AN: I realised that my last chapter was a little short and i wanted to end it on a sadder not cause im lovely like that. So here is a longer and edited version of this chapter. Sorry for the awful delays, but Transition between high school and uni is a pain and i am lazy to a fault and im currently crawling out of my writing funk. Starting the next chapter now.
ON ANOTHER NOTE I NO LONGER HAVE A BETA AND I WOULD APPRECIATE SOMEONE WHO WOULD BE WILLING TO BE A BETA THAT HAS A DECENT HANDLE ON UNITED KINGDOM SPELLING - TRADITIONAL ENGLISH - NOT THE AMERICAN SIMPLIFIED STUFFS PLEASE AND THANK YOU

The wooden frame shuddered as the office door slammed shut, leaving three people quaking in the presence of such powerful, raw magic. The last few blue sparks fluttered slowly to the floor as the room and its occupants stood in the tense silence, singeing the carpet below their feet. As the dust and sparks settled, and the wooden frame shook its last shudder, one lone man found the strength to break the tense silence in the room.

"Well that was rather dramatic." Severus droned.

"You left him with Petunia?" Her icy tone left no doubt as to her rage; Severus' wince didn't exactly help the matter.

"It was the safest place for him to be. The wards –"

"The safest place!" Rose shouted, cutting off the Headmistress "He said they tried to beat the bloody magic out of him!"

A snort was heard. Rose turned to face Severus as he sat in his chair with a sneer plastered onto his face "The blasted brat is just fabricating another tale so he can have then attention that he thinks he so desperately needs; I wouldn't take his word for a grain of salt."

"How can you say that Severus; the boy was obviously distraught!" She turned and snarled at McGonagall "And that doesn't explain why you put my nephew with a wizard hating family!"

"I'll be the first to admit they weren't the nicest of muggles…" Rose gaped open mouthed as McGonagall trailed off; realising just how absurd what she was saying sounded.

"He could have been sent anywhere! He could have stayed at Grimmauld Place!" He ran her hand back through her hair; Severus' heart strings pulled at the gesture so familiar to both sisters "Hell! He could have stayed here!" The man was pulled out of his short moment of nostalgia at Roses exclamation.

"It would have been unrealistic to have even considered any other option. They only feasible conclusion was to leave him with his relatives." said Severus as he twirled his wand in-between his fingers "Potter is just like his father; just searching for more attention to boost his insurmountable ego."

"Will you stop it Snape!" The man blinked and the wand froze in its position between his fingers "The child was distraught!"

"He is no child." He said snidely.

"But he is!" Rose exclaimed, striding over to stand in front of the Potions Masters chair. "He is just a boy, a teenager! You put a child up against one of the darkest wizards of all time! You have to realise just how insane that sounds. Would you have done the same if there was no god forsaken prophecy?" Severus sneered as Rose ploughed on through her tirade "You know as well as I do that 'Tuney is hardly fit to raise a child, let alone Lily's! Don't you think that there could possibly be some truth to his words? The woman didn't even tell him about me." She glared at the two teachers "And neither did you for that matter."

The Headmistress shifted guiltily "There was hardly ever the time to sit him down and talk about things. He had a dark lord to defeat, he had – "

"A child should never have been asked to kill a megalomaniac like that!" She stormed back over to her chair and flopped down in the seat with a strangled groan "Are you honestly trying to tell me that in all of his years of schooling there was never once the chance to sit him down for five minutes and tell him that his mother had a twin, or that he may experience a bloody Veela transformation?"

"Mistakes were bound to be made. It wasn't our responsibility to ensure the boy knew of his lineage. How was it our fault that we did not inform him that he happened to have an Aunt that was supposedly dead?"

Rose glared at the man with grease laden in his locks "I forgave you a long time ago Snape," Severus' back went rigid and his eyes froze on Rose's cold features; he knew exactly what she was referring to "you did what you could and I cannot blame you for that. But I forgave you with the thought in mind that you would look after him. He's all I have left Severus, and if I am to never gain his trust because of your bigoted, pent-up, childish hate…"she shook her head, turning away from him.

