Draco instantly clamped a hand over his mouth, no sooner than the forbidden words had left his lips. He looked up nervously at both adults who were staring at him in a stunned silence.

"I….I shouldn't have said that." Draco moaned, shaking his head in despair, terror struck by what he had just said.

"Draco, what did you mean?" Poppy asked gently, being the first to regain her composer, "Why did you say that?" But Draco refused to speak anymore and kept a hand resolutely over his mouth, watching her with huge, frightened eyes. Sighing, Pomfrey turned to Severus, determined to extract at least some knowledge of the situation,

"Severus? Do you know anything?" Snape glanced at her dazedly, not really processing anything. His mind just repeating:

'He's done it again. He's done it again. It's my fault. I should've stopped him from taking Draco away. I could've prevented this from happening. It's all my fault…'

"SEVERUS!" Snape jumped and blinked,

"Yes? Can I help you?"

"Do. You. Know. Anything. About. This? " Poppy repeated slowly, praying to some random supreme being for patience.

"Umm…well – "

"No!" Draco suddenly burst out, leaping to his feet, "You can't tell! She mustn't know! No one can! It's forbidden. A secret."

"She can help you, Draco. You don't have to hide it anymore. Besides," Snape added, slowly, "I'm afraid it is more than obvious what has happened to you. Just trust us dragon." Draco slumped miserably down on to the floor and curled up, burying his head in his knees,

"He'll kill me…" He whimpered, "He'll find out an'-an' he'll come here and take me away…back home an'…please, I don't want to go back there Uncle Sev'rus. Don't let him take me away again." Severus reached down and pulled Draco back on to the bed, looking directly in to the boy's blue-grey eyes,

"Listen to me, Draco. If Lucius comes here, looking for you, and you won't tell us what's happened, then no one will have any right to keep you here and he will take you and do what ever he has done again and again. Do you understand Draco? I cannot protect you if I don't know what I'm protecting you from. You cannot stay here if you don't trust me." Draco flinched slightly at his godfather's words and broke eye contact abruptly.

He didn't want to go home, but how could he tell them when it hurt so much just thinking about it? Severus regarded the boy's miserable expression and placed two fingers under his pale chin, gently tilting his head up to face him. Draco trembled at the contact but didn't dare to move away,

"I do not say these things to hurt you, Draco. I say them because I want you to understand what a difficult position I am in. I want to help you, but I can't if you won't let me."

"I-I-I'm sorry Uncle S-Sev'rus…" Draco stammered, tears welling up in his eyes, "Please…please don't s-send me away. I-I promise to be-to be good."

"Hush Dragon, I know you'll be good. That is not my concern. I know you are finding it difficult to trust adults at the moment, but I hope that soon you will be able to tell what he has done. I'm sorry for scaring you, that was certainly not my intention. I promise to do everything within my power to keep you safe and away from Him. Okay?" Draco nodded and gulped down the tears rising up inside of him, the suddenly flung his arms around Snape's neck and buried his face in his neck,

"I'm sorry f-for causing so much t-t-trouble.…I'm sorry…" Severus laid a hand across the back of Draco's head as the boy shifted so that he was comfortably curled up, a thumb stuck firmly in his mouth,

"There's no need to apologise for anything, Dragon. But I think a visit to Dumbledore tomorrow is in order."

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Greetings! Loads of people are asking me when he's gonna grow up, it'll be at least five chapters maybe more...hmmmmmmm.

chocolate to... lilmissgullable, nikki's evil doppelganger, blueeyedchibi, perfectpureblood, Dark Princess, KatieMalfoy19,

sarcastic-ha ha ha, 13BlackAngels, brittagrl, Writin'-like-crazy, Twilight Dragoness, Ilya and IceWitch1692.

And please check out my new poem!

Luv Lilyxxxxx :)