Chapter Text
Severus walked on the gravel path as he had done many times before. Beside him walked his fourteen-year-old daughter, fourteen, God, how fast time goes by. He still remembered that little girl he had found, the broken child who had decided that he was safe. Now walking by her she was slowly becoming a woman, it was wonderful to see her grow up, but also the most heart-breaking thing he had ever done.
No matter what he achieved in his future, nothing could beat this. Severus was so proud of his daughter, how she faced every problem head-on, how she did not hide and stood tall no matter what. She was his baby girl, he remembers her always holding his hand as they walked through the woods, but now there was no longer a hand in his.
Severus sighed and that caught Annalise's attention, she looked at his direction, not being able to fully face him correctly because she was blind. She tilted her head and reminded him of a puppy.
“Is something wrong Dad?”
“Oh, nothing is wrong, it is just the realization that you never know the last time you do something for your kid. You never know when that will be, so you don’t treasure it enough.”
Severus started walking again when his daughter grabbed his hand. He held her soft hand in his, warm and alive. Somehow, she had managed to figure out what he had not managed to put into words. Gratitude filled him, his daughter was the best.
Many times, Severus was left wondering what would have happened in his life if she was not in it. What would he have done? Finding Annalise was the most important thing that had ever happened in his life.
It had been just after graduation from Hogwarts; he had managed to keep Lucius at a distance telling him that he could not take the dark mark as long as he was in school. It would be too notable. He managed to convince him; he had managed to buy some time. But that time was up. He felt sick, Severus did not want to do this, but what other choice did he have?
Getting all of the ingredients he needed to brew dreamless sleep, he would need that in the days to come, something broke the silence of the woods. A cry, hushed harsh voices. Severus cast a delusions charm on himself and walked towards the sound.
There were four men arguing and pointing at a small bag. What was in that bag? Severus walked closer to hear what they were saying.
“She is worthless now; we have to get rid of her.”
“Where, if someone finds her then we are screwed.”
“You all need to calm down,” said the third man, clearly someone the other looked up to as they stayed silent while he talked. “We will just kill the girl and bury her, no one goes this deep into the woods.”
There he was wrong, cheap up-and-coming potions masters were willing to go anywhere to get their ingredients for free.
Severus watched them horrified, they were talking about killing a child as if they were nothing. He remembered how it felt when his father beat him, and told him he was worthless. But this, this was worse. The leader pulled the sack open and Severus got his first view of the child.
Her dark hair was matted to her head; the skin he could see was dark marred purple with bruises. But the most horrifying thing was that she had no eyes. It was not the unfocused eyes of someone who was born blind or went blind thanks to an illness. No there were no eyeballs in the socket. Someone had taken them.
Severus wanted to throw up, but it took all his strength and effort not to. Anger built inside of him; this was a child. Severus was often described as an angry child, teen, or adult. Almost everyone he meets says that he is an angry and resentful person. But even he who mostly felt anger had never felt this level of anger before.
The fury filled him and gave him more energy than he had ever had. He watched as one of the guys got out his wand and Severus lost it, for the first time in his life Severus lost control of his magic.
The temperature dropped; the ground started to shake as the plants reacted to his magic pushing them. The guys looked around and Severus started to cast spells. He knew many nasty spells and he was not afraid to play dirty.
It was probably thanks to the Marauders that he had learned to fight this way; thanks to them he knew how to take down four against one. When he had taken down two of the guys with his cutting spell the other two started to run away, but the awakened trees would not let them, grabbing them, and throwing them around.
Severus would have loved to stay and watched them get the beating they so deserved, not reflecting on how he had taken two lives, He ran to the girl who was curled up trying to make herself small. He took her into his arms and promised her that he would make sure that she was safe. And he knew that he would never break that promise.
Severus was brought out of his memories when Annalise stopped and looked around. The prosthetic eyes made sure that nothing hurt her eyes socked but her sight was gone for the rest of her life.
He saw that as one of his biggest failures. Oh, he had tried, he had done everything, taken her to so many people. But no one could give her sight. She lost her eyes when she was young and her body had cut all the blood supply that had been going to the eyes. Not even a magic prosthetic would work.
