Snape's Daughter

They were both tired, and so Severus and Serena slept well. The next morning they woke early. It was the last day of the Quidditch season and Chudley Cannons were playing Puddlemere United, second in the league and 100 points ahead of their opponents.

The Quidditch ground was in fact the same one that the Hogwarts Quidditch teams used for their games. Therefore the only way to get to the game was by portkey, and so the Snapes had to walk for one mile to get to theirs. However, before they left the house they checked the Daily Prophet, sure enough on the front page were huge letters declaring, "SIRIUS BLACK INNOCENT!"

Below it was an article by one of the reporters, describing the arrest. It did not go into many details, deliberately leaving out the kidnap by Pettigrew and how Serena was the one to stop him. In fact it seemed to suggest that Pettigrew had been sneaking through Diagon Alley in his Death Eater uniform when a passer-by had seen him and told the ministry.

They were the only ones using the portkey as ever, and at 9.00 they were transported back to Scotland. Serena had never been to this pitch before, and looked round in astonishment at the stands, but more importantly she saw the tall towers of her future school.

Several students had returned to their school to watch the match. Her father had deliberately sat away from her and her mother, and she understood why. Students would hate her next year if they knew that she was his daughter.

A bunch of redheads took the seats above them, "hey look George, it's our brainy friend!"

Serena spun round in her seat to see Fred and George Weasley with their brothers and sister, "hi again!"

"Hi, what is your name anyway?" asked George. He's the one with missing eyebrows noted Serena.

"Serena Jones," said Serena using her mother's maiden name, "this is my Mum,"

They greeted 'Mrs. Jones' and then introduced themselves. Luna Lovegood, a friend of the family who lived in Ottery St. Catchpole, was also watching.

"So, what house do you want to be in?" asked Luna demurely.

"Ravenclaw," chanted Fred, George and Serena together.

"Jinx touch wood!" said Serena quickly pulling out her wand.

"Very sensible," remarked Luna. "The Crumple Horned Snorkacks will hypnotize anyone without a wand."

"Crumple Horned Snorlack? What's a Crumple Horned Snorkack?" asked Serena. Luna was a Ravenclaw and so she might be right in saying that they exist.

"A Crumple Horned Snorkack is a tall bear-like beast, they normally have brown coats and their ears are like a cats. Their eyes are blue, except when they are trying to hypnotize you, and then they turn green. Their horns come out of the sides of their heads and are curled up like a rams, except more so."

"Wow," said Serena genuinely impressed.

"Come on, surely you don't believe that rubbish!" scoffed Ron. Hermione, his girlfriend who was staying with him over the holidays, nodded in agreement.

"Oh, I don't know. Hermione, could you do any fifth year spells in your first year?"

"No," she shook her head.

"Silencio!" commanded Serena, jabbing her wand at Hermione.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. She covered her mouth in surprise, and Serena performed the counter charm.

"You are amazing, you could practically do OWLs now!"

"I still have to learn the theory," said Serena proudly, "but I am definitely going to be a Ravenclaw."

The match began; Puddlemere took the lead, with their new goalkeeper from the reserve squad Oliver Wood keeping the goal clear. But this was Quidditch at a professional level, fast and furious. The Chudley Cannons soon took the lead again, after ten minutes the score was 30-20 to the Cannons.

The team above Puddlemere in the league was only 30 points ahead. There was no way that they could win the league, either the Cannons or Puddlemere would take the cup.

Most were rooting for Puddlemere since the Cannons would need to be over 100 points higher than United at the end to win.

However all had reckoned without the luck of the Cannons. Their manager had declared that if they were to win the cup they would change their motto back to 'We shall conquer'. This inspired the players, as could be seen today.

Using her omnioculars they saw the cannons go ahead by fifty points, at 100-50. The commentator, ex-student Lee Jordan who had been hired by the pitch as official commentator, suddenly exclaimed, "and Jackson had seen the snitch!" Lee was pleased to be back at Hogwarts without the restrictions of Professor McGonagall over him. Now he could say whatever he wanted, Lee grinned.