Severus Snape's heart was old and cold; wrapped up in so many layers of barbed wire, fences, and walls that it was almost impenetrable. His heart was untouched by emotion and it was something that he prided himself on. But at the sight of Rose turning away from him, that simple little movement, he felt the few fragments remaining of his heart shatter.

The air in the office room was tight and icy. No one moved in fear of shattering that fragile and tense silence. Rose shook her head and looked up to McGonagall, her face pulled into a mask of nonchalance.

"You called me here to inform me of a particular matter Headmistress. I would appreciate it if we could get this over and done with as soon as we can as I have some personal affairs to take care of." It was only due to years of espionage that Severus was able to restrain a flinch at her emotionless tone.

McGonagall sighed, walking around her desk. Her face was so weary that for once her age showed on her subtle features. She reached for the bottle of whiskey and forwent the glassed and took a swig directly from the bottle; Severus couldn't stop the sneer that marred his face at the action.

"All I called you up here for was to discuss Mr Potters recent inheritance." The Potions Master snorted, earning him the glare of two irritated women "And also to ask that you keep an eye on him, young Veela are particularly emotional and unstable,"

"Brilliant."

"- he will have to be watched carefully in case something happens." She continued on over Severus' sarcastic interruption.

"Will that be all?" Rose queried as she started to rise from her chair.

"There is…one last thing." She took a deep breath, her grip tightening on the neck of the whisky bottle so that her thin knuckled turned white "There have been…whispers that the remaining Death Eaters are planning an Azkaban breakout."

Severus leaned forward in his chair, his grip tightening on the wand in his hands "Do our informants know when this is planned for."

She sighed and shook her head "No. As I said they are merely whispers at this point, but the Orders informants tell me that a few individuals are quite eager to retrieve Malfoy Senior."

"This could be….problematic."

The Headmistress nodded solemly "I would have to agree. Yourself and Mr Potter are prime targets for any Death Eater activity."

Rose nodded, speaking up for the first time since the subject was brought up "Yes…the saviour and the traitor." She looked over to Severus quickly before looking back to McGonagall "There wouldn't be anyone else they would want to get more."

McGonagall nodded as Rose rose from her chair "Yes; it would seem that Mr Potter is not out of the woods yet." She shot a warning glare at Severus before she continued "Be sure you keep an eye on him, there's no telling what a young, emotional Veela is capable of…especially considering the fact that he was so powerful to begin with."

"I'll watch over him, don't you worry." She said sombrely.

Severus hesitated for a moment before speaking through clenched teeth "As will I."

The Headmistress nodded solemnly, standing up and walking to the windows on the far wall, stroking the abandoned perch sitting just of the left of the large desk. "You will report to me as soon as you hear anything, understood?" Still staring out of the window she continued "And I trust that neither of you will let your…squabbles interfere?"

Severus huffed indignantly in response and strode of out the office, his robes billowing behind him. As the door shut sighed and turned to the newly hired Professor "I trust you won't draw this out for too long?"

The corner of her mouth turned up "I'll let him sweat for a day or two, can't let him get off too easy now can I?" McGonagall shook her head as a red-headed woman flounced out of the office and down the spiralling stairs to her new quarters.

Harry wasn't quite sure where he was, all he knew that was running and he didn't want to stop. He didn't know how long he had been running for, but he knew it must have been a considerable amount of time as his legs were burning and his lungs were trying to collapse in on themselves. With a shuddering breath he slid down the nearest wall, trying to choke back the tears and concentrate on the ice cold stone of the dungeon walls. His shuddering breath echoed through the cold walls. Cold?

Harry looked around and realised that in his emotionally controlled haste he had found himself inexplicably drawn into the depths of the dudgeons, dangerously close to the Slytherin common room. So close in fact that Harry could hear the hissing of the minuscule snakes – so often gone unnoticed by the residential population - carved into the rock wall entrance to the common room. From this distance their voices were indistinct and jumbled, and as with all Gryffindors Harry's curiosity got the better of him. Edging forward, his tear streaked face leaned further forwards to try and make out some of the hissing.

