Chapter Twenty-Nine

New Wounds and Old

Nestled by the trees and peeking out from the snow, tiny wild crocuses braved the chill February wind to be kissed by the bright sunlight, soaking it in while the trees within the Dark Forest had yet to even begin to form leaves. After several horrible days and restless nights, Jennifer ached more than any of the children for the trip to the Glen, her heart heavy and missing Keki more than she had had in a long time.

"After we find them, let's walk to the Grove," Jennifer suggested to them quietly. "Maybe afterwards we can stop by the village for a quick butterbeer to warm up before we head back."

"Sounds great!" Halbert said enthusiastically, glad to get more than just a sight of Unicorns out of the trip. It had often been hard for him to watch his friends go off when he always ended up watching on the sidelines. Suddenly, Aurelius broke away from the others and picked up speed. "Hullo, there he goes again! He knows we're not supposed to be separated."

"I don't think he can help it," Jennifer said thoughtfully, then offered a weak smile. "Well, we'd best follow him then!"

"I still see him, it's this way," Andrew said, Alex and Alicia following eagerly behind while Jennifer, Halbert and Zack took up the rear.

In no time they were working their way towards the far side of the glen, Jennifer frowning slightly as walked over the slushy ground. Bits of green peeked through the slush here and there, and it made little sense to Jennifer why the Unicorns were hugging the trees. It wasn't like them to pass up the first grass of summer. She gazed up at the cloudless blue sky for a moment but soon had to look down because of the glare. She saw a white patch then out of the corner of her eye, and a whisking of the tail, and then finally she caught sight of Unicorn eyes as one of them passed by a tree.

"Look, there's Jule! But why is she so skittish?" Alicia asked, pointing out the frisky mare looking out from the trees.

"I don't know, but I'm quite sure it's not us," Jennifer said thoughtfully. Aurelius had already found Pali, and the two of them were standing on the edge of the glen beyond the tree line. Halbert hesitated, unsure of how near to get, but Jennifer gestured to him and Zack. "Come on, they won't mind you getting a little closer so long as you're with me," she assured them.

As they came nearer, the other three Snapes went to greet their mounts just inside the Forest, while Pali offered Jennifer a deep bow, which she returned as Halbert watched the exchange in amazement. Alicia suddenly squealed and hugged Jule's neck warmly.

"Pali wants to know if you want to meet his new filly," Aurelius said with a thin smile, his voice sounding strangely distant. "It's his first born, not even a week old."

"We'd love to," Jennifer grinned, and Aurelius nodded, patting Pali's side who then waved his head in signal. A moment later, a tiny golden baby Unicorn peeked out from behind Jule, a bit timid about answering her father's call. But finally she walked out, taking ginger steps across the snow before stopping to look at them. Cautiously she came closer, but then paused at her father's low neigh. She bobbed her head, not quite able to manage a bow.

"The Centaurs named her Kela," Aurelius told them.

"What a very pretty name!" Jennifer said, bowing back again. Immediately the filly came closer still, Halbert getting nervous.

"Should we back up?"

"It's all right, Halbert. There's nothing in the world as incorruptible as a baby Unicorn," Jennifer said, kneeling as she came forward and reaching out to her. "They're too filled with joy and innocence to be anything else! It's all right; she came to us. Go ahead and touch her."

"She's very soft," Zack said, enjoying the experience in spite of himself, while Halbert was too elated to speak.

Jennifer knew what was going to happen when she touched the Unicorn's nose, feeling her grief and sadness melt away as Kela's breath washed over her, and memories of happier times rushed into her mind. But just as suddenly as they came they disappeared as a wave of fear hit. Instantly alerted even before the filly had time to whinny and bolt back into the woods, Jennifer had stood and taken out her wand.

"What is it? What's going on?" Halbert said as he got up.

"Turn around," Zack said in a hollow voice. As Halbert and Jennifer turned, they saw a long line of men in dark hooded robes stretching out over the Glen.

