The Scion of the Potions Master

Albus Dumbledore rested his head heavily in his hands. The long years of war were pulling his spirits down, slowly but surely. During Harry Potter's seventh year, he had been convinced that Harry's luck would see an end to the war. It had not. The boy had succeeded in knocking Voldemort a little lower, yes, but defeating him? No. Not in the least. So the Boy-Who-Lived had left Hogwarts, not to start a family and to be happy, but to become an Auror, to kill.

The object of these thoughts now sat across from his desk, picking lint off of his deep blue Auror robes, lost in thought. To the left of Harry, curled up in a tight ball on an overstuffed armchair and sucking her thumb, was a little girl. She wore a plain white night gown, and a quilt that had been draped over her shoulders. In her arms she clutched a teddy bear. Her little toes stuck out from under her gown, and wiggled a little. Her small pale face was wan and tear streaked, looking mournfully up at the headmaster around her thumb.

"Dum'door, Mutter said you'd find my Daddy," the little girl said taking her thumb out of her mouth for a moment. She had repeated her mother's last words to her ever since Harry had discovered her cowering under her bed clutching her teddy bear after a Death Eater attack.

"I will try dear, I will try," Dumbledore said as he studied the child of about five years of age. Only a half hour ago Harry had stumbled into his office carrying the child in his arms. He had just returned from the scene of a Death Eater attack. This little girl was the sole survivor. She had not said a word, except to beg of him to find her "Daddy". Dumbledore had his suspicions as to who the child's father was, but he would not know for sure until Professor Snape arrived from his place of hiding.

Nearly a year ago, Voldemort had discovered that Snape was a spy for Dumbledore and swore to kill him. In order to protect his good friend, Dumbledore had arranged for a hiding home. The Professor had not left his home for the past year, and it was only in a time of dire need (or to fulfill a fate that the headmaster alone understood), that Dumbledore sent for him. Only Snape could correctly brew the potion that would truly reveal who her father was.

"Will he be along soon then?" Harry asked suddenly.

"Shortly," Dumbledore said.

"Who ith, 'he'?" the girl inquired. Both men turned to her, this was the first new thing they had heard her say.

Dumbledore smiled at the little girl and replied, "Professor Snape, he will find out who your father is."

"'essor Thnape?"

"Yes. Care for some hot chocolate, dear?" the old Headmaster asked, as he gave a quick flick to his wand and a steaming mug appeared.

"No, thank you," the girl said ducking behind her worn teddy bear.

"What is your name, dear?" the headmaster asked kindly, giving the girl an encouraging smile.

"Juliet," she said, her small voice muffled by the teddy bear.

"And what is your bear's name, Miss Juliet?" he asked as he leaned forward, a kind twinkle glittering in his blue eyes.

"Padden'ten," she said, now pulling the bear down far enough to peek over the top of the velvet head. Her large blue eyes studied the white bearded man in front of her.

"Are you tired, Miss Juliet?" he asked, the girl nodded in response. The Professor stood and rounded the desk. "Sleep, child, we will awaken you when Professor Snape arrives." Gently he pulled the quilt tighter around her shoulders, and tenderly brushed her messy black hair out of her face.

Taking out his wand he swished it gently and whispered, "Obliviate," softly. Turning to Harry he said, "It's better if she does not remember some things..."

Juliet looked up at him and repeated, "Dum'dore, Mutter said you find my Daddy."

The Headmaster gently patted her head, "...and remember others...go to sleep dear." Juliet nodded and yawned, shutting her eyes. Within minutes she was asleep, contentedly sucking her thumb.

Harry who through out the exchange between his old Headmaster, and the girl, now spoke, "Do you have any idea of who her father is?"

"Yes, an idea, a general idea. Do you happen to know who her mother was, Harry?" he asked.

"No. Moody had made sure that her body was removed from the spot once they had found it. She was apparently hit with Avada Kedavra while standing on a flight of stairs, and fell to the bottom. Cooper said it was a bit of a mess," Harry stated the case blandly. Death didn't upset him as much as it use to.

"I see. Do you remember Professor Emily Huddleston, from your seventh year?"

Harry straightened up, "Emmy?" he said, fear filling his features.

"Yes," the Headmaster returned to his chair, "You and Professor Huddleston were quite close were you not?"

"Quite," Harry said softly, his gaze falling on the messy black head of the sleeping child. Knowing now who Juliet's father was.

The door to the Headmaster's office opened, and Professor Snape swept into the room. "What is it Albus?" he said in an irritated tone of voice.

"Ah, Severus, good to see you. Please sit down. Lemon drop?" the headmaster inquired as he offered the plate of candies to the sour faced Potions Master.

"You called me out of the hiding place that you insisted I isolate myself in simply to chat and have lemon drops with you and," his black eyes swept over to where Harry was sitting, "Potter?!" He scowled darkly.

"All I need you to do is brew a potion for me," the Headmaster said rising and gesturing towards a workspace he had cleared near the fireplace.

"A potion? Albus, even you can brew a potion!" Snape sneered.

"Not just any potion Severus, your Dinuclicacidus potion."

"Dinuclicacidus?" Snape asked, "What do you need it for?"

"This child," Dumbledore said gesturing at the sleeping girl, "Needs to know who her father is." Snape sighed and leaned back into the chair. Dinuclicacidus was simple enough to brew, it only took a few short minutes, but it must be brewed to precision. Not a step must be skipped, not an ingredient can be mismeasured, not-

"Severus," Dumbledore said, breaking into his thoughts, "I know you can do this, please. If not for me, for the child..."

"Fine," Snape said with a scowl. "I'll need some of her DNA, from any suspected fathers, and from her mother--you do have some DNA from her mother don't you?"