~Our little magic bearersss are back in their nessst my friendsss.~ One hissed happily.

~Yesss, all but one.~ The second replied solemnly.

~The boy of iccce hasss not returned.~ The third, the largest of the three hissed.

Harry's instincts flared and he edged further and whispered softly ~Who hass not returned?~ The hissing from the wall intensified and the hissed words became more jumbled.

~The boy ssspeakss our tongue brothersss, young ssspeaker why do you ssseak the boy of iccce?~

~Yesss, the boy of icccce is oursss to protect, what do you wisssh of him?~

~Thisss boy...of iccce. Are hisss eyes grey and hair white...he issss a nest mate and I worry for him~

By this point the raven haired teen was standing but a hairs breath away from the wall and concentrating so intently on the hissing that he did not hear the footsteps behind him.

~Worry not ssspeaker, your kin draws near..."

~My what?~ However his replay was cut off by a snide voice behind him.

"What are you doing lurking outside of my common room Potter?" Draco squinted at him "How did you even find it."

Harry furiously scrubbed at his face before he turned around, trying to erase all evidence from his tears, but his efforts were for worse. "I've been here before." He said cheekily, trying to draw attention away from his red rimmed eyes that were still specked with silver and pale looking face.

It didn't work very well.

"What do you mean you've been here before..."he growled "and what happened to your face?"

Harry turned back to face the stone walled and traced the bodies of the snakes with his fingertips; they writhed in apparent pleasure. "Nothing, nothing happened." He chuckled hollowly "And I haven't been in here since second year." Harry clock his head back to glance at the pale haired teen "We snuck in – Ron and I, we..." He trailed off as he realised that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to inform that the reason they had snuck in, in the first place was because of him "...we were being stupid, trying to find something to prank you guys with."

"Bullshit nothing happened Potter, your face looks pitiable..." he raised an eyebrow "and you will tell me the full and real story eventually, 'cause you are a terrible liar and that is not what happened or anything close to the full story."

Harry fidgeted under the grey glare, his silver speckled eyes flickering out of contact. He couldn't explain it, but he felt...compelled to talk to the petulant Draco Malfoy. "Do...do you really want to know?"

He snorted "Not particularly, but it seems you've rubbed off me and I've adopted some of your more dangerous Gryffindor curiosity."

"Oh."

Draco rolled his eyes and grabbed Harry by the upper arm and pulled him to the centre of the wall. "Insecure little...fine, we'll go into my private quarters and talk if it'll wipe that pathetic look off of your ugly face." Grumbling the password lowly so that the Gryffindor could not hear it, Draco stared to stride through the opening in the wall "Keep your head down, I don't want it getting around that I'm bringing you in here"

Harry stopped slowly and looked behind him to the closing rock wall. "What?" Draco demanded. Harry looked back to Draco and asked "Aren't you going to thank them?"

"Who?"

"Your guardians."

Draco tilted his head to the side with an irritated frown on his face "...guardians." He said flatly, his tone beyond disbelieving. Harry nodded and dragged them back a few paces so that he could point out the carving that seemed to be on both sides of the wall. "Isn't it polite to thank guardians to your common room for letting you in," he smirked slyly "I thought all you purebloods were all about manners and all that?"

"Don't be stupid we don't have..." He followed the line of Harry's fingers and noticed the three tiny snakes carved into the centre of the wall where the entrance way would open.

"You telling me that after eight years you never noticed that...or anyone else for that matter?" Harry said without a hint of malice. It seemed to grate on Draco's as he proceeded to drag them down the main corridor leading to the common room, grumbling all the way.

Before they walked out into the light of the common room, whilst still in the shadows, Draco pressed his hand to the wall and a feint glimmer of green light shone very dimly around his hand. Almost silently, a small archway and door appeared; obviously the Head Boys rooms. "The door responds only to my touch and those that I allow – teachers as well obviously – personally I think it's a much better idea than passwords...they can be given to anyone."