In the center stood a figure in white with a rather frightening skull mask that made him truly look as if he had no regular face; the hollow eyes and jaw making him quite impossible to read. But as the man took a few steps forward, Jennifer instantly recognized the walk and shook her head, not believing what she was seeing. Behind her, whinnies broke out as the Unicorns protested the intrusion.

"I suggest you put down the wand, Jennifer," the Skull said firmly, still holding his. "The two boys should as well."

"Dad?" Jennifer murmured, wondering if her ears two were playing tricks on her.

"How did they find us?" Zack asked, Halbert shaking his head slowly in response.

"I'm here to collect my grandchildren," the Skull said. "Hogwarts isn't safe enough to my liking and I'm sure they will do better elsewhere under my care. If they come peacefully, no one needs to get hurt."

"You would hurt your own daughter, let alone these children?" Jennifer said warily, not putting her wand down.

"If I have to, Jennifer, yes. Considering everything going on, it would be in your best interests to cooperate, don't you think? Especially now that Severus has moved on. You don't think Fleur's going to help protect them, do you?" the Skull asked.

But Aurelius, sitting on top of Pali now, burst into laughter.

"What a babbling idiot! You're not my grandfather! And we're not going with you."

"Of course I'm your grandfather!" the Skull snapped.

"Really? Then tell me how your friends the Moons are doing down in Walford?" Aurelius challenged him.

"You know quite well that I look after all my friends, Aurelius," the Skull said, Aurelius chuckling again as Pali took a few high proud steps closer to where Jennifer, Halbert and Zack were standing.

"Really, well I definitely agree they need looking after. And when's the last time you visited Corry? Not Willowby…the other one," Aurelius asked.

"I am not here to play games, Aurelius, I am here to make sure you and your siblings have a safe and stable place to live."

"Thanks, but we're fine where we are. And by the way, why are you calling my mother Jennifer, anyhow?"

Jennifer suddenly relaxed then, for even though she had no idea what the first two questions meant, the third was quite clear to her.

"Because that's her name!" the Skull snarled.

"All right then, Dad, if it's really you perhaps I'll help you see them to safety," Jennifer said. "But first take off your mask…or are you afraid that I might see through the Polyjuice Potion you have on?"

"Enough of this!" the Skull snapped. "Grab them!"

"Into the trees!" Jennifer barked at Halbert and Zack just before Pali gave out a powerful rallying neigh and a line of Unicorns burst from the forest. Little Kela had wanted to go too, but as she stumbled out, Halbert and Zack quickly pulled her back in while Jennifer shouted at them to find cover, a strange force field appearing around them as they hid the filly in a wild hedge.

A herd of charging Unicorns was a terrible sight to see under any circumstances, and their protections against magic were strong, especially when staying together. But then one of the Death Eaters took out a silver chain lasso and threw it in front of one, tripping the poor beast, which fell to its side. Several of the others Disapparated out from the charge and transfigured lassos of their own, Filled with outrage, Jennifer waited until she had a clear shot of a group away from the pack and blasted them with the Shrieking Death spell, grimly watching them double over in pain and hold their ears.

Just then something hit her from behind and tossed her to the ground, a flash of bright light temporarily blinding her vision as she called her wand back into her hand and rolled over. As her vision cleared, she saw the unmistakable form of Ciardoth standing over her.

"I see you don't want to play nice," Ciardoth said coolly. "Well, neither do I. Time to get a taste of your own medicine. Enjoy it, it'll probably be the last thing you ever hear," she said with a smile, her face suddenly becoming almost ghostlike as she pointed her long thin arm at Jennifer. Immediately, Jennifer began to cast the Sonorous Shield as Ciardoth began to shriek, but before she could get it fully up the wrenching song hit her. As if out of thin air, Pali suddenly appeared over her with Aurelius still on his back, and upon Aurelius' arm was the Aegis, effectively spreading the sound waves off in different directions.

