"I assume you wanted to wait until Harry was sleeping," she said as she settled into the armchair across from Severus, taking the full teacup from him.

"Yes, I did, and the salve took somewhat longer to apply than I had expected." Severus added a dash of milk to his tea before taking a sip.

"His scars are that extensive?" Minerva was stirring her tea with a small silver spoon, not looking at the door to Harry's room. Severus thought that it was taking all her effort not to check on Harry and it gave Severus an unfamiliar warm feeling to know that he was not alone in all of this.

Severus nodded solemnly. "The ones covering his hip and shoulder are particularly bad."

The sat sipping their tea silently in momentary contemplation. Finally Minerva looked up. "Arabella claims to have no knowledge of Harry's home life beyond the gossip that was going around the neighborhood three years ago."

"What did she hear?" Severus asked.

"That there was an explosion at the house and the kitchen was extensively damaged. The neighbors said that it was a gas leak." Minerva looked confused. "I have no idea what that means. Do you know?"

Severus nodded. "Gas is what Muggles use to cook with. It's highly flammable."

Minerva looked outraged. "And they had Harry cooking? That is…unacceptable!"

Severus almost laughed at the understatement. "I don't disagree with you, Minerva," Severus said, managing to keep his face straight. "I told Petunia as much. What else did Arabella say?"

"She says that she spoke to Petunia Dursley about it a few days later and was told that Harry was fine." Minerva's face betrayed her anger.

"Did Arabella say anything to Albus?" Severus placed his teacup on the table next to him to avoid throwing it against the wall.

"Arabella said that she mentioned the incident to the headmaster, but because she was told that Harry was not injured no further inquiries were made." Minerva clenched her hands around her teacup and the cup shattered, dousing her hands in hot tea.

"Oh!" she cried, jumping to her feet, holding her scalded hands in front of her. Severus immediately banished the remains of the cup and hot tea and led her into his workroom. He scowled as he worked a cooling salve into her hands.

"That old fool," he declared. "His inattention and negligence nearly cost Harry his life."

"What do you plan to do?" Minerva asked, as Severus lightly wrapped gauze over the burns.

"I don't know," he sighed.

"You'll tell me as soon as you figure it out?"

"Of course," he said as he led her to the floo. "Leave the gauze on for tonight. You should be fine by morning, however you'll want to see Poppy if you're not."

Minerva nodded "Thank you, Severus."

~HPSSHPSS~

The call to the Headmaster's office came just as Severus was sitting down to breakfast. With a sigh, he ate a few bites of egg and sipped a bit of his tea before standing.

He passed by the Gryffindor table on the way out. "Miss Johnson," he said, interrupting her conversation with David Wright. "I need you to escort Evan to the Infirmary this morning as I will be unavailable."

"Of course, Professor Snape," she said. "I'll be happy to do it."

As he walked off, he heard Mr. Wright exclaim, "How could you! He's an evil git!" Severus didn't hear the rest of the conversation. He really didn't need to, as it was no secret what most of the students thought of him. He worked diligently to perpetuate that image.

He sat in his usual seat after reaching the Headmaster's office, declining the offer of tea.

Dumbledore looked at Severus, his usual twinkle missing. "Severus, you should have informed me of your application for guardianship of Draco Malfoy. I should not have had to hear of it from an official at Wizarding Family Services."

"I did not think it necessary to drag you into a private matter," Severus replied.

"It affects Harry, therefore it should have been brought to my attention."

"You would have tried to dissuade me from sending the paperwork," Severus sneered. "I could not allow that."

Albus leaned forward, folding his hands and placing them on his desk. "I do not think that this is a good time to try and take Draco away from his family. Lucuis will be most displeased and will try to cause havoc with Draco, not to mention disrupt Harry's healing and tutoring."

"Headmaster," Severus said. "If you had allowed me to file for guardianship of Draco four years ago, I wouldn't have to be dealing with it now on top of everything with Harry."

"Severus, my boy," Albus said and Severus clenched his teeth in frustration. "I really think that it would be better to wait until next year."

"Next year, Draco could be dead!" Severus exclaimed. "Are you not listening to me at all?"

"Yes, of course I'm listening. I'm very concerned about Mr. Malfoy's welfare, but I think that all of our attention needs to be focused on Harry."

