“Do I look really scary, Daddy? Do I?” Harry demanded, swirling his long black vampire cape about him dramatically and baring his fangs. “Arrrr! I vant to suck your bl-o-o-d!”

Severus pretended to cower away, hiding an amused smirk. “Harry you are the most chilling and terrifying little vampire I’ve ever seen. Why I’d bet even the real vampires would flee from you.”

“Really?” the child sounded delighted. “They’d flee from me! They’d flee from me!” he chanted, spinning around and around in the middle of the kitchen floor. He giggled as he spun, and Snape rolled his eyes, knowing that Harry’s hyperactivity would only get worse later on, after he had sampled his trick-or-treat chocolates.

Harry halted abruptly, to ask, “Do vampires have fleas, Dad?” He scratched the top of his head, his hair was spiked with Stiffening Gel. “I thought only dogs and cats and werewolves had fleas. The scummy ones, I mean, not like Moony,” he added quickly, not wanting to insult his Uncle Remus.

“Fleas? What do you mean, Harry?”

“You said they would flea from me, Dad, and I was just wondering where they got fleas from.”

“Harry, no, you misunderstood.” Severus corrected. “I meant they would run away from you. Flee, spelled F-L-E-E, not F-L-E-A. They’re two different words that sound alike but are spelled differently.”

“Oh. But do they, Dad?”

“Yes, if they don’t take a bath or wash their hair,” Severus conceded.

 The five-year-old shifted from foot to foot. “Dad, are they here yet? I wanna go trick-or-treating.”

“Harry, what time did Uncle Sirius tell you they’d be here?”

“Umm….three o’clock.” Harry replied. “When the big hand’s on the twelve and the small hand’s on the three.” He was just learning how to tell time.

“Right, and what time is it now?”

Harry looked at the clock on the wall. “Uh, it’s two . . .fifty,” he replied.

“So that means that your uncles ought to be here in ten minutes. Now why don’t you go and sit on the couch and wait quietly? I’m surprised you have this much energy after last night.”

Harry heaved a sigh that seemed to come from the tips of his little black boots. “Okay.” He gripped his cape in one fist and trotted into the den to throw himself down on the couch. He sat there, wishing that he knew magic to speed up time.

He yawned slightly, staring into the merrily crackling fire. Before he knew it, his mind had drifted , recalling the events of last night, the scariest night of his life.

* * * * * * 

“AHHH! Daddy! HELP! Daddy, it’s gonna EAT me!”

The bloodcurdling scream emerged from Harry’s throat, and he huddled against the far wall of his bed, trembling, his face pressed against Inky’s plush fur, tears dribbling down his chin. He was so scared of the Thing beneath the bed that he almost couldn’t breathe! He could hear it growling, low and menacing, and the sharp scritch-scratch of its claws across the carpet, shredding it as it crept forward, grunting and snuffling.

“Harry? What’s wrong, little one?” he heard his father call, and then the door was flung open and the tall figure of his daddy walked into the room, a sleeping robe flung hastily on over his pajamas, his hair awry and tousled from sleep. He had his wand drawn.

 Harry sniffed and sobbed, “It was . . .it was . . a . . .monster, Daddy! It came from under the bed and it . . it drooled on my foot! And then it tried to . . .to . . “

“To nibble on your toes?” Severus guessed.

Harry nodded vigorously. Clearly his dad had met this monster before, because he knew what it was like. “And it had great sharp teeth and it tol’ me it was gonna gobble me up and crunch my bones and drink my blood. I’m really scared, Dad. I don’t want the monster to eat me.” He started to cry again.

“Shhh, now don’t cry, son. There’s no such thing as monsters under the bed.”

“Are too! I saw it!” he insisted stubbornly.

Severus recognized the mulish expression on Harry’s face and knew he ought to save his breath and his sanity and quit arguing. He came and sat down next to his son and snuggled with him for a few minutes. Harry buried his face in Sev’s broad shoulder and tried to stop crying. He felt like a weepy two-year-old, but he couldn’t help being afraid of the frightful monster that lurked just out of sight in the shadowy corner under the bed. His dad rubbed slow calming circles on his back, murmuring that he was safe until Harry stopped crying.