"Mum! Get out of here!" Aurelius barked, knowing he wouldn't be able to hold her for long.

"I'm not going to leave you kids here by yourself!" Jennifer said, getting up and glancing horrified at how many Unicorns had been downed by the lassos, despite the fact that the three the others were riding were still going strong, chasing every Death Eater stupid enough to get too close to them.

"You cannot win, Jennifer Craw!" Ciardoth laughed. Aurelius used the break in the spell to back up a bit, but still kept between Ciardoth and his mother. "Even now things are set in motion that will spell your final defeat!"

Just then, a horn sounded in the distance. Ciardoth paused as if trying to connect the sound with a memory.

"That may be, but I have a feeling it's not going to be tonight," Aurelius said. Pali suddenly reared as if in response to the horn, and Jennifer turned, watching as the Death Eaters who were left had stopped to stare up the length of the Glen, listening to the rumbling sound coming towards them. Ciardoth's recognition took hold then, and in a flash of light, she was gone again.

The centaurs had come. Elated and relieved at the extra help, Jennifer found her second wind, petrifying one of the Death Eaters that was tossing a lasso and hitting another who had been attacking them as they lay there with a more painful joint-locking spell. She was so busy and with the chaos of arrows flying past her she was hardly aware of the knife that was thrown into her thigh until the pain hit her several seconds later.

"Do you mind? I believe that's mine," said the Skull as he crawled up beside her. He, too, had been wounded, gored in the leg it seemed. His mask had come off, revealing Thomas' face, but a much younger visage of him than he was now…at least twelve years younger. "Of course," he continued, when he noticed Jennifer looking at his leg, "Mine will heal. Let's see how well you are able to hide that." Growling, Jennifer pointed her wand at him with full intention of killing him, when suddenly he Disapparated out of sight.

"Come back here, you coward!" she shouted angrily into the wind, noticing then that the remainder of the Death Eaters had left as well with only the few she had petrified becoming the prisoners of the centaurs. Alex, who had shaken off the Unicorn's influences quicker than the others, had hurried to her side, crying out in distress when she saw the knife. "No, no, it's okay, I…I have potions on me, help me get it out," Jennifer said, tossing Alex some rags from her cloak and ripping the material back on her skirt, her eyes watering.

"Shall I send for our healer?" Firenze asked solemnly as he stepped up to them.

"No, no, please, help the Unicorns," Jennifer pleaded, barely crying out at all as she and Alex pulled out the straight blade. "See? It's okay, put pressure on it, Alex," Jennifer said gritting through her teeth as she got out a blood staunch potion and drank it all down. "There! It's all right, now."

"No, there's still an open wound…" Alex said, checking under rags.

"It'll just take a minute, I'm sure…Alex, please go make sure everyone else is all right, then we need to send word back to the castle," Jennifer said. Alex frowned but then nodded, leaving Jennifer to clean it with water and then deftly working the lid off from the jar in her inside pocket smeared the substance upon it. It was then she noticed Firenze still standing protectively nearby, watching with interest. "Just a healing salve," she said nervously, slowly getting to her feet.

"It works strangely," he said, but didn't comment further, his attention drawn by rustling sounds within the forest.

A moment later, Dumbledore and Severus arrived, and one by one the remaining three slipped off their Unicorns and came over to them and Halbert and Zack reluctantly let the little one go to her momma.

"What happened? Is everyone all right?" Dumbledore asked. Jennifer took a quick swig of pain killer before daring to follow Alex over.

"Mum was injured," Alex said. "And a lot of the Unicorns." Severus looked over at Jennifer worriedly.

"I'm fine, I had potions on me," Jennifer said quickly. "We were jumped by the Skull and some of his followers. He wanted to take the children," she admitted. "He said it wasn't safe here."

"Who?"

