Ginny sighed as she looked at the small boy that was curled up in a corner of the room, apparently asleep. He had cried a lot, and his small face was dirty with tears and mud.
She looked around. Ron and she used this as a 'hiding place' when they were children and staying with a relative. The hidden basement under the ruined building had seemed huge when she was young. Now it was just a cramped, dirty room. Hopefully they wouldn't have to stay long.
The child whimpered, turning his head. Ginny frowned when she saw the red handprint on his face. Ron had gone too far, he had better not touch the child anymore. She didn't care for the infant. He was a means to her end, but a child that small did not deserve to be slapped.
Ron and Ginny had been watching the house since early morning. Ever since their father mentioned that he planned on inviting Dumbledore and Snape's brat over, they kept an eye out for them, knowing it would be their best chance of getting the child.
Dumbledore arrived, but the adults hadn't left the child alone.
"Age lines," Ginny whispered, "like Mum used to set for us. She does them when Bill and Fleur come over, too, she's bound to have set some."
Finally, they saw the child being brought upstairs and the adults in the kitchen.
"Good," Ginny quickly cast silencing charms on both herself and her brother, "don't do anything stupid – like tripping or dropping something."
Finding the child was easy. The wards were keyed in to them, of course, and the age line was no problem either. The boy was fast asleep in his crib.
"Silence him and levitate him out."
The boy woke up and started crying, his eyes wide and fearful, but he couldn't be heard. They made their way from the house as quickly as they could, and Apparated.
Once in the hide-out, Ginny cancelled the spells. The baby wailed pitifully.
"Shut up, brat," Ron growled.
"Oh, just Silence him again, Ron," Ginny dismissed the crying.
Ron, however, stalked towards the boy and grabbed him by the arm. The child stopped crying instantly and stared at him in obvious fright.
"Ron!" Ginny got annoyed, "what are you doing? Leave it alone."
"It's Snape's brat," Ron said angrily, "The man who made our lives, and Harry's life miserable because he had some issues with his parents. Why should't I teach his – offspring a lesson? He did the same to us."
"Because that would make you no better than Snape and we have other things to do than wasting time on him? Just put him in a corner, give him a blanket and a toy and he'll be no trouble."
Ron shrugged and roughly pushed the child in a corner, flinging the blanket he was levitated with towards him.
"Time for phase two. Are you ready?"
"Sure," the male redhead nodded, still glaring at the child, "she's a girl. How hard can it be? I've heard she couldn't even take on Smith, and he isn't half the wizard I am."
"Just don't get overconfident," Ginny begged her brother, "be careful."
"Of course. How long do you reckon we'll be here?"
"Couple of days, I think. As soon as they realize that both that…GIRL and the brat are missing, they'll think she kidnapped him. After a few days, when they've reached that conclusion, we come to the 'rescue' and modify her memory to fit our story."
"You found the spell, then."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "It took a lot of patience and a lot of sucking up, but I got the secret out of Lockhart. He probably doesn't even remember he told me."
Ron smirked. "The only thing that rotten wand was ever good for after it broke."
Severus's lip trembled. "Dada," he said sadly.
"Shut up," Ron hissed.
"D-Da…dada…"
Ron stalked over, raised his hand and slapped the soft babycheek, leaving red fingerprints on the small face.
"RON!" Ginny shouted when Severus crawled into a corner, crying, "Look what you did! He has to be in good condition when we bring him back, not terrified of us!"
"We'll just say she did it," Ron growled, "Snape. Can't you see, Gin? He looks like the git, he'll be another disaster like that hideous bat."
"Oh come off it, Ron. You're obsessed. Just go now."
Ron should be back soon. She just hoped that the stupid cow that Harry thought he was in love with would keep the child quiet.
How dared Harry fall in love with someone else? She must've done something. Harry loved HER, not some witch he met in hospital!
As she was dreaming happily of a future with Harry, Ron entered, looking upset and angry.
"She wasn't there," he muttered, "nowhere to be found. Apparently she's…"
He hesitated. His sister could be awfully possessive when it came to Harry, and telling her what he'd heard would likely set her off.
"She's where?" Ginny demanded.
"She's on holiday with Harry," Ron made sure to get some distance between them, "they've been gone for a day or two now."
"What? I'd never thought she'd show that ugly face of hers outside the castle." Ginny paced the room, "what now? It's too late now – they'll be able to verify that she was with Harry when we took the kid. And they'll be looking for him, now, too," she said with a jerk of her head in the general direction of the corner.
"We'll have to bring him back," Ron said, "if we dump him back off on Mum's doorstep…"
"Are you crazy? We'll be seen! They're probably using the Burrow as their base to search from."
"Where then? We could leave him at Hogwarts. With a little luck, he'll crawl into the Forbidden Forest and be eaten. Or trampled by the centaurs."
"Sure – and how are we going to leave him unseen?"
Her brother huffed in annoyance. "If you have a better idea you can just say so."
The youngest Weasley tapped her lip. "I've got it! Fred and George. We'll leave him on their doorstep. It's in Diagon Alley, so it could just be a coincidence, and we won't set off any of their wards either."
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Dumbledore had eventually been put to bed in the middle of the night by Harry, who hit him with a spell from behind. The old wizard was frantic with worry, so much that they all feared he might do himself an injury if there was no good news soon.
The others stayed up, drinking Molly's excellent coffee and going over all the places they thought the youngest Weasley siblings could be. Phoebe had fallen asleep with her head on Harry's shoulder for half an hour, but she jerked awake from a nightmare.
"Severus!"
