“It’s me. Dad’s teaching right now and I’m here for a few days, filling in for ‘Mione until she comes back.”

“What about Ginny? What class are we in? Where’s Jack and Jacob?” Eliza shot off as she lugged her trunk from the fireplace. “Well?” she demanded when Harry wasn’t answering as quickly as she asked.

“Ginny’s doing well, she’s got two and a half more months of being pregnant. Jack and Jacob, I’d assume, are in Potions with Dad. I feel sorry for them, though. He didn’t get any sleep last night since Voldemort gathered the Death Eaters. He’s in a horrible mood, naturally.”

“I thought that you guys had defeated him way back when. How on Earth did he manage to get resurrected again?”

“We didn’t kill him, so he couldn’t be resurrected. Hermione merely found a spell to strip him of most of his magical powers. He was forced to live as the thing he hated most—a muggle.”

“So, how could he call Daddy?” Eliza asked, levitating her trunk and charming it so it would follow her. “I mean, doesn’t it require magic to make the mark burn?”

“Yes, it does. He probably had someone do it for him. Only he knows how to do so.”

“Er…right.” Eliza yawned and rubbed her eyes. When Harry looked at her, she pulled a face. “I had a long night, okay? Mum and I were up all night hushing up the triplets.”

“Right. After class, get Jack and Jacob and come see me. I want to discuss what you saw on the third floor.”

“How do you know I was there?” Eliza asked defensively.

Harry pulled out a roll of parchment and handed it to Eliza. “Next time, don’t leave this thing open where people can see it. Clever, though, that you finally managed to make the map.”

“Thank you. Can you bring my trunk up to my dormitory? I’m sure Daddy’s unpleasant enough… I don’t want to give him extra reasons.”

“Sure thing. Don’t forget, I want to see you after class.”

Eliza nodded and slipped into the classroom unseen by everyone except her father. Severus noticed the rings under her eyes and inclined his head. Eliza shrugged him off and went to her normal spot. Jack and Jacob saw her and grinned. “What are we doing today?” she whispered.

“We’re making a simple pain-relieving potion, Miss Snape,” Severus said from behind her. “As you are late, I suggest that you quickly start. Already you’re going to have to stay behind to finish the potion.”

Eliza nodded and quickly gathered the ingredients. She could brew the potion in her sleep, no problem, but the time it required to boil and add the ingredients in properly was very consuming. She set the water in her cauldron to boil and then scooted between her two best friends. “Harry said to go to Mum’s office after class. Tell him I’ll be a little late.”

“10 points from Gryffindor for talking during class, Miss Snape. I expected better than that. And, your cauldron’s about to boil over. Take care of that before I take another 10 points.”

Eliza rolled her eyes and quickly took care of her cauldron. The rest of the class went off without a hitch, except for the fact that Gryffindor lost thirty more points because Jacob accidentally dropped in several ingredients at once. When the bell rung, the class rushed out, but Eliza was still waiting for her potion to cool enough to bottle. Severus approached her.

“Sleep much?”

“No. The gruesome-threesome kept us up last night and Grandmum and Granddad weren’t there to help. They left for their place at like 6pm. And Marny wasn’t there, either. So, it was me and Mum.” Eliza yawned for the third time in five minutes and swiped at her eyes. She looked at her potion—it looked cool enough to bottle. She quickly bottled the potion up and cleaned her work area, kissed Severus on the cheek, and bolted from the dungeons.

In the Arithmancy corridor, Harry was pacing the length of Hermione’s, currently his, office. Jack eyed his father warily and then looked at Jacob. Both knew that Eliza had traipsed on the third floor of Snape Manor a few times during her week vacation, but they weren’t entirely sure if Jack’s young aunt was in trouble with Harry about it. Soon enough, though, they’d get their answers. Eliza had just sprinted into the office.

“Sorry I’m late…had to stay after…Daddy wanted to talk…,” she hurriedly said.

Harry smiled Eliza and handed her a glass of water and perched on the edge of the desk. I’m suddenly having deja vu. I wonder if Remus felt like this when we’d hound him, Harry mused. “So, find anything of interest on the third floor?”

Eliza’s eyes widened. She choked on her water and set the glass down on the desk. “Er…yes.”

“Don’t make your responses sound like questions.”

“Sorry,” the girl said sarcastically. She turned to Jack and Jacob. “Daddy’s got the coolest library! Like, it’s the Restricted Section all over again, only, these books are totally cooler! Most of them deal with lethal potions and charms that are legal, but realllllly painful.”

“Cool!” Jack exclaimed, leaning forward on his chair. “What else is up there?”

“Two potions labs. One of them looks similar to a vet’s office.” Harry snorted at that point. “What?” Eliza asked, looking at him.

“That lab was the one he used to revive Hedwig, Errol, Pig, and Hermes in several times. During the war, Dad used that lab to test out new potions and stuff on Crookshanks and the owls. I think Neville even leant Trevor to the cause a few times, too.”

“And he’s got all sorts of cool potions ingredients that must have cost a king’s ransom. He had phoenix tears, dragon scales off of a Chinese fireball, unicorn blood…”

“Professor Snape has unicorn blood?” Jacob asked, shocked. He had always been taught that unicorn’s blood is the most sacred thing and that it was nearly impossible to get it. Which, it was. “Only dark magic potions use unicorn blood.”

“Not all of them,” Harry told them, moving to sit in the chair. “So, why do you think the third floor was off limits, Eliza?”

“You’re beginning to sound like Daddy.”

“How do you know that I’m not Dad?”

“Because I just left him in the dungeons.”

“How do you know that’s not Harry and we took Polyjuice Potion?”

“Because…,” Eliza trailed off as the potion began to wear off. During Harry’s seventh year, Severus and Hermione perfected a Polyjuice Potion that lasted three and a half hours. Harry’s bright green eyes turned to charcoal black and the slightly curly hair became sleek, and the facial features more pronounced. “Hullo Daddy,” Eliza said quietly.