Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J K Rowling except the characters that aren't in her books. They belong to me.
The Marauders: The Next Generation 1
December 24, 2005
As the children are sleeping the quiet night is broken by sobs. Sobs from a child. The youngest child of Severus and Katarina Snape slowly and silently crawls out of bed and heads down to the great room were she can hear laughter from the adults as they celebrate Christmas Eve. Madeline Snape, a small child, four years old with her mothers strawberry blond curls and her fathers dark eyes, stands in the doorway softly sniffling. As Katarina hears her she walks over to her and gently picks her up, kisses her tenderly on the cheek and says,
"I'll be right back, seems one of mine has had a nightmare," said Katarina as everyone looked up.
"Need any help?" asked Hermione.
"No, enjoy yourself, I will just tuck her back in and I will be back directly."
As Katarina carried her child up the stair she asked,
"Did you have a bad dream?"
"No Mommy, but someone was crying and I got scared. I think it was Kyleigh."
"Well we can't have any unhappy children, especially on Christmas, let's go and see what's the matter."
As Katarina entered the room she could hear the quiet crying coming from Kyleigh's bed.
Katarina lovingly placed Madeline back in her own bed and kissed her goodnight.
"Kyleigh will be fine. Go back to sleep and have sweet dreams."
"Okay Mommy. I love you," she said sweetly.
"I love you too angel," said Katarina smiling at her daughter.
As she sat down on the side of her bed she asked,
"Kyleigh? Are you alright?"
Kyleigh shook her head.
"Did you have a nightmare?
*sniff* "yes."
"Would you like for me to get Mommy or Daddy?"
"No, Can I talk to you?"
"Oh course you can dear," Katarina said as she pulled Kyleigh in her arms. "Now tell me, what has scared you so?"
"I saw him. He was crying, he's scared."
"Who is crying and scared?"
"The little boy from the paper," she said.
"What little boy?" Katarina asked but paused for a moment. "The one that is missing in Hogsmeade?"
"Yes."
"How do you know about him?"
"I saw the paper this morning. It said that he has been playing outside and now he is lost," Kyleigh said and then, "But he isn't lost, someone took him."
"How do you know this?" Katarina said as she was starting to get a little nervous.
"I saw a man take him. But he got away from him and is walking outside in the dark and it's snowing and he doesn't know where he is. He is really scared and cold," Kyleigh explained.
"Where is he walking?"
"He is on a road, outside a big gate that has two big pigs on them."
"Is there writing on the gates?" Katarina asked as she was finding it hard to breath.
"H-o-g-w-a-r-t-s."
"Merlin's ghost. We need to tell your Daddy about your dream. Okay?"
"Okay," she said as Katarina took her hand as they walked down stairs.
When they entered the great room, Draco saw Kyleigh's tears. He came over to her and knelt down.
"What's the matter sweetness? What's making you cry on Christmas eve? Did you have a nightmare?"
"Yes Daddy."
"Can you tell Daddy what was in your dream?" he asked as he pulled her into his arms.
As she told him about the little boy, Draco's face fell. He looked around the room at the faces of the adults and he knew what they must do.
"Kyleigh, we are going to go and find this little boy. Would that make you feel better?"
"Yes."
"Alright, I need you to go with Mommy so she can get you all bundled up so you can show us where he is okay?"
"Yes Daddy."
As Hermione left to help Kyleigh there was a buzz of conversation.
"Do you think that she has had a vision?" asked Harry.
"I think that maybe she has. We need to see if this child is where she said he is," said Draco.
"I think all you guys should go. If the child has wandered again you may need more people to search for him," said Narcissa.
"I agree," said Severus.
As the men started getting their cloaks, Hermione came down stairs with Kyleigh.
"Are you ready sweetness?" asked Draco.
"Yes Daddy but we need to hurry it is starting to snow and he isn't moving very much."
"Okay when we get there we need to break off into pairs. That was we can cover more ground more quickly," said Remus.
"Alright everyone, apparate to the gates at Hogwart's and we can split up from there," said Draco.
As they arrived at the gates, it was snowing very hard. The night was dark as pitch because there was no moon.
"Lumos," they all said at the same time.
Harry and Ron went to the left of the gate, Remus and Sirius went to the right. Fred and George started walking back up the road towards Hogsmeade. Draco, Severus and Kyleigh were searching around the front of the gate.
Thirty minutes passed and they were still having no luck. Draco was starting to get a little worried.
"Kyleigh, can you still see him?"
As she closed eyes to concentrate she said,
"Yes, he's shivering and crying."
"Were is he?"
"He is lying on the ground with a white blanket over his head."
"Can you see outside the white blanket? Is there anything above his head?" asked Draco tenderly.
She paused for a moment in concentration.
"He is under the letter "S" by the gate," she said tearfully. "Hurry Daddy, he isn't breathing very much," she said as she started to cry.
Draco and Severus hurried over to the gate and started to dig in the snow under the letter "S". As Draco dug he felt something solid in the snow. As he gently pulled he was shocked, there huddled in the snow was the small boy, barely three nearly frozen to death.
"Over here, I found him," he yelled.
When Draco pulled him out of the snow and he was barely breathing.
"Is he okay Daddy?" Kyleigh asked still crying softly.
"I'm not sure sweetness, we need to get him somewhere warm."
"Let's get him to the Three Broomsticks and get him warm, and then we need to get Dumbledore there," said Sirius as he scooped him up in his arms and wrapped him in a blanket.
When they walked into the Three Broomsticks, Sirius immediately place him near the fire. He was so cold and had started turning blue. After a few minutes of Sirius rubbing his arms and hands trying to get him to warm up a bit, he started to stir. As he opened his eyes he gave a small smile.
Suddenly there was a commotion from across the room as a woman came running over to the child.
"You found him," she cried pulling him into her arms.
"Trevor baby, are you alright?" she asked as she planted kisses on his small cold face.
He nodded his head.
As she held him close she looked up to thank the men that had saved her son.
When she looked up, Draco, Harry and Ron couldn't believe who they were looking at. It was Lavender Brown.