Harry dropped down into the hard chair, dropping his bag onto the desk with a loud thud. It had been a long day and now he had to deal with Professor Dillard’s class. He used to love Defense Against the Dark Arts. Now he had begun dreading going to this class. The man made this class absolutely miserable for him, but it seemed no one else had noticed. They all thought he was a good teacher. He was, actually, but Harry couldn’t see past his hard exterior. The man was constantly making him feel stupid. He stayed behind in class more than any other student, and that’s when the man began degrading him, away from prying eyes.

Ron and Hermione entered the classroom and took their seats next to him. “Hey Harry.” said Ron, placing his bag on the floor next to Hermione’s.

Harry just waved his hand in Ron’s direction, too tired to put any more effort into his greeting. Before Hermione could start in on him, the door opened and Dillard came into the room, smiling like he always did when he entered. Harry couldn’t help but think of how deceitful the man could be. He wished someone else had been on the receiving end of the man’s mood swings. He didn’t think anyone would believe him if he said Dillard had a mean streak. Right now the man seemed as if he didn’t have a mean bone in his body.

“Alright class, open your books to chapter 7. I believe that page is in the three hundreds somewhere.” he said helpfully when all of the students started flipping through the many pages. Their lesson had been less than exciting and Harry once again found himself hard pressed to pay attention. Hermione had convinced him to read over the chapter a few nights ago, so when Dillard came up on him in the middle of class, he actually knew the answer he threw at him. The Professor gave him a surprised look, but moved on to the next point in his lecture.

The end of class was more than welcome to Harry, and he quickly started shoving his things into his bag.

“Professor, do you want our homework?” asked a girl in the back row, waving a piece of parchment in the air. It looked as if she had almost outdone Hermione in length.

“Oh yes. Thank you for the reminder. Everyone, please turn in your essays, I’ll just take them on your way out.” he said.

Harry watched as Ron and Hermione quickly grabbed their essays out of their bags, well Ron had to flip through his book a few times to find his. Harry drug his book back out of his bag and started searching through it for his own essay. After his second go through, he was pretty sure it wasn’t there. He opened his bag once more and started rummaging through all the papers inside. He felt his heart beat erratically when he realized he couldn’t find the essay anywhere. Looking up he noticed that he was the last one in the classroom.

Dillard slowly approached Harry’s desk. “Can I have your essay please, Mr. Potter?” he asked casually, leaning against the boy’s desk.

Harry looked past his teacher, expecting to see Ron and Hermione waiting at the door, but no one was there. Dillard seemed to be able to read minds as he spoke. “I sent your friends on to dinner.” he explained.

“Oh.” was all that Harry could say. “I…um…can’t seem to find my essay.” he was unsure of how the man would react. It really just depended on his moods sometimes.

Dillard sighed exasperatedly. “Did you do it?” he asked accusingly.

Harry balked at the suggestion. “Of course I did!” he said, indignant despite himself. He could tell straight off that the man was in one of ‘those’ moods.

“Well, look in your bag, perhaps it is there.” he said, pointing to Harry’s bag.

“I already did sir, I didn’t see it.”

Harry watched apprehensively as the man’s face took on an angry expression. He grabbed the bag out of Harry’s hands and proceeded to dump all of its contents onto the classroom floor. “Look again!” he spat.

The teen found himself rooted to the spot, he couldn’t seem to make himself move. He couldn’t stand it when Professor Dillard treated him like this. He wished one of his friends would get worried and come back to get him, but he knew that wouldn’t happen. Granted, the man hadn’t hurt him since that day he pushed Harry to the floor, but the man was acting worse than he normally did.

When Harry still hadn’t moved to look through his things, Dillard grabbed his shoulders and pushed him none too gently onto the floor. “Do as your told, Potter.”

Harry didn’t like the man just standing there over him. It made him feel defenseless, and he didn’t like feeling defenseless. He quickly skimmed through all the papers lying scattered across the floor, knowing all the while he wouldn’t find the essay.

He drew in a long breath and looked up at the man still towering over him. “It’s not here.” he said, unsure of the man’s reaction.

Dillard immediately crouched down in front of him, and Harry, who had been sitting back on his heels, immediately tried to scoot away from the intimidating man. The Professor stopped that though. He grabbed Harry’s face with one large hand and pulled him forward. “Then you didn’t do your homework, did you?” he spat, angry.

Harry tried to pull away from the man’s touch, but the fingers dug in more painfully when he pulled back. He reluctantly moved back into the harsh touch and Dillard only slightly released his hurtful grip on the boy’s face.

