Always In Your Shadow: Calista Snape Volume I (Snape's Daughter)

15.

Severus felt a physical relief as his mind was reunited; he had sent a significant amount of his psychic energy into Calista's mind, and when it all returned, it was like settling into a familiar, comfortable bed after a long and exhausting journey.

He kept just one tendril in her mind, hooked it onto the bubble at the forefront of her mind, where he had enclosed all of the memories that were tied to the scars on her back, and how Bellatrix had exploited them.

He didn't know now what would become of happier memories that referenced this memory in some way, memories where he comforted her after her nightmares. At best, they would become fuzzy, half-remembered; she might know that he had comforted her, but wouldn't recall what dream she'd had. Or, those memories might disintegrate entirely, once they were released into a mental landscape that no longer contained the original reference memory. In removing the worst of her memories, it was almost a given that he had also altered some of her happier memories, some of the ones that had finally allowed her to trust him.

Of course, all of this was only applicable if she chose the way he thought she would, if he had been correct in his opinion that she was rather a lot like him. There was a very real chance that he was wrong, that she would choose to stay cocooned with her best memories, and choose that comfort over the ability to make new ones. Severus didn't know what he could possibly do from here, if that was what she chose. He had gotten used to caring for her, interacting with her; he wanted to know what sort of person she would grow up to be, free of Bellatrix's influence. More than that, he liked her, plain and simple. He liked the bedraggled little family they had become.

But he'd offered her a choice, once, and then he'd balked from letting her make it; so now he had done that, and he hoped he didn't come to regret it.

When Severus was fully returned to himself, he looked around the room. The curtains had been drawn up around Calista's bed; he didn't know if there were other students in the hospital wing, now. He could see no one at first, besides Calista, who appeared to be in a deep sleep.

As if he had summoned her, Poppy appeared, breezing through the curtains. "Severus?" she queried. Severus looked up, nodded at her.

She tskd. "You look exhausted, my dear. But you've finished, with...?" she trailed off; she didn't know precisely what he'd finished with.

Severus nodded. "Yes."

"I'll go and send for Dumbledore then, yes? He was here for several hours, but he had to leave a little while ago. He said to call him when you were finished."

"How long have I been here?"

Poppy glanced down at her wrist. "Nearly eight hours. You've missed dinner, but I'm sure something can be sent up."

"I'll send for something to my quarters later, after I speak with the Headmaster."

Poppy nodded, and left the curtained area. She returned a moment later, and passed Severus a goblet of ice water. "Here, have this at least, dear."

Severus accepted the goblet, took a deep drink. Momentarily, Dumbledore arrived, stepped into the curtained area.

"Is it done, Severus?"

Severus nodded, again. "It is, except for one piece."

"Ah, and that is?"

Severus took another sip from the goblet, then set it down on the tiny table between the bed and the chair he sat in.

"Bel-," he paused, cocked his head. "Are there any other students in the wing?"

"There was a broken leg earlier," Poppy said, "Quidditch injury. But he's just left, so Calista is the only one again."