Draco was silent as he crept around the doorjamb looking for his target.  It was a game now, one they've played since they discovered how easy it is to sneak around in Malfoy Manor.  Both of them hunted each other.  Certain places were still off-limits, such as Lucius's library, and his parents' room, and any other rooms where there were objects that were either more valuable than both children together ever would be or would injure them greatly should they fall on them or break near them.  They were careful to avoid those places.  And so Draco tip-toed through the hallway, plastered as close to the dark walls as possible, with his training wand at the ready. 

The blonde had a feeling that he knew where his friend was hiding.  He just needed to look, and getting there quietly was the trouble.  He crept up silently behind the tall wingback armchair that his father favored.  His friend was small for his age, and during their wizard hide and seek, he frequently hid on or near furniture.  Draco knew this was because if it took a while for the one who was trying to find the other person, it was nice to be in a comfortable spot.  At least, that was the opinion of his friend.  Draco, on the other hand, could hide himself away somewhere and stay there for hours if need be. 

Draco was silent as he crept towards the big armchair near the fireplace.  Then, there was an obnoxious whine from the floorboard under his toes.  Draco's eyes widened and he leaped behind the sofa!  When he landed, he lay there breathing for a few moments, thinking his attack had been ruined.  After a few moments of no other noise but his own worried breathing, he felt it was worth the chance to peer around the sofa.  He saw a dark head start to peer around the back of the chair a little ways off, and Draco took the opportunity! 

The blonde charged with his wand out.  He ran as fast as he could towards the armchair and the dark-haired head that was slowly coming around the back of it.  "Tarantallegra!"  The tip of Draco's wand glowed bright purple, showing that he would have gotten the spell correct.

The black-haired boy's brown eyes widened in surprise from the spell and gave a cry as he propelled himself from the chair backwards, landing easily on his side on the floor.  Draco ran up to his fallen friend and looked unhappy.  "That's not what you're supposed to do with that one!"

From his spot on the floor, the other boy looked up at Draco.  "You said, ‘Tarantallegra!'" 

"Yeah!  And you fell over!" 

"That's what happens!"

Draco rolled his eyes.  "No!  You fall over at Petrifus Totals, or whatever it is!  I said, ‘Tarantallegra!'"  The other five-year-old boy looked at him confusedly.  "It makes your legs move all over!" 

"Oh!"  All of a sudden, the boy began moving his legs in every direction he could while on the floor.  "Like that?" 

Draco watched the twitching and flailing legs for a few moments, before shaking his head and disgustedly saying, "I don't know, Tevin!  I'm not an expert!"

Tevin waited for the moment when Draco looked away from him before he pointed his wand quickly at the blonde and shouted, "Relashio!"  The tip of Tevin's wand glowed purple.

It took Draco a moment to remember what the spell did, but when he did, he pretended that his wand hand was being burned and he gasped and dropped his wand melodramatically.  He heard Tevin get up from the floor and run away somewhere as he went to pick it back up again.  Out of the corner of his grey eyes, Draco saw the edge of a curtain flutter.  Draco grinned on one side of his mouth, feeling one step ahead of Tevin.  He pretended to search for his friend around other objects for a few minutes, even leaving the room to pretend to check the hallway.  Then, Draco wandered back into the room he'd come from and made his way erratically to the large window, where the long heavy curtains hung.  With a very quick and single movement, Draco pushed aside the curtain and found himself facing the tip of Tevin's wand.  Both boys looked stunned for a moment as they floundered for a spell, but Draco recovered first.  "Silencio!"  Tevin played along once the blonde's wand tip shined purple, and moved his lips as though he were trying to speak and his voice had been taken from him.  Draco quickly performed what would have been a Freezing Charm at Tevin.  Once his wand glowed purple, and they both knew that it would have been correct, Tevin instantly stood still in the position he was when the wand glowed purple.  It looked uncomfortable, but the position that anyone would have been in if they were hit with a Freezing Charm probably would be uncomfortable.

