Tom had seen Severus, along with Draco and Harry, leave Honeyduke's and go down the street toward Gladrags. Tom had been at the Post Office mailing off a quick note to Percy about the owlet that he'd forgotten to send from home. The boy - Neville was his name Tom thought - that had been spoken of at lunch came barreling out of the sweet shop, drew his wand and though he couldn't hear the incantation, he was sure that the boy had just cast a spell at either Draco or Harry.

It had to be one of the boys Neville had aimed at. He simply couldn't believe the little snot would be brave enough to try for Severus. Not to mention Severus' cloak was so heavily laden with counter-spells and protections that it almost glimmered.

The boy turned and caught Tom's eye and paled, racing back into the shop. "That's as good as an admission of guilt." Yvane snorted.

Tom's temper flared. How dare that snot-nosed brat hex Draco? Draco had done nothing to him. Listening to Severus during lunch had given him a faint sense of pity and kindness toward the boy, although tales of woe regarding children was nothing new to Tom - having grown up in an orphanage. That all had evaporated while he watched him cast that spell.

Tom half-jokingly chanted ‘don't kill the boy in front of witnesses' to himself several times. Kids hexing each other was not particularly alarming - it happened a dozen times a day at Hogwarts. However Tom sensed more than simple mischievousness behind this. The boy's face hadn't held any of the devious glee of a simple prankster, or even the triumph of someone successfully returning fire in a prank war.

The boy had looked bitterly furious.

"Well, rumor has it that any number of Severus' ex-students might look that way - but he isn't old enough to have endured any time in Severus' potions classroom. As well, the spell did seem aimed at Draco or Harry." Yvane attempted to soothe Tom with a bit of humor.

Tom sighed, he knew that Yvane would not let him harm the child. At first he'd hated it that Yvane could control his magic, then he'd been relieved to have the control in someone else's hands. Now he disliked it that it might be necessary - that he might not be able to control himself.

Tom grimaced a small smile and shooed Dudley away to follow Severus and the boys to Gladrags. "Tell Severus I'll be along in a moment." Dudley nodded absently and walked toward the store, muttering about Christmas lists. Tom turned and went into Honeyduke's.

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Neville raced into Honeyduke's, his triumph at firing the curse at Draco Malfoy evaporating at having likely being caught. His triumph turning into panic. He looked around frantically - Grandmother was talking to a motherly looking red haired woman with a young girl standing beside her.

Neville noticed a red haired boy nearby looking at the various - sized boxes of chocolate frogs. He must belong to the woman as well, and if Grandmother was speaking to them they must be ‘upright wizarding folk'.

Neville hurried up to the boy and joined him in perusing the goods and tried not to hyperventilate. The boy looked at him curiously and Neville smiled a little anxiously. The boy finally stuck out a hand and said, "Hello, I'm Ron Weasley."

Neville took his hand in relief. "I'm Neville Longbottom, pleased to meet you." Neville answered, and started nervously chatting about some rare ‘Frog cards' he'd collected over time. He kept an ear open for the door, but still started nervously when it opened - bells jangling - and Tom walked in with a fierce look in his eyes.

Ron turned to see what had caught Neville's eye and said with a scowl. "Oi - it's that git that trots around after Harry Potter and the Malfoy brat. What's he want?"

Neville immediately felt better. Someone else didn't appreciate ‘The Boy Who Lived' or his friend the Malfoy heir. Best of all he seemed to dislike this Tom person.

Tom noted Neville's strategic placement with the younger Weasley boy, who was scowling at Tom.

"You need to find out what he cast ---remember what is important here." Yvane urged.

Tom took another calming breath and walked up to the pair, ignoring the furiously flushing Ron. Tom fixed on the nervously gulping Neville.

Tom had studied Occlusion in school and had been looking at Legilimency. Of course the dragons communicated with him through Legilimency, but it was mostly with Yvane's help - and the other dragon allowing it. It was likely very different from Legilimency with people, he thought.

Lucius and Severus had said that Lord Voldemort had become brutally proficient at it. That had been enough to make him hesitant to study it further as far as use on another person - instead of a dragon. Tom could see how easily the art could be abused by a strong wizard and he was wary of placing temptation in front of himself.

Now he was faced with the need to get the truth from Neville Longbottom, and simply asking was unlikely to get it.

"On the contrary - ask him and I'll get the answer. Dragons communicate with humans this way and I have had centuries of experience, I'll be able to pluck the answer from him - with him none the wiser." Yvane said complacently.

Tom tried for a calm tone, but it still came out a bit icy as he addressed Neville. "Would you like to tell me exactly what you did out there, Mr. Longbottom?"

Neville hemmed and spluttered uncertainly and Ron immediately asked what Tom meant by that, but Tom was busy holding Neville's eyes. Yvane had been right, asking the question had immediately brought the answer to the front of Neville's mind and Tom was able to follow exactly how Yvane slipped into Neville's thoughts.

