1 : IMPERIO

CHAPTER 4: NARCISSISTIC BEHAVIOURS

Word Count: 4401

It was the day before the first of September, and Charlotte was running around the house, collecting all her belonging she had discarded over the period of two months.

"I can't find the paintings!!!" she shouted across the rooms. Snape was quietly sitting in the living room already tired by seeing her running around, and sighed.

"In the office Char" he said in a soft tone.

He was drained, and was not sleeping well. His little angel had spent her whole summer locked up in the house, and for a good reason – the snake. You know it's not true, reminded his mind, and Snape sighed again.

"Yes, it is" he convinced himself. Well at least partially it was. He had forgotten all about the sodding letter until the break had started, and then, there was another one.

"Found them!!" he heard Charlotte shout and walk out of his office balancing all of them in her hand.

The result of keeping the girl inside the house the whole summer was that she had painted – a lot. Seven. She had even asked him to help her with one of them. Quite a sly and sneaky move about asking him the colour of Lily Potter's eyes.

His attention was brought back by her closing the door of her room. He remembered the time when she was even afraid of walking up and down the stairs alone. Those were the simpler times.

"Dad" she said poking her head out with a small grin on her face. "Do I have any other letters that you haven't given me yet?" He tensed up a bit, but his usual cold and collected façade didn't change.

"Not at all angel. I gave you all of them." She gave him a trusting nod, and disappeared back in her room. It was a close one. He, in no way was going to give her those damned letters. He hadn't read them, and he wasn't planning to, but he knew who they were from.

Snape knew Dumbledore had no idea about them. If he did, the old fool wouldn't wait a second to rip them open and read, and then ask Snape to keep it a secret from her.

He knew Charlotte trusted Dumbledore with everything. And he was glad she did, but he knew that Dumbledore was no pristine mentor working for good. He was done with his share of bad and selfish decisions, and even now, under all the layers of wanting the Dark Lord gone was the old man's deeper motive.

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Charlotte was concerned about Snape. She wasn't sure what was up with the man, but hoped it would go away the start of the school year.

As per usual she found herself on the platform, waiting for another one of her friends she hadn't written to.

She had returned from Tonks' that day with a lot of stories about Sirius Black, and was now eight-one percent sure that he wasn't guilty. The remaining nineteen would only be covered when she would get to know about when it went south on the biggest night in the history of Wizarding World.

A little more information with proof and the man can be free. Actually live like a normal human being, she thought to herself with a smile.

"Squirt?" Charlotte was pulled out of her thoughts as she turned towards the voice, and saw Cedric walking towards her; Mr and Mrs. Diggory following close behind. She smiled and waved frantically, her luggage at her foot.

"Ced!!" she hugged the older boy who hugged her back without hesitation. "Wow, you're taller"

"And you are unreachable." His tone was somewhere between deadpan and disappointment.

"Sorry about that"

"Look who it is" she turned towards Mr. Diggory and smiled. "Ced told us you didn't reply to his owls"