Severus growled, "Draco is helping Harry! Harry is very attached to him and taking him away will set Harry's progress back, possibly undoing everything."

Dumbledore looked at him impassively. "Nevertheless, I wish you to reconsider. There are too many other things to be done to have to spend time with this."

"No," Severus said. "I will not reconsider. The paperwork has been filed, along with an order that Draco is to remain at the school until everything is finalized. I will protect that boy just as much as I will protect Harry."

"Severus…" Dumbledore said.

"Do not push me on this, Headmaster. I know that you were aware of the explosion three years ago at Privet Drive and that you took Petunia Dursley's word that nothing happened to Harry. Your record on the safety of these children is not a good one. It's easy to ignore what's right in front of you in order to claim innocence later on."

Dumbledore sat back in his chair gazing at Severus. Severus sat still, returning the gaze. He knew this game and wouldn't break first. Finally, Dumbledore sighed.

"Very well, but I don't want it causing disruptions to the school or your teaching schedule."

Severus nodded his acceptance. He had won this round and could be gracious in his victory.

~HPSSHPSS~

"Do you enjoy your classes?" Evan asked Draco as they lay on their stomachs on the floor in front of the fireplace, knees bent and feet in the air. Draco had brought Evan a miniature dragon from his collection and now watched Evan as he held it in his hand, feeling the dragon move, spreading it's wings and stretching its neck.

"So far," Draco replied, looking away from Evan and going back to writing the final paragraph on his Potions essay. "Transfigurations can be a bit tricky, but I really like Charms and Potions. The teacher for Defence against the Dark Arts stutters and is afraid of everything and I don't think we'll learn anything in his class. I haven't done Astronomy or History of Magic yet."

"What classes did you have today?" Evan's hand crept over and felt the edge of Draco's parchment with the tip of his fingers just before Draco rolled it up.

"Potions and Charms," Draco replied. "In Charms we learned Wingardium Leviosa."

"What does that do?" Evan asked.

"It's a spell that levitates things. We practiced it with a feather."

Evan's face fell. "I wish I could do that."

Draco picked up the quill he had just put down and considered it. "I could show you how it's done."

"I wouldn't be able to see what I'm doing. I could make a mess and never know it." Evan dropped his head to the floor. "I don't even know why I'm here. I can't go to classes, I can't even be left alone." He thumped his forehead on the floor.

Draco nudged him. "Stop that. You're going to get better and then you'll be able to go to classes with me."

Evan raised his head. "You really think so?"

"Yes, so stop whining."

"Hey! I wasn't whining!"

"Sounded like it from here," Draco laughed.

Evan smiled. "Okay, show me what to do."

Draco put the feather in Evan's hand. "This is my quill. Put it on the floor just in front of you." Evan ran his fingers up and down the quill, feeling the individual bits of feather and rubbing them between his fingers before setting it down and drawing his hand back.

"No," Draco said. "Keep your hand on it, so you'll know where it is."

"How will I levitate it if my hand is on it?"

"Hmmm." Draco thought about it. "Just keep a finger on it. That way it will pull away from you and you'll know it worked. Now take out your wand."

Evan pulled his wand out of his pocket. Draco sat up on his knees and moved behind Evan, putting his hand over Evan's. "Now, this is the wand movement, swish and flick!"

Draco walked Evan through the wand movement several times and then had him do it by himself a few more times. "Okay, now when you do the wand movement, you say "Wingardium Leviosa!"

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Evan dutifully repeated, doing the swish and flick. The quill quivered a bit, and then lay still.

"It moved!" Draco exclaimed excitedly. "That's better than a lot of the others did today. Try again."

It took four more tries, but suddenly the feather levitated a few inches off the ground. Draco yelled with excitement, causing Uncle Sev to run out of his office.

"What happened?" he said, looking around as if for a threat.

"Evan levitated the feather!" Draco jumped up, and ran to Uncle Sev. "He did it!"

Evan had gotten to his feet, hiding his wand behind him. "I didn't mean it!" he said, his voice wavering.

"What!" Draco cried running back to him. "Of course you meant it. I helped you."

Evan started to back away, but tripped when he hit the side table, landing heavily on his side. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He pulled his knees up, hiding his face.