All eyes turned to the streak of orange racing after the blur of gold, a sudden movement, and the match was all over. Duncan Jackson slowed his pace as he raised his arm into the air, light glinting off the golden snitch.

Ron Weasley stood up and clapped and cheered with all his might, Hermione dutifully stood with him. Serena also celebrated the win with them. All over the stadium Cannons fans were cheering, waving flags. Lee, who was in the commentator's box next to their stand, turned to wink at George. He had a huge grin on his face, as he said the quietening charm. Then he strolled out of the box to where they sat.

He chatted to Fred and George about the game and promised to visit them in Diagon Alley.

The final score was 250-50, and the Cannons had won the league by 120 points. Luna had her omnioculars trained upon someone in the crowd. For once she did not speak vaguely, but with surprise, "Isn't that Professor Snape?"

"Where?" said Ron.

Luna pointed; Serena too trained her omnioculars upon her father. Then she removed them from her eyes.

"Do you think he stays here all year round?" wondered the boys.

"Except when he's being a Death Eater," replied Hermione sensibly.

Serena and her mother left the stadium before the conversation could change for the worst. Like some others they had booked a room in the castle for after the match, therefore they strolled through the grounds towards the main entrance.

Albus Dumbledore himself met them at the doors. He shook Catherine Snape's hand and smiled warmly at Serena. Then he led them both to his office, the password being unchanged as yet from the previous year, Droobles Best Blowing Gum.

"How are you both?" he asked them, eyes twinkling.

"Great," replied Catherine, and her daughter nodded.

"And how is Severus?"

"He's fine, a little tired, and probably disappointed."

"Who won?" said the venerable headmaster. "I didn't watch the game."

"It was all over in an hour," said Serena enthusiastically. "The Cannons won the league!"

Dumbledore smiled, "Impressive, I'm sure Ronald Weasley will be pleased."

"He is," responded Serena. "He was right behind us."

Just then Severus Snape entered the room looking tired.

"Hello Daddy," said Serena.

"Hey princess," said Severus, a grin lighting up his face. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled even more, and he looked up at the potions master.

"Tired, Severus?"

"Extremely,"

"Well before you go to bed, I have something important to tell you all."

"What?" asked Severus, his voice becoming serious.

"The attempted kidnap upon Serena made me realise that you are all in danger, be careful. You must understand that no-one, and particularly yourselves, are safe from Voldemort," said Dumbledore gravely.

"We will," said Catherine and her husband together. Then they stood up, Dumbledore led the family to their rooms away from the rest in a barely used part of the castle,

"These rooms were originally designed to be classrooms, and there were a few guestrooms among them, but there have never been enough students to fill the rooms and for us to require more teachers. There have also been few guests visiting Hogwarts apart from the Triwizard Tournament," for a moment Albus became sad, "I am afraid the founders were too hopeful for the future. No students have ever come this way, or I would know about it, not even a Marauder," he added blandly.

"Wow!" gasped Serena, she and her parents looked in wonder at the portraits lining the hallways. They contained people wearing strange mediaeval costumes, and were not moving, the method of getting pictures to move was not discovered until about 1000AD. They headed past numerous doors, leaving a trail in the dust, until they arrived at a door labelled "Guest room 198".

Then Serena realised something, "Er, Professor?"

"What is it, Serena?"

"If we are the first to come down here in centuries then how come you know about this place?"

"Smart one, aren't you? I found the documents for this place in my office in a hidden corner. I sent the house elves to clean it out, since they use their own tunnels to get about."

"I see," replied Serena.

The headmaster removed from the folds of his robes an old iron key. He handed it to Serena, "this room is yours."

"Thank you sir," said Serena. Her parents headed down the corridor with Dumbledore and she put the key into the lock. She twisted it, the lock was stiff, but suddenly the key jerked and a clank sounded. Serena pulled down the handle and pushed the door open.

