Chapter 6: Farewells

Harry dared to leave out a very quiet and relieved little sigh. At least there had been no more blood sharing in this last memory, and even though it had not exactly been a nice one, it hadn't been too bad either. He knew what it felt like to be treated like a nuisance, like something bothersome, had survived it for years, in fact. On the other hand, he had never been treated like that by his own mother.

The next scenery was familiar as well. Hundreds of children were running this way and that beside a long scarlet steam engine. The sign above the wrought-iron archway read Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and just a few metres to its left a very intimidated Severus Snape tried to catch up with his parents, who strode along the platform gracefully, a dark wooden trunk drifting lazily behind them. The two grown-ups had reached a group of daunting-looking witches and wizards, dressed in discreet yet obviously first-rate robes.

"What a pleasure to meet you here", one of the women was just saying in a low and somewhat erotic voice as the boy finally caught up with them. His face was slightly flushed from running, yet he did his best to imitate his father's proud stance.

"So, this is your son", the woman continued after embracing his mother delicately and stretching her hand out to his father, who kissed it nonchalantly. She bent down a little, almost touching the boy with her long, silvery-blond hair, and brought his face up with two of her ring-clustered fingers.

"You should really cut his hair sometime, or don't you want people to see his face?"

With that she released him and snapped her fingers delicately at someone behind her. Immediately a teenage boy with shoulder-length flaxen hair appeared, bowing elegantly at everyone in the group and afterwards looking at her expectantly.

"This is our son Lucius. Lucius, this is …." She threw a questioning look at the older Snape who answered with a pompous smile "Severus."

"This is Severus Snape. It's his first year at Hogwarts and your father and I would appreciate it very much, if you would have an eye on him."

"Of course, mother."

His voice was soft and even, indicating that the worst part of puberty already lay behind him. His silky hair framed a fresh and smooth face and he presented a row of incredibly white teeth as he smiled confidently at the dark-haired boy before him.

"Let's get your trunk on the train, shall we?" He whipped out an impressive wand, dark as the night and at least thirteen inches long, and started directing the trunk into the waiting train. His newly appointed protégé followed him uncertainly.

"So, they are sending you to Hogwarts after all." Lucius Malfoy threw the boy a curious look as they entered the train and stored away the trunk.

"What do you mean?" The returned look was filled with equal curiosity.

"Well, you know, with your father having been a Durmstrang student …." He left the sentence unfinished, obviously amused by the puzzled look on the younger boy's face.

"Personally I think you are better off like this. Durmstrang is supposed to be the coldest place on the planet. No decent lighting or heating, excessive physical exercising …" He made a dramatical pause, leaning down towards the boy and whispered into his ear "And they still use curses and beatings instead of detention."

Obviously he had hoped for a stronger reaction, for when the boy just stared at him without flinching he frowned a little, shrugged his shoulders and went on.

"Of course at Hogwarts we have the disadvantage of a crazed, muggle-loving Headmaster. I assume your father at least told you about Albus Dumbledore?"

"He has mentioned the name once or twice", the younger boy answered, looking at his shoes and avoiding the other one's eyes. As other students suddenly dashed past them, laughing and chasing each other through the aisle, he pressed himself against the nearest wall with a look of barely hidden panic on his face.

"You're not really used to people, are you?"

The voice of Lucius Malfoy sounded a lot kinder than before as he put a reassuring arm around the trembling child's shoulder, leading him out of the train again and back onto the platform where their parents were still chatting.

"Everything is packed away, mother", he informed the tall blond woman, still clutching the dark haired boy to his side and giving everyone in the group an appealing smile.

"He will stay in our compartment for the journey. I'm sure Crabbe, Goyle and Avery won't mind."

All around them parents started to pull their children into more or less tight embraces. Last advice was given, last admonitions repeated for the presumably hundredth time.

"Well, I guess everything is settled then."

His mother embraced Lucius warmly, kissing him on the cheek and immediately wiping away the hint of lipstick that had rubbed off onto his face.

"Time to say good-bye again. The holidays are always over too soon."

She squeezed his hand once more before taking a step to the side, leaving father and son a moment to exchange a firm handshake. The current Lord Malfoy was a tall, broad - shouldered man with brown curly hair and a pleasant smile. Obviously Lucius had inherited his looks from his mother.

"Send us an owl tomorrow to let us know how the trip was. And also about any interesting newcomers into Slytherin house."

With that he nodded towards the younger boy, padded his son on the shoulder and turned to offer an arm to his wife. The Snapes had already started to walk into the direction of the gate, talking animatedly. They held each other lightly around the waist and seemed to all the world like a couple freshly in love.