Draco didn't understand what was happening. "What are you doing? We didn't do anything wrong."

Uncle Sev crouched in front of Evan. "Evan, you did nothing wrong. In fact, you did something wonderful."

Evan raised his head, his face was flushed and his eye shiny with unshed tears. "I did?"

"Yes, you did magic and you did it without being able to see." Severus grasped Evan by his forearms and lifted him to his feet. "That takes an enormous amount of control."

Evan was visibly shaking. "I'm not in trouble?"

"Why would you be in trouble?" Draco asked in confusion, putting a hand on his arm to try to calm him.

"I…I did magic."

"Well…yes, you were trying to," Draco was trying to understand. "Why do you think you're in trouble?"

"My aunt and uncle, they hated anything I did that they considered unnatural. I was a freak."

Draco's face flushed red with anger. "I told you before, you're not a freak. Your relatives are the freaks."

Evan looked unconvinced, his fingers twisting around each other.

"Evan," Draco said. "I showed you what I learned today. Why would I be taught something by a Professor if it was wrong?"

Evan started. "I didn't think of that."

Uncle Sev, who was sitting back, letting Draco talk to Evan, now leaned forward. "Show me the spell, Evan," he said.

Draco dragged Evan over to the quill on the floor. They knelt in front of it and Evan placed his finger on the tip of the quill. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he said. The feather lifted a few inches off the floor, hovering for a moment before falling back to the floor.

Evan stood, reaching out a hand towards where Uncle Sev was sitting. "Professor?" he asked uncertainly.

Uncle Sev took his hand and drew Evan to him. "It was perfect, Evan."

Evan's smile was pure joy.

~HPSSHPSS~

Severus let Miss Johnson into his rooms and led her over to his desk where the shrunken Braille books sat. A large owl had delivered them that morning and Severus had not yet had the chance to look at them.

"I think these would be a good starting place," he said to her as he waved his wand and the books returned to their normal size. Severus could have sworn he heard the desk groan under the weight of the four books.

He watched as she scanned the books, turning slightly to listen to Harry and Draco's conversation as they sat in their usual places on the sofa. Draco had just finished reading the latest chapter of their time adventure and was setting the book aside.

"Do you want to try talking to Ron again?" Draco asked.

"I don't know," Harry answered, looking upset. "I had hoped that he would let us talk to him, but he keeps running away."

"So much for Gryffindor bravery," Draco sneered. Severus privately agreed with him.

Harry sighed. "He probably doesn't want to be seen with me."

Draco shoved Harry. "Stop that! It doesn't have anything to do with you, it's more the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor that's keeping him away."

Miss Johnson closed the book, bringing Severus's attention back to her. "These will work perfectly, sir."

She glanced over to the boys. "Do you want to start tonight?"

"Yes, the sooner he learns to read, the sooner we can move on to other subjects."

"We can do maths in between the reading lessons. The simpler forms can easily be done verbally." She was eyeing Harry. "Who is this Ron they're talking about?" she asked in a low voice.

"Ron Weasley," Severus said scathingly. "The boys tried to befriend him on the train. I thought that it might work out, but once they were Sorted into Slytherin, it became apparent that he wants nothing to do with them."

Lizzy looked contemplative, but dropped the subject to look over the teaching guide while Severus went to tell Harry to come to the table.

~HPSSHPSS~

"Hi Evan," Harry heard as Lizzy sat next to him at the table in Professor Snape's kitchen.

"Hi Lizzy," Harry said to her, his hands gripping the edge of the table. "Are you tutoring me tonight?"

"Yes, I'll be helping you on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays after dinner." Harry felt something thump on the table and put his hand out to feel what it was. A large book sat in front of him.

"What's this?" he asked, wanting to open the cover, but not sure if he was allowed.

"It's a book on learning Braille." He felt her open the cover. "Put your fingers here. Do you feel the bumps?"

"Yes." Harry ran his fingers over the series of raised bumps. "What does it mean?"

He felt Lizzy's fingers over the top of his. "This first set of bumps here is the letter 'A.' The next is the letter 'B.'"

"So we're learning the alphabet?" Harry was intrigued.

