Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.

Chapter 2 Hunting Harriet

Five hours later, Severus spotted Harriet hiding behind a tree. The only problem was that Gregory Goyle Senior was on the other side of the tree, and his son wasn't far behind. If he stunned her, Goyle might catch her first. Harriet wasn't moving a muscle, but the wind blew, revealing her hair.

Goyle raised his wand, and Severus did the same, but Harriet jumped from behind the tree and punched him squared in the nose. To Severus's surprise, he fell to the ground groaning.

Harriet bolted, dodging spells from Goyle Junior as best as she could. A stunner grazed her ankle, causing her to shriek in surprise and stumble. Goyle was catching up to her and deflected the curse Severus sent towards him. It wasn't abnormal for him to attack another Death Eater. They were in a competition after all. The Dark Lord would only be suspicious if Severus had killed him. He should have.

As soon as she stood up, Harriet made a motion as if she was pushing something invisible to the side. Stupid Goyle didn't think much of it and kept running, causing Harriet's eyes to widen in shock. A huge tree fell directly on him.

Her face was covered in the man's blood, which had splattered upon impact. Her eyes seemed to be popping out of her head with the realization of what she had just done. She thought that Goyle would have recognized the magic and stopped, giving her time to escape. This was the perfect opportunity to catch her.

"Stu—"

He should have silently cast the charm, but he wanted to make sure it was powerful enough to actually stun her, unlike Goyle. She didn't even move this time, and Severus was flying across the forest. By the time he came to, she was gone.

"Where is she?" Sirius demanded as soon as Snape stumbled through the floo. Obviously he didn't catch her if he hadn't used the portkey. "Is she…?"

"No," Snape said gruffly. "Granger was right. She knows magic."

Sirius spent the entire day preparing. Molly was cooking. Her bedroom was dusted off. The crib was put in the attic and replaced with a bed. He bought toys, quills, ink, and parchment. Remus bought book after book about Stockholm Syndrome.

"So?" The living room began to fill with people when they realized Snape had returned, but Harriet was nowhere in sight.

Snape twisted his stiff neck until bone cracked. "So, she's already killed someone and given me a concussion. And she broke Goyle Senior's nose, but that was with her fist."

"So no one caught her?" Hermione asked slowly.

Snape rubbed at his eyes. "No. Although several dropped out of the Hunt. They would rather endure the Dark Lord's torture than risk being flattened by a tree."

"Then you should still be out there!" Sirius cried. She should have been here by now, hours ago. He should finally be able to set things right and take care of his goddaughter. "Someone could be catching her right now!"

Snape shook his head, looking exhausted. "There's been no sign of her for hours. She's not a terrified Muggle who has lived in a comfortable house her entire life. She knows what she's doing. I thought I was simply going to have to grab her."

"You're going to have to hunt her." Remus looked sick at the thought while Sirius shook his head in denial. Was Snape saying he couldn't save her?

Snape nodded slightly. "And first, I'm going to have to find out more about her…"

And what the bloody hell did he mean by that?

Severus couldn't believe Albus was permitting the mutt to follow him. He didn't have time for Black's never ending grief and questions. He had to have every upper hand he could get in order to catch Harriet.

"Did she look like Lily?" Black asked sadly as they trekked through the Forbidden Forest. "I always thought she would look like Lily."

Disturbingly so, Severus thought but refused to say so. "She has Potter's eyes. And a few of his facial features. What part of don't talk to me do you not understand, Black?"

Black ignored him. "What's her voice like?" So Severus decided to do the same. "How tall is she?"

"If you shut up," Severus growled, "I'll give you the disgusting memory. You can listen to her terror filled voice all you want, Black."

Black kicked a rock and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Did he say why he took her? What did he want with a baby?"

Good question. Pettigrew had no reason to take Harriet. With his unknown ability and everyone believing him dead, he could be living it up in another country by now. Yet he had chosen to live right under Dumbledore's nose.

"Dumbledore told us of your visit," Firenze said with distaste. They were miles away from centaur territory, but the beast was looking down on them as if they were trespassing.

