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

A feeling not dissimilar to have icy water tipped over one's head washed over me. I had counted on it being Narcissa, because if it wasn't…well, that only left to options, didn't it? William, and I was certain it wasn't him, and Lucius.

"Draco," I gently cupped the little boy's pallid face in my hands. "I know that things haven't between the same between us since I left," At this, Draco squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his lips miserably together. "But that hasn't stopped me from caring about you. Nothing has changed in that sense."

"I wanted you to come back," came the whispered voice. "I wanted it so bad. More than I've ever wanted anything before. You…you don't know what it's like, to be alone like I was. And then somebody comes," a faint smile ghosted across Draco's saddened face. "And they make you feel special and safe. But to have that, like I had with you, only for it to be taken away so sudden…you don't know how bad that feels. You don't know how bad that hurts."

I felt Draco shudder and his head drooped, concealing his face behind a curtain of white-blonde hair.

"And I know, even though you said you would, I know you aren't staying. Not like before. So…so what's the point of being nice and listenin' to me, like you say you will, if you're just going to go away again an' leave me on my own? I-I don't want to be hurt again. Not by you. Not by you, Sir."

My arms fell limply to my side. "So, you want me to go and stay away? Leave you alone for good?" I said flatly.

Draco's head jerked up in alarm and his thin hands shot out to grab hold of my arm. "No!" he cried. "No, I just…I want…I don't know I don't know! I just want you to mean it Sir." Draco bowed his head and pressed my hand to his forehead. "I want it like it was before, but I want you to mean it. I want you to like me and mean it."

I was about to open my mouth, to ask him to explain what in earth he was talking about, but Draco interrupted me. "It's just, you've been so angry recently," he said quietly. "I haven't ever seen you like that, 'cept that time with Father. And then…" Draco stopped and raised a hand gingerly to his mouth, to touch the mark from where I had struck him. "And He said…He said you went 'cause of me, 'cause I was causing you trouble and you thought that I was annoying an' stupid. He said why should you like someone who was as horrible and spoilt as me? He said…" A shadow passed across my godson's face and I felt a shudder course through his little body. His hands tightened unconsciously around my wrist, his eyes suddenly became unfocused.

I bit my lip in concern. "Draco? Come on, Dragon, you're doing so well. Just keep it up a little longer."

A tiny, frightened whimper slipped out between Draco's lips and I tried to draw him to me, to comfort him. But he pulled away.

"He says that nobody will ever like me or want to stay with me unless…unless I…" Draco looked up through lowered eyelashes, his eyes searching mine. "He said you hated me," the boy told me, expression confused and distressed. "He said you was only saying 'cause…'cause…"

"Because what?" I pressed, almost afraid of what I would hear. What poisonous words had Lucius been feeding to his son? "What did he say?"

"He said you was only staying 'cause I owed you. 'Cause I owed you for all the things you have done for me and that you was only pretending to like me and really you hated me. I-I didn't believe him, not at first. But then you yelled at me…"

My mind reeled as I listened to him; so much had happened in just one day, my brain was having difficulty processing it all.

"So…so is it true?" asked Draco tremulously. "Are you really just staying 'cause you want me to-"

"No!" I shouted. Then, as Draco flinched, quieter. "No, Dragon. Of course it isn't true. Not one word of it. Come on, come here," I held out my arms to him and, this time, Draco crept into my embrace, allowing me to hold him close. "I have never ever said anything like that to anyone," I told him, running my fingers through his hair. "You do not owe me a thing, Draco. The only reason I have been angry lately is because I hate seeing you so unhappy and being unable to do a thing about it."

Draco pressed himself against me, holding onto my arm as though I would disappear if he let go.

"Thank you, Sir."

"Braces?"

Lucius' voice, raised and angry, echoed off the stone walls of the entrance hall as Draco and I stepped over the threshold, and then William's, "It really is for the best…"

Draco shrank back, staring apprehensively towards the door from which the voices came.

"Go," I whispered, giving him a little push in the direction of the grand-staircase. "Go to your room. I'll hold him off for as long as I can."

Draco nodded and gave me a quick smile of gratitude before running upstairs.

I smoothed down my shirt, picking off the bits of dried leaves and twigs that had stuck to me, and then strode purposefully towards the sitting room.

Lucius leapt at me (metaphorically, of course) the moment he saw me. "Well?" he demanded. "Have you found him? Where is he?"

I brushed audaciously past him. "Oh yes," I responded, reclining on the sofa. "I found him alright. Had quite an interesting conversation with him, actually."

Lucius' pale eyes narrowed and William pushed his glasses up his nose, both looking very uncomfortable. Where they, I wondered, both in on it? But I dismissed this immediately. William would've told me if he had known anything, I know he would.

"What do you mean? Has Draco told you what's going on?"

I nodded brusquely. "Mmm hmm."

"And?" snapped Lucius impetuously. "For Merlin's sake, Severus! I need to know! I'm his bloody father! You cannot keep something like this from me!"

If I had not known better, I would have thought that the desperation in Lucius' voice was authentic.

We stared squarely at one another, each waiting for the other to break first. But Lucius was revealing nothing. Finally, I said quietly, "I need to talk with you privately."

Looking stupendously relieved, William scooted away with a fading, "I'll just go and check on Draco then, shall I?"