Draco ran out of the room after he threw the curtain back over Tevin's still form.  He ran right out of the door and slid to the side of the doorway.  He pressed himself against the wall and waited, listening for Tevin's approach.  He waited, and waited.  Out of the corner of his eye he saw slow movement.  He snapped his head towards it and saw his mother standing in the hallway with a frown.  Draco looked up at Narcissa and held his finger to his lips, trying to tell her to be quiet.  Her eyebrows rose on her face, but she indulged in her son's playfulness.  Draco turned his head back to the doorway to wait for his prey. 

Tevin waited for as long as he figured the spell would have worn off before he got to his feet again and tried to quietly go to the doorway.  It was the only way to leave the room anyway.  He raised his alder wand and was searching his mind for a spell.   A good one.  He remembered one that his father taught him more or less by accident. 

Once his father came back into the parlor and saw the mess on the table, Tevin knew he was in trouble.  From his hiding place under the table, which even he admitted wasn't that good of a hiding place, he saw his father's face go from surprise to frustration and then to anger.  "Tevin!" he called for the boy.  Tevin trembled under the table. 

Severus walked closer to the table and drew his wand, trying to figure out how to clean up the mess that only his son could have made.  There was ink bleeding all over the tabletop, covering the three pieces of parchment in streaks and puddles of black.  The quill itself was soaked, the feather now dyed black.  It used to be a brown and white turkey feather.  It looked like a crow's feather now.  The bottle was still tipped onto its side, the ink still pouring from it.  There were ink-shaped fingerprints on the bottle, which made Severus think that someone had tried to right the bottle at some point only to have it stay on its side. 

To Severus, the most dismaying item was the small book of An Introduction for Chidlren to Magical Plants & Properties.  He'd bought the book for Tevin when they were in Diagon Alley the week before.  It had full-page illustrations of various plants and on the opposite pages it listed the basic uses and properties of the plant.  Less than seven days later, the pages were soaked in ink.  He was so proud that his son had picked the book out himself, even if the boy was not really aware of what the book was.  His son was interested in plants, and it was a promising start to shaping him into a fine potions student. 

"Perhaps some of it is salvageable," Severus mumbled to himself as he lifted the dripping book from the ink puddle.  He put the book in the sink to let the dripping ink fall into it and down the drain.  Then he went back to the table and was about to try to rescue the stained quill when he saw a hunkered down shape dashing along the wall towards the bedrooms. 

"Oh, no, Tevin!" he shouted.  "Come here!"  Tevin pretended to not hear his father and continued to make his way quickly to his room.  Severus followed him at a brisk step.  "Tevin!" 

Tevin slammed the door of his room.  There was no point in being quiet.  He knew he'd been seen.  He searched his room for anything under or in which he could hide.  He knew his father would find him but there was always hope he could get out of it for a few minutes until Severus calmed down.  Tevin ran to his wardrobe and threw open the door.  He jumped inside and shut the wardrobe door.  He tried to hide himself behind his hanging clothes as best he could. 

He heard the door to his room open again, and knew his father was in the room.  He heard him sigh before mumbling something.  "Point me Tevin."  It was like his father knew exactly where he was, because in seconds the wardrobe opened and he heard his father's voice, though slightly muffled by the clothes in which he was hiding.

"Tevin, come out."  Tevin held his breath, hoping that his father wouldn't see him.  "Tevin," said Severus, in a voice that suspiciously sounded like he was trying not to laugh.  "I can see your feet." 

Tevin sighed and peeked his head out from the clothes to meet his father's dark eyes.  He looked displeased and rather angry.  Tevin hated it when he made his father angry.  Only several things happened in those cases.  His father gave him several swats on his bottom, which Tevin did not like at all.  Although, afterwards his father would hold him while he tearfully apologized and then would tuck him into bed.  If that didn't happen his father made him write a letter to his godfather and tell him all about "how he was a bad boy."  That was worse than the first option.  And the third punishment was usually that his father would deny him dessert.  Tevin suspected that his father only did this when the house elves served his favorite desserts, because whenever it was an after-dinner treat that he did not like too much, his father never forbade him from having dessert. 