 Then Severus asked, “Want me to take a look under the bed, scamp? If it’s there, I’ll scare it right back to the World of Darkness, where all the bad monsters go.”

“Yes, please.”

Severus set Harry back on the bed with Inky and lit up his wand and knelt down to peer under the bed. Harry held his breath. His father was the bravest man in the whole world, since not even the evil, hairy, terrible, sharp-toothed monster scared him.

A few minutes later, Severus rose and dimmed his wand and tucked it back in his sleeve. “No monsters under there, Harry. Just some dust dragons and some of your socks.” Severus made a face.

Harry smiled wanly. “You must have scared it away, Dad. Can you stay with me till I fall asleep? Please?” He knew the monster wouldn’t dare come out when his father was here.

 “All right.” He tucked Harry under the covers and the little boy sighed and clutched Sev’s hand tightly. “Go to sleep, scamp. I’m right here.”

 “’Kay.” The emerald eyes closed. Then they opened and Harry said, “Could you leave all the lights on, Dad? Not just the night light? The monster doesn’t like the bright light. It’ll stay under the bed then.”

Severus had agreed to that as well, but nevertheless it was a long time before Harry felt relaxed enough to fall asleep, and just as he was drifting off, he heard a dark voice hiss, Another time, little child! I shall feast upon your flesh and crack your bones. In the dark of the night, I shall come for you!

Petrified, he grabbed Severus’ hand for dear life and reminded himself that he was safe, that nothing would harm him so long as his father kept watch.

He repeated it over and over until he fell asleep.

 **********

 “Happy Halloween, Sev!”

 Harry sat bolt upright on the couch, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He must have dozed off for a moment and now he jumped down and ran over by the door to greet his two uncles, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. They weren’t actually related to him, but Harry called them ‘uncle’ out of respect and because they adored him.

 “Hiya, Harry!” Sirius grabbed him and swung him around until Harry squealed. “All set to go trick-or-treating?”

“Yeah! When can we leave?”

Sirius chuckled. “In a little bit.” He set Harry down.

“Padfoot, you’re a pirate!” Harry exclaimed.

Sirius was wearing a rather dashing pirate costume, complete with a red sash, a fake saber stuck in it, and an eyepatch. “Ahoy, matey!” Sirius growled, tickling Harry till he shrieked. “I am the dread pirate Blackbeard!”

“Cool! I didn’t know grown-ups got dressed up on Halloween.” He looked at Remus, who was wearing ordinary clothes. “What are you supposed to be, Uncle Remus?”

“A twenty-something werewolf,” answered the other.

 Severus chuckled, and Harry looked askance at them. “Huh? That’s not a costume.”

 “It is now,” Remus put in, laughing.

 The little boy rolled his eyes. He would never understand grown-ups! They were just plain weird. “I wish you could come too, Dad,” he said seriously.

Severus knelt down so he was facing his son. “I wish I could too, scamp. But I’ve got work, I’m afraid. They need me down at the hospital, in the Spell Damage ward.” He was on call, and just knew that this night was going to be one to remember. There were always too many accidents on Halloween.

“Cause you’re the best Healer in St. Mungos,” Harry declared proudly. He hugged his father. “I’ll save you a chocolate frog, Dad.”

“Thank you, Harry. Now remember that you’re to behave for Sirius and Remus. You stay within their sight at all times, no wandering off, and no eating any sweets until they’ve been inspected first. If I hear that you’ve given them any problems, you’ll be grounded when I get home.”

 “Yes, sir,” Harry said. Then he turned to Sirius. “Now can we go?”

“C’mere, rascal,” Sirius scooped him up and they Apparated down the street to Mrs. Foster’s house.

Several hours later, after they had gone up one side of Aspen Avenue and another, then down Gryffin Way, where Matthew Morgan, Severus’s Healer partner lived, and all around Mystic Terrace, Harry’s energy was finally beginning to flag. His sack was bulging with sweets of all kinds, magical and non-magical, his boots were pinching his feet, and his cape had a small tear in it from getting caught on a rose bush.

