"Lions, tigers, and bears oh my." O'Connor shook her head as she put down the Daily Prophet and pushed forward the plate of orange Madeleines. Snape rolled his eyes but took one without fighting it. "It seems our thief has resumed with a vengeance. Go big or go home I guess."

The paper had reported that several lions had gone missing from a muggle zoo in London. She was stumped. There was no rhyme or reason to these thefts. The animals were so varied and appeared to have nothing in common. So far the only break they had in their investigation was that they had narrowed down their list of suspects. Two teachers and four residents of Hogsmeade fit the description they had put together.

"You read up on the Dark Arts?" She looked up to find the dark haired professor scanning her top shelf.

"Know thy enemy." He quirked an eyebrow but didn't reply. She sighed. "Fine, since you did me such a great favor over the holiday. If you must know my family history is rife with conflict with the "Dark Arts". Dark Arts even Voldemort-" he glared at her "has no knowledge of. Arts so dark they twist your very person to reflect your blackened soul."

Snape turned to face her looking shocked and disbelieving.

"We do not practice any of those kinds of Dark Arts as it is strictly forbidden, but it is human nature to be curious about them. It is not frowned upon to read on and be knowledgeable of them."

"You speak as if your family has its own rules outside of the Ministry's."

She smiled coyly.

"A mystery for another day."

Snape stared at her as he grabbed the chessboard and sat down across from her. He studied her like some strange creature and she could tell he was fighting back the urge to use Legilimency.

"He wondered how lost a person could get. Lost at sea, lost in the woods. Fatally lost. Carol Shields."

"Are you threatening me?" She laughed.

"Hardly Snape, but if you want to get lost in the forests of my mind, don't expect me to come find you."

He frowned at her, that little crease between his eyebrows forming as it always did. Then he turned the chessboard and began setting out the pieces.

"I will wait for the next time you are in the sharing mood."

"Good choice."

They were twelve moves into their nightly game when there came a great banging on her door. It was Minerva and she sounded distraught.

"What is it? What's happened?" Snape demanded.

"You must come quickly to the lake. I think our thief may have just left us our next clue!"

The scene at the lake was a strange one. Several merpeople were at the edge conversing with Dumbledore. His face looked troubled. O'Connor wasn't sure why until she saw it; half in and half out of the water was what used to be some type of animal. It looked like it had been turned inside out. She swallowed thickly and tried to breathe deeply. Snape reached into his robes and pulled out a small vial for her to sniff.

"Snape, that looks like a crup. See the tail?"

"Yes. I agree." He looked it over carefully, waving his wand in intricate patterns and muttering quietly under his breath. "Whatever has been done to it, this is a form of dark magic I'm not familiar with."

"So he's moved on to magical creatures now?"

"Whatever he's been doing it's escalating." Dumbledore said. "And whatever he has been doing to these poor creatures, he's been feeding them to the Giant Squid when he's finished. There are a number of bones resembling that that of dogs, horses, reptiles, and cats at the bottom of the lake. It seemed to have no interest in this though. That's how they came to find it and bring it to my attention."

"How did they manage to contact you?" Abigail asked. Albus smiled and pointed to his tower. One of the windows was smashed out.

"Let's just say the Giant Squid has quite an arm and excellent aim."

"Headmaster, I think with this we can narrow our list of suspects." Snape said. Minerva gave him a surprised look.

"Indeed Severus. I agree. Let us retire to my office. I will have Hagrid take care of this in the morning."

"What were you able to surmise, Severus?"

"There were at least two crups there, maybe more. Whatever was done to them was a form of transfiguration I've never seen before, but it is laced with dark magic." He traced his mouth with one long finger as he paced the office. "If it isn't Blackwell or Winters it's someone we're not aware of. There's no doubt in my mind. The four residents of Hogsmeade that were on the list are not cable this."

"Was there anything to indicate that it was either Simon or Gerald?" Albus asked.