"You know Harriet," Severus said simply before Black could start with his bitching and moaning.

Firenze nodded, but before he could say a word, Black burst out, "And you never said anything?! We've been looking for her for seventeen years!"

Firenze glared at Severus, blaming him for Black's presence. "And have you humans destroying the Forest looking for her?"

Severus thrust out his arm to keep Black from charging at him. Centaurs never cared about humans. Firenze may have more of a heart than the others, but he would never endanger the Forbidden Forest. "What do you know about her?"

The centaur's cold gaze fell on Black, waiting for him to dramatically interrupt again. He turned away slightly and stared at setting sun. "I've only seen her a hand full of times…"

The girl was about seven. Tears stained her thin, dirty face as she cried out for her father. Firenze frowned and held his companion back when he raised his arrow to strike her down.

"She is just a child," Firenze muttered.

"She's one of them," he snarled back.

"Go find her father," Firenze snapped. And when he was out of earshot, he mumbled, "And fight someone your own size."

"Daddy!" the girl wailed. "DADDY!"

Firenze walked as close to her as he could without alerting her. Unfortunately, she froze when he stepped on a twig and some leaves started to rustle on their own accord. "Were you camping, little one?"

It was unlikely, but if he could get her to be quiet, he could lead her to Hagrid's without anyone from his herd noticing. The little girl wiped her nose on her sleeve and took a step back. Cautiously, she asked, "What's camping?"

"Do you go to Hogwarts?" That couldn't be right. She was too young. Hogwarts students were older, weren't they?

"What's Hogwarts?" The tears started flowing again, and she was about to run until Firenze acted on a hunch and took a handful of berries out of his pockets. A pair of hungry eyes instantly became fixated on them.

When she made to reach for them, Firenze pulled his hand away. "What's your name?"

Her eyes wouldn't leave the berries. "Harriet." Firenze handed her the berries, which she sniffed before shoving them all in her mouth. She ate them so fast that she nearly choked, making him pity her.

"Come with—"

"Harriet!" Someone, a man, was calling her name in the distance. Harriet perked up and ran, looking over her shoulder in fear to see if he was following her. Firenze was unsure of what to do. His kind did not meddle with humans…

"I watched them from a distance after meeting her," Firenze informed them. "I tried to tell myself that they were a homeless family…"

"Yet you told Albus about her the day before the Dark Lord presented her." Severus stomped on Black's foot in an effort to shut him up. The man was practically having kittens beside him.

Firenze stomped his hooves, almost nervously. "The unicorns know her better. They were distressed because of what she had done. You know how they are with destroyed innocence."

"What do you mean?" Black asked fearfully.

"There was a man here." The centaur clopped his feet again. "Attacking a Hogwarts student. Harriet… She took the man's life."

Black shook his head in disbelief. "That-that couldn't have been, Harriet. Luna would have told us…"
Severus tried to recall the incident. So many of his dunderheaded students were getting hurt because they were leaving Hogwarts grounds. Plus, he was exhausted. "How? What kind of magic does she know?"

Firenze frowned. "I've never seen her use magic. However, she is a very skilled archer. And I recall her arguing with her father when he was teaching her how to make traps for hunting."

"Do they argue a lot?" Severus asked. Perhaps she wasn't as brainwashed as they believed.

Firenze shrugged. "I see them once, maybe twice a year. The unicorns know her better. And I recall the Acromantula complaining about her a few years ago."

"Let's go." Black wanted to talk to giant spiders. Severus snorted at the thought. He wasn't that oaf Hagrid. Surely the blubbering idiot would take Black out of his hair.

Sirius couldn't believe that Snape was leaving after a ten minute conversation. Knowing that Harriet knew how to hunt and trap animals was not enough! Thankfully, Hagrid was always up to a hike in the Forbidden Forest.

