An Unlikely Savior ~ (Edit) COMPLETED

Chapter 15 ~ Considerations and Decisions

The next morning, Snape arose early and prepared breakfast for both him and Eileen. Bangers and eggs with tea. He waited for her to get up, but she didn’t come to the kitchen. He walked back to her bedroom and knocked on the door lightly.

”Eileen, I’ve made your breakfast,” he called through the door.

There was silence for a moment, and then he heard her turning in the bed. He knocked again.

”I’ve made your breakfast,” he said again.

Eileen stretched beneath the covers then replied, “Just put it in the stove, dad. I’ll eat it later.”

Snape stood there for several seconds then said, “Are you coming to the shop with me?”

Eileen sat up in the bed and yawned, then answered, “No. I’m going to hang out at home today. I have a lot to think about. Go to the shop, dad. I’ll be fine.”

Well, at least she was talking to him, but he wished she would come out so he could see her, at least get some inkling of how she was feeling. But that wish didn’t materialize. He ended up eating his breakfast alone and leaving for work without seeing her at all.

Eileen had purposely avoided him. She hadn’t yet made up her mind how she felt about what he did, and didn’t want to talk to him about it without having it all straight in her mind. She didn’t want to say one thing, and then later change her mind about it.

When she was sure her father was gone, she padded out of the bedroom, used the loo, washed her face and hands, then went to retrieve her breakfast out of the stove. As she ate, she went over what she had learned about her father’s life. He’d had a hard one, much harder than she ever dreamed. It was as if he’d been born beneath an unlucky star.

But he made the best of his situation. He didn’t fold up in despair and was very courageous under the circumstances, and even—selfless in a way. He was a very warped version of a hero. Unfriendly, unpopular, snarky and cold, but still he did so much for the wizarding world and it had been completely thankless in the end. Even the way he received his Order of Merlin was an insult.

Eileen’s eyes grew wet as the memory of Snape strung up by his wrists and being scourged by Death Eaters under the red-eyed gaze of Voldemort came back to her. She’d seen his scars herself, but he wouldn’t talk about them really, except to say, again, that they were a result of his service.

She wiped her eyes and considered the situation.

The truth of the matter was her father had duped three women if she included herself in with Hermione and Delores. She imagined her real mother knew she existed now, since she had to give her the blood transfusion. And she understood why her husband punched her dad in the nose—although she still would have hexed Ron even if she knew the details. Snape was still her father and she’d lay down her life to protect him, just as he would do for her. They were family, no matter how underhandedly he’d acted. Underhandedness was a part of the Slytherin philosophy, although it was neatly packaged under “cunning and resourcefulness” to sound more palatable.

She thought about the way the Sorting Hat described those of her and her father’s house.

Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.

That was the truth.

She thought about Hermione. The first word that came to mind was “gullible” which was almost synonymous with “Gryffindor.” They’d run blindly into almost anything if they thought it was for a “noble cause" or in the name of “honor.” Paying off a Life Debt would definitely fall into the "honor" category.

Her mother had been young when the ritual happened, but—couldn’t she think? Eileen was only sixteen and she would have gotten all the details if she had been in her mother’s place. Her dad was being evasive, and evasiveness is always a sign of trouble. The devil was always in the details. Hermione might have gotten high academic marks at Hogwarts, but if Eileen was to give her marks for common sense, Hermione would have gotten a T for Troll. She had been easily manipulated because she owed Snape a Life Debt, and blindly accepted whatever plans he’d made for her. Stupid, stupid.

Eileen frowned as she remembered the Sorting Hat’s little verse about Gryffindor. It had her rolling her eyes when she was in her first year, and it still made her nauseous to this day.

You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart.

Daring, nerve and chivalry. That would get you a drink and a bag of chips in some places. How about common sense? Or brain cells?

Eileen shook her head slightly as she continued to think things through. Her father was simply being true to who he was when he had her mother participate in the ritual. Taking an unborn child seemed a horrible thing to do, but on the other hand, Hermione never missed it. It wasn’t as if it had caused her any pain.

But, Hermione wasn’t an egg donor. A donor freely gives whatever gift they have. In Hermione’s case, it wasn’t given, but taken. Still, it was her own fault. She should have dropped the daring and nerve and gone for smart.

Eileen didn’t blame her father for wanting someone in his life. Judging by the way it was going, he wasn’t going to find it. He said himself he wanted happiness and no one was going to give it to him. And he was right about one thing, he deserved something for all his pain and suffering.

And if he hadn’t taken that egg, Eileen would never have been born. That was a sobering thought and one that really worked in her father’s favor.

All right, what had she lost by not knowing about Hermione?

Well, she wasn’t influenced by her, first of all.

Considering Hermione was a Gryffindor, Eileen didn’t really feel badly about that. She saw how namby-pamby Rose was. Brrrr. All that pink she liked to wear. Eileen shuddered reflexively. She was a basic black kind of girl.

But, because of her father, she never had a chance to know a mother’s love.

Morally, this could be considered a terrible wrong, but honestly, Eileen had always felt adequately loved by her father, and had written off the woman she thought was her mother three years ago. She didn’t miss her at all. So not having a mother’s love wasn’t something high on her list. Her father loved her enough for two parents.

