For what was probably only two or three seconds, but seemed to me to be hours, all of my senses were obscured; my ears numb, my vision blurred. Every feeling in my body was concentrated to the softness of Draco's lips.

I suddenly felt a quiet sob catch in Draco's throat and it was this that made me realise what was going on, this which brought back all feeling crowding back into my body.

I shoved Draco away from me as hard as I could, the back of my hand catching him sharply across the mouth as he fell backwards and struck his head on the wooden headboard.

"What the hell do you think you are playing at?" I snarled, jumping to my feet, trembling with anger and confusion. "Do you have any idea of how much trouble I would get in if your father found out about that? Well?"

Draco recoiled at my fury, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, frozen with fear.

"What, in Merlin's name, were you thinking, Draco?"

Draco trembled as I glared down at him, looking as though he might pass out. His lips were moving, but no sound came out.

"Well?" I demanded again.

"S-stop…stop sh-shouting," Draco stammered, wiping his mouth on the back of his pyjama sleeve. A red stain was left on the blue and white material. His eyes full of pain and anguish. "You said…you said you'd listen."

"Listen? Listen to what, Draco?" I cried in exasperation. "You aren't talking to me! Do you realise how hard I have tried for you? How much I have worked and sacrificed to try to make things better for you? Well, how can I if you won't even speak to me? And now this! What were you thinking?"

"You're not listening!" Draco shouted, scrambling unsteadily out of bed and pushing past me. "You said…" he licked his lips and took a deep breath. "You said, if I wanted to talk to you then you'd listen. Didn't you "

"Yes, but-"

"Well what if…" Draco's bottom lip trembled and he looked away. "What if I don't know how to say what I want to say?"

Then he whipped around and fled, leaving me alone in the company of a very bad migraine.

I sat down heavily, my hands shaking. What had just happened? What was going on? What the hell had I just done?

'Oh, don't worry,' said the little voice in my head, dripping with sarcasm. 'You only shouted at him, then hit him. But I'm sure it doesn't matter.'

"Shit shit SHIT!" I kicked off my shoes and lay down on Draco's bed, staring up at the dark ceiling as I tried to pull myself together

I hadn't meant to shout. But it was the shock, more than anything, that had made me lose it. The shock of little eight-year-old Draco Malfoy kissing like a…like a…like a child with far too much experience. Like a little boy who had been taught that kissing people makes them more amiable…

'Congratulations,' said that damnable voice, sounding irritatingly like Lucius. 'Now we're getting somewhere. Now, who taught him that?'

"Narcissa," I whispered aloud. "It's Narcissa." I groaned, realising that this comprehension made everything a thousand times more complicated. For one thing, I knew that Draco refused to hear a word against his mother and would probably never speak to me again if I got her into trouble and for another, for some reason, I couldn't imagine Lucius taking kindly to the news that his wife has been sexually abusing his son and heir. And anyway, Narcissa probably didn't even realise that she was doing it.

I swore emphatically under my breath and pondered my next move. Of course, I would have to speak properly with Draco first, get my fact completely straight before charging off in which ever direction I chose to take.

'Easier said than done,' said the voice I was going to murder if it didn't shut up. 'Especially after your little outburst just then.'

I told it to go stick itself somewhere, but it simply called me crude and unsophisticated, then told me to do the same.

'Anyway, don't forget that you still have to break it to Lucius that Draco needs braces.' It said slyly. 'And I don't 'spect you shall live through that.' It smirked and slunk off.

Frowning deeply, I closed my eyes and dreamt a blissful dream of having a substantial job and earning a substantial amount by doing very little, where everybody was relatively happy and didn't expect me to sort out all of their problems. Where little boys played Quidditch every day and had parents who were reasonably sane and the sea was made out of coconut ice cream and the clouds out of chantilly…

"Severus! For god's sake, wake up!"

"What?" I demanded blearily, glaring at William who stood over me, looking quite panic-stricken. "What's happening?"

"It's Draco, he's disappeared!"

I sat up abruptly, instantly wide-awake. "What do you mean 'disappeared'? He can't just disappear!"