“Don’t you lie to me, boy. I see that your guardian’s traits have rubbed off on you, haven’t they? When I assign you homework, Potter, you best get it done. Just because you’re that bastard’s child doesn’t mean you can get away with it!” he said, roughly shaking the boy by his face.

Harry’s eyes widened in fear and pain. Knowing he really needed to get away from this man, he bit down on the hand gripping his face, right on the fleshly section between his thumb and index finger. Dillard released Harry, holding his hand against him protectively. “Why you little…” Harry didn’t stay around long enough to hear the rest of the man’s sentence. He flew out the door. He didn’t care that he had just left all of his things in Professor Dillard’s classroom, all he cared about was putting as much distance between the two of them as he could. He knew he had to tell someone now, he had thought the man was sincere when he said he would never do it again, but he should have known just by his attitude, and then what happened just now. He had to tell Severus.

He rounded a corner at break neck speed and barreled right into someone, knocking them both clear off their feet.

“What the hell…Potter?” asked a familiar voice.

Harry gingerly picked himself up off the cold floor and offered his hand to the blond as well. “Sorry about that, Malfoy.” he said, pulling the other boy up with shaking hands.

The blond Slytherin took one look at Harry’s face and grew suspicious. “What happened?” he asked, and looked back down the way Harry had come. “Never mind, I think I already know.” he said suddenly, and grabbed Harry around the arm. “Come on, we need to go talk to Professor Snape.”

Harry was halfway down the hallway before everything Malfoy had just said registered. “Hold up!” he said, planting his feet stubbornly into the floor. “How could you possibly know, I haven’t even said anything. And nothing happened.” he added, not realizing that bruises had already started to form on his face.

Draco Malfoy looked at the shorter boy standing in front of him in exasperation. “Potter, you have a hand shaped bruise forming on your face, you just came running like a bat out of hell down that corridor,” he pointed back towards the hallway Harry had just come from, “and, you and I both know that the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom is down that corridor. So, my conclusion is that Dillard got his damn hands on you. Am I correct?” he asked, sporting a cocky smirk, but Harry could tell the boy was slightly concerned as well. That was a shocker to the Gryffindor, make no mistake about that. He didn’t think Malfoy cared about anything, let alone anyone.

Harry shrugged. “So, good conclusion. Now what?” he asked, feeling his face and flinching slightly when he felt the bruise.

“Professor Snape, now.” remarked the Slytherin, once more pulling Harry down towards the dungeons.

“Why are you taking me to Professor Snape?” he asked. He didn’t think any of the students had gathered yet that he was Severus’ charge, other than his friends, but maybe he’d been mistaken.

“He’s your guardian, isn’t he?” he asked, sighing.

“How’d you know?” he asked.

“He told me.” he responded casually, as if Harry should have known that.

“Why’d he tell you?” he asked, a little upset that his guardian would tell a Slytherin, especially this one, about their new relationship. He neglected to remember that Draco and he had come to a mutual truce for the past months.

“I’m his godson, Potter. I see he failed to mention that to you…typical.” he muttered. Harry looked at the slightly older boy in shock.

“He’s your godfather?” he finally managed to ask.

“Yes, Potter. I honestly can’t believe he didn’t tell you. Although, it’s not as if he flaunts it or anything, and it’s definitely not widely known. I’m not even supposed to associate with him. My father would kill me.” he whispered, but Harry heard him anyways.

Harry nodded his head sympathetically. He knew that Voldemort and his followers had discovered that Severus was a spy when he’d destroyed the Orb and, sequentially, didn’t return to his side. It was only logical that Lucius Malfoy wouldn’t allow Draco to see his godfather any longer. But Harry had the feeling there was more to this whole situation than he was being told.

They finally reached Severus’ rooms and swiftly entered. However, Severus was nowhere in sight.

Draco shrugged and plopped down onto the welcoming couch. “Well, we wait then.” he said, and motioned for Harry to do the same. Nodding, the boy sat down on the couch as well, hoping Severus would return soon. He felt awkward sitting around with Draco Malfoy, but not because he was worried or anything, just because he’d never done it before. He couldn’t think of anything to say to the blond Slytherin, and the two ended up sitting in silence, waiting for the Potions Master to return.