Without so much as a glance being directed their way from those sitting in the common room, Harry and Draco slipped into his rooms.

They were spacious and decadent, Harry assumed that the rooms were spelled to cater to each Head as we could hardly see Percy Weasley using something so extravagant. There was a small lounge, about the same size as the Gryffindor common room, the only difference being...everything. The walls were decked in a light white colour, with dark green on the trims and skirting boards. Dark wood made the coffee table, desk and its chair. The floors were tiled black and a luxurious white leather settee, lounge chair and ottoman with black trimmings were placed around the room. There was one average sized window on the opposite wall to the fireplace. It was wrapped up with dark green curtains and Harry was sure that if he were to open them he would see the middle of the Black Lake and all its inhabitants.

There were two other doors which Harry assumed lead to the bedroom and bathroom respectively.

"Are you quite done gawking, I would like to move past the entry way sometime soon." Draco said lightly.

"Smarmy bastard." Harry mumbled as he walked further inside, lowering his head in vain hope that he was in fact imagining the heat flaring up in his cheeks. He wasn't.

Draco calmly walked over to the settee and stretched out over it, with his head on one arm rest and his feet over the other. Tilting his head to face the frazzled boy standing in the middle of the room he rolled his eyes. "Sit down, you look so uncomfortable its making it hard for me to relax."

Harry hesitantly made his way over to the coffee table and surrounding furniture, his eyes glanced at the familiar opening journal and paperwork dotted about on the table. Ink bottles and quills both sugar and quill alike were strewn across the surface in an organised chaos.

Looking to the singular lavish chair Harry found himself thinking that if he were to sit in it he would be more than uncomfortable standing up; years of his Aunts reminders to never touch the furniture for purposes other than cleaning still rang in his ears loudly to his day. He ended up sitting on the ottoman seated next Draco's feet. Twisting slightly so that is back was against the arm of the settee and the feet adorning them, Harry turned to face Draco.

He raised a meticulously manicured eyebrow "Really? You're going to sit there when there's a perfectly...you know what, never mind." They sat in silence for a few moments before the blonde let out a frustrated huff "Well!" he demanded "Are you going to tell me what exactly got your bloody feathers ruffled or was this all an elaborate plan to get in here?"

"You're the one that dragged me in here in the first place, I didn't want to tell you anything but you insisted Mr Curiosity." He grouched.

Draco shrugged "Fine then leave if you don't want to talk about it." He waved his arm to the door and Harry heard it unlock. Neither of them moved.

Sighed Harry scrubbed a hand down his face "I just had a talk with McGonagall."

"So?"

"Snape was there too...and my Aunt apparently."

Draco stared at him "Why in the name of Circe would your horse faced muggle Aunt in here?!" He rolled onto his side so that he could face Harry better.

"Not Petunia...Evergreen...apparently the new Defence Master is my long lost Aunt or some crap."

Silence help out for a full minute before Draco replied "Bullshit."

"That was my response pretty much...well, except it was a lot more colourful." Harry growled. Draco watched the young Veela as his face turned a little pinker and his silver speckled eyes seemed to glass over "How could they not tell me? I would never have had to stay with them...I thought...I thought I was all alone." Harry slid down so his head rested in his hands "...Unwanted."

While in the past the over emotionalism of the young vela got on Draco's nerves, at this moment he couldn't really bring himself to be irritated with the distraught boy. He sighed and shifted, swinging his legs around so that she was sitting straight up and in the middle of the settee, closer to Harry.

"Shouldn't this be something to be happy about?" he asked?

