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.

AN: I had several reviews that wondered why Dobby was talking about Mistress and not Master so to review what happened before please read the following excerpt from Growing Up Snape:

Malfoy Found Dead in Ministry Holding Cells

Just one day before his trial was to begin, Lucius Malfoy, age 30, was found to be dead of an unidentified poison in his cell. The Ministry is not releasing information at this time as to whether he was poisoned or committed suicide. Allegations of bribery and coercion amongst the highest officials in the Ministry were to be addressed at his trial, scheduled to have begun tomorrow morning. This reporter cannot help but wonder who benefited most from his untimely death?

Amelia Bones was ranting in Albus office when Severus knocked to gain admittance. "You sent for me, sir?" He settled into a chair in front of the Headmasters desk, absentmindedly waving away the unspoken offer of a lemon drop. He focused his black eyes on the pacing and ranting women striding up and down in front of the large white marble fireplace.

"That slippery git, we were this close, this close to catching him in the act! One more day, one more question and we would have had that buffoon out of office and behind bars where he belongs!"

The subject of her rant now clear, Severus just nodded and acknowledged, 'Ah, Minister Fudge has eluded consequences yet again, Amelia?"

She stopped pacing and slumped down wearily into the chair beside Severus, giving him a pained expression without saying a word. She then dropped her head against the back of the chair and sighed in frustration.

His silky baritone caught her attention as he almost hissed, "Perhaps not, Amelia, I have a…reliable…source who can place the poison into Fudge's hands. For a price, he will admit to providing it to Fudge who then blackmailed a guard into slipping it into Malfoy's dinner. Are you interested?"

She sat up so quickly she almost flipped herself out of her chair, "Who and what does he want?"

"He wants immunity from prosecution and then he and his…companion…the blackmailed guard, wish to be relocated to Australia. It might help if someone was found to purchase his apothecary shop for a reasonable price so they might have something to begin a new life. Also, the guard's wife will need to be quietly bought off to accept a …divorce."

The cunning calculations going on in Amelia Bone's mind were clearly visible upon her expressive face, her monocle falling unnoticed to her chest as she concentrated. "So, Fudge found a male guard in a …relationship…with a male apothecary and used it to get rid of …a threat… Sounds like pure Fudge, manipulative bastard that he is!"

She tapped her chin with one hand as she spoke, "How about…maybe…a death …or two? Distraught over accusations that a prisoner died under his watch, perhaps a guard would commit suicide, perhaps because he remembered what he did under 'Imperious'? Would that serve better than a divorce which is public record?"

Severus leaned back, deep in thought as the possibilities flowed back and forth until the matter was decided and he left to make the suggestion to the two men involved.

Fudge Arrested in Malfoy's Death

Documents released today, implicate former Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge in the poisoning of Lucius Malfoy. The papers, signed under wizard oath before the double suicide of the two men involved prove that Fudge ordered, paid for and then blackmailed a guard into delivering the poison to Malfoy in his holding cell the night before Malfoy was scheduled to begin trial for the murders of James and Lily Potter as well as actively supporting and participating in Death Eater activities as a member of You-Know-Who's Inner Circle.

Fudge confessed to receiving bribes, withholding information and the murder of Malfoy under Veritaserum before being sentenced to life in Azkaban. He will be tried separately for fourteen separate cases of misuse of power later this month. Fudge also admitted to covering up the probable murder of young Harry Potter by his Uncle and Aunt last year. Muggles Vernon and Petunia Dursley have been in Azkaban since last October on charges of murdering their three year old nephew and disposing of his body. (See full story of Harry Potter on pages 2-4)

Chapter 3: To The Rescue

Shaun tried to roll over to go back to sleep as the glare of the dawn sun shone brightly into his firmly shut eyes but a sharp poke in the back by a sharp branch brought back the memories of the previous day into sharp focus. He remembered the strange house elf, Dobby, and his escape and subsequent hiding in the gnarled crook of the huge oak tree. He groaned softly and opened his eyes and ears to find out if he was still alone in the forest.

