Shaun Snape, Age 8
By Teacherbev
Summary: Part 3 in the Growing Up Snape series. Shaun is now 8 years old and dealing with his father Severus, loose Death Eaters, Merlin and magic.
AN: It is probably necessary to read the first two stories, Snape's Invisible Friend and Growing Up Snape in order to make any sense of this story. I appreciate all those who have read and enjoyed my stories, especially those who have taken the time to post a review.
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, I am not a multinational bookselling company, nor am I a multi-million dollar movie company, so I don't own anything that you recognize. I am a retired former teacher who likes to twist plots and play with characters, so enjoy.
Chapter 2: Kidnapped!
Shaun had traveled by portkey many times before, but always with someone he knew and he always knew where he was going. But this time, the portkey had been disguised as a birthday present and when he had unknowingly activated it he had no idea where he would end up and that sent him into a panic. He felt his feet hit an uneven and unforgiving substance that he found out was hard, wet stone as his knees and palms made contact with the rough surface. The room was pitch black and he could only see a brief glimpse of one small crack of light from a single door in the corner before he saw a flash of red light coming at him and then he knew no more as his stunned head hit the unmoving stone of the dank cell hidden deep within the dungeons of an ancient manor.
As his son disappeared from his view, Severus grasped futilely at his robes, only managing to tear his son's pocket free. Albus stood up from the party table, eyes flashing in anger and power. "Minerva and Filius make sure the children and their parents are returned home safely. Amelia, could you contact the Aurors and have them investigate to see if they can trace that portkey. Poppy, perhaps you could administer a calming potion to Severus." Snape had collapsed, falling backwards and narrowly missing the edge of the table with the side of his head as both Remus and Sirius lurched to catch the stunned man. Severus clutched the small fragment of his son's robe and rubbed it on his chin, his eyes unseeing and staring at nothing.
The screams and babbles of disjointed conversations quieted as Albus' commanding presence and clear head forced the others into motion, unquestioning as they followed his commands and the almost pulsing power of his great magic. Minerva and Filius helped the parents collect their children and opened the floo in the Great Hall for them to travel to their homes. They sent Susan Bones home with her friend Luna so that her Aunt, Amelia Bones, the Minister of Magic could begin the search for the kidnapped boy.
Remus tipped Severus' head back over his shoulder while Poppy and Sirius managed to get him to swallow the vial of calming potion. It took several minutes, but the light of reasoning and awareness eventually returned to the Potion's Masters unusually black eyes.
Severus stood up with a gasp and waved the piece of cloth like a flag at Albus. "Can we use this to scry my son's location, Albus?"
"Excellent idea, Severus! Amelia, can you contact one of the Unspeakables for us to attempt to scry a location for the boy?"
Amelia pulled her head out of the green flames in the fireplace just long enough to nod in acknowledgment to Albus before returning to her conversation with the head of the Magical Law Enforcement, Alastor Moody. She turned to the waiting group and explained, "There should be an Unspeakable here in less than an hour and the aurors have begun an investigation and search for your son, Severus. The best we can do now is to wait for Madame Wright to get here."
Severus sat down hard on his chair, dropping his head in his hands, the small piece of his son's robes still clutched in his hands. He radiated misery and despair before suddenly raising his head and yelling. "Nippy!"
"Yes, Master Snape, how's can Nippy be helping you?" The small elf bowed and then stopped at the look of despair upon his master's face. "What is wrong, Master?"
"Shaun has been kidnapped by a portkey. I know that you can sense me wherever I am and come to me when I call, can you find Shaun for me?"
The creature scrunched up his face in intense concentration, silent tears welling up at the thought of his young master in peril. He bowed his head in silent sorrow and shook it. "No, sirs, Master Shaun's is not awake, I's can't sense him. Or he's has gone invisible and I can't find him. I is sorry, Master, is they anything else Nippy can do for Master?" he asked hopefully.
Albus knelt down on one knobby knee and looked deep into the creature's eyes. "Can you tell Ogden that he has my permission to send the elves out from Hogwarts to see if they can help us find the boy? I know that Shaun likes all of you and you all like him too."
"Oh yes, sir, Nippy is taking that message right away, sirs." Nippy bowed once more and then popped out of view.
Life become a series of half aware episodes of foul potions being poured down his throat followed by flashes of conversations that made no sense and just the knowledge that he was very cold, very hungry and frightened beyond belief. But his captors didn't leave him awake and aware long enough to register more than disjointed fragments of consciousness before the potions would drag him down into unconsciousness once again. Time had no meaning in his underground prison, without a window or any change in the amount of light in his cell; Shaun had no way of telling how much time had passed.
In a brief period of lucid thought, Shaun thought he heard the lock on his door creak carefully, the door squeaking softly as someone looked stealthily into his cell. He pretended to be still asleep, his head throbbing painfully from all the potions forced down his throat. He thought he heard a soft gasp before the door closed once again and the bolt was slid slowly and quietly back once more. Dragged down by the over dosage of potions still swirling in his bloodstream, he felt the darkness surround him once more and he knew only the blackness once again.
