Snape's Daughter

"Sirius!"

Serena burst into the room at the sound of the loud crash, her heart exploding with shock and fear. Her Uncle Remus lay crumpled on the floor, Cyndi sat on the seat next to him, her face white. Hannah, the woman Remus had been with, had moved incredibly fast to bend over him. Catherine, the woman with Hagrid, looked relatively calm. She almost slammed into Luke, who was standing just beyond the door.

"Sirius?" she said, puzzled. Luke spun around to look at her, his black eyes blazing with fury. In alarm, she jumped back, but already he seemed to calm down.

"Yes. Sirius Black. I am Sirius Black. So what?"

How was it possible? Sirius Black was dead! Luke couldn't be... couldn't be... he wasn't Sirius Black. He was too young!

"You're lying," she stated firmly.

On the floor, Uncle Remus stirred, his eyes opening blearily. He peered up at them, then at Luke.

"Sirius... is it you?"

"Yes, Moony. It's me," said Luke, a smile forming on his face as he turned to look at the man on the floor. Serena backed towards the door, heart beating quickly. This was impossible! No spell, no magic could bring back the dead, and definitely not as a child.

"H- how?"

"The veil. You got it wrong, we all did. It's not the veil of death, as it has been so wrongly described, but the veil of true love, I suppose." From her seat, Cyndi looked up at Si - Luke! - with wide eyes full of love. Luke, looking back at her, smiled softly in reply.

"Simply, the veil took me, consumed me, in a way. It changed me irrevocably, so now I'm an eleven-year-old, not a thirty-something-year-old. I have all the feelings of a child, but since I met Cyndi again... well my memories have come flooding back! Ooooh! I can't wait to do some pranking!"

Suddenly, the boy - Luke! - fell silent. He closed his eyes for several seconds. "Harry."

"Oh no!" breathed Remus, scrambling to his feet supported by Hannah. Serena, still shaking her head in disbelief, stepped further towards the door, then turned and pulled on the handle. It burst in on her, revealing several figures.

Serena gasped both in shock and incredulously. "Mum, Dad? Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

Luke swore. "Get out of here, Snivellus!"

"Black!" replied her father, with the same hot temper and force of anger. Serena reeled in shock. Even arguing with Uncle Remus hadn't been this bad, although they were in-laws. Dung, who had been standing by the oven watching everything, pulled her backwards out of the way. Her father had raised his fists, and was snarling openly at Luke. Then, without bothering to draw his wand, he punched the boy in the face.

"No!" screamed Cyndi, her face flooding with a sudden rush of tears. Somehow, the force of the anguish carried her without any need of support to Luke, slumped on the floor. She suddenly dropped next to him, and her gaze, full of hate, was on Serena's father.

"You haven't changed, have you? Even when you were in seventh year, you still held on to petty childhood grudges! We offered you a chance, and you refused then!"

"No!" cried Katherine, who had never seen her husband this violent. She had never known him to be like this, never thought that he would hold such grudges. She tried to move forward, but the arms of Hagrid and Albus Dumbledore held her back.

"No!" whispered Serena, her eyes widening at the blood that spurted from Luke's face.

"You never offered me a chance!" snarled the furious man. "You always tried to get at me, every opportunity! When you tried to set him," he pointed at Remus, "on me! When you attacked me by the lake after our OWLs!" His face went red, but Luke - no, it was Sirius - just glared at the man. He could not do much else, for the blood was cutting off the oxygen from his nose. Cyndi, however, spoke for him.

"Sirius has told me that he said he was sorry, yet you would not accept his apologies inside the Shrieking Shack! As for the thing after the OWLs, you know as well as I do that if you had just once tried to be polite, to respect us, instead of attacking us, then that would not have happened. You were not the only victim of our pranks, but you were the only one who bickered on about it for ages!"

Suddenly, Severus had raised his wand. A dark fury was in his eyes now, full of hate. "Crucio!"

A scream wrenched itself from Cyndi, clutching her head in pain. Tears ran down her face, and the voices of many different people rang through the room, almost simultaneously.

