Hey, here's the next update. It's a short one, but hopefully I'll be able to make a bigger update soon, but I make no promises because finals are in a week. Enjoy!

Harry POV

Ginny marched out of the floo after me. Arthur and Molly walked down the stairs towards us looking bleary eyed and confused.

"Ginny? Harry?" Molly asked.

"What are you doing here at two in the morning?" She asked confused. Arthur looked at us, curious. I knew then by their expressions the children weren't here.

"The children aren't home, mum. We thought they would be here." Gin started to hyperventilate.

"Maybe they went to Hermione and Ron's." I said weakly. We both knew that if they had, Ron or Hermione would have floo called us about it. Luna wasn't connected to the floo because she didn't have a fireplace where she lived. I ran out of ideas as to where my children could have gone.

"You think they've been kidnapped." Arthur said matter-of-factly. I nodded weakly and I saw Ginny do the same thing.

"There've been threats. There's always been threats. We put wards in place to prevent this. I don't know how this could have happened. We need to warn Ron and Hermione." I said slowly, in a daze. Arthur took in a deep breath.

"We can report the children missing to the ministry, but they won't take action for another 24 hours or so." I know the procedure; I am an auror.

"I'll let Ron and Hermione know." Molly said softly, bustling towards the fireplace.

"I can contact Jowler. See if he can do anything for us." Avery Jowler is the Head Auror and a good friend of mine and Ron's. It was lucky for us that he had the night shift tonight. Once Molly was done with the floo, I floo called Jowler's office.

"Wotcher Potter!" He greeted cheerily.

"Avery! Look, my kids have gone missing and we need your help."

"What? Are you serious? How long have they been missing."

"We don't know. We woke up and they were gone. We checked Molly's and Ron's and they're not there. There's some floo powder missing at our place, but there's nowhere else they could have gone."

"It doesn't make sense! They wouldn't have left in the middle of the night and they always ask us to go anywhere!" Ginny yelled from behind me.

Jowler's facial expression suddenly changed. He abruptly got up and grabbed something from inside his desk.

"I received this about a week ago. I didn't think it necessary to tell you Potter because you get daily threats. I kept this one because it was particularly nasty. Robbins and I were studying the letter to determine who sent it. We found a magical signature and traced it. There's a team already stationed in that area for undercover work. I sent a patronus and two of their aurors were sent out to the area where we detected the magical signature-"

"What did the letter say, Avery?" I asked urgently.

"It threatened the life of your children... and gruesomely described how they would torture and kill your children."

"Damn it, Jowler! Why didn't you show me this letter?" I exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Potter, but it was my decision as Head Auror not to have one of my best auror's judgement clouded by what I thought was an empty threat."

"Well you thought wrong and this decision might have cost my children's lives!" I yelled out angrily. Molly burst into tears. Jowler scrubbed his face with his hands and then sent out a patronus. The message he sent was too low for me to hear. A bear patronus came back and said "Aye."

"Come to my office Potter. You've been given permission to go on location, but only you."

"I'm coming too." Ginny exclaimed.

"They're my children and I'm as good as any of your aurors." Jowler gave her a weary look. He knew she was right. Ginny had been an auror for five years after her Quidditch career ended with James' birth. She had quit being an auror after she had almost died when Lily was three. I could see the exact moment when Jowler gave in.

"Alright. But only the two of you."

Albus POV

Hogwarts was eerily dark. I'd never seen Hogwarts so dark or quiet since I'd started going to school here. Lily shivered next to me. She was creeped out too. It was cold down in the dungeons. James made himself look as though he wasn't affected, but I know him better than that.

"This way." I said, pointing to a door.

We entered the Slytherin common room and I lead them to another door. To anyone passing by they would have missed it but to any Slytherin we knew where the door was. No Slytherin that was presently at Hogwarts had set foot in the room. Actually, nobody other then the house elves had been in the room since the former Slytherin head of house had died. I had heard some creepy stories about the room and always wondered why the current head of house didn't live here. Maybe he thought it was haunted too. I took a huge gulp of air and pushed the door open. It was heavy and creaked. The room was dark. James took out his wand and said:

"Lumos." Lily and I did the same and the room was alight. It wasn't dusty because the house elves cleaned it. The room had an overflowing book case to the right and to the left there was an old sofa and a tea table next to it. There was an old rug in front of the fireplace. Over the fireplace was a portrait of Salazar Slytherin. The walls were painted a deep blue, almost black. There was a kitchenette area with a small table and a single chair. I felt sad for the lonely man who had lived here. James and Lily walked to a corridor and I tore my gaze away from the mug that was still on the table. Odd that the house elves hadn't cleaned that up. James opened a door to my right. There was a four poster bed and little else in the room. There was a closet that seemed to only contain black clothes. Pretty lame wardrobe, I say.

"This place is creepy." Lily said and shivered. I had to agree. This place almost looked like it was still lived in but I knew for a fact nobody had been in here for over 20 years, which was really odd.

"Can't we get out of here?" She asked anxiously. I nodded quickly. There was no portrait here that Severus Snape could be in. We hurried out of the room pushing each other out of the way, almost in a panic. You know that feeling you get when you can't breathe and you just need to get away? That's how it felt. We searched the portraits around the Slytherin common room but we gave up after we couldn't find him. I was disappointed; I had really wanted to meet him.

"We should get back home." James said in a defeated tone. His black eyes looked into mine and I could see that he was also disappointed. I nodded.

"Yeah, best get back before mum and dad find out we've been gone." We walked out of the common room and up the steps leading to the great hall.

"What are three children doing at Hogwarts during the summer in the dead of night?" A deep voice drawled out of nowhere. We all jumped at the sudden voice that penetrated the silence. I turned to where the voice had come from. There standing in a portrait with an unknown man was Severus Snape. Both men in the portrait were glaring at us.

Please review and tell me what you think! :)