"Now if you excuse me Mr. Malfoy, I have some business I must tend to." the professor said.
Draco nodded, and went to unpack his trunk in his chambers.
Severus left the rouge boy to himself, and headed towards the kitchens. He strode down the halls, 'damn it's so peaceful when those brats aren't everywhere' he chuckled, and entered the kitchens.
"Master Snape, Miss is hurt!" Immy ran to him as he entered the overly large pantry.
"What?" he rushed over to the bed, where he saw a sheet of long black hair covering the face of a girl, curled up in the corner of the bed, rocking and mumbling to herself.
"Oh Artemis, are you ok?" Severus asked, scooping the girl into his arms.
"Let go of me you bastard!" She screamed.
Severus went cold, no one had called him a bastard to his face in years, and here he was trying to calm down his thirteen year old daughter, who he barley knew, had dared to call him one.
"I said let me go damn it!"
"No, and you will not talk to me like that."
"Oh? And who the hell do you think you are?" she snapped.
"Artemis," he let out a heavy sigh, "I am your father."
"Oh shit! I am so sorry! don't hurt me please! I swear I'll be good!" she started curling up, and screaming, " don't beat me!'
"Artemis, I'm not going to hurt you." he said not letting her go.
"Th-that's what th-they all s-said," she sobbed, "that's what they all said Damn it! And look at me now!" she pulled back one of her sleeves.
Severus felt sick, he had known she had been beaten, but this was bad, real bad.
"Oh shit…"Sev whispered.
'How the hell is she supposed to recover from so much trauma? She is scared to death, I am so stupid for not taking her when I had the chance.'
"Don't beat me please…" she whispered into his neck. She was now clinging to him, with her arms around his neck, and had her head buried her head just below his chin.
"I won't hurt you Artemis, I promise." he said, gently stoking her long black hair, "shhh…it's ok."
He sat there holding her, for a few minutes, when he realized he had a very important meeting with Albus Dumbledore in five minutes…
"Shit…" he said under his breath, "Immy?" he called for the house elf, "Immy I need you to retrieve Mr. Malfoy from his chambers, and bring him here."
The elf curtsied, and disappeared. With a 'crack'.
"Artemis I have a very important meeting with the headmaster, I am going to have to leave you here for awhile."
At this Artemis' eyes widened, and she looked horrified. "NO! y-you can't leave m-me a-alone here! What if sh-she comes back?"
"Artemis, your mother won't come back, and Draco Malfoy will be here to watch you."
"Malfoy? The death eater? You're Fuckin' MAD! I'm not stayin' with a bloody Voldemort supporter!"
"I'll have you know, I am not a, and I quote, 'Bloody Voldemort supporter'. I happen to be his son." a low voice washed over Artemis, causing her t shiver, she turned around, to see a boy… no man standing at the door wearing a tight, gray long sleeved shirt, and an emerald green pair of pajama pants, reaching past his toes. He stood there with his arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe. She was mesmerized by his silver-blue eyes and the cutest smirk ever. It was as if all her problems were being washed away.
"Well then, I must be off," Severus said making Artemis jump, she had forgotten all about him, "Draco please make Artemis eats, she looks starved, and don't get into trouble," he turned to Artemis, "I'll be back in a few hours, you'll be alright I promise, and if he hurts you I'll see to it that he gets detention before we even start school."
With that she was left with a hot guy, a house elf, and nowhere to go.
"You know he's right, you need to eat." Draco said walking up to Artemis.
"I'm not hungry." she said tossing her hair back.
"Uh huh. Cute." he smirked, "somehow, knowing you, I don't believe that."
She shifted, turning her head. He sat down next to her, noticing how she tensed as he did so.
"You have to eat, you look like you've been starved for a few years."
She bowed her head, her hair shielding her face from view, "I have been." she whispered.
Draco placed a hand on her's, "That's why you have to eat."
"I can't she'll know, she'll punish me! She's always there!" her voice got higher as she spoke, "al-always th-there, n-never al-alone." she sobbed.
"You're right, you're not alone, I'm here. No one is going to hurt you so please eat."
She shook her head, "No mummy will know, she al-always knows."
"That's ok, because if she comes near you, I'll hex her."
She looked up, "You must know that she's a death eater?" she paused, "of course you do she is always hanging out with your father."
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"She's one of the top. Even though she does not do a lot of the dirty work, she is one of the head of the bunch. She's the own flesh and blood of the Dark Lord himself!"
Draco gaped at her, " that m-makes you-"
"His grand-daughter. I know." she looked up at him, "you have no idea what it is like to be related to such evil. I am not even allowed to go outside." her cat-like eyes flickered.
"Surely as his heir you would be treated well?"
"That's just it, I'm not his heir, my mum could not bare a male heir, so I have been treated like shit, even though he had fallen. Now that he has rose again, he has been looking for a new heir, and if he doesn't I will forced to bare him one."
"Why would your mother treat you like that if you had to bare a new heir?" Draco asked.
"Because they felt like it, normally they were drunk, but other times, they had needed someone to test a new curse, and she volunteered me to be a test subject, if there were n-no p-prisoners t-to t-test on." she said between sobs.
"It's ok now Artemis." he said reaching to embrace her.
She jumped, "Ow! Please don't touch me, that hurt!" she snapped, gingerly rubbing her side.
"What's wrong? I could help." Draco said pulling out his wand.
Her eyes widened, "I'm not letting anyone coming near me with a wand!" she moved back, if possible, even further into the corner of the bed.
"Artemis won't hurt you. When have I ever hurt you?"
"I don't know, but we only saw each other at Christmas meetings, and the last one I went to was when I was nine. How the hell would I know if you changed?"
Draco chuckled at that, "I don't know, you tell me, you're the one who would've noticed if I've changed. Besides, like you said, the last time you saw me was when you were nine, and I was almost twelve. I'm sixteen now, I had four years to change. And may I add, that I was a little Shithead then."
"So you're not now?" she grinned.
"I think so?" he grinned back.
"How can I trust someone I haven't seen in four years?"
"You seemed to trust Sev, and you just met him." he retorted.
" Well he's my father, and I've known about him, I just never knew him." she said.
"Well you knew me, so you must trust me."
"You're right I do trust you, and I also know that you think I'm hot." she smiled, "You've thought this since you were ten."
Draco turned red despite his reputation at school, "How do you know that?"
"I know lots of things Draco," she purred, scooting closer to him, "I also know that you love me, you want to hold me, you want to love me, you want to kiss me." she sang.
Draco grew darker, "You never answered how you know this."
"I don't think I should tell you, remember I can't trust someone I haven't seen in four years." she teased.
"Fine! I'll admit it! I do want to hold you and kiss you and all that other stuff you sang."
"Then why don't you?" she egged him on.
"Maybe I will." he pouted.
"You do that." she encouraged.
"I will." he said, swooping down at her, kissing her on the lips. It was a long deep kiss, that felt as if it could last forever. After what seemed like at least a few minutes, Draco pulled away from her, with the silliest grin on his face.
"Wow I didn't know you'd have the guts to actually do it!" she grinned the same silly grin back.
"A Malfoy never backs down on a challenge."
"Oh really?" she purred, wagging her eyebrows.