Harry held her when she realized it hadn't been just a bad dream.
Morning dawned. Dumbledore rushed downstairs just before the first rays of sunshine hit the yard, glaring at them.
After a very early breakfast of some toast and eggs, they prepared for another day of searching.
"Mother?" The voice of a twin called from the Floo, "Mum? Dad?"
"George, darling, it's really not a good time to – why are you calling us at five-thirty in the morning? Are you alright?" Molly panicked when she realized the time.
"No, Mum, we're fine. Is the Headmaster there?"
"Yes, he is, George…"
"Mum, I'm going to step through."
Moments later, George stepped into the room. The room fell silent when they saw him. Cradled against his chest, wrapped up so warmly in a blanket that only a tuft of black hair was visible, a small boy slept fitfully.
Dumbledore felt dizzy. He stumbled and fell down on a chair, taking in the sight.
"S-Severus?" he whispered.
"Cleaned up and in one piece," George whispered, "but very, very skittish."
He very gently delivered the bundle into the Headmaster's outstretched arms. The old man felt tears run down his cheeks as he stared at the sleeping face.
"What happened, George?" Arthur asked, directing his son to another chair.
George sighed.
"I'm sorry, Mum," his eyes were full of pain and sadness as he reached out a hand to take his mother's, "I'm sorry. You – you aren't going to like what I have to tell you…"
"Ron? Ginny?" Molly whispered, begging her son to deny it, begging him to tell her that her children had nothing to do with kidnapping an innocent baby.
"I'm sorry, Mum," George leaned his head against his mother's arm in an uncharacteristic gesture of grief, "they did."
Arthur closed his eyes, his hands clenched. Molly clutched her apron, trying not to cry.
"Fred has them at the store," George sighed, "they had to get rid of Severus when Ron failed to kidnap Phoebe. They tried to leave him on our doorstep, but triggered our wards – they must have thought they were still keyed in to them. Long story short, we caught them and got the whole story out of them. Seems it was Ginny's plan to get back Harry."
Harry went pale.
"It's not your fault, mate. She's obsessed with you. She wanted to get rid of Phoebe, and decided to use Severus. She planned to kidnap both of them, and make it look like Phoebe took the baby. Then after a few days, they would 'rescue' them. Modify Phoebe's memory, you would reject her for doing something so low and Ginny would be readily available as the loyal friend."
"But Ron?" Harry asked.
"Snape," George admitted, "Ron wanted revenge on Snape by hurting his son. He – we cleaned Severus up first, Albus, and we found bruises on him. He's fine, it's not too bad, but Ron has hit him and mistreated him. That's why he's so frightened. We had to give him a bath too, he was filthy and his nappy was long overdue for a change."
The baby woke up with a cry, frightened black eyes searching the room.
Dumbledore rocked him gently. "It's alright, my baby boy, you're home safely with Granddad. Shhhhh, my darling, shhhh."
Severus looked up. "DADA!" he sobbed, and flung his small arms around Dumbledore's neck as far as they would go. He cried like he had never cried before. Dumbledore rocked him and whispered soothingly to him, rubbing gentle circles on the small back.
The blankets fell back to reveal bruises on a small arm and red marks still on the face. Slowly, very slowly, Severus calmed, but he clung to Albus and wouldn't let go.
"He's probably hungry too, we had nothing to feed him," George said apologetically.
The Headmaster smiled at him. "I'm very grateful to you and your twin, George, you did everything you could. I happen to know you closed the shop yesterday to help the search."
George blushed at the praise, but slowly bent down and stroked the small, wet cheek of the child. Severus allowed it, merely leaning into his grandfather a bit more.
"I'll make him a bottle," Molly said, still crying.
"I'll do that, Mrs Weasley," Phoebe said softly, leading the woman to a chair, "Please – we know this is hard on you. They are your children, after all."
Molly burst into tears again. "Where did we go wrong?" she asked desperately, "we didn't teach them to be like that! I thought we raised better children. That poor child! How could Ron – oh, when I get my hands on them…"
Dumbledore took a bottle from Phoebe and gently coaxed Severus into taking it. It took some effort, as the child was upset and clingy, but eventually hunger won out. Severus closed his eyes and began to suckle, his tiny fist in his granddad's beard and the other hand holding Dumbledore's thumb.
"I don't care," Albus said, "You decide what happens to them – I just don't want them near Severus ever again. Or near me, because I can't guarantee that they won't be hurt. I just want to go back home and take care of my grandson."
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Two hours later, Albus sat in a comfortable chair with the sleeping baby in his arms. Minerva entered, relieved. She chuckled a bit.
"Not ready to let him go yet, Albus?" she asked in sympathy.
"No," Dumbledore admitted, "I think it will be a while before I let him out of my sight again. I'll end up as paranoid as Alastor. Are Harry and Phoebe back?"
"They are," his Deputy confirmed, "they'll tell you what exactly happened themselves, but suffices to say that Mr and Miss Weasley are going to be very sorry young people indeed. For Molly and Arthur's sake there will be no official charges, with your consent, but one of Arthur's cousins runs a program for young criminal wizards in the States. They are under constant supervision. They will be working, getting therapy and are prohibited from using magic unless supervised, and then only with a training wand. Arthur contacted them, and they will be Porting over tomorrow. Their stay will likely be between two and three years."
Albus sighed. "Good. I have no intention of ruining their future forever, nor do I want to subject Molly, Arthur and the twins to any harassment that would undoubtedly follow a conviction, but I'm glad they'll be far away from my child. It'll be a very long time before I can forgive them for this."