A/N: Thank you to all the followers and reviewers. You make it so I keep writing this story. Thank you

Chapter 7

"I have already looked there Severus, twice!" Minerva was shouting at him as he rummaged around in the broom closet at the end of the hall.

Severus continued to pull items from the shelves pretending not to hear her. She could have missed him hiding in the shadows. Severus knew Harry would not be hiding in a broom closet, it would be too much like the cupboard under the stairs, but he had to be sure to check everywhere, the man was desperate. With an unsatisfied grunt he withdrew from inside, kicking a large plastic bucket that hindered his path, down the hall in frustration of not being able to find Harry.

"I checked his room, he is not there. I even pulled the covers from his bed to make sure he was not curled up under them. I know he was in there; his face print is clearly on the window." Minerva was looking through the guest bedroom next to Harry's room, pulling covers and linens off the bed once more.

"I am going to go check my room and lab, perhaps he is brewing something." Fear reached in and ripped Severus's heart from his chest as he thought of all the potion books that had recipes for suicide poisons. He bolted to his room not sharing his concern with Minerva.

"I will check my room also." The witch disappeared in the other direction heading for the third landing.

Severus burst through his bedroom door like a dungeon bat out of hell, nearly pulling the hinges from the door frame when he failed to release the knob.

He scanned the room and saw no sight of the black haired young man amongst the green and silver. He went to the bathroom looking down in to the soaking pool, it was empty of course. The closet was next and it was untouched but still, the Slytherin pulled his clothes from where they were hanging perfectly and tossed them on the floor in a heap. He pulled his shoes from their shelves throwing them against the wall when Potter was not somehow curled up on the small shelf. He left the closet and proceeded to his private lab; he paused, took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he might find on the other side.

Darkness was all that he could see, he cast a charm and a small bright orb shot from his wand and lit the room with a piercing white light. There was no one here, nothing but his potion books and cauldrons. He scanned the shelves making sure all his ingredients where there, before turning to his old text book on the counter. It was slightly off from where he had left it, it might not have been noticeable to anyone else but, he knew.

"Of course you have been here Potter; you have always had a problem when it came to respecting others privacy." Severus voice was soft and sounded somewhat amused, he smiled to himself; the young man was still predictable.

He could hear Minerva's desperate footsteps in her room above him; he looked to his desk to make sure Harry had not fallen asleep there when a loud crash sounded from the room above. He quickly shut the potion lab door and rushed to the stairs.

Minerva knew that Harry had been in her room. The small picture frame of them when Harry was a baby had been moved, she placed it back in the appropriate spot and started to look throughout the room, hoping he was here somewhere. He wasn't. She gave a deep shaken sigh and turned to leave when her wall of pictures jumped out at her. She noticed the picture of Harry and his two best friends was tilted and the glass smudged. She scanned the other pictures looking for any other sign, a smudge, a missing picture, hell even a broken one, but everything else was as it should be.

The large picture of her students that had formed Dumbledore's Army made her stomach turn. It used to be her favorite photo. She was so proud of Harry and his friends that they had respected Dumbledore so much to form the defense group, now she felt sick looking at it. She wondered if Dumbledore had somehow forced Harry into making the small group and naming it after himself and letting Harry put his life on the line with that toad of a woman Umbridge.

Anger and hate washed over her and she pulled the photo from the wall and threw it across the room.

"Selfish bastard!" She screamed as she walked over to the photo that had come free from the frame. She picked it up and began to shred the photo into pieces.

A moment later, Severus stood in her doorway looking from the shattered pieces of glass and small bits of broken frame, to Minerva who was still destroying the photo. A small ball of fire burst from her wand and the pile went up in flames. She turned towards Severus who had not moved from the door way.

"I hate him, I will not go back to Hogwarts if he is still there and alive." She could not even bring herself to say Dumbledore's name. He caused too much pain and anger. For a moment she felt as if this was Voldemort all over again, people being too afraid to say the Dark Lords name.

"Agreed, we will deal with that on a later day. Right now, we still have a Potter to find." A reassuring tone was prominent in Severus's voice

"We have searched everywhere in the house." Minerva said.

Their eyes met and they quickly moved for the stairs and out the doors leading to the grounds, Severus taking the front and Minerva going out the back.