Tevin did not want any of these things to happen and so he began to hurriedly explain.  "Daddy, it was a accident!  It just fell over when I went to write and I tried to fix it but it got worse!  And then I heard you come back and knew you'd get mad!"

Severus sighed.  "So you thought that running away would make it better?"

Tevin shook his head.  "No."

"Then why did you run away?"

Tevin looked down and Severus waited.  Tevin flung himself behind the clothes again before he miserably said, "Mad at me."  He could not hold back his tears and he slid down the back of the wardrobe and hugged his knees to his chest.  The clothes were shoved aside and he saw that his father had crouched in front of the wardrobe. 

"Tevin."  Tevin dropped his forehead onto his arms, hiding his face, with a dull thud.  "Don't do that."  Severus reached out and took his son's tiny, bony shoulder.  "I'm not mad at you.  Was it an accident?"  Tevin nodded but didn't look up.  "Then how can I be mad at you?"  Severus shifted and reached into the wardrobe.  He held Tevin with an arm hooked under the boy's knees and the other cradling his back as he lifted him out of the wardrobe with a sigh.  "You're getting bigger, you know." 

Tevin buried his face into his father's chest and refused to look at him.  Severus stood up and took a second to regain his balance.  "Do you want to go to bed?" 

Tevin finally looked at Severus.  "Is it bedtime?" 

Severus's lips curled into a smile when he saw the dots of splashed ink littering his son's face like freckles.  "I think it's bath time first."

"No! No!"  Tevin began to playfully squirm in his arms.  Severus laughed as he carried his son through his own bedroom and into the bathroom.  Without setting Tevin down, Severus managed to begin running the water.  "No!" 

"You're covered in ink, Tevin!" 

"No, I'm not!"  The boy increased his squirming. 

Severus set him down on his feet.  Tevin hugged himself to prevent taking his clothes off for the bath, and scowled at his father.  "Tevin," Severus said, in a voice as intimidating as he could while he was smiling, "don't make me stupefy you, young man." 

After a few more minutes, Tevin was in the bubbly water and his head was moving back and forth with the motion of Severus's fingers washing his son's black hair.  Severus's sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and lather had crept up to the middle of his forearms.  "Daddy?"

"What?" 

Tevin tried to look at Severus, but the pressure of his father's scrubbing fingers made that impossible.  "What's stupefy mean?"

Severus stopped washing Tevin's hair and picked up his wand.  "Close your eyes tight."  Tevin obeyed and clenched his eyes.  "Pluviamitis," said Severus.  As soon as the spell was said, Tevin felt a gentle shower of water on his head rinsing away the lather of the shampoo.  He knew from past experience that he shouldn't open his eyes or mouth until his father told him.  "Open you eyes."  Tevin did so and looked at his father.  "Stupefy is a spell that makes someone lose consciousness."

"Makes someone-"

"Makes someone sleep for la ittle while."

Tevin's brow crinkled.  "Like Mommy?"

Severus flinched.  "No, not like Mommy.  Like you when you take a nap." 

Tevin bit his lower lip.  "Oh."  He looked like he was trying to understand.  Severus was about to explain when the boy looked up again.  "Can you show me?"

At that moment, Severus felt something brush up against his side.  He looked down and saw the fluffy kneazle that was given to his son by Hagrid on Tevin's first Christmas at Hogwarts.  Tevin spotted the kneazle and reached his wet hand out of the tub towards the kneazle.  "Minnie."  The white kneazle took a few steps to sniff at Tevin's soapy hand before it withdrew. 

Minnie was turning to leave the bathroom when Severus pointed his wand at the animal and said quietly, "Stupefy."  The kneazle froze as the red jet of light shot from Severus's wand.  Tevin let out a surprised cry as Minnie fell to the ground. 

"She okay?"

"She's fine," Severus reassured his son.  "That's what happens when someone gets hit with the Stupefy spell." 

"They fall over?"

"Yes."

Tevin stared at the unconscious kneazle on the floor.  "What then?"