Lucius rounded on me. "Well, what is it?"

"I need a drink first."

When a glass of something blue and smoking hand been shoved into my hand and I had gathered my wits together, I took a deep breath and blurted out everything that had happened since Lucius had run off- from the kiss to the terrible things that had been whispered into his son's ear, to the recognition that little Draco Malfoy was being sexually violated.

I watched, un-amused, as Lucius' expression became increasingly horrified. He was, if nothing else, a remarkably talented actor.

When I had finished my tale, I sat back and clutched my empty glass tightly in my lap, concealing my shaking hands and preserving my image of control.

It took Lucius several moments to regain some sort of composure. He shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger, then said, "And you are sure of this, are you? You aren't just jumping to conclusions?"

"I am one hundred percent certain."

"And…and you know who is doing this?"

This simple sentence, so innocently spoken, caused something fragile to snap violently inside me. I couldn't play this game any longer. I couldn't afford to tiptoe around anymore.

"Oh don't play so bloody innocent with me, Lucius Malfoy!" I snarled. "Yes, I know who is responsible! And if you think that I am going to leave Draco with you for one more second…if you think that I am simply going to sit back and watch as you destroy that boy-"

"What?" Lucius' cry of disgust stopped me mid-sentence. "You think that it's me? How dare you! How dare you even think that I would do something so…so twisted! He is my son for christ's sake! What kind of sick pervert do you take me for?"

His outrage, to my dismay, was genuine.

"You mean, it isn't you?" I said, a little dimly. "You aren't the one to whom Draco is referring as 'He'?"

Lucius made a jerky movement with his hand, as though he would dearly like to curse me for even suggesting it. "And how do I know that it isn't you?" he bit back cruelly. "How do I know you aren't simply trying to cover your own tracks?"

"Yeah, because that's really how I get my kicks, isn't it? From leering over good-looking little boys whose parents are too wrapped up in themselves to look out for them." I made a revolted sound through my nose. "Because I would really go around making friends and gaining their trust just so I could molest them, wouldn't I? What?"

Lucius had suddenly turned a ghostly shade of white and looked like he was about to throw up.

He had just opened his mouth to say what was on his mind, when a terrible explosion sounded like a canon from upstairs. From Draco's bedroom…

I realised instantly what Lucius had known only a second or two before. Our eyes met, mirroring the same horrified realisation.

William!

My deepest wish is that I could say, truthfully, that I had been wrong or at least that it had not been as serious or the effects as long lasting as they were.

But to say that would be a lie.

It was Lucius who got there first, with me not a second behind him. The door crashed open, reverberating on its hinges and revealing a sight which still causes a feeling of physical nausea to wash though me if ever I recall it.

If there was ever a moment in my life when time literally halted, it was then.

Draco, cowering terrified against the head-bored, was weeping openly as a decidedly-singed looking William stood over him, a slightly manic expression glinted behind his spectacles.

My eyes, and I am sure Lucius' too, were drawn to the tears and missing buttons in Draco's blue and white stripped pyjamas and to the open zip in William's trousers. The smell of immature, desperate magic drifted through the air.

As though it were slow-motion, both Draco's and William's heads turned towards us and then suddenly Draco had leapt, hysterical, out of the reach of William and attached himself to Lucius.

"Father, help me!" he cried clutching at Lucius' arm. "Please Father, make it stop!"

Slowly, Lucius looked down upon Draco, only half seeing, only half understanding. Not really wanting to believe or accept what was now right before his eyes.

Then, in a flash, he had pushed Draco to once side and, before anybody could even blink, he had William pinned up against the wall, wand cutting off then man's air.

"What the hell have you done to him?" Lucius roared. "What. Have. You. DONE?!"

William quailed. "It…it i-isn't what it l-l-looks like…" he managed to choke, struggling to breath. "Draco, he…he wanted…"

This only served to earn the pathetic little man a painful jab in the throat. "If I hear one more word," promised Lucius, his voice shaking in a most uncharacteristic way. "I swear I will kill you."

"B-but-"

"SHUT UP!" A sound as loud and as sharp as a gun shot sounded accompanied by a flash, and then William had fallen to the ground, reduced to a sobbing heap.

Stiffly, Lucius turned to me. "I need you to get Draco away from here," he spoke quietly, obviously struggling to keep his emotions under control. "Take him to your house, keep him safe."

I nodded quickly. "Yes. Yes, of course."

"I'll…I'll come pick Draco up some time tomorrow. I've got to…" but he couldn't continue without giving himself away. Brushing his hand roughly across his face, Lucius turned his back on me. ""Just get him away from here, Sev."

"Come on, Draco." I tried to take Draco's hand, hoping that he would come willingly, but a little of his magic was still on guard and I had to draw me hand away as it crackled like static electricity. Draco didn't even notice me; he simply stared numbly ahead of him, head slightly tilted, his little body quivering violently.

The need to remove him from this house was strong though, so I swept Draco swiftly into my arms and took him away. Away from William. Away from his father. Away from the house where it had all happened…

And I shut the door on the lot of it.

A/N:smirk: And you lot thought it was Lucius! heh heh...kay, smugness over :-) out of curiosity, would people prefer long chapters and less updates, or short chapters and more frequent updates?

danke! Lily xxx