Severus poured himself another glass of the fire whiskey he kept on one of his bookshelves before going to sit on his worn but comfortable leather sofa. He still couldn’t believe the report he’d read; Potter was abused. He let out a long sigh and leaned back, resting his head against the back of the couch. He should’ve seen the signs, he was always the first among the staff to notice abuse, but Potter looked so much like his damn father. That was no excuse though, he was Lily’s child too.

“Lily” he breathed out her name reverently. She would be appalled to find out what happened to Harry. He let out a soft chuckle thinking about how she would’ve gone off on Tuney, no one was ever a match for her infamous temper, not even him. God, she was a vision when she was angry though. He still remembered one time she went off on him during sixth year. He’d snuck a baldness potion into Black’s special curl conditioner. However, that night the mutt lent it to Marlene McKinnon. Severus had made the potion himself, so of course it worked perfectly, and when McKinnon woke up in the morning her head was as shinny as a cue ball. Lily, of course, knew instantly that he was responsible and came marching up to the Slytherin table, red hair blazing behind her, and spelled his hair Gryffindor colors in retaliation before adding a bat bogey hex for good measure.

He jerked forward when he heard a knock on his door. Running a hand through his long hair, he set his drink on the coffee table and went to answer it. “Mr. Malfoy,” he stated when he opened the portrait leading to his private chambers. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised given the events of the day and stood aside to let Draco in. “Would you like some tea?” He asked, leading him to the living room.

“Sure,” Draco whispered, looking off to the side and wringing his hands.

Severus’s brow furrowed as he went to prepare the tea; he wasn’t used to seeing his godson anxious like this. The persona Draco put on for the school was a front and around Severus, he was far more comfortable to be himself. After the war ended, Narcissa approached him. She had suspected for some time that Severus was perhaps not as in agreement with the Dark Lord’s beliefs as he portrayed to the other Death Eaters. She had long resented her husband, whom her parents forced her to marry, and was worried Draco would follow in his father's footsteps. So, she sought out Severus and asked him to provide Draco with a refuge he could turn to away from Lucius and at the same time guide him ever so subtly away from the viewpoints of the Dark Lord. Between his and Narcissa’s encouragement, they were happy to say that he thoroughly disagreed with his father’s beliefs. Draco still had a natural confidence though, so Severus was surprised to see him unsure of himself.

“Are you going to tell me what is troubling you?” Severus asked, setting the tea down. Draco made no reply, just looked at his hands. “Is it Potter? I told you it wasn’t your fault.”

“Is-is he okay?” the young Slytherin asked, looking up from his hands, his face pinched with worry.

Severus was shocked by Draco’s concern. While he knew that the bullying was an act, he thought Draco genuinely hated Potter. “His injuries are healed, and he will be fine with time. I must admit I am surprised that you care so much.”

“I don’t,” he replied petulantly, crossing his arms across his chest. Severus said nothing, simply raised a single eyebrow, and pointed a directed stare in his direction.

“What?” he asked defensively. “I don’t. I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t dead is all. Hogwarts would be boring without having Potter around to mock.” Severus said nothing in reply, merely nodded his head once and let the subject drop, but it would take far better acting than that to fool him. He had been the Slytherin head of house for thirteen years, after all; he knew when students were lying to him.

“Then what brings you here past curfew?”

“I need to tell you about my father’s plans.”

This caught Severus’s attention and his dark eyes narrowed. “Ah, so Lucius has more absurd plans in mind. I haven’t the slightest idea what he was hoping to achieve with that World Cup fiasco,” Snape said with a sneer. “Aside from making himself look like an imbecile.”

Draco chuckled at that statement before he grew serious again. “I don’t know all of it, I only heard a few plans here and there. They mentioned something about an ancient book in Father’s vault, something about a potion, and I heard Potter’s name a few times. I think he’s a part of their plans but I was unable to find out how. I’m sorry I didn’t learn more.” Draco trailed off apologetically. When he had bumped into Potter on the train, he had been trying to warn him, not threaten him. He wasn’t surprised though that Potter thought his intentions were the latter.

“You have nothing to apologize for, this information will be extremely helpful.” Severus stared at him for a few moments before asking a question he was scared to know the answer to. “Draco, how was it with Lucius this summer? I know he can be…exacting,” he continued after searching for the correct term.

“It was fine,” the blonde replied with a nonchalant shrug. “He was cold and harsh as usual, but he only used his cane once.” Severus winced at the last statement, spoken so casually as if it was every day fathers caned their children.

“I’m sorry Draco, I wish there were something I could do.” Draco nodded in response. Severus would want nothing more than to help his godson, but Lucius had too much power in the Ministry to ever face abuse allegations. He tried to convince Narcissa to just leave and take Draco with her. But, they would be destitute as all of her money was placed into the Malfoy vault when they married.

Finally, long after their tea had gone cold Severus saw Draco to the door before returning to sit before the fireplace and think over all the troubling information he learned that evening. How was it that it was only the first day of school?