"Yes, and after you've mastered the alphabet, you'll learn to read words and then whole books."

Harry felt a grin tugging at his lips. "This is great!" He reached a hand out to his other side, feeling nothing but air. "Where's Draco?"

"He went back to his dorm. He had more homework to do."

Harry drew his hand back. "Oh, I'm sorry he couldn't stay. I wanted him to see this." He was disappointed that Draco had left without saying anything, but was resolved not to let it show.

"He'll be back tomorrow." Lizzy's breath close to his ear was…disconcerting. He reminded himself that it wasn't because she was a girl, it was just because she was new. He was going to get used to it.

He turned his concentration back to the book. "Show me the rest."

~HPSSHPSS~

The shower felt wonderful and Draco let the hot water beat on his back for several minutes. The sound of talking outside the shower room door finally pulled him from his reverie and he shut off the taps.

Draco reached for his towel hanging just outside the enclosure, only to find it gone. He sighed with exasperation. Did they really think that this was going to make him give in? He took his wand off the shelf that sat just inside of the shower, but out of the way of the water spray, and waved it over himself, muttering the drying charm that Father had taught him two years ago.

When Draco realized that his pyjamas were also missing, he got angry. Storming out of the shower room, not caring that he was naked, Draco confronted the four boys laughing outside the door.

"Did you really think that this was going to embarrass me?" he demanded of them lifting his wand to hex them. Before the words could even form in his head, he felt a fist land on the side of his face. Great, Draco thought as he fell to the floor and the four boys landed on top of him. Fighting outside of the common room again.

~HPSSHPSS~

"Severus." Poppy's voice coming from the floo sounded exasperated. Severus knelt on the hearth to speak to her.

"Who is it this time?" he asked.

"Mr. Malfoy again." Poppy sighed. "You'll need to come through, he's in pretty bad shape."

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

Poppy nodded and withdrew from the floo.

"Dotty," Severus called as he pulled his teaching robes on.

Dotty appeared directly in front of him with a small pop. "Yes, Potions Master Snape, sir?"

"I'm needed in the Infirmary, stay here with Evan until I return." Severus took a pinch of floo powder as Dotty nodded.

The Infirmary was dimly lit and Draco lay in one of the beds, watching him come out of the floo. The side of his face was a mass of partially healed bruises. "Uncle Sev," he said hoarsely.

"Back here again, Draco?" Severus asked as he sat in the chair next to the bed.

"Sorry." Draco closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep as Severus watched.

"I gave him a Dreamless Sleep on top of the Skele-Gro." Poppy's voice came from behind him. "His arm is broken and he has multiple bruises and contusions."

"Who did it?" Severus asked.

"He won't say." Poppy sat next to him. "He was found by a fourth year outside of the shower room in the Slytherin dorms."

Severus sighed. "His year mates would be my guess."

Poppy looked concerned. "Why would they do this?"

"I suspect they have been told by their father's that Draco is a traitor to the Malfoy bloodline. It means that he no longer has any status and is now prey to all who wish to harm him."

"What are you going to do?"

Severus closed his eyes. "You're the second person to ask me that in as many days. I don't know specifically how I'm going to deal with this, but Draco cannot stay in the dorm. I'll put him in with Evan for now."

He turned to look at Poppy. "I can't leave him here tonight, it isn't safe."

She looked pained. "No, I suppose not. Anyone could come in at any time."

"Can he be moved?"

"Yes, but carefully. Let me get a stretcher."

Severus walked the corridors with the stretcher levitated beside him. It was so late at night that the hallways were deserted and he made it to his quarters without meeting anyone.

Severus left Draco on the stretcher in the sitting room, entering Harry's room to see what adjustments could be made without affecting Harry. Harry was able to make it to the toilet and the door to the sitting room without help now and Severus didn't want to have to create a new route.

Severus considered his options for a moment, moving quietly around the room. Finally, he removed the night table on the other side of Harry's bed and had the House Elves place a bed for Draco next to Harry's. It left very little room between Draco's bed and the back wall, but Draco would be able to get out without crawling over Harry's bed.

He placed a ward around Draco's bed to stop the magical storms from Harry's nightmares reaching Draco, then moved him to the bed. Severus extinguished all but one light, and went to find his own sleep.