Severus left Harry with Albus and headed back to the Infirmary. There was still someone else Severus had to deal with.

"Oh, Severus," Poppy said when Severus walked through the doors. "I was just about to floo call you. Draco woke up about fifteen minutes ago."

"How's he doing?"

"Physically, he's fine," Poppy said with a smirk.

Severus nodded and walked over towards the bed while the matron walked back into her office. Severus saw Draco sitting, leaning against the headboard. His arms were crossed over his chest. The true look of a upset child. He could see his godson in such deep thought that he didn't even notice that Severus had walked in.

Potter always ruins everything, Draco thought. Always has to be around. I wish he was never here. I wish there was never a Harry Potter. Now that he's here, nobody sees me. And everything is always my fault. I just want things the way they were before. Why does St. Potter have to be here?

Severus looked at his godson. Very rarely did Draco show his true emotions on his face. But what he saw on the child's face was more than just a sulking child, but a hurt child. Severus sighed.

"Dragon," Severus quietly called out.

Draco looked up in surprised. He had not expect to see his godfather. He thought Severus would be with Harry somewhere.

Severus sat down on the edge of the bed. Draco lowered his gaze to his covered lap.

"Draco," Severus said after a moment of silence. "Do you want to tell me what happened on the stairs?"

Draco said nothing.

"I talked with Harry," Severus began.

Hearing that something snapped inside Draco. It was all just too much.

"Sure, take his side," Draco screamed, cutting Severus off. "You're just like everybody else. Don't care about anybody else. It's always about Potter. Well, not with me. He shouldn't be here. Summers were suppose to be fun. This is not fun! Gone. Go to your St. Potter. See if I care."

Severus was in stunned silence as Draco ranted. He looked at the child on the bed and knew that there was more to this than what he was seeing now, and he knew he would have to get to the bottom of this.

Draco slumped back against the headboard again. He hadn't realized that he was crying until he felt something on his cheek. Angrily, he swiped his face with the back of his hand, not once looking up at his godfather.

"Draco," Severus said, his voice was low, but stern. "Draco, look at me."

Very slowly, gray eyes met onyx ones. Severus raised an eyebrow at the boy and was satisfied to see a small flinch in the child.

"You do know that I do not take kindly to being spoken to like that," Severus said, calmly. "Now, I have always tried to hear your side of something, even if you were wrong. Just so that you could have your say. But I will not be disrespected. Not by you. And if you ever take that tone up with me again, you will be over my lap for the sound spanking that you deserve. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir," Draco sighed, lowering his head back down again.

"Look at me," Severus drawled.

Draco, once again, lifted his head. This time tears were swimming in those gray orbs.

"Now, I love you very much. You are my dragon. You will always be my dragon," Severus said, leaning over and wiping the tears that were streaming down the child's cheek. With that one gesture, Draco began sobbing. Severus reached under Draco's arms and lifted the boy onto his lap. Wrapping his arms around the boy, slightly rocking him.

"Now, you want to tell me what is going on with you?" Severus asked. "What happened on the stairs?"

Draco snuggled more into his godfather. Severus tightened his hold and waited for Draco to answer.

"He's always ruining things," a quiet voice said.

Severus looked down at the boy who was laying on his chest.

"There is no wall now," Draco continued. "It's Auntie Minnie, Grandpa Albus, Uncle Severus and me. No Saint Potter. Now that Potter's here, he gets all the attention. From you, Grandpa Albus. And what happens to me? I get stuck in the library."

Severus sighed.

"So you think I chose Harry over you?"

"And that's another thing," Draco said, sitting up looking at Severus. "He used to be Potter. Now, he's Harry. Since when did he become Harry?"

"Well, he's not Potter," Severus said. He saw Draco's shoulder slump again and he pulled the child towards his chest again. "Dragon, Harry is my son. That will not change. Nor will it change how I am with you. The reason you were told to go to the library was because you were being punished. You locked Harry in the supply cupboard."

"It was just a little joke," Draco said, as he leaned against Severus' chest.

"Harry's been through a lot. More than you would ever know. He was very distraught by that 'joke.'"

Draco sighed loudly.

After a moment of silence between the two of them. Severus asked his question again.

"We were just talking," Draco said, trying to make his voice as innocent as possible. "And he hexed me."
"Really?"

Draco looked up at his godfather. "You believe me, don't you? I didn't do anything wrong. He was the one that had his wand out."

"That he did," Severus nodded. "But he didn't cast the stunning spell with it. What else happened?"

"Nothing," Draco said, again. "So what happened to me if he didn't cast it?"

