Chapter 1: The Trauma Mute

Remus walked down the hallway with Viktoria, who looked like she was sixteen like Remus, rather instead of really being fourteen. "Are you going to eat lunch right now?" Remus asked. Viktoria shook her head.

'I'm going to the library to meet with Viktor,' was her glowing green response. Unlike Remus, Viktor had gone into Slytherin, leaving Viktoria to pick between her two brothers. In the end, she decided on neither one and was placed in Ravenclaw. She was virtually friendless, but for her two brothers. Apparently no one wanted to be friends with a mute, even though she was beautiful.

"He's been spending an awful amount of time with Snape and Malfoy," Remus said with a frown. Viktoria nodded. It wasn't in her nature to dislike anyone, but Malfoy was the one person she could think of that she disliked. As for Severus, she didn't mind him at all. She'd often had intellectual conversations with him. He was also the only person other then her brothers that didn't treat her like an invalid, although Lily, James and Sirius didn't either, but they treated her like she was made of glass.

'He's doing it to spite you, but I should go meet him now. I'll see you later,' Viktoria's green letters said as she threw her arms around Remus and gave him a brief hug before walking away. She headed towards the library and to her surprise she found Severus standing outside of the library, waiting for her. Viktor was nowhere to be seen.

"Viktor asked me to tell you that he couldn't make it," Severus said as he stared down into her eyes. He was quite tall; he looked down on many people due to the growth spurt over the summer. But he was still shy of six feet. Viktoria looked up at Severus, she kind of liked him. He was funny in his own way and was very intelligent.

'Well that's fine, I guess. Severus would you mind helping me with my Potions assignment?' the glowing green letters stared him in the face as Viktoria smiled at him with her beautiful smile. Severus stared down into her amber gaze. She was very beautiful and one of the nicest, sweetest girls he'd ever met. She was also the only girl out of Slytherin that would give him the time of day, and she was the only girl to do so without a hidden agenda. "What's the assignment?" he asked, though he already knew he would help her, he just couldn't say no.

'I have to make a potion, but it didn't work out the first time I tried. You're great at Potions and I know a fourth year potion won't give you any trouble,' he read, he sometimes felt like he could hear her voice in his head.

"We'd need to go down into the dungeons to make it. I don't think your brother would be fond of that," Severus said as he stared down into her eyes. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She knew he was right, Remus would not be fond of that, but she merely shrugged.

'It will displease him, but I'm not a little girl who needs permission with who to hang out with.'

"All right," Severus said with a shrug. He and Viktoria made their way down the corridor and down the stairs into the dungeons. Even in the middle of the day the dungeons were dark. Viktoria made her way and stood closer to Severus causing Severus to look over at her.

He'd heard from Viktor that Viktoria had disappeared once when she was five. Apparently something had severely traumatized her, but she never spoke of it to anyone. "Are you afraid of the dark?" Severus asked trying to keep the mocking and condescending tones he often used out of his voice. Viktoria nodded fervently. "Why?"

Viktoria's mind raced with images. Running through the darkness, away from Remus; the man standing in the darkness of the woods; being tossed onto a ship that sailed by moonlight; being locked in a cabin with a boggart; the lashings; the abandonment in the strange island; the dead, mangled bodies; the monsters. Viktoria closed her eyes as tears flooded with the awful memories of her past. She clung to Severus.

For a moment, Severus stood there, not knowing what to do before wrapping his arms around her. "Shhh, it's all right. There is nothing to be afraid of. I won't let anything hurt you," he said as he tried to soothe her sobs. He lightly rubbed her back and tried to soothe her as he held her thing body close to him.

TBC…