This chapter is for my best online FanFiction Friend Airmage!
There was silence in the room, and then:
"Aww, he's so cute!" Gushed the new defence teacher, Charlette Stingmon, as she got up from her seat and all but ran to fuss over his Godson.
The rest weren't so far behind.
"How old is he?"
"What beautiful eyes!"
"Is he related to you?"
"Where are his parents?"
"Such a handsome little boy!"
Draco attached himself to his godfather's hip so he wouldn't dragged around like a doll by a bunch of cheek pinching teachers. Not that Severus can blame them, all the teacher present either don't have children of their own or all of them are grown up, so they hardly see any child under the age of eleven, and Draco was undoubtedly handsome even at the age of eight.
Severus couldn't help but let some amusement show and his face as he watched Draco's predicament. The boy was usually very social, but if men and women at least eight times your own age were to pounce on you to coo at everything he did he would retreat as well.
The only ones who stayed seated were Dumbledore and Trelawney, who was frozen like a deer caught in headlights. Albus let out a chuckle and he cleared his throat.
"We should all calm down, now. We wouldn't like to scare Severus' guest now would we" He said with his voice full of laughter and his sky blue eyes twinkling brightly.
Some of the teachers had the dignity to look sheepish while others had no shame what so ever. Draco moved from Severus' side to behind him so he was hidden from the rest of the adults.
Once everyone else was either seated or a safe distance away he removed Draco from his body and put a hand on his back.
"Did you know the headmaster has a Phoenix? It's right there sleeping by the bookshelf, why don't you go and take a look?"
Draco's eyes widened and he snapped his head around to see a magnificent red, gold and orange sleeping bird. He walked quickly to the other end of the room, knowing the rest were going to talk about 'adult things' that he wasn't going to understand anyway.
Severus casted a silent Muffliato so Draco wouldn't overhear, if what the letter said was correct, he wouldn't want Draco to be scared of going to Hogwarts. He then walked over to his seat in the most dignified manner he could and sat in his seat, which was the one next to the still frozen Trelawney.
"Bastards, they just had to leave this seat empty." He cursed with a sneer.
"I didn't know you had a Godson, Severus." Minerva said with a smile and a look Severus couldn't identify. "Has he been with you all this time?"She asked with a glance at said boy who was looking at the Phoenix with an awed expression on his face.
Severus rolled his eyes, "His parents asked me to watch him for a week, they should come to pick him up Saturday afternoon." He lied through his teeth. Not that they would be able to prove anything, the only way was to ask the Malfoys themselves and sure as hell none of them were doing it.
"You took a break so you could...babysit?" Filius asked, his eyebrows raised.
Severus huffed , but responded none the less, "I owed them a favour and they don't trust much people with the care of their only child, also if I was given the option of staying in a room full of dunderheads you call students with deadly ingredients and exploding cauldrons every five minutes or spending time with my Godson, I would rather choose the second one."
No one could argue with that, since Severus didn't give classes this week any teacher available was to control the class instead. And safe to say every class was a complete disaster. No one could walk two steps without an explosion happening.
"Aw, looks like you have a soft spot for him." Teased professor Sprout. Severus glared at he but said nothing.
Thankfully the conversation turned from him to the real reason they were all called here. Albus wore an expressionless mask as he told the staff about the attacks in the Forbidden Forest.
"Most students involved in these assaults come out with a few scratches and have no idea who or what their attacker is, they said it was too fast- you could only see a blur." He folded his hands on top of his desk and his neutral expression turned into one of sadness and sympathy. "Last night, a seventh year Gryffindor was dared to go in the forest for ten minutes. After he went in and didn't come out after twenty minutes, his group of friends got worried he might have gotten lost. They quickly sought out Hagrid who, in turn, left to find the boy, he found him unconscious and with deep slashes on his torso and neck-"
Severus looked to the side where Professor McGonagall sat, she had her lips I a thin line and was clutching the base of her chair. No doubt more than a little disturbed on of her lions was put in a mortal danger.
"Well, only a Gryffindor would do something as stupid as going into the Forbidden Forest knowing very well the dangers that lied ahead were steeper than usual" Severus thought.
Of course he wasn't insensible enough to say so out loud.
"-ly the boy survived and currently is in the care of Poppy. We need to find the thing that is causing this and put an end to it immediately!"
With a grim face everyone agreed to keep Care of Magical Creatures as an indoor class for the moment, make the house perfects do a head count every night at curfew to make sure no one was missing and to patrol the grounds more thoroughly.
"We could also ask Hagrid to speak to the Centaurs to see if they know anything." Severus suggested.
"Yes, that would be useful as well, I believe it is all we can do for now, if any of you have any information, no matter how irrelevant it seems, don't be afraid to speak up. That will be all for today, thank you for your time. Now let us leave so you may all have a chance to get to class, and maybe grab a biscuit on your way there." Albus finished with a merry tone trying to ease the tension in the room.
Some chuckled humourlessly and politely excused themselves from the room.
"It isn't the best time to seek permission to explore Hogwarts, but then again," Severus took a quick look at Draco who was now observing one of the many magical knick-knacks the Headmaster had on display. "He has just begun to act like himself again, I wold hate to disappoint him and make him go back to brooding."
After a quick mental debate he concluded that there would be no real damage as long as they kept ways from the Forbidden Forest. The only one left by now was the Division teacher, who, now that Severus thought about it, hasn't said a word. Severus saw the Headmaster open his moth to say something to her but she suddenly snapped out of the trance she was in and hurried out the door.
"That's odd, usually Trelawney would make such a big fuss out of anything that happens, claiming she saw it in her crystal ball the morning before it happened." But Severus wasn't even going to begin to even think about the oddness of the Division teacher. Or at least for now.
"Could seers sense each other's presence or the like?" Severus asked himself. The answer was most likely no, Trelawney was not much of a seer (she only ever made a prophecy or has seen a vision only thrice in her life time, and one didn't even come true) and if anyone could, it would be Draco who's inner eye is much more powerful and open at the age of five then she will ever achieve in her whole life.
"I will have to investigate this later."
"Albus, I know it might be a bad time, but could I take Draco for a walk around the grounds? We won't go near the Forest and I will make sure he doesn't disturb any class time or students, it will only be for a hou-"
The Headmaster chuckled as he brought up his hand to signal Severus to stop. "Of course you may take Draco for a tour! Make sure you take him to the kitchen so the house elves cam prepare you a snack! Also don't worry about the time limit, it's no trouble at all!" The Headmaster was positively gleeful at the fact that at least one son of a Death Eater has a good influence.
Severus nodded his head in thanks, removed the silencing charm and removed Draco from the Headmaster's Office before he hade a chance to poke the Sorting Hat...
….Review? PLEASE! I updated thanks to a review from CatCatastrophe, Thank you so much.