Severus raised his wand towards the kneazle again.  "Well, you need to say something else to wake them up." He looked at his son to make sure he was watching.  When he saw that Tevin's attention was on him, he said, "Rennervate."  Red light burst forth from his wand again, and hit the kneazle.  Minnie stumbled to her four legs and faced Severus angrily.  She arched her back, bared her claws, and hissed meanly at Severus before dashing out of the door. 

Severus looked at Tevin, who was trying to hide his laughter from behind the lip of the tub, but his shaking shoulders gave it away.  "What are you laughing at, Tevin?"

"Minnie yells at you like Mrs. Minnie."  Severus and Tevin both knew that he was referring to the stern Head of Gryffindor House, after whom Tevin had affectionately named his kneazle.

Tevin chanted the spell in his head as he approached the doorway.  He knew that most likely right around the door Draco was waiting to attack.  He had to be quicker.  He reached the door just as he heard Draco scream out a spell.  It scared him so badly that Tevin tripped over his own feet and fell to the floor, completely unaware that were they actually dueling he would have tripped anyway.  Draco had shouted out the Tripping Jinx. 

As he was on the ground, Tevin rolled to his side and shouted, "Stupefy!"  The tip of his wand glowed purple.  He was waiting for Draco to go rigid and fall over, but he did nothing.  "It makes you go to sleep!  You have to fall over!"  Tevin got to his feet and faced Draco.

Draco smirked at him.  "I whispered ‘Protego.'"

"No!"  Tevin knew he was lying because Draco's wand would have turned purple.  "You liar!"

"I did!"

"It's not fair!" 

"Boys!" spoke up a firm feminine voice from above them.  "That's enough dueling for today."  The two boys looked up at Narcissa, whose arms were crossed at her chest.  Both the boys lowered their wands and mumbled apologies.  Narcissa tried not to grin.  "I have to have Dobby clean up the messes you made in this house before your father comes home, Draco." 

"Sorry, mother," Draco said, as he shuffled his feet nervously. 

"Sorry, Mrs. Malfoy," said Tevin.

Narcissa sighed then smiled.  "Go outside, boys.  It's nice out." 

Draco and Tevin looked up at Narcissa then with smiles.  They ran towards the back door to the expansive yard, but right at one of the staircases, Draco went right and started running up the steps.  Tevin stopped in confusion.  "Meet you outside!  Give me a second!" shouted Draco as he didn't stop in his dash up the stairs. 

Tevin went outside and headed onto the perfect green grass.  He didn't have a lawn at home.  His father had taken it over with plants.  It made it less expensive than buying everything for potion-making.  Tevin understood, but he still wished he had a yard to play in like Draco.  Tevin reached into his pocket and found the small golden orb that he and Draco always played with outside.  He held it in his hand until the silvery wings sprouted from it and it shot into the air.  Tevin ran after it and jumped to try to catch it.  The snitch dodged his hand and he ran and tried to jump higher, but it escaped his capture again.  When Tevin jumped again he was nearly hit by a large flying object!

As he pulled himself together on the grass he looked up and saw Draco hunched over a broom that was far too big for him.  Draco was curled into the wood but extended his arm towards the flying golden snitch.  He flew fast and changed directions clumsily, but so long as he was going straight the blonde boy flew very well.  "Draco!" Tevin shouted.  "What is that?"

"A broom!  Thought you would know that!" shouted Draco from quite a distance above Tevin. 

Tevin rolled his eyes.  "I know it's a broom!  Where'd you get it?"

"Mother!  Sure beats the training brooms we have!" 

Tevin remembered when he watched a first year flying class from Professor McGonagall's office window while his father was talking with the other professor.  He wanted to learn how to fly so badly.  He'd cracked the window open just enough to listen to Madam Hooch snap instructions at the eleven-year-olds.  She announced that the brooms might be a little fidgety since they were school property and none of them about to ride the brooms actually owned them.  He also knew that first years weren't allowed to bring their own brooms.  But he did want to have his own one day.

"When?"

