Mon Cher (Severus Snape Daughter FF)

Ch. 1 // COS

January 1983

Dumbledore furrowed his eyebrows as he heard tiny giggles coming from under his desk. He almost jumped out of his seat when a squealing Clara crawled out and sat at his feet. He smiled down at her as he lifted her into his lap.

"Now how did you get up here, little one?"

"Sherbet lemon." Clara recited the password she had learned after hearing her father say it about a million times.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Quite a fast learner, you are."

Even though she was just a toddler, Clara spent most of her time roaming the school, with the Hogwarts staff keeping a close eye on her, of course. If she wasn't in the Slytherin common room or her father's classroom, she was either with Professor McGonagall or Dumbledore. Surprisingly, she knew her way pretty well. About a few months ago, she led a few first year Slytherins to McGonagall's class.

"Daddy's class is boring." Clara sighed as she ran her tiny fingers through Dumbledore's beard.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows a little. "So you decided to come visit me?"

Clara reached for the little bowl filled with lemon drops.

Dumbledore chuckled, knowing the sweet tooth Clara had. Severus never allowed her to have too many sweets, due to Clara already being extremely energetic. He pushed the bowl towards Clara. "Don't take too many now. You wouldn't want me to get into trouble with your father, would you?"

Clara shook her head as she shoved a handful of the fizzy treat in her mouth. If the students had some kind of sugary substance, they were made sure to keep it out of Clara's reach. Two students once got two weeks detention after secretly sharing their chocolate with Clara. It wasn't fair though. Clara knew how to get what she wanted. If she was told "no", she turned up the cuteness as high as she could. Kisses on the cheek, purposely saying "pwease" instead of "please", and as a last resort.....crying. Though it did work on a lot of students (and some teachers), it never worked on Severus.

Professor McGonagall walked through the door, looking rather frazzled. She sighed in relief when she saw Clara, now sitting on Dumbledore's desk, still eating lemon drops.
"Clara, your father was worried sick!" She exclaimed breathlessly as she quickly walked to Dumbledore's desk and took Clara in her arms. Minerva took in the sight of Clara's face; sugar spread out all over her lips and yellow stains on her mouth and hands.
"Oh Clara, you're going to get poor Professor Dumbledore into trouble." Dumbledore stood up slowly and gave his wand a wave, cleaning Clara's face and hands. Dumbledore got to eye level with Clara. "Come back anytime you'd like." He whispered with a small smile.

Clara giggled and reached out to touch his beard again as if she were saying "Thank you."

Minerva rolled her eyes fondly. "No need to worry. She likes to wander, Professor, you know that."

Minerva mumbled as she carried Clara all the way to the dungeon. "How on Earth you got past your father, I'll never know."

"Sherbet lemon." Clara responded as they finally reached the door of Severus's classroom. Minerva rolled her eyes once more and tried her best not to smile as she reached for the door handle. Before the tips of her fingers could touch it, Clara suddenly started to levitate. Whenever Clara got nervous or scared, she would levitate from wherever she was. Severus had been meaning to teach her how to control it, but with her being so young, it was very difficult. Minerva certainly let him know one day after she floated all the way up to the ceiling of The Great Hall and couldn't get down.

"You try teaching a three year old how to conceal her emotions!" He snapped at her, holding Clara close as she sniffled into his robes.

"Oh no, Clara!" Minerva exclaimed, grabbing Clara's leg before she could get too high. "Sweetheart, it's okay."