Part Two

No more talk of darkness,
Forget these wide-eyed fears.
I'm here, nothing can harm you -
my words will warm and calm you.


Let me be your freedom,
let daylight dry your tears.
I'm here, beside you,
to guard you and to guide you. .

Let me be your shelter,
let me be your light.
You're safe. No-one will find you
your fears are far behind you

All I want is freedom.

A world with no more noise

And you, always beside me;

To hold me and to hide me

Promise me

That all you say is true

That's all I ask of you.

January 25th 1986

"…and these," Lucius gestured around the room, lavishly furnished with dark-wood furniture and deep, blue carpets, "Are where you will be staying." He smirked as I gazed, awe-struck, around the magnificent rooms. My rooms. "I hope that they are to your liking?" I nodded dumbly, my eyes searching every inch; taking in every detail of my new surroundings.

"It's fantastic." I managed to blurt out finally, "Really…fantastic." Lucius laughed at my sudden incoherentness.

"Excellent. The door on our left leads into the bedroom and bathroom and on the right is the room in which you shall be teaching. Everything that you require should be here, however, if you happen to find anything else, do not hesitate to ask." Lucius may have been a bastard, but there was no doubt that he was also a perfect host. "I shall leave you to familiarise yourself with your surroundings."

I wandered around dazedly, trying to take in every detail of those beautiful rooms. I know it sounds cheesy, but it felt like I was dreaming…the furniture was made of dark wood, polished so that it shone like glass, the carpet so deep and soft that I could've quite happily slept on the floor and the ceiling was as high as my own house. I shall not describe everything as to do so would take far too long. Instead, I ask you to imagine the most elaborate of accommodation then time that by five. That may give some sort of indication as to what it was like.

My classroom was equally spectacular yet, in a way, simpler. Three of the walls were lined with bookshelves and cupboards; filled to the brim with everything I might need. The fourth wall was taken up by one massive window that overlooked the east gardens and lake. The drapes were made from heavy, green velvet and were tied back by silver rope. I had two tables to my disposal; One in the centre of the room surrounded by a couple of antique-looking chairs and the other, nearer the window, was smaller; presumably for my own personal use. It was laden with pens, paper, ink and all manner of different writing materials.

And then I saw it. There, amidst bits of paper and bottles of ink…

I saw red.

"If this is meant to be some sort of a joke," I snarled, throwing the offending object at Lucius, "I, personally, don't find it particularly amusing!" Lucius frowned and examined it.

"It's just a stick, Severus, why are you getting so uptight about it?"

"I am not teaching with that in my classroom."

"Why ever not?" He asked petulantly, "You never know, you may need it someday." He smirked and twirled it idly around, "You might even develop a liking for it."

"I don't want it." I repeated firmly, "And I don't need it. There are other ways of teaching children apart from beating facts into their heads, in case you don't remember, Lucius."

The blonde man scowled. "You and your bloody morals. If you had children of your own, you'd understand. Keep it." He shoved it back into my hands, "For when you come to your senses."

Of course, I'd much prefer to remain crazy and as soon as I had reached my rooms, I stashed the blasted thing under my bed in the hope that the monsters who dwelled there (or at least some obliging mice) might dispose of it for me.

"Hi Sir." I turned from my thoughts to see Draco hovering in the doorway. I smiled and gestured for him to come in.

"Hello Draco." The boy grinned and took a flying leap up onto the bed beside me, creating havoc in the once perfect bed linen.

"Is it true?" he asked breathlessly, "What Father says; are you really staying?"

I nodded slowly, "Yes…that is true…"

"Yes!" Draco gave a yell of joy and punched the air, "I knew it! I knew it! And you're going to be my teacher, right? You're gonna teach me magic and spells, aren't you? Father says that you are. Does that mean that I have to have a wand?" I suddenly realised that this wasn't a rhetorical question and he actually was waiting for an answer.

"I actually don't know about that," I admitted, "I'm not sure whether the Ministry will allow it."

Draco's face fell slightly. "Oh…then how will I learn magic? Father says I have to 'else I'll fail at school. He says I'll be behind everyone else and then all the teachers will think I'm stupid." I sighed, talk about manipulating people into doing what you want!

