Mayhem. The only word to describe a mass of once cohesive bodies shattering into a thousand directions.

Sirius stood frozen as everything became chaos; cops poured in from nowhere and dancers scrambled toward exits. Screams were deafening as black clad bodies pounced on scared teens, beating those who tried to fight their way out with batons.

"The EXITS!" Snape shouted through the microphone, "Remember the EXITS!" And then he was gone, running behind a curtain as more police rushed into the room, dragging struggling people out into the alleyways.

Sirius panicked as a new wave of officers came through the door he was still standing by. Turning to growl at them, he found the barrel of a gun aimed at him. As time slowed and Sirius watched that finger pull the trigger, Sirius felt magic, more powerful than any he had ever thought possible, wash over him.

After several still seconds, Sirius risked looking up, noticing, for the first time, that it wasn't just his near death experience that had frozen him. Everything was slowed to an impossible level; as he turned, he caught sight of faces contorting in fear at the same rate as he was striding between bodies.

"Fucking goddamn it!" A voice to his right shouted, "Of all the stupid, inconceivable, hair-brained-"

Looking towards the noise, Sirius noticed a beautiful girl. With long red hair and eyes as black as Snape's, she was magnificent.

"Navey!" Snape said, running up to the girl and embracing her, "I though you wouldn't come."

The girl, Navey, rolled her eyes, "As if, kid." She said, smiling slightly despite the stern tone of her voice, "I could never leave you in a rough situation."

Snape smiled blindingly at her, "Thanks, Navey." Turning back to the sluggish occupants of the room, Snape frowned, "But how did they find us? I put up all of the necessary spells and protection."

Navey shrugged, "Someone told them how to get in."

Snape shook his head with a sigh, "Mayhem hates to be moving around like this. Remember the last time someone let it slip?"

Navey shuddered, though her smile only grew wider, "I never did find out if that kid learned to walk again."

Snape laugher, hugging her again, "I've missed you, Navey."

Navey nodded, "I'm sorry, little one. I have been away for far longer than I had anticipated."

Snape cringed, but he shrugged, "It's alright. I've been okay on my own." Looking back at his audience, Snape motioned to them, "We need to get as many of them as we can out of here. A lot of them can't go back to jail. Even more of them can't go back to their guardians."

Navey nodded, "I'll create a diversion. When I unfreeze them break the cuffs and I'll open up the portals. Make sure that they head to them."

Snape nodded, running back onto the stage and grabbing the microphone while Navey walked between the bodies, touching each of the dancers as she went. Giving Snape a thumbs up, she waved her hand, releasing everyone from their magically induced paralysis.

Sirius yelped as the gun that had been aimed at him went off and the noise returned. Nobody seemed to notice that anything had happened, but, as planned, Snape began to yell, "The EXITS! Run for the exits while you can!"

And true enough, all of the people who had been cuffed were free again, running to the corners of the room, huddling there for seconds before they disappeared.

Sirius yelped as a booted foot collided with his side; looking up, he stared into the eyes of a heavy set police man. "Fucking bastards!" The man bellowed at several passing kids, knocking them on their heads with his baton, "Think you can get away this time you rats?"

Sirius growled at him, leaping at his face and biting his arm.

"Wha-?" The Cop gasped, clutching his bleeding arm while he stared down at Sirius.

"Grim?" Snape called out over the crowd, "Grim, come on!"

Sirius took one last bite out of the fat man's arm before running to the boy, skidding to a halt as Snape wrapped one hand securely in his fur, "This might feel weird, boy."

Just as the ground below them was turning mist, a shot rang out, followed closely by a nearby gasp and several screams.

Sirius tried to move, to help the boy attached to him, but the port key was already pulling them away.

For several seconds color and darkness flash before Sirius' eyes before they landed in some type of park. As both Boy and dog fell to the ground, Navey appeared, no noise ushering in her arrival.

"Severus!" She screamed, bending over the bleeding boy, "What the fuck happened?"

"I got shot," Snape said in his most bland voice.

Navey smacked him upside the head as she tried to take off his shirt.

"No," Snape said, fighting her, "I'm alright, Navey."

"No you're not," Navey hissed, struggling with the boy, "You just got shot in the stomach. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Snape looked away, pushing himself up though he cried out in pain, "I just can't-"

"Can't what?" Navey interrupted, "Can't let me save your life?"

Snape bit his lip, eyes troubled, "I can't tell you, Navey. I just can't."

Navey looked like she wanted to say something, but she stopped herself, taking in the hunched shoulders and darkly circled eyes of the boy before her, "Jesus," She moaned, "They hurt you." It wasn't a question. She stared at him with sorrow in her eyes.

