Counting Stars || Poppy Snape

PROLOGUE II

Snape left the very next day. He had no intention to hesitate. He had already missed fourteen years of his daughter's life, he wasn't going to be absent for a second longer.

As soon as he reached the wall of Hogwarts he apparated to the address that the headmaster had given him. He kept his eyes wide open throughout the apparition. He didn't get dizzy easily.

When his body reformed he found that he was in a nice village in the south of England. He could make out the sea not far in the horizon, but what gave it away was the constant splashing of the crashing waves. He looked around to examine the place where his daughter had been brought up.

Muggle kids were running around the houses barefoot. Families were surfing, or playing in the water. A group of young children were making sand castles, their parents having a drink nearby. Snape thought it wasn't too bad. I mean, it could certainly have been worse.

He looked back down at the piece of parchment in his now slightly clammy hand. Weird. He didn't usually get nervous easily.

He walked past the identical white houses, till he got to number 301. He felt a pang of pain in his gut. Not just because he was about to meet his daughter, but because the 30th of January was Lily's birthday.

He knocked on the wooden door even though it was half open.

"Can you get the door please?" called out the voice of a man from inside the house.

"Ugh fine dad. I'll get it. Coming!"

Snape felt the tears threaten to leave his eyes as a girl with vibrant, wavy red hair came running towards him. He must have been in a sort of trance, the memories all rushing back to him, because he didn't hear the girl call out to him.

"Sir? Sir how may I help you?" Her voice was sweet but loud, angelic but with a hint of mischievousness. Just like her mother.

He cleared his throat and decided to get straight to the point. There was no point in delaying the inevitable.

"Hello Poppy. I believe your family has already been contacted about this. My name is Severus and I have recently found out that I am your father. Your full name is Poppy Snape-Evans"

The young girl looked at him, her stare piercing, as if trying to find out everything about him with a single glance. And she was definitely getting there. Snape felt her in his mind and with a shocked look, he immediately pulled up his occlumency shields to stop her digging around his head.

She looked bewildered, and that was an understatement.

"How-? How did you-? Why can't I see your memories? Who are you?"

Snape let out a chuckle as he walked right past Poppy and into the living room.

"I'm your father, Poppy Snape"

***

After an hour it started raining. The now reunited father and daughter sat on opposite sides of the living room. Poppy's face was completely blank. And as much as Snape hated to admit it, that scared him.

"So... to sum it up, you're my-"

"Father, yes" Snape interrupted in his usually monotone

"My full name is Poppy-"

"Snape-Evans"

"And I'm a-"

"Witch" Her expression remained blank.Then she suddenly broke into a smile.

"And apparently you don't let people finish their-"

"Sentences. Very observant Poppy"

They both sat there looking at each other. Poppy still trying to break Snape's occlumency shields, but obviously failing.

Snape couldn't help but think to himself that even though the little girl looked extremely like Lily. She wasn't too different to him. But was that a good thing?

"Alright then." she suddenly said as she stood up and started heading towards her room. Snape stared at her leave and just sat there, unsure of what to do. When she finally re emerged from a room at the end of the corridor she held her Hogwarts letter in one hand and was dragging a suitcase in the other.

"I've got all my stuff now"

He opened his mouth to reply but closed it again as he felt something brushing against his leg. A midnight black cat. "This is yours I presume?" She smiled at him, "It's name is Shadow" Snape looked at her questioningly. "It?"

"Well I know what gender my cat is but I dont want to assume its sexuality"

Snape couldn't help grinning. That's exactly something Lily would've said. He looked at Poppy and said, "Well, I don't see the point in waiting any longer. Let's go."

But as Snape started to head out he realised that the little girl wasn't following him. Instead she was staring intently at the floor. "I need to say goodbye." she muttered. Snape nodded and she dropped her stuff and ran into a room opposite hers. Minutes later she came back out with her head hanging, but you could tell her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

Snape offered her his hand and with a loud crack, they apparated.