"Some man posing to be our grandfather," Aurelius said, his eyes still in a bit of a daze but otherwise looking all right. "But he wasn't our grandfather. He didn't even know anything about what Muggle programs he watches."

"He was using Polyjuice Potion," Jennifer said firmly. "And an old batch at that. His hair was more auburn than grey, and he wasn't as thin. Perhaps just before he went into Azkaban."

"Did you get a good look at him?" Severus asked expectantly.

Jennifer hesitated, glancing at Alexandria. She at least would know she had…so would Firenze. All of your actions will have consequences, she had been told. No, she thought firmly. No, she wasn't going to allow herself to be controlled anymore.

"It was Roger Baylor," Jennifer said at last; glad when her voice didn't sound all that shaky when she said it. "He's the one who's been posing as the Skull."

"That explains a lot," Severus nodded, glancing at Dumbledore.

"So it does," Dumbledore agreed. "But how are we ever going to prove it?"


The hint of an early spring that had teased them in the Dark Forest blossomed into reality as March rolled in. By then, the four Snapes were getting more worried about the estrangement in their parents, for it hadn't seemed to have improve for the last month as neither Jennifer nor Severus seemed willing to budge on whatever it was keeping them apart. Alexandria and Alicia were taking it the hardest and it was mirrored in their Transfiguration marks as all the sudden they had taken a very noticeable disliking to Professor Delacour. Andrew's attempts to talk to Aurelius about it met with only tight-lipped expressions, and if he pressed, Aurelius would only sigh and tell him not to worry about it.

Zack, Zoë, and Halbert proved to be a lot more supportive, and strangely enough, it was Zack who was Snape's greatest defender.

"Honestly, Andrew, I think what's happened is that your mother's gotten the same idea in her head as the rest of the school has about Delacour and Snape and she's too stubborn to admit she's wrong on it," Zack said.

"I can't believe you're still in denial, especially after that Green-eyed Monster attack," Phil said with a sigh, making his chess piece move and then waving Halbert to take his. Halbert glanced sideways at Andrew, who was shaking his head at the piece he picked. Nonchalantly he chose another. "Even the papers have picked it up. The gossip column has hardly talked about anything else for weeks."

"Isn't that bad for the school?" Dana frowned. "What's the board saying about all of this?"

"The only thing I've found was a small snippet of Sebastian Shea saying that the board acts on facts and not rumors," Halbert said. "And that these sorts of rumors are spread from time to time, often by students."

"I think they need to wake up and realize it's more than just a rumor," Phil said. Beside him, Dana slapped his arm.

"Have a bit of heart, Phil!" she hissed, nodding to Andrew.

"It is just a rumor," Zack said firmly, glancing at Andrew. "He'd never give up on Aunt Jennifer, and you know it."

"Oh, come on, Zack. How can you be so sure about it?" Phil sighed at him.

"Simple. I made an appointment with him for a conference a few weeks back and asked him," Zack said.

"What? And then you believed him?" Phil said, raising his brows. Zack shrugged.

"He didn't have a reason to lie about it," Zack said. "If he says he isn't seeing her, he isn't." Andrew sighed and got up, while Halbert looked at him with concern.

"I think I'm going to go for a walk," Andrew said. "Clear my head and all that."

"You want me to come with you?" Halbert asked.

"No, it's all right, just finish your game," Andrew said. "I'll meet you in the library later."

Reluctantly, Halbert turned back to the game, staring at the board for a long time before finally making a move. Phil grinned then, snapping a piece into place so quickly that it looked as if he had been waiting to do it for some time.

"Check mate, mate," Phil said. "Zack's turn."

"What?" Halbert said stunned. "I don't see it! Show me!"