Madame Wright was purported to be the best scryer that the Unspeakables had available. She took the scrap of material from Shaun's robe and placed in into the bottom of her scrying bowl and carefully filled the bowl with the clear liquid she had formulated herself. She lit candles all around, had the torches in the Great Hall extinguished and motioned for all those watching to remain silent as she cast the scrying spells. Four spells were used, one for each of the compass points, each long incantation exact and flawlessly executed. No one dared to breathe as the liquid in the bowl seemed to shimmer and then turned pitch black.
"The boy is unconscious and I will be unable to ascertain more until he awakens. It does no good to see what he can see if his eyes are closed. Madame Bones, I will rest for a while and try again. Perhaps he is merely asleep, but I suspect he might be drugged."
Severus turned to Albus to talk softly with his surrogate father. "Wouldn't Shaun be able to pop home if he was awake? The wards of Hogwarts certainly don't keep him from apparating, or whatever it is that he calls popping is."
"Alas, child, I suspect that to 'pop' home he would need to know where he is and where home is in relation to his location. I would not risk apparating blindly and I have many more years of experience than young Shaun has. I would hope he would not be so foolhardy as to attempt it, if he got into trouble, we would never know where to find him." Albus put his hand on Severus' shoulder and pulled him into an awkward hug, "I know, child, I know. But we must wait and hope the aurors or Madame Wright can give us some direction to begin the search."
Shaun woke up to the sound of moaning before he realized that he was the one making the low keening sound. He forced one eye open through the thick crust of dried tears and tried to see something besides the oppressive darkness. His mouth felt parched and full of cotton and his lips were split and stuck together in his thirst. His arms and legs didn't want to work and all he was capable of was turning his head slightly from side to side, but there was nothing to see, just unrelenting darkness. He shivered involuntarily and realized he was still lying on the cold wet floor of the same cell he had portkeyed into.
It took many minutes of moving first one arm and then the other, working the stiffness and aches out of his frozen limbs before he was able to push himself up and scooted himself back to lean against one of the stone walls for support. Then he began the long task of getting the feeling and movement back into his leaden legs.
At the first sound of a stealthy scrape from the bolt on his prison, he started to fling himself back to pretend that he was still unconscious on the floor before stopping himself with a roll of his eyes and a mental slap upside the head. He shimmered and disappeared from view. He was still cold and wet, starving and thirsty but his captors wouldn't be able to see him and might think he had escaped and leave the door open for him when they left to search for him!
The door creaked softly and stealthily and a small head with big round eyes, floppy ears and a squashed tomato shaped nose peaked around the corner. The eyes grew even wider and the small house elf gasped and whispered, "Sirs, are you here? Where's is you be going, sirs? Dobby is here to help yous, sirs!" Dobby slumped down to the floor and started to beat his head upon the grey stone surface.
Shaun waited a moment to be sure the house elf was alone and then shimmered back into view. "Shush, shush, Dobby stop punishing yourself, I'm still here."
Dobby raised his head at once, his eyes slightly cross-eyed and goggled at the boy. "Yous was invisible? Like house elves be?"
Shaun whispered back frantically. "Yes, now we need to get out of here before they realize I am awake and make me drink that nasty potion again."
Dobby smiled, "I heard Mistress talking about Master Snape's boy and hows they were going to kill him and then his father and Master Snapes is always kind to Dobby so's Dobby switched those nasty potions with pepper up potion instead." The elf lowered his face in shame as he displayed both his hands in front of him. "Dobby had to iron his fingers in punishment he did for betraying his Mistress. But Master Snape helps Dobby and the other elves with healing potions when Master punished us too much, so Dobby had to help his son, he did!"
Dobby had helped Shaun up onto his feet as he explained and led him out the door. With a look around to make sure they were still safe, the house elf slid the bolt shut and popped the two of them away.
Madame Wright had continued to scry periodically over the last three days that little Shaun had been missing. The aurors had found no trace of the illegal portkey and had no clues so they were desperately hoping that Madame Wright would at least find a direction to begin their search.
Severus Snape had been unable to eat or sleep since Shaun had disappeared, the deep dark circles under his eyes and his strings of black hair made look him even more like the undead than his old students claimed him to be. Poppy had finally stunned him, forced a dreamless sleep potion down his throat and then enervated him to let the potion take effect to force him to sleep.
Everyone had pleaded with the distraught man trying to convince him that he needed to be there to help search and to comfort Shaun when he returned but he had listened to no one. He had finally broken down in the Headmaster's office and explained about his nightmare after his concussion where Shaun disappeared for years and no trace of him was found. As Albus sat beside him on the couch he had held the crying man in his arms and soothed him while his own heart broke.
Minerva ran into Albus office, the first sign of hope on her face as she announced. "Madame Wright has seen something. Shaun is alive and awake. Come, come, she needs you to see if you recognize where he might be."
The three raced down the staircase and through the corridors to the Great Hall, heedless of Peeves following them and throwing bits of chalk at them as they ran. Severus left the two behind as he skidded around the door and into the room, holding onto the wall as he flipped himself around. "Let me see, where is he?"
