AN/Warning/Disclaimer: same as in the prologue

~~Chapter 1~~

Beaten Pretty Badly

            Professor Severus Snape hurried to the hospital wing of Hogwarts School or Wizardry, a precious bundle wrapped in his traveling cloak in his arms.

            "Poppy!" he called as he gently laid his bundle on a bed. "We need you now!"

            "Severus, what on earth are you shouting about?" Madame Pomfrey said, hurrying to the Potions teacher's side. She gasped as Snape pulled back the cloak revealing a very injured, very pale Draco Malfoy. He had passed out moments after Snape had scooped him up.

            The thirteen-year-old Slytherin was obviously very ill and beaten very badly. His face was almost white with dark circles under his eyes. There was a long gash on his forehead along with three long cuts on his cheek. His right arm was at an odd angle and his left arm was bleeding profusely. His left ankle was swelling and turning purple. His breathing was slightly labored and there were several gashes and cuts in the boy's robes, all bleeding.

            "Good Merlin, what happened to him?" the nurse whispered. She immediately began examining Draco, gasping every once in awhile. Snape sat silently in a chair beside the bed, worried for not just for his favorite student but for his godson as well, a fact that Draco did not know. He jumped when he felt an old hand on his shoulder. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Stood silently beside him observing Draco.

            "How is young Mr. Malfoy?" the Headmaster asked.

            Madame Pomfrey looked up with tears in her eyes. "He's been beaten pretty badly and he's very sick. I can heal the majority of the smaller wounds but many of the larger ones are infected and will have to heal the slow as well as his wrist and ankle. He running a pretty high fever and it looks like he has eaten in weeks." She paused, gently pushing back the unconscious boy's white-blonde hair off his face. "He was raped, Albus, and from the looks of it, he has spent at least two weeks someplace small, dark, and wet."

            Dumbledore nodded and said softly, "Do what you can Poppy. The best we can do is make him comfortable and hope he enough will to live. Severus, may I talk to you a moment?"

            Snape nodded and the two headed to the Headmaster's office, neither talking. Once in the headmaster's office, Dumbledore fixed two cups of tea before sitting behind his desk while Snape slid into a seat in from of the desk. He had a faraway look on his face, completely lost in thought and sighed.

            "How could they do that to him? How could someone hurt their own child so badly and then just leave him to die?"

            "Severus, Draco was not the only victim. Narcissa Malfoy was found dead last night. It would appear Lucius is tying up the loose ends before he returns to Voldemort's side." Dumbledore paused before fixing his glaze on the Potions Master. "Severus, Draco now has no where to go; no one to turn to. Perhaps, it is time to tell the boy the reason you have been keeping such a careful eye on him these past two years."

            Snape looked at his mentor and nodded resignedly. He knew the time had come. For too many years, Draco had no one to turn to and now more than ever he needed someone. He needed his godfather and it was time to tell him that he had one. However, Draco would need to be awake first and for now they would let him rest.