************************

Harry groaned and rolled over, not wanting to wake up. It was the most rested he’d felt since before he left Hogwarts last year and for once the wounds on his back weren’t aching. That thought made him pause and take note of his surroundings. A ball of dread settled in his stomach as he realized he was in the Hospital Wing. Prying one eye open, he realized that he was, of course, in his usual bed. He didn’t know why he would expect anything different, it wouldn’t be a year at Hogwarts without at least one trip to the infirmary. Dumbledore probably shouldn’t mention that to prospective parents he thought dryly. Now, he just needed to figure out exactly how he wound up here and make sure that Madam Pomfrey didn’t find out about his relatives. He was running through the previous day in his head when it finally sunk in that his back didn’t hurt.

Fuck, he thought, his mind spiraling down through the consequences of what that meant as his breathing grew rapid. If his back didn’t hurt then that meant that someone had healed it, which meant that Madam Pomfrey probably saw the lashes, which meant that she probably saw the old scars, which meant that she would want to know how that happened. Although she wasn’t exactly an idiot, he’d been at his relatives all summer, so therefore she would assume that they did it. She would probably tell him that he would never go back there, but Harry knew better. Dumbledore would make him go back, and now Vernon would just be even angrier because someone had found out. Except wait, the World Cup! He’d gone to the World Cup, maybe he could blame it on the Death Eaters. But Ron and Hermione had been there and they knew nothing like that happened, so he would have to talk to them first, get them to corroborate his story. But then they would have questions and how would he answer those? On and on his thoughts went descending further and further into an abyss from which he saw no end in sight.

**************

Sirius was sitting in the chair next to Harry’s bed, letting his head rest on his hand, hair falling in his eyes as he contemplated everything he had learned that day. He was startled when Harry suddenly jolted up in bed, eyes staring off into the distance. Harry’s breathing intensified and came in short bursts as he grabbed his knees and hugged them to his chest. Sirius and Remus stared at each other, completely lost as to how to help their godson.

They had been up the majority of the night, unable to sleep after what they had learned. An hour or so after they had entered Madam Pomfrey’s office, Snape stormed out, letting the large oak doors to the infirmary shut behind him. “Well, I guess Severus won’t be informing him then,” Sirius’s canine hearing picked up on McGonagall’s brusque Scottish accent. He returned his attention to his Harry, not paying one more second of attention to that greasy git.

“Sirius, Remus,” Minerva walked over to them and cleared her voice, her usually stern face looking even more severe. Both she and Pomfrey took a seat in the two other empty chairs beside the bed. Pomfrey had a stack of papers in her hand and McGonagall looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else.

“It would appear,” the cat animagus paused and Sirius felt dread settle in his stomach, he knew something bad was coming.“It would appear that Harry has been abused since he was dropped off at the Dursleys as a baby.” The nurse handed them copies of the diagnostic she’d run and gave them a moment to read it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius saw Remus grow pale as he read what happened to Harry and dashed off to the bathroom where he promptly heard retching. Sirius stayed surprisingly calm until he reached the end, then he exploded. He went off into a tirade, hardly knowing what he was saying, only that every other word consisted of “fuck” or “Dursley”. The lights overhead flickered dangerously as one of the windows cracked from his uncontrolled magic before Poppy finally stood up and muzzled him with a Silencio. “Sit down and act like an adult,” she told him sternly, “or I will kick you out of here again and you will not be allowed back in for as long as Harry stays here.”

That threat caught Sirius’s attention and he sat down looking adequately contrite. Remus had rejoined them at that point and sat down next to Sirius taking his hand. No one said anything. Finally, Remus cleared his throat, “He can’t go back there.”

“Hell no!” Sirius started yelling, “Go back? Dumbledore can go…” He stopped just as suddenly when he saw Pomfrey’s thunderous expression. He knew from his school days that she wouldn’t hesitate a moment to stay true to her threat. He cleared his throat and spoke in a voice five times softer, but still just as furious, “I only meant that he will never go back to the Dursleys. He’ll stay with us.” The last sentence was directed toward his mate and he lifted their entwined hands to his lips.

They discussed Severus’s plans to involve the Aurors, and Sirius was surprisingly agreeable, despite who had devised the strategy. Eventually, Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall turned in for the night, but the only two remaining marauders stayed up late into the early hours of the morning, knowing any sleep they got would be plagued by nightmares.

Now, they stared as Harry curled into himself further, hugging his knees to his chest and muttering a string of words spoken too fast and low for them to make out. “Shhhhh Harry, it's okay,” Sirius tried to calm him, running his hand over his back soothingly. His heart ached for his pup and it physically pained him to see Harry like this. He met Remus’s eyes and nodded in the direction of Pomfrey’s office. Remus had just stood up to go get the nurse when she came bustling out.

“Oh dear,” she stated. “Poor thing’s worked himself into a panic attack. No doubt he figured out that we know about the abuse.” She shook her head and spelled a calming potion into his stomach, knowing that they’d never get him to calm enough to swallow it on his own. Slowly, after a couple of minutes, his breathing slowed until he eventually fell asleep. Sirius and Remus sat there, each holding one of his hands, and met each other's eyes over his bed. They had no idea how to help their pup, but they knew one thing: he would never go back to the Dursleys again.