“Daddy, what is that?” Severus watched as his daughter walked off the path and walked into the woods.
Severus followed her into the woods, his interest high. Annalise had been running around here since he was a young girl. Severus often joked that she was a wood fairy. They would spend hours here, him collecting ingredients and her dancing around. Her magic connected to the trees so that she would not turn into anything.
But that it seemed like it was something new here? It was odd, how would it come here? The Prince family had owned this land for a long time, no one should be able to come in this close to the house. Severus made sure the wards were strong so that the wildlife would be safe as they had many rare species such as unicorns. But also, so that Annalise would be safe as well.
He took a large step so he was closer to his daughter, her only moving her head slightly as he came closer. While Severus knew that his daughter was capable of many things, his biggest fear would always be that someone would hurt her, and he would be all alone again. That he would not be able to keep his promise to her.
It was only weeks after the event that Severus understood what had happened. Severus had saved Annalise from an illegal human experiment and trafficking ring. They were looking into creating human weapons. By subjecting small children, they kidnapped them to many different experiments. All in the hope of being able to give them to he-who-must-not-be-named.
When Severus found the papers about Annalise he threw up. He had seen many things, heard a lot, and been through a lot. But it was too much for him. They had killed Annalise's mother after she just had managed to give birth to the girl. She never even got to hold her.
After that, they started her on many experimental potions. They wanted her to be able to see what wizards could not. They even tried potions they believed would give her Telekinesis. But nothing worked, they made higher doses, and gave her more and more potions.
It was then that someone had the idea that for her to be able to see what they could not, they had to take her eyes. But it had all been too much on Annalise’s malnourished and dehydrated body. She had gone into a coma for weeks, and when she woke up, and was proven to be a failure again. They decided to get rid of her.
It was only later when she had time to heal, with careful supervision that they found out that she had been a success in a different way. It all came from a little comment she made three months after Severus saved her.
“You are mostly dark green.” It was a small comment she made one day while they were eating breakfast. Severus stopped eating and asked what she meant. She then proceeded to describe his aura.
Aura was something every living thing had, but it was a very personal thing. It showed what magic people were best at, it showed how strong they were. Therefore, it was not something that was often talked about in public.
But somehow, something in the experiments had opened Annalise up to sense auras. Every person she saw she could say what they were good at and if they had ever practised dark magic. Severus scared of what people would do if they knew, did his best to keep the information hidden.
Annalise also had a deep connection to the earth, seeing almost through the ground. That was why she liked the woods so much, she could feel where all the trees were, she could feel what she could not see. After being with him for a year she would spend many hours running around barefoot in the woods.
Severus understood that she was sensing an aura, but what could have given off such a strong signal that Annalise would be able to see it so far away? It had to be something special. When she stopped Severus walked to her side to see what it was, she was looking at.
It was a small dark green plant, with one small white flower on each plant. Severus watched closely as Annalise sat down on the ground interested not caring about her skirt. She slowly put her hand forward and touched a leaf. Severus could feel a pulse of magic when she touched it. The flower on the plant stands up straighter than before.
Worry filled him as he noticed this unusual reaction. What was this? He did not recognize it at all.
“Tell me what you see Annalise,” Severus spoke in a low voice not wanting to break his daughter’s focus.
“It… it is glowing, it is so bright.” Wonder filled Annalise’s voice.
Severus thought back wondering if he had ever seen this plant before but just as before, he came up with nothing.
“What color is it?” Severus asked wondering why this small plant gave off such a bright aura.
“It is white, pure white.” Severus became a little calmer hearing that. White meant pure, healing. Hopefully, that meant that Annalise would not get hurt by it.
“I will sketch it so that I can see if we can identify it back at home.” Severus brought out his ink and paper and worked on painting a perfect replica. When he was done his daughter still looked at the plant entranced.
“Annalise, I think it is time to go home, you shouldn’t touch it until I know that it is not something dangerous.” She leaned her head back and he saw her calm face.
“No Dad, I… This plant would never hurt anyone, it… it is special.”