Draco sailed back down towards the ground after the snitch stopped by Tevin's head.  Tevin quickly snatched the golden ball out of the air.  Draco managed to slow the broom and dismount.  His blonde hair was wildly disarrayed like Tevin's hair.  "Took me forever to find it!  Mother kept it hidden all this time!"  He leaned the large broom against his body so he could better show it off.  "But I found it yesterday.  It's old, though.  I bet she had it when she went to school.  See?"  Draco pointed to the lettering on the end of the handle. 

"Nimbus 1500," Tevin read the bronze lettering. 

The boys admired the large broom for a few minutes, touching the handle, feeling the bristles.  They inspected it fully.  After they spent a little while staring at it, Draco's grey eyes lit up.  "Hey, let's play Quidditch!"

Tevin liked Quidditch, but his father never let him chase the snitch on a broom unless he was watching.  Even with the newer training broom he had, Tevin sometimes still had trouble flying.  The thought of flying this new and very large broom without his father watching made him nervous.  "Draco, maybe we shouldn't.  Wait for Mr. Malfoy-"

"Are you joking, Tevin?  As though Father would ever let me fly Mother's old broom!"

"Then why are you?" challenged Tevin.

Draco smirked.  "Because I can."  He mounted the broom again.  "Come on, just let the snitch go and I'll chase it if you don't want to." 

Tevin took out the snitch and held it tightly in his hand.  He heard Madam Hooch's lecture to the first years.  "But Madam Hooch said that a broom that's not yours can throw you off." 

"It won't.  It's Mother's broom!  It won't throw her son off!" 

Tevin sighed, but still didn't let the snitch go.  He looked at Draco who was astride the broom waiting for his friend to let the snitch go.  "No, Draco.  It's not safe."

Draco sighed and got off the broom.  He walked over to Tevin.  "Fine, then, Snape!  I'll play myself!"  Faster than Tevin realized, Draco snatched the snitch from his hand and he threw it into the air.  Draco then positioned his broom so that he could mount it.

"No, Draco!  No!" Tevin shouted as he charged Draco.  He dove to tackle the other boy to the ground, but Draco's grip on the broom was stronger and Tevin found himself clinging tightly onto Draco and hurriedly rearranging himself to sit properly on the broom, which Draco flew away from the ground at a stomach-wrenching speed.  Tevin was paralyzed with fear.  He clung to Draco tighter and hoped that his friend would catch the snitch quickly so that they could go back to the ground.  At one particular direction change, Tevin thought he was going to be sick.

In only an instant later, Tevin's sick feeling reached a whole new level when he heard a man shout from the ground.  "Draco!  Get down here now!"  Tevin craned his neck backwards and saw Mr. Malfoy standing there looking irate as he stared up at them. 

"Draco," Tevin said, unable to control the tremor in his voice, "we have to land." 

Draco's arm was extended and he was almost at the snitch.  "Almost got it!" 

Tevin looked down and saw the Mrs. Malfoy had joined Mr. Malfoy outside and she was looking almost as sick as Tevin felt.  "Draco!  If you do not get down here I'm taking your wand away!"

Draco snorted as he reached towards the snitch.  "No, he won't."

Tevin watched as Mr. Malfoy stalked back inside the house only to appear again moments later with a polished broomstick.  It was obviously a newer model than the one they were both riding.  "I think he means it, Draco." 

"No, he doesn't," Draco said, just as he closed his hand around the snitch.  "Got it!" 

Tevin somehow managed to grab his snitch from Draco's hand and shove it in his pocket just as Mr. Malfoy's broom reached theirs.  Without a word, but with a glare that almost made Tevin wet himself, Lucius latched onto the handle of the Nimbus 1500.  "How dare you?" he snapped at them.  The breeze of flying made his long blonde hair stream like a banner in a storm, and it only made him look angrier in Tevin's opinion.  "Stealing your mother's broom like this and riding it!  Not only you, Draco, but you both have to go at the same time?  Do you have no sense at all?"  By the time he'd finished saying this, Lucius had touched back down onto the grass.  He ignored the brooms on the ground, knowing that either his wife or the house elf would bring them back into the house.

