Disclaimer: I still do not own the Harry Potter characters and most likely never will.

Chapter 12 - Curiosity killed the wolf?

Laura shivered. A chill swept over her body and refused to leave. She leapt off the bed being careful not to wake Draco and Harry. Something was wrong, something was dreadfully wrong. Taking one last look at Harry and Draco to ensure that they were safe she slipped out of the room. Sniffing the air lightly she immediately found the source of distress. Snape was asleep on the couch in the living room; however his sleep was far from calm. He tossed and turned continuously and it was surprising that he had not fallen off the couch yet. Laura whined softly, unsure what to do. She could wake up Snape, and prepare herself for a sound thrashing or she could find a way to comfort Snape without waking him up. Fur slowly dissolved into skin. Taking a small hesitant step toward she stopped when he shifted in his sleep. Laura just hoped that his actions would not be curse first and ask questions later if he awoke. Snape whimpered in his sleep and trembled from head to toe. The whimper was filled with so much fear that she could not hesitate any longer. She kneeled in front of the couch and stretched a hand out towards him. Not really knowing what she was doing, she gently brushed his hair from his face. With a violent jerk she felt her self jerked into a different time.

"You will do as you are told, you insolent brat." A tall blonde man yelled.

"But Father…" whimpered the waif like young adult.

The sound of slap rang through the air and the young man fell to the floor clutching his cheek.

"YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE TOLD!" the man hissed.

"But…"

This time the man kicked him.

"You will join Voldemort and you will be his most faithful servant because if you do not there will dire consequences. We would not want something to happen to your dear sister, now would we?" The blonde man smirked seeing the reaction his threat created.

The young man stood up and brushed his long hair away from his face. Laura gasped. It was Severus Snape, a young Severus, but Snape all the same. Wrapping an arm around his waist he stared defiantly at the blonde man before him.

"You leave Serena out of this."

"I will when you join Voldemort. I have worked to hard in winning favours and gaining power to have some halfblood ruin it for me. Once you have joined Voldemort you will report back to me and tell me what he has planned and if you do not do this…"he said while poking him with his finger, "what I did to your whore of a mother will seem like heaven compared to what I'll do to your sister."

Severus looked horrified at this but quickly before anyone could blink, his face became an emotionless mask. The only way anyone could truly see what the young man felt was through his eyes. Rage, remorse, pain and resignation were present in his cool dark eyes.

"I will do as you say, Father, if you promise to leave Serena out of all of this."

Severus spat the word Father out like it was the foulest word he had ever uttered. Severus knew that he had sealed his fate and with a final glance at his father he turned away. However, before he could get far the all too familiar feeling of a cane being brought down upon his back sent him to the cold marble floor of Snape Castle.

Laura shuddered and pulled her hand away. Pain and so many emotions swirled through her. She could not stop them and it scared her. They fought for dominance as she shuddered again, curling upon herself. The bitterness and hopeless acceptance were the strongest. They swirled violently within her, up from the violent memory of Severus Snape, they wreaked havoc within her. Her body shook harder as her emotions fought for dominance over those of the teenager she had seen. She screamed or attempted to scream as the emotions fought through her body, leaving an agonising burning sensation in their wake.

Severus awoke with a start as a strangled choking sound was heard near him. He immediately sprang to his feet with his wand in hand, curse at the tip of his tongue. He noticed the trembling girl on the floor next to the couch he had been occupying. Why was she trembling so and what was she doing so near to the couch. He thought back onto the dream he had. The dream had been a common occurrence in his sleep but over the years it had faded. Now the souls of the dead haunted his sleep, making him relive the torture he had been forced to put them through. Now the dream had seemed different. A quick inspection of his mental walls showed that they had been disturbed by an outside influence.

"HOW DARE YOU!" he roared.

Laura who had been completely unaware of Snape's jump to his feet was brought back to her physical surroundings as his voice roared across the room. Afraid to look at him she gazed at him through the curtain of her hair. What she saw terrified her. Lips were pulled into a taut line and his eyes blazed with an unearthly fury. Remaining silent was all she could think to do.

"I suppose you are pleased with yourself? What gave you the right to enter within privacy of my mind? No insipid words to defend yourself?"

Laura trembled at the fury that radiated off him. She had thought that Sanpe yelling at her had been frightening. This cool caress of angry words was by far the worst. Her silence only seemed to provoke him and she did not trust him not to fly into a fit of rage.

"I…I…" she stuttered.

"Stuttering like an imbecilic first year will not help your position either." Snape taunted.

"I didn't mean to. You were having a bad dream and I went to shake your shoulder to wake you. The moment I touched you I saw and felt what you felt. I didn't mean to. Please I cannot control it…it controls me!"

Snape snarled silently. She seemed sincere but she still had no right to look within his mind. If she could not stay out of his mind by herself then he would have to ensure that she would not be able to do so at all.

Snape moved towards her and she did the only thing she could think of. She bolted.

