And from the Shadows

DISCLAIMER - None of these delightful characters are mine, all belong to JK Rowling.

"You cannot be serious," a throaty growl and the speaker leaned from the shadows, yet darkness cloaked him yet.

A silver haired man inclined his head once. A nod of confirmation.

"I' m afraid I am, Severus," Albus Dumbledore spoke in his habitually tranquil tone but there was no mistaking the resolve in his intent.

"Then you leave me with no choice. My answer is no," the reply was equally steadfast.

Seated behind his antique desk, the aged and revered Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy drew a heavy sigh. He shook his head, his long beard swaying.

He regarded the other man, who had remained standing throughout, his blue eyes steady and utterly without rancour. Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin House, one of the most feared Professors to ever grace the halls of this school. And one of the most principled, though he kept his virtues well hidden from even the keenest scrutiny.

"And what of your oath, my dear friend?" Dumbledore asked benignly and the younger man's face contorted with a deepening anger.

"Does it ever occur to you that you presume too much upon it?" Snape intoned harshly. Beneath scowling eyebrows, eyes blacker than a starless night sky flashed.

"A moot point for I ask what I must," the Headmaster returned.

Snape gritted his teeth, a muscle in his jaw clenching. He had been asked to perform tasks that called his own safety, his own survival into question in service of this man and he had not once questioned the reason for them. He had given a pledge and his word was true.

This was altogether different, this was not life or death, a line Snape walked with catlike precision. This was care giving, a universe as foreign to the Professor as the finer points of ballet.

"You are honestly asking me to take eleven year old child into my home? I am not married. There are plenty of teachers at this school better positioned to step into the shoes of a glorified babysitter!" Snape said.

"This is not a straightforward matter, Severus," Dumbledore managed to sound regretful and decisive at the same time.

"A classic understatement, I would say," Snape's lips twisted in a mirthless sneer.

"Xenophillus is missing. Unaccountably so. The suspicion of dark magic is very strong. Given these circumstances, I must have more time to establish what has happened. Meanwhile, the girl is virtually alone in the world," the Headmaster's face was grieved.

The features of his companion did not reflect a matching concern. Empathy did not come easily to him. The plight of a child he had never met did not stir his compassion.

"And if her father has fallen foul of dark wizardardry, then the safest place for her is here. I managed to persuade the ministry not to place her in the care of a magical family but at Hogwarts. In return, they requested that she be assigned a guardian," Dumbledore's gaze behind his half moon spectacles remained steady.

"So naturally you thought of me," Snape could have laughed at the bizarre line this conversation was following. That he should be the Headmaster's choice as protector for this fledgling fallen from its nest was as ridiculous as entrusting a lost kitten to a tiger.

Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled not in humour but the irony of this situation was not lost on him.

"Severus, you are believed to have certain connections." Dumbledore paused but his gaze did not falter. He sought to find the most tactful way to phrase what he was going to say.

"If it is true that some on the side of darkness are responsible for Zenophillus' disappearance, they are less likely to come after her if she is under your protection."

"Xenophillus Lovegood has been tilting at imaginary windmills for as long as he's lived. The only dark magic he has fallen foul of is some harebrained idea of his own concoction he's off chasing. No doubt he will turn up in a few days spouting yet more gobbledegook that he's pedalling as actual research," Severus' was far from being convinced that rescue was even needed here, much less that he should be a participant.

"That may be. And if so, the matter is resolved to everyone's satisfaction," the Headmaster held his hands out, palms outward, as if releasing an invisible object.

"But I should tell you, Severus, the symbol was found at his house. The Hallows. It was on a chain that he was never without. His daughter is adamant about that. And just as emphatic that he would never leave without her. Her mother died when she was an infant. They are the only family either one has."

The more Dumbledore talked, the more uncomfortable Snape grew, He felt as though the jaws of an unseen cage were closing around him.

"I repeat, Headmaster. I do not have a wife. I have no family of my own, no experience of childrearing whatsoever. Placing the girl with me is hardly appropriate," Snape tried once more, though he sensed the decision was already made, no matter what he said.

"Until we know what happened to Xenophillus the priority is to keep the girl safe. And you are better qualified for that than anyone else, Severus," Dumbledore rose from his chair, slightly stooped but still a commanding figure, tall and thin and magnificently clad in robes of incandescent shades of scarlet.

Snape dropped his head, lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.

"I will not mollycoddle her, Headmaster. If she is to live with me, she lives by my rules. I do not sing lullabies and bake cookies," the Head of Slytherin lifted his head once more and met Albus Dumbledore's amused blue eyes.

"Even I do not ask for that!" the older wizard smiled.

"Severus, the girl begins her education as a student here in the autumn. By which time, this matter will no doubt be resolved and she will be reunited with her father. But if not, she will be placed in a house, have her dorm. This is but a temporary inconvenience."

"And Lovegood?" Snape drawled.

"At this point, you know as much as I do. As you mentioned, Xenophillus cast a wide net into many obscure areas of magic. Most of it harmless I'm sure but it is certainly possible he stumbled on something more dangerous than the migratory patterns of wimble nooks," Dumbledore sighed.

"I still think he will turn up with his head full of the drabble he has been printing in the Quibbler for decades," Snape intoned.

"But if there is news to the contrary?" Dumbledore watched him carefully.

"Then I will find it."

Dumbledore nodded once, satisfied that the conversation had gone as well as he could have hoped for.

"The girl? Where is she?" Snape spoke with an air of resignation.

"She is with Minerva, in her office," the headmaster's response had Snape nodding his head. He might have guessed. Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House and the backbone of this school.

"And how much of this neat little arrangement for her future has she been told?" Snape asked silkily, rankled yet by the feeling of having been managed.

"She knows that she will be staying with a Professor from Hogwarts until her father is found. She is a bright girl, Severus and her concerns for Xenophillus are well placed. She has a sense of the danger. But her thoughts are not easy to discern in the first look. There is rather more to her than meets the eye, I feel," Dumbledore said.

Snape reached the door, which opened for him without being touched.

"And Severus? Perhaps you might try easing her into her new situation rather than an outright plunge?"

Meaning do not terrify the wits out of her.

"Of course," Snape did not turn around. His tone was guttural.

Snape had already stepped onto the first step of the enchanted winding stair leading from the Headmaster's office when Dumbledore's voice sounded once more behind him.

"The girl. Her name is Luna."