"Oh Draco, that's not true," I assured him. My little godson looked up tearfully.

"Really?"

"Really. Everyone at school will be on exactly the same level as you will be. Nobody will be any better or worse than anyone else."

But Draco was still doubtful, "But Father says-"

"Maybe your father didn't explain things properly to you." I said through gritted teeth, silently cursing Draco's determination to believe every single word that Lucius tells him, "Or perhaps he doesn't understand it fully himself."

Draco bristled with indignation. "Father does understand! And he said that I'd learn magic with a wand else I wouldn't be good at school and I'd fail and I'd be held back in years and then Father would be cross."

"Draco, I can assure you that you will not be held back at school. It takes a very stupid student for that to happen and from what I've heard, you are certainly not stupid. In fact, I've been told that you're rather intelligent, actually." Draco managed a small smile,

"Really? Father said that?" His face brightened immensely at the idea and I didn't have the heart to tell him exactly what his father had said, so I simply nodded,

"Uh huh. But we'll soon see won't we? In the next few weeks." Draco whooped and jumped on me.

'Yay yay yay!!!' came the muffled yell.

Unfortunately, as bright and intelligent as Draco was, he turned out to have a very short attention span when it came to lessons. Certainly he was interested in what I had to tell him and was more than capable of completing the tasks that I set for him, but Draco was easily distracted by pictures and prone to continually asking inappropriate questions ("Sir, how does a billywig eat if it doesn't have a mouth?" "Sir, what does a kelpie look like?") Had it not been for the fact that I was adamantly against using corporal punishment, I would have certainly used the hated object still under my bed more than once. And any less capable man, I'm sure, would have resorted to it straight away.

Draco also seemed to have an acute fear of mistakes; every misspelled word, every wrong question was met with despair. He watched me fearfully as I marked his work; wincing each time I made a suggestion for improvement or corrected something, no matter how gently I did so. I had suspicion that this had something to do with Draco's previous learning experiences, but I didn't ask about it. I figured that he'd soon realise that I wouldn't get angry if he made a mistake on his own…hopefully.

Nevertheless, I was grateful for the fact that my young student was inquisitive, (If a little too much at times) for it meant that he was a keen learner and not one of those tedious brats who make even the most competent of teachers feel as though they know nothing. Considering both Draco's enthusiasm and intellectual ability, I was confident that within a few months even Lucius wouldn't be able to condemn and criticise the boy.

It was harder though, much harder than I had imagined it to be. I found that I was teaching things that I had never even heard of before, which made it exceedingly difficult when Draco was in a questioning mood. In the end, it turned out to be more of a study group than actual lessons; with both of us learning from each other. But that was good; it was far more interesting that way

But as the weeks progressed, I noticed Draco slowly slipping back to how he was before; he became quiet and subdued, contributing less and less each week and doing only what was asked of him. I noticed bruises blossoming on his pale flesh when he forgot to cover his arms with white-cotton sleeves and what little colour he had gained was fading fast. The transition was slow, but obvious and at least a month went by before I decided to confront him about it.

3rd February 1986

The quill scraped harshly across the parchment, dragged reluctantly with shaking fingers, the boy's shoulders were hunched and his head bowed as he worked in silence. He hadn't spoken a single word since I had come back after what seemed like an especially long weekend. It can't have been that he was angry at me for leaving him, as we were both used to the arrangements by now, and I don't now what else I might have done to upset him. I watched him work from my own desk, where I sat jotting down new ideas for potions to try out. I didn't know what I should say. How could I say anything to comfort him when I didn't know what the problem was?

"How are you getting on with it?" Draco's head jerked up as I pulled up a chair beside him, his hand half covering the work that he'd done.

"May I look?" I pulled the parchment towards me without waiting for an answer and scanned it quickly. The writing was looked as though it had been scrawled hurriedly; each word ran into each other, making the piece barely illegible. I began correcting, defecting it with red marks and hints for improvement. With every mark I made, Draco seemed to get more and more flustered and when I reached the end he had actually become so upset, he ducked his head and ran into my room, covering his face with his hands.

