Severus Snape was not in a good mood. He had just spent the last few hours putting the finishing touches to the Wolfsbane Potion he was making for Professor Lupin. The potion was an extremely complex one, one tiny mistake and anyone who drank the potion would be poisoned. He fantasised about purposefully making a tiny mistake, something not even he would be blamed for doing wrong. He sighed to himself. Dumbledore would know. Besides he didn't really know if he could poison his childhood nemesis. Before Lily died, he would have done it without a second thought. Now… well now he had morals.

"Sir…. SIR". A pompous voice broke him out of his musings.

Damn he was the master of self control, he should not be walking around the corridors in a daydream. "If I had lost the capability to hear, Mr Weasley, I am sure you would know".

Percy Weasley, puffed out his chest a little in pride. Snape mentally rolled his eyes. The third oldest Weasley probably thought he would be important enough to be told if Snape had lost any of his senses.

"I do hope that there was a good reason to interrupt my… preoccupation, Mr Weasley"

Snape almost felt a tiny bit sorry for the boy. He looked like he Snape had just used the Confundus Charm spelling on him.

"Um. yes. Uh, girl… I heard a girl crying in the bathroom" He said a bit deflated.

"Fascinating. By any chance do you remember which bathroom this was? I am free from doubt that there is more than one bathroom in Hogwarts. Perhaps, the one on the Second floor?" He added with fake innocence.

"It wasn't Moaning Myrtles Bathroom" Percy said defensively.

"You address me as Sir or Professor. Did you think to go into this bathroom" Quizzed the Potion Master.

"Sorry Sir. No, It was a girl's bathroom, Sir" He emphasised the last word.

"I see. Show me the way to this emotional teen." Snape replied. Then because he couldn't help himself he added. "Oh wait, did you take into account that ghosts can move, perhaps Myrtle felt like crying in a different toilet for a change?" Snape wished he could pull out one of these muggle cameras and take a picture of this Prefect's face.

Percy regretted getting Professor Snape involved. He had tried calling out to the girl from the safe distance outside the bathroom but the poor girl probably couldn't hear over her own crying. It was then that he had the idea to get a teacher or at least a female prefect. Maybe even Penny. His sweet girlfriend. Instead he bumped into the sullen Head of Slytherin. He should have just walked straight past him, but... well a part of him was related to the Twins.

Snape knocked on the door. He could barely hear his own knock over the crying. He looked around at Percy the Prefect. Was the kid smirking? "Follow me." the Potion Master said. Without looking back he walked into the bathroom.

12 years of teaching had not prepared the professor for this moment. He knocked on the cubicle door. The crying stopped long enough for him to hear "GO….AWAY".

Snape wanted to Bang his head against the cubicle door. This really wasn't his thing. He pondered what to do. Wait… he knew that voice. "No…. No" He thought. His brain couldn't accept this.

"Miss Lovegood? Is that you?" He asked, knowing the answer already.

Luna couldn't believe her ears. What was Snape doing here. She sniffled out a "Please go away, I don't want to speak to anyone at the moment. Especially not… a teacher"

When Luna Lovegood had first appeared in his Potion's class. He was slightly impressed, her knowledge of potion ingredients and their properties was at an OWL level. This high regard quickly went, when he saw her dreamily drifting off into space over her potion. He thought he had found the next Neville Longbottom. For the first month he had treated Luna accordingly. But the way that she took it in her stride, how she was comfortable in her own skin. Well it made him think back to his own childhood. How he wished that when he grew up he wanted to be comfortable in his own skin, to be proud of his differences; mainly his greasy hair. He looked up to this girl for being the person he would have liked to have been.

"We just want to help, Miss Lovegood, Professor…." Percy began.

The Professor gave Percy a look. "Get Out" he mouthed to Percy.

When the door closed behind Percy. Snape calmly spoke to Luna "Who did this to you?"

""Please go away, I really don't want to talk at the moment". He could hear the obvious plea in her voice.

The heart that many Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and some Slytherins would likely testify in Court that Severus Snape did not have overwhelmed him. For the first time in 17 years he kicked down all the walls that he had built to protect his heart, and just said one sentence. "Please let me help you".

It was probably shock that made her respond. This was not the Snape that she knew. "Maybe a Flurous Ping has taken over the Professor's body" she wondered. "I need to keep him talking to push the Ping out, it's a good thing I have a lot to talk about". She thought darkly.

"Some people in my house, they said…. They said….. Thatmymotherdidn'tloveme…. That she killed herself because I was a freak" The faucets in her eyes opened up again, and she couldn't turn them off.

The Potion Master's normally cool voice shouted "Alohomora". Luna watched as he pushed open the door, and walked right up to Luna and gave her the most awkward hug that she had ever received.

After that, Luna talked to Snape about how the girl in her dormitory had day in day out started a campaign of bullying, never giving her respite. Snape listened and listened. It felt good to get it all off her chest and to know someone one wanted to listen to her. When she had got it all off her chest he got up and shouted "Poppy". On cue a creature about the size of a goblin, with pointy ears and wearing a towel with the Hogwart's crest on it, apparated into the cubicle. It really squished with the three of them in there. But Luna didn't mind.

"Get me a sleeping draft from my store" Snape ordered. Two seconds later Luna was given a mug filled with what she presumed was sleeping draft and a big bar of Honeydukes Chocolate.

"Thanks You Ma'am" Luna managed to say before the House Elf disapparated again. The House Elf literally beamed at her.

"Drink Up" The Professor Commanded.

She gulped it down in one. "Thank You as well Professor Snape, you have been a really good friend". Just before the sleeping draft took effect, she thought "I wonder what creature it is in his head. The Fury in his eyes doesn't look like something a Flurous Ping would do".