The group crowded around the scrying bowl scooted back to allow Severus to see but all he saw was trees and faint glimpses of the darkening night sky.
Dobby let go of Shaun's arm and bowed sorrowfully at the young boy. "Dobby's is sorry, sirs, but the wards forbid Dobby from going any further. Sirs is free, but Dobby's can't take sirs any further." The elf pushed a small bag into the boy's hand before bowing once again and disappearing with a loud crack, leaving Shaun alone at the edge of a dark forest just at nightfall.
Shaun walked just far enough into the forest to be out of sight of the dark and forbidding structure that he had been held captive in before climbing the biggest tree he could manage. He remembered Hagrid explaining that if you got lost it was best to get as high and you could and then stay put and wait for the adults to find you. He didn't think being kidnapped was the same as being lost, but he didn't want to find out if this forest had as many strange and dangerous beasts as the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts had. He climbed into a shallow space made by the branching of several thick boughs and settled in, shivering from the cold. He was thankful it was summer and he was out of the wind that made his wet clothes cling to him but he wished now that he had tried on that warm winter cloak that Grandma Minnie had just given him for his birthday.
He looked around for signs that he had been followed before opening the small bag the elf had given him. He found four ham and cheese sandwiches and two bottles of butter beer. He carefully opened the top of one of the bottles, not willing to spill a single drop of the precious liquid. He drank almost a quarter of the bottle in one swig before he stopped himself. He didn't know how long he would have to make those two bottles last. He knew from Merlin that he couldn't 'pop' himself unless he knew where he was and where he was going. His adventure in his father's lab followed by ending up being beaten by the Whomping Willow had driven that lesson home, thank you very much!
He slowly savored the taste of his sandwich, certain it was the best food he had ever eaten though he only allowed himself to finish one sandwich. He carefully took several more swallows of his butter beer before carefully resealing the cork and tying the cloth sack around his waist so that he couldn't lose it. He pulled his magic up and twisted, turning himself invisible to anyone who might want to recapture him. His shivering had slowed but he was still awfully cold and just wished that his Dad would find him. As he hugged his arms to his chest in a vain attempt to get warmer, he went to sleep, hoping he would be going home tomorrow.
Madame Wright sighed in frustration as the scrying bowl turned black once more. Glimpses of trees and flashes of night sky didn't help them much, but at least they had seen the boy eating a sandwich and drinking a butter beer, so wherever he was he at least had food and drink. She sat back in her chair and rubbed her weary eyes. "He is sleeping now, he is no longer drugged. Perhaps tomorrow we will be able to see where exactly that he is."
Remus and Sirius each took one of Severus' shoulders and led him over to a couch and forced him to lie down. Remus covered him with a thick blanket and knelt beside his friend so that he was even with his face. "Severus, he is all right and sleeping now. We will wake you up if anything changes, but we saw no sign of his kidnappers so perhaps he has managed to escape."
Sirius leaned over and patted the shoulder of the man he had tormented throughout their childhood, the man he had grudgingly grown to respect and finally to actually like, though he would never admit that to anyone. "Besides you know how hard it is to find Shaun if he doesn't want to be found! He may not be able to pop from wherever he is but that won't stop him from becoming invisible!"
And with that comforting thought, Severus could no longer keep his eyelids open as he sunk into a very needed, but restless sleep.
Nippy popped into view beside his comatose Master and reached over to shake him awake before Albus whispered urgently to the excited elf to stop him. "He is exhausted and has just finally managed to go to sleep. Do you have news of young Shaun?"
"Yes, sirs, Master Dumbledore, sir. Nippy felt young Master for just a few minutes before he disappeared again. Nippy thinks young Master went invisible again sos he could hide from nasty kidnappers! But Nippy knows that young Master Shaun is in the forest in Sherwood. Yes, Nippy felt Master Shaun just for a minute he did!"
Albus reached down and gave the excited elf a grateful hug before standing and motioning everyone over to the other side of the Great Hall. He quietly told the group about Nippy's news and sent Amelia to the Ministry to gather the aurors to begin a search at daybreak. Remus and Sirius left to gather supplies while Poppy left to go to her infirmary and pack a case full of healing potions that might be needed. Minerva and Filius called the elves to pack food and drink in individual packs for the searchers and Madame Pince almost ran in her excitement to find maps in her library that would be useful in their search.
They let Severus sleep until all of the preparations had been completed and the search party of six aurors, Remus, Sirius, Albus and Hagrid were ready to go. It took Severus less than five minutes to wake, understand the information and come back ready to go, a pack of warm, dry clothes for his son strapped to his back.
"Wait, you said he is in Sherwood Forest?" At nods from all those assembled, he exclaimed, "Malfoy's manor house stands just on the edge of that forest. We may be dealing with un-captured Death Eaters. You must be prepared to fight and watch out this might be an ambush. I am afraid they might have let Shaun escape to use as bait to drawus in. They don't know my son's real identity but they would love to kill any of us!"
The group looked grim as they checked wand holsters, double checked the apparition co-ordinates and walked out the entrance, intent upon rescuing one innocent young boy.
AN: More soon and remember that reviews feed the author's muse!