"He can't have gotten far, you idiots! And if I find out which one of you imbeciles left the cell door unbarred I will skin you alive and use your hide to make a rug!" he heard a sharp, shrill voice bellowing.

"We'll find him soon, Madame Malfoy; we found a set of tracks just before the tree line so we know where he entered the forest. He can't have gone far in the dark and we found no sign of any of the forests 'inhabitants' having found him so he'll be here and we'll find him. Just have a bit of patience, Madam." A man's voice tried to soothe the irate woman, Madame Malfoy was it? Shaun remembered his father talking about the Malfoys, particularly a vicious Death Eater named Lucius at night when he talked with Mooney and Padfoot, believing Shaun to be asleep.

Shaun shrunk down into the hollow made by the branching tree limbs, trying to make himself as small as possible before it dawned on him that he was still invisible! He took advantage of that fact and looked down at the people trying to find him. There was the woman, her immaculate sky blue robes more suitable for a fancy tea party than traipsing through the woods looking for an escaped prisoner, and nine or ten burly men. With an imperious wave of her hands, the men scattered in ones and twos to begin searching for tracks.


Severus had apperated to an old outbuilding that he knew of on the spacious grounds of the Malfoy estate, intent upon rescuing his son. He knew that Albus would be livid when he realized that Severus had not apperated to the same co-ordinates that everyone else had but Severus was certain that Narcissa Malfoy had everything to do with his son's disappearance. He landed in a crouch, wand out and ready, a curse already formed on his lips, ready for an ambush. But there was no one else in the room, only an old hodgepodge of various gardening implements and bags of dragon dung fertilizer, just as Severus remembered.

He crept to the door, thankful the old wooden door was warped enough from the doorframe to give him a view of the lawns directly in front of the old building. It faced the forest rather than the mansion and it appeared to be completely free of humans or any others. A loud crack caused Severus to whirl around, his black dragon hide battle robes twirling as he crouched and flung his wand arm forward, a stunner on his lips in the split second it took him to recognize the small shivering form of a house elf prostrate upon the floor. Luckily his stunner had been at human chest height and had flown harmlessly over the small creatures back without touching him at all.

"Mister Snapes, sir, Dobby is helping yous son. Dobbys is helping yous find yous son now. Dobbys is not to be harming yous, sirs." The elf was frantically pleading to the floor in front of his face as he quivered in fear.

Severus lowered his wand and used his left hand to reach under the small beings arm and pulled him to his feet. When Dobby was standing, he reached one long finger and used it to push the being's chin up so he could look him directly in the eyes.

"It's all right, Dobby. I remember you. You said you helped my son. I need you to tell me everything you can about his condition and who is looking for him. Also, do you know where he is?" Severus deliberately toned down his frantic speech, as he had had to do for years around his still sometimes skittish son.

Dobby nodded, wiped the tears from his cheeks and began. "I's is letting him free last night while Mistress is planning in the drawing room with alls her nasty big men. Young sir is being fed many nasty potions and is not hisself. I is leaving him at the edge of the forest. Sorry, sirs, but I is not allowed to go further. I's was giving him sandwiches and butter beer so he's is not too hungry."

"Think carefully, Dobby. Do you know what potions they fed him?" Severus felt an unfamiliar tightening in his chest as he thought of some of the Death Eater's favorite potions and what permanent damage they could inflict upon a young child.

"I's is saving the empty vials for Master Snape sirs! I's can fetch them for yous if yous like!" Dobby was nodding his head so hard his ears were flapping backward and forward.

"Is my son safe now? Can we take the time for you to fetch them safely?" Severus asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Oh, yes, sirs. I cannot feel Mister Shaun, but I can tells Mistress and the nasty men are still searching in the forest and theys hasn't found yous son yet."

"Then go quickly, Dobby and bring me the empty vials. But only fetch them to me if it is safe for you to do so. I do not want you to risk being caught just to bring them to me." Severus urged the small being to be cautious.