……………………………………………………………………………

Severus stared worriedly at the Gryffindor table. Harry wasn’t there, as he should be. He had also noticed that Draco wasn’t at his table either. He didn’t know whether to be worried about that or not. As he sat contemplating whether or not to go and find the boy, he saw Professor Dillard shakily make his way to the table. Alarm bells started going off in his head as soon as he saw the man. He remembered their earlier encounter in the halls and hoped the man wouldn’t be stupid enough to take his frustrations out on his son. He did a mental double take when he realized he had just referred to Harry as his son. Not that he didn’t like the thought; he actually did like it…a lot.

Giving the man a withering glare that went unnoticed, he quickly stood from the table and stalked out of the Great Hall, intent on finding his son. He had managed to get halfway down into the dungeons before he heard someone following him.

“Professor!” called a worried voice from behind him. “Professor!”

Severus turned and was surprised to see it was Hagrid. “Yes?” he asked, anxious to get to his rooms.

“Sorry to disturb ya’ Professor, but I thought ya’ should know somethin’.” he said, ringing his hands worriedly.

The anxious feeling from moments before was beginning to turn into something more violent. His stomach felt like it was in tight knots. He knew something was wrong now, and had the feeling Hagrid was about to enlighten him even further into something he wasn’t fully aware of.

“It’s about Professor Dillard.”

The Potions Professor internally cringed. “What about him?” he asked.

Hagrid quickly informed the man of the angry conversation they had had out on the grounds a few weeks prior. Snape grew suspicious instantly.

“Did he describe the weed he was wanting?” he asked first off.

“No, Professor. But I was to angry to list’n to much more that man had ter say.” he said heatedly, growing angry just thinking of the past conversation.

“Thanks for informing me, Professor.” replied Severus, wondering what exactly he had done to anger that man so much. Hagrid nodded and ambled back towards the Great Hall, supposedly to finish his dinner. Snape began his furious walk towards his rooms once more. He knew he needed to figure out who Professor Dillard was, and fast. He wouldn’t risk any harm coming to his son, not if he could help it. He reached the portrait guarding his rooms and muttered the password. It flew open and he entered. He froze when he entered. He never thought he’d see the day when Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy would be sitting comfortably on his living room couch, talking as if they were old friends.

“Hello boys.”

He couldn’t hold back the smirk on his face when both boys’ heads shot around to look at him, surprised.

“Care to explain what you two…” the words died on his lips when he finally noticed Harry face. What he originally thought were mere shadows, he now realized they were bruises. He unthinkingly dropped down in front of the boy and gently took Harry’s face into his hands, turning it in either direction to get a look at the bruises.

He was furious. An adult hand had done this, that much was obvious, the hand shaped bruise was huge. Containing his anger, he gently cupped Harry’s face, turning him to meet his gaze. He uttered one word.

“Who?”

When Harry couldn’t force the words past his throat and out his mouth Draco did it for him. “Professor Dillard.” he said. Harry sent him a grateful smile, and Draco found himself smiling in return.

“Draco, stay with him.” he demanded, and swept from the room.

“Whoa, what’s he going to do?” asked Harry, turning concerned eyes to the Slytherin boy. “He wouldn’t, would he?”

“Oh, he would, Potter, he would.”

“But, Dillard would be in the Great Hall by now!” he thought.

“Yes, he would…care to go take a stroll?” he asked, his eyes alight with evil humor. “This I’ve got to see.”

Harry had to admit, he would like to see what Severus was going to do. “Yeah, let’s go.” he said, and the two rushed after their Professor.

They reached the Great Hall just as Severus was stalking up the center aisle. They opened the doors, completely unnoticed, as everyone else seemed riveted on the sight of the Potions Master storming up towards the Professor’s table. Harry watched in silent shock as Severus actually jumped over the table trying to get to the man who was now scurrying away from the enraged Professor. Dumbledore had stood from his seat when Severus had slammed the massive doors opened, concerned. However, now he remained where he stood, silently watching as the Potions Professor grabbed Professor Dillard by the front of his robes and simultaneously punched him in the face.

“Touch him again and die.” he hissed, but the entire hall had heard him. Any of the Professors who had been trying to stop Severus stopped entirely at these words and looked at the Professor in horror. Hagrid looked furious. He had seen Harry standing in the doorway and put two and two together.

Professor Snape walked around to the front of the table before turning to face the headmaster. “Fire him.” he said, and that was it. He was finished. He turned to leave, only to stop as he saw who was standing in the doorway. He should have known they’d follow him, but he’d been too angry to stop and think straight. He heard a gasp from the Gryffindor table, and turned to see Granger staring at Harry, and then looking up at Professor Dillard, who was just now getting to his feet.

