Summary;

Draco Malfoy; A lonely little boy who doesn't talk or cry. His father is at the end of his tether and his mother just doesn't seem to care.

Severus Snape; The introvert, cynical professor who finds companionship in his best friend's son.

Together, they form a friendship that will be tested to the extreme.

Can they both come through it unharmed?

Prologue

Concrete Angel; Martina McBride

He walks to school with a lunch he packed
Nobody knows what he's holding back;
Wearing the same clothes he wore yesterday,
he hides the bruises with the linen and lace;
oh

The teachers wonder but they don't ask,
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask;
Bearing the burden of a secret storm, sometimes he wishes he was never born;
Through the wind and the rain,
he stands hard as a stone in a world that he can't rise above;
But his dreams give him wings and he flies to a place where he's loved.

Concrete Angel

Somebody cries in the middle of the night,
The neighbours hear but they turn out the lights;
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate,
When morning comes it will be too late.

Through the wind and the rain,
he stands hard as a stone in a world that he can't rise above;
But his dreams give him wings and he flies to a place where he's loved.

Concrete Angel

A statue stands in a shaded place,
An angel boy with an upturned face;
his name is written on a polished rock,
A broken heart that the world forgot.

Through the wind and the rain,
he stands hard as a stone in a world that he can't rise above;
But his dreams give him wings and he flies to a place where he's loved.

Concrete Angel

For my part I promise to try and do the best job I can, especially considering that I rarely write for recreational purposes and am some what a novice when it comes to such things, but you must forgive me if you come across something that doesn't make sense.

I write this as a memoir, as a parallel story to that of Harry Potter, the boy who everyone knows about, the child who was raised by muggles in terrible conditions and still seemed to come through unscathed. His story is a fairy tale, where good vanquishes evil and they live happily ever after. The problem with such a tale is that one forgets about the others; the children that were not so lucky and their monsters are still crouched under the bed, waiting to spring. They become compassionate only to the heroes, the ones that have escaped. But it's the silent children who carry the biggest burden, for no one knows about them. People take their silence to mean, 'It's okay. Everything's fine. I don't need you/' It is true that these children are strong, they steel themselves and are able to take whatever is thrown at them. But does that mean that it still doesn't hurt?

These children are my Slytherins, ordinary little kids who have been so hardened by life already that to the outside world- to those who have never known such a life- they seem introvert and unsociable, giving them the reputation of being horrible, sneaky little brats who appear to take joy in bullying those weaker than them.

And perhaps, that is true. Perhaps it is true also that I favour my Slytherins above the others. But why shouldn't I? Why should they get the attention that they missed out on before? Why shouldn't they have the same chances of survival as everyone else?

True, I am sure that there are children in other houses who have come from poor backgrounds, but they do not have the disadvantage of A) Being in a disreputable house, which makes them unfavourable with both teachers and peers and B) Gryffindors particularly, but also Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are generally more willing to be more open about their situation rather than keep it under lock and key like Slytherins tend to do.

This story is not, however, a story about the way a Slytherin's mind works. Well…maybe a little…

This is a story about one family, perhaps the most slytherinesque of them all, and a child called Draco; the Prince of Slytherin house and how an idealistic teacher tried to save him.