Snape's Daughter

Serena, Luke and Cyndi were sitting together at a separate table from the adults. They were chatting normally, but Luke and Cyndi kept glancing sideways at each other. Serena was getting very irritated.

"Look, you guys, what is going on?"

*~*~*

"I- I don't know what you mean," said Luke, but Serena could tell that he was lying.

"Every time I talk to you, you look sideways at each other before speaking. Just what is going on?" she demanded.

"You wouldn't believe me," he replied, looking her in the eyes.

"Try me," said Serena, looking back, but then finding that she had to look away. There was hollowness in his eyes like a deep pit, a sign that he had seen things he should not have done at his age.

"It is too complicated to say at the moment. It's... difficult. Let me just say that we've been through a lot, and we'll try to explain it later," replied Cyndi, her face serious.

Serena, however, remained stubborn. "I've been through a lot myself: my House-Elf died at the start of the summer; I found out that..." she hesitated, wondering if she should admit it.

"Found out what?" said the other two.

"That I'm an indirect descendant of two of the Hogwarts founders," she continued in a quieter voice, "and I've also had my house raided by Death Eaters."

Serena raised her eyebrows, before resting her head in her hands with a sigh. She did not notice the other two glancing at each other again. Luke leant over to whisper something into Cyndi's ear. She nodded once.

"Your name's Serena Lupin, who's your father?" he asked.

"You're thinking of Remus Lupin, the werewolf who was in the Prophet last month, and then got arrested," she said nodding. "He's not my father, that wouldn't be allowed. Nah, I have my mother's name. She and my father don't talk much, and I stay with him for a few times each year. Remus Lupin's my uncle, you see."

Luke and Cyndi stared at each other for a long time, and Serena groaned.

"Look, will you stop doing that, please? Every time you do I keep getting more and more desperate to know what is going on. If you're not going to tell me, then don't do that!"

Cyndi reached down onto her lap and put Dwyer onto the table. Instantly, all thoughts of what Luke and Cyndi were up to vanished, as well as all thoughts of her quest. She stroked the tiny fur ball under the chin, and he purred, before rolling over onto his back. Cyndi chuckled as she rubbed his tummy. The cat wiggled about, enjoying himself.

Over at the next table, the adults, who were slow to finish eating in comparison with their children, finally put down their knives and forks. The door to the large pub opened, and a man and his daughter entered. It was Cyndi's father and younger sister Sara who had just come back from London. They approached the pair of tables, and sat down with the adults. Cyndi stood up - when going short distances she could use a crutch - and walked over to them carrying Dwyer on her shoulder.

*~*~* 1000 years ago *~*~*

She looked about her and saw the world flying past beneath. With one hand she held tightly onto the reigns of the dark beast beneath, and with the other she clutched the egg - still warm after its laying on the previous day. On her back was a worn leather bag, one strap broken and the other wearing thin; the temporary stasis spell would hold, however, while she needed it. Inside were several things - her diary filled with writing, the sword of her husband, and a letter written in some foreign tongue that she had written during one of her trances.

Now, the Thestral plunged towards the roof of the tower. She slipped off, and paused for a moment to watch the steam emerging from its mouth in the cold air. She patted its neck in thanks, before taking the egg more firmly in her hands and walking to the far corner. As promised, the red lord had filled it with twigs and hay, though he did not know its real purpose.

"Incubbus," she said, placing a permanent warming charm on the nest; if a spell were performed on the egg itself, then the creature inside would die, and the future would be ruined. The eggshell was extremely sensitive to magic, and would amplify all spells so that they caused the cells of the bird to break into nothing.

"Preservatio," she cast the preserving charm on the letter, which glowed purple before returning to its original colour. She placed it next to the nest, weighing it down with a stone. Then she performed the final spell, so that none that came up to the top of the tower would see the egg. First, she lay a blanket over the egg, so that it would not be damaged.

"Fidelius Video. Let the egg not be seen but my heir one thousand years to this day. Fidelius Video."

She stood up again, removing the blanket. As she attempted to look at the egg, there seemed to be a 'gap' in her vision where the egg should be, an odd blur.

She turned back to the Thestral, where it stood patiently, tapping its foot on the roof as she came back. She swung her leg over its back, and leant forward to tell it where to go. It took off with a leap, and rushed through the air, headlong into the sky, and then dove back down at breakneck speed towards the surface of the lake. Her hair was swept back behind her, madly blowing in the wind.

The hooves of the beast skimmed the surface. A spurt of water flew from where they connected for several metres. It rose again, to a foot above the slow waters. Then it pushed between the ivy strands, and settled with a quiet 'bump' onto the stone jetty.

She slipped sedately off its back, her feet making more noise than the Thestral's had done. She looked around; there was the post where the two boats were tied up. One was dusty and filled with cobwebs, the other was clean and looked like it had recently been used. Indeed, the sides of the boat were marked with dark brown patches where they were still wet. The yellow lady had done her job well.

There it was. It lay draped over one of the wooden planks used as seats. It glimmered in the faint sunlight coming through the ivy curtain. She summoned it, and threw it round herself. Now, she was invisible.

She headed across the cavern to the back, where a tunnel led upwards alone a stone stairway into the castle. During term time a cloth that looked remarkably like the wall itself hid it. Only if you knew that it was there could you notice the hairline crack at the bottom of the wall. In fact, it was normally there during the holidays too, but the yellow lady had pulled it back for her.

She climbed, higher and higher and higher. There were over five hundred steps on this staircase, which led up to a secret chamber near the far end of the castle. She knew her way from there. It was very near the place her husband had worked primarily upon during his time at the castle, before his forced removal. All she had to do now was place the diary, sword, and message in their places, and get out.

Proof that she managed to complete this can be found in the fact that Serena was again looking at the diary.

*~*~* End Flashback *~*~*

Serena flipped over the pages again, hoping to see more information on what the rhyme could possibly mean. There was nothing. Over fifty pages worth of absolute zilch, zero, finito. And what did the 'ready rider' thing mean anyway?

She cast her mind back again to the dream that had stayed in her mind, of the giant eagle from Lord of the Rings. Yet suddenly it vanished, to be replaced by a flying horse, an Aethonan if her memory served her correctly. How odd, that had certainly never happened in her dream.

An eagle and a horse, a horse and an eagle, a horse-eagle, an eagle-horse; Serena didn't get it, even though the answer was staring her in the face. Literally. Buckbeak the Hippogriff was lying on the other side of the room. It had been filled with straw, but the beautiful creature was missing Sirius. None could console him, and the young girl was the only one he would allow in his room apart from Tonks. All others faced his wrath. Severus had been slashed on his left leg, for the second time in six years, and even Mrs Black fell silent when he started to rage. During his rages, even Tonks and Serena were not allowed. But at the moment Beaky was calm.

The Hogwarts Care of Magical Creatures Professor, Rubeus Hagrid, would be visiting later that day, she realised suddenly. Maybe he would be able to help. With a sigh, she closed the diary and lay back in the straw, scratching as it itched her arm. She had never met the man, but from Professor Dumbledore's description he sounded nice enough. Yes, maybe he could help.