Most of the Gryffindors had been angry when they saw their most hated Professor hitting one of the Professors that they actually liked. But, when they followed Hermione’s gaze, they came to the same conclusion that Hagrid had come to only moments before. Dillard had done something hurtful to Harry. This realization brought them to a newfound respect for Professor Snape and a newfound disgust for Professor Dillard.

Harry watched as his friends all seemed to come to the same conclusion at once. He could tell by the look in all of their eyes, it was the same look they all held the night he told his friends he’d been abused. And now to discover this, they looked downright menacing. Harry couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. It seemed he couldn’t defend himself against anyone, could he? Not his Uncle, Jeb, and now one of his own Professors. He fleetingly wondered what it was about him that screamed ‘abuse me!’ He looked up in time to see Dillard come crashing down the aisle, contempt plainly written on his face.

“You’ll regret this, Snape.” he spat as he roughly passed the man by. He glared in turn at the students who all were looking at him with disgust. Harry saw him finally notice he was standing in the doorway with Draco, and was slightly alarmed when he saw an evil grin cross his features the closer he got to them. He saw the man subtly pull his wand from his pocket and instinctively grabbed his own. He noticed Draco had done the same. He didn’t even pause to wonder on the fact that he was trusting Draco Malfoy to cover his back. It just seemed natural now, somehow.

Dillard was suddenly in his face, and he was dimly aware of a commotion going on behind the Professor.

“You’re a right sneaky little brat, you know it. You had to go off and tell your precious daddy, didn’t you?” he spat angrily.

Harry wasn’t surprised when Draco was suddenly there right beside him, wand in hand, and pointed directly at the man’s head. Harry suddenly remembered his own wand and shoved in into the man’s middle section as well.

“Actually, I told Severus. Harry had nothing to do with it.” hissed Draco. “You repulse me.” he suddenly said. “Leave.”

Harry wondered if Draco didn’t know this man from some previous meeting that had gone afoul.

“I’m not done with you.” he whispered to Harry.

Harry glared. “Believe me, you’re more than done.” he spat. Severus would hex the man into the next century if he ever came onto the grounds again, or anywhere near Harry.

Dillard made to grab for Harry, but was instantly pulled away. Harry was very surprised to see Sirius and Lupin doing the pulling. They both looked murderous. ‘Where’d they come from?’ he wondered.

He watched silently as his godfather and his previous Professor pulled the struggling man from the castle. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw it was only Severus. Harry relaxed into the touch, allowing the older man to pull him into his side. “You okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah.” he muttered, still feeling slightly embarrassed, but this time more for the reason that everyone in the school knew why Professor Dillard was being forcibly removed from the school.

As they turned to go back into the Great Hall, Harry nearly laughed at the looks on his friend’s faces, as well as some of the other students. Especially since some of the faces belonged to Slytherins. They looked gob smacked. If the rumors hadn’t been flying yet that Severus was truly Harry’s guardian, they would be now. He could also see that any doubt his friends had had about Severus’ sincerity towards him had finally diminished. He knew his friends finally trusted his safety to the Potions Professor, shocking as it may have seemed to them in the beginning. All of the other students were ushered back into the Great Hall, leaving only Harry’s close friends, his godfather, Remus and Severus.

His friends were suddenly gathering around him, and he felt self conscious, knowing his face was still all bruised. Fred took his face gently in his hands and unknowingly copied Severus’ earlier movements when he had first discovered what had happened. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” he suddenly asked, which surprised Harry for some reason.

“No.” he said reassuringly.

“What happened Harry?” asked Hermione. She looked gravely concerned and Harry couldn’t just not tell her, tell them. So, he quietly told them what happened, from losing his homework to running smack into Draco in the hallways.

If they had looked angry before, they looked downright homicidal now.

“He did that,” said Sirius, pointing to Harry’s face, “because you couldn’t find your homework?” he asked angrily.

“Why in the hell was this man allowed to teach here if he has such a violent streak? I mean, if he goes nuts because of lost homework, what else would set him off?” asked Sirius, directing his question towards the headmaster, who just happened to appear at that moment.

Dumbledore looked sadly at Harry before addressing Sirius’ question. “We did do a complete background check on the man before we hired him, considering the past history with our Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. He had been teaching at a small, rather unknown Wizarding school. He came highly recommended. I’m terribly sorry, Harry, my boy.” he said, gently stroking a finger down the bruised face.

Harry shrugged. “It’s okay Professor, you couldn’t have know.” he said. He felt as if someone was staring at him and looked up. It was Ron, and he looked extremely serious and upset. “Ron?” he asked.