Silver blazing eyes snapped up and stared into Draco's grey ones, sending a shiver down his spine. The fiery intensity of them freezing him "You don't get it do you?" Harry growled "If...I would never have...I didn't have to stay there. If she had...just...done anything...something to let us know...let me know." Harry couldn't keep his voice from cracking; he hated himself for being so fragile in front of Draco. So weak. He scrubbed at his eyes, trying to rub away the burning wet sensation "I could have had a home. I could have had a childhood...a proper family. A family that was mine." He laughed hollowly, in a way that scared Draco more than he was willing to admit "She had the chance to come and get me...years he was gone, but she didn't. I wasn't important enough. She didn't care." He looked at Draco, his eyes pure silver and his hair wisping around slightly "Why didn't she want me?"

Draco had a sudden urge to pull the shaking vela into his arms. He reached out a hand, Harry noticed it just as it was hovering over his shoulder, watching as it froze millimetres from contact and drew back quickly. Draco placed his hands back in his lap and Harry looked at his feet. Neither knew quite what to say and the air was tense.

"Potter-"

"Draco-"

Turned around at the same time and found themselves nose to nose. Those froze respectively and just looked at each other in shock. Harry breathed in through his nose and his eyes slid shut instinctively; Draco smelt of cinnamon, sandalwood and sugar quills and something warm and unfamiliar.

Harry was brought out of his trance by a cough, and his eyes snapped open to see a flushed Draco jolting back so suddenly his hair brushed Harry's nose as he moved. "Do you even know the meaning of personal space Potter?" He shifted so that he was back in his original position, laying back down on the settee. "What I was going to say was that you'd better stay here."

Harry's head snapped up "Huh?"

Draco rolled his eyes "Don't be daft, it's way past curfew and if you get caught sneaking out of here I'll be in trouble as well. I can't exactly have you getting me into detention on the first day back now can I?" Draco rolled up off of the couch and stood up, brushing imaginary dust off of his pants "You can sleep on the couch, I'm going to bed. Since Professor Snape and Evergreen were with you we will both need to be up early so that we don't miss our introductory speeches and what-not."

Draco made his way over to the two doors at the end of the room, Harry caught his wrist just before he was out of arms reach. Draco froze and turned around with a glare "What do you think you're doing Potter."

Harry looked up at him from his seat on the ottoman "Thank you." He said sincerely.

Blushing furiously Draco tried to yank his wrist out of the Veela's unusually strong grasp "Let go Potter."

"I mean it, thank you." Harry let Draco's wrist go and he could swear that he felt Harry trail his fingers down his hand as it dropped his wrist.

"Just make sure you get the hell out of here early Potter, I'm not waking you up to make sure you get back to your common room early enough so that your absence go unnoticed." Harry just smiled and lay down on the settee closing his eyes.

Draco growled the whole way to his door and just as he was opening it he heard a softly murmured " 'Night Draco."

Harry smiled as he heard the door slam.

Harry awoke to the feeling of a pair of eyes burning a hole into the back of his skull. Growling lowly in his throat, he squeezed his eyes shut tighter and pulled the pillow over his head "G'way, Draco. It's too early, I'll go back…to the dorm…later." yawns broke apart his grumbled complaints as he curled into tighter ball, the armrest of the couch digging uncomfortably into his back.

"For your information Potter it is well past early. 50 points from Gryffindor." Before Harry could even contemplate jumping up off of the couch, he was cruelly tugged unto an upright position by none other than Professor Snape.

Nothing was more telling than the sadistic grin that was plastered across the man's face; nothing but pure horror awaited Harry. Pulling him out of the room and into the corridor, Severus dragged Harry through hoards of bewildered Slytherin students.

'Okay, so maybe it isn't early'.

"Not only did you sneak into the Head boy's room past your curfew – after your outrageous stunt in the Headmistresses' office – but you were absent from your mandatory house meeting this morning." Severus sneered "Due to your insatiable desire to attention Potter, half of the faculty is out looking for our resident celebrity," he raised a thin brow "your Aunt included. Do you get a thrill knowing that the Boy-Who-Lived can still get a kick out of inconveniencing others?"

Harry ignored his burning ear and pulled himself out of Severus' grasp. "I am no one's celebrity Snape,"

"10 points from Gryffindor."