So it was that Halbert was so busy watching Phil explain the six ways in which Halbert was mated that he didn't notice Eigil Hauk and his gang slipping out into the corridor to try and figure out where Andrew had went. But after staying to watch Zack completely skunk Phil in fifteen moves, Halbert decided to go ahead and get the books he needed to return. Taking the back corridor so he could stop by the kitchen for a snack on the way, Halbert was more than a little surprised to hear a muffled sound coming from a closet near the painting to the kitchen. A Quidditch bat had been used to keep the closet shut, and in alarm, Halbert quickly opened it to find Morfinn inside, sitting with his hands magically bound and a handkerchief in his mouth.

"What the devil? Are you all right?" Halbert asked, then as an afterthought took the handkerchief out of his mouth.

"Andrew…you've got to find Andrew!" Morfinn said in a panic.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Halbert asked, helping him take off the bindings.

"Hauk and his gang they…they came to the kitchen looking for Andrew and started asking a lot of questions then…oh, never mind what they did to me, the point is they know what Andrew can do!" Morfinn said, angry at himself.

"You mean…"

"Yes, they know how he's been evading them! Halbert, I don't know what they're going to do…they took a bag of flour…"

"Go get a professor! I'll try to track him down, hopefully before they find him,"

"But do the professors know? I mean about Andrew?" Morfinn sniffled.

"Get Snape then!" Halbert said, hurrying down the hall.

"Oh, all right," Morfinn said, holding his stomach. "And then I think I'm going to be sick."


Normally on a warm spring day, Andrew might have taken a walk by the lake or to visit the Pegusi, but all the stress of the family had been weighing heavily upon him. The attack upon them during the Unicorn visit was fresh in his mind, as was his father's aloof behavior towards his mother afterwards. Andrew had hoped along with his siblings that the close call might have patched things up, but apparently, that was not to be. And yet, Zack's words too made a lot of sense, but he still didn't like what was going on, not at all.

The reason the family had lasted so long under trying circumstances was the very fact that they had stayed together. And now…now it was very hard to feel safe. Even when they had been forced to leave their home during Christmas, Andrew had felt at ease with his siblings and parents around him; and even though he knew any one of them would jump in in an emergency, he still couldn't help but think that such a division would put them all at risks they wouldn't normally face.

Slipping down the stairs, Andrew peered in the open door of his mother's office to see her hard at work at her desk, looking very tired and worn. A law book of some kind a good four inches thick was at her side and she flipped through it as she worked, pausing every now and then to look at the seascape on the wall, looking lost and sad before turning back to what she was working on.

Upstairs, the Defense room was locked shut, a sign that Snape was probably nowhere in the vicinity, and he passed by it thoughtfully, wondering what his siblings were doing. Alex was probably hanging with Zoë, Mandria and Gretchen, he mused, and Aurelius was undoubtedly getting ready for the Slytherin-Hufflepuff game. Alicia would be either at practice or in the Trophy Room…Andrew resisted the urge to check. It was always so hard to stop talking to Caprica Dusthorn once he began, for she was such a good listener…and yet something about the way his parents behaved around the painting made him not want to trust her.

Andrew sighed, turning towards the library reluctantly. He needed a family meeting, he decided, even if it was just to talk. Maybe between the four of them, they could find some way to improve things between their parents. The idea perked him up a bit, and he grinned to himself as he thought of some of the plots and schemes Alex and Aurelius might come up with for the project. In fact, he was so busy thinking about it that he didn't pay attention to the white dust filling the air in one of the intersections of the main passage until he was already halfway through it.

He paused to look at the floor wondering if the House Elves knew about it, when he turned a bit to see his own footprints. Before he could realize the significance, two boys tackled him from the side, pushing him to the floor. He struggled to get up as a ten-pound bag of flour appeared over him and dumped out the remainder of its contents on his head. A second later, that which was on him disappeared as well, but still it had done its job. Laurel and Heph both had a firm grip on him, pulling the invisible boy to his feet while Eigil felt around until he got a hold of his head, stuffing a handkerchief in his mouth.