"Winters is lucky he can turn a match into a needle let alone transfigure a crup. As for Blackwell his family was victimized in the first war. I don't think that he would use the Dark Arts, but then again one never knows. It could be either at this point. Winters could easily be faking his lack of skill."

"Is it possible someone else, an unknown party, may be involved?" Minerva asked.

"It's not something we're ruling out." Abigail replied. "However I don't think that is the case. Of the three Hogsmeade residents that were under the Imperio curse, two have hidden tunnels that lead to the school. It stands to reason that whoever is doing this was using them to leave and re-enter the school unnoticed."

"You knew about these tunnels and didn't say anything?!" Snape snapped. "How do you know about them?"

"If I had it would have created a biased against the two of them, wouldn't it? Don't worry about the how." Albus smiled at her answer. "It's likely our thief was looking to bring Zonko and Flume under the Imperius curse and Aberforth was just an added bonus for him."

"Where are these tunnels?" Minerva asked.

"I've only heard talk of the one leading to Honeyduke's. I don't know where the entrance and exit are. Zonko's has been used by my informant. You enter on the seventh floor through the painting of Farkas the Fierce. It comes out through the basement wall. You have to tap the stones in a certain order. To get through Farkas' painting you have to stroke the right side of the frame and say, "Courage is the companion of the Wolf"."

"How did you come by this knowledge?" Minerva asked.

"Farkas tells you if he finds you worthy." She offered nothing more on that. "Before you ask, I have questioned him. He has no recollection of anyone using his painting. Neither do the others in that corridor. It looks like the thief has been Obliviating them. I put an alarm ward on the painting. It hasn't been used since our investigation into Hogsmeade."

"I must compliment you on a job well done Abigail." Dumbledore said. "Now we must find a way to flush out which of our teachers is committing these horrible acts."

"We need to shrink his pool of available creatures. It will be easier for us to catch him if we know where he'll look next." Minerva suggested.

"No. I think he'll just look elsewhere then. Further away if he has to. I think we may need to tempt him with something. A rare and hard to come by magical creature that is similar to the muggle ones he's already taken." Abigail said.

"I take it you have something in mind?" Snape sneered.

"Yes, but it may take some time to get it here; and I'll need to speak to Arvin Scamander."

The next morning she was accosted by a flustered Charlie Weasley.

"Why did you tell Professor McGonagall I was using the passage behind Farkas?!"

"Oh dear. It seems there's been a bit of a misunderstanding."

Abigail, red faced and sheepish, marched behind the young man to get Gryffindor some points back.

February 11, 1989

"A Zouwu?! Are you mad?" Snape sneered. She hadn't been forthcoming with her creature of choice at first. There wasn't a guarantee the animal she wanted would be available so she hadn't wanted to upset anyone unnecessarily. Arvin came through though and so she had to reveal the creature.

"Oh hush. They're a gentle creature when treated kindly. There's nothing to worry about."

"But why a Zouwu?"

"Because our thief has graduated to large muggle creatures and small magical creatures of similar nature to the muggle ones he's taken. A Zouwu is very similar in appearance to a lion. So it stands to reason that he'd probably want it."

"And if something happens? If it gets away from us?"

"Snape!" O'Connor pinned his hands to the table with her own. "Stop being so pessimistic. Everything will be fine! You just have to keep the faith. Now if you don't mind I would like to eat my lunch."

He looked less than pleased but straightened up. There would be no lunch for her though. A high pitched chirping filled the air and she stood quickly. Snape had noticed the charms that hung from her waist before. One of them looked remarkably like a mini Foe-Glass. The one emitting the high pitched chirping was a tiny little lock.

"What is that?"

"It my alarm ward on Farkas' painting!"

The two teachers sped out of the hall followed by the confused stares of the students. When they arrived at the painting it was closed and Farkas was one painting over talking with some ladies in Victorian dresses. He looked surprised to see them before rubbing the back of his neck looking shameful.

"Good to see you Professors. What can I do for you?"

"Farkas did anyone use your painting just now? Did any of you see anyone? It's very important!" O'Connor said.

