Disclaimer: I own a calculator and it tells me I don't have much in the bank. Through my ever-so logical mind, I figured out that I don't own Harry Potter, or anything related to it, because I don't have millions and millions of dollars in my bank account. I am, in reality, a pathetic student who only eats foods that come in a box.
Chapter 2: Search
~~~
He was in a brightly lit chamber underground. It was a dungeon, but didn't have the typical slimy, smelly, rotten dungeon look about it. It was comfortable and warm, almost inviting if you ignored the palpable feeling of fear throughout the room. Two people in black robes knelt before a large chair where he sat. Behind the two people, a row of five others stood against the back wall.
"What do you mean, he's gone?" he asked in a quiet, deadly voice.
"My Lord, he managed to get himself loose just beyond the wards. He must have had a portkey; he just disappeared. I am sorry, my Lord," groveled one of the men on the floor.
"What was he doing near the edge of the wards?" he hissed from the chair.
"You had asked that we bring him to y-" the man was cut off as "Crucio!" was muttered from the chair. He held the curse for an unimaginable amount of time, until blood trickled out of the man's mouth from screaming. Eventually, the screams died and the man's eyes took on a glossy sheen. He lifted the curse and the man lay twitching on the floor.
He turned to the second kneeling figure. "Do you have anything to add?"
"No, my Lord," said the second man trying to steady his trembling voice.
"Very well. Avada Kedavra!" The second man fell dead, without suffering the pain of his partner. A second killing curse was unnecessary as the first man stopped twitching and lay perfectly still. "Remove this mess," he ordered, and immediately four of the remaining men hurried forward to remove the bodies.
"Severus," the man hissed, "tell me, what does that muggle loving fool think of today's events?"
"My Lord, he is most anxious. The boy did not return to the school. He cannot find him anywhere. He is assuming the boy is dead. I understand, he was severely broken before getting away."
"Yes, Severus. Well, this does put an interesting spin on things. Unfortunately, the boy is not dead. I can still feel his presence. Find out where the fool is searching and inform me if anything is found."
"Yes, my Lord." The last man left in a swirl of robes.
~~~
"Evan?" said a voice on the other side of his eyelids.
He opened his eyes and looked into the deep blue above him. "Andy?" His hand was pressed to his forehead, which was searing in pain.
"Are you ok, Evan? Do you need another one of those potions?" asked Andy.
"No, I'll be ok. I just had a bad dream. It's ok."
"You were moving around quite a bit and moaning in pain. You looked like you were about to scream a couple times. It took me forever to wake you. I think it was more than just a bad dream."
"A really bad dream," replied Evan. The pain in his head was receding, but it still felt like the worst kind of headache. Plus, he had even more to think about now. He couldn't help but feel that what he saw had actually taken place. He didn't know where, or who the people involved were, but they weren't good. That much he could tell. He only got one name out of it all too, Severus. It tried to jog a memory in his befuddled head, but was met with a stony resistance to being jogged. He had an irrational certainty that the boy they were talking about was him, and that he had apparently obtained his wounds by torture. He knew one thing, they were still after him. The name, Severus, seemed so familiar, like he could write to him, but he was with whoever was after him. It wouldn't be a good idea to bring anyone to him until he figured out what was going on. He didn't want Andy to be in danger either. He'd have to leave as soon as he could, but as it was, he could barely walk. He wasn't going anywhere at the moment.
"Do you think you can handle some soup?" Andy asked.
"I'll try. I'm feeling a bit queasy though, so maybe just a little." Evan knew he needed to eat to regain his strength, and he did feel hungry, but he didn't know if he'd be able to hold anything down. He felt like he hadn't eaten in days. For all he knew, maybe he hadn't. It sounded like he'd been captured. Perhaps part of the torture was no food… probably that curse he saw in his dream too. That could be why his throat felt a little scratchy.
Evan had almost an entire bowl of soup, surprising himself. He didn't think he'd make half. He looked down at himself and cringed. He needed a bath. Badly.
"Umm, Andy, do you think I could clean up a bit?" he asked quietly.
Andy glanced at him, and said with a quirk of a smile, "I was just going to suggest it. Come on," he helped Evan from the bed to the small bathroom connected on the left wall. He sat Evan down on the toilet seat and started the bath. "I don't think you're up to standing for a shower, are you?"
"No, I don't think so. I wish I knew what they did to me. That potion should have been strong enough to heal most of this, especially with the additional sleep," Evan said to himself. Unfortunately, Andy heard.
"What do you mean 'they'? Who did this to you? Why?" he asked in alarm.
"Shh, relax. I don't really know, but I think I was captured and, er…" he didn't want to say tortured, it sounded so awful. He was saved from finishing with a nod from Andy.
