Remembrance and Renewal by Nigel Tatsuya and Avatar Arkmage
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Discordant Note

"So," Dr. Herman Granger began, ladling a rich brown gravy onto his daughter's plate of roast meat and potatoes, "how was your day, princess? I hope you didn't spend all of it studying, there's a lot of fun to be had that cannot be found printed on texts."

Dr. Hyperione Granger rolled, then narrowed her eyes at her spouse in much the same way Hermione often did to Harry, Ron and anyone else who was doing something that she perceived to be immature or just plain disagreeable. "Dear, did you learn anything new that you'd like to share with your father and me? Any breakthroughs in pharmacology? Or how about in your magical studies? Any new spells you care to tell us about?"

"No," Hermione replied, quickly stuffing two slices of roast in her mouth and hoping that her parents wouldn't ask her to elaborate. Both Dr. and Dr. Granger regarded their daughter with equal measures of concern. Ordinarily, Hermione would enthusiastically recount the day's events and share whatever new knowledge she had garnered. Although half of what their daughter had to share was difficult to follow and/or understand, especially in matters pertaining to the magical world, they enjoyed the interaction greatly and looked forward to it during those all too infrequent times they had during the day as a family.

Sensing their uneasiness, Hermione decided that redirecting the conversation would be the best course of action. "What about you? How about sharing some of your new knowledge with me? The discipline of endodontics specifically..." Hermione paused to think of a specific topic. "Has there been any progress in implicating the virus found in certain incidences of oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma?"

Upon hearing a topic near and dear to both their hearts, Dr. and Dr. Granger began sharing all the information they had on the topic, telling the details in a point and counterpoint fashion.

Hermione heard nothing of what her parents had to share. It wasn't that she was not interested, for Hermione was usually enthralled by any opportunity to learn. Her mind was still occupied with the events of the day. She had done well, of that she was certain. Scum like Lucius Malfoy did not deserve the same freedoms afforded to those who observed the law.

The look of pure loathing in Draco Malfoy's eyes had troubled her, every bit as much as his words about seizing a considerable measure of political control over the wizarding world. "You'd do this using an organization of purebloods, Draco? A new group of Death Eaters?" Hermione rolled her eyes in derision as the thoughts played through her mind. "And you'll do all that just to keep us muggle borns out of your world? And out of Hogwarts...?"

"HERMIONE Sue Granger!" Hyperione pounded the table. "While we appreciate that you don't always agree with us, must you roll your eyes so?"

"Oh mother, I'm sorry I didn't mean to..." Hermione rescinded. "And my name is Hermione JANE, not Hermione Sue!"

"Indeed it is, and to think your mother thought 'Hermione-Sue' was a more appropriate name for you! Hmph! The very idea!" Herman said, turning on his wife grumpily. "And about our daughter's frequent eye-rolling, well what do you expect eh, Hyperione? The way you're always rolling your eyes at everything, it's a wonder Hermione doesn't do it more often! One of these days, you'll both do it so much that your extraocular muscles will get a cramp or two and then you'll be stuck looking at the insides of your own eyelids until..."

"HERMAN GRANGER!" Hyperione shouted. "What about the way you're always serving us more food than we want? Must you control us so much that you regulate our food portions as well? Always giving Hermione another helping of gravy or Yorkshire pudding, what if she doesn't want it?"

"She's a growing girl!" Herman rebutted, "you don't want to have the staff at Hogwarts accusing us of starving her do you?"

"Well I'M not growing! Why do you always give me more portions? If I wanted more, I could very well serve it myself!" Hyperione countered.

"Because I thought you could do with more nourishment! You probably do need the extra calories with your mouth running so much, it saps your at least 30 of your caloric intake alone!" Herman inveighed. "I won't bother next time. If you didn't want any, you should have told me! What did you want me to do? Read your mind? If I could do that, then I'd have gone to Hogwarts when I was growing up! That's the trouble with you, Hyperione, you run off your mouth all day, but tell me absolutely nothing!"

"What?" Hyperione exclaimed, her face rivalling Hermione's at this point. "Well I think I should tell you that I HATE going to work with you every day! I curse the day we went into the practice together! I should have opened my own dental clinic! I'm just as educated as you are, even smarter and..."

