TITLE: Hands Clean 1/3
By: Sheila Bailey
Rated: R for future themes, but more like PG for now.
Summary: A Hogwarts teacher knows a student is being abused at home, and tries to help but his efforts backfire.
Disc: Not mine
Note: This DID NOT come out at all the way I expected it to, and I'm still not sure what to make of the results.

"Daddy?" A piping little voice echoed through the manor, feet could be heard running along the hall.

"Ah, there he is. Back from his shopping trip with Mummy,"Lucius said as his son came into the solarium. The boy was a pint-sized version of Lucius, and moved with the clumsy waddle of a two-year-old. He was clutching a teddy bear in a small wizard outfit. "New robes?"

"I look pretty!"Draco announced, doing an exaggerated model turn on the carpet. Lucius gathered him into his lap and began changing Draco out of his street shoes and into a pair of slippers while he talked.

"Our little princess,"he laughed. "And smart. He's learnt his ABCs already," Lucius said proudly. Draco snuggled closer against his father's robes and popped his thumb into his mouth. Lucius pulled it back out again. "Don't do that," he snapped.

"He's very advanced, "Severus commented.i And wasn't that just a bit harsh? /iHe added to himself.

"I expect nothing less from my only son- HOLD STILL, Brat." A house elf came into the room and whispered urgently to Lucius. "Excuse me, I'll be back in a moment", Lucius said. He put the baby down on the floor, the way one would shift a cat or dog. Draco had suddenly become just a thing in his father's way. "Don't move,"he said sternly to Draco.

The child stood there, staring up at Severus. The stare was disconcerting, as if he were confused about who Severus was. Then he cocked his head to one side and smiled a charming, dimpled smile as he remembered his father's friend.

iMy God,/i Severus thought. i He's a miniature person!/i He was amazed at how tiny Draco was, even smaller than most children his age. Little fingers and tiny blond eyelashes and a small, perfect nose. Narcissa had dressed his chubby body in a black Muggle sweat suit, with winter robes over it.

"Hi." Draco chirped.

"Hello."

Draco tugged at his robes.

"Snafe?"

"Yes?"

"Play?" Draco held up the teddy bear and waved one of its arms. "Say hi," he encouraged it. When he got no response, he smacked it on the back of the head. "Say hi!".

Severus steeled himself to utter the dreaded words.

"Hello, Mr. Bear."

Draco seemed frustrated that the toy refused to talk.

"Bad boy!" Draco cried, throwing it on the floor. Severus reached down and picked it up again.

"Surely you don't want to hurt Teddy?" He lifted Draco into his lap and returned the bear to him, which Draco took back reluctantly. Severus took one of Draco's delicate little hands and showed him how to stroke the bear's fur. "Let's make him feel better, shall we?"

Hey, I'm good at this! he thought with surprise. Maybe I should work with children or something. He entertained the notion briefly, but tossed it aside, the whole idea just seemed too unlikely ever to happen.

Draco kissed the bear on the top of his head.

"Sowwy."

Severus brushed his hand through Draco's silky blond hair. As he moved some strands away from the back of Draco's ear, he noticed a large purple bruise hidden underneath the hair.

"Lucius?"

"Yes?"

"What's this bruise? It looks fairly nasty."

"Oh, that?" Lucius asked coolly. "Draco tripped on one of the flagstones in the west garden"

That tone seemed to suggested that the subject was closed, but it didn't quiet the thoughts in Severus' head.

"You know how it is,"Lucius smiled. "Children are always falling down, or bumping into furniture. Especially when their legs are still unsteady." He lifted Draco out of Severus' lap. "And it's time for a little boy to take his nap".

"Nooo,"Draco whined.

Severus couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding and utter helplessness, as Draco was spirited off to his crib. But it wasn't his place to say anything. He was a guest in their home, to begin with. And he had no evidence other than one bruise and the fact that Draco had seemed to be imitating someone when he was playing with the bear. Both things could easily be explained away, and he needed to stay on Lucius' good side.

"Oh, Severus, before I forget,"Lucius said,"Macnair just owled me with the news. There's a new Muggle family just moved in outside Hogsmeade. We were thinking we'd go and get rid of them tonight, are you interested?"

TBC