Knew Father
by ImperialJedi
Summary: AU6th Year. Sevitus. Harry is a natural Occlumens and has hidden the fact that Snape is his father since he was 10. Harry must deal with many unique attempts at his life and the ongoing war while studying to become a Healer and keep his parentage secret.
Disclaimer: I acknowledge that Harry Potter and related copyrighted material is not my own. I am not receiving any monetary gain for this fanfiction.
Chapter 11: The Search, Not Knowing
The glowing doe patronus leapt between trees, swiftly gliding around and at times through the cold tree trunks. It was traveling along the edge of the Forbidden Forest, carefully consuming the magic it was imbued with to make the journey. The snow glistened from the light of the silver doe as if in inquiry. Suddenly, the patronus came to a swift halt. Standing very still at the tree line the deer wiggled it nose. Then a little more confidently, it swung its head, first towards Hogsmeade, then to Hogwarts. There was a moment of magic rebalancing. Way back in Hogwarts' Infirmary, Harry shivered and looked over his shoulder into the dark sky beckoning from beyond the hospital wing walls. The doe swung its head back towards Hogsmeade. In a flash the sliver hoofs sprang over snow crusted ground. Help was closer this way.
David pulled his dark brown cloak closer around him. He preferred his black one because it was thicker, but the Death Eaters were wearing black and he felt it best do his part to avoid any confusion. By the time he had changed out of his red Auror robes and portkeyed away it had stopped snowing. He passed the main tourist drag that the Hogwarts students liked to visit. David smiled as he passed Honeyduke's. He and his best mate back in school were no exception to the small wizarding village's charms. Honeyduke's remained untouched, just cold and dark. He continued down the road, producing little white puffs of air as he exhaled. The cold bit at his face and his nose and ears were freezing red, feeling about ready to fall off.
Turning a corner, the Auror stumbled to a small degree as he stopped and took in the damage of the street leading into the Swinebutte District. He had gone this way as to purposely avoid the Death Eater's Headquarters at the Three Broomsticks. This way was no better. It was as if a small tornado had targeted this street only. Windows on the upper lofts were blown out and glass and household furnishings studded the ground as dangerous, hidden elements. A few draperies lay shredded, and a Dancing Dogwood tree lay prostrate across the cobblestone road, it's usually graceful branches, twisted in agony as it inflicted with arthritis or having suffered the Cruciatius Curse. There were a few villagers moving slowly down the walk as if lost or in a daze. A lone Death Eater was leaning against the wall beneath the overhang of a light blue house. His belt held three captured wands, his own still in his hand. David ducked his head and continued down the street trying his best to look downtrodden. It was easy to do as the atmosphere was far from encouraging.
After a few more blocks of striding aimlessly, David wondered just how he was suppose to track down a person when he really couldn't just start asking around about Snape without drawing a lot of unwanted attention. The Auror continued to trek through the snow; brain working overtime trying to figure out what to do next. The best he could do in the meantime was to follow the damage, which was easy enough.
The houses started to clear out and he was soon at an intersection. One way led to empty lots and the other to a row of houses. Midway down the lane was a small crowd gathered a safe distance away from a burning house. David made his way through the dirty slush to the group of people mournfully watching the flames.
"David," shouted a short black man making his way around to David's side. "David, how are you doing?"
"Willard," David greeted with a small smile. "It's good to see you. I'm doing alright. Yourself?" He patted his friend on the shoulder.
"Just a few bumps and bruises. They aren't all that exceptional duelers, except for that one fellow I came across. The Death Eaters just managed to provide enough confusion and distractions to catch everyone by surprise.
"My floo connection has been down for the last couple of days, so I didn't realize they had been attacking until they started blowing things up down the street. What a wake up call."
David nodded in sympathy. His friend was wearing civilian robes and blended in with the other townsmen, but he was also an Auror and had been friends with Nick and Frank as well. "I have some bad news."
Willard inhaled sharply and his posture stiffened. It must have been written all over David's face that it bad news of the worse kind. Aurors faced and endured a lot of extreme situations accepting the dangers of their chosen career path, but losing a friend in action was never easy to accept. "Who?" Willard asked, bracing himself for the answer.