"Run away, then," William corrected flapping his hands agitatedly, glasses practically falling off his nose. "What difference does it make anyway? He's gone and we are going to get the blame if he doesn't come back!"

Wearily, I stood up and tried to smooth my robes into some sort of order. "How do you know he has run away?" I asked as calmly as I could.

"The portraits saw him," came the simple, dismissive reply. "According to them, he was in quite a state. I have checked all over the house, but I can't find him anywhere."

"And the garden?"

"It is a very big garden," William muttered a little defensively. "I thought we might split up."

Well, we searched and we searched- Every area; North, South, East and West- were thoroughly combed. The maze was checked, as was the forest area at the bottom of the fountain garden. But Draco was nowhere to be found.

It was the peacocks who turned out to be the biggest help.

They informed me excitedly that they had seen him running down the lane towards the gate that marked the end of the Malfoy Estate. But hadn't really been paying attention and so weren't really sure whether he had gone out or not.

I thanked the peacocks for their help and, trying not to step on their ghostly-white forms as they crowded around me, stepped over them and made my way down to the road; half-hoping that Draco was there and half-hoping that he wasn't…

'Oh please don't let him have been run over!'

The image of Draco lying in a pool of blood in the middle of a busy rod spurred me into a run. It was completely ridiculous, of course, Draco wasn't stupid enough to get hit by a car. But distress does terrible things to people's minds, especially children's, it confuses you…makes you careless…

I heard Draco before I laid eyes on him; a frightened whimpering sound came from beneath a bush not a hundred metres from the gate.

Freedom, apparently, was much more frightening than Draco had initially anticipated. A trembling, wild-eyed little boy, peered up at me tearfully as I crouched down in the dead-leaves, a nasty bruise stood out against his still deathly pale skin.

"So, where were you going off to?" I asked gently, half smiling.

A small shrug was all the answer I received, eyes averted.

"Where do you want to go? We could go together."

This time Draco looked at me, at the hand that was held out towards him. Shakily, he took it and I helped him to his feet.

"Am I in trouble?" Draco whispered, peering anxiously down the lane behind me, in case somebody was there waiting to kidnap him. Then, more fearfully, "Are you still angry?" A hand moved instinctively up to touch his bruised mouth and he moved back a step.

"I was never angry, as such," I tried to explain guiltily. "But can't you understand why I… why I reacted so badly?"

Draco hunched his shoulders. "You said you would listen. You promised."

There was nothing I could say in my own defence, nothing that hadn't already been said, anyway. We were just going round and round in circles…so I threw down my trump card.

"I know what's going on with you."

Draco barely reacted. A tiny flicker of fear crossed his face, but he gave no other sign that he had heard me.

I knelt down in the auburn carpet of dead leaves and gently tilted the boy's head up. Silver flashed sharply up, startling me somewhat.

"How? How do you know? Who told you?" The defence laced in his words surprised me and I faltered.

"Nobody…nobody told me, as such. But Draco, it is painfully obvious why you are…what the problem is. I should have said something as soon as I found out-"

"You knew?" Draco cried, backing away disbelievingly.

"Well, yes but I didn't think it was that serious. I didn't think you wanted me to interfere." I was feeling very bemused and not a little wrong footed. "Draco, I didn't want to make things worse for you…" I reached out to take Draco's hand, but the boy yanked it away, staring at me as though he had never seen me before.

"You knew and you let it happen?" he said shakily. "I thought you were going to protect me. I thought you wanted to help me! Don't touch me!"

I held up my hands in defence. "I didn't know how far it was going to go! Christ, Draco! I can't get anything right, can I?"

"Leave me alone…" Draco sat down heavily, wrapping his arms tightly around his body as he stared blindly down the lane. He looked like he was going to throw up.

"Do you want me to help?" Draco stared at me incredulously, but I continued, "Look, this isn't just going to simply go away. Your father is going to be very angry and I know you love your mother much and don't want her to get hurt, but what she is doing to you-"

"Mother?" Draco cried. "You think it's Mother who's…she would never…No!"