Hm. And there was the fact that she had siblings she could have interacted with—

Eileen nearly gagged. Rose Weasley was her sister—half sister. That almost seemed like the most horrifying part of this. But, it got worse. Hermione being her mother meant that she was a cousin to the Potters by marriage, and the stepdaughter of that git she hexed last night. She was up to her neck in Gryffindors. Ack!

Eileen let her forehead fall into her hand as she thought about what this meant when it got out. She couldn’t stand Rose Weasley. Gods, she hoped Rose wouldn’t want to “bond” and do “sister stuff.” That wasn’t going to happen. No way.

”Oh, dad,” she moaned, shaking her head. Their small little world had just enlarged significantly. She had extended family now. Did she have grandparents too?

She slowly recovered.

Well, the situation was what it was in any case. She could freak out on her dad, make both of them miserable in the process and let her happy life with him be ruined and filled with all the drama and angst she heard happened in other families, or she could accept what he did and why he did it and keep their lives on a relatively even keel.

Eileen really didn’t feel any sense of loss at all concerning not knowing Hermione, just shock. Shock faded with time and already it was easing. In fact, she might even be able to use her father’s deception to her advantage. A thin, daddy-like smile crossed her face.

She’d wanted a customized Firebolt since forever, but her father said something like that would be better given as a graduation present. Guilt might loosen his pockets significantly. Graduation might come a little early this year.

Yes, she could forgive her father. What choice did she have really? Besides, enough people had shunned him in his lifetime. She wasn’t about to do it because he wanted a child to love and nurture, and managed to create one. He still was a fantastic dad.

When last came to last, Eileen loved her father, faults and all. In fact, it was kind of nice to see that he wasn’t completely perfect. Oh, he had the Slytherin demeanor and tendencies, but she had never caught him doing anything really “bad” before.

Still, he’d been caught. One thing Snape had always taught his daughter was if one was caught in their deceptions, then they had to accept their consequences. Eileen already knew one thing she wanted her father to do, and as uncomfortable as it would be for him, it would be the right thing to do and give Eileen some closure.

As for her mother, Eileen wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted to do about her. She didn’t know anything about her other than she was a Gryffindor and gullible. No, that wasn’t completely true. Hermione had come to her aid yesterday and saved her life, despite the shock of discovering she had a daughter. And when she introduced herself, she didn’t use her name but introduced herself formally. Eileen would have been immediately suspicious if Hermione had given her name. So, she could be tactful and—thoughtful.

Eileen smirked a bit as she remembered her father pulling the curtain closed on her twice in the hospital room. He was terrible, and her mother got very angry about it. She might have called him something worse than a git if Eileen hadn’t been present. She could only imagine what they talked about when her father left. It was probably pretty intense. Knowing her father though, he probably blew her off. Well, she’d find out later, when he came home.

She rose from the table, stretched, and walked into the living room. It was lined from floor to ceiling with full bookshelves. Eileen looked at them for a moment, then began to peruse the titles, looking for something specific. After half an hour she found it, pulling the book out. It was the Big Book of Fertility Rites.

Eileen sat down in an armchair with it, flipping through the pages until she came to The Rite of Cernunnos.”

”All right, dad,” she said to herself, “let’s see exactly what it was you did to conceive me.”

She began to read.

”Ew!” she exclaimed as she read what was in the potion he’d given Hermione. “Dad, you put your spunk in it? Oh, that’s just disgusting.”

She made a face and stuck out her tongue.

”My mother definitely should have asked for more details,” Eileen murmured, still making a face as she turned the page. She read through the ritual and began to understand why her father didn’t tell Hermione about the fertility rite. She couldn’t have foreknowledge of it. Everything had to be spontaneous after imbibing the potion for it to produce results.

She then read what those results were supposed to be, a perfect blending of the best of both participants. Oh, so she was the best they could do, eh? Eileen found that rather funny considering a lot of people considered her to be a real bitch, especially other students. She didn’t do a thing to dispel that perception either. It gave her space and Eileen liked her space. She was really like her father in a number of ways. But she loved learning and could keep a large number of facts in her head. Maybe that was her mother’s influence.

She continued reading and came to a portion of the book that told of the dangers of the ritual. It seems that containing the fertilized egg through magical means could cause some weaknesses in the child’s development when placed in a surrogate, but the problem could be easily fixed by a clean infusion of one of the parent’s blood. In the case of a male child, the father’s blood would have to be used. In the case of a female, the mother’s blood would have to be used. If there was a problem, it would manifest within the first eighteen years of life. After that, the child would be fine.

So, that’s what happened to her. She bet her father had forgotten about that part of it, it had been so long since her birth. Good thing her mother was still around.

Eileen closed the book and put it back on the shelf. She then made a face again.

”Ew, I still can’t believe he put sperm in that potion,” she said, nearly gagging.

Well, sooner or later, she was going to end up talking to her mother at least once. That little kernel of knowledge might be fun to share with her when they did meet.

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A/N: Ok, Eileen has made the decision to forgive her dad, but have him do something that would give her closure, something that might be difficult for him. Knowing Snape, he’ll do it. He loves Eileen. Anyway, thanks for reading.