Note: Terribly sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. It proved way more difficult to write out that I thought it would. It scares me to death writing Snape's character. He's such a brilliant creation of JKR, and the last thing I want to do is mess him up. Enjoy!

Draco knocked three times on the menacing dungeon door in front of him. He only had to wait a few seconds before the door opened to reveal Professor Severus Snape, clad as always in his all black robes and impeccably shined dress shoes.

"You asked to see me?" Draco inquired.

"Yes, come in Draco," Snape stood aside, his robes billowing around his ankles as he did so to allow the boy to pass into his office.

Draco made his way to one of the two un-cushioned, straight-back wooden chairs facing the professor's desk. He sat down and breathed in the familiar scent of the potions ingredients stored haphazardly on shelves along the walls. Any other student would have been terrified to sit where he was now, but Draco found the office comforting in an odd sort of way. He had often come here for advice as Severus was his godfather.

Only after Snape had replanted himself behind his desk did he begin speaking. He leaned forward from his chair and placed his elbows on the desk, his fingers touching in a thoughtful manner.

"I received a letter from your father this morning, the contents of which were rather…peculiar."

Draco could not help the look of shock that crossed his face. He was perfectly aware that the two corresponded frequently. Severus and his father were, after all, old friends and his father did enjoy keeping tabs on his son. It was the way Severus's smooth voice lingered on the word 'peculiar' that made Draco suspicious. Surely his father had not clued his friend in on the latest disappointment? He had assumed his father would have tried to keep the news as quiet as possible.

"It seems that Ms. Parkinson sent your father a letter a few days ago which included some rather unfortunate information," Snape continued.

"That bitch!" Draco yelled, standing up and knocking his chair to the ground.

"Language, Draco," the professor advised, unphased at the outburst. His eyes followed the enraged Draco pace back and forth across his office.

"And did my father include this 'unfortunate information' in his letter to you?" Draco sneered and continued his pacing.

"No," Snape removed his elbows from the desk and leaned back in his chair. "Lucius seemed unwilling to say, though I have a guess I am fairly certain is correct."

"Oh? And I suppose your just as disgusted as father," Draco assumed aloud, pausing his movement to look at the older man.

"I have no care one way or the other, Draco. But my opinion is not important. Sit back down so we can continue."

This response calmed Draco down slightly, though he had no intention of sitting down. "No thank you," he replied curtly, though he did bend over to replace the chair on its four legs.

Snape shrugged and continued, "Your father wrote to me to inform you that he wishes to apologize."

"Apologize!" Draco yelled as his right hand flew to grab his left wrist where, under his shirt sleeve, resided the worst of his recently attained scars.

Snape again ignored the outburst and picked up a neatly written letter from his desk. "He wrote, and I quote, 'I realized upon sending the owl that I was being unfair to young Draco. I know that he would never act so selfish and stupid as Pansy described to me and I should have waited for more evidence before taking such actions as I did.'"

"So why did he write to you then?" Draco asked, confused. He forgot his earlier decision to stand and sank back down into the chair.

"I believe he wishes for me to discover whether Ms. Parkinson was correct and report back to him," Snape replied, refolding the letter.

Draco gave a bitter laugh. "What do you think, Severus?"

"By the way you have been reacting to this ordeal, I believe Ms. Parkinson was correct in assuming your having joined the ranks of the homosexuals."

Leave it to Severus to give such a response, Draco thought. He sighed and shuffled his feet against the stone, potion-stained floor.

"However, that does not mean I will not lie to Lucius and assure him that the girl was mistaken."

Draco again looked shocked. Severus had always been more open-minded than his father, but he never though his godfather would approve of this.

"But," the professor continued, "I must urge you to prove my lie correct, Draco. While I do not care who you wish to take into your bed, your father will find out sooner or later, and his reaction will be worse than before. Therefore, you should find your female companion and convince her that what she was led to believe about you is untrue and carry on as before."

Draco's heart pounded painfully in his chest. He could not look his godfather in the eye and so dropped his gaze to a point on the floor just in front of his uncomfortable chair.

"I can't," the boy whispered.

"You cannot what?"

"I can't go back…not now." Draco wrung his hands on his lap, tears threatening to break free from his silver-grey eyes.

"You have not gone very far, Draco," Snape's voice sounded uneasy. "There is no reason you cannot turn back now."

"I've fallen in love with someone."

Snape seemed to understand the implications of this confession and immediately asked, "With whom?"

Draco stayed silent and continued to stare at the floor. A burning desire to tell Severus everything was threatening to overtake him. He felt dizzy and sick to his stomach.

"With whom, Draco?" Snape repeated, sounding impatient.

Draco tore his gaze from the floor and stared straight into Severus's onyx eyes.

"Harry Potter." He barely whispered the name.

Snape stood up so suddenly from his desk that the boy nearly fell off his chair in surprise. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

"Of course I do," Draco replied calmly, fighting back the nausea.

"They will hurt you…no, kill you if they discover you have betrayed the Dark Lord in this manner!" Snape yelled, openly angry.

"You don't think I know that?" Draco yelled back before dropping his voice back down to its normal volume. "But it's too late now."

"It most certainly is not."

"Severus, he saved my life." Draco pulled back his sleeves to reveal the jagged scars decorating his wrists and forearms.

Snape pushed away from his desk and made it to the boy's side in only a few strides. He took Draco's arms in his hands to inspect them.

"Draco, why?"

"It's too late for my father to apologize. I'm not going back."

The professor let go of Draco and fell back into the other wooden chair facing his desk. "Does Potter return your feelings?"

"Yes, I think so."

"You think so?" Snape sighed and passed a long-fingered hand over his face. "Does he understand the dangers?"

"No, not entirely."

"I want to speak with him." Snape stood up and returned to his desk to find a slip of parchment and a quill.

"What?" Draco looked terrified at the idea.

"I will send for him tomorrow after classes," he indicated the note he had written and was easing into a small envelope. "And I would like you to be present."

"But…"

"I have made my decision, Draco. I can tell that you will not give this up easily and I have no intention of leaving you in the hands of an arrogant fool unaware of the need to keep you out of harm's way. You may leave now."

When Draco had closed the office door firmly behind him, he sank to the ground. He felt even dizzier than before and his breathing had become shallow and labored. He was afraid for a moment he might pass out there at the foot of Snape's door, but a thought stopped him. He had to find Harry. Draco needed to speak with him before they met with Snape.

Concentrating on his breathing, the Slytherin pulled himself together and pushed off from the floor. Once he was certain that his legs would not give way underneath him, he hurried down the corridor and out of the dungeons in search of the boy he had openly admitted to his godfather he was in love with: Harry Potter.