"Amazing! I love how t'ings on him just disappear too," Eigil said, clapping a bit. "So, dis is da product of your parents lurid imaginations, vut?" he sneered, the other two snickering as well. "Come, Snape, we vant to talk to you, und I have just da place. Let's take him out behind da greenhouses," he suggested, and immediately the other two began to drag him off. Quickly seeing that his invisibility was nothing but damning now, Andrew turned visible again, inspiring laughter from Eigil as he saw his flour covered face.

"Dat is a good color! He looks more like his fadder than ever," Eigil sneered. "Now let's make him a double, yes?"

Andrew had given up struggling, but he hadn't given up looking around for someone to try and get their attention. But Filch didn't seem to be in his office when they passed, and Sprout must have taken off for the weekend, for all was quiet out back. The stench was positively wretched, and Andrew immediately didn't blame the Professor for deciding to get away for the weekend. It was time for the spring composting and mulching, and all the fields were covered with rich black niacin filled manure. Sensing what was about to happen, Andrew bit Laurel in attempt to get his hand free and get to his wand, but as they struggled, Eigil took the precaution of snatching it out of Andrew's belt and putting it in his own. Finally the two of them threw him in a large pile behind the shed, Laurel casting a holding spell on him while Heph could do little more than hold his nose.

"Take da tail out of his hair. He looks like a girl," Eigil sneered. "And da handkerchief. No vun is going to hear him out here."

"Wait until my brother hears about this, Eigil!" Andrew spat angrily.

"Und vut do you expect him to do? Fight anudder battle for you? You are a pathetic coward! But then, like father like son, ya?"

"You should know," Andrew spat. "Your father was a brute too, wasn't he? He took it out on you and your mother, that's why…"

"Shuddup about my fadder!" Eigil snarled, backhanding him across his face. "You t'ink you're so good because you're a Snape und your fadder is respectable but he is nut'ing, Snape, and you are nut'ing too!" Andrew cringed as Eigil push his head back in the manure then released the spell, pulling him back to his feet for his comrades to see. "Look! It really is a mini Snape!" Eigil sneered, the horrible black substance sticking to Andrew's thin blonde hair and completely covering it in stringy clumps. "He even smells like him! Let's have a little more fun, ya? Put him against da vall and ve'll have a bit of target practice," Eigil suggested, using his wand to make a Bludger-sized ball of manure which hovered in the air, waiting.

"Please, just let me go! Come on, this has gone far enough!" Andrew said as they pushed him against the wall. "Heph, please! You used to be my brother's friend…"

"Used to be is the key words," Heph said. "I'm not his puppet anymore."

"And instead you're Eigil's?"

"Enough!" Eigil said. "Anyone got a Bludger Bat? I'm sure it vill make dis much more fun…ah never mind, dis vill vurk," he said, grabbing a bit of spare wood nearby and grinning evenly, taking a few toying swings with it before stepping to the rotating ball.

Andrew closed his eyes just as Eigil smacked the ball, having little doubt it was going to end up straight in his face. Just then, however, the two boys on either side of him suddenly jerked away and he heard a strange sound. Opening his eyes in surprise, he saw the still spinning ball hovering a mere inch from his nose. As it fell to the ground, he was amazed to see Eigil Hawk lying flat against the pile, while the boys on either side of him were plastered to the wall.

That was when Andrew spotted his father standing beside Halbert with his wand still in his hand and shaking with such pure anger that Andrew thought he was going to blow. But the worst part was the look on his face for it was an expression that Andrew had never seen before; a look so haunted, so devastated, and full of such personal pain that Andrew's own feelings of humiliation suddenly seemed unimportant in comparison.

"Halbert, get me another professor out here," Snape said in a voice so strange that even Halbert looked off balance.

"Sir?"

"Get another professor out here. NOW!" he barked. "I am not allowed to cause bodily injury to a student but so help me I shall if I'm left to this, so find someone and bring them here before I do something we'll all regret!"