"Lux, you never saw Harry after he went inside correct?" Severus asked as he pulled a plant out of a large ceramic pot on the front porch, peering down into the soil almost expecting Potter to be there.

"No, I never saw him exit the front of the house. Has he gone missing?" Lux was looking at Severus with a bewildered look but, Severus was now sifting through the soil in the pot still looking for Potter.

Lux jumped from the porch onto the blue-green summer grass with a heavy thud.

"We will find him do not worry, and Severus?"

"Yes?"

"I am quite sure he is not hiding in a pot of soil. Please put the young mandrake back in his bed before it begins to cry, their screaming is murder." Lux winced as the plant gave a small shake.

Severus looked down at the soil in the pot and then to the small fat baby like plant in his hand.

"Ugly little thing aren't you." Severus glared at the small plant before shoving it back into the pot.

"Go and check the garden young snake. He may be lurking in there." Lux left him and went to go gather his guards.

Severus entered the gardens and felt as if it was the first time seeing them. The moon glowed on the plant like oasis and the wind made the droopy vine trees leaves dance in celebration at Severus's return. He smiled to himself and the memories he formed here, but pushed them back returning to the task at hand.

"Potter, are you here? Harry?"

The night answered him back with the sounds of trickling water from the fountain and small creek, their sounds echoed through the deserted paradise.

"Ah, my young friend, I wondered when you would be back."

A large stone head had appeared above Severus, the Potions Master craned his neck upwards to look at Spiritus.

"I was here two weeks ago. You act as if it's been a life time whenever I return from an outing. One of us clearly has separation issues and it's not me." Severus's voice was humorous and light as he patted the solid creature's rough stone belly.

"Can a rock not have a heart? Besides, I enjoy your silent company." Spiritus matched Severus's tone perfectly.

"You have not seen Harry Potter in here have you?" Severus asked his old friend.

"Is he Dame McGonagall's Godson? If so, then no I have not. Lux never told us his name just that he was her cub. I last saw him stepping into the house moments after his arrival. Is this the young man that saved your life, the one with the stupid, perfect beautiful eyes? The one you would not shut up about all summer?" The stone dragon simply asked.

Severus was glad that the moon was not full so that Spiritus could not see the red from embarrassment in his cheeks. He kicked the dragon's stone foot and winced in pain as his toes began to throb.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Severus hissed as he held his injured foot in his hand hopping up and down on the other to keep from losing his balance. "You make it sound as if I have a heart."

"Come now Severus, we worked so hard together to free the old grumpy dungeon bat from your cold beat less chest." The dragon gave a small chuckle. "You like him and you know it."

"We cannot locate him anywhere. Dobby, his elf, says he never saw him leave." Severus was now pacing the garden walkway trying to think of where else Potter could have gone.

"Let us check the perimeter of the grounds and forest; he has to be here, none of the wards sounded. Do not worry Severus we will find him. I know what he means to you." Spiritus stepped over the garden wall that surrounded the area to start his patrol of the grounds.

"You keep your big mouth shut you stone lizard or I will chip you away into smooth rocks and skip you across the ocean! Then you will know what it feels like to fly, you piece of gravel!" Severus shouted to the now disappearing stone figure, who shouted back something that sounded like Snake and lion sitting in a tree.

He snarled at the piece of stone and sent a crude gesture in its direction. He took one last glance around the garden and hoped Minerva was having better luck than him. If ever there was a need for Felix Felicis, this was it.

"Stupid Potter, how is that you can make me feel this way?" He shook his head and wandered out the door to follow the stone lizard.

Minerva was a mess to say the least, she frantically ran about the grounds looking for any sign of her Godson.

"Damn it Harry, where are you? If you have gone and done something foolish, I will never forgive myself." She spoke to the midnight sky. "Can you ever forgive me for failing you?"

He was nowhere on the grounds and she was starting to lose hope of finding him alive. She asked a small stone frog sitting on a rock near the deck if she had seen Harry.

"I am not sure who Harry is Dame but, I did see a man with black hair go down to the beach." The small frog nodded her head towards the stairs that gave access to the ocean. "That was more than an hour ago and he has not returned. The man seemed very upset. I am stuck here on this rock and cannot move about the grounds like the other guardians. I was going to inform Lux about the young black haired man but Lux has yet to cross my path."