Snape flinched, but nodded, "I couldn't stop it. I-I just, I'm not strong enough, I'm not-"

"You're the strongest person I've ever met, Severus." Navey interrupted.

"I'm not-" Snape tried to say, but Navey placed her hand over his mouth.

"You are everything and more." She said softly, caressing his cheek with her thumb, "I know you can't believe me right now, but you are."

Snape smiled softly, shyly, "I don't deserve-"

"You deserve," Navey said brashly, "Everything and more." Stroking his cheek again, she reached her other hand to the bottom of Snape's shirt, lifting the edge gingerly, "I need you to trust me, okay?"

She spoke softly, calmly, giving Snape time to anticipate her movements, "It's going to be alright, okay?"

Snape nodded, clenching his eyes tightly closed, "I trust you, Navey," He said in a frightened whisper, "But I'm so scared."

Sirius started as he realized that the boy was talking about more than just his most recent wound. In the darkness of the windy night, Severus Snape, the boy who couldn't be bested, bullied, or otherwise intimidated, was admitting that he was scared.

"It's okay to be scared, baby," Navey said, "It's alright to be tired." Taking her other hand from Snape's face, she rolled up the fabric of the shirt, helping the boy pull it over his head.

"I'm going to make some light, okay?" She asked, still moving in that same slow, methodical way.

Snape nodded, biting his lip.

Cupping her hands before her, Navey made a pool of light that, when she dropped her hands out from under it, moved to the side, allowing Navey to concentrate on the boy in front of her.

Sirius had been so caught up in the effortless way she had created something that should take hours, he hadn't noticed that what he had thought was a dark colored undershirt was actually something that caused bile to rise in his throat.

Where pale skin should have shone it the light, all that could be seen was a mass of purple bruises and angry red wounds slashed across an emaciated form.

"Oh, gods," Navey gasped, bending double to avoid being sick all over Snape.

Snape looked away, a bitter smile falling across his face, "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Laughing mirthlessly, he touched a particularly deep gash that lay low on his abdomen, "His best work yet."

Navey looked away, "I'm so sorry, Severus." She took a deep breath, "I can't tell you how sorry I am."

Snape sighed, running a hand through his disheveled hair, "It's not your fault, Navey. I'm the one that can't defend myself."

Navey's hand came up and struck Snape's face, her face an expressionless mask.

Snape backed away, terror clear in his eyes and he covered his reddening cheek. "Navey?" He chocked out, betrayal making his voice crack.

Navey walked closer, her hands shaking, "Did you deserve that, Severus?" She asked softly, "Does being unable to stop an attack make you bear the guilt?"

Snape looked away, "For normal people, it doesn't, but you know what I am."

Sirius whined, circling the boy. He didn't know why, but such self-hate bothered him.

Snape looked down at the dog, "It's okay, Grim," He said softly, "I'm not mad at you."

Sirius shook his head as he placed his nose gently against the same gash that Snape had a moment ago, causing the boy to wince.

"No matter what that man tells you, Sev," Navey said calmly, walking forward, "You aren't something evil. You're special, no doubt, but not the kind of different that he thinks you are."

Snape smiled sadly, "And I wish I could believe that I wasn't the things that he says. I wish that I wasn't the piece of trash that I am. I can't tell you how much I wish that." Snape's voice broke as he sat on a nearby swing, "He doesn't even have to say it; I already knew. From the day I was born I've been nothing but a mistake, an abomination." Sighing, Severus rubbed his arms, "Nothing could love something as disgusting as me."

Navey cringed as though she had been hit, but she didn't say anything, she just walked behind the boy, placing a hand on his back.

As Navey began to hum, Snape sang. It was soft and sad, but beautifully nostalgic, "'If only, if only,'" He started, looking up at the stars, "The wood pecker sighed, 'the bark on the trees was as soft as the skies.'"

Navey smiled, kissing the top of Snape's head as she began to move her hands in small, comforting circles, "The wolf waits below," She continued, glancing at Sirius, "Hungry and lonely."

Snape sighed deeply as a glow emitted from his ruined form, "He cries to the moon," A sharp gasp broke him off as the light faded, revealing healed flesh.

Navey ran her hand slowed down the scars lacing the young man's back. Letting a tear roll down her cheek, she whispered out, "'If only, if only.'"

Sirius watched in wonder as Navey hugged the boy from behind, shielding him from the chill wind.

Cocking his head to the side, Sirius settled at Snape's dangling feet. It was odd, how comfortable he was with the boy when he was in his dog form. It was such a parallel to their normal feelings that it made him shiver.

Looking up, he noticed Navey's eyes on him, boring into him. 'I know who you are.' Her voice hissed inside his head, causing his to flinch.