“Ready to call it a night, scamp?” asked Sirius, shifting the weary child to a hip and handing Remus the overflowing sack of candy.

“Yeah. I’m tired.” Harry yawned. The best part of Halloween this year had been meeting up with the Weasleys, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy. Ron had gone as a knight, and the twins as a two-headed dragon. Percy was a bishop. They had accompanied Harry for most of the evening, until their mother called them home for supper. Harry’s stomach growled. “I’m hungry, Uncle Siri.”

“Me too, kid. Let’s go home and eat something.”

“I second that.” Remus said, then they all Apparated back to the Snape residence.

After a filling meal of noodles with butter, bread, and a salad, Sirius and Remus took Harry into the den to tell him semi-spooky stories, fit for a five-year-old, where they dimmed the lights and roasted marshmallows over the fire, drank hot cider and made the child squeal in fright. Harry was also allowed to eat three pieces of his Halloween candy, following an inspection by both Aurors for any magical pranks or indecent hexes.

Of course, then Harry was wired and couldn’t fall asleep until way past his usual bedtime of eight o’clock. Sirius and Remus were exhausted by then and nearly fell asleep before Harry did. But they finally got the little imp tucked in bed, leaving the light on, and then they went to sleep on the couch and the recliner.

********* 

Something snarled and hissed from the shadows beneath the bed, smelling the delightful scent of an innocent sleeping child. The monster, newly summoned from its cold plane of existence, was hungry for the taste of pure innocent blood and sweet tender flesh. It drooled uncontrollably, its saliva burning tiny holes in the carpet, as it crept forward, inching out from beneath the coverlet and snuffling in excitement. Mine! Mine! Oh, sweet child of mine! Yum!

Some sixth sense woke Harry and he stared for an endless moment into a pair of malevolent glowing red eyes, eyes that gleamed with insatiable hunger and a lust to kill.

The eyes were set in a large pointed snout, like that of a giant wolf, only bigger, darker, with rows of cruel fangs, and midnight fur that had a bluish cast to it, and the ears were flat against its head. Harry was too scared to move at first.

Then he found some well of courage deep within and screamed loud enough to wake the dead. “The MONSTER! It’s come B-A-A-A-C-K! Help, Dad, Moony, Padfoot, anybody!” Harry scrunched up against the wall and sobbed, “Leave me alone!”

The angry creature growled, and spoke, in a voice that was dark and unlike a human voice at all. “I shall not leave, foolish boy. I am hungry and you shall be my dinner. Now, where shall I start? With a foot? Or an arm? No? How about a leg?”

It inched closer and Harry howled. “NOOOO! GET AWAY!”

“Harry! What the bloody hell?” shouted Sirius. He sprang off the couch and rushed into Harry’s room, wand out. The monster, far too wise to get caught, slithered back under the bed in the nick of time.

 “Padfoot! It almost bit off my arm!” Harry sobbed.

Sirius immediately came and sat on the bed, taking Harry on his lap. “Hey, kid, what’s all this? A nightmare? Shhh . . .you’re okay.” It was a few minutes before Harry could stop crying long enough to talk and tell Sirius of the monster under the bed.

To his shock, the Auror looked unconcerned. “Harry, there’s no such thing. Monsters under the bed don’t exist.”

 “They do! They do!” Harry wailed, growing hysterical.

“Hey, take it easy,” Sirius said, having never seen the child so upset. “Okay, I’ll take a look and prove to you, Harry James Severus that there is nothing under the bed except smelly socks, shorts, and dust dragons.”

Sirius knelt, peering under the bed, and it was then that the Thing came out of the shadows and nearly bit Sirius.

 The Auror went backwards so fast it was almost comical.

“Bloody damn HELL!” he sputtered, feeling a sudden sense of danger and evil. His first thought however, was Harry shouldn’t be in here, and he lifted the boy up and urged him to run down the hall to Uncle Remus.

While Remus attempted to comfort Harry, Sirius went back and tried to banish it, only to realize that it had vanished. Cursing fluently, Sirius made his way back to the den and found Remus talking to Harry.