Andrew stared at his father in shock as Halbert raced back inside. Snape was dead serious. Slowly, Andrew moved away from the wall, wishing he were anywhere else at that moment.

"Get your wand, Andrew. And I had better never see it out of your hands again!" Snape snapped. "As soon as another professor gets here, I want you to go straight to my office!"

"Can I…"
"Straight there!" Snape ordered again, and Andrew wisely decided now would not be a very good time to argue.

Snape did not seem in the bit interested in putting his wand down, keeping it pointed more at Eigil than at the other two. He was still in that position when Halbert arrived again with Jennifer. It was obvious from Snape's change in expression that Jennifer would have not been his first choice, for it only took her one look to see the full range of emotions he was going through in that instant, her own face paling dramatically as she frowned disapprovingly at the three pinned Slytherin.

"Handle this, please," Snape said simply. "I need to have some words with my son." Jennifer frowned worriedly but didn't argue as Snape finally put his wand away, glancing back at Andrew only once before turning for his office. Andrew glanced at his mother who merely nodded to him, and then he meekly followed behind his father.

Jennifer waited until they were safely out of range then took her own wand out, releasing the three from Severus' spell.

"I hope you realize just how lucky the three of you are at the moment," Jennifer said grimly as Eigil got himself out of the muck and the other two picked themselves up from where they had fallen to the ground. "If you hadn't been on this property and you weren't wearing those robes, I think he might have killed you."


The door slammed behind Andrew, but Andrew refused to move away from it as Severus paced the floor in such complete anger that even Rasputin decided to move and hide under the desk rather than to risk getting in his path.

"I am having a very hard time swallowing this, Andrew. I can't believe how far you've let this get. I can't believe that no one bothered to tell me up until now what happened at Halloween," Severus said, Andrew looking uncomfortable. "But most of all, I cannot believe after everything I've done… after teaching the four of you more about protecting yourselves than most fully trained wizards know… after bringing you up with more advantages than your mother and I could have never dreamed of growing up with, after doing everything we could to instill some level of pride and self respect and sense of duty within you, and having siblings so that you could have support that an only child such as the two of us never had, after doing everything in my power to make sure this never happened to one of you, you let it happen! Let it! What is wrong with you? Why didn't you do something? I just can't comprehend how you could do this to yourself, let alone to me. You have no idea, I'm sure, exactly just how disappointed I am in you at this very moment! You were more than capable of handling a handful of surly students and making sure they would never bother you again and you let them walk all over you as if it didn't matter!"

"Well, maybe because it didn't matter so much, to me," Andrew said quietly.

"Well, it matters to me!" Severus snapped. "It matters to your siblings, it matters to your mother, but most of all it matters to me! If there was one single thing I didn't want happen to you four after coming to this school was to have any of you go through any semblance of what I went through! The fact that you chose not to stop it is nothing short of intolerable! I taught you defenses so that you could use them, not to stand by and let yourself get pummeled with manure and God knows what else they've thrown at you over the year!"

"I know you taught us defenses to use, Father, but I was under the impression you meant us to use them wisely," Andrew said quietly.

"That doesn't mean not to use them at all!" Severus shouted.

"I understand that but…I don't know, sir, I just have trouble justifying blasting a kid no matter how mean he is just because he's jealous of the fact that I have you as a father," Andrew said, Severus staring at him. "The advantages that you just talked about…he never had any of that. And he definitely didn't have a father who would have cared about what happened to him."

"This is not about him. This is about you," Severus said gritting his teeth, refusing to let him turn the subject around. "I refuse to stand by and watch you do nothing to protect yourself when you have the means to do so. Go get cleaned up. And do not let this happen again. Ever."

Andrew gazed at his father's angry, hurt face for a moment longer before slowly nodding and reaching for the door, the door automatically opening for him in response. As he left, the door shut again, and Severus slumped into his desk chair and held his head in his hands attempting to contain the memories racing through his mind.