Looking closer at the girl, Sirius saw, not only curiosity, but hate in her gaze. 'I know what you did to him,' She continued, 'I know what you will do to him.'

Sirius waited for her to say more, but she didn't. Instead, she released Snape, summoning a new shirt out of the air for him to put on. "We have to be going, Severus," She said softly, gesturing to the lightening sky, "My enemy hastens my departure."

Snape nodded, giving his hand pulling the shirt over his thin frame, "Where are we going, Navey?" He asked anxiously, looking off to the horizon, where Sirius noticed the same smoking tower that he had on the first night he had gone to Snape's house.

Navey understood his unspoken question, "I won't send you back there, Baby." She said softly, "Not ever again." Sirius might have missed it had he not been looking, but blood lust shone in her eyes as she took in the smoking tower.

Snape nodded, willing to go anywhere but there.

"Take my hand, my love," Navey said, "I'll take care of everything else."

Snape nodded, a small smile breaking out on his face. As he was reaching out, he remembered Sirius, holding out a hand to him, "Do you want to come?" He asked the dog, who looked cautiously at Navey, whose eyes had snapped fire.

"He has a home, Severus," she said kindly, though the hate in her eyes was anything but, "He needs to be getting back before his family misses him."

Snape frowned, "We can't let him go back if he's going to be hurt, though!"

Navey gave Snape a proud smile, "Don't worry, Sev. You know that I wouldn't send him somewhere he'd be hurt."

Snape nodded, but sadness shone in his eyes as he grabbed Navey's hand.

Sirius whimpered as the boy disappeared, leaving just him and the strange girl in the park.

Letting the smile fall from her face, Navey spoke in a threatening whisper, "You are never to come to him again, filth." Bending down to place her hand on Sirius' back, she whispered, "Consider this your only warning." And then he was flashing through space and time, back to the night when he had decided to go to Snape's house.

Falling into his battered boy, Sirius let out a startled gasp, feeling the pull of open wounds acutely before he was moving again. For several seconds he didn't know what was happening, until, with a final, pain filled decent, he landed on top of a very familiar person.

"Get off!" James Potter yelled whoever had tackled him.

"Prongs!" Sirius gasped, jumping off of his friend, "What are you doing?"

James frowned as he rolled over, taking in his best friend, "What am I doing here?" He asked, "This is my house, you freak! What are you doing here?"

Sirius opened his mouth to give a smart remark, but closed it, confusion pinching his face, "I- I don't know." He said, clutching his aching head, "How did I get here?"

James got off of the floor, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder, causing the other boy to cry out as pain laced through his body.

"What happened?" A voice called from down the hall, ushering in a plump woman in her late sixties.

"Siri?" She asked, looking form one boy to the other, "When did you get here?"

James sighed, messing with his hair, "He just dropped in," He said blandly.

Sirius frowned at his friend, though he didn't say anything.

"Oh," Edith Potter said, confused but used to the other boy coming over without notice, "Did you tell your parents that you were coming, Siri?"

Sirius winced, "We got into a fight, actually," Rotating his shoulders, Sirius bit his lip, "I don't really remember much after that."

Frowning, Edith reached out, "Is something wrong with your back, dear?" Placing her hand gently between Sirius' shoulder blades, she drew it back as if burned when Sirius let out a sharp gasp, flinching away from the touch.

Drawing her wand, she pointed it at the boy's thin form, muttering a quick detection spell. Covering her mouth with a trembling hand, she called for her husband to bring their personal healer.

James glances frantically between his friend and his mother, hoping that someone would tell him what was going on, "What happened?" He asked desperately.

"Sirius is going to be staying with us for a while, James," Edith Potter said calmly, gently ushering both her son to his room while guiding Sirius down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"What happened, Sirius?" She asked him quietly, rubbing his arms soothingly.

Sirius closed his eyes, blurred images flashing through his mind, "I-I don't remember." He whispered.

Edith looked skeptical, but nodded, content to wait.

Hours later, long after James had fallen asleep, Sirius lay in the spare bed that was always kept in the teen's room. As he stared at the ceiling, Sirius couldn't help but think that something had happened to him, something more that the fight he had had with his parents.

Just as dawn broke over the French city they were staying in, Sirius could have sworn that he heard a soft melody, easing his troubled mind, wiping it clean of darkly troubled eyes and entrancing songs.

Closing his eyes, Sirius allowed himself to forget that anything but what he would remember clearly had happened to him. Allowed himself to forget abandoned factories and drunken muggles. As a memory of soft hands caressing him faded to nothingness, Sirius gave a soft, sad whimper.

And though he didn't know it, another boy did the same.