"Stupefy!"

It was lucky, said Professor Dumbledore afterwards, that the spells did not all hit at once. The first to hit was his own, followed by Remus, Katherine, Serena, and Catherine. Still, five stunning spells were pretty bad. Cyndi, breathing deeply and still sobbing, was helped to her feet by Luke, who was also shaking. His wand was out, and his face a mix of blood and fury. She was clutching her head, but the pain seemed to be subsiding. Serena realised suddenly that what her father, her own father had done, could have killed Cyndi.

"Ennervate," came a soft voice from Albus Dumbledore. The blue light skimmed across the room and hit the body of the prone man. His eyes opened, and they were still filled with hate. This changed to fear, however, when he saw the mass of wands from all in the room, even his own family.

"Severus Snape, I am firing you for use of the Cruciatus curse and attacking two of our future students. I am going to need a new Potions professor. Any volunteers?"

Although her voice shook, she looked perfectly calm as she spoke. Catherine, the fiancée of Hagrid, said, "I- I'll do it."

"Thank you Catherine. Katherine, the other Katherine, that is, do you have anything to say to your husband."

"Only that I do not wish to be around him for a while. Please... just leave Serena and me alone for a while. I... don't know if I can trust you any more."

His face white, Severus Snape stood up. He looked, almost beseechingly, at his daughter. She, however, pointed her wand at him and shook her head. Serena was surprised at how easy it was to threaten him.

Albus, Hagrid and Katherine moved away from the door. "Leave," said Katherine firmly.

Shock, not just at his treatment but at what he had done and said, registered over Severus Snape's face. Then, just as suddenly, it was gone, and he walked quickly through the house to the front door.

"He's under Imperius!" cried Tonks. In an instant she had stupefied the man again. The eyes of Albus Dumbledore grew more serious than ever, no humor glinted behind the half-moon frames, no smile threatened to overcome his face.

"Do not wake him, but take him to a room, any room, as long as it is away from here," said Dumbledore.

"Can I go with him?" asked Serena quietly.

"No," said Katherine firmly. After a look at her mother, Serena nodded. L- Sirius - was looking about him for something, and so were Cyndi and Remus. It was Remus who spotted whatever it was first, and stunned the form of Peter Pettigrew's rat animagus body. He picked the rat up and put him on the table.

"Who else could it be?" said Sirius in satisfaction. "He was the only other person who knew all that stuff Snivelly was saying."

"I believe you," said Serena, suddenly. Sirius spun around, then he relaxed again.

"Thanks, but call me Luke anyway. It's the name I'll be going under at Hogwarts, right professor?" he looked at the venerable headmaster, who nodded.

"I expect this year will be very interesting," he said. "Now, I must get back to Hogwarts. Katherine, Catherine, Hagrid, please come too. And take that rat as well! I trust that the rest of you will look after Severus when he wakes up. And make sure that he knows he is forgiven."

There was nodding all round, and the four adults made their way to the door. Hagrid, last to leave, was almost out when Serena remembered something.

"Hagrid! What's..." she hesitated, everyone was looking at her. Then she took a deep breath. "What's an animal that's part horse, part eagle?"

"Why, a Hippogriff o' course. Bye."

Serena stood there, her mouth open. Then she began to laugh. Soon, the whole room was shaking, even though most of the people there did not know why they were doing so. It was such a relief after everything that had just happened. Sirius - no, he said to call him Luke, this was confusing! - laughed the hardest, holding onto Cyndi, who was leaning on the table. Hagrid, who had stood in the doorway chuckling for a moment left, and smiles covered the room. The danger was over, and Peter Pettigrew was captured. Suddenly Serena stopped laughing, and said quietly.

"How did he escape?"

Everyone stopped as suddenly as Serena, and looks were exchanged about the room. "An imposter, it must have been... under Polyjuice... But then it would have worn off... but the only other Metamorphmagus in Britain is Lewis Neale..." said Tonks, her eyes widening.

"I think we have our culprit," said Hannah, quietly.