July 24th, 1993

Since the first day of the trial Severus hadn't been able to step out in public for any length of time without being bombarded by the media. The additional questioning on the stand had focused on Draco and the Malfoy parents and as such, every reporter was determined to be the one to get Severus Snape's story. There had been questions at first, but once several experts had testified that even a master Occlumens such as himself could not lie under the amount of Veritaserum he had been given. Suddenly he had gone from a disliked and distrusted Death Eater to a hero – and he detested it.

He had simply done what needed to be done. He had been a Slytherin, dancing a little too close to the dark side during his school years, but as he grew older and the war became a reality, he knew that he could never side with Voldemort. As much as he may have disliked his father, he was a half-blood himself and his beloved Lily was a muggleborn. He couldn't join someone who would happily kill the both of them. Even if he managed to get them to accept him, Lily would always be in danger and he couldn't let that happen. He had joined the Order straight out of school and when he realized that they needed a spy, he volunteered. When Lily had found out, she had finally forgiven him for his mistake in fifth year and that alone was enough to make it worth it to him.

After that horrible Halloween night when he had lost his best friend – his love – all over again, he hadn't really cared much that Dumbledore had wanted him to keep his cover. Lily was gone, Harry was as good as gone for the next ten years and half of the order had never truly trusted him in the first place. He had no one he cared to 'keep up appearances' for anymore. As long as Dumbledore kept him out of Azkaban, he truly didn't care what the public thought of him. Now that Voldemort was clearly working to regain power, he knew that the loss of his cover would make things very dangerous for him and as such, he truthfully couldn't bring himself to care enough to stop and talk to the press. Once the trial was over, he was going to have to make sure he practiced his glamours and had a good stock of polyjuice.

He had never done it for the glory, he had done it for Lily and everyone other half blood and muggleborn in danger, he had been a spy to try and keep Lily's child and all the other children from having to grow up in a war. He had allowed himself to be revealed as a spy for Draco, his godson, the only good thing left in his life. When it came down to it all, two children represented the most important choices he had ever made in his life and he would never regret either one. He had done it all to keep his godsons safe.

As he pushed his way through the crowd of reporters to take his seat for the closing arguments and verdict in the trial of Lucius and Narcissa, he let his thoughts travel to his second godson. It was a secret that no one other than the Potters, Dumbledore and the traitor had ever known. He was truthfully shocked that Voldemort had never found out his connection to Harry Potter, but he supposed that Black must have had his reasons for keeping that part to himself.

It had been dangerous times and James and Lily had both named a set of godparents in hopes that at least one would be able to care for their son. As it had played out, he was the only godparent who was even capable of taking Harry, but Dumbledore had shut that idea down very quickly. When he had attempted to take the boy, he had quickly given on long speech on blood wards and the fact that he still needed to remain a spy and despite what he had told the older man about Petunia, Harry had been whisked away to live with his only remaining relatives.

He supposed it had all been for the best in the end, Dumbledore had repeatedly told him that the boy was safe and happy and Harry probably had been better off being raised by a family then by him, he had known nothing of raising a small child. The only thing he regretted was that he had allowed Dumbledore to convince him to treat the boy so badly in order to keep his cover. With his cover now blown, it had been pointless and he doubted he would ever be able to regain Harry's trust. Draco would now be in his guardianship, but he would have liked to have had both his godson's in his life.

It wasn't that he was exceptionally fond of children in general. Despite the image he had portrayed over the years, he did like certain children and he got along rather well with his Slytherins, but he could certainly never be compared to Molly Weasley. Harry was his last link to Lily and he had been fairly close to the child when he was a baby, but he would have to be content with watching him grow up at a distance. Now that he didn't have to keep his cover, he could be a better teacher, he would no longer need to excessively favor the Slytherins and he could be fairer to the other students. He was strict by nature and that wouldn't change, but perhaps if Harry noticed the other changes, they might be able to be on speaking terms one day.

He was jolted out of his thoughts when the court was called into order and after several minutes of formalities, the attorney's began to present their closing arguments The prosecution had it fairly easy. The abuse charges were open and shut due to the memories and Veritaserum testimony and as Severus had ended up providing memories of things he had seen Lucius do and heard Lucius brag about, it was exceedingly obvious that the man was guilty of all charges. Things were slightly trickier with Narcissa, as she had never been one to be highly involved in the activities Lucius had enjoyed and she had also never personally harmed her son. However, the fact that she did bare the Dark Mark would not bode well for her.