 “Moony, you have to see this. C’mon, Remus. There really is something there, I could feel it and smell it. Smelled like rotten meat.”

“Sirius, please! I don’t have time to waste on your pranks.”

“It’s not a joke, Moony, I’m serious!”

“Padfoot, I swear, if this is one of your pranks . . .” he gently transferred Harry into Sirius’s arms and stomped off down the hall.

Five minutes later they heard the sounds of terrible growling, snarling, and howling. Harry pressed his face tighter into Sirius’s robe.

Then silence.

Then a pale and shivering Remus emerged from Harry’s room. “Stay away from me, please,” he gasped, his eyes the color of molten gold. “I can’t control my instincts too much right now. That Thing, it drew from me the wild side of my nature and it’s not quite safe to bring him to me now.”

 “See, there really IS a monster under the bed. “ Sirius pointed out. “What are we going to do about it?”

 “I’ve already put up wards so no one who is a Dark wizard can get through, and I’ve cast a spell on the room as well. It was bloody strong and smart too, and I think if we wait for the coming of dawn, we should be able to banish it.”

 “So you hope,” muttered Sirius, retreating into the master bedroom, where nothing was out of place and together the three huddled close to each other.

************ 

That was how Severus found them at one AM, in his bed. The flabbergasted Healer took one look at his two friends and his son and groaned. “What the hell is going on here?”

Sirius woke up first. “Sev, I can explain . . .Harry was screaming about a monster under the bed and I went in to calm him down and there really WAS a monster under the bed, honest! It attacked me and Remus and nearly made Remus feral.”

“Okay, Padfoot, you’ve had your little joke, now quit it.” Severus began irritably. “I’ve just spent the entire night working with badly injured people and I’m not in the mood.”

“But Dad, he’s telling the truth!”

 “Harry, what have I told you about telling lies, young man?” Severus demanded sternly.

“I 'm not!” Tears welled in the green eyes.

 “Severus, there really is something under the bed. It’s very strong, and it nearly overpowered me and made me turn feral.” Remus admitted sheepishly.

 Snape eyed the werewolf skeptically. He could well remember the days of their youth, when James, Sirius, and Remus had delighted in playing practical jokes on unsuspecting people, even him. And back in the day, Halloween had been prime for such pranks.

“Moony, this had better not be one of your infernal jokes . . .” he growled, then stalked off down the hall to his son’s bedroom.

As soon as he crossed the threshold he felt a difference in the temperature, it was a good twenty degrees cooler in here than the rest of the house. Shivering slightly, Severus’s eyes narrowed and he pointed his wand at the bed, which suddenly exploded up into the air.

There was a hoarse barked snarl and from the clot of shadows beneath the window slunk a creature that resembled a hound and a wolf, but was neither, being too massive for a hound and smaller than a wolf, with midnight fur tinged with blue, misshapen long jaws full of scraggly teeth and eyes that burned hell fire at him.

Severus kept his wand trained upon the thing, its tip glowing and it flinched and hissed. He knew what this was, recalling its description in a catalog of Dark creatures back when he was studying for the entrance exams to the Auror Academy. “I know you. You are a barghest, a wolfen demon from the Lower Planes, summoned here on this night to wreak havoc among the living. You live to cause destruction, but especially to slay and eat children, for their innocence is a spice you have never known. Am I not right, devil dog?”

The barghest spat, flinching at the harsh light, and spoke in a rasping sepulchral tone. “Even so, white robe. The blood of the innocent is a feast beyond compare. And I wouldst have it, till thee interfered, meddler! Tonight is my night, the night when my kind may roam, and exact revenge upon all thy weaklings who preach love, and kindness and friendship! PAH!”

It drew itself up, crooked limbs trembling. “Stand aside, wizard, and let me hunt as I will!”

"Never, fiend!”