"It was accidental magic. He was upset. So if you were just talking, what were you talking about?"

Draco said nothing.

"Could it be that you told Harry that he wasn't apart of this family?"

Again, Draco said nothing.

"Draco," Severus sighed. "Harry is my son. He's a part of my family. You are going to have to deal with that. Now," Severus moved Draco back and stood him up so that he was standing in between his spread knees, "I would like for you to be civil towards Harry."

"Why should I be civil to that Scar-head?"

"Draco," Severus reprimanded. "Stop with the name calling. You will be civil. Harry is now a part of this family."

Draco sighed but didn't say anything else.

_00000_0000_0000

Harry left Albus' office and began wandering the halls. He had a good time with Grandpa Albus. After five minutes with the Headmaster, he was asked to use that form of address. They talked and played games. Harry asked about all the different little trinkets that Albus had. Albus regaled him with stories of where he acquired each item.

Afterwards, Albus received a floo call from the ministry and sent Harry on his way. Harry didn't mind that their time was cut short. The time he spent was really fun.

Once he got to the staircase, he began his decent. He figured his dad was still with Malfoy and not wanting to tempt fate that would probably cause him to take another trip over his dad's knee, Harry decided to stay clear and wait to see his dad at dinner. Maybe, he could spend the night down in his dad's chambers again like he did before.

Harry was heading towards the last set of staircases, when he saw something laying at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hello," Harry called out, slowly walking down the stairs.

There was no movement from the lump of fabric that was there. Harry got closer and the first thing he noticed was red mixed with blond. The closer he got he began to recognize who was on the floor. Harry rushed down the last few steps. Once he got close it, he reached out and touched the person's shoulder.

"Mr. Malfoy," Harry said, cautiously, softly shaking the man's shoulder. "Mr. Malfoy."

Harry was taken by surprised when a hand reached up and grabbed his wrist. Harry sucked in an audible gasp.

Lucius slowly lifted his head. "Severus," he gasped out. Right before passing out again.

Once the grip on Harry's arm loosened, Harry stood up and rushed back up the stairs. Once he had gotten up two flights of stairs, he looked back down at the first flight of stairs to see if Mr. Malfoy was still there. He was about to start on the next flight of stairs, when he bumped into something black. He thought from the force of the hit that he would fall backwards back down the stairs. He tried to catch his balance, when he felt a hand grip his shirt and pull him forward. Looking up, Harry saw that whom he bumped into was his dad.

Severus saw Harry leaning over the rail of the stairs and was just about to call his name when the child quickly turned and bumped right into him. Severus knew from the force of the bump that Harry was not expecting anyone to be behind him. He had hit him so hard that it took a second for Severus to even catch his breath from having the air in his lungs forcibly expunged. When he saw Harry falling backwards towards the stairs, Severus' lightening reflexes were triggered and he quickly gripped Harry's shirt.

Once Harry got his footing back, Severus looked over the child. Looking at the boy's face he could see that something was troubling him. He was about to ask what was the problem and where was he headed when he saw the child's wrist. There was blood.

"Harry what happened?" Severus' voice was stern as he grabbed Harry's wrist to inspect it.

"I didn't do anything," Harry quickly said.

"I never said you did," Severus soothed.

"It's not my blood," Harry said.

Before Severus could respond to Harry's statement. Draco shrieked. Severus looked over the staircases.

"PAPA!"

Draco began running down the stairs. Severus followed leaving Harry standing at the top of that particular staircase.

Severus made his way down the staircases. Once he got down there, Draco was already leaning down, gripping his father's robes, tightly, shaking his unresponsive father.

"Papa," Draco cried. "Papa, wake up. Please."

Severus sent his patronus out just before kneeling beside his brother. Hearing footfalls on the stairs, Severus knew that his emergency call was being answered. Poppy and Minerva were the first to arrive. Albus arrived right when Poppy conjured a stretcher and Minerva lifted Lucius off the floor. Severus was holding Draco in his arms. It had taken a lot to get Draco removed from his father's back, but once Severus got him to release Lucius, he had quickly picked Draco up, cradling the child in his arms.

Harry watched everything from the top of the stairs. He didn't want to get in the way. When he saw everyone heading towards the Infirmary, he didn't follow. Even though he wasn't friends with Draco and he remembered how scared he was when he first met Mr. Malfoy, he didn't think Draco would really want him around.

It was quiet on the staircases after the adults left. Harry stood there for a moment and then slowly walked down towards the closest hallway. The library was on this floor, so Harry decided to sit and wait there.

