It had been three months since Lily gave birth to her and James' son, Harry. As Snape sat in Dumbledore's office, the Hogwarts Headmaster entered the room with a small stack of papers.

"What's that for?" Snape asked, both curious and dreading the answer.

"Adoption papers," Dumbledore said simply.

"You're adopting?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow dubiously. A sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that answer was too easy.

"No. I was thinking you would benefit from it," Dumbledore said. "There's a baby around Lily's son's age who has incredible power. If we intervene quickly, we might be able to prevent serious damage being done."

"Why would I look after a baby? What the hell am I supposed to do with a child?" Snape snapped.

"It would do you good, Severus. This child needs a parent, and you could use something to do. Convince Voldemort that you'd raise her to be an incredible weapon that would make taking over the world that much easier, but that causing her harm would turn her against him."

At that, without wanting to, his mind began formulating a plan. He knew exactly what to say to convince the Dark Lord to let him look after a child without much opposition. There was just one problem. "What of our plan?"

"If it all pans out, the girl will play an integral part in bringing down Voldemort once and for all."

The look of mischief on Dumbledore's face caused Snape to squirm uncomfortably in his seat. "What about my job here? Won't raising a child cause some issues with me needing to be here or with the Dark Lord?"

"Bring her here. The staff will raise her. Just be sure to mark her in some way as yours so no other Death Eater will touch her in a malicious way. Besides," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "It'll give Hagrid something to look forward to."

"Hagrid?" Dumbledore nodded. "If he's causing trouble, why not let him go? Didn't he cause a lot of grief when he was in his third year here?"

The twinkle faded from the Headmaster's eyes, replaced by anger. "I do not believe Hagrid was fully responsible for that. He has a lot of love in his heart that comes out in unusual ways, showing affection to questionable creatures, but none of his pets have ever intentionally caused harm."

Snape held his hands up placatingly. "Okay, just asking."