"Well, uh, professor two students did just go through. Seventh year girls from Slytherin."

O'Connor gave Snape a look and he ignored her.

"Thank you Farkas. Well, come on Snape. Let's go get them." Snape huffed exasperatedly as she opened the painting. "What? Were you just planning on letting them go? Ok for your house to break the rules is it?"

"Don't assume that I let my house get away with everything."

"Just most things right?"

Behind Farkas' painting was not the tunnel Snape had expected. It opened on a very narrow spiral staircase lit by dozens torches and the walls were lined with various pictures similar to Farkas. At the top was one of a man who had to be Farkas' twin. He was slightly slimmer in build but looked far more serious. Every person seemed to be wearing similar armor, silver with wolf head pauldrons. Many of them waved and called out greetings to O'Connor.

"There's five hundred in all. They were a group of muggles who fought on the side of wizards during a time of persecution in Norway. They hated magic, thought it without honor to fight with such trickery, but the magical community there treated them with a kindness the muggles hadn't. So they protected them."

"Didn't go to Hogwarts was it? Schooled in Ireland, hm?"

"Now you listen here."

"EV- ABIGAIL!"

They jumped and peered over the railing. A massive portrait depicting a giant of a man with a horned helmet was glaring up at them.

"Yes?"

"You two better get on with it! Something's wrong! I can hear screaming!"

"Oh no. Could he have come in through Zonko's?"

They ran down the stairs as fast as they could and through a large wooden door. The tunnel it opened on was rocky and wet and very steep. Snape wasn't expecting it and Abigail had forgotten to tell him. His left foot slid forward, caught hers, and sent them both sliding down the slick stony hill like a slide.

"You idiot!"

"Don't blame me for your lack of coordination!"

They landed at the bottom in a crumpled heap and struggled quickly to their feet. There were several voices yelling, something large thumping around, nails on stone, and hysterical cries and sobbing. Both paled and took off running. As they drew closer they could hear someone else coming their way. Snape stopped and raised his wand. Abigail ducked into a crevice and did the same.

Natalie Grey came around the bend and screamed when she saw the large dark figure waiting for her. She raised her wand and her head of house disarmed her.

"Professor Snape?!" Her dark blue eyes filled with fresh tears. "Professor O'Connor?! Thank god! He got her! He took Mary!"

Snape's dark eyes seemed even blacker as he turned to his colleague. She nodded and he disappeared the way Natalie had come. Abigail steered the girl to sit on a rocky outcropping.

"You're not going to help him?"

"He can handle himself. I'm here if he needs me though." She squeezed her shoulder in comfort. "Now I need you to tell me everything that happened."

"We just wanted to go to Hogsmeade to get a few sweets and a butterbeer! That's all! But we were going down the corridor and Mary heard something. There was something really big walking towards us. We put our wands out and tried to hide in one of the crevices, but when we saw it I was just so surprised! I couldn't keep quiet."

"What was it Ms. Grey?"

"It looked like an Occamy but something was wrong with it! It looked like it had chicken legs and wings! There was somebody with it too carrying a cage that was making weird noises." She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "He took her! She saw his face and he took her! We tried to get away, but the Occamy grabbed her. I tried to stop it but it kept dodging my spells. It was so fast! It was going to grab me too so I ran! I left her behind and I ran!"

The poor girl broke down into sobs and Abigail hugged her.

"It's all right. There was nothing you could have done. If you had gotten captured as well there would have been no one to tell us what happened. You didn't do anything wrong by running Natalie."

"She's my best friend! What if he does something to her?"

"Don't worry. Professor Snape and I will do everything we can to get her back before that happens." She smiled reassuringly. "Now, is there anything you can tell us about the man or the Occamy that might lead us to him?"

She shook her head.

"He was wearing a hooded cloak. Mary was closest and when he turned his wandlight her way she saw right up into it. That's when the scuffle began."

"I see."

The sound of footsteps reached their ears and Natalie smothered a cry behind her hands. Abigail pushed her back and turned her wand down the corridor, eyes flinty.

