A/N This Severus Snape and Leah Clearwater's story. This chapter starts about 3 years before Gift Or Torture

Chapter 1

The Last Manipulation of Albus Dumbledore

Severus' POV

I stood at the entrance to the office of the Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. I was just named the new Headmaster, replacing Albus Dumbledore, a man who I had great respect for, a man who was more like a father to me than my own father had ever been, and a man who I had killed only a few weeks ago.

I have been in this room thousands of times over the years, but never in all those times did I ever feel worse than now. I didn't belong here, I belonged in Azkaban. This place had always been Dumbledore's, and it always would be.

I could smell the sweets Albus enjoyed so. Nothing had been touched, and I am guessing Minerva MacGonagall couldn't deal with packing his things up. She didn't realize how little time she had to do so. When I was named Headmaster, the school closed off these rooms; the office as well as the private quarters behind, to all but me until I opened them and chose a new password.

I stood at that entrance for a long time, until my personal thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the man I killed.

"Severus, this is your place now. You must accept that," said Dumbledore's portrait.

It was only then I realized all the other portraits were empty. I moved into the room slowly.

"You must look past the reason that caused you to be appointed the new Headmaster. You must look ahead to what your job is as Headmaster."

"That being to allow the Carrows to punish as they see fit in order to enforce His line of thinking?" I coarsely asked.

"That being to protect the children as much as possible from the horrors they will fact this year," the painting replied.

I nodded, knowing what I could do was limited at best if I wasn't to blow my cover.

"Severus, you will find that the center drawer has a false bottom. There's something left for you there."

I was surprised, yet not surprised. I moved over to the desk and opened the drawer. I was shocked at how little of a difference there was because of this fake bottom, but with a quick wave of my wand, the sheet of wood covering the bottom lifted and revealed three small, almost flat vials. They were labelled One, Two, and Three, and they were Dumbledore's memories. This filled me with dread, but I took them and walked over to the Pensieve.

I removed the lid from the first, poured it in, and then entered the memory myself.

I was in the same office I left; however, I knew this was years earlier. Albus was sitting at his desk. There was a panicked knock on the door. When it opened, there stood the love of my life, Lily Evans! She was clearly upset.

Seeing her made me ache. I wished to a god I didn't think I believed in that I could reach out and hold her.

Albus' voice rang out, "Lily, what is wrong?"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here."

"Lily, I told you I am a friend. What is wrong, child?"

"I'm sorry. Being in hiding like this, the people we see are limited. I had to talk to someone, but I don't think anyone will understand," she rambled. "You have always been the most understanding."

"Lily, I will not judge you."

"I don't know if you'll say that after hearing what's wrong," Lily cautioned.

Albus rose from his seat and took Lily by the hand, leading her to a chair. "Tell me," he encouraged.

"You know that things have been rocky for James and I of late?"

"Yes, I noticed."

Tears started to well up in her green eyes. "They have been really bad. We-" she stammered,"we haven't been together as a couple since long before Harry was born. First it was me expecting, then the stress of Voldemort looking for us and Harry."

"Lily, stress does affect couples," Albus consoled her.

"I'm five weeks pregnant! James and I haven't been together in months. I'm five weeks!" she sobbed.

"I mean no offense, but do you know who the father is? It's not Sirius, is it?"

"No, never! No, Severus Snape is the father." She sounded very conflicted.

She was carrying my child? My mind rushed back to a night years back:

Flashback

It was a surprisingly calm night and I was sitting alone in my parents' home in Cokeworth. My mum and dad had passed away the winter of my seventh year. I was having a drink after returning from a Death Eaters meeting. The screams of someone being tortured had given me a headache. Suddenly, the peace of the evening was disrupted by thumping on the door. I wondered who would have the audacity to pound on my door at one in the morning! I ignored it, but the noise wouldn't go away. Finally, I rose and went to answer the door.

On the other side was Lily Evans – rather, Potter. She looked beautiful. Her red hair hung around her shoulders, looking like flames. My heart ached at seeing her. "Severus Snape! How could you? He's my son! MY bloody son! I know you hate James, but MY SON! How could you?" she screamed.

As much as I loved her, it was late and I was tired. "Would you shut up!" I grabbed her arm and pulled her into the house. "I have neighbours!" Only in the light inside the house did I see the tears that sat in her lovely green eyes.

"After everything, I still stood up for you when they said you joined the Death Eaters!" she said.

"I had no way of knowing the Dark Lord would think it was your son that daft woman was muttering about!" I shot back.

"I don't care. A baby, Severus! They were right all along; you're only out for yourself!" She shook her head disapprovingly at me.

"Who else do I have?" I asked in return. "There's no one."