Hermione did not hear the rest of the row. With Dr. and Dr. Granger both living and working together, the relationship was smothering, and their verbal sparring was so commonplace that Hermione could tune it out with very little effort.

She smiled in satisfaction, and silently relived the events of the day with a sense of triumph. Earlier, when Hermione had reached the familiar phone booth outside the Ministry of Magic Headquarters, she anxiously scanned the area, hoping to see a familiar face. As there was no time to venture to Hogwarts, and any owl she sent to inform The Order of the Phoenix could be intercepted, Hermione hoped for Kingsley Shacklebolt or Nymphadora Tonks to happen by so she could inform them of Lucius Malfoy's whereabouts, and they could return him to Azkaban where he belonged. After a few minutes of waiting, Hermione dialed '62442' on the antiquated phone and stated to the welcome witch's disembodied voice that she needed to speak with some one from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement urgently.

After receiving the badge stating her purpose, Hermione descended immediately to the second level of the facility. She soon reached the Department of Law Enforcement, and found the place nearly empty, except for Amelia Bones, who was perusing leaves from a particularly large stack of parchments on her desk. At the mention of Malfoy's name, Amelia Bones summoned a team of Aurors who gathered all the information that Hermione gave them. She had hoped that Tonks, Moody or Shacklebolt would have been amongst them, but was somewhat comforted by at least Dawlish's presence.

"Madam Edgecombe!" Madam Bones called through the fireplace. Hermione listened triumphantly as Madam Edgecombe, the head of the Floo Network Office, was instructed to secure and carefully monitor all the fireplaces in and around the University Hospital that Lucius was in.

"This must be done immediately, we don't want to give him the opportunity to escape."

"Is there a way we can put in place some anti apparition wards around the hospital and the surrounding area?" Hermione added eagerly, "injured, though Mr. Malfoy is, he still could potentially apparate away, or walk out of the hospital and apparate then."

Madam Bones turned to Hermione smiling. "You've got a quick wit and a sense of justice that many other youths lack! Keep up the good work, Ms Granger, and you'll make one of the finest aurors someday."

Although the praise left Hermione positively beaming, she also remained somewhat worried. Had she acted quickly enough? Would Lucius still find a way to elude capture? These thoughts persisted even as Hermione's parents engaged in a full blown shouting row.

"Well at least you've made your feelings known!" Herman stood from the table, tossed his unfinished plates into the dishmachine and stomped off.

"Good night, Herman!" Hyperione screeched, tossing her own dishes into the dishwasher and breaking a plate or two in the process. "I hope you enjoy sleeping on the couch tonight."

"Why don't you bloody sleep on the couch when we have a row!" Herman pleaded. "My back gets sore, and the couch is so narrow that I tend to fall off."

"Well if you dislocate your jaw, or knock out a few of your own teeth when you hit your face on the coffee table, don't come to me to sort you out!" Dr. Hyperione Granger stomped off to her room.

"If you were the last dentist besides me on the planet, I would ruddy attempt human cloning, and have the clone fix my teeth before I'd come to you!"

"If you were the last dentist besides me on the planet, I'd demand a recount!"

"GOOD!"

"GOOD!"

Hermione sighed, only vaguely aware that her parents had finally argued themselves out. The row would be a distant memory by dawn anyway, and Hyperione and Herman Granger would go to work together as through nothing had transpired.

Silently praying that the aurors had made it to the hospital before Lucius Malfoy could escape, Hermione started nibbling at her dessert pudding. The man had been nothing but a thorn in the side of the magical community in Britain, and represented all that was wrong with it. Mr. Malfoy had had the audacity to manipulate the ministry into having a great wizard like Albus Dumbledore removed, if only temporarily, from his post as Headmaster of Hogwarts. In their second year at Hogwarts, Hermione watched as Mr. Malfoy harangued Arthur Weasley until a fight broke out between them in Flourish and Blotts.

Hermione was almost livid when she thought on Mr. Malfoy's treatment of house elves. If he thought nothing of attacking innocent people, how much worse must he treat house elves? Sure, Harry had freed Dobby, but how many other house elves were still in his employ?