With a loud pop, Dobby disappeared only to reappear with another crack mere minutes later. Severus turned from the door where he had been keeping watch over the grounds and the edge of the forest and eyed the large amount of empty vials clutched in the house elf's small arms.

Severus motioned over to an old potting table and had Dobby lay his burden down gently. He sorted out the bottles, talking to himself as he did. 'These are all dreamless sleep vials, hmm, if they gave him that many in three days we will have to clear his bloodstream, he is seriously overdosed by now. Two hallucinogens, several confundus potions, and blast, four magic suppression potions. I wonder if Shaun is even able to access magic at this point, or if he even remembers he is a wizard after those strong confundus potions. Blast, they didn't even adjust the dosages for his size and age, just fed him full adult doses. I must find him soon; none of these potions should have been used together! I just hope Poppy can purge them before they do any lasting damage." He turned to the waiting elf. "Thank you, Dobby. You have saved my son's life and I consider that I now owe you a wizard's debt. Is there anything that my son and I can do for you?"

"No, sirs, yous is a great wizard and Dobby is just a house elf. Yous cannot owe Dobby, yous is too great." With that the elf disappeared again, though Severus thought he heard a soft, 'I's wish I could be bond to yous, sirs!' as the loud crack disturbed the silence of the small building.


Shaun couldn't figure out why his head felt so fuzzy and why he kept forgetting things like being able to become invisible. He had never had problems like this before. The wizards looking for him had left the general vicinity, at least he could no longer hear them, and they made a lot of noise clomping with their heavy boots through the quiet forest. The shrill bat of a woman he had watched return to the overly pretentious manor. It screamed too much money, too little taste, to anyone looking at it. Shaun shook his head at his thoughts as his stomach started to grumble. He almost giggled, 'Good thing when I am invisible, no one can hear me! Wait, did I make myself silent too?' he sighed as he checked and found that he had indeed made himself silent.

He fumbled the straps of the cloth bag he had tied around his waist. His fingers were cold and clumsy but he eventually managed to get the bag untied from around his waist and unwrapped another of the ham sandwiches and reopened the half full bottle of butter beer he had saved from last night.

He thought over several plans and rejected each one as he slowly savored each bite of the sandwich and swallow of the warm, flat butter beer. He knew he couldn't just pop back to Hogwarts because he didn't know where it was and besides, he instinctively knew it wouldn't work as fuzzy as his thoughts still were. He wondered if his Dad and Grandpa had figured out who had kidnapped him. If they had, they would be on their way to rescue him, he knew. He idly wondered who would be more deadly to his kidnappers, Dad or Grandpa. Hmm, he wouldn't put it past his Grandma Minnie or his Aunt Poppy to inflict some serious damage upon anyone who hurt him either! And that was without considering what his Uncle Moony and Uncle Padfoot were capable of, even without their animagus forms!

He smiled to himself as his eyes closed of their own accord, his stomach full and still too full of noxious potions to take much action himself.


Albus turned around taking an unconscious head count as he realized that they were one member of the rescue party short. "Bloody hell, Severus, why couldn't you follow directions for once!" Everyone stopped and stared at the Leader of the Light. No one remembered him ever loosing his calm exterior, let alone letting loose with the curses he was currently muttering into his beard.

Albus shook his head in resignation and started giving orders to the rest of the rescuers. "Sirius and Remus, change forms and head north to the edge of the Malfoy estates, see if you can pick up a trace scent of either of the Snapes. And if you find Severus you have my permission to bite him for not following orders and going off alone! Moody and Gumboil, if you head to the east, watch out for Death Eaters, we have no idea how many are involved and I don't want to loose anyone."

"Constant vigilance!" was the only answer from Moody as the two aurors slipped quietly into the forest, heading toward the east.

Albus continued, "Arthur and Gawain, head south as fast as is safe, beware, we have reports of an acromantula colony somewhere to the south edge of the forest. And, Kingsley and Savage, you two are with me and we will head to the west. Be careful, there are liable to be muggles camping around the edge where there are muggle campgrounds."

