Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling has created the characters, the surroundings etc. The only thing I own is the idea of this story (and perhaps a couple of OC's too).

Warnings: Nothing in particular.

Thank you everyone who have reviewed, faved and followed! 3

Check the author's note in the end.

Chapter 6

Finally the lesson was over and Lucius was able to breathe a little bit. He was quite sure that he hadn't been as stupid when he had been eleven as the group he had tried to teach for over an hour now. One of the Slytherin boys had been pretty lucky; he had tried one of the hexes mentioned in the book without reading about its consequences. If he had managed to perform the hex in the right way he would have been blinded in a second.

The blond checked the classroom quickly – at least nothing was broken and he could leave the room like that. He shut the door behind him and planned to go to his room to enjoy the silence but stopped in his tracks when he heard a couple of fifth year Ravenclaw girls talking to each other.

"Did you see the amount of blood pouring from his head?"
"Yes, it was horrible! I can't believe someone hexed him like that!"
"I second that. Even though he might not be the nicest or the most handsome person in the world I know how intelligent he is… I wonder why he wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin."

That was all Lucius needed to hear. He coughed and the girls turned their gazes to him, looking a bit scared. "Excuse me, young ladies. I heard you talking about someone getting hurt. Might I ask you who this student was and who is with him?" Lucius asked. The girls were still silent for a while but then the braver one of them decided to answer him. "The hexed student was Severus Snape, professor. Professor Slughorn took him into the hospital wing, sir" she said. Lucius nodded. "Thank you, ladies" he said and made a U-turn starting to walk towards the hospital wing.

Meanwhile madame Pomfrey had managed to heal Severus' wounds and wondered now what she should do. She could almost let the boy go to his dormitory to rest but then again his friends would be unnecessarily curious about what happened and wouldn't give Severus the required peace. "Young Mr. Snape, I've decided to keep you here over the night. That way you will be able to rest properly without others disturbing you" she said. Severus looked a bit disappointed; he had wanted to go back to his dormitory but he was clever enough not to start a fight with the nurse. Poppy Pomfrey might have been a good-hearted woman but even a lion couldn't be compared to her if she got angry. Severus laid down on the bed, wincing a bit when the movement made his head pound.

Professor Slughorn looked like he wasn't sure what he should do. He had been a teacher for many years and solved many bullying cases but Severus' case went beyond his comprehension. The boy's family didn't have a lot of money, that was sure, and the boy wasn't even pure-blooded – yet not even those factors could explain everything.

The professor cleaned his throat. "I and the other staff will try to find the culprit as soon as possible. You can be sure that he or she gets caught and punished" he said and then turned on his heels, apparently taking his leave. It actually didn't bother Severus; he didn't actually like Slughorn that much. Next, however, he saw the certain blond walk towards the hospital wing. The boy saw how the man greeted Slughorn and asked something from him; the older professor shook his head and hurried away. Lucius let his gaze follow the potions master for a while before sighing and walking into the Hospital Wing.

It stung to see Severus lying there with his head magically stitched. Lucius sat on the chair next to the bed and looked at the boy for a while. "How are you feeling?" he asked then.

Severus sighed and slowly turned his head that he could see Lucius properly. "It was Black, Lucius. It was him who hexed me" he said instead of answering Lucius' question. The blond seemed to have lost his ability to speak for a while; he was far too shocked to say anything. The fact that it had been that Black guy didn't actually shock him that much – instead the fact that Severus could have died shocked him very much. Finally he was able to find some words to use. "What actually happened?" Lucius asked, waiting patiently for the answer. He knew that talking about it would be at least a bit hard to Severus since the boy wasn't used to talking but he had opened up to Lucius earlier so the blond was quite sure that the teenager would speak. And he was right.

"I was going to professor Binns to get my notes but then I came across Black. I tried to ignore him but then he followed me to the top of the staircase and casted Tarantallegra. I fell down the stairs and apparently hit my head… But it's not even the worst part. Even though Dumbledore knows that Black tried to lure me to meet the Reaper just a while ago he didn't even doubt Black when that guy pretended to be worried about me!" in the end Severus felt the tears forming into his eyes again. He blinked quickly a few times; he didn't want to cry over this again. It felt so childish.

Lucius seemed to be deep in thought. "What professor Slughorn said?" he asked Severus. "Oh, he just said that he and the rest of the staff would try to catch and punish the culprit as soon as possible – which in other words means that they may get to know who did it but only say a couple of angry words to him and that's it" the teenager said, sighing.

The blond couldn't help but feel angry towards his co-workers. How could they be like that? Didn't they really care? Lucius shook his head to clear his thoughts and then looked around. When he saw that madame Pomfrey wasn't anywhere near he decided to tell a part of his plan to Severus.

"Severus, I might have created a way to pay them back. I will surely need your help but at first I need to ask my father some advice. He might have some knowledge I don't have yet – and the more we know the easier it will be to pay them back their behaviour towards you. I will not tolerate the way they act, especially when you are their target. I protected you many years ago and now I will do it again. Believe me, the Marauders are the ones who will be sorry in the end" he said and rose up.

"I will get those notes for you from professor Binns" Lucius said and walked out of the Hospital Wing. Maybe it was just a good thing; Severus hoped that the blond hadn't seen the blush which had creeped on his face because of Lucius' words.

"I will not tolerate the way they act, especially when you are their target."

A/N: Somebody, come hit me with chair or something. I can't believe I have ignored this story this long... *sigh* Well, I have been sewing my costumes, trying to understand the school stuff (I actually study writing nowadays) and trying to write a book. Those are the main reasons I haven't updated - and in the summer I didn't have that much time because of my summer job.

I will update my Drarry fic soon too. With that one I've just been stuck but I will figure something out soon. Oh, and I started to write another oneshot but I won't publish it just yet... I will tell the reason later (:

But what did you think about this chapter? Tell me~! I will try to update more often now and I'm extremely sorry that I have ignored my fics and especially you who are patient enough to read my stories. Sorry! TT_TT