Hermione knew she had done the right thing. Lucius Malfoy was a dangerous man and deserved nothing less than Azkaban for the crimes he had committed over the years...

...as well as for raising his son Draco to be every bit as intolerant and hostile to muggles and muggle-borns as he was.


"What's wrong with Draco, father? He looks quite ill." Harry asked, staring in awe at Draco's abnormally dilated pupils and pale face. "Can't you give him a potion to make him better?"

"It would be far too dangerous." Severus replied, palpating along Draco's throat. "There appears to be considerable amounts of muggle potions in his system right now."

"So if you gave him a magical potion, it could be dangerous because they could interact badly?" Harry sighed, still keeping his distance somewhat from his one time rival.

Severus nodded, removing his hat and blonde wig as he sank into the chair next to Draco's bed. He tousled his freed hair, allowing the black, greasy appearing locks to tumble about his shoulders once more.

Draco opened his eyes wide once again, his expression full of desperation. "Father...FATHER! He's dead..." Draco's voice became sobs. "Why did you have to die? Oh father...WHY?" Draco rolled onto his stomach once more and wailed in such an uncharacteristic way that Harry momentarily forgot that this boy was Draco Malfoy, his enemy, his bane, and his nemesis. All Harry could see now was a boy grieving over the death of a loved one... over his father. A loss Harry could easily fathom...and dreaded.

"Aww," Harry said, moving right up to the bed railing and patting Draco on the shoulder. "Don't cry." Remembering how his own father had comforted him when he was sad, Harry patted Draco's back in a similar manner. "There there..."

Apparently, the action was successful. Draco stopped sobbing in short order, and turned to face Harry and Severus once more.

"Who are you?" Draco asked the unfamiliar child with hair so much like his Uncle Severus's. Although Draco could make out the silhouette of his Godfather Severus Snape, he tried to focus his disturbingly large pupils on the unfamiliar individual directly in front of him.

"I'm Harry P..." Harry began.

"Draco, I would like you to meet my son, Harry Snape." Severus interjected before Harry could incriminate himself further.

Draco only replied by looking more blankly at his visitors. Whatever potions the muggles had administered left him very tired and dazed.

"Uncle Severus?" Draco called, squinting his eyes, his attempts at seeing with any clarity futile at the moment. "You have a son?"

Severus nodded brusquely changed the subject. "Do you remember what potions the muggle healers gave you, Draco?"

"You mean what potions they shot into my arse?" Draco asked, his haughty sneer reasserting itself at the mention of 'muggles.' "I have no idea, they just told me to roll onto my stomach after they brought me back here. Before I could even tell them to put the needles away, it was all over. I feel rather ill."

"Brought you back from where? Where did you go?" asked Severus.

Draco averted his unfocussed eyes.

"Draco?" Severus persisted.

"I don't know if I should tell you."

"Unless you're intend to tell me that you were out killing people, or otherwise engaging in something illegal, I'll tell no one."

To further ease any of Draco's reservations, Harry pretended to be very interested in one of the illustrated books in the small bookcase near the door.

"Very well then, Uncle Sev..." Draco replied, looking greatly saddened once more. "I was visiting my father."

"He's here?" Severus asked incredulously.

Draco rolled onto his back, looking extremely dazed. "The Dark Lord hammered us less than a fortnight ago."

"You and Lucius?" asked Severus.

"And my mum too. He had us all hammered. Because it was in the time after the raids, St. Mungos was full, so we were brought here to this Muggle Hospital." Draco lamented. He closed his eyes once more, the room whirling about him was entirely too distracting. "And father's dead!"

"Draco," Severus forestalled him. "Am I to understand that you were paying your father a visit earlier?"

Draco nodded without opening his steely grey eyes.

"But you've also stated that he's dead? Explain."

"While I was being wheeled over to the ward my father was staying in, I ran into Granger on the lift." Draco began. His heavily dosed brain protested at the exertion, but he went on anyhow. And made no sense whatsoever. Harry had to refrain from asking after Hermione, for he wasn't supposed to know her. After all, Harry "Snape" was only a young child. The mention of her name had piqued his curiosity, however, and Harry listened eagerly for more, but could not make sense of Draco's drug induced rambling.

"Father," Harry tugged on the hem of Severus' jacket, "isn't there anything we can do for him? What about using your magic?"