Unfortunately Neville's emotions were quite turbulent - along with his thoughts. The curse and time delay he'd used on Draco were right there, but so was the memory of casting it on Uncle Algie. The mere memory regarding Uncle Algie was enough to through a flood of disjointed memories of the man's abuse - being hung out the window and dropped - being shoved off the pier into deep water - the memories poured at Tom and Yvane. With them came the unhappiness at disappointed Grandmother and being sure she preferred him dead to him being a squib.

The thoughts had taken only moments, but they had rocked both Tom and Yvane back and Yvane broke off abruptly to Tom's immense relief. Neville had become silent, realizing something had happened, but he was not sure what. Ron scowled, knowing he was missing something that was going on.

Tom was now the one humming uncertainly. He'd no idea of what to say to Neville, now, so he turned hesitantly to Molly, who had noticed - along with Augusta - who was speaking to the boys. "Mr. Riddle, how nice to see you. Percy - and Charlie, as well - have told us about your ‘book sharing' with them. Arthur and I are quite pleased with how much they are gaining in knowledge."

Tom nodded, feeling a bit stupid. He did notice that Madame Longbottom didn't share Molly's pleasure at the sight of him. The obliviously abusive old cow, how could she be so very blind? Tom had barely heard Molly's words but he grasped at them now.

"Yes, I hoped to ask you about presents - I'm giving Percy a present, and in the interest of maintaining peace among siblings I wondered if it would be alright to send a few to your other children? Candy perhaps or some other trifles? I'm at a loss regarding your daughter, of course." Tom hoped his sheepish smile was not overdone.

Molly, of course was charmed, she was very relieved that the impasse between Tom and her two oldest sons seemed well over. "Of course - chocolates and the like are always welcomed and Ginny likes them as well." Molly though was not completely fooled; she'd seen Tom as he came in, and his sudden confusion when talking to Ron and Neville. Now he had a troubled look that worried her. "Don't hesitate to owl me with any questions - or if you need anything at all." Molly managed to catch his eye with the last and a dawning understanding was there. The lad gave her a short nod, if he needed advice - and didn't they all, at that age? - he'd let her know. Molly nodded back, satisfied.

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Severus was urged by Draco and Harry to stay at the door ‘to keep things a surprise'. Harry's eyes were glittering with an emerald glee that reminded Severus eerily of Lily. Severus braced for a wave of pain but it, oddly, never came. A weight lifted further from him at this realization. Reminders of Lily didn't really hurt, now, although he would still miss her at times. The pain was replaced with the happiness of caring for her ... and James' son. He sternly reminded himself that he needed to learn to think of James without animosity, just as he could now think of Lily without anguished guilt.

He'd thought at first that caring for Harry would be a type of punishment - a form of daily torture - seeing Lily's eyes in James' face and knowing he'd helped orphan him, however unintentionally. It had helped heal his old pain, instead.

Severus snorted lightly to himself. If he was about to be gifted with a dreadful T-shirt he hoped Lily wasn't expecting him to indulge her son by actually wearing it.

Harry pulled out the drawing that Tonks had done for him, at his direction. The young witch behind the counter smiled when he handed it to her. "Do ya wan' it on a green shirt?" She asked around the chewing gum. She'd recognized Harry and Draco from their last visit - the shirt was obviously for the Head of Slytherin currently lurking at her store's door.

Harry and Draco snickered and nodded. The image was soon on the long sleeved shirt and the shirt wrapped up. Dudley joined them and they found a few more shirts for the Weasley twins and ones with dragons for everyone they could think of.

The three finally left to join up with a bored Severus who had gotten a hot cider from a street vendor. Tom joined them looking troubled. Tom inexplicably waved his wand over Draco and muttered a counter-curse that only Severus understood. Tom shook his head at Severus' lifted brow and simply said, "Later."

They apparated back to Dragonsrest and as the boys went to sort and wrap Tom pulled Severus aside. Tom hesitated to burden Severus with more problems, but he couldn't keep him completely in the dark. He gave a brief explanation of what had happened and what he and Yvane had found out. Severus nodded slowly. Algernon Longbottom had been a lout in school and Augusta Longbottom's blindness to what she didn't wish to see didn't surprise him.

"You're already loaded down, Severus. Let me try to fix at least part of this. I think Molly Weasley could be of help." Tom pleaded.

"We just got through unloading your own plate, Tom." Severus said sternly. "I won't have you overburdened again."

"I'm just going to get someone else aware and involved, is all." Tom said, earnestly hoping that was so. In spite of feeling the need to help Neville he still didn't actually like him.

Severus nodded slowly, "I'll leave this in your hands then, Tom." Severus said, hoping he wasn't setting Tom on the path to more exhaustion.

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Molly watched Tom leave with a smile on her face. A pleasant lad, after all, and quite thoughtful to be concerned about causing jealousy among the Weasley children. Percy had written to his parents that Tom was giving an owlet to Percy for Christmas. That was a rather big gift - getting something for some of the others would help ease any tension about it.

Arthur's advancement at work also helped - Christmas would be a bit brighter this year, especially with Bill working at an excellent job. There was even talk of him going to Egypt, for a stint there.

She turned back to Augusta, surprised to see anger there. "He's friends with the Malfoys and that horrid Snape fellow, you know."