"Snape!"

"Yes. It's me." He called back. A moment later his pale face appeared in the wand light. His eyes widened when they met hers. The look in them was startlingly cold.

"Did you find anything?"

"No. He beat me to the exit and sealed it. We need to get back to the school as fast as we can. Someone will have to have seen something. It's broad daylight."

"I've been thinking about that for awhile. Someone should have seen something period by now. But they haven't. Natalie, was there anything else strange about the Occamy, aside from the rooster parts?"

"Umm. I'm not sure. I don't think so."

"Try and focus. Think back. What did it look like?" Snape glanced at her; a good idea of what she was trying cementing itself in his mind. "Where it's eyes normal? Did it have any other limbs? Did it have fur or feathers?"

"Fur! It had fur instead of feathers!"

"Of the animals taken from the forest there were two Demiguise." Snape bemoaned.

"I have an idea of what our thief is up to now." O'Connor said. "Let's get back. Quickly now."

After dropping Natalie off in the infirmary with Poppy they headed straight for Dumbledore's office. They quickly recounted their incident in the tunnel.

"Dumbledore, I think I may know what he's doing now. The Occamy in the tunnel finally helped it click. It was spliced with a chicken and very likely a Demiguise. I don't know how else it could have gotten around without being seen and Natalie said the Occamy had fur instead of feathers.

"I think our thief is trying to create certain mythological creatures. Creatures like Griffins are magical creatures but they're made up of animals that are in the muggle realm of things. In this case a lion and an eagle. Put them together it's magical animal. What if he's trying to do that, but with creatures that are already magical. A Zouwu and a Thunderbird would make a much more impressive Griffin, wouldn't you say?"

"You've suspected this before?! That's why you wanted the Zouwu!" Snape accused.

"No. It was purely coincidental. It was the Occamy. It's already a little like a Cockatrice and when she described it that was all I could think of. Then when Snape mentioned we needed to get back and see if anyone had reported anything I kept wondering how no one had seen anything previously. I was already wondering if he had put two animals together, when it hit me. The Demiguise that were taken, what if he molded that in too?"

"It would explain why it was walking around with him as well, instead of shrinking to fit in his pocket. The creature may have lost that ability when it was combined with the rooster. So he added in the Demiguise so it could still hide itself." Albus said.

"An Occamy would be a very suitable creature to practice on as well, since it already closely resembles that which he was trying to make." Snape added. He looked at her suddenly. "The lake. He'd succeed in make the creatures using muggle animals. So he fed the results to the squid to hide his tracks and moved on to the magical creatures. I said there were at least two crup in that mutilated pile. What if it was three?"

"He was trying to make a Cerberus using crup." Abigail gasped. She sat back heavily. "I can't imagine what all these animals have gone through; being joined together like that. We have to find Mary quickly, before he decides to move on to human experimentation."

"Wherever he's conducting these experiments, it has to be somewhere in the castle. He was coming back here with the Occamy and another animal. There would be no reason for it if the lab wasn't here." Snape said.

They were interrupted as Albus' door opened suddenly and Minerva stumbled through looking quite harassed. All three of them stood quickly.

"What's happened Minerva?"

"It's Simon. No one can find him and his office is in disarray."

The castle wide search lasted the rest of the day and into the early morning hours. There was no sign of Simon or the lab he may be using. With their search ending in the dungeon, O'Connor and Snape stopped to rest in his office.

"Damn it!" Snape kicked one of his desk chairs and dropped into the other, threading his long fingers through his lanky hair. O'Connor was somewhat surprised. He may be rather nasty to the students, but he did seem to care about their safety. She could tell that was what upset him most. Not Simon cutting and running, and not their inability to find his lab, but the possibility that they may be too late to save Mary. Whether it was because he did truly care or because she was his charge during the year, O'Connor didn't know.

