"Ari, calm down," Severus ordered, trying his best to sound calm and in control when he felt like screaming. "When was the last time you saw him?"

Ari looked haggard, there were lines of worry carved into her usually serene face. "Last night, Sev. I went to check on him before I went to bed and he was sound asleep with Scout lying beside the bed. He'd gone flying just before dinner, he ate with us and everything was fine. Then this morning, I go and call him for breakfast and he's gone. Just . . .gone! No note, nothing. I just don't understand it, Severus. How could he just run away like that?"

"Is his broom still there?"

"Yes. That was the first thing I checked. It's still in the corner of his bedroom."

"So wherever he went, he didn't fly," Severus surmised. "And if he were really to run away, he'd never leave his broom behind. He loves that Windstorm 2000. Did you check my house? Maybe he went over there to get something, like a video game or a book?"

"Leo Apparated there when we couldn't find him anywhere on our place. He wasn't there."

"Let me think," Severus was quiet for several minutes. Then he snapped his fingers. "Ari, get Scout to track for you. He'll find Gavin no matter where he is."

Ari did not take his idea with any of the relief it should have merited. Instead she looked even more upset when she replied back. "I can't find Scout either, Severus. I called and whistled for him for hours and there was no sign of him. Then I asked Ace and Rowdy and neither of them knew where he went. I'm so sorry, Severus. I should have kept a better eye on him, I know how much trouble kids can get into . . ."

"It's not your fault, Ari. Gavin's like a blasted hurricane, he causes trouble wherever he goes," Severus said angrily. "I just don't know what gets into that boy. He promised me he'd behave and now he pulls a stunt like this."

Ari seemed ready to cry in despair. "Severus, you don't think he went down to the beach to swim or something? The undertow . . ."

Severus considered. "Gavin's never been one for swimming, especially not in the morning. He's not crazy for surfing or anything like that. Flying yes, but his broom is there. How many hours has he been missing?"

"I, uh, think more than eight, Sev. Least that's as near as I can figure it, since Leo and I got up at seven and I went to wake Gavin at eight thirty. Do you think he just took Scout for a long walk?"

"It's possible. Have you used the dog whistle to call Scout in? Because he always responds to that, unless he's half dead or out of range. And there's not much forest near your house, Ari."

"Yes, that was the second thing I tried. But it's been over an hour and he hasn't come in. And I already called over Teri's house to see if maybe he went to visit the twins, but she and the boys haven't seen him."

Since that had been Severus's next suggestion, he was at a loss for a moment. Then he remembered something else. "Have you tried Arista and Drake? He might have gone over there to talk to her. He's been having nightmares again." Arista and Drake lived in a cozy cottage on the lagoon in Brick, a street called Sandy Island Drive.

"No, but I'll call," Ari began.

"Wait. Let me. If he is there, I'm going to blister his ears for scaring us half to death and then some." Severus vowed. "I'll call you if he's there or not, I promise. He knows better than to leave the house without writing a note. Just wait till I get a hold of him. I'm mad enough to take him over my knee, I swear it!"

"I don't blame you, Sev. I'd do the same if he were mine," Ari agreed.

"You have my permission to do just that when he gets home, if he's at Arista's," Snape said, adding silently, Please God, let him be there. Let this just be a case of Gavin being horribly stupid and forgetting to tell Ari and Leo where he was going. Then I won't feel guilty at all for my or Ari spanking him. His mind shied away from the alternative. No, he would not panic. Not unless there was cause. "Goodbye, Ari, I'll speak with you soon."

He quickly shut the spellophone disk. Then he swore colorfully for two minutes.

Harry eyed him warily. "What's going on?"

"My son has disappeared and thrown my in-laws into hysterics is what," Severus growled, his eyes blazing. "Blast and damn that bloody child! I swear, he can't go for a day without getting in trouble. He's going to drive me insane." He opened the spellophone and said, "Arista, it's Dad. I need to ask you a very urgent question. Is Gavin there?" He hit the Send key.

Two seconds later Severus's spellophone chimed. Arista's face arose from the image gel, her dark eyes bright with concern. "Hi, Dad. No, he's not here. Why? What's the matter?"

Severus quickly explained the situation. "Damn it! I was hoping he was over there."

"No, I haven't seen or talked to him in three days, not since my last session with him." Arista told him regretfully. "But I wouldn't go all ballistic yet, Dad. He and Scout might just be out for a morning ramble and lost track of time."