Once the defense had finished reminding the Wizengamot of the irrefutable facts that they had been presented with, the prosecution rested and the defense began their closing statements. The desperate attempts at casting some kind of doubt as to the Malfoy's guilt were almost amusing. The best they could seem to come up with was a repeat of the Imperius defense and it was easy to see what the Wizengamot thought of the idea that someone had managed to have them under an Imperius for at least the last fifteen years – especially when aurors had testified that they had shown no signs of being under the curse when they were arrested.

When the Malfoy's attorney finally ended his slightly pathetic statement, Dumbledore called for a vote. Though the tedious task of voting on each charge took quite some time, all but the most staunchly dark families and found Lucius guilty on all charges – and there had been no one who had voted not guilty on the charges of abuse. Though she faced many less charges then her husband, Narcissa had also been found guilty on charges of use of an unforgivable curse. With both Malfoy's convicted, Dumbledore called for an hour-long break so that he could confer with Madam Bones on a sentencing,

Severus stepped out to wait outside the courtroom, calling for a Hogwarts house elf to bring him a late lunch rather than attempt to leave the building and once again be surrounded by the press. He knew that if it had been up to Madam Bones, Lucius would find himself kissed before the end of the day, but he also knew that with Dumbledore's slight obsession with 'mercy' and second chances – the reason why so few people had believed it when Dumbledore had 'vouched for him', though that had worked in their favor – he would do everything in his power to not allow that to happen.

One way or the other, as long as Lucius was out of Draco's life, Severus would be happy. After all the man had done, he would rather see him kissed, but it wasn't as if anyone had ever escaped Azkaban. He ate his lunch and then tried to quietly plan for Draco's possible reaction to the news. He knew that the boy had wanted for his father to be somewhere where he could no longer hurt him, but he also knew that they were his parents and it would be hard on him – especially as Narcissa would have to spend some time in Azkaban as well.

Once an hour had past, they were called back into the courtroom and Severus took his seat, watching the excited reporters with slight amusement. Perhaps he could get make it back home without being bombarded with incessant questions this time if they were all too sidetracked with Lucius and Narcissa's punishment. He felt a slight twinge of guilt that the pair would soon be in Azkaban, they had after all treated him well and had obviously trusted him enough to name him godfather to their son, but he had never trusted them. It had always been an act on his part as the things he had seen Lucius so happily do had sickened him.

Once the room had quieted down, a call for order was given again and an eager hush fell over the room. Finally, Madam Bones, as the head of the DMLE stood to give the sentencing.

"For the crimes he has been convicted of, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy has been sentenced to life in Azkaban." the woman announced, pausing to let the commotion that came from the initial announcement die down before continuing a few seconds later, "And for the crimes she has been convicted of, Narcissa Malfoy (née Black) has been sentenced to five years in Azkaban."

Severus was pleased with the outcome. Lucius had committed endless atrocities and deserved life in Azkaban at the least and Narcissa, though fairly loyal to Voldemort, had never been one to enjoy acts of torture and murder and to his knowledge had never once used the killing curse and had only used Cruciatus twice. He knew that it would be hard for Draco to lose his mother, but he hoped that perhaps Narcissa would be able to keep at least some of her sanity in Azkaban and if she changed, perhaps she might be able to have a relationship with her son again in the future.

Once the formalities were over with and Lucius and Narcissa had been led away, Severus quickly slipped away. After successfully avoiding the press, he apparated back to the gates of Hogwarts and headed straight for the greenhouses to pick up Draco who had once again been left with Pomona. It was time to give his godson the news.

Harry had been waiting in his room for last few hours and he wasn't looking forward to what he knew was coming. The dinner the family had been planning that night would have taken most of the day to cook and as usual, it was Harry's job. However, his attempt lift the heavy dish after preparing it had gone badly. With only one hand to use, he had dropped the Dursley's dinner all over the kitchen floor. The rage his uncle had displayed as he had dragged Harry to his room told him that this punishment would be one of his worst, but he had been left to wait as Vernon had told him he was not going to mess up their family outing. So there he sat waiting, terrified for the Dursley's to come home from lunch.