“Annalise, can you describe it to me?” While Severus and Annalise rarely fought most of their fights started because of misunderstandings. She could not see what he did and he could not see what she did. It led to confusion and sometimes arguments and both parties felt that the other was not listening.
“It only wants to heal, it’s so white, so pure. I think you will need it in a potion; we should carefully take one and bring it home.” Severus took a deep breath pushing away his worry, his daughter was fourteen, and he should trust her more. He had to trust her when she said that it was not harmful.
“Okay, but let me do it.” Severus carefully took the plant from the earth and put it into a pot. Walking back Severus did not like the way his daughter looked on the plant in his hands, it was like she was in a trans.
Severus took the plant into his study and closed the door, scared that his daughter might have gotten sick from touching the plant. He brought out all of his herbology books but nowhere was a plant like this one.
Its leaves were round and smooth, its flower small and white, now that he looked closer, he noted a lightly pink tone. He was stuck; it was not something that happened often with herbology but it only raised his desire to figure it out.
Went into the library and looked in the old books he had taken from the prince's property. It was a book from 1853 that had the answer.
The small and fragile plant of Bhola island is a plant that is revered for its healing powers, said to be able to heal broken nerves. But sadly, thanks to over harvesting the plant is now extinct.
Severus carefully compared the plant to the one on the paper. It was it, there was no question about it. But how was it in Britain? He walked to his daughter with his discovery of the plant. She listened carefully and then nodded.
“That makes sense, you will need it.” Severus turned to look sharply at his daughter.
“For what will I need it for?”
“I don’t know, but what I know is that Lady Magic wants you to do something with it.” Severus took a deep breath, his daughter since she healed and dared to speak again had always spoken about Lady Magic. The goddess of the old wizards, how she was the reason why Severus saved her.
How lady Magic made sure that she would go to a good home. But Severus ever the cynic had problems with that idea. If Lady Magic could make sure that Annalise came to a good home, then why had she not saved his daughter from years of pain? To believe that there was a higher power, hurt too much to think of.
But he had learned the hard way that it was always best to follow his daughter’s advice. Severus concluded that his daughter was a seer, and she spoke of what she saw by invoking the name of Lady Magic.
Lady Magic knew how her representative felt, he was the only representative she had ever had that did not believe in her. But she could understand why, Severus had been through too much pain to believe that she was there. Oh, how she wished her vision had never been clouded.
When her representative dies her Magic chooses the next one. Knowing this some dark spirits hid Severus away from her. To try to turn him away from her. It hurt so much to see her hurt children. But she was a goddess of her word, she had promised young Annalise while she was being tortured that she sent her representative to save her, and he had.
Severus looked over all of his old creations, he had patented many potions throughout his career. After saving Analise from those monsters he took her to his home, the small house which was empty now his mother was dead and his father was in prison for life.
He poured so much magic into the small girl doing everything to heal her, she had only turned stable after two days. Two days of a constant drain on his magic. It was only on the fourth day she woke up.
Severus had fallen asleep on the chair he put beside her bed. He heard the small whimper from the bed, the girl who had played outstretched on the bed had curled into a ball. Shaking in fear. Severus felt the familiar feeling of bile rising in his trough. A child should never have this kind of fear.
“Hey it is okay little one, I promise I won’t hurt you.” The girl flinched at his voice and then turned around. Severus was shocked when she threw herself towards him, Severus having to catch her so that she did not fall onto the floor.
The small child, still shaking curled up into his embrace. Severus was in awe when she clumsily took her hands around his neck and hugged him. He put his arms around her; it was only thanks to him being so close that he heard what she said.
“Thank you for saving me…” Small broken whisper. It was hard not to cry.
“You don’t have to thank me; I only did what anyone else would have done.” The girl shook her head and Severus decided that it was better not to argue with her.
“What is your name child.” He hands his hand in her hair which he had carefully detangled while she was unconscious.
“I… I think I am Annalise.” The answer sounded more like a question.
Annalise curled up in his arms and fell asleep on him. At that moment Severus was stuck with a sleeping child on his lap. The trust she had in him. Severus felt so protective over her, he would do anything for this child, anything.