Suddenly, the barghest launched itself at the tall wizard, mouth agape, and Severus slammed it with a burst of light, the Sunburst spell, making it whimper and yelp in agony. The light could not kill the immortal creature, but it could cause it acute agony. It rolled on the floor, pawing at its face, and smoked drifted up from it. Its strength was waning as the dawn slowly lit the sky, it could not fearcast effectively, nor endure the extreme light. Whining, it cringed and hissed defiance.

“Speak, hell hound. Who sent you here? Whose call did you answer?”

“Is a secret, that is! For me to know and for thee to ponder,” it sneered. “Secret not for thine ears, white robed medicus!”

 “Shall I make you talk, devil?” Severus demanded silkily. Then he barked out another spell, and a jet of light shot out from his wand and struck the barghest in the side. It howled and crawled backwards, scuttling for the shadows, except with the burst of light there were none. “Speak, or shall I slip aside the curtain and let the sunlight in?”

“Nooo, master! Please! Anything but that!” the creature begged. Sunlight was among the worst weaknesses it had, prolonged exposure to it rendered it half-dead.

“I’m losing patience, coward! Speak! Who summoned you?”

“A child read the words of summoning aloud from the Book of Night, and thus I am bound to obey the one who calls me. But once I appeared, the child allowed me to go where I would, for he was afraid,” the barghest seemed amused. “Do as thou will, he said, and thus I have! There are plenty of children to feed from, plenty of sorrow and fear to suck in and blood to sate me. I feast and shall never go hungry, ahhh!” The red eyes glittered malevolently.

 “A child summoned you? Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“Indeed, for it is truth.”

“And the name of the one who summoned you?” persisted the Healer, knowing that any demon knows the name of its summoner.

The barghest hesitated, and Severus gestured menacingly at the window, fluttering the drapes. “His name was Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. Young for such dark ways, but 'twas he who did call me.”

 “That’s a lie!” growled Sirius from the doorway, he had followed Severus, along with Remus and Harry. “Draco is my cousin, no older than . . .this one here,” he said, remembering just in time not to use Harry’s name when speaking to a Dark creature directly, for names are power.

 The barghest snickered. “Ah it pains thee that one so young walks the dark road, eh? How wonderous!”

“Shut up, you bloody bastard!” Remus growled, feeling the were nature stir despite all his attempts at control. The demon aura brought it out, like a lure to a hunting falcon.

“Werewolf,” the barghest hissed. “Let thy beast free, werewolf!”

 “No!” Remus growled through gritted teeth, fighting the pull of the were nature with everything he had. His eyes glowed a sickly yellow.

“Enough!” Sirius yelled, holding tight to Harry, who was shaking. He threw a light spell at it and made it screech. “Sev, let’s banish this thing.”

 “My thoughts exactly, Padfoot.” Then the Healer and the Auror raised their voices in a sharp chant, and suddenly the barghest was sucked back through a swirling gray vortex to its home of ice and bare rock where the lost and damned dwelled.

 Only then did the three men relax. Remus lowered the bed to the floor and Harry broke free of Sirius’s arm to run to his father and receive a very long hug. “Are you all right, scamp? That thing didn’t bite you, did it?”

“No, Padfoot scared it away before it could,” Harry reassured him. “I’m okay, Dad.”

“Thank Merlin for that,” Severus hugged his son harder. His son was safe, but there was another child who was not, his conscience reminded him. He looked up at Sirius. “We need to find Draco, Sirius. The taint of dark magic . . .”

“Will draw evil to him like moths to a flame,” Sirius sighed.

“Like father, like son,” Remus snorted.

 “Moony, I’m sure the kid had no idea what he was doing,” protested Sirius. “He barely knows his father, Narcissa separated from Lucius soon after the war was over and he was revealed as a criminal, though we could never capture him and bring him to trial. She never wanted Draco to grow up like that. Told her sister Andromeda so, and my cousin Tonks told me.”

 Remus looked unconvinced and so did Severus. The werewolf said, “Nevertheless, he needs to be dealt with. But that will be your job, Black. I’m still on edge, I dare not approach a child with a dark aura, I’m too likely to bite first and ask questions after.”

 “Stay here with Harry then, and I’ll go,” Severus said.