Each group cast notice-me-not charms and disillusionment spells upon each other before they each headed out in their given direction. A large silver wolf, flanked by a very large black dog took off at a ground eating lope into the forest heading northward.


Severus disillusioned himself before slowly and gently forcing the old warped door open. He hoped that anyone watching it would think it was just blowing loose in the wind, but as his luck held, there was no one around to notice it at all.

He crouched down, reflexively and stealthily making his way towards the nearby forest to lose himself in the covering underbrush and trees.

He had only managed to infiltrate a few hundred yards into the underbrush before he could hear voices whining and complaining about their assignment.

"How come we get stuck so close to the manor, that boy is long gone by now and she's gonna come out here and start throwing curses at the first target. And you know who that's gonna be? You and me, that's who!"

"Yeah, I don't know who's crazier her, or her witch of a sister, Bellatrix!"

"Them Blacks must start teaching dark curses as soon as they start walking to be as powerful and vicious as they are."

"Don't you know it, now shut up and start searching. If we find the brat's trail, she may just start cursing someone else."

The voices had faded as the two turned to follow a faint deer trail that led deeper into the forest. Severus crept stealthily behind them and almost soundlessly stunned the bigger man on the left. His stunner missed though as the man took that moment to stumble over a large tree root. The two cursed loudly and long as they each threw themselves behind a tree on either side of the trail. "You see anyone?" Yelled the big man to his hiding companion. "Nah, nothing! Think someone's disillusioned or an invisibility cloak?"

"One the count of three, then" The first voice called out. "One, two, thr…" The man leaned around from the shielding cover of the tree before he finished counting and Severus blasted him with a reducto that took away a large part of his shoulder and neck. A blast of blood and gore let Severus know that opponent would never be rising again and he focused his attention on ducking the flurry of spells coming his way after the second opponent had noted where his spell had originated.

Severus levitated a large tree branch into the killing curse coming directly at his head as he ducked down and sent a slashing hex under the shattering branch. He heard screams as the hex caught the man on his legs and separated at least one leg at the knee. Severus was showered with a deluge of sharp slivers and chunks of wood. He felt many of them slash at his unprotected hands and head. He had covered his face with his arms and the dragon hide robes had deflected most of the blast, but his hands and the top of his head were bleeding profusely. He left the bleeding men and slipped back into the undergrowth, knowing the sounds of battles and screams would make anyone anywhere close in the forest to come running.

Severus leaned against the solid trunk of a tree and assessed his condition. He waved his wand at the splinters liberally imbedded in both hands and wrists, wincing as his magic healed the cuts, pushing the wooden spikes out of the flesh as it came together. Poppy would have his head later for healing himself, but it couldn't be helped, nothing mattered except getting his son home, safe and healthy, and if it cost him a few scars, so be it!

He was unable to heal his scalp but the bleeding seemed to be stopping on its own, so he took a few swallows of blood replenishing potions and scourgified the blood off of his hands and robes. No need to draw any nasty creatures by the smell of fresh blood if he could help it.


Shaun had slipped into an uneasy sleep and was ecstatic when the image of Merlin appeared to his sleeping mind.

"Merlin," he yelled, running into the old mage's arms, crying and shaking, "They kidnapped me and a house elf named Dobby rescued me but now I'm in the forest and I don't feel good, my head is all clogged and I don't know what to do…" He was so upset and worried; his words were tumbling out, one on top of the other.

Merlin just held the boy, running his hand up and down the quaking back as he murmured soothing sounds into the top of the dark head pressed so tight against his robes.

"It's going to be all right, Shaun. Your father, grandfather, and both uncles are searching the forest for you. You need to stay put and let them find you because your captors gave you potions that will interfere with your magic. It's not safe for you to do any magic until Madame Pomfrey has cleared them from you. But I will be here whenever you sleep and your father is close. Padfoot and Moony are on their way as I speak, but no one will be able to find you if you stay invisible. You need to wake up and turn back and then hide down in the tree so no one can find you. Can you do that for me, son?"