"I will not risk drawing the ministry's attention." said Severus judiciously. If Lucius Malfoy, now a wanted man, was indeed in the hospital, the chances of a team of aurors being nearby was great. He could not risk them coming over to investigate, and seeing Harry. While Harry's external appearance was disguised and his stature reduced, some specialized members of the ministry's law enforcement division had the power to see through disguises, potion accidents, and charms, and would know that he was indeed Harry Potter.

"And you'd hurt him if you used a healing potion huh?" Harry asked, now genuinely concerned about Draco's well-being. The pale boy was now babbling incoherently.

"No, I will not risk lasting injury to my godson." Severus said, rummaging through the many pockets in his biker's jacket and withdrawing a small vial. "But I can attempt to purge a considerable quantity of the muggle potions from him."

"Purge him?" Harry asked.

"Not the most optimal method to employ." Severus held the liquid up to the light and swirled it twice, checking the consistency. "It is a compound potion. The first function draws foreign substances from the bloodstream into the drinker's digestive tract for quick disposal, the second speeds up the processes of elimination by tricking the body into thinking it has been poisoned."

"So it's what you would take if you've had some food that might have been poisoned for real? So that it doesn't kill you?" Harry asked.

Severus nodded, holding the vial to Draco's lips, and lifting the pale boy's head. "It is also practical for when you've accidentally ingested a bad potion, or if you've begun having an allergic reaction to a potion or muggle medicine already in your bloodstream and you need to purge it as quickly as possible

"So can I take some to get the Interventio Interferous out of my body?"

"Even though the purging potion employs very infinitesimal levels of magic, and relies more on the mechanical processes of the body, it is still too high an amount of magic for one who has ingested the Interventio Interferous." Severus replied without hesitation, indicating that he had also thought of using the purging potion before.

It was a horrific sight. Only minutes after pouring the clear potion into Draco's mouth, the pale youth began to wretch violently and threw up all over himself and Severus twice before Severus could lug Draco into the loo and seat him on the toilet.

Harry turned away, glad that he had not used that potion himself. Yet. It was too sickening to watch. Strangely, Severus's face was one of cool neutrality as he held a bucket under Draco's chin as he emptied the contents of virtually his entire gastrointestinal tract into both the toilet and the bucket simultaneously.

At this point, Harry could only hope that the effects of the potion didn't leave the already beaten Draco in poorer condition than he was before. The process looked very rebarbative, and the pale boy was soon groaning from what appeared to be exquisite cramping in his abdominal area.

Harry clambered onto Draco's bed and began removing the soiled linens, taking care that non of the detritus spilt. He found some fresh linens in a cupboard nearby, and quickly made the youth's bed, not believing that he was doing this for Draco Malfoy, but at the same time feeling that he could do no less for a boy who was suffering so much.

Draco and Severus emerged from the loo nearly half an hour later. The greatly weakened, though clean youth leaned on his professor and godfather for support. Thankfully, Draco smelled heavily of nothing but antiseptic cleansing agents. Harry concluded that Severus and/or Draco, who were both not familiar with muggle toiletries, used a bit too much whilst cleaning themselves up.

Harry found that he could take no pleasure in his one time rival's suffering, and could not even laugh when he noticed that Draco was now wearing a pink hospital gown with teddy bears, unicorns and balloons printed on the thin fabric. Severus must have dressed Draco in the first, or only article of clothing he could find in the washroom cupboard, which happened to be a hospital gown meant for female patients. Harry made no comment about it as he pulled the covers up to Draco's neck after Severus lifted the youth into the bed, but he did entertain the thought of charming the teddy bears and unicorns to run about the gown as the balloons floated blissfully by. Alas, Harry could not safely do any magic, and the muggle healers would surely be frightened by the sight of moving print on a hospital gown.

"Thanks..." Draco mumbled, his breathing still markedly laboured.

"Stay with him, Harry. He still has low levels of the muggle potions in his blood, but they are too low now to affect him much." Severus said, tucking his hair back into the blonde wig and putting the hat back on his head. He leaned over and whispered: "do not let Draco know who you really are."

"Okay. But father, Malfoy still looks really sick." Harry commented.