Ron looked up at Harry and knew he had to ask. “Harry,” he started, but paused when he noticed everyone was watching him. He blushed bright red, but gathered his composure and started again. “Harry, did he…that night you had detention with him? Did he hurt you?” he finally managed to get out and everyone turned worried eyes back to Harry.

Harry could only stare at his best friend. He felt Severus wrap a protective arm around his shoulders once more. He could tell the man holding him was growing anxious with his lack of response. But, that had only been an accident, hadn’t it? The more he thought about it, the more he realized it really hadn’t been an accident. The man had intentionally shaken him and intentionally pushed him over the chair, which caused him to get a bruised face and split lip. He sighed dejectedly. “Yes.” he finally whispered, and everyone gasped, horrified. He knew what they were thinking. How long had this been going on?

Severus turned him around and once more took his face in his hands. “Harry, why didn’t you tell us?” he asked, unable to hide his dismay that a Professor in this school had used his authority against a child, his child, no less.

Harry felt more than stupid, how thick could he get? How could he have believed it to be an accident? Well, in reality, he had been worried, but the man had said he was sorry, that he had let his frustration get away with him and accidentally took it out on him, on Harry. He had let it slide, thinking it would never happen again, hoping it would never happen again, at least.

Harry sighed. “It’s sounds stupid now, even to me, but he said it was an accident and that he’d never do it again. I believed him.” he said. “I did promise myself if he did it again I’d tell, really!” he exclaimed upon seeing Severus’ face.

“Harry, no one has the right to hit you, no matter what, do you understand that? And, heaven forbid, but it something like this were to happen again, you tell me the second, the second, someone hurts you. If you feel uncomfortable with a teacher, you leave straight away and come get me, or one of the other teachers you trust.” he said, almost pleading with the boy. This was the second time he had failed to tell him someone was hurting him.

Harry could see the despair in his guardian’s eyes. The man didn’t think he was reaching him, that he would just let people hurt him. He wouldn’t!

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, he just was…he was really convincing. He made me promise not to tell, or he’d lose his job. I felt bad for him, that’s it. I would have told you otherwise, really, I would have.” he said, trying to get through to Severus.

Harry was shocked when he found himself pulled into an impromptu hug. He wrapped his arms around the taller, older man, resting his head on Severus’ chest. He actually didn’t care that the others were watching.

“Why don’t you take Harry to your rooms, Severus, I’m sure he could use some rest after today’s events.” said Dumbledore.

Severus nodded and released him momentarily so his godfather, Remus, and all his friends could give him a quick hug. “We’ll be up in the tower if you need us.” said Fred.

“Okay.” he replied, and then he and Severus were on their way down to his rooms…their rooms.

As soon as they were inside, he collapsed down on to the couch. He didn’t realize how exhausted he really was until that moment. He felt the man he was quickly considering his father, his dad, cover him with the throw that was usually draped over the armchair.

Severus leaned down in front of him, growing serious once more. “Harry, I’m going to ask you one more question, and I need you to answer me honestly.” he stated, but Harry could clearly discern the concern in his dad’s eyes.

He watched as Severus took a deep breath. “Harry, did Dillard ever touch you in an inappropriate place? Where you didn’t want to be touched?” he asked slowly.

Harry’s eyes grew wide in shock, and Severus immediately took that look the wrong way.

“Sweet Merlin.” he breathed, feeling his heart clench painfully in his chest. “No.” he whispered.

“Wait!” yelled Harry, grabbing the man’s hands, pulling him back towards him when the man looked on the verge of running after David Dillard and slaughtering him with his bare hands. “No, he didn’t touch me.” he said seriously, looking his dad straight in the face. “He never did anything like that. No one has.” he said emphatically.

Severus squeezed the hands he held more tightly. “Are you positive?” he asked. His heart still felt as if someone was running it through the wringer. He couldn’t stand the thought of someone hurting Harry in that way. As if the boy hadn’t been through enough hell as it was.

“Yes, I promise. He never did that, ever.” he said.

Severus gently brushed a stray hair off of Harry’s face. “Alright, do you think you’ll require a potion to help you sleep?” he asked, worried the days events would plague Harry, even in his dreams.

Harry seemed to ponder the question for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I think I’ll be okay without one.”

Severus nodded. “Will you be sleeping on the couch, or in your room?” he suddenly asked.

Harry really didn’t feel like moving and opted for the couch.

“Very well then. If you need me, feel free to come to my rooms, Harry.” he said, lowering the lights. “Sleep well.”

“You too, Professor.” Harry rolled over, pulled the cover over his head, and was almost instantly asleep.