He just wanted to do something to get his mind off of what he just witnessed. Never had he seen that much blood. Mr. Malfoy's hair was soaked in it. Whatever happened to cause that, Harry hoped that everything would be alright.

Harry walked to one of the corners of the library where there were cushioned chairs in a semi-circle. Sitting down in one of them and pulling his knees to his chest, Harry laid his head on his knees and hope that everything would be alright for Draco.

_0000_0000_0000_0000

Poppy laid the stretcher down on the bed and began casting a diagnostic charm over the unconscious man. A small parchment formed in mid-air stating all of Lucius' injuries. Once the diagnosis was complete, Poppy left to retrieve all she would need to patch Lucius up.

Severus, who was still holding Draco, Minerva and Albus were talking quietly in one of the corners of the room, staying out of Poppy's way as she worked. Usually Severus would help when it came to something like this, but he had a twelve year old attached to his chest who refused to let go.

"Severus, what happened?" Minerva asked.

"I don't know," Severus said, shaking his head. "Dragon and I just left here. Poppy released him. We were heading to Albus' office. I wanted him and Harry to talk. To get past this rivalry that they have, so we can be a family."

Severus propped his arm that was holding Draco, so that he could get a better hold on the child, trying to ease the cramp that he was getting. Severus noticed in that one instant how much heavier Draco was in comparison to Harry. They were the same age; they should weigh about the same. But Severus noticed that if he didn't cast a feather weight charm on his Dragon soon, he would have to put the boy down. Then he thought about the night that he and Harry came home from Hogsmead. He was able to walk all the way home with Harry in his arms and not suffer any ill-effects to carrying Harry. This hurt Severus' heart more. What all really did happen while his son was in that house?

Severus was brought out of his musing by someone clearing their throat. He looked up and saw that Minerva and Albus were both looking at him.

"Forgive me," Severus quickly said.

"It's alright," Minerva said. "What happened after you left the Infirmary?"

"We saw Harry on the stairs. I was just about to ask where he was going when I saw the blood on his wrist. He said it wasn't his and Dragon screamed."

"Well, he's as comfortable as I could make him," Poppy said, walking over towards the group.

"Is he awake?" Severus asked.

"Yes," Poppy answered. "He's asking for you."

Severus quickly walked over towards the bed where Lucius was. He pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down. Draco felt the change in position and began whimpering again.

"Dragon," Severus soothed. "Your father is awake."

Draco lifted his head and turned to his dad. As quickly as he could, he jumped out of his godfather's arms and jumped into the bed with his dad. Usually Lucius would not allow these kinds of emotional outbursts, but after the day he had he needed to have his son in his arms.

After a moment, Severus spoke up.

"Lucius, what happened?"

Lucius tightened his hold on his son. A tear escaped the aristocrat's eye as he looked up at his brother.

"Narcissa's dead."

"What?"

"Are you sure?"

Severus looked up and saw both Minerva and Albus standing at the end of the bed, shocked.

"I – We were discovered," Lucius sighed. "They separated us. I don't know what all they did to her. I could only hear her screams." Tears streamed down Draco's face as he clutched his father tighter. "After a while, I didn't hear her screams anymore." Lucius look at Severus and with great effort, he reached out and grabbed Severus' wrist bringing him close to him.

"Take care of Dragon," Lucius gasped as a wave of pain shot through his body.

"You know I will," Severus said, his brow creased.

"Adopt him," Lucius gasped. "Make him yours. I know you will protect my son."

Lucius' grip loosened and then slipped away from Severus' wrist. Lucius' eyes closed. Draco lifted his head and looked at his dad.

"Papa. Papa."

"Move him," Poppy said urgently.

This time it was Albus who removed Draco from his father. Casting a feather weight charm on Draco, Albus picked the child up and left out of the Infirmary. Draco's sobs muffled by Albus' robes. Poppy began casting healing charms and getting potions in Lucius' system.

Severus was stunned by what he just witnessed. Never had he ever seen his best friend, his brother, in this worse state. Minerva walked over to Severus and placed her hand on his shoulder, giving a comforting squeeze.

After a moment, Severus abruptly stood and walked out of the Infirmary. Pulling out his wand, Severus cast a "Point Me" spell and headed in the direction his wand was pointing.

Harry was still in the chair in the corner when Severus walked in the library. Not hearing anyone walk in, Harry was surprised when he felt hands under his arms and he was quickly lifted off the chair. Harry looked up in time to see his dad bringing him towards his chest. Harry wrapped his arms and legs around his dad as Severus wrapped his arms around Harry's small body, holding his son tightly.

TBC