"That is to be expected. It will soon pass." Severus replied. "Purging one's body is a strenuous undertaking."

"Where are you going?" asked Harry.

"I'm going to look for Mr. Malfoy." Severus replied, starting for the door.

"You think he's really dead?"

"I don't know, just stay with Draco." Severus opened the door. "He will be very thirsty, so help him drink some water."

As much as Harry wanted to go with Severus, he knew that the less people who saw them in public, the better. There were too many untrustworthy individuals afoot. Evidently, since Severus did not order Harry to stay home today, he must have felt that Draco was trustworthy enough for the information that Snape had a son.

That made Harry feel a little less uneasy around Draco.


"Arthur Weasley!" Molly shouted as she watched her spouse bolting a grilled cheese sandwich, carrots, an apple and a glass of milk.

"Yes dear?" the red haired man responded, a little too innocently.

"Where are you going with that?" Molly asked, a little annoyed that Arthur had been spending a bit too much time in his 'garage.'

"Can't I have a snack, dear?"

"Yes you may, but why don't you just eat it here?" Molly questioned.

"Er..." Arthur, who had not improved at fooling Molly after more than twenty years of marriage, blurted the first excuse that came to mind. "Uh, it tastes better in the shed?"

"Tastes better in the shed? INDEED!" Molly said, her hands on her hips. "We shall see about that!"

"No no!" Arthur said, running after his wife as she made for the shed.

"Rook to E5!" the toddler watched with amusement as the piece moved on its own accord.

"Yes! Brilliant move!" Ron commended, as he leaned over the wizard's chess board. He had spent the past few nights teaching Arthur's new foundling the rules of the game and several hours teaching her how to make the pieces move.

"Ronald Weasley!" Molly's voice came from behind him like a verbal cannon ball, causing him to fall across the board.

The little toddler laughed as the pieces scurried away in all directions.

"Who is...?" Molly said, falling speechless for one of the first times in Ron's recollection. The little girl just stared at her.

"Dear," Arthur moved behind his wife, the glass in his hand nearly empty from his running. "Sit down, and let me explain."


"Harry is it?" Draco asked after a quarter of an hour more, his eyes still closed tightly.

"Yes, I'm Harry."

"May I have some water?" Draco choked out.

Harry poured some water from the pitcher into a cup and handed it to Draco. Draco attempted to take it, but his hands trembled so violently that he nearly knocked the cup out of Harry's hands.

"I'll help?" Harry insisted. He adjusted Draco into a seated position, then held the cup to youth's lips. Draco swallowed it quickly and asked for a second cup. The pitcher was nearly empty when scant colour finally returned to Draco's face.

"Thank you." Draco said, still looking very weak as he struggled to stay in a seated position. "So, you're Professor Snape's son?"

"Uh huh." Harry replied, doing his best to act as though the sight of Draco's quickly reappearing sneer didn't annoy him in the slightest.

"I can see the resemblance." Draco smirked. He reached over and mussed Harry's now shoulder length hair, then prodded Harry's nose, which appeared larger than usual due to the subtle makeup Severus had applied earlier.

"Quit it!" Harry shouted when Draco pinched his cheek, now chubbier with the remnants of baby fat adorning them.

"Ooh! You got your daddy's temper too I see." Draco looked oddly amused.

Harry could not resist the opportunity. "Well how would you like it if I did this to you?" Standing on the tips of his toes, Harry reached up and tousled Draco's white hair, prodded his nose and roughly pinched both his cheeks.

"Ow ow! Okay!" Draco said in mock surrender.

Harry could not understand it. To be sure, Draco was indeed sneering, but it looked different somehow. Perhaps it was because the sneer was done out of habit and lacked the malice Malfoy typically reserved for him. Draco had no idea that he was really a deaged Harry Potter, after all. To him, Harry was just Uncle Sev's little boy.

"Uh... we brought you some candy, Mal- Draco Malfoy." Harry brought the box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts to Draco.

"Thanks, kid." Draco said, removing the wrapping and munching one of the candies. "Here, join me!"

Before Harry could decline, Draco tugged on Harry's shirt, urging the boy onto the bed with him. Draco then gave Harry one of the candies.