"Well, there's soap and everything in there. I set out a towel and some clean clothes. Just don't drown, ok?" he joked. "Do you need any more help?"
"No, thanks though." Evan didn't want to face the indignity of needing help getting out of his current clothes and into the tub. He didn't even want to think about getting back out again.
He made himself relax and focused on doing one small task at a time, and finally after about ten minutes was soaking in the tub of warm water, scrubbing dried blood and dirt from his skin. He wasn't surprised to see bruising over most of his body. He could feel it when he moved, but what he didn't know was why the potion didn't heal them. It must have been that curse. I must have had so much damage from that, that it healed the effects from the curse first. Cruciatus curse. That's what it's called. I hope I have some more potions to heal the rest of this.
The boy called Evan finished scrubbing what he could reach and soaked for a few minutes in the warm water. He could tell it was starting to cool, so he decided to try and make his way out of the bath.
His muscles were more relaxed now after the bath, but it was still difficult to try and command them to do what he wanted. He had many close calls where he slipped and almost hit his head on the hard porcelain tub, but he eventually made it out. Unfortunately, he was only able to make it onto the bathroom rug in a kneeling position. He was able to reach the towel and proceeded to dry himself, resigned to the fact that he'd be sitting on the floor for some time.
Before he finished wiping all the water droplets away, they had cooled on his skin and gave him a chill. He stopped everything as the chill, or memory of an icy cold, seeped into his body.
He felt like he was drowning in ice, and he could remember hearing screaming coming from somewhere. And darkness. Total darkness and isolation. These things weren't happening now, but he was remembering the sensations so vividly that they may as well have been.
The recollection came to an abrupt halt with the invasion of loud knocking on the bathroom door, and Andy's worried voice calling, "Evan? Are you ok? I'm coming in."
The door opened and Evan sighed. "I'm fine, Andy. I was just remembering… something. I don't know what it was, but not something I want to experience again. Sorry if I scared you."
Andy crouched down next to him, and Evan finally noticed he was still on the floor covered only by a towel. He was shivering like mad. Andy said, "First of all, I don't think you're fine. You obviously had some trouble getting out of the tub. Second, I hope whatever you remembered either doesn't come back, or at least not until you know what it is. You're really pale and shaking more than you were earlier. Of course, you're probably cold from being naked and wet on the floor," Andy smirked.
Evan laughed lightly. "Ok, I guess I could use a little help and some chocolate." Evan stopped and tried to reason through the chocolate request. His mind came up empty. "Damn. I know I need chocolate for whatever it was I just remembered, but I have no idea why. Never mind. Er, could you maybe help me sit up on the tub or toilet seat again? I think I can take it from there." He was extremely embarrassed now. He didn't know if it was from being naked or helpless, and it was starting to get on his nerves.
Andy lifted him up to the toilet seat and Evan swayed to the side. "Hey, Evan, why don't I just put you back in bed. You'll have more energy later after you rest a bit. Oh, don't look so embarrassed. I used to have some… interesting roommates who would get way too drunk all the time, and I would end up as babysitter. Trust me, you have nothing to be embarrassed about with me." Before Evan could argue, Andy threw a large fluffy robe around him and carried him back to the bed he'd used earlier.
He flushed in embarrassment, but said softly, "Thank you, Andy."
Andy smiled in return. "No problem. I grabbed another one of those healing potion things in case you needed."
"Thanks again. I didn't want to ask for another favor," Evan responded, looking down at his hands.
"Listen, none of this is a 'favor'. It's not like I'm lending you fifteen bucks to get a pizza or something. You were practically dead when you showed up here. A person can't just turn away another person like that. Now, get some sleep. I might be out when you wake up, but don't leave. I doubt you're in any condition to be outside in this weather. It's about forty below zero with the windchill, so stay inside. I'll probably be back before you wake up. Is there any food you would like?" Evan shook his head 'no'. "Alright. See you later."
Andy left the cabin and Evan laid in bed thinking. Trying to think anyway, trying to remember. Again getting frustrated, he summoned his photo album. It flew over to him and landed with a thud on the bed next to him. One of the first pictures had come loose when it landed, and as he put it back in place he noticed writing on the back.
Mum, dad, and baby Harry – Christmas 1980
Harry? Apparently his name was Harry if he was the baby in the picture. He had to have been. He had looked in the mirror in the bathroom. Without the cuts and bruises, he looked just like the father in the picture, except his eyes were green like the mother's eyes.
Where did the name Evan come from then? He wondered.
Eventually, he fell asleep; the only thought running through his mind was that his name was Harry and he'd have to tell Andy when he returned.