Their son stared after them disbelievingly for a while as if waiting for them to turn around and at least wave at him. They didn't.

"Come on, it's time to go," Lucius said over his shoulder as he entered the train. The younger boy didn't seem to hear him, wiping half-cried tears from his eyes and pushing strands of black hair out of his face.

"Hey, eagle-nose! Do you want to be left behind?"

Finally he turned around and walked towards the only halfway familiar person left on the platform. As he clambered onto the train the older boy gave him an affectionate push against the shoulder.

"Don't be sad. As far as I can see, things can only get better for you."

At this they smiled at each other for the first time and headed towards their compartment side by side.

This Lucius Malfoy was nothing like the cold-hearted, sadistic man that Harry had had the misfortune to encounter a couple of times. His smile seemed to be honest instead of calculating and cruel and in his eyes there had been a genuine interest in the other boy.

But then, it was also hard to believe that this insecure and nervous little boy with his soft dark eyes was supposed to turn into Hogwarts' most loathed teacher.

Obviously some time had passed, for the young Snape was settled comfortably in a window seat now, looking out at the landscape shooting past while absentmindedly pushing one of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans into his mouth. Half a second later he grimaced, a disgusted look on his face.

"What kind did you have?" asked one of the elder boys eagerly. He looked kind of beefy and seemed to be definitely too heavy for his size.

"I have no idea", answered Snape slowly and in a thoughtful voice. "I only know that I'm glad I never had to eat something like that before."

His comment was rewarded with laughter and he dared to flash a mischievous smile at the others. His eyes rested on Lucius Malfoy for a while until the older boy stared back pointedly.

"Anything the matter?" he asked with a mock frown on his face.

"No, not really." Snape kept on looking at him. "I was just wondering why you are being so nice to me."

Two of the other boys started giggling, but Lucius silenced them with an impatient gesture.

"You are not really used to being treated nicely, are you?"

Snape didn't answer, but he didn't avoid the other one's eyes this time, either.

"Well," Lucius continued, "first of all, because my mother told me to. And you always have to be a good boy and do what Mommy says, isn't that true, Goyle?"

The beefy boy who had asked Snape about the taste of his bean before went shiny red in the face and made an effort of wiping some non-existent dust off his robes.

"Second", Malfoy went on, "it's nice to have something like a little brother for a while, to explain things to that are already familiar for me. One of my cousins did that for me when I first came to Hogwarts and I'm glad that I can do it for you now. After Julian died I thought I wouldn't have the chance."

With that he started suckling on a Liquorice Wand and stared out the window thoughtfully.

There was a little pause and an awkward silence filled the compartment.

"Julian … was your bother?" Snape finally found the courage to ask. Lucius nodded silently. Then, suddenly, he took a deep breath, flashed a smile at Snape and said cheerfully:

"He was a clever little boy. And cute as well. Dark curly hair like my father. Unfortunately he was as magically talented as a teapot, so they burnt him when he was seven."

His smile seemed forced and he pulled at his Liquorice Wand so hard with his white teeth that it snapped in the middle. Snape stared at him in disbelief.

"He was burnt?" His voice was down to a whisper, his eyes silently asking for an explanation, any kind of explanation.

"Yes, burnt", Lucius answered, his gaze fixed on the dangling piece of sweets in his hand. "That's what pure blood families do with inadequately talented children; they get rid of them. Julian had the chance to conjure himself out of the fire. Father and I had trained him for exactly that for long enough. But he couldn't. So he died."

His eyes were cold now as he looked at Snape.

"Your father used a different method, as I heard."

The younger boy looked out the window again, hiding his face behind a curtain of black hair.

"You don't have to be ashamed. It's the same for all of us", one of the other boys said while resting a hand on Snape's shoulder. "You should be proud, because you are the one who survived. You are one of the strong ones."

Outside it grew darker and the lights inside the train flashed to life. The compartment door was opened and an older boy pushed his red-haired head inside.

"We'll be arriving soon. You should start getting ready."

Without waiting for a response he closed the door again noisily, walking on towards the next compartment.

"That was Dad," Ron whispered somewhere behind Harry. Of course. The red-headed boy had seemed familiar, even if they had seen him only for a few seconds.

Obviously also Mr. Weasley had recognized himself. He wore a puzzled look on his face as if trying to find out why he couldn't remember that moment in his presumably last Hogwarts year. Or maybe he was still shaken by the pure-blooded concept of eliminating not adequately talented children. Harry certainly was.