"Thanks." Harry mumbled, taking a bite.

"Smashing sweets!" Draco said, taking another piece, and giving Harry another as well. "These are muggle sweets?"

"Yes, it's chocolate covered macadamia nuts. It's imported from a place called Hawaii." Harry said, his mouth bulging with chocolate. "I think it's magic though because it makes you feel good when you eat it."

"Hmm it does...it's really good!" Draco concurred, sharing a third piece with Harry. "I have to tell my dad to..." Draco suddenly fell silent.

"Tell your dad what?" asked Harry.

Draco didn't answer and looked both worried and angry at the same time.

Harry decided to spur Draco along. "Draco, when you were being sick, you said something about your dad being dead." Harry played the facade to the hilt. "Is he?"

Draco shrugged, but the look of ire grew worse, "I went to visit him this evening, and he...He was dead! "

Although Harry was not particularly fond of Lucius Malfoy, or Draco for that matter, he could not help but feel empathy for Draco. He had a father too.

"Ah but who knows?" Draco slapped Harry on the back. " For all I know, the muggle healers gave him some of their potions and put him to sleep or something. They're not any good with potions anyway. I doubt they'd have any reason to kill him, though."

"I hope your dad is well." Harry offered, but Draco still looked troubled. What was the connection between Hermione and all of this? In the end, Harry could not resist, but asked in a way that he thought would not betray his identity. "What is Granger?"

To Harry's surprise, Draco laughed wrathfully. "Who,' Harry, you mean 'who is Granger.' But even I sometimes ask 'what' she is."

Harry forced back a shard of anger, hoping that Draco hadn't noticed. "So, who is Granger?"

"Do you know what a tattletale is, Harry? Well that's what Granger is. And she's a snoop too." Draco said through his clenched teeth in a manner he thought the younger boy would understand.

Memories of their third year at Hogwarts resurfaced. It had been Hermione who informed Professor McGonagall about his prized Firebolt broom, and both he and Ron had thought her to be a tattletale for months thereafter. In the end, he concluded that Hermione had only been trying to help. "Tattletale? Snoop?" Harry egged Draco onward.

"You see, I was having a talk with my father in his hospital room, and when I turned around, I saw that Granger was listening to us!" Draco sneered. "Doing that is really rude, don't you think Har?"

All too familiar with Hermione's ways, Harry merely nodded. He thought Draco to be a tad hypocritical since the blond boy had spied on them during their first year at Hogwarts. Then again, Harry realized that he would have felt violated too. A private conversation between a parent and their child is sacred. If she had ever eavesdropped on him and Severus...

"And she's a tattletale too! You see, there were these bad people who wanted to catch my father," Draco confided in a simplified manner, "and I just know Granger went and told those bad people where my father was!"

"How do you know she told?" Harry asked unnecessarily. He knew Hermione was the type that would jump at the chance to tell.

"Because I know she did!" A few blood vessels in Draco's grey eyes became more prominent as his wrath increased. "I saw it in her eyes! She couldn't wait to snitch on us! She ran away from me so fast, probably ran all the way to the mi-- to the place there those bad people are! Those people probably took father away already!"

"To a bad place?" Harry asked, more to oblige Draco than anything else. He already knew about Azkaban.

"Yes Harry, it's a really bad place. You probably don't understand what it's like to be locked in a dark cupboard that's too cold, and makes you sad all the time. But that's what the bad place, the bad people want to take my father to, is like." Draco said.

Harry ached to tell Draco that he knew exactly what being locked in a dark and cold cupboard whilst being really sad was like, but he wasn't supposed to be Harry Potter right now. He just stared at Draco in sympathy. As much as he knew Lucius deserved to be in Azkaban, he could not help but feel bad for Draco. If it had been Severus, Harry would break any law to help keep him out of Azkaban. The thought of his father suffering again was too much to bear.

Harry decided that he ought to help Draco think of something else. He also really wanted Draco to tell him more about his encounter with Hermione. Was she also a patient in the hospital? Or did they meet because her parents worked here? Perhaps if he asked indirectly, Draco would volunteer more information. "So when did you see this Granger person?"