"Nick and Frank." David tried his best not to remember, and forced himself to take deep shuddering breaths so he could calm down to speak again. "Frank got cornered into a AK, but Nick went down bloody. The Death Eater didn't use anything but cutting curses. It was horrible…"
Closing his eyes, Willard cursed under his breath. A moment later he opened his eyes again. "They'll get their due. Sounds like Nick had a run-in with Death Eater Jack."
"Jack?" The blond Auror was confused. "How did they identify him with his mask on?
Willard shook his head. "They didn't. People just started calling him Death Eater Jack, probably a reference to Jack the Ripper. They say it's pretty easy to spot him with him slashing his opponents up. Did you get a look at his mask?"
"I didn't really pay much attention to it. It looked normal from what I could see."
"Normal as in bone-white, skull-shaped?"
"Is there any other kind?"
"Yes, actually. I ran into one Death Eater with a metallic green mask. He was a trained dueler, very difficult, but I think I got him in the end. He might still be alive, but not for much longer." Willard paused in thought. "I wonder if there's any significance to the color."
David shrugged. "I don't know. Hey, I was wondering if you could help me with something."
"What do you need?"
"I looking for a missing person; he might have been caught up in all the action down here. I can't disclose who it is, but I'm out of ideas on how to find him."
"That's a pretty tall order. No one down here is looking particularly lost." Willard had always been rather practical, but he had a kind sense of humor to go with it. "I don't think I can help you if you can't tell me who he is. My grandfather could do a bit of scrying, but I don't have a knack for it at all."
"He might have been captured by Death Eaters…"
"Too much work, they're here to destroy and kill. However, if you really want to look into the possibility, we can probably track down that green-masked Death Eater I was telling you about. He probably didn't get very far, and he may just be a corpse at this point, but you could ask him about your missing person, if he's still breathing."
"It's worth a shot. Can you leave now?" David pointed at the burning house.
"Yea, it's not going anywhere. I hate magical fires, this one won't go out until it burns up all the magical items in there; that could be days for all we know. I could go for a walk anyway."
"I'm NOT a trained Healer!" Harry was shouting through the floo connection with St. Mungos. "I'm just a Hogwarts student. I even dropped out of Potions! There's no bloody way that I can perform this operation!"
"Well, in that case," The man said looking down his nose, "you're not qualified to diagnose an organ transplant in the first place." This man was just as unhelpful as the crazed woman who had been working the reception desk earlier.
"Look, it doesn't take an Unspeakable to do a body scan! The man is completely missing his stomach! You either get a stomach in his body before his magic core can't sustain him anymore or he will die!" Several of his patients around him in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts shifted around at the sound of Harry's yelling.
"We'll have to procure a certified medical examination to determine if surgery is warranted."
Harry wandlessly summoned a form from Poppy's office and it whipped madly over everyone's head and landed right into his hand. Harry scribbled down a few notes and signed with a flourish. "There, signed and certified. Now send a doctor over. Now." Harry glared at the man in the fire.
"You're not qualified to do that. You must be a trained and registered Healer to perform certified medical examinations."
The Gryffindor was ready to pull out his hair or smash his head against the wall. "This is so fu-"
"Harry," Dumbledore cut off Harry's curse as he joined the fuming teen by the Infirmary's fireplace. "I'm glad to see you're alright. Rosmerta needs you for a moment. I'll talk with Mr. Zeller while you're busy."
"Headmaster," Harry said in surprise.
Mr. Zeller frowned. "I'm afraid we don't have any medical staff available at the moment." Dumbledore faced the man with a look of great disappointment. "Um, we can put him down on our waiting list, though," the man sputtered.
Dumbledore looked back at Harry. Harry gave him a nod and wandered back through the injured wizards and witches rubbing his tired eyes. He was glad to see the Headmaster's kind face even though they weren't on the best of terms at the moment.
Harry had just finished working on a laceration that had nearly taken out the man's eye, when the Headmaster approached him. Harry thought it was kind of morbid how Dumbledore was beaming with a wide smile and sparkly-blue eyes amid all the injured and the dying, the blood and the screaming. Harry just wanted to lie down and close his eyes for a few seconds…
"Harry," the Headmaster said cheerfully. Harry snapped his eyes open and focused on what was being said. "I'm so proud of all you've done tonight. There's a small wizarding clinic near Godric's Hollow. Their surgeon is on his way as we speak."