“What are you gonna do to him, Dad?” asked the five-year-old curiously. “Put him in time out for a week? Spank him with a slipper?”

“No, Harry, any punishment is Sirius’s job.”

 “Me? Why me? I’m not his bloody father?” sputtered the Auror.

 “You are his nearest male relation and have a duty to teach him proper behavior, Padfoot,” Remus reminded.

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Let’s go, it’s nearly two,” Severus reminded. He told Remus to take Harry back into the master bedroom until he returned and could cast a cleansing aura about Harry’s room. Sirius cast a locator spell, then the two Apparated away, following the tug of the spell.

Harry went willingly with Remus back to Severus’s bedroom, wondering what was going to happen to the naughty child who had played with forbidden magic and glad it wasn’t him in trouble this time.

 ************

Draco sat on the floor of the study, the book with the midnight binding open on his lap, listening to it whisper false promises in his ear. Read me and anything you desire shall be yours. Read me and al shall do your bidding. Read me. Read me.

The five-year-old bent over the book, not knowing the arcane symbols or the strange language, but that did not matter. The book would whisper in his ear and he would know how to speak the spells that would make everyone listen to him for once.

He opened his mouth to call out the words of yet another, more powerful summoning charm when there was a loud pop and two tall men appeared in the study. He gazed up at them in shock, what were guests doing here in the middle of the night? His mother wasn’t even home yet from her Halloween party.

“Draco Malfoy, give me that book!” Sirius demanded, making a beckoning motion with one hand.

Draco clung to the volume as it started to pull away. “No! You can’t have it! It’s mine!” he yelled. “Get off it!”

“It isn’t yours, kid, it’s a book of Dark magic, now give it here, you naughty little brat,” Sirius snapped.

 “No! No! I found it!” Draco hollered, still gripping the sides of the book, redfaced with temper.

“You might have found it, but I’m taking it. It’s nothing you should be playing with, young man.”

 Before Sirius could engage in another tug-o-war with the little boy, Severus cast a Butterfinger hex upon Draco, and the book slipped from his hands to fly into Sirius’s.

 Draco went ballistic. “You give that back, you dirty thief!” He threw himself on the floor, screaming and kicking.

 Sirius gaped at him in astonishment, and Severus merely rolled his eyes, spoiled brats throwing tantrums was nothing new to him, he saw ten or so each day in his practice. But the little boy’s fit brought another to investigate.

With a pop, a house elf appeared in the room. “Master Draco, what is wrong? Dobby heard you all the way from the kitchen.”

 “They’re stealing my book, Dobby! Make ‘em give it back!” bawled the child.

“Book, young master? What book is you reading? You cannot read and should not be in here. Your mother will be angry.” scolded the elf. Then he looked up at the two wizards. “What are you doing here, masters? This is Greystone Manor and I am Dobby.”

“Sirius Black, Narcissa’s cousin and Master Healer Snape. We’re confiscating a book of Dark magic from this wicked little brat here,” Severs told him. “He’s already used it to summon up a barghest.”

“Oh no! Master Draco, you is being very bad! You is not supposed to touch those books, your mother locked them away. How was you getting it?”

Draco shrugged, sniffling. “Found the key in her desk drawer. I just wanted to look at ‘em.”

Dobby groaned. “Now you is in such trouble, young master. Dark magic is bad, evil! Your mother says never to use it. You was supposed to be in bed.”

“I wasn’t tired, Dobby! I told you I wasn’t,” Draco whined.

 “That doesn’t mean you should go looking for trouble,” Severus interjected. “Dobby, where is his mother?”

“Mistress Narcissa is not at home yet. She is at a benefit party. Oh she wil be so angry at Dobby for not watching the young master.”

“Humph!” Sirius snorted. “She ought to be angry at the young master for touching things he knows he’s not supposed to.” He frowned sternly down at Draco. “Do you know what could have happened because you decided to muck about with Dark magic, mister? A lot of kids and other people could have gotten killed.”

“But the book said it would make people do what I wanted!” Draco cried, sniveling.

