She was just sitting there in the train compartment, huddled into herself, well, he assumed that it was a she as it was wearing a dress. When she raised her head, light brown hair falling away, all he could see were the bruises, the cuts and the empty gaze. When he started to walk over to her, she huddled back into herself as if waiting for a blow to fall. This perplexed Severus and he was unsure as to why it did. He left the teacher's compartment of the train to go find Lucius, his long time friend and now fellow teacher.

He found the blonde haired man talking with his son near the middle of the train. When both followed him back, he was not so much worried about them as with how the girl would react to more people. The way that she reacted to just him was not good but now three people? He was concerned that she might have a mental breakdown of some sort.

Now, Severus is not normally a man that would worry over strange people but this was a strange case in and of its' self. This girl reminded him of some of his Slytherins that came from abusive homes. Yes, that would be the excuse that he told himself in order to play-of his having emotions for someone that he didn't even know the name of. Though, from what he could tell, she had injuries far worse than anything that the young snakes had ever come back with. The way she held herself, even in fear, stiff and pained, told him that there were greater injuries other than just some bruising.

Once they arrived back inside the teacher's compartment and had shut, locked and warded the door, only then did Severus turn back to the girl. He could see both of them looking at him like why were they here. All he had to do was look over in the direction of the girl and they could see the reason that Severus had brought them there for. He walked over to the girl and tapped her on the shoulder and stepped back. Only when she raised her head again and the other two saw her face did they see why Severus had rushed them up here. She looked to be about Draco's age, which was 17 years old.

"What is your name?" Severus asked softly, motioning for the two to sit down. She looked only at Severus and spoke very softly, very hesitantly.

"My name is Dawn." She said softly. She knew that at least this man in black in front of her worked with him. She was unsure of what to do. Should she do as told? Or should she stay silent? She was torn with indecision in her mind. Severus looked at Draco, who was looking at Dawn thoughtfully. Severus stood, unwarded and unlocked the door and motioned Draco out. He turned to Dawn and kneeled down. "I am going to step outside for a moment. The man sitting across from you is a friend of mine and will make sure that no one hurts you in here, alright?" he asked her, not expecting an answer. She nodded her head, eyes downcast. Severus stepped outside.

"What is it that had you looking at her so hard Draco?" Severus asked. He was still trying to figure out why this girl was in the teacher's compartment to begin with. His questions were near answered when Draco started talking.

"What if she is a teacher's kids? She does seem to bear a strong resemblance to Lupin, don't you think?" Draco said. He did make several valid points. Severus agreed and said as much to Draco.

"If she is Lupin's child then why has she never been to Hogwarts before and why is she so hurt? Why has no one heard of her if she is? I've never heard Lupin mention having had a child with someone. I was not even aware that her was of that orientation." Severus said. They fell silent.

"Those are very good questions that need to be answered. Let's see what we can find out before we involve Lupin." Severus said before heading back in with Draco. He then rewarded and locked the door. Dawn had curled back up into a ball. Lucius shrugged. Draco sat next to Lucius and filled him in on the conversation that Severus and he had just had. Lucius agreed with their observations. Now they just needed to find out if what they thought was true actually was true. Severus decided to do the simple thing and ask.

"Dawn? I need to ask you a few questions so that I can find out where your parents are. Can you tell me your father's name." Severus asked softly, as though was talking to a skittish animal and not a person. Dawn began to shake her head violently and began to whimper softly, the words that she was speaking were incoherent. Severus grabbed hold of her head before she could damage herself. "Were you told not to tell anyone anything?" he asked, forcing her to look at him. She nodded once. "Will you let me into your mind so that I can see who he is instead of you telling me?" She hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

Severus had Lucius pull out a Memory Catcher. It was very similar to a Dream Catcher except that it held memories that a Legilimens saw inside another's mind. Severus whispered the spell that let him peer into the fragile mind of the teen before him. At first, all he could see was darkness and then everything changed. He could see flashes of terrible violence. Of things that no child, muggle or pureblood or anything else, should ever have to go through. There was one main element to every flash of memory that he saw. There was a man, one that she trusted, that continually hurt her in any way that he could. As the flashes grew progressively worse, the man got clearer. Severus moved forward through the flashes of memory to the most recent, and by far worst flash that he had seen in her mind.

The man was yelling at first. She had been helping out with local children again. He didn't want her too but she couldn't help it. Those kids needed someone to help them and she was the only one that would. So, the man decided to punish her and then take her away from the kids that needed her most. He beat her, goddess did he beat her. He hit with fists and feet, wood and metal instruments and then he sold her body to a filthy man who he had sold her to frequently since her childhood. She was violated over and over again by both himself and other implements that he had laying around. She was then delivered back to the man and healed just enough that she could stumbled onto the train at the station and make it to the compartment in which she had collapsed. The last thing on that flash of memory was the man turning to look at her, his face clear as day when he told her that if she told anyone who he was that he would happily kill her himself.

Severus pulled out of the memory quickly, moving what he had seen from his mind to the Memory Catcher. The man whose face he had seen so twisted by hatred was that of one Remus J. Lupin. Dawn had started shivering, nearly convulsing while they had been locked inside her memories. During that time, Draco had moved next to her and wrapped his arms around her so that she didn't fall off or hurt herself. Once she had come out of the memories, she turned and buried her face into Draco's chest. He blushed a hot red color and hoped that his father wouldn't notice, which he did of course. Severus showed Lucius the memories that he had seen. They made him furious but before he could say anything there was a knock at the door. Severus opened the door to see Lupin, a cleared Sirius Black and Harry Potter standing there. If the look on Lupin's face was any indication that he knew the girl had said something than there would be some major issues later on.

When Black demanded to know what was going on and when Lupin forced his way into the room, Dawn stood up against the back wall. She was trying to get as far away from the door as possible. Lupin made his way to the girl and lifted her off her feet by the neck. She scrabbled at his hands, not getting nearly enough oxygen, her face tinging with a bluish-purple color because of it. The scuffles died down at the door of the compartment. Both Sirius and Harry were shocked that their normally docile friend was being so very violent. Severus stunned Lupin and peeled his hands off of her neck. Dawn collapsed with a soft thud to the floor, coughing and rubbing her throat. Severus checked her throat for any serious damage and turned his attention to the stunned man.

"Should you ever put your hands on this girl again you will see just how I got to be in He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's Inner Circle, no matter if she is your daughter. As for you two," he said gesturing to the two standing in shock at the door "take him with you and I don't want to see any of you until we get to Hogwarts." They took Lupin's prone form and left, confused and with a lot of questions to ask. Severus didn't have anything with him that would allow him treat the girl as she should needed to be treated. It was decided that since Draco was the Head Boy this year and Severus was the Head of Slytherin House, they couldn't miss the Opening Feast. As Lucius was a returning professor, having taken over the Defense Against the Dark Arts job in the last half of the last school year, he could miss the feast without major repercussions. So it was decided that Lucius would take Dawn to the infirmary to be taken care of. No one would get any information on her unless it went through Severus and he wasn't about to let anyone know who she was. After the new and returning students of his house were settled in, Severus planned to go see Headmaster Dumbledor as to what to do with her. Lucius was going to wait until train was emptied to move her to the infirmary where the school nurse would heal her and let her stay until Dumbledore could decide what their plan of action was going to be.

Right. Now this is all that I have. I hope that you guys can give me some suggestions as to what you think should happen. I also know that people are reading this so I would really appreciate it if someone would frekkin review!! Thank you