Speechless

Prologue

It's been a winter evening.
Unremarkable Muggle neighborhood in London kept its moderate life, having nothing magical in its existence.Two school friends, quite unusual for such an ordinary area, were passing by.
Lily Potter- already married to her high-school first love ,walked next to her childhood friend Severus, talking about recent events occurring in the world of magicians. In their opinion, the Muggle district was the safest place to meet up. There were supposed to be no unexpected surprises, however, if everything were as we assume, life would be perfect anyway...

  At the intersection of two streets, a small dirty blanket screamed out loud. Both exchanged quick glances after a child cried and Lily decided to check ,who was making these heart-rending sounds.Throwing the blanket back, she saw a one-year-old baby, screaming, probably from the cold or fear of being all alone.Huge eyes with wet eyelashes seemed to look into the very soul.Her eyes were glassy with tears, and therefore seemed even bigger and more pitiful. 

- Severus .., - she raised her pleading eyes to her friend, the Slytherin, guessing her intentions, frowned and stretched his hand to help her get up. 

- Come on, Lily.This is not our concern.You already have a child to take care of, and her mother may come back for that.

-Of course she won't. Look at her.Who leaves a baby alone in the middle of a crowded alley? Certainly not to come back.She's been abandoned, we can't just leave her here! 

Severus pursed his lips in a displeased grimace and reluctantly asked,
- So what do you suggest? Drop her off at the baby's house, she's a Muggle kid. 

- Severus, I thought... we could pick her up. I mean, you should bring her up; I have a family and a baby, but mine is not safe right now because of the situation in our world.But you're different.You're lonely.... 

The man frowned and stared at the love of his life being shocked.
How could she say that?
It's been her fault, so he is doomed to a bachelor life for the rest of his days.
And all because of the arrogant Potter, who had been following her since the beginning of the first year. 

- No, that's not what I meant, I'm sorry.I wanted to say that it would be nice if you took the baby for, then you wouldn't be bored alone, you would have your own little family.You don't have to tell her that you're her father, you can just name yourself as her uncle and that's it.Come on, Sev. For my sake... 

For God's sake, Lily has always dragged wounded birds ,beaten puppies, all are doomed and destitute.
She probably chose her husband with the same pattern.

Severus looked at the child, who was gazing at him with tearful, pleading eyes, as if she understood every words. The baby's lips were cracked from thirst or hunger, and her skin became completely of goose bumps. No wonder. She was wearing only a blanket. 

- All right, Lily. If you're asking...

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Time dragged on as if you spent years watching water hit the back of your head drop by drop until you go crazy. It's a pretty good comparison.This naughty feeling was torture indeed leading to madness. Sometimes it seemed to Severus that this life would never end, no matter how long and painful it was. The only bright thing about the whole future was that the Dark Lord had fallen....and Lily with him.  Severus was there that night.Entering the house, he stepped over the cold body of James Potter with horror.At that moment, no composure could save him from emotions, and no hatred could stop him from sympathizing to the dead man.
However, he saw the scariest thing later, when he entered the child's room.
Lily....his Lily, lying as cold as her husband, her eyes are still wide with horror. A little boy was sitting in a crib by the window and looking at a tall man with interest. The child was no longer crying, as if he knew that the cause of his troubles had disappeared into oblivion.Only the small dried tracks of tears on his cheeks testified that he was afraid ,that all this was not a dream, but reality, but it was already over. 

That's it, Severus thought.
At that moment, the greatest desire was to protect the boy with her eyes, as much as the desire to take care of the little girl that Lily had entrusted to him. 

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Time passed , the seasons changed each other , as if there was any sense in it ,as only autumn existed for Severus.It was as dark and gloomy as he was. Severus tried to raise the child in the way of kindness" remained in his heart and the care that could have ever been in his character.
It was a bummer.
The girl turned out to be a sheer brainless creature ,in his opinion.
She seemed to be a Muggle, and couldn't even start talking at the age of 5. She tried to express herself with incomprehensible sounds and gestures , but even this did not always make the professor understand what she wanted.
However, the child's dumbness did not bother him in any way, rather, it even pleased him, since he would not be able to endure the chatter of a child, and then a teenager.He was never verbose and got used to silence, it was wonderful that the silence in the house was not broken even with the child's presence.
Closer to the age of 10, the girl began to surprise him by the fact that she was drawn to knowledge more than anyone in her childhood years. Of course, a Muggle-born couldn't be attracted to magic and potions, but she liked Muggle information.Without lying, Severus noted that even this did not reduce her mediocrity, both in the magical and Muggle world. Of course, he convinced himself of this, imagining that Lily's son must be an outstanding wizard or Quidditch player, at least he would study at the greatest school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.Severus had no doubt that the boy would be brilliant. After all, he was the son of the most talented witch and, unfortunately, an excellent quidditch hunter of his time. Thinking about all this, the professor looked at the girl who would not even be able to taste magic.
Perhaps she wouldn't be able to ,until Severus hadn't received an invitation letter with Dumbledore's stamp
addressed to his "niece".