Harry continued on without flinching, a cold glint in his eye "what I did is nothing to be celebrated."

Both stood their grounds unmoving, glaring heatedly at each other.
Severus opened his mouth and spoke softly "…while that may be true Mr Potter," something sparked in Harry's eye and the Professors tone hardened "that does not excuse your reckless disregard for school rules. You will report immediately to your Head of House to discuss your punishment."

"But you already took 50 points!"

Severus cocked his head in fake thought "No, I do believe at this point its 60…though I will add another 10 to that. Oh, and 35 from last night too…my, my, my Potter, what will your House mates think, losing 105 points on the first day back? You must be looking forward to starting the year in negatives."

"You can't do that!"

Severus took a step forward and leaned down into the snarling veela's face "I can and I will Mr Potter. Crying to your betters will not change that, so do not bother running to your Aunt."

"She is no family of mine." He hissed.

Something ugly flared in Severus' eyes; after quickly checking if they were alone in the corridor, he grabbed Harry's rumpled shirt collar and pushed him back into the brick wall. Ignoring the flash of green to silver, Severus leant down until their noses were almost touching.

"You would think that the boy who has successfully been responsible for his families slaughter would be more appreciative of what little he has left. You would do well no to cut people out of your lives Potter, or sooner rather than later you will have no one left to run to." Giving Harry one final shove into the wall, ignoring his pale face and dull green eyes, Severus strode down the hall his robes flying after him "5 more points Mr Potter, simply because you are a nuisance." Was the called shot over his shoulder, however Harry hardly noticed.

Just as Harry reached portrait of the Fat Lady, Rose appeared out of a dark corner. Harry snorted "Slytherins, what is it with you lot and lurking about in the dark?"

She waited a moment before responding "I would take points but I see Severus has already done that." She tilted her head to the side "How on earth did you manage to lose 110 points in less than 24 hours?"

Harry opened the portrait "Why don't you go ask Snape?"

Rose scowled and shot out her hand to close the portrait "My office Mr Potter."

Sighing, Rose sat down in her uncomfortable chair "What am I going to do with you Harry?"

Harry sneered "Ignore me, you've had a lot of practice with that."

Rose leaned forward in her desk with a pained look in her green eyes "Harry…you have to try to understand. I did what I had to do to survive."

"So did I, but I managed to not abandon anybody while I was at it."

"Harry…"

"No!" he yelled, cutting her off. Harry started to pace, trying to keep his emotions under control "You had the opportunity to come back. For me. You had that chance and you didn't take it! He was gone, they were all gone! Was that not enough reason for you? I thought I was alone…unwanted,"

Rose got up and walked around her desk and placed a hand on his shoulder, "…Harry…"

"No!" Harry yelled, swiping her hand off of his shoulder and spinning around to face her "It is my turn to talk! I have never had a chance to…I can't…I had no one. No one at all." He whispered. "Family is supposed to stay together, look out for each other, and support each other." He chuckled lowly and hollowly "Though I suppose I wouldn't know anything about that. Do you know how it felt? How it felt to see you…looking so much like her…walk down that hall and…a-and hug him, greet him before me! I…I honestly thought she was back…that I meant so little to her that she would…just…ignore me. But as it turns out I was being ignored all along and just never knew." He sneered at her "You know Snape told me I shouldn't cut off the only family I haven't murdered yet…good thing you're not family." Harry looked away from her and made his way to the door.

The silence was deafening.

"You will always have family in me Harry." Harry stopped with his hand on the doorknob. I know I did you wrong, and I have no legitimate reasons of staying away bar one – I was afraid. Simple as that child. Fear does a lot to a woman. I couldn't bring myself to jump into the fray…a journalist…what could I do?" She let out a shuddering breath "What do you want of me…what can I possibly do to fix this?"

"I don't know. I may not have known it at the time…but you took away my only chance of the only thing I really ever wanted. A family." Without another look or word Harry walked out and closed the door behind him.