I dropped my quill straight away, spattering the table with ruby-red ink and followed at a fast walk, brushing irritably at my hair as it fell in front of my face. Draco was huddled against the far right-hand corner of my room, his head resting against the wall. His normally handsome features were screwed up in a desperate attempt to keep himself from crying. Draco was trying so hard to keep his tears under control that his whole body was shaking with the effort.

He raised his eyes slowly to meet mine, fear and mistrust horribly evident in the silvery-grey and the way he shrank back when I dropped down to his level only seemed to emphasize it all the more.

"Draco?"

He cringed, hands knotting restlessly together in his lap, his small movements twitchy and nervous. I gently moved a hand up to his face and rested it lightly on one ashen cheek, willing him to relax and calm down. "Come on Draco. Talk to me, Dragon."

A violent, panicky head-shake was all the explanation I received.

"Did something happen over the weekend?" I pressed, "Has he been knocking you around again?" Draco shrugged sharply, allowing hair to fall in front of his face.

A growl of frustration rose up into my throat,

"Merlin, Draco! I thought things were getting better? I thought all this nonsense had stopped?"

He winced, hurt creeping into his expression. 'Why?' Draco asked silently, 'Why would you think that?'

But I didn't know, I had simply assumed. I suppose that I wanted so much to make a difference to Draco's situation, I never actually considered that I had to do anything to achieve that change. And now, here we were again, right back to where we started and all because I was stupid enough to assume that things were okay. Some teacher I was…

"Do you want me to do anything?" I asked softly. Draco's eyes snapped up, his attention fixed back on me. "Do you want me to have a word with your father?"

The boy bit his lip and gave a small, barely perceptible nod of conferment.

'Please,' he mouthed.

I knocked once on the door into Lucius' study and waited impatiently for him to answer. Lucius always seemed to be locked away in his study during the week when I was there, doing some sort of work for the ministry, at least that is what I assumed. Nobody really seemed to know what Lucius did for a job…I think it was something to do with public relations, but I could be wrong. Anyway, partly because of this and partly because I didn't want to involve myself with him as much as possible when it came to work, I very rarely got a chance to speak with Lucius.

He looked up slowly as I shut the door behind me, grey eyes glinting behind black-rimmed glasses. A pen was hovering above an official-looking report and a droplet of ink was hanging precariously from the end, about to drop.

"What?" said Lucius, glaring at me, not even bothering with manners. I didn't mind though, he was always irritable when he'd been working for a long time. "This had better important Severus. I have to get these done by tomorrow."

"Don't worry," I told him coolly. "I won't keep you from your work for long."

The resentment in my voice must've shown as Lucius, with a sigh, laid down his pen and removed his glasses, placing the carefully to one side and said, "What's the matter? It's Draco isn't it?"

"Of course it is," I snapped, "he's not talking again."

Lucius looked annoyed. "Well what do you want me to do about it?" he demanded testily.

"I want you to lay off him. A student with no self-confidence will get nowhere, no matter how clever they are. You do, I presume, wish Draco to excel in his academic studies?"

"Naturally. But Severus, I do hope you are not implying that it is my fault that Draco is not reaching his capability? After all, it is you who are the teacher. "

"And as such," I replied thinly, " it is my obligation, if my pupil isn't happy, to find out what is troubling him and do everything within my power to put it right."

"You seem to forget," Lucius cut in shortly, "that you are under my employment and as such, it is my instruction that must be observed. Not your foolish morals." He picked up his pen and turned his attention back to the reports. "How I choose to deal with Draco is none of your concern, Severus. I suggest that you stick to your job and leave it at that; stop meddling in things that are none of your business."

My heart was heavy with disappointment as I trudged back to my classroom to tell Draco. I know that I hadn't promised a positive outcome but the guilt that was creeping its way into my throat told me that I might as well have done.

A/N: Thankyou to everyone who has read and reviewed! Like every other fanfic author, I am a review junkie (to con a phrase) so keep em comin'!

In responce to- draco does not use improper english but it is interesting. I know Draco speaks properly, but Draco is only five years old at this point in time and how many five year-olds to you know who speak perfect English? Lol!

Lily xxx