Minerva ran down the stairs skipping steps two at a time in her eagerness to find Harry. She was still running when her feet hit the sand. She ran down the left side of the beach shouting his name into the black abyss pausing here and there to wait for an answer. When she went as far as the boundaries of the wards she turned and ran towards the other side of the beach that had not been searched. She continued to run, she continued to shout his name; she only stopped when she saw a dark lumpy pile in front of her on the shore.

"Lumos."

Harry had placed his socks and traveling cloak lumped together in a pile, on the sandy shore with his shoes resting next to them. Minerva knelt down next to the pile, grasping the cloak in her hand, searching the beach for any sign of its owner.

"Harry, where as you?" The question was barely above a whisper as her eye looked painfully out towards the ocean.

The desperate Godmother walked further down the beach, wand still in hand, continuing her search for Harry. She suddenly felt her feet catch something hard and she automatically stretched her arms out in front of her to brace herself as she fell. Minerva hit the beach with a light thud, thankful that the sand was soft and no damage was done. She turned herself over to see what had been hiding in the darkness causing her to trip. She was expecting a piece of drift wood, or a small boulder, she even expected an animal to be sitting at her feet. She raised her lit wand and pointed it towards her feet and was confused to see nothing there. Perhaps it was an animal and it had run away when she kicked it. She pulled her feet toward her to stand and stopped when she noticed a hand with a small ruby jeweled ring on its right index finger lying motionless on the sand.

Instant relief surrounded Minerva, as she felt her emotions come to the surface. She knew this was Harry's hand. She had given him the ring just this last Christmas, it was custom made and rare. Fear suddenly took over when she realized just how still the hand was. It didn't move, it didn't jerk, and the hand seemed lifeless. Minerva gently placed an unsteady hand on her Godson's exposed flesh and felt that it was frigid. The air was suddenly thick and Minerva found herself struggling to breathe, she didn't know if he was dead or alive. Minerva may be a Gryffindor but, she could not gather the courage to pull the cloak from around Harry's face. She did not want to see cold lifeless eyes looking back at her. Not wanting to leave Harry after searching so long for him, she walked to the foot of the stairs and pointed her wand to her throat and her voice cut through the silent night.

"Severus, I need you! I've found him, we are on the beach! Please, hurry!" The desperate cry of Minerva's voice echoed all around her.

Severus was near the entrance to the forest when Minerva's plea reached his ears. He ran as fast and as hard as his feet would allow. The Slytherin reached the stairs that would lead him to the beach. His long legs made it easy for him to jump several stairs at a time and soon he was at the bottom, bent over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. He had not run like that since the night Voldemort found out he was Dumbledore's spy. When he was finally able to breathe normally, he straightened up and looked into Minerva's face, he felt his heart break, he hated that look, that look of pain and unknowing, the look of desperation.

"What is it?" Severus looked around the dark beach. "Where is he?"

Minerva motioned for him to follow as she walked back to where Harry's hand was.

"I, I tripped over him, that's how I found him. He has wrapped himself up in his invisibility cloak." Minerva's was horse and broken. "When I went to stand up I noticed his hand, I'm not sure if the cloak slipped when I tripped over him or it's been exposed to the summer breeze this whole time but, he's incredibly cold. Severus, I do not know if he is alive."

The shattered woman was pointing to her Godson's deathly still hand, trembling at what could possibly be beneath the cloak.

"I cannot do it Severus. I am a coward; I cannot pull the cloak off of him. I am too afraid that he will not be there."

Severus knelt down in the sand next to the invisible adolescent, reaching an apprehensive hand up to where he guessed Harry's head would be. He pulled the cloak off of Harry's face exposing it to the darkness. Harry was motionless as the wind blew across his exposed skin, ruffling his raven hair and forcing it to cover his face; he looked corpse like in the shadows from the lit wand above. Severus laid his head down on Harry's invisible chest, pressing his ear hard against the boy listening for life.

'Thump Thump. Thump thump.'

Severus felt his head rise against Harry's chest as the boy inhaled and Severus exhaled with contentment.

"Minerva, Minerva he is alive."