It all changed the trajectory that his life had been going. He told Lucius that thanks to him being a half-blood he was not pure enough to be able to join the dark lord. Then he went to the goblins and managed the impossible, to get a loan to get his mastery in potions. He even managed to get a healer to look over Annalise.
What Severus did not know was that the Goblins who were much more intoned to the magic of the land could see who he was. How Lady Magic pushed them to help him. They never planned to look over the child, but when he had brought her with him, they could not help it.
Ids looked at the young wizard in front of him, only eighteen. The boy had come ready to argue, to fight to get a loan. Ids was not one of the high-ups in the Goblin hierarchy, but he could see the glow around him. He was the one, the new representative that everyone had been looking for.
People had started to be scared that there had been too few followers left of Lady Magic. That led her to discorporate that they were going closer to the end of the world. But now here he was, angry, defiant, spiteful, and ready to argue. Ids did not know much about the search but he knew that the previous representatives were close to nature, always kind. But there was no denying that the boy was the one.
The small child he had in his arms was also marked by her touch. It was horrifying when the child turned around, with no eyes. He went against all of the rules that he had been taught; he would have a healer look over her.
Telling the young Prince heir the boy looked at him in shock. The healers were also shocked when they were called in. But it did not take them long to see why.
After becoming the youngest potion master in Brittan’s history Severus went on to make many patents. The potions he made many said were impossible but Severus never backed down from a challenge. During the war, Severus had put everything into creating a potion to heal the effects of crucio. It had been good at stabilizing all of the fragile nerves, but it could not make them grow back.
Grow back, that was it.
It took a month but soon Severus turned in his potion for testing. A new crucio relief potion. The study now taking place. Many people wondered how Severus managed to find the plant, but he had no idea how to explain it. He and Alexandria Black a distant cousin of Sirius black had worked with him to preserve the rare plant.
Walking into the house Alexandria had been nervous about what she would find. She knew Severus only by reputation, people said he was a secluded angry man who was not afraid to curse anyone. Alexandria who had never been a fighter was scared of what she was entering into. She knew that Snape hated her cousin and she hoped that this was not just a trick.
Walking out of the floo She saw Severus for the first time, He wore black robes, it was common for potion masters, but what shocked her was the child beside him. The girl was small probably around eleven or twelve.
“Hi nice to meet you,” She did a small bow and he responded, and then she turned to the girl. “Nice to meet you I am Alexandria, what is your name?”
“Annalise,” Was the only answer she got. Alexandria grew worried as the child did not behave as any child she knew, was the child, okay? Was she hurt? Was Severus the mean man that everyone warned her about?
“How did you find the plant?” She asked Severus.
“I did not find it; Annalise was the one who did.” She looked at the girl again the girl was looking at her, but something was wrong. It took her a couple of seconds to realize that her eyes were not real, but instead made of porcelain.
“How?” She started to say then realized how rude she sounded.
“I can see what others can’t,” The little girl said, her dark brown hair carefully braided away from her face. Alexandria followed them into the woods, shocked when she saw the girl walk without any help.
The woods were deep and Alexandria realized that this must be some of the oldest woods preserved in Britain. Following the girl, she started to wonder if it all was a hoax, how could the plant be here? But she followed the girl.
Reaching the plant Alaxandria could not help but touch a leaf. She could feel the magic alive inside the plant. It was just as Severus had described it to the herbology guild.
“You have to be careful of who touches it, if they are dark, they will taint the plant and they will die. That is how they died out the first time, people succumbed to greed, that tainted the plant and made them die. “
“How do you know that?” Alexandria looked at the girl in shock.
“Lady Magic told me,” She turned to Severus and noticed that he had pinched his lips slightly.
"Annalise is a seer, after she touched the plant that night she started having visions of the plant. Seeing how greed corrupted people, how they killed off all of the old carers of the plant. And soon the plant succumbed to the same fate.”
Alexandria nodded; it did make sense from what she had read about it.
“Have you been able to transport it?”