"I can't believe I nev'r saw her," Hagrid complained as they searched for his spider friends. "Bu' you can't blame, Firenze, Sir'us. Centaurs have nearly been hunted to extinction by humans. He's righ' not to want to get involved. His own parents—"

"I don't care." Sirius tried to picture life with Harriet if she had been rescued at seven. She might die if Snape isn't the first to catch her. He had to put all of his faith into Severus Fucking Snape.

Hagrid hummed in understanding as they walked.

Aragog had died last year, but his wife and many children were still alive and kicking. Sirius tried not to look at the dead wolf stuck in a web. Good thing he didn't go without Hagrid. Even though their father was dead, they still respected his wishes and brought no harm to the half giant or his friends. The spiders quickly started to surround them, clicking as if laughing at Sirius's uneasiness.

"What brings you here, Hagrid?" one of Aragog's sons breathed out.

"Is there a girl livin' in the Forest?" Hagrid asked loudly, so as many spiders in the area could hear. "'Arriet."

Shivers ran up Sirius's spine as several hundred spiders started hissing and clicking. He heard the words "Trespasser" and "Thief." There were so many spiders that he couldn't pinpoint who was speaking.

"She is gone," Aragog's largest son said. "Which is good for her. Father said not to kill the little pest. He did not want to upset the unicorns, but now that Father is dead, there was no stopping us."

"We know," Hagrid yelled before Sirius could open his big mouth and get them into trouble. "We simply wanna know more abou' 'er."

Sirius didn't know spiders could growl, but that was just what the beast did. "She is a menace, a pest. Father wouldn't let us kill her…"

We do not see humans often, but the first time we saw her was about five years ago. The little vermin was stealing bits of our web. For what we don't know.

She saw a stag caught in one of our webs. It was struggling in vain, like they all do. As we crept towards the girl, she took out a spear and cut what was supposed to be my dinner free! She didn't turn around until she heard the clicking of my pincers.

"How dare you?" I yelled. "Stupid girl!"

Before I could pounce on her, one of my brothers whispered, "Do not kill her! What if she's one of Hagrid's friends?"

"Then Hagrid would be here to protect her!" I snapped.

"Why were you letting it suffer?" the girl shouted. She was brave, stupidly so. "If you were going to eat it—"

I saw her spear and her clothing and figured she must be the one the centaurs complain about. Everything they said was right. "Yet you can chase down a stag for days? Is that not making it suffer? You make it suffer for days. My prey had only been stuck for an hour."

The brat's face fell as she considered this. "When I do it, he doesn't know—"

"Really?" I snarled. "Does it not run when you get too close? It knows and spends its last days in fear. Fear of you!"

She shook her head in denial. "He doesn't know. Not even when my arrow pierces his neck, not even when I end his suffering moments later!"

With a few thundering steps, I advanced towards her until my face was mere inches from hers. The pest shook but didn't try to flee. "How do you know? Who are you? Who are you to disrupt nature?" That particular question seemed to bother her the most. "This is the way it has always been! And you dare interfere! Choosing one creature's life over another!"

She finally took a step back. "Y-you shouldn't leave him there. In pain."

I had had enough and made to grab her, but she was gone. In her place, a small mouse was fleeing the scene. She is a coward!

"She's an animagus?" Sirius asked in disbelief. The spiders started whispering to themselves, debating.

A female spider, who Hagrid would later identify as Aragog's widow Mosag, stepped forward. "We do not know. My sons and daughters were unable to conclude if it was voluntary."

"It was!" the largest son growled. Several of his brothers and sisters started to argue with him. The arguing was still continuing when they left.

"Someone who can't use a wand cannot become an animagus," Severus barked when Black had returned, interrupting his plans to return to Malfoy Manor. He couldn't help it. He was exhausted and usually, being in the same room with Black was enough to set him off anyway. Now the mutt was talking to him on a regular basis. "You, of all people, should know that."

"So what?" Black yelled. "The spiders were just making up it for their own bloody amusement?"

Severus thought for a moment. A curse certainly wouldn't help her like that. But if she could do it of her own volition, she would have done it as soon as they saw her last night. Turning into a creature that size would have provided the prefect escape. Still, he had to keep this information in mind. However, he wouldn't let Black know he had found out something useful. "I don't know."