Without waiting for anything, he grabbed both boys by their shirt collars and hauled them into the house.  "I never would have thought that you would be this stupid, Draco!  We buy you a training broom for a reason!  So you don't get hurt!"  He forced the boys to sit on the sofa, not caring that he was being less than gentle.  "Both of you sit there and be quiet!  Do you understand?"  Tevin nodded immediately and Draco was too scared to move.  "Draco!" Lucius shouted.  Draco forced himself to nod. 

Lucius spun around and lit the fire with a snarled spell.  He grabbed some floo powder and threw it viciously into the flames, shouting, "Severus Snape!" before sticking only his head into the fire. 

Tevin and Draco looked at each other obviously terrified of what would happen to them.  Tevin knew he should not have let Draco fly the broom.  He knew he should have left the snitch at home.  He knew he should not have tried to tackle Draco off the broom.  He knew he should have gotten Mrs. Malfoy as soon as he saw Draco fly past him.  It would not matter now.  Mr. Malfoy was telling his father all about this and his father would be angry with him.  Before Tevin could stop himself, he felt his eyes sting.  "He's going to kill me," he whispered.

Draco looked at Tevin.  "Your father won't but mine will."  Draco looked back at his father, whose head was still in the fireplace.  "I never saw him so mad." 

Draco looked back at Tevin just as Lucius stood from the hearth.  He came menacingly at the boys on the sofa and took Tevin by his arm.  "Come with me.  You're going home."  Draco began to get off the sofa, thinking he was going too.  "Don't move from that sofa, Draco!" Lucius barked at his son, who instantly sat back down.  "I'll deal with you when I return." 

Lucius threw some more floo powder into the fire, shouted out his destination, and dragged Tevin through the fire. 

Ophelia stood near the fireplace after having just unexpectedly chatted with Lucius Malfoy.  She wished Severus would end his class early so that he could deal with Lucius, but it seemed as though it were up to her.  She held onto the book she was reading to steady her hands.  The fire flared green and out stepped Lucius.  He jerked his arm and forced Tevin out from behind him.  Ophelia looked at Tevin and saw that he was crying.

"Do you know what I found your son doing, Ophelia?  He was riding my wife's old broom trying to catch a snitch!"  Lucius brought Tevin in front of him. 

Ophelia looked down at the boy.  "Is that true, Tevin?"

"Are you going to listen to a child over me?"

"Yes!"

Lucius let go of Tevin's arm and took a few steps towards Ophelia.  Tevin tried to get out of his way but found himself on the floor.  He scrambled back to his feet and watched the confrontation.  "Would you have preferred then that I let him continue flying and maybe break his neck when he fell off?"

"Tevin flies very well, Lucius." 

"Not on an unfamiliar broom!"

Tevin knew that Ophelia was nervous around Lucius, and he could tell that her resolve was beginning to waver.  "Draco was with me, Mr. Malfoy!" he shouted.  "If I broke my neck, Draco would too!"

Lucius whipped his head to face the boy, and he leaned down to get his face even with Tevin's.  "I see that Severus is teaching you manners well.  This is between your mother and me, not you.  So be silent and-"  Anything else that Lucius was about to say was cut short as his ankle exploded in pain.  He looked down and saw that a fluffy white animal had bitten him in the ankle!  "What in the-that beast bit me!"  He raised his wand and intended to curse the creature, but he stopped when Tevin snatched the animal in his arms and ran out of the room. 

Ophelia silently praised Tevin for saving Minnie and getting away from the situation as fast as possible.  Although, she also wished that he was still there, because she was stuck with Lucius Malfoy.  When she turned back to face him, she saw that he had lowered himself into a chair and had shifted his clothing to expose the bite marks on his leg.  It did look fearsome.  As though forgetting that it was Lucius she approached him.  "Are you alright?" 

Lucius examined himself and conjured a handkerchief.  He began wiping the small amount of blood from his ankle.  "That thing is dangerous!" 

Ophelia smiled despite the fact that the animal had bitten him.  "She's only ever bitten you." 

Lucius sneered at her.  "I'm so fortunate, then." 