“Yes, I have a couple back at the house, I am in the process of using it in a crucio relief potion.”
“So, you have started to harvest it?” Alexandria was a bit annoyed that they had just decided to use this rare plant instead of leaving it alone.
“We will need it; Neville needs his parents back,” Annalise said her voice now strong and determined.
“Who is Neville?” Alexandria asked in confusion.
“I believe the boy Annalise is talking about is Neville Longbottom, Annalise had a vision when she touched the plant of a young boy named Neville. Alice and Frank were tortured to the point of insanity, Annalise believes that my revised version of the potion will be able to wake them up.”
Severus explained, his daughter was a little shit, but it made him laugh. Annalise knew that she confused people and that when she spoke, she often spoke in riddles. But she found it funny to confuse people and decided to be a menace to society. Oh, how he loved her.
“Okay we will need to put up a system, if I take a plant I will try to see if we can make it grow at the Herbology guild headquarters so that we can make sure that if it is a powerful potion ingredient we won’t kill it.”
“The ground needs to be pure,” Annalise said, she was convinced that the reason the plant grew so abundant here was thanks to the unicorns on the ground. She told Alexandira this.
“There are unicorns here?” She asked in shock, usually, unicorns were never to be found on privet property thanks to the hunting of them.
“Yes, we have an active group of unicorns here, right now there are at least four foals that I have managed to see.” Alexandria looked at the plant determined; she would make this work.
In the end, it took her five tries to be able to establish the plant. They often dying soon after she planted them. Growing more and more frustrated she asked the higher ups what they thought.
“What was it that the girl who found them said?”
“She said the ground had to be pure for them to grow, the presence of the unicorn colony making the plant feel safe and be able to thrive.” The guild owned a lot of forest that was used in a lot of different ways, one that they have closed off thanks to unicorns starting to inhabit the land.
Now Alexandria with the head of the guild, Luise Carrol managed to get it set in the woods, and it thrived.
While Alexandria was working hard on establishing the plant, Severus worked hard on the potion. And now he had the finished result in his hands. He had waited until after the potion guild had gone through the first face of the potion testing.
The results in the report in front of him were unbelievable. People woke up from comas, and prisoners of war were able to sit up and speak for the first time in years.
Still, Severus was afraid, Agusta Longbottom was on her way here with Neville. Agusta was well known everywhere, but in the end, she was a mother and grandmother. Severus loved his daughter so much, if she had been hurt stuck in a hospital bed for eight years, not speaking, not moving. He did not know what he would do.
His worst fear was to give her false hope. To make her believe that her son would wake up and stay deep in his coma. But now with the report, it was time.
Severus laughed as his daughter’s hand clumsily hit him lightly in the face, then wrapped around his neck and hugged him. He put his hands at her waist and held her close. Annalise had asked him if he could braid some flowers into her hair today, and he could never tell her no.
Her dark brown hair was braided back; she loved it when her hair was out of her face. Annalise had been six years old when Severus took her to a muggle prosthetic office. No magic prosthetic had worked, so he decided to do this the muggle way.
His daughter stayed close to him; he had his arm around him. They had taken out her previous magic prosthetic for this appointment, which always gave her extreme pain and discomfort. But she knew that others thought that she was creepy.
Severus shielded her from all the eyes; he did his best to protect her from bigots. In the office, Severus saw the moment that the man saw her fully. He pulled back in horror; Severus had explained a muggle version of what happened before they walked in. Thankfully the man gathered himself quickly and was kind and careful to Annalise.
“I see no reason why she would not be a candidate for a porcelain prosthetic.”
“Oh, that’s good, all the others have given her so much pain.” The doctor nodded sadly as he looked at the girl.
“The good thing is that you can choose exactly how you want them to look.” He said trying to cheer Annalise up. The little girl scrunched up her face in thought, Severus finding his hand going through her hair.
“I want them to look like daddy’s!” Annalise said it with so much excitement. Severus could have cried right there and then. She wanted to look like him, he had wondered many times if he did the right thing by her to adopt her. He was always so scared to turn into his father; to hurt his baby, this was the biggest compliment he had gotten in his life.