Harriet had been sleeping in trees. Very dangerous, Dad always said, but she couldn't find a cave that was unoccupied. She couldn't sleep deeply anyway. They chased her at all hours, never the same men, and they hardly ever got close enough to her to catch her, but still…

A twig snapped just as Harriet felt her eyes drooping. She had yet to be able to sleep more than two hours at a time. Sometimes she felt like she was going to pass out.

By the time Harriet could focus, a man was climbing up a tree. He had a stick in his mouth, a stick similar to the one that man used to freeze her ankle. Sleep had barely left Harriet's mind when she aimed her arrow and shot the man just above his eye.

A horrible gasp made Harriet shiver as he fell to the ground. She should put him out of his misery. It was the right thing to do, but she didn't know if there were more of them. More humans.

Harriet was about eleven when she heard the voices of others humans for the first time. They were so far away that she couldn't really understand what they were saying, but she still perked up. She had never seen another human before.

"Daddy!" she said excitedly. "Do you hear that? I hear people!"

"HARRIET!" Dad called as he chased after her, but Harriet didn't care.

Her friends were unicorns, Cornish pixies, and sometimes an animal called a kneazle would spend a day with her, but they would always leave. She had never had a friend she could talk to, that she could tell secrets to. What was it like to have a human friend?

Dad caught her and knocked her to the ground before she could get close enough to understand what they were saying. He didn't get off of her until the voices went away.

Embarrassed and ashamed, Harriet scrambled to her feet and turned away so he wouldn't see her crying. Dad hated it when she cried.

"Crying is for babies, Harriet," he panted when he heard her sniffles. "And I've told you before. You can't go near other humans."

"Why?" she whined. She had never asked why before, but then again, she had never been so close to other humans before. Until now, she had never realized how lonely she was.

"Do not whine," Dad said firmly. Harriet glared a tree in front of her but knew he wasn't going to answer her until she asked without whining.

"Why can't I go near other humans?" she asked angrily. He still didn't answer her until she sighed and said, clearly, although somewhat defeated, "Why can't I go near other humans?"

"Because…" Dad walked up to her and spun her around, studying her angry face. He hesitated for a moment before telling her the truth. "Other humans Harriet… They are not like us. They…"

Dad took a deep breath and gripped her shoulders tightly. "They're evil. They have become overcome by greed, and they destroy everything they touch. They are also wasteful. Humans waste everything until there is nothing left."

"What do you mean?" Harriet only heard about wasting things when she didn't finish her food, which she only did when she wasn't feeling well or when she refused to eat meat because she felt bad for the animal. It was usually Dad's way of making her eat.

"They do not let new plants grow. Every animal in sight is killed, sometimes for only small parts of it, like just the fur or the tongue." Dad paused again. "So they have nothing left. Many of them are starving, nearly to death, and it has turned them evil."

"Like Lupin and Black?" Harriet asked quietly. They gave Mummy to the Great Snake, so he could eat her.

Dad shook his head. "Like the Great Snake. He's their ruler. They have no more food, so they've resorted to cooking each other. They'll roast you alive, Harriet. And torture you. They'll do unspeakable things. Do you know what torture means, Harriet?"

Harriet shook her head and felt sick as her father started to explain all the horrible things humans did to each other, what they'd do to her if they caught her.

Harriet felt the same disgust as she watched the man beneath her die, die because of her. As she climbed down to see if the arrow was salvageable, she saw another man walking through the forest, looking for her. She aimed another arrow, but hesitated. This man didn't see her. He wasn't coming after her like the man dying at her feet, yet she still wanted to kill him.

Once she shot the arrow, Harriet closed her eyes. Was this what it meant to be human?

A week went by before there was another sign of Harriet. Severus was exhausted, so exhausted in fact, that he fell for the trap with Lucius.