He knew that he would end up having to deal with the nightly routine as well when the man came back. He didn't expect to be conscious long after his uncle finished - he usually wasn't when things went this bad – and his uncle wouldn't let him 'skip' his regular punishment just because he wasn't awake for it. That was his reminder of what a freak he was, that he was below them and Vernon was the one in charge. It was a reminder of just how big a mistake it had been to let Ron and the twins damage the Dursley's house when he could have just snuck out the front door as the twins had already picked the lock and his uncle had definitely found a punishment he would never forget.

He didn't know how long he had been waiting. Vernon had long since broken the old alarm clock that used to be in the room beyond repair. All he knew was that the waiting had felt like days instead of hours. Finally, he heard the car pull back into the driveway and he tried to ready himself for what would be coming. It took nearly all his willpower to keep himself from hyperventilating as he heard his uncle's thudding footsteps coming up the stairs.

The moment the door flew open his uncle was coming at him, dragging him to his feet and shaking him, "What do you think you were doing, boy? Wasting our food! We spend good money to take care of your worthless self and you think you can just waste more of it by dropping our food on the floor?" the man screamed.

Harry sincerely doubted that they had ever spent an extra penny on him, but he knew better than to say that. He simply kept up a soft manta of "I'm sorry, Uncle Vernon." as the man continued shaking him and ranting, his hands squeezing the boy's already bruised arms.

After what seemed like an endless lecture, the man finally let go, pushing the boy to the floor and then shutting the door to the small room, "Alright, strip. You know how this works boy. You'll get the rest of your punishment afterwards; I want you good and awake for this part. You'll never learn your lesson otherwise." The man said menacingly.

The small twelve year old slowly complied, shaking slightly and looking away both in shame and in fear of what he knew was coming. He would give almost anything to be able to escape what was about to happen, what had been happening all Summer. He was beginning to wish that Fawkes hadn't healed him in chamber. At least then he would have never had to deal with this.

His uncle starred at him for a moment and then shoved him on to the bed before sliding off his belt and giving the boy an impromptu lash across the back before tossing the piece of leather aside for the moment. Harry heard the sound of a zipper being undone and closed his eyes, wishing desperately to be anywhere but where he was. As usual, his wish was not fulfilled and he soon felt the all too familiar pain of something roughly shoving its way inside him.

For the next several minutes, his world was nothing but pain, shame and horror as Vernon continued his attack, all the while reminding him that this was what freaks deserved and Vernon simply had to remind him of his place. He could barely even be glad when he was over, because as soon as he heard the sound of the zipper closing, his uncle picked the belt back up.

The belt lashed repeatedly across his back, on top of existing scabs and bruises and re-opening old wounds as it caused new ones. The silence during this part of the punishment almost made it more frightening. His uncle didn't even care to remind him why it was happening, he only wanted to make him hurt. Once Vernon grew tired of the belt, it was tossed aside and the man began to kick at him. Harry instinctively shielded his face with his arms and felt another snap in the same arm that had caused this situation to begin with. He barely had time to register the new pain before his uncle suddenly stomped on his right leg and everything went black.

Draco thought he had taken then news about as well as he possibly could have. He had been calm and nodded in all the right places and then excused himself to his room once they got back to Severus' quarters. After so many weeks of waiting to get to this point, he wasn't sure what to do now. He had just made sure his parents got sent to Azkaban and no matter what they had done, he felt like the worst son in the world. He wished he could have thought of a way to keep his mom out of it, but he couldn't have been completely sure that she wouldn't have pushed him to become a Death Eater as well and once the Veritaserum was involved, there was really no way to avoid mentioning what he knew about her.

He didn't have a choice but to get away. He knew that. He could never have done the kind of things Lucius wanted him too. He could never have tortured and killed people, no matter what he thought of them. He just wished that there had been another way. But then, if his father hadn't gone to Azkaban he would have just kept torturing and killing people himself. There hadn't been any good solution, he knew that deep down. He just really hated the situation.

He felt guilty that he hadn't really given Severus an option about raising him either. The man had immediately given him the guest room. He had let him set out all his things and had even changed the color of the walls for him, but he still knew that he hadn't given his godfather any other choice but to take him in. He didn't know if the man had wanted to have to raise a child and now he was making him have to. If his father hadn't been hurting other people, he would have just run away. But Lucius had been hurting other people and he had needed Severus to help him and now he highly doubted it would be as easy to sneak away from Severus as it had been to get away from his parents.