A fire was burning in the grate, presumably a house-elf had lit it. Before the fire was an old armchair, and on the table beside it was a book, crumbling in places. Serena walked over and sat on the chair. As she picked up the book it crumbled into pieces. Furiously Serena cast a repair spell onto it, and the book became as good as new.

Serena turned to the front page, the title was in a strange language, and she couldn't understand it. As she watched, however, the words seemed to merge and become English. 'Translator spell,' presumed Serena.

"The diaries of Rowena Ravenclaw," read Serena.

"I founded this school with my three friends Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff. Together we have made a community that stands for justice, and peace. I created this room deep into the castle where it can never be found until one thousand years have passed. Only the heir can read this writing, the heir of the founders.

Heir of mine, follow this well, seek out your legacy.

'Things have happened that should not be,

Changing the future of history,

The past cannot alter but take care of this,

The future can change because it isn't fixed.

The one who left he changes the world,

Hatred of one who stayed true to his word,

Now go to the Chamber, with ancient dead beast,

Enter the mouth of him, little and least.'"

After reading the strange passage Serena knew at least one thing, she was an heir of Ravenclaw. This confused her, neither of her parents had been in that house, her father was a reluctant Slytherin, her mother a staunch Gryffindor.

Serena also knew that she would have to go down to the Chamber of Secrets. There the 'ancient dead beast', or Basilisk, lay. However she was not sure about the final line. Serena looked on in the book to see if there was any more help. However the other pages were in the strange language, perhaps the translator spell only worked for part of the book, or that you had to do a certain thing to make it work. Serena decided to go down to the Chamber of Secrets, how lucky she was, being a snake animagus she could get past the entrance.

Serena stood up and walked to the door, she opened it, and then realised that her parents might worry about her. She returned to her room, and found her small bag, opening it she took out a piece of parchment and a quill. Dipping the quill into her rainbow ink she wrote a quick message, "I'm just going to explore the castle, see you later."

Serena left her room and locked the door. She used a Muggle pin to fix her message to the door, and then headed towards the nearest WC. As she paced the maze of corridors she mused, 'Why is it called a Water Closet anyway? There's water in it, but Closet? Closet is an American word, why not call it a WW, Water Wardrobe?' she laughed out loud. Serena often rambled about random things like this.

She turned a corner and there, ahead of her, was the girl's bathroom. She pushed the door open and walked towards the sinks. Then she pulled away one of the rusted gratings and looked for a way into the pipes. However the girl could not see one, and so she decided just to transform and follow the pipes. Now she came to think of it, how could such a great beast fit into the small pipes?

Serena concentrated briefly and then her eyelids vanished. She could see vaguely about the room, close to her in sharp focus she could see the hole she had created. Serena slithered into the hole and followed the pipe under the floor.

The passage was smelly and dark. At certain points along the way lights shone from above. In some points water dripped into the tunnel and she had to almost swim through it. At one point algae covered the walls and stuck to her scales, restricting her slightly. She knew when she passed Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, because there were visible marks of water on the walls, even in the dim light, and the floor was soaked. The pipe grew larger and the slope of the pipe started to turn downhill, almost vertical. She headed down the passageway until she felt the space open wide enough to transform. Once she had become human again she glanced around.

The chamber was dark, and there were strange columns supporting the ceiling, with snakes and, for some odd reason, eagles, carved into them. She cast the spell to bring light to her wand. Looking in the book that she had brought with her she read the final line of the poem, "enter the mouth of him, little and least."

What could that mean? As she glanced about the room her eyes adjusted to the light, and she began to notice statues about the edge of the room. She glanced at their names, "Marcus Maximus Decimus," "Simonus Darius Havus," in the far corner was a statue of a small man, could this be the one that Rowena meant?

"Valerius Minumus Parvus," her knowledge of Latin told her that this man was 'Valerie' the least and little. She looked at his mouth, but it was too small for even her snake form to go into. She tried putting her hand into his mouth, and felt around inside. Then her fingers rested upon some sort of lever, she grabbed it and pulled.

Behind her, on the floor, she heard a grating noise, she spun around to see the floor opening up, revealing a long line of steps...