Age old Similarities

ONE: Let's Start at the Beginning

A six year old Draco was sitting by himself in a park, slowly swinging back and forth, back and forth. He was staring at the ground beneath his feet, tears pouring from his eyes as he grew dizzy from the ground moving underneath him.

'What's the matter? Are you alright?'

Startled, Draco looked up to find a boy about his age staring at him with his head tilted towards his shoulder and eyebrows drawn together, tiny teeth clenching on a lip. Draco stared right back, oblivious to the fact that his tears had stopped and his eyes were now bright with curiosity that is natural for a boy his age. After a frozen second, Draco replied with a question of his own.

'Who are you?'

The little boy smiled brilliantly and his green eyes brightened as if he had never been given a greater gift than Draco talking to him.

'I'm Harry. Who are you?'

'I'm Draco.'

With an even larger (somehow) grin, Harry ran forward and sat on the swing next to Draco.

'Why are you sad Draco?'

The question was asked with such honest interest and worry that Draco couldn't help but respond truthfully. Harry was looking at him again with no traces of the smile, just a sincere concern for the boy he had only just met.

'I … My Mummy and Daddy don't really want me at home, but I'll have to go back soon. They keep telling me that they don't want me, and how useless I am, so why can't they let me leave?'

At this point Draco realised he was crying again, and ducked his head in embarrassment, unsure why he had told Harry what he'd told no one else. He jumped when he felt two small arms circle around his chest gently. He relaxed into the gentle embrace, until he felt warmth radiating off of them that wasn't possible to be a non-magical occurrence. He stiffened again, thinking how he should react, but was soothed by the steady magic flowing off this boy and into him; calming his rising panic and making him feel more relaxed, almost sleepy.

'Draco, I know I only just met you, but you seem really nice. Are there any adults you could go to now, other than them? It's wrong what they're doing. They're not allowed to do that. If they really don't want you, then that's something wrong with them, not you. They aren't worthy of you if they can't see how much they are missing out on by being mean.'

Draco snuggled further into the embrace and was mildly surprised to find them both on a patch of warm, dry grass, about a hundred metres from the swing set.

'What about you, Harry? Why're you all alone?'

He felt the small arms tense ever so slightly, before relaxing again.

'My … Family, they don't like me either, but they're a lot worse than yours. I have to do loads of chores, but I can't ever get them all done in time. When U-Uncle V-Vernon gets home and I haven't done them, he throws me into my cupboard and … well, nasty stuff. But I ran away this time, before he came home. I'll have to go back though, and it'll be really bad since I didn't even finish half my chores.'

Draco felt tremors going through the arms circling his chest. Rather than continue questioning, he left it and instead wrapped his arms around Harry's tiny neck, silently giving comfort to the little boy. Draco was trying to think of something to talk about that wasn't sad, but before he could, Harry stood up and, rather than walking away as Draco feared, turned to Draco with a determined glint in his eye.

'Right. Do you know any adults that you could do to other than your Mummy and Daddy that would take care of you and not tell your parents?'

Startled by the sudden change of mood, it took Draco a moment to respond.

'Uh … Maybe Uncle Sev'rus? I don't think he'd tell on me if he knew what was going on …'

Harry frowned in thought, his head tilting to the side a bit, similar to how he had looked when Draco first saw him.

'I don't know about an uncle … he's your parent's BROTHER, isn't he more likely to tell?'

'Oh! No, he's not my REAL Uncle, I just call him that. He's like a healer, but he's my favourite grown-up in the world!'

Harry's frown cleared, a smile taking over his whole face as he considered the option for Draco.

'That's perfect! Now, you have to tell me everything about him. And I mean EVERYTHING.'

So Draco did. They went and sat down on the swings again, and Draco talked and talked. What Severus looked like, his full name, his hobbies, his job. That last one took a lot more explaining than expected, but they eventually got past it. After every point, Harry would nod and ask more questions, until Draco had told him literally everything he could.

Once they were done, Harry stood up again, turning to stand opposite where Draco still sat on his swing.

'Ok, I'm going to try to bring him here. Is that ok?'

Draco just smiled at the boy he had come to trust in delight and excitement. He was really going to be ok!

At his smile, Harry grinned back before sitting down on the grass at his feet. Closing his eyes and letting his smile fade into a frown of concentration, he thought over everything he had learned about Severus Snape. At first, nothing happened, but then a slow breeze started up, bringing a small tornado into the park. Harry opened his eyes and Draco gasped lightly. His eyes were glowing, burning as the magic did it's work and a figure slowly faded into the centre of the tornado. Eyes wide, Draco watched in awe as the nondescript figure morphed into the familiar figure of his 'Uncle Sev'rus'.

As the wind faded, Severus Snape blinked, disorientated. Without warning, there was suddenly an over-excited Draco in his arms and he still had no idea where he was. The only thing that stopped him from falling over was years of practice at catching Draco at a moment's notice. Drawn from his thoughts by Draco's hyper bouncing and yelling of 'Sev'rus', he took a moment to look around.

'Draco … Where exactly are we?'

As the bouncing suddenly stopped, Severus turned to Draco with a stern expression expecting to find a sheepish look as he normally did. Instead he was faced with a small boy not paying the slightest bit of attention to him, instead looking over his shoulder and grinning.

'Harry! Thank you!'

Spinning around, Severus almost dropped Draco at seeing another young boy, roughly Draco's age standing right behind them. How had he not sensed him? He watched as the boy gave Draco a small, sad smile.

'I hope you'll enjoy your new life.'

That sounded like it was coming from a boy much older than the one in front of them. As he thought this, the wind that brought him there started up again, only this time it was surrounding the tiny boy. Well, his silhouette looked small; Severus suddenly realised he hadn't properly looked at the boy.

With a cry, Draco jumped from his Uncle's arms and ran towards the boy, stopping at the edge of the mini whirlwind.

'Harry! W-Will I see you again?'

Two green orbs were suddenly visible even through the rush around them, giving the impression they had just been opened. Severus drew in a breath at the power concealed behind them, but also the wisdom they contained.

'I don't think so Draco, I really doubt it.'

Even this boy's VOICE sounded wise and weary. And how could he possibly be heard through the wind?

'B-But, you'll be at Hogwarts, right?'

With a start, Severus realised that Draco was crying. And he had told 'Harry' of Hogwarts. Hmm… The eyes seemed to grow sad and wistful, so Severus was expecting a no, but not in the way it came.

'I doubt I'll survive that long. Severus Snape, you are to take care of this child. You don't want to know what will happen if you fail in any way. Goodbye Draco, my friend.'

With those words, the mysterious boy vanished, leaving an empty park with nothing to show that he had ever been there.