They thought it was Harriet's first "stupid" mistake. Early in the evening, they saw smoke rising from among the trees. Their eyes met, and they both broke into a full on sprint. Lucius was the victor in half of the hunts that have taken place.

But Harriet was nowhere to be found. Fish was roasting over a fire. Lucius grinned, thinking she was close, but Severus noticed something. The smoke was from the fire being put out. Was this—?

Lucius took a step closer to the fire, and Severus heard a whooshing sound as Lucius ran over to a tree that had a set of footprints leading up to it. Severus looked up to see that he was stuck in a net. Harriet didn't seem to be in the tree like he had thought. It was a trap.

Severus took a step back away from the tree, wondering if he should leave. It was every man for himself during a Hunt, and Lucius could easily free himself with magic. Or, Harriet may be close by. A few more men had died. Yaxley and Evan Rosier.

She could be waiting until he was gone, so she could kill Lucius. The Dark Lord thought that was her plan, to kill them off one by one. Even though three men had already died, their master still thought the idea was hilarious. No Death Eater had ever been killed during a Hunt before.

If he hid, perhaps she would come out, and Severus could catch her. He would stun her and use the portkey, finally bringing her back to Headquarters.

When he turned to find a hiding spot, his ankle became caught in some sort of thick vine. Severus had to keep himself from crying out as he was ripped from the ground and found himself hanging upside down.

"Sneaky bitch," Lucius muttered as he took out his wand and freed himself. With a thud, he was on the ground. "Stop by at breakfast, Severus. I'm going to get a good night's sleep for once."

Severus didn't say anything. His wand was in his pocket. He was going to wait for Harriet. She was close. He could feel it.

An agonizing twenty minutes went by before she crawled out of what he thought was a pile of rotting leaves. She was literally right next to him. Her arrow was pointed at his head.

His sweating fingers were in his pocket. One wrong move, and he'd be dead. Hell, he was already dead. Harriet was fast, so fast that he wouldn't even see it coming. He had to distract her.

"I knew you wouldn't leave food alone like that," he said, despite the numbness he was feeling from being upsidedown so long.

She looked exhausted, but a small smile touched her lips. Her arrow wasn't lowered though. In fact, she tightened her grip and adjusted her aim. Great.

"I'll take you somewhere safe." If the Dark Lord was listening, he would simply say that he was lying. If he survived, that is. "No one will hurt you, and you will never be hungry again."

"You all are liars." She never lowered her arm, but her arrow started to shake. The terror in her eyes made it clear. She didn't want to kill him. Or anyone for that matter. She was simply terrified.

"Cannibals," she went on. "Sexual sadists." What the bloody hell had Pettigrew told her? Severus realized she was trying to convince herself to kill him. "You'd sow my mouth and eyes shut while you defiled me. You'd—"

"Says the man who brought you here," Severus said quietly. "You were curious, weren't you? And lonely. So he told you things that would keep you from satisfying your curiosities."

"I have seen nothing to prove him wrong." Her voice was firm, and Severus heard the whistling of the arrow. He closed his eyes, knowing this was it. He was going to die failing Lily.

But she had hit the vine, and he fell to the ground with a crash. When he opened his eyes, she was gone.

Severus forced himself to stand. She was so fast that even the fish was gone, and he knew he wouldn't see her again any time soon. However tonight did hold one small victory. There was only one reason she had let him go. A part of her, no matter how small, believed him.

Thank you for reviewing UnscrewedUp, Guest, Dalar Rose, and Eriyum!

UnscrewedUp: You'll find out why he took her when Harriet does. I could see it going both ways. Snape catching her or her making it through the six months. We'll see as the story goes! Neville is like Harry, but he's not a leader like the real Harry was, which I suppose is a big difference! He was a kid who was bullied and learned how to fight back. So he's as good at dueling as the real Harry is.

So the mouse thing is from the original story The Halfblood Princess. Peter charmed her to change into a mouse if something grabbed her, and she thought it was going to eat her. Think I should stick with that or make her an animagus? So far, I want to stick with the original idea, but I also feel like it has some plot holes. What do you think?