 “It would, but the book lies,” Sirius said. “That’s what a Dark magic book does. It lies and tricks you.” He cast a quick cleansing spell at the little boy, removing the dark aura from him. He knelt down so he was facing the child and said quietly, “You know what you did was wrong, don’t you?”

Draco squirmed, he didn’t like the look Sirius was giving him. “Ummm . . .I was bored.”

 “No excuse for playing about with this, boy.” Sirius said. "When your mother tells you to do something, you ought to listen to her. Do you know what happens to bad little boys who play around with Dark magic? They get sent to Azkaban and live there forever in a cold dark cell with rats and spiders and dementors. I’m an Auror, I send brats like you there all the time.”

Draco’s eyes were bugging out.

“Would you like to go there?”

“No! Don’t send me there, sir!”

“Then promise me that you’ll never touch a book of Dark magic again and I’ll think about it.”

“I promise!”

“Good. Dobby, fetch Narcissa. Tell her we need her here to talk to her,” the Auror ordered.

 “No! No! Dobby, don’t get Mum!” Draco cried, knowing full well that he would be in big trouble when his mother learned how naughty he’d been.

“Sorry, young master. I has to obey an elder relative.” Dobby said, then vanished to get Narcissa.

************* 

 Some ten minutes later, the two wizards and one very angry witch were seated at the dining room table, drinking spiced cider, and discussing the behavior of one very bad boy, who was standing in the corner in the kitchen. “I just cannot believe he had the audacity to steal my key and unlock the cabinet . . .! And to have actually cast a spell from that book! Merlin have mercy, but it must be his father’s blood in him. I tried so hard to keep him away from Draco, we never talk about him . . .” Narcissa groaned.

“Nonsense, Cissy. Draco’s not like Lucius, he’s just a little kid with too much curiosity and daring.” Sirius said.

“Like a certain other boy I could name,” put in Severus. Sirius blushed.

“Shut up, Snape. That was a long time ago. I only peeked at the first page of that book before my dad caught me and walloped the daylights out of me.”

Narcissa gaped at him. “You too, Sirius? But you’re an Auror.”

 “Yeah, which just goes to show you, Cissy. He’s little, but with the right guidance, he’ll turn out okay”.

 Narcissa sighed. “I do hope you’re right, Sirius. I want my son to grow up to be a decent man, not like . . Lucius.” Her mouth firmed. “And I shall be sure to impress upon his bottom the folly of disobeying me and seeking out things he shouldn’t have, the wretched little imp!” She sighed. “And here I thought I was going to have a nice Halloween, peaceful and quiet. Instead, I find my son summoning up demons, Merlin help me! Thank you for coming so quickly, Sirius.” She bit her lower lip. "Uh, you won’t report this, will you?”

“Since this is a first offense and you’ve promised to deal out appropriate consequences, no, I won’t.” Sirius said. “But if there’s a next time . . .”

“There won’t be.” Narcissa said firmly. “My son is a Black as well as a Malfoy, and I will not allow him to go dark. There is no reason Draco has to follow in his father’s footsteps, and I’ll see to it that he doesn’t.” She rose to her feet, a rather worn slipper clutched in her hand. “If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, a certain naughty brat has a rather pointed lesson to learn.”

Sirius winced. “That looks like the same slipper my father used to use on me and Reg.”

 Narcissa nodded. “It is. I found it in a box of his old things in the attic when I cleaned out Grimmauld Place after Uncle Orion died. This is the first time I’m using it and hopefully the last.”

 “Go easy on him, Cissy. He’s only five.”

 “I will give him exactly what Uncle Orion gave you, Siri,” she replied.

"Ouch. Remind me never to tick you off,” her cousin muttered, then Apparated away, followed by Severus, who told Narcissa that the dark taint had been cleansed from her son before departing knowing that this would be one Halloween young Mr. Malfoy wouldn’t forget in a hurry.

Or Harry either.

And for a month afterward, Harry insisted on sleeping with all the lights on and Severus next to him, after having first checked under the bed multiple times for any scary creepy horrible monsters. But the only monsters they found were some monstrous dust dragons and smelly old socks, which Severus declared were foul enough to make a barghest run for cover.