovered it was practically impossible for me to get a lot of things done. i still can't believe there still people interested in this story when I basically abandoned it hahha. Hope y'all are safe and healthy

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After the Start-of-the-Term-Feast....

The prefects had led the first years back to their respective dorms. Quiet chatters filled the walls of Hogwarts as the children put away their belongings as they acclimated to the place and the people, who they will get to know more as the year unfolds. However, the exciting ambiance did not bring joy to all inside the castle.

Behind the school greenhouses, there was a hidden pathway that led to a garden, filled with long grasses and dead weeds. It had been long kept unmaintained and abandoned. There were a few mischievous children every year who discover this hiding spot, until years ago were two more daring and mischievous best friends decided to claim it was theirs. They had covered with concealment charms so no one without their permission could ever step foot in their spot again. But it wasn't long after that they too find themselves unable to enter the place that they once called theirs.

Severus Snape certainly never imagined he would ever find the guts to enter this place filled with bittersweet memories of their childhood. But here he was, standing inside the garden's stone pavilion, fingers lingering over the symbols roughly carved on the post.

S + L

"You really didn't know?"

A silent gasp escaped Severus Snape's mouth as he turned around to see the face that haunted every painful living second that remained of his life. If there was one thing a decade long of grief taught him, it was that multitude of unspoken regret can cripple a man. Severus believed that because of his incompetencies, what only sprouted from the first and last love in his life was pain. Never in his wildest dreams would he ever think that something so miraculous could blossom from his fleeting joy in his childhood, a daughter. His daughter. Lily's daughter. Their daughter-

"Are you just going to stand there and not answer me? Because if you will, you should tell me so I can go. I'd rather not be seen as some weirdo who likes hanging out in creepy places like this." The disdain in the child's voice was enough to wake the man from his trance.

"She had kept you a secret from me." It was all he could say, not able to look away from the young girl's face. She looked so much like her mother.

"Of course, she did," the young girl scoffed confusing Severus.

It was clear to him that the young girl did not like speaking about Lily. Yet, he could not understand why. Severus asked, "Why do you seem to harbor resentment for her?"

"Because I hate that person."

Emilia Sorrel Schmidt answered without blinking. She held no hesitation when expressing her contempt for the woman who Severus Snape adored and loved his entire life. Severus could not help but defend his beloved who had passed on. "But she is your mother-"

"My mother?"

The young girl gritted her teeth as she uttered those words with anger. No words were spoken for a long time after that. This was his daughter who he had never known existed till now. A miracolous child which has bloomed from the love he shared with his Lily. She was the spitting image of her mother.

But in this moment, Severus Snape could see a shadow of his young self in the child. He could see the silent pain embedded within the depths of the child's eyes, so much like his in the past. It was an expression of a child who had never received a parent's love.