Harry sighed softly. He felt warm and safe. Something had woken him but he could for the life of him not remember what had awoken him from his slumber. It seemed strange that he had finally been able to sleep peacefully without the aid of a potion. Shifting slightly he was startled when something constricted his movement. Taking a slow, calming breath he looked downwards to find an arm wrapped about his waist. Shocked he decided to find out who the arm belonged to. Harry followed the arm upwards until he located the face that belonged to the arm. Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy had an arm wrapped around his waist and was currently using his right shoulder as a pillow. He slowly studied the boy who lay next to him. Draco was the exact opposite of Harry. Where Draco was pale and light, Harry was tanned and dark. His body tensed when Draco shifted, nuzzling his shoulder.

Draco snuggled into the warmth that oozed from his pillow. He felt so peace. All the problems he had faced and were bound to face seemed to feel less daunting. It was like when as a child he was building a puzzle and the last and final piece had been missing. The puzzle had been completed but there was forever that one blank spot. His missing puzzle piece had been found. He was not sure where it had been found and he found that he really did not care. Looking within himself he noticed that even his magick seemed to be at ease. Draco's magick had always been hard to control. Well not really hard to control but to summon. It had always been like summoning his magick through a sieve. It would come but it was never focused, and it never responded on time. He wondered what had finally help ease his magick; prehaps it was one of Severus' potions. The more he thought about it the more he awoke from his sleepy daze.

Harry shifted again, this time in discomfort as his bladder made it self known. Draco tensed beside him and shifted away. Not certain if Draco was awake or not Harry gently sat up. Moving as quietly as he could he moved towards the only door within the room. He had not really paid that much attention last night to his surroundings. Harry had been to intent on making sure that Draco was okay. His vision of the brutality Draco had suffered through had shaken him badly. So much for Draco being a spoiled brat. If anything Harry felt that Draco had it worse than Harry did. Harry may have been abused by his Uncle and the rest of his family but Harry was certain that his father would have never laid a violent hand on him. The Dursleys may be Harry's only surviving relatives but that was exactly what they were. Relatives were not the same as family. You might love your relatives but nothing was stronger than the love you have for your mother and father. That was family. Draco's family had ruined this love and had hurt Draco more than the Dursleys had ever done to Harry. Harry had never known love; he never expected to know it either. Draco had known the love of his mother and father until Voldemort's demands had driven Lucius mad. Opening the door he looked out into the living room, just in time to see the door swing shut behind Laura's hasty exit.

Snape glared at closing the door. The girl could not even stand up herself and had once again run away from her problems. Hearing a noise to his left he saw Potter stumble out of the bedroom. Without a glance at the boy he marched towards his library.

"Sir?" a timid voice asked.

"What Potter?"

"Where did Laura go?"

Snape fumed internally. He was still furious at the little wretch for intruding into his private thoughts. If he would be slightly truthful to himself he would admit that he was not just angry because she had intruded. What really infuriated him was that she had made it past his defences. It was inconceivable that a mentally unstable teenage had gotten through the barriers of his mind. He was a Master of Occumenlency damnit!

"It's none of your concern! Once again you have decided to act like your father by assuming that everyone wants to see you!" He snarled.

Harry shrunk against the wall as Snape approached, his words laden with pure loathing. Insult after insult sprung forth from his mouth as he steadily stalked across the room towards Harry. He did not notice that Harry had started to shake like a leaf or that his body had curled upon itself as much as it could in a standing position.

"Stop it!" a voice spoke calmly.

Snape chose to ignore the voice that had spoken and continued his advance until he stood face to face with Harry. Harry could feel the fine drops of spittle as Snape continued to remind him of all his faults. He had not heard the quiet voice commanding Snape to stop. All he could hear and see was Snape. Each word tore at Harry until all he could do was sink to ground and wrap his arms around his knees. He wanted to disappear. He needed to disappear. The world and everyone he knew would be better off if he wasn't around.

"STOP IT!" This time the voice rang across the room with a startling clarity.

Before Snape could so much as blink a bright flash of light shot across the room, wrapping around him like a giant anaconda, squeezing until with a flare of light he was hurled across the room. The dull thud of Snape's body hitting the wall forced Harry to look up from his submissive position. There stood Draco still shimmering ever so slightly with an ethereal green glow, looking furious and confused at the same time.

"I've…I've… never done that before." Draco said, looking quite astonished.

"Done what?" Harry questioned as he slowly stood.

Draco was silent for a moment before he answered with a tinge of awe in his voice.

"Wandless magick"

"That can't be true. Every young wizard does some form of wandless magick. It's how we're identified as being a wizard or witch."

"My parents believed I was squib until I was 10. Father had Snape brew an illegal potion which determined if one had any magick within them."

"How could that be illegal? It sounds pretty handy if you ask me."

"It might be handy if it didn't feel like your blood had been brought to a boil and left to simmer for a hour." Draco replied darkly.

Harry looked horrified at the idea of anyone experiencing such a painful experience, let alone a 10 year child. It made having Aunt Petunia hold Harry's hand to the stove for three seconds seem like child's play.

"Oh" was all that he could mutter.

A groan from the other side of the room startled both boys reminding them of what had just taken place. With an unconscious decision on both their parts they slowly moved towards each other. Between the two of them they should be able to handle Snape, or at least they hoped they could.

A/N...hides away miserably after seeing how long it's been since I've updated this story. I can't even say well here's a really long chapter to make up for the wait…it's just five pages. Though I hope that there has at least been some noticeable improvement in my writing. I hope you liked this new chapter and don't forget to leave a review.