He didn't know what to do now. With his parents in Azkaban, his godfather was now officially his legal guardian but he had never really thought about what happened after that. He supposed that he simply lived with Severus. He didn't know if he had access to any of his vaults so he would just have to offer to pay the man back when he came of age if he didn't. Severus had never minded spending money on him in the past, but this was different now, he had basically invited himself to move in.

He didn't know what would happen once school started back. His plan had been to throw himself firmly on the side of the light with this move and he knew that wouldn't please some of his housemates. Many of the people in his house had also been raised by Death Eater parents and most of them hadn't had someone like Severus telling them there were other ways to look at things. Theo was truly his closest friend in secret and he knew the other boy felt the way he did, but Blaise, Greg and Vincent all firmly agreed with their parents and his 'new' stance on matters would make things interesting in the dorm room.

A knock on his door suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see his godfather standing in the doorway, "Are you alright, Draco? It's nearly dinnertime." the man said.

"I'm fine." the boy replied softly.

"You do not have to be 'fine'. After all that has happened, it is perfectly alright for you to be upset." his godfather said gently.

"It's just … they're my parents." Draco said, staring at the floor.

"I know that. They did things that parents shouldn't do, but they were still your parents and I know that you care for them. Your father would not have stopped doing the things he did any other way. Your actions have likely saved the lives of many people, and your mother got a relatively light sentence. I know those fact do not truly make things any easier, but it is the truth." Severus said.

"Are you okay with me living with you?" Draco asked suddenly, all in one breath.

The man blinked in shock for a moment before replying, "Of course I am, Draco. I may have not been fond of your father in truth, but I have cared for you since the moment I met you and was told you were my godson. I will do anything to keep you safe and I certainly do not mind you living with me." he said sincerely.

"Good." Draco replied, calming slightly.

"Now, are you ready for dinner?" his godfather asked, standing up when the boy nodded and leading him into the dining room.

Things were certainly not going to be easy, but maybe they didn't have to be all that bad either. The pair had a comfortable dinner and Draco even managed to forget the situation with his parents for a short while as he ate and talked with his godfather. It wasn't until he had headed back to his room that he remembered that he had forgotten the very last part of his plan.

As he tried to figure out what to do a sudden idea popped into his mind and decided it couldn't hurt to try it, "Dobby?" he called softly and sure enough, within seconds of his call a small house elf stood in from of him.

"Master Draco!" the little creature exclaimed, hugging the boy around the knees, "Dobby has been being so worried! Dobby is being hearing what be happening to Master Lucius and Mistress Narcissa and Dobby is being hearing that you is with Master Snapey but Dobby is being wanting to see you himself! Is Master Draco being okay?" he asked, looking worried.

"I'm fine, Dobby and I'm glad to see you as well." Draco said, patting the little elf on the back before attempting to disentangle himself from the hug, "I just need a favor, if that's okay."

"Of course, Master Draco!" the little elf said, his ears perking up happily.

"Do you remember Harry Potter?" he asked, remembering what the elf had told him when he had come to say goodbye to the one Malfoy who had been nice to him after he had been freed.

"Of course Dobby is remembering the Great Harry Potter!" was the instant reply.

"Could you just go check on him for me? I promised him I'd get word to him this Summer and I haven't had the chance. Just … tell him that Draco Malfoy wanted to see if he was doing well and that he can send a letter to me at Hogwarts if he wants and I can write him back." He said, knowing that the other boy had no real reason to trust him and hoping that sending Dobby, who Harry knew had been freed, might change that.

"Dobby will be doing that right now!" the little elf exclaimed before instantly disappearing.

Draco smiled softly at Dobby's excitement. He and the elf had discovered that they were both in a similar situation when it came to Lucius' version of 'discipline' when he was quite young and though he knew his parents would have never approved, he had formed a secret friendship with the small creature who had always been so kind to him. He had only just wondered if he should have come up with something better or maybe even sent a letter with Dobby when suddenly the elf was in front of him again and looking hysterical.

"Harry Potter is being hurt! Harry Potter is being hurt and he is not waking up!" the little elf said before letting out a panicked wail.

Draco took one look at the blood on the little elf's hands before letting out a yell of his own, "Uncle Severus!" he called frantically.