"Don't worry Snape. We'll find her. For now let's gets some rest. I'm absolutely knackered and even though I know you're trying to hide it, you are too. We're no good to her like this. We'll try again first thing after breakfast." She held up a hand when he tried to interrupt her. "You need food and rest to be in peak condition. Now go to sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

O'Connor slowed to a stop by the door and rested her hand on the frame. Should she give him something? She'd been wrestling with the thought for a good portion of the afternoon. She liked the thought of leaking some more tidbits of info about herself whenever he displayed his more admirable qualities. To her it showed she was coming to trust him little by little.

"Was there something else you needed, O'Connor?"

"You were right. This is a disguise. I did go to Hogwarts." He stood glaring indignantly. She merely smiled. "The reason Farkas and the others like me is because we're similar, but not quite the same. I'll leave you to figure out the details."

Abigail sat groggily in the little breakfast nook she'd worked into her bed chambers. She held a cup of Earl Grey and was trying to wake herself enough to get a shower. Her clothes from the night before were still on and they were incredibly rumpled from being slept in. She'd flopped on her bed and passed right out the moment she was horizontal.

Mornings. Who needs them?

The wards around her office and quarters rippled as Snape entered. He knocked on her door a second later.

"Enter at your own risk."

There was a moment of hesitation then the door opened. He kept his eyes to the floor until he discerned she wasn't in the midst of changing. She laughed.

"I'm not a morning person Snape and I look horrible after last night. I was just making a joke." He gave her a look as if she were a child on his last nerve. "Are you here to try getting out of breakfast? You need to eat. I see you showered and shaved. Did you sleep?"

"You're starting to sound like Minerva. Yes mother. Are you happy?"

"Such a good boy." Her appearance changed so that she looked like a female version of him but 20 years older. "You make your mother so proud. I saw your article in The Daily Brew. Put it on me fridge, I 'ave."

"Are you quite finished?"

"Oh dear. You're upset. Come 'ere. Give us a hug. Tell mummy all about it. Has that horrid Irish woman been making your life difficult again?"

"Will you stop? Don't touch me. O'Connor!"

They ended up in a heap on the floor with her arms and legs wrapped around him and her cheek pressed against the top off his head. He struggled at first but eventually gave up as he was essentially fighting himself. They would have been an interesting sight to behold.

"There, there."

"Will you be serious?" He snapped and swatted at her. He could feel her body shaking as she suppressed her laughter.

"I'm always serious." Snape turned the best he could to glare at her and scoffed at the comical overly serious frown on her normal face. She released him and they stood. "So what brings you to my quarters this early?"

"I want to go back to Blackwell's quarters. Something about last night doesn't seem right to me. I would like your opinion."

"All right. Let me just hop in the shower right quick."

"I will meet you there."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Going alone."

"Do you doubt me?"

She gave him an exasperated eye roll and waved him off.

"Fine. I'll join you as soon as I'm done."

He nodded and set off. She grabbed a pair of brown pants that were equal parts leather and cotton, a white blouse, brown leather corset, and light brown bolero jacket. Brown leather ankle boots completed the outfit. A very quick shower later and she was on her way. She didn't like the idea of leaving him to it on his own. When she arrived a few of the portraits greeted her.

"Morning Trimble, Jigger. Is Snape still inside?"

"Yes, ma'am. Went in about twenty minutes ago."

"Nasty business with Blackwell. Never would have expected it."

"I don't think anyone did. I think Snape still doesn't." She bid them a good day and stepped inside. The room was almost exactly as Minerva had found it the night before, the only difference was that there seemed to be more papers and books scattered around the room now and a scorch mark on the floor. Snape was nowhere in sight. She frowned, trying not to jump to conclusions. Back out in the corridor she faced the two portraits that framed the door.

"Are you positive Snape went in and that he didn't leave? No gaps in your memory or anything? Did you leave the area at all since he went in?"

"We're positive my dear. He went in twenty minutes ago and hasn't been out since. We've been here with Emeric and Greta the whole time."

Abigail felt like the air had been sucked from her lungs. Severus Snape was gone.