"I don't know, Merlin. My head is all stuffy and it's hard to think and even harder to stay awake. But I'll try my best." Shaun had pulled away and was looking straight into his mentor's face as he raised a hand and wiped the tears off of his cheeks.

Merlin smiled at him and kissed his head before looking at him proudly, "That's all anyone can ever ask of you child. And that's the best that you can do. I'm proud of you and the way you have kept your wits about you. Good job, Shaun, but now it's time to wake up again." With that said, the old man pushed Shaun gently away from his embrace and stood up, waiting for the boy to fade from sight.


Moony stopped abruptly, causing Padfoot to swerve and jump over a log to miss running his nose up Moony's hind end.

Padfoot stood up on two legs, Sirius once again and shook his head, "Sheesh, Moony, I like you, but not that much!" Moony turned to glare at his friend before transforming himself. "Shush, Padfoot, I thought I heard screams and spells being fired. We must be getting close. Come one, old friend" the two transformed once again and took off, noses to the air trying to smell any scent of their quarry.


Severus snuck back to the area he had ambushed the two Death Eaters in before and listened intently. He could hear the sounds of talking but he wasn't close enough to distinguish individual words. He still didn't hear the higher pitched voice of a female so he thought that Narcissa Malfoy must still be back at the Manor.

Just before he could move forward to better hear his prey, he felt a wet nose shove itself into his left hand. He twirled on his feet, still crouched down and whipped his wand up as he started an incantation. The huge black dog immediately dropped to the ground below his wand height and immediately transformed into Sirius, laying down on his belly on the forest floor. Severus smirked at the man and looked behind him, just in time to catch Remus' wolf fading into the man himself.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Padfoot, never sneak up on a spy!" Severus whispered as he smirked at the man laying prostrate before him. Sirius groaned and rolled his eyes as Remus whispered, "The screams and spells your doing, Severus?"

Severus just nodded, and waved a hand at the two for silence before leading the way forward to hear the men in front of them.

"So who killed Crabbe and Goyle, you think?"

"Who knows, I just know the old witch will kill us if we don't find the brat soon, his potions will be wearing off and he'll be able to do magic again. And I know Snape from before, he's a cold blooded bastard and he can kill you a million different ways without batting an eye. If he loves his son as much as our informant told us, he's probably found out the boy's somewhere here in the forest."

"I know what you mean about Snape, I never knew him directly, but some of the others told of how he could poison you and then just watch you die in agony without even blinking twice!"

"Well, I for one don't want him finding me, so let's get going. Maybe we can get out of this blasted forest without Snape or Malfoy finding us!" The two men tried to turn and leave the forest but Remus hit the one on the left with a stunning spell, while Sirius petrified the one on the right. Severus had the two disarmed and bound before the leaves they had disturbed had fallen back to the ground. Severus smirked and banished the two bound and unconscious men up into a very tall tree and out of sight. He turned and smirked at the two men watching him. "No one ever looks for people up in trees, it's instinctive to look at eye level and below, not above." Remus looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding in agreement.

Sirius had shifted back to Padfoot and snuffled his sensitive nose into the ground. He shifted back and excitedly told the two other men, "I've picked up his scent, and he's not too far from here. I'll shift back and you two follow me. I also picked up several other fresh scents so keep your wands ready!"

With a blur, Sirius became Padfoot and led the trio off deeper into the under growth, stopping occasionally to root his nose in the detritus of the forest, searching for the elusive scent of one small boy.


AN: I will be gone for a few days over the Fourth of July, but hope to have a new chapter up by next weekend. Thank you for reading and remember that reviews feed the author's muse. So feed me lots! I have begun another very different story called You Broke Him, You Fix Him. I intend to contiunue to update both stories but I might update the story first that gets the most reviews.