"Well, Severus is taking excellent care of Harry Potter, according to Albus...and Tom did almost die protecting Harry...he seems okay." Molly found herself defending the boy a bit disjointedly.

Augusta noticed Molly had nothing to say about Malfoy, but she just harrumphed and sniffed. "I guess we'll see, won't we?"

Molly looked over at he still twitchy looking Neville, slowly realizing how lonely the boy must be. Muriel had, over the years told Molly how worried Augusta was that Neville was a squib. With the recent events with Lawrence Prewett, Molly wondered how horrid that might have made Neville feel.

Molly found herself offering to have Neville over a few days a week to study with Ron and Ginny. Augusta looked doubtful, but agreed.

"Might wake up enough of his magic to make him adequate." She said finally, making Molly's eyebrows rise a bit. Didn't Augusta realize Neville was right there, listening?

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The Daily Prophet reporter, Nigel, was shopping for something for his nieces when Draco and Harry came into Gladrags. He'd been amused to see Professor Snape actually stay at the door, as requested. He'd attended Hogwarts, but had been an upper year and already had dropped Potions when Snape started teaching there.

He watched the boys shop, laughing quietly at the sheer number of dragon themed shirts they purchased. Well, they were only ten - more subtle gifts would come later, he supposed. He wondered if an article could be made of this. He snorted, if he was Rita he'd already have them cornered. He disliked that form of reporting. However he mostly did political analysis - looking closely at laws and their less obvious ramifications that people might not realize.

He didn't mind cornering and grilling politicians, who he felt signed on for it by virtue of being politicians.

He did see Harry slip the counter girl a paper and they both looked at Snape just outside the door - something for the Professor, then. He was quite curious about the gift now, and eased over to the counter after the items were bought. The sketch was still there, and he slipped it into his pocket and left the girl a huge tip out of guilt when he paid for his purchases.

He hurried to the Hogs Head Pub, fairly sure he could look at the paper privately there and ordered a beer. He slowly opened it and started laughing.

A very talented cartoonist had drawn an excellent likeness of Professor Snape in a bathrobe and cap, hair hanging in front of his face - only his nose peeking out. He was holding a large cup of coffee with steam wafting out of it. A beaming house elf was tottering on a stool and now and then it would refill the cup. Beneath it there was a caption ‘World's Best Father -After Three Cups of Coffee'.

Nigel wondered if Harry Potter would hate him for printing it. However it would be an excellent counter to Rita's constant picking at them - Harry wouldn't be buying a shirt with this on it if he wasn't really happy with the Professor. Nodding to himself, he went to his office at the Daily Prophet.

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Severus returned to Hogwarts late Sunday night after visiting Rosemerta and teasing her with hints about her gifts. Severus had missed seeing her more often and wondered if Petunia's hints were correct - if marrying Rosemerta would really enable him to see her more often. She'd still need to run the pub and he'd still be teaching, they might just feel more frustrated if they really didn't see more of each other afterwards.

He sighed as he entered the Great Hall and took his usual place. Oddly enough the students seemed happy to see him and when Albus made the rather obvious announcement that he'd returned they all applauded. That distracted him enough that he never opened the Daily Prophet. Albus beamed happily at him, noticeably relieved Severus was here to take up his classes again - and relieving Albus of the responsibility.

The children seemed especially amused and full of laughter and even the other teachers were chuckling. Severus wasn't sure what the joke was, he just poured more coffee, which seemed to make the children laugh even harder.

Severus wandered into his first class of the day - luckily the combined advanced class of sixth and seventh years. Perfect - he made the announcement that he was looking for assistants to help in the lower year classes for extra credit and if they did well - a letter of recommendation.

That perked up some interest among them. A letter of recommendation was very difficult to get from Professor Snape, and highly prized. Those that got them usually had first pick among potions apprenticeships.

"You may speak to me in my office after dinner any day this week." Severus finished and then threw the chalk toward the board, where it wrote the day's assignment.

He ordered lunch in his office so he could look over some papers turned in. The Headmaster had graded some homework, but not a lot, so there was a week's worth of work piled up. Yes, he thought, I need some assistants.

His floo flared and there was a somewhat harried Tom there. "Severus, are you there?"

"Yes. What is wrong?" Severus asked. He'd been gone less than a day! What could have happened?

"You didn't see the Daily Prophet?" Tom asked in surprise. At Severus shaken head he tossed a copy through. Severus opened it and saw the cartoon on the front page. He was a bit stunned, but after looking closely at it and reading part of the article he started laughing.

"Dora did a good job." Severus finally managed to gasp out. "I assume this is her work?"

Tom nodded, "You're not upset ? - Harry made a long-sleeved heavy shirt for you with it - it wasn't meant to be put on the front page - he's quite upset. Partly because of the publicity and partly because...well, he worked so hard on the surprise."

"Tell him I'll love the shirt." I might even wear it, he thought privately. "Tell him I'll owl him tonight." Severus said, looking at the clock - he needed to get to his next class. Tom nodded and said goodbye. Severus chuckled a bit more, looking at the cartoon.

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