The end is a new beginning
SS
He was pacing around his living room.
Today was the day.
He hadn’t thought it would be so soon, had thought it would take weeks, if it ever happened, but here he was. Waiting for his adoptive daughter to arrive.
Not a foster child, adoptive daughter. Moody had convinced him it would be better in the long run.
Once she is considered a child of the wixen world, she’ll be sent to other wixen if something happens.
Their will be less check-ups on the muggle side, as such less chance of endangering the state of secrecy.
“Stop pacing you’re making me dizzy.” Wait a sec, that wasn’t in his head.
Severus spun around to face the couch, getting irritated for a moment when his cloak didn’t swing around his legs like it normally would in such a situation.
“I see you’re nervous, but that is no reason to pace around like a jaguar.”
“I’m not nervous.”
“Sure not.” Moody answered, voice tripping in sarcasm.
“I’m not.” Severus repeated. He was not nervous. He was terrified. Every moment now the door bell would ring. And than Ares would be there. A eight year old child. Whoever thought he would be a good choice as a guardian for a child-
“Check-up.” Moody interrupted his trail of thought. Once he locked eyes with him, Moody continued. “Do you have a room prepared?”
Severus glared at him, obviously! Moody had already checked it, when he arrived an hour ago.
“Did you buy enough food for two or / and thought about where to go and buy what you’ll need?”
“Yes, I stocked the kitchen. You already checked that. I’m also prepared for allergies or dislikes. And no, I won’t let her run over me if she won’t eat her greens.” Severus deadpanned.
Moody ignored his mood and continued, “Do you have a daily routine, which you’ll be able to use and can include her?”
Severus didn’t stop his instinct to roll his eyes this time. They had already gone over this. Twice. And that was only today.
“Did you prepare a list with house rules, which are reasonable?”
Severus gestured to the list on the coffee table in front of him.
Now that Moody had repeated his check up questions, Severus decided to continue pacing. Merlin, he missed his cloak. But alas, he couldn’t wear it, not today. While he tended to wear Muggle clothes under his robes, especially during summer, because he only closed the robe if he was working on potions. But never wore them outside, the neighbours would call him a weirdo. He wasn’t used to not wearing wixen clothes at all. Even when he went out, he usually kept his dragon hide shoes on. But he wasn’t even wearing those. Because he was in his living room and there wouldn’t be any shoes in here. He had even discarded his socks, because they had moved with his pacing until the heel was over his ancle.
“Do you have plans for emergencies?” Moodys voice cut through the tension in the room.
“Emergencies?” Oh, shit. He hadn’t even thought about that. But it should have been obvious, he had several for emergency in his role as head of Slytherin, but this was different.
“Severus!” He heard Moody shout. Looking at him, he realised, that he must have called out to him more than once.
“You have a license as a medi wizard, therefore most injuries you can take care of. If it’s something more serious, go to a trusted healer. Sanct Mungos privacy is terrible, and I didn’t go through all the trouble of making sure no one knew about the adoption, while simultaneously ensuring it would be legal, for your kid to be outed by a healer.” Moody had gone fare and beyond to ensure no one knew he had a child until she would be sorted, they had both been paranoid enough to realise a child of death eater was already dangerous, but a child of a spy was even more so. Neither of them would make the mistake in trusting Dumbledore, he had a tendency of manipulation children as soon as he got his hands on them. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if he found out his spy had a weakness as big as a child, he for sure would do everything to get him to give up guardianship.
Severus had originally not worried about the headmaster. There was still a voice in his head, which told him, he should trust him with this. But Moody had been stubborn. And his arguments had been waterproof.
How many abused children could be found if Albus insists on full health check-ups at the beginning of every school year? How many children do you know, which go to him to ask to stay over the holidays and he sends them back into their abusive homes without checking on them or informing someone? How is the black number of those? Who voted for creatures not being allowed to have wixen children, no matter if the parent was biologically theirs or not? (That one had been a surprise, it led to Moody pulling out the voting records for the last year. To say Severus was shocked was an understatement. He always thought the headmaster was for helping creatures, but while he did indeed speak up for creature rights, he always voted against them.) And the question, which had convinced Severus to not trust Albus with his child: What would you have done, if you were headmaster and a child would ask to stay over the summer? Severus hadn’t even needed to think of it theoretically, as head of Slytherin he had had several conversations with children, who asked him about staying over the holidays. Slytherin was the house with the most abused cases, as abusive homes created cunning children, with a wish to get out of there, ergo ambition to survive.
No, Dumbledore couldn’t be trusted with the information of him taking in a child. Moody had done everything in his power to ensure, she was registered as his daughter, as in biologically. He had also ensured the information would be hidden, so no one would stumble over it. Sadly, blood adoption had been declared illegal a few years back. Moody said, if Severus found someone trustworthy, he would turn a blind eye and insist it was long before the law passed. But the only once who did blood adoption were the Goblins, and they would follow the law, not wishing to risk it for some runaway wix.
Clingeling. Ring ring.
Severus stared at the door. She was there. It must be her. No one else was supposed to come through the main door today.
“Snape. Remember, if you need anything, and I mean anything, I’m just a floo call away.”
Severus gave a sharp nod. Before moving towards the door.
Moody had said those words before. 10 steps towards the door. While Severus didn’t understand why (he hadn’t asked, woe him), he knew he was sincere. 7 steps towards the door. It was a scary thought. Someone out there wanted to be there for him. Well, his adoptive daughter. 4 steps towards the door. Holy shit, he was a going to be a father. 3 steps towards the door. Considering all the paperwork Moody hid in the last few days he already was a father. 1 step towards the door. Fuck! His students can never know that he would use such language inside his head.
His hand found the doorknob. Severus took a deep breath, in and out.
He opened the door.
* *
This was it. His lonely days were over.
Had he even been lonely? Or had he just been alone?
Severus might never know, because the moment the child first stepped foot into his home it was like she had always been there. She fit right into his life with her colourful personality and her quiet behaviour. Louder than her brother. More confident than her brother. But still careful and quiet. Still thoughtful. And most importantly unapologetically there.