"Earlier today. Not that you'd ever want to see her, mind you." Draco replied, his smirk maturing into a full fledged scowl of the utmost disdain. "Granger is an ugly, chipmunk-faced mudblood with that goes to the same school that I do..."

Before Harry realized what he was doing, he had his tiny hands around Draco's neck and was actively choking him.


Severus had been searching the hospital for nearly an hour. It was frustrating that none of the hospital staff seemed to know who Lucius Malfoy was, but not unexpected. Many of the hospital staff bore the earmarks of people who had been recently obliviated, and some of them had evidently been obliviated so forcefully that Severus doubted they would even remember where they parked their transport devices.

With a little trouble, Severus deduced that Lucius must have been in the maxillofacial surgery ward. The workers in that unit looked to the be most severely affected by memory charms and could barely speak comprehensibly to Severus when he asked them for directions.

After checking around each corner before proceeding down the corridor, Severus searched each room for Lucius while taking care to avoid being seen by any ministry official who might still be at the hospital.

There was only one room left, leaving Severus to conclude that Lucius had already been taken away. Strangely, Severus felt compelled to enter, cautiously watching for any magical person who might have been loitering.

Without a sound, Severus crept closer to the curtain next to the only bed with an occupant in it. The person was very still, although Severus could hear the even rasping of some one breathing with difficulty. He peered around the curtain and exhaled in relief at the sight of Lucius laying on his side. He was facing away from Severus; his white hair fanned out over the crisp, hospital pillow.

It was curious, for Lucius looked as though he had been left untreated. His body randomly trembled and shuddered as he slept, grimly reminding Severus of some one who had been subjected to prolonged bouts of the Cruciatus Curse. His body was riddled with bruises, punctures and what appeared to be glass cuts. Lucius's arms and legs appeared to have been dislocated, and upon closer observation, Severus decided that Lucius was not really sleeping, but was unconscious.

"While I knew that muggle healers were lacking in some abilities," Severus mumbled to himself as he rummaged through his biker jacket for suitable healing potions, "I had no idea that outright incompetence was an ability that they had ample measures of."

Severus removed his hat and wig and placed them on a nearby chair. "Malfoy?"

Lucius did not respond. Severus knelt at the man's side and brushed some of the...abnormally white hair out the man's face. "Malfoy!"

Severus frowned. Malfoy's body was badly marked by the signs of torture... Magical Torture.

"Malfoy, as I cannot cast any spells whilst we are in this muggle hospital, I will pour a healing potion down your throat and then attempt to revive you." Severus positioned Lucius's head and pried his mouth open. He paused briefly, looking in awe at unconscious man. Never before had Lucius resembled Severus's own father Lucien, than at this very moment. Even his hair was now the same colour as Lucien's had been.

Suddenly Lucius opened his pale eyes wide... eyes that were the same colour... AS A FROZEN POLAR SEA! Ice blue eyes. Not like Lucius Malfoy's, but Lucien Snape's.

Thinking that he was only imagining things, Severus proceeded to touch the first vial to Lucius' lips.

"You've been making potions again haven't you?" Lucius shouted, sounding frighteningly like Lucien Snape. He sat up so suddenly that Severus dropped the vial onto the sheet, spilling its contents completely.

"F-father?" Severus gasped, the white hair and rage in the ice-blue eyes all too familiar to him.

"Damn you, boy!" Lucien rose from the bed, seemingly unencumbered by his injuries. "I told you to leave those potions be! You are to beat a Gryffindor boy every day whilst you're at Hogwarts! Two would be better!"

Severus fell to the floor and slowly backed away from his sire, the fear within him rising once more to the surface.

"Oh, but you did follow my orders didn't you?" Lucien said, rising from the bed and leaning over so that his face was only inches from Severus'. "You have a Gryffindor son, and you beat him!"

"I did not do it intentionally!" Severus protested.

"With each passing day, you're becoming more like me, boy!" Lucien suddenly appeared dressed, although the injuries remained. He slowly began removing his belt. "But you've made mistakes! And you're going to learn that there's a price to pay for your actions."

"No father!" Severus supplicated, his mind returning to a time many years in the past. "Don't beat me! Please!"

"You're just like me! You beat your own son, just as I've done to you for years." Lucien said silkily, raising the belt high into the air.

End Part Twenty-Eight