"I didn't want to believe it when Dumbledore told me! I just kept thinking, 'No, I was his friend! He begged for my forgiveness once, but in the end I really am nothing but a Mudblood!'"

"Don't ever use that word!" I yelled and turned away. "You're everything to me!" I whispered, half hoping she heard, yet scared to death she had.

"What- you, you said..."

"Of course I did! The whole reason your precious James ever bothered with me is because of the fact that we were friends. You standing up for me would have only made it worse." She was silent. "Yes, Lily, he stopped once you were clearly not going to forgive me."

"I never realized, but you saw it all. Why?"

I closed my eyes. "Because I was always watching, Lily. Because..."

"You loved me," she wrongly guessed.

"Love, not that it matters now. Mrs. Potter, go home to your husband and son." Even I heard the hurt in my voice. I had wanted to sound cold.

"Sev..."

"Go!" I ordered.

She never listened; instead she came around and faced me. "I never realized. I'm sorry! Had I known..." She then pulled herself up and kissed me. I took hold of her as I had dreamed of doing a thousand times before and kissed her back. When I woke the next morning, she was gone without a word. I never saw her alive again.

"Lily, how? Are you sure?" the Headmaster asked.

"Yes, he is the only man other than James I have ever been with."

"Lily, I then must ask; are you a spy?"

"What? No, I – I went to see Severus when I found out he was the one who told Him about the prophecy. I was hurt and felt betrayed." She paused, "Did you know he loved - loves me?"

"I knew; deep down I knew. I have seen unrequited love once or twice." Albus took a second before asking, "What do you want to do, Lily?"

"I don't know. James is smart enough to know that the baby is not his."

"We could alter his memory."

"No. And it would only make our hiding that much harder, adding one more body to this hell we are living."

Albus finally moved to the seat behind his desk. "So you want to end the pregnancy?"

"I don't want to, but what choice do I have?" She started to cry.

Albus was quiet for a long time before he finally spoke, "What if I could find a place where the baby would be safe and if you wanted, maybe even a place where you might be able to see your child from time to time."

"How, how could you do that?" she asked.

"There is an old charm, which you're very good at if I remember, that couples used to use a long time back to hide the fact that they had been together before marriage. It worked very well. And I think I know a few people who might welcome a child. Give me a few days. At the next Order meeting, if I have found a family, I will let you know by offering you a candy. It will be a magical one if it's a magical family, Muggle if they are Muggle."

Lily nodded as the memory began to fade.

I was in shock! There was no other word for it. Before I reacted, I decided to view the other two memories. I once again opened the vial and entered the memory. This time, Lily was in a bed holding a bundle of blankets that I quickly realized was a baby.

"Lily, I'm sorry, but we have to return you to James and Harry soon," Albus said.

I walked over and looked at the face of mine and Lily's child. I didn't know what newborns looked like, but this child had her mother's red hair. I never felt prouder or more angry in my life! I had a child I never knew.

I heard Lily whisper as she hugged the baby, "I love you, my little baby girl."

My mind rushed to all the young girls I had taught in recent years, trying to figure out who didn't look like their parents, but like Lily or myself. No one girl jumped to mind. Maybe she went to another school or maybe she was a raised by a Muggle family who didn't allow her to go to Hogwarts, or maybe she was a Squib.

As this memory began to fade, Dumbledore was taking the baby from Lily, who was sobbing.

I was sure the final vial would tell me what happened to my daughter. In my rush to open it, I almost broke it.

This memory began late at night on a warm night, Dumbledore stood knocking at a door.

"Who's there?" asked a voice from the other side.

"The stork! Are the others inside asleep?"

The door was then opened by Arthur Weasley. "Albus," he greeted warmly.

Albus stepped into the Burrow.

Molly came running over. "Let me see the baby," she cooed, taking my daughter from Albus. " A boy?" she questioned.

Albus smiled. "A girl, Molly."

"And how is her mother?"

Albus frowned. "Heartbroken." He paused, "You two are sure about this? Your family is already quite large."

Arthur Weasley spoke, "There is always room for one more."

"Then as thanks, as long as I am Headmaster, your childrens' school fees will be covered."

"What? No, that's too much! You have given us a daughter!" Molly protested.

"You don't understand how this is helping the Order."

"We did want to ask one thing, Albus," Arthur said.

"Yes?"

"We, Molly and I, would like to have you perform a memory charm on us. We don't want to remember that she is not a child of our bodies. She must be equal to our boys in every way."

"Did Lily name her?" Molly asked.

"Officially, no, but she did tell me a couple of times that if she could have kept her, she would have named her Ginevra."

"We would like to keep that," Molly said as the memory again faded.

