A Father's Love

Ch. 1

Introductions

Sitting alone in her room brushing her raven curls out of her face in the dark was how fourteen-year-old Emma Snape loved to spend her time. She hated her mother, and she couldn't wait for the day that she could move out. What she hated even more than her mother was her mother's latest boyfriend and his bratty son. Leonard Malfoy had to be the biggest jerk on the planet, and she always referred to his son Omar as a jerk-in-training. She hated every single thing about the pair of them: their white blonde hair, their sneering faces, their attitudes, but most of all she hated their money. She knew that money was the only reason her mother was going after Leonard anyway. Omar was nearly eleven and was going to be starting school soon, although Emma didn't know where, but all the soon to be fifteen-year-old hoped for was that the relationship would be over before then and she would never have to see them again.

"Emmi......" Tulip yelled up the stairs. Emma inwardly groaned and quickly pretended to be asleep.

"Emmiline......"her mother tried again. "Emmiline Catherine......" When there was no response, she walked into Emma's room. "I need to talk to you."

Emma sighed and sat up. Her mother turned the light on and sat down on Emma's four-post bed.

"Honey, you know that Leonard and I have been getting pretty serious lately, and we are ready to take our relationship to the next level. As the latest love interest, Leonard probably didn't know that she had said this about the last three men Tulip had dated. The pair of them had been together for almost a year, a year of having to put up with Omar, a year of feeling unwanted, basically a year of hell that Emma absolutely despised.

The words "your father" jerked Emma's attention back to the conversation she was having with her mother.

"Wait!" Emma interrupted. "Do you mean my biological father?" she asked incredulously.

"Did you listen to a word that I just said?" Tulip snapped irritated.

"Not really," was Emma's cool reply.

"Well, the jest of it is that Leonard doesn't think much of you, and he thinks that you'll be a bad influence on Omar. We are planning to move out to California in three days time. Omar will be attending school there and we want him to get better acquainted with the area first. I've contacted YOUR FATHER and he will be picking you up tomorrow evening.

"You'll also be attending a school in England." Tulip smiled to herself as she stood up. She was finally rid of the brat. She was heading towards the door when she heard her daughter's voice asking her a question:

"Will you tell me about him?"

Tulip turned around slowly and hesitantly pulled the desk chair over to Emma's bed.

"Your father and I attended Hogwarts together; we were both in Slytherin. He was two years older than I, but two years younger than Leonard. I met Severus Snape the summer before my first year. We were at a picnic at the Black's house, one of the finest wizarding families in Britain at the time. They've gone downhill since. But anyway, Severus didn't seem to keen to get to know me, much to my parent's disappointment. The Black's son Sirius was so handsome and charming with his angelic face and eyes the color of the sky on a crisp October morning. Sirius was my first real crush, and I fell hard too. But he was a Gryffindor, so my parents would never allow us to date. I thought that was the problem, but in reality they had other plans for me.

"As the years went on, Severus and I grew closer. I noticed a continued pattern with his girlfriends though. Every time he and a girl would get serious, his parents would break them up. This continued even after he had graduated. He attended my graduation ceremony in mid-June at his parents urging. Later that evening we were told that we were betrothed to one another. We were married a week and a half later. Everything went well for six months or so, but soon we started fighting fairly often. Things started to gradually get better, until one day almost completely out of the blue, he announced that he wanted a divorce. That was nine months after our wedding. I delivered you a little over five months later. That August. Up until a few days ago, Severus knew nothing of your existence."

"Wow," Emma whispered under her breath.

"And now, young lady," Tulip said as she stood up and pushed the chair back over to the desk, "he is a school teacher and his term ended today. Now go to bed! Leonard and Omar will be here early tomorrow to help you pack up." And with that, Tulip licked the lights out and shut the door.

As soon as she heard her mother's footsteps die away and here her door click shut, Emma sat up in bed, fuming. This was the most unfair thing that she had heard of in her entire life. She was being thrown out of her house to make room for some spoiled snotty brat that came from one of the wealthiest families in the world. She was even going to have to transfer schools.

It wasn't that she was going to miss her school. She attended Indiana Academy of Witchcraft, a private school for girls who were extremely talented in one or more areas of magic. Emma was equally talented in Charms and Transfiguration, but she was just about average in everything else. Except Potions. To say that she was average on Potions would be a