Ophelia laughed.   Just then she heard a door open.  She looked up and saw Severus enter the parlor from the portrait entrance.  "If those moronic third years melt one more cauldron, they'll certainly be gaining about three weeks of-Lucius!  What are you doing here?" 

Ophelia stood.  "Minnie bit him." 

Severus's brow crinkled.  "That's not like her.  Did you do something, Lucius?"

Lucius began to shake his head and deny it, but Ophelia spoke first.  "He was somewhat yelling at Tevin."

"Tevin's home?"

This time Lucius spoke up.  "Severus, you're a healer.  Would you mind?" 

Severus walked over to Lucius and knelt down by his exposed ankle.  He could not help his lips twitching into a smile.  "You must admit that she bit you very well."

Lucius grimaced.  "Now that you've both properly praised your vicious pet, heal me."

Severus drew his wand.  "Alright."  He aimed the wand at the marks on Lucius's ankle.  "Episkey."  Lucius gasped as his wound felt like it was burning for a moment.  Then, it felt as though ice had been applied to the area.  When the sensation wore off, the wounds had closed.  Lucius stood to test it, but discovered that while the external wound had been healed, the soreness remained.  He sat back down in the chair. 

"I thought Tevin was supposed to stay for dinner, Lucius," Severus said as he put his wand away.  "Did something happen?" 

Lucius looked gravely at Severus before answering.  "Apparently our boys do not understand the reason of training brooms.  They somehow found Cissa's old broom and they both got on it at the same time.  They were chasing your son's golden snitch when I went outside.  They were flying so high, Severus.  I'm not even sure if they realized how high they were." 

"Did you stop them?"  Severus asked as he sat on the sofa. 

Lucius nodded.  "I...I fear that I...may have been a little rough with the boys.  I dragged them into the house, and was very angry with them." 

Severus sighed.  "I'm sure I would have been the same way." 

"No, I was so...frightened that they would hurt themselves that I...even when they were back safely on the ground I was still-"

"It was adrenaline, Lucius.  You didn't have time to calm down yet." 

Lucius sighed.  "I don't want your son to be afraid of me, Severus, and..."  Lucius met Severus's eyes.  "I think I may have scared him badly just now.  I think I scared Draco a little, as well."  Lucius sighed.  "I'm sure Cissa is talking to Draco now, but would you talk to Tevin for me?" 

"I'll be talking to him anyway." 

Lucius nodded and stood from the chair.  He took a step forward and found his leg nearly gave out.  He gasped in pain and took another step forward.  Ophelia looked toward Severus, hoping that he would help his friend to the fireplace, but saw that Severus was already approaching his son's bedroom door.  When Lucius gasped again, Ophelia went forward and took his arm supporting him.  Lucius sighed in relief.  She helped him to the fireplace and he pinched some floo powder.  "I'm sorry about your leg," she offered, surprising herself.

Lucius looked at her with an expression that clearly showed his own surprise at her statement.  His eyes slid to her supporting hands.  He tossed the floo powder into the fire without looking.  He was still looking at her supporting him.  He said, "Malfoy Manor."  The flames turned green.  Ophelia helped him to step into the flames. 

Just before he spun away Ophelia thought she heard him say, "Thank you."

Severus knocked on his son's bedroom door softly.  "Tevin?"  He waited for another minute and then opened the door.  He looked around the room and did not see his son.  "Tevin?" 

Then he heard it.  Sniffling. 

He walked to the closed bed hangings, which never changed from the maroon that Remus had colored them when he used to stay there.  "Tevin?"  He heard the quiet whimpers behind the heavy fabrics.  He pulled them aside and saw his son.  His son's back was to him, the little body curled up in a fetal position.  His shoulders shook as he tried to cry quieter.  The white kneazle was curled up at the bottom of the bed, her bright eyes glowing as she watched Severus lower himself gently onto the edge of the bed. 

"Tevin, turn around."  Tevin shook his head but his whimpers continued.  "Son, look at me." 

Tevin twisted around and when he looked at Severus, he began to sob.  The boy flung himself at Severus and wrapped his little arms around his father's chest.  Severus wrapped his arms around his son's shoulders.  "I hate Draco!" Tevin sobbed.