Since she had gotten the prosthetic that looked like her father’s eyes Annalise never wanted to have them covered up. She went from doing everything to hide her eyes, to wanting to show them to the world.
Severus kissed her head; Annalise was right Neville deserved to have his parents. He was doing the right thing here. The floo lit up and soon Agusta walked out looking prim and proper. Then Neville came out, falling out from the floo.
Neville soon found his footing stood up, and hid behind his grandmother. Severus saw her disappointed face, but he did not think it was fair. He was just a kid.
“Neville, do you want to see the garden?” Annalise asked putting out her hand for the young boy to take. Severus watched as his daughter led the young boy away so that he could be alone with Agusta.
“I will have you know that it was improper for you to write to me without any pervious introduction.” Agusta’s voice was high and demanding. Everything Severus hated about the “Higher class” he found ridiculous. But he took a deep breath this was not about him.
“Here, I wanted to give you this report personally.” Agusta opened her mouth ready to argue when Severus pushed the papers onto her. He could hear her grumbling about proper etiquette and all of that. But he did not care.
Soon her grumbling tapered off, and soon there was only silence filling the room. Severus drank his cup of tea and waited for her to go through the report. He could see when she got to the man who woke up from a coma fifteen years later. Her hand stopped moving her eyes still.
“Is this a joke…” No longer was her voice high and mighty, but weak, scared, and hopeful.
“No, this is the result of a study made from the potion guild. I am the one who made the original crucio relief potion and now I have made a better version.” Agusta looked up at him.
“You, did you make that potion? But you are too young.” Severus let out a deep breath he was well known in the potion’s world, but not outside as he never liked being in the public’s eye.
“I am the youngest potion master in Brittan’s history.” It was not boasting but simply stating facts.
“Oh, I remember I read about you… Do, you think you can bring them back?” Agusta who had walked in with her head high and spine straight, was curling into herself. Filled with fragile hope.
“I never would have approached you if I did not think it would work. I was hesitant to show you this. Just to think about being in your position makes me sick. I never wanted to cause you even more pain.” Severus met Agusta’s eyes, he wanted her to see that he truly meant what he said.
Outside in the garden, Neville was looking at every plant. Back at the Longbottom manor they mostly had beautiful plants. But here, it was filled with fascinating once.
“And here is the plant that can heal nerves.”
“What? I had not heard about it?”
“It will soon be published in the herbology guild that the previously extinct plant of the Bhola Islands is back. I believe that this plant can change a lot.”
Neville looked at the small plant, not knowing what he was truly doing. But Annalise saw what he was doing. His magic was reaching out, entangling with the magic in the plant. The flowers stood up higher.
Neville was just happy that he was allowed to follow Agusta when she was going to this meeting. He was so happy that he was not forced to be with his Uncle Alby. He shivered, he hated his uncle, he always hurt.
Annalise sensed that the boy's mood lowering. But she did not know how to cheer him up, she was scared to tell him about this new potion in case Agusta decided not to use it. He was a young hurt boy.
“You’re really good with magic,” She started she heard the boy gasp in surprise.
“No, I am not, my whole family decided that I was a squid and said that I would not get my Hogwarts letter.”
“What, but you used your magic just now.”
“I did?”
“Yes, did you not see how the plants rose under your attention, how they grew stronger? You are really good at herbology I can see.”
“Yeah, Grandma says that herbology is weak magic.”
“What? She is wrong, so much of our society is the way it is because of plants. Without people protecting and taking care of our plants there would be no potions. We learn from nature; they are the oldest teacher of them all.”
They stayed there in the garden until Severus called them back. They walked slowly back into the manor Neville's head filled with new ideas. He wasn’t weak, he could do some good in this world. Never before had he received any compliment on his magic.
“Come here, Neville. I have some papers to look over when we get home.” And after that, they were gone. Annalise felt for the young boy; he sounded so hurt.
“Dad, I don’t think they treat him right.”
“No, I don’t think so either, but I hope that his parents will be able to set the record straight.” Severus put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. It was a lovely summer day; they deserved some ice cream.