"I do," the older Professor said calmly and handed Snape three vials; one labeled: 'Mother' and the other two labeled: 'Father?' Snape nodded and crossed the room, and began to assess his ingredients. With the soft clink of the ingredient bottles, Juliet woke, and sat up, yawning, "Is 'essor Thnape here?" When Dumbledore nodded, she stood and looked over the back of her chair and watched Snape begin the potion. After a few moments, she scrambled off of the chair, and crossed the room to get a better view of the brewing potion. She stood right next to the surly professor on her tiptoes, watching.

"Confound it all, girl! Watch where you're standing!" the Potions Master snapped at the child.

She turned up at him, her little face full of fury, and said, "Bugger off you big bat!"

Snape paused, and looked down at the child, a look of shock frozen on his face. A smothered chuckle was heard from Dumbledore. Harry didn't even bother to stifle his laughter. Snape sighed, then collecting himself he said, "You've got quite the mouth for a three-year old."

"I'm five. May I watch?" Ignoring Harry's snickers, Snape lifted the little girl up onto the worktable.

"Don't touch anything," he ordered as he saw her reaching for a spoon. Chastised, Juliet withdrew her hand, and began to cuddle with Paddington her bear.

After a few moments she asked, "May I touch those?" pointing at the empty bottles and left over ingredients he was finished with.

"Fine," he answered tersely as he carefully dropped twenty-nine and a half scarab beetle eyes into the potion. He didn't think she could make anything much with those ingredients. Juliet happily handed Paddington over to Harry, who had come over to watch, and began make a "potion" of her own.

Harry watched as the little girl contentedly added this and that to a large clear bottle. It reminded him of his early childhood, before Dudley learned he was suppose to hate Harry. The boys would raid Aunt Petunia's vanity and nick all of the nearly empty perfume bottles, and soap containers, and from the kitchen they would take the old spice bottles. Then in the back garden they would make "poison" and try to give it to passing girls. Harry chuckled to himself at the memory as Juliet sealed the large bottle and began to violently shake it.

Just as Snape was adding the Gillyweed, a loud "BOOM" echoed through the room, and he jumped (thankfully he hadn't accidentally added too much Gillyweed to the Dinuclicacidus). All eyes fell on Juliet. She was cradling a shimmering blue potion in the bottle, smiling to herself.

"Done," she stated. Snape snatched up the bottle and stared, quiet perplexed at the thick glowing substance in the bottle. The girl had created a Lumenox. It was a complicated potion, not one that even his seventh years could create from memory, and near impossible to replicate by accident.

"Do you know what this is, girl?" he asked.

"My glow bottle. Not yours. I want it back. Give it to me!" She stretched her hands out, tears pooling up in her eyes. Snape scowled.

"Oh, by Merlin, Severus! Give her bottle back to her, she has had a rough night," Dumbledore reprimanded.

Snape handed the bottle back with one hand and plucked a hair from her head with the other. With that the little girl began to cry. Harry glared at his old Professor as he gathered the girl up into his arms. "What did you do that for?!" he asked angrily.

" I need a sample of her DNA too," the Professor said with a scowl as he dropped the hair into one of four vials of potion he had poured. Everyone watched--even Juliet who pulled her head out of Harry's shoulder so she could see-as the hair swirled wildly in the vial, and a thick patterned ribbon pulled out of it and split into two strands, one strand pink and the other blue.

"The pink is the DNA she received from her mother, and the blue-"

"Ith from Daddy!" Juliet said excitedly, bouncing up and down in Harry's arms, forgetting that she was suppose to be upset at Snape.

"Yes, now if I just add Acidus," he dropped four drops of a green liquid into the three remaining vials, "The DNA will become visible, but will not separate, as the child's did." They watched as the DNA appeared as a single strand, like Snape said it would. The mother's DNA matched perfectly with Juliet's pink strand. The first of the 'Father?' DNA was a complete mismatch.

"That is my DNA," Dumbledore said quietly, "You needed a control." Snape nodded in agreement and compared the second male DNA. It was a perfect match.

"This is your father's DNA, girl," Snape said swinging the vial in her face.

"Hope he is nicer that you, you old bat," Juliet said sticking her tongue out at Snape, and taking the vial in her hand. Setting her "glow bottle" down, she squirmed out of Harry's arms and cradled the vial in her small hands and whispered, "Daddy," softly.

"I trust you'll be able to contact the child's father, Headmaster?" Snape asked as he gathered up his cloak.

"I have."

"Right then, goodbye." He turned to leave, hanging his cloak over his arm.

"Do you remember Emily Huddleston, Severus?"

The cloak dropped to the floor. Snape stopped, his spine rigid. His fists clenched.

"Juliet is Emily's daughter."

Snape turned around slowly, unclenching his fists.

Harry picked up his wand from the Headmaster's desk, stepped around his old Professor and left, nodding goodbye to Dumbledore.

Juliet looked up at Snape where he stood, his sallow face pale. She looked at the vial in her hands, and then back at Snape.

The potions master crossed the room and knelt before the girl, "You have Emily's eyes," he paused, "Juliet." Gently he touched her face. Long, work worn fingers caressing the child's cheek in awe.

He took in her face, the long nose, the pale skin, the dark, black hair, and in a whisper that no one but Juliet heard, he said, "And my nose, and my hair...and my temper..."

"You are my daddy?" the girl asked, tilting her head to the side quizzically.

"Yes, I am, Juliet," Severus said softly, his voice breaking slightly.

Juliet touched his face, and then buried her face in his shoulder as she gave him a hug. Snape knelt awkwardly for a moment, and then returned the hug.

"You're still an old bat," Juliet said with a grin into her father's ear. Snape gave a lopsided grin, as if he wasn't use to smiling.

Dumbledore stood by his desk, a smile on his face, his blue eyes twinkling.