The next day the blonde boy and his two goons approached him during breakfast, he was the first person who had actually talked to him, not that that was a good thing.
"I am Draco Malfoy, this is Crabbe and Goyle, I-"
"I know who you are." growled Pax.
Malfoy was startled, but continued.
"I was going to ask if you would like to-"
"-Join your lot?"
"Yeah" replied Malfoy.
"Thanks, but no thanks Malfoy, I don't associate with suck-ups, and if you know what's good for you you'll stay out of my way." And he stood up and shoved right past Malfoy, by now this had attracted the attention of the entire hall.
"You freak!" Malfoy shouted after him.
"You know Malfoy," said Pax turning around and raising his eyebrows, "maybe you should think up some new and fresh insults, because the number of times I've heard that one, it no longer means anything to me." And he smirked and walked out of the hall and headed for the astronomy tower, he needed somewhere to think.
Severus had watched as Malfoy had approached Pax, alert incase Malfoy decided to start something.
And he had watched as Pax had turned down Malfoy's offer to join his gang, then insulted him further.
If he's not careful, he'll have an as enjoyable time here as I did, he thought. Then he got up and headed for the astronomy tower, needing somewhere to think, unaware that Pax had done the same.
He got up to the astronomy tower and looked around, it was a classroom by night but a good place to just sit think alone by day.
When he got outside where the telescopes were fixed to the battlements he could hear the faint sound of someone singing.
As he walked around the tower and turned a corner he discovered that it was Pax singing, and that he recognized the song.
"I tried so hard, and got so far,
But in the end, it doesn't even matter.
I had to fall, to lose it all,
But in the end it doesn't even matter..."
"Pax?"
Pax turned his head round so violently he almost got whiplash.
It was his father who had said his name.
"We need to talk Pax"
Pax just stared at him.
"Its too late for that." Then he turned and ran.
He ran down the stairs leading down from the tower, jumping three at a time and carried on running.
"Pax! Pax come back here!" yelled Severus giving pursuit down the tower and then towards the moving staircases, but as soon as he got there, he realized that Pax had given him the slip.
Damn, he thought as he headed back to the dungeons, maybe it had been too long, maybe Pax wasn't interested in talking anymore, did he hate him that much?
And if he did, what was he doing here?
"I'm sorry Serena, I'm so, so sorry," Pax sobbed as he sat on his bed with the hangings drawn so no-one could see him cry over the photograph of his deceased twin sister, "He was there, and I was there, he wanted to talk, but I ran. I ran like a coward..."