Chapter 1
Eileen turned around, the sleeping position wasn't comfortable anymore. She stretched herself to get rid of the stiffness and yawned.
"Mummy?" she asked sleepy. A warm hand petted her hair, she hummed happily but needed a moment to realize that it wasn't her mother's hand. It was bigger and rougher, yet familiar.
"Daddy?", Eileen was wide awake and looked up,
"You're home!" The little girl smiled brightly and looked her father in the face. Severus looked down at her with a soft gaze and kind eyes, his daughter jumped up and hung from his neck.
"How do you feel, Elly?" He asked her. Eileen leaned back a bit, being held by her father,
"Feel good." She said and gave Severus a kiss on the cheek. He laughed softly and gave the kiss right back. Eileen giggled happily. Severus nodded and looked at her carefully. There were no obvious side effects due to the calming draught and since his daughter didn't complain he calmed down.
Eileen looked around the room, she became confused and hugged her dad tightly.
"Daddy, where are we?", she asked him with big eyes. Severus gave her a kiss on the head,
"We're at Hogwarts, Darling. In your bedroom in my, well, our quarters.", he explained.
Eileen was even more confused,
"Why aren't we home?" Severus looked at her calculating.
"Do you remember anything from yesterday?", he asked. Eileen tried very hard to remember anything, she was eating breakfast with mummy. Then they went into the Brewing room. Mummy gave her her book. Eileen read, someone was at the door…
"MUMMY, WHERE IS MUMMY?" Eileen jumped in her father's arms and looked frankly for her mother. Severus tried to calm her down,
"Shh, it's alright. Mummy is safe. She is here as well, calm down Eileen." He petted her head and back. She calmed down a bit though her breathing was heavy still.
"Can we go to mummy?", she asked him softly and Severus' heart melded.
"Sure thing, Love.", he kissed her head again. He stood up, holding his daughter close. He brought his daughter out of her bedroom into a smaller hallway. On the right side was a portrait of a snake in high grass during a sunny day. To the left side, the hallway continued with multiple doors. Severus went down left, he passed his and his wife's bedroom, a bathroom and finally reached the second last door, the living room. The last door would be his office for school business which would also lead into the hallways of the dungeons.
Severus went into the livingroom, it was decorated in Slytherin colours. It had a big fireplace, multiple plants to make it more homey. There was a big sofa and a couple big seats. A table in the middle. On one side of the room was a wall full with bookcases filled with all kinds of books. Margat was laying on the sofa with a cat on her. She had her eyes closed and was mindlessly petting the cat. It was a black and white male cat,
"Maximus! Mummy!", Eileen called. The cat looked up and Margat sat up a bit. Margat smiled at her daughter and let Maximus go onto the ground. He wasn't very pleased with being abandoned on the ground and went near the fireplace and curled himself up there.
Margat stood up and went to her husband and daughter,
"How are you feeling, baby?", she asked her daughter softly and took her from Severus. Eileen cuddled into her mother,
"Feeling better, Mummy. You?"
Margat laughed softly and reassured Eileen that she was well as well.
As Eileen learned, the attack from the men was yesterday and she slept through the rest of the day. Now, it was rather early on the next day. Her daddy had to go to work soon and her and her mummy were allowed to do whatever they wanted.
"We will eat breakfast in our quarters, when Daddy has his classes we will walk around the grounds of Hogwarts so you can become familiar with them. Alright?", Margat explained to her daughter who was excited to start the day. They ate together but eventually Severus had to get dressed properly. When he came back from the bedroom Eileen didn't want to let her Daddy go.
"Don't worry, Darling, I will be here, at Hogwarts, just like you.", he explained to his daughter who refused to let go of him. The traumatizing event from yesterday clearly left scars on her soft soul. She nodded at her fathers words and pouted. Margat held her daughter's hand while Severus walked out the living room, to his office and a few minutes later out towards his classrooms. A few tears fell down Eileen's face and hold close to her mother. Margat kissed her head and washed away her tears.
"Ready to explore the castle?", she whispers to Eileen who nodded sadly. She looked around interestingly while her mother led her through her fathers office and out the door. The hallways were spacy and dark. They are below grounds, in the dungeons, her mother explained. Its also the reason why there were no windows.
"Can we go somewhere with windows?", Eileen asked. Her mother smiled,
"Of course."