"You don't hate Draco."

"Yes I do." 

"Why do you hate him?" 

Tevin hugged his father tighter.  "He got me in trouble.  He made you get mad at me." 

Severus drew back a little from Tevin.  He cupped the boy's chin and tilted his tear-streaked face up to his.  "Look at me," he ordered.  Tevin's dark brown eyes met his father's.  "Do I look angry with you?" 

"No?" Tevin said, hoping it was the right answer.

"That's right, I'm not angry.  I'm...relieved that you're alright.  Do you understand?"  Tevin shook his head.  "I'm relieved that you aren't hurt." 

Tevin began to sob and buried his face into Severus's chest.  "I'm sorry!"

Severus let Tevin cry for a few moments before asking, "What happened at Draco's?"

With his face still against his father's chest he began to explain.  "We were fighting with our wands inside and then Mrs. Malfoy told us to go outside.  I used the spell you told me, too, but Draco didn't listen!  I went out and was playing with the snitch and then something flew by my head!  Draco was on a really big broom and he caught the snitch and then said we should play Quidditch, but I told him you don't let me unless you're there.  And Draco took the snitch off me and threw it and I thought he was going to die so I tried to push him off the broom but he flew it when I got to him and we were flying!  And I said we should go back and he said, ‘no!'  Then, Mr. Malfoy saw us and yelled at us.  He flew and took us back home and dragged us into the house and then he threw us in the room and talked in the fire and then he took me home and he yelled at Fay and I got mad and then Minnie bit him!  And I got Minnie and ran in here."  He squeezed his arms around Severus.  "Don't kill me, Daddy!"

Severus looked at his son in horror.  "I would never-Tevin, it's alright.  Everything's alright.  You're home."  He held his son close to him and whispered assurances.  He pressed Tevin's ear to his heart like he used to when the boy was a toddler.  It always soothed him.  Soon enough, Tevin's sobs began to quiet until he was hiccupping softly.  "Do you feel better?"

Tevin nodded against him.  "Tired." 

"I imagine you are with such an exciting day."  Severus continued to hold the boy against him.  He looked down and saw that Tevin's eyes were drooping.  "I think you need a nap."  Tevin nodded again.  "Come on, into bed."  Severus drew back the covers.  Tevin wiggled his way sluggishly under them.  Severus gently tucked him in and smiled at his son. 

"I'll wake you up for dinner." 

"Okay, Daddy."  He began to close his eyes.  Severus stroked his son's wild hair at his forehead comfortingly. 

"Don't think you're getting out of a punishment."  Tevin opened his eyes again and focused on his father.  "I'm confiscating your wand."  Severus thought for a moment before he grinned.  "And no dessert at dinner tonight." 

"No," Tevin protested sleepily, closing his eyes.  "Treacle tarts are tonight." 

"That's exactly why you aren't allowed to have them."  Tevin groaned quietly.  "Tevin, look at me."  Tevin opened his eyes again and looked at Severus.  "It was very dangerous for you and Draco to fly like that.  You could have been hurt very badly.  Do you understand me?"  Tevin nodded.  "Don't do it again." 

"Okay," he whispered.

"Promise me you won't fly on any broom but your own."

"I promise."

"Or do anything foolish that Draco wants to do but that you know is not safe." 

"I promise, Daddy." 

Severus stroked the hair at his son's forehead again.  "And I want you to write to Uncle Remus about this."

Tevin groaned, louder this time.  "Daddy, that's not fair!"

Severus grinned.  "If you continue whining I'll give you a chore like the ones I give the bad students for detention."  Tevin stopped instantly.  "Go to sleep, son.  I'll wake you for dinner."  Tevin's eyes closed.  Severus stayed sitting on the edge of his son's bed, stroking his hair.  "And I did hear you say that you used Stupefy on Draco.  Well done."  With his eyes closed, Tevin smiled.  "Cheeky," Severus whispered, affectionately before he stood, closed the bed hangings for his son, and left the room quietly.