_-^-_-^-_-^-_-^-_-^-_-^-_-^-_-^-_-^-_-^-_-^-_-^-_
The Headmaster's office at Hogwart's school of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a flurry of activity on an otherwise deceptively calm December afternoon. The office was occupied by the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, and Severus Snape. All three men had worried expressions on their faces. Snape's was accompanied by a pained look, which only served to worry the other two even more.
"Severus, are you well? Shall I get Poppy?" asked Dumbledore.
Snape waved the older man off as he sat heavily in a chair. "I'm fine, Albus, nothing a couple potions and rest can't heal." Even as he spoke he pulled two vials from a hidden pocket and swallowed the contents without hesitation.
"Have you any news?" asked Dumbledore.
"The Dark Lord is furious. He hasn't found the boy, nor does he have any idea where to look. Two low ranking men were punished for their failure." Snape didn't need to explain what 'punished' meant to the two other men in the room. They were all more familiar with Voldemort's customs than they would have liked.
Snape continued, "I managed to talk to another Death Eater who was there. Everyone saw Potter disappear by portkey, but this one new recruit, I think his name is McCall, swears that Potter created the portkey. He heard him say 'Portus' before he dove to the ground and disappeared. Only, he said the boy didn't have his wand at the time." Dumbledore bowed his head gravely at this information.
Remus Lupin, who was usually quick on the uptake, felt like he was missing something important at this point. "Isn't it good that he was able to create a portkey and get away? I admit it's unheard of without a wand, never mind the fact that no one his age should know how, but isn't it still a good thing? He's no longer a prisoner…" Lupin trailed off sensing some explanation was coming.
"Do you know anything about travel spells, Lupin?" Snape hissed. With a reprimanding look from Dumbledore Snape softened his tone slightly. "One must concentrated on where they want to go to be successful in creating a portkey. Any number of things could go wrong without proper concentration. He could have ended up on top of a mountain, under the sea, in a desert somewhere, or in the middle of a city… possibly parts of him in various places depending on what the key was made of. The point is, we have no clue where to start looking. From the state the boy was in, I doubt he was able to concentrate at all. He probably doesn't even know where he is."
"Oh," was Lupin's only response. He was in a daze. Harry was lost. What if they couldn't find him? What if the enemy found him first? Was he even healthy enough to survive until they did get lucky enough to find him?
"We already have people stationed at Order Headquarters and at Privet Drive. There are plenty of people around here who can keep an eye out in this area. I will contact some people in Diagon Alley to have a look around. Is there anywhere else you can think that he would go?" Dumbledore asked Lupin.
"No, Albus, other than the Weasley's, which is obvious. If he's not in any of these places, where do we start?" asked the concerned werewolf. Harry had become family, almost like a son or little brother or favorite nephew, in the days since Sirius's death. It had hit Remus hard, Sirius being his last remaining close friend, but they had almost lost Harry to his grief. Remus had been the only one who could get through to him, and he eventually coaxed the boy out of his self-imposed isolation. The young boy was so full of sadness and guilt that it had taken several months for Harry to admit that Sirius's death was not entirely his fault. He now accepted that Dumbledore, Snape, the Order in general, and Sirius all had major parts to play in what had occurred in the Ministry of Magic. That list wasn't even counting Voldemort and his Death Eaters, which were the real root cause of what had happened.
"Remus?" He was shaken from his thoughts by Dumbledore gently calling him. He looked up into blue eyes, noticeably lacking any twinkle. "Ah, there you are. I knew you were in that vast mind somewhere. I'd like you to check the Shrieking Shack, if you wouldn't mind. Tonks will assist you."
"Should we check the cave Padfoot stayed in by Hogsmeade too?" Remus asked. For some reason it was easier using Sirius's nickname, than his real name. It seemed more like he was back in school and Sirius and James were just in detention, rather than no longer living.
"I think that would be a wonderful idea. We'll have a meeting tonight and gather reports then. Tonks, make sure he rests when you've finished your search. The full moon is approaching and I don't want you to exhaust yourself, Remus. We'll see you tonight." Dumbledore dismissed them and they left the room.
After the door closed, Dumbledore sat down and sighed. "Oh, Harry, where have you gone?" He allowed himself a few minutes of meditation to clear away some of the jumbled thoughts and started again trying to figure out where the Boy-Who-Lived had gone.
A/N: So, I finally decided to continue with this. I have the whole thing mapped out now. It's fairly short, unless something unexpected comes up. I hate when those little plot twists come sneaking up on me, but I love them at the same time. Anyway, I don't think it will be very long, but my posting time might be. It shouldn't be four months again, but it will be a few weeks. Of course, lots of fun reviews make me type faster! : )