Protection In The Dungeons

Guardianship

I woke up a few hours later. A owl flew into the hospital wing, and dropped a letter In my lap. I picked it up. It read:

𝓜𝓼. 𝓚𝓪𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓪 𝓢𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓭

   𝓦𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓰𝓻𝓮𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓲𝓷𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓶 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓰𝓾𝓻𝓭𝓲𝓮𝓷 𝓜𝓼. 𝓜𝓾𝓻𝓹𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓼𝓪𝓭𝓵𝔂 𝓹𝓪𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝔀𝓪𝔂 𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓮 𝓐. 𝓜. 𝓐 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓻𝔂 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓴𝓮𝓻 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓹𝓲𝓬𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓾𝓹 𝓪𝓽 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓶 9 3/4 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓱𝓸𝓰𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓼, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓮𝓼𝓬𝓸𝓻𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸 𝓪 𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓷'𝓼 𝓱𝓸𝓶𝓮. 𝓦𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓼𝓸 𝓼𝓸𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓯𝓸𝓻  𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓼.

  ~ 𝓛𝓾𝓬𝓲𝓾𝓼 𝓜𝓪𝓵𝓯𝓸𝔂

    I couldn't believe it. Ms. Murphey had died. I was alone. Again. This was the first time that being alone actually bothered me. Professor snape walked in while I was wiping my eyes. He walked up to me and handed me a handkerchief. "Is something wrong, Ms. Strand?"

I nodded. "My guardian died. I'm going to go back to the orphanage again..." I wiped my eyes. Why was I telling him this? It's not like he cared.

He was silent for a few moments. "No, you're not going anywhere."

I looked up, confused. "What do you mean, Professor?"

He looked at me in an almost fatherly way. "You're not going anywhere. I'll be your legal guardian."

Hot tears spilled down my cheeks. "Really? You actually... want me?"

He wiped my tears away quickly. "I'm not letting you go live where you have an uncertain future. No one deserves that."

I smiled slightly. "You actually care about how my life goes?"

He chuckled a little. "I saved your life once, I don't mind doing it again."

I looked at him. "You remember?"

He nodded. "Yes, I remember. I'm sorry I couldn't protect your great aunt..."

I looked down at my hands. "I thought that you were in league with the guy who killed her."

He sighed. "It's complicated. Let's not talk about that though."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, but I decided to let it slide for now... "Okay..."

He stood up abruptly. "Oh... look at the time. We're going to be late for the feast. Come on. Let's not dawdle." He held out his hand to help me out of the hospital cot.

I took his hand, and stood up. He stood by me for a few seconds to make sure I was steady, and then he walked out of the room. I hurried behind him.

We got to the great hall, where I was greeted with a huge hug from Cedric.

Snape sat down in his place at the faculty table. I looked at him, grateful. He gave a quick nod my direction, and resumed his usual phlegmatic expression.