Slowly they make their way towards the big stairs which lead to the ground levels of Hogwarts. They didn't meet many students since the first classes had already started. A couple of Slytherin and Hufflepuff students looked at them interestingly. Margat smiled at them which most returned. Eileen huddled close to her mother, not wanting to become lost.
Finally, they were out of the dungeons, light flooded the entrance hall of Hogwarts and Eileen's mouth opened wide.
"Pretty.", she whispered.
"Ja, ist es.", her mother agreed. She let her daughter's hand go as Eileen stepped into the hall on her own. Margat followed her.
Eileen looked around to another great staircase on the right side. On the left side a giant door led to another hall.
"That's the great hall. Students and teachers are eating here or celebrating events and holidays there. Sometimes, Daddy eats here as well. We could too if we want.", Margat explained.
"A big room.", Eileen comments and walked into it.
"Yeah, it is. It must fit many people into it. The whole school at once sometimes!" Eileen nodded enthusiastically in the empty great hall. No one was here at the moment.
Suddenly, Eileen turned to her mother,
"What else is here? Where do we go?", Eileen is excited to explore more of this giant place. Margat laughed,
"Well, we must go to Madam Pomfrey first. I promised her I would look by. Then, we can go wherever we want."
"Then let's go, Mami!", Eileen jumped and ran towards the giant door towards the entrance hall. Margat followed her daughter.
"Up the giant stairs!", she called to her daughter who giggled and ran towards the stairs. Margat followed her daughter slowly, as she felt tender still.
"Hurry, Mami!", Eileen called.
"I cannot, Baby. But as long as you can see me you can run along!"
Eileen smiled big and started looking at everything. She was on the first floor above the ground floor now. She stood in the middle of a hallway,
"Left or right, Mami?", she asked her mother. Margat told her to go left and Eileen ran down the left side. She looked at the moving paintings, waved at a few people within the paintings, who looked down at her curiously. There were multiple doors on the right side and on the left many windows. Eileen walked up to the windows and looked outside. They were in the countryside as she saw a natural landscape.
Eileen ran further down until she heard noise behind one door.
She went up to the door and layed her ears on the wood, she couldn't hear any better! But Eileen wanted to know what was happening! Softly, she grabbed the door handle, which she could barely reach and opened the door. Though, the door opened with a loud creaking and Eileen stumbled into the room.
A tall woman with a pointy head and black ropes like Daddy stood in the middle of the room, students sat on benches on both sides. They all looked at her. Eileen freezed and grabbed her own dress scared. She looked up at the tall woman.
Though, the woman smiled kindly down at her,
"Well, hello Miss Snape. Up for some learning?", she asked her humoured. Eileen shook her head softly,
"I'm with mummy…" she whispered.
"Where is your mother?", the tall woman asked kindly and then Margat stormed into the classroom as well,
"Eileen!", she grabbed her daughter softly.
"Oh, I am so sorry, Professor!", Margat apologized, "I allowed her to run in front of me. I didn't think she would interrupt any of the classes." Margat was slightly embarrassed since she didn't want to leave a bad impression. Professor McGonagall laughed softly,
"Don't worry. She will learn it now. No harm done, curious children are happier than those who stay behind anyway. Letting her explore is a good thing."
Margat smiled,
"Thank you, Professor."
"Ah, Professor is for the students. Call me Minerva.", the woman tells her and Margat nodded happily.
"I'm Margat and this is Eileen, my daughter. As you probably know by now." Minerva nodded,
"We sure must have a talk over tea and biscuits sometimes. But I must return to the class now. I teach Transfiguration.", the last sentence she spoke to Eileen. The little girl looked up at Minerva. She suddenly remembered something.
"Are you the kitty-cat Professor?", Eileen asked without hesitation. Everyone was silent until some students in the back couldn't hold it any longer and started giggling. The Professor smiled at her,
"Sure am.", she confirmed. Eileen smiled big,
"We have a cat too! His name is Maximus the Great! At first Daddy didn't want us to have a cat but now Maximus sleeps on daddy's lap often when he reads!", Eileen explained seriously. Minerva nodded happily. Now, the classroom was filled with students imagining their scary Potion Professor with a cat on his lap, many must force down a heartfelt laughter.
"I would love to meet Maximus eventually, though, unfortunately I really must return to my class now."
"Of course.", Margot agreed and hushed Eileen out of the Transfiguration classroom.
"Bye Professor kitty-cat!" Eileen called back and the door closed while laughter filled the room.
"Eileen!", her mother scolded her.
"What?", Eileen asked not knowing what she did wrong this time around.