Ginevra Weasley was my daughter! As I stood there, I tried to process the fact I knew, but did not really know, my daughter.

"Severus, because of her family's ties, she is at great risk. You must protect her and this secret," Dumbledore's portrait requested.

I spent the following year watching Ginny Weasley. I admit, in the past she did remind me of her mother, but I always thought it was just the red hair. I now realize how wrong I was. Why had I never noticed how much of the male population she held captivated? It bothered me, but I was pleased that she didn't seem to be dating. I did my best to protect her from the other Death Eaters at the school.

I know I was too easy on her and her friends for breaking into my office and trying to steal the sword of Gryffindor.

When the end of the war came, Voldemort, and even Potter, believed I gave my life. Had Potter been paying attention to me as he claimed he had his first day in my class, he would know I knew how to stop death.

Thankfully, Lucius remembered where he had sent me to meet the Dark Lord. He sent Narcissa to find me while his legal fate was decided.

I continued to watch my daughter, mostly from afar. From the second I knew she was mine, I have loved her, but like her mother, she can never know of my feelings. Now that the war is over, the world is an open book for her. It is believed that she is a Pure blood witch whose family fought on the winning side of our war.

She can marry anyone she wants, except Harry Potter, her half brother. I heard they had dated when she was in fifth year. Others claimed she waited for him, but they have not gotten back together, thankfully.

Today, I am sitting in a pub in a dark corner when I see Ginny walk in and take a seat at a table not far from me. A couple of minutes later, I see my godson enter and join her. She seems happy to see him. They make a striking pair, and they would be a good match if Lucius could get past the Weasley name.

I can't help myself; I listened to their conversation.

"Draco, I have something to tell you," Ginny said. She now looked nervous, as I had see her look in my class many times over the years.

"What's that?" he replied coolly. I am still, after all these years, amazed at how well the Malfoys hide their feelings.

"I just found out yesterday that I'm pregnant," she stated. My daughter was going to have a child?

I couldn't see his face. He asked, "And who's the lucky father?"

She smiled a sweet smile that I had seen Lily smile many times. "You, of course!" she replied with a chuckle.

"Me? So let me guess, Ginny; you thought I would jump at the chance to marry you and we would live happily ever after." He paused for a second, "I couldn't marry you even if I wanted to. You're nothing but a pathetic blood traitor! Take some advice, because that's all you're going to get from me; get rid of this problem!" He then rose and walked out.

I watched her face crumple. I had seen the same look in Lily's eyes the day I hurt her. Then her tears started to fall, and I wanted to protect Ginny, but the most I could do was console her. I got up and waked over to her then. I handed her a handkerchief.

I took the seat Draco had vacated moments before. I didn't give her a second to hide her tears. I knew that growing up with six 'brothers', crying was something she viewed as a sign of weakness. "You made a mistake," I stated.

"Thanks for pointing that out," she snapped. She clearly had grown since sitting in my classes. Gone was the little girl who feared me. "I don't need your criticism. I got enough of that in school!"

"I didn't mean to offend you." I looked at her for a long moment before continuing, "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know; no one even knew we were seeing each other. I'm not ready to have a baby by myself!" she admitted to me. My own mind rushed to Lily and how she felt when she found out she was expecting Ginny.

"You still have time to decide what you want to do." As I spoke, I wondered what Lucius would do if he knew about this. She could be at risk. "Here are a few things to keep in mind; members of Draco's family have, in the past, tried to kill you simply for looking at things differently than they do. You now are expecting a Malfoy, who, by all rights, could lay claim to everything they have. As long as you are carrying that child, you both are at risk. Now that Draco knows, I'm relatively sure he won't want to tell Lucius, so you need to decide if you want to keep the baby or get rid of it. The sooner, the better!"

"I could never kill it!" she said, horrified. She was so clearly her mother's child.

"Then you're going to keep it?" I asked.

"I'm - I don't - I'm not ready to be a single parent!" she lamented.

"You could give it away," I offered. A part of me hoped she would keep the baby. Maybe I could help her somehow.

"Who would want a child whose father's whole family were Death Eaters?" she asked.

I smiled. The evil part of me was alive! "A Muggle family who has no idea of the past war. It's also the perfect revenge on him."

I ended up offering Ginny the chance to come and live with me in a city in Canada. I had for years had a backup plan no one knew about. I convinced her she could live in my apartment with me until after she had the baby and had recovered. I even had a cover story for her. She was going to take some University courses in human behaviour to better understand Muggles. I told her there were Ministry programs to pay for this. In truth, I would pay for them for her. She is my daughter, it was the least I could do. It would also give me the chance to get to know her better.