Harry smiled. "That's great news, sir."
"Why don't you lay down and get a few hours sleep." Harry was about to protest, but Albus cut him off. "You've done all you've can for now. Get some rest, or you'll be of no use at all."
Harry yawned and nodded his head in agreement. When his yawn was done he mumbled something about waking him up if they needed him. Then Harry plopped down on "his" infirmary bed and quickly fell asleep.
Willard led David down a crooked, but well-lit alley. The sky was pitch-black and the cold encompassed everything. Each light along the alley had its own little halo.
The Aurors carefully made their way around some rubbish bins when they spooked an alley cat. "Stupefy!" David pegged the feline as it made its mad dash to safety and it fell to the snowy ground with a soft "whump". David kept his wand aimed at the cat while the other man crouched down and did a quick scan.
He stood up and gave a half smile, "Nothing."
"Enervate," said David, reawaking the animal. "I always feel ridiculous when that happens."
"Better safe, than sorry." Willard shrugged. "You'll never know when it's a Death Eater animagus." The cat got back up and padded away looking slightly dazed. "We're almost there."
The men exited the alley into another lane. David kept a careful eye out, as they were the only ones on the road. It was very dark with only a few lights. Willard stopped walking forward suddenly only to slip up against the nearest building and raise his wand.
David copied his motion before peering down the street into the darkness. He couldn't see anything, and the only sound he could hear was the sound of the falling snow. David was about to ask Willard what he had sensed, when he spotted a small silvery glow. It was growing bigger. David could imagine hearing the sound of hooves. He wondered if it was a reindeer.
"What is it?" breathed David.
Willard lowered his wand. "Patronus – a corporal one, looks like a deer." The doe ran up and stopped about five meters away from the Aurors. The men stepped away from the building.
"Come on, we have to get going," David said, looking around as if to find the missing Professor hiding somewhere around on the road they were on. The doe turned around, pranced in the direction it had come for a few meters, and then stopped to look back at the two of them.
"She wants us to follow her."
"Why don't you tell me where you dueled that Death Eater," suggested David. "Then you can follow the deer."
"We fought at that intersection." The other Auror said and pointed, "but he's no where in sight now." The silvery doe stamped around impatiently. "It's best if we don't get separated. I think we should check out this patronus. They don't just show up out of nowhere, they have to be cast. There haven't been any dementor sightings, so maybe it's a distress call." Willard looked at David with momentary excitement. "It could be from your missing person."
David agreed and they followed the mysterious animal away from the lit streets and toward a more forested estate. It wasn't long until they were walking down an isolated drive. David and Willard glanced at each other at the same time. They had both heard voices that got louder as they approached and saw the flash of spellwork every so often.
The patronus faded out where the forest ended and the clearing began. Stealthily, the aurors rounded the last tree. Before them was a Death Eater with a plain mask on, his wand was pointed down at a victim withering on the muddy snow. Behind them were the remnants of a completely destroyed cottage.
"Halt!" Shouted Willard, not sounding at all like his normal friendly self. "Drop your wand," he ordered, "you're surrounded!" The Death Eater turned around on the spot and apparated away. David's light yellow curse flew through empty air and sizzled against a pile of bricks that had once been a fireplace.
"Merlin," David said in relief. "I thought he was going to attack us."
Both men hustled over to the figure on the ground. They rolled him onto his back and he gave a groan. "It's him, the one I've been looking for. We've got to get him back to Hogwarts." David pulled his hand away from the man's robes and took a moment to take in the blood that covered his winter gloves. Getting back to business, he transfigured a wooden stretcher to stabilize the injured man on.
"Professor Snape," Willard addressed the injured Potions Master. "It's alright, you're safe now." Snape gave no answer having already slipped back under. The aurors quickly strapped him to the stretcher and then they activated David's portkey to send them back to Hogwarts.
Chapter Posted: June 25, 2008
AN: Hello! I usually try to give review replies to everyone who is kind enough to review. I have not been able to do this recently, so now I would like to send a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed this fic or added it to their alerts or favorites. Thanx! You're amazing readers. -IJedi