Severus looked skeptical. "I'd believe it if it were you and Trish, you two were always fascinated by wild animals and plants. But Gavin's never been too keen on hiking. He's a city boy. Likes his concrete and skyscrapers. Got any ideas where he could be?"

"Well, he has to be either within walking distance of the house or he Flooed somewhere. Maybe he went shopping for video games or something?"

Snape ground his teeth together hard. "I'm praying this is just one of his stupid pranks. Because if that's the case, I'll make sure to impress upon his behind that such behavior is totally unacceptable."

"Sure you will, Dad," Arista rolled her eyes. "How many times have I heard you threaten the twins with a spanking you didn't have the heart to give them?"

"I mean it this time. He's gone too far, Arista. I don't know what to do any more. If it's not one thing, it's another," the Director ran a hand through his hair. "He's a magnet for trouble."

"So was I. And Trish and Drake too." Arista reminded him. "And you survived us without losing it, Dad. Though I'm sure we came pretty close to driving you over the edge."

"You did, God help me. But Gavin's different. You never pushed me the way he does, Arista. He's almost worse than Harry Potter."

"Hey!" Harry cried indignantly.

"That's the God's honest truth, Potter," Severus told the younger man firmly. "You were as bad as Gavin at finding trouble and you know it." He turned back to Arista. "Sorry, didn't mean to ignore you. But Harry was trying to act like he was an innocent lamb all those years ago."

"Harry's there? Tell him I said hi. How's Ginny doing? Bet she's about ready to pop with the twins."

"You know about that?"

"Of course. She called me right after she talked to her mom. Wanted to ask my medical advice on childbirth and pregnancy," Arista laughed.

"Oh," Severus said, feeling incredibly foolish for not guessing that. He sometimes still had trouble thinking of Arista as an adult Master Healer, not his little girl. Apparently that wasn't the case with the rest of the world, not even former classmates like Ginny. He cleared his throat. "Actually, that's the reason Harry's here with me now. Ginny's been kidnapped and held for ransom by a necromancer named the Shifter."

"What! Good God, Dad!" Arista exclaimed. "I take you're tracking him down?"

"Yes. We were just going to resume our hunt when Ari called and told us about Gavin."

Arista's brow crinkled in concern. "Dad, what if this isn't some kind of prank? What if Gavin's hurt somewhere? Or . . ." she trailed off ominously.

"Or what?"

"Or he's in real trouble and been kidnapped. You did say that's this guy's MO, right?"

"Yes, but the Shifter's been Apparating around Manhattan, I was tracking him all day yesterday. And besides, you know he could never set foot on the property, mine or the Amarottis. I've warded them both with blue moonstones."

"What if he sent someone else to do the job? Like a Muggle?"

"Wouldn't matter. Anyone intending harm to my family wouldn't make it past two feet. The wardstone would stop them. And Gavin knows better than to talk to strangers or go anywhere with one."

"True. And if Scout was with him and anyone tried to hurt Gavin, he'd tear them to shreds," Arista stated. "But what if something happened to Scout too?"

"Arista, you were linked to Scout once. Can you still do that? Or do you have to be touching him?"

"No, I can re-establish the link by reaching out for him with my empathy. Do you want me to try that? Chances are, where Scout is, so's Gavin."

"Please," Severus heaved a slow sigh of partial relief.

"Okay, Dad. This'll take me a moment," Arista said, then her face vanished from Severus's spellophone disk.

Two minutes later she called him back. "Good news, Dad. I've located Scout. He's in Manhattan, and he's looking for you as we speak."

Severus gaped at her, looking as startled as she'd ever seen him. "Here in the city? Why in hell . . .?" Then he recalled a teasing comment he'd made to Gavin the night before last about returning to West and 10th. "Goddamn it!" he exploded. "He went back to see those bloody friends of his, that street gang he used to run with. The Ravens."

Arista gasped. "That's what Scout told me. He said they took the Magic Metro into the city and Gavin brought him to the Ravens' house."

"I knew it! Of all the stupid irresponsible decisions! Driving us all insane just so he can take a bloody joyride to see those-those reprobates! Wait'll I get my hands on him. I'm going to wallop his behind good, I swear by Merlin's Hat. I've had it with his impulsive and reckless behavior. I'll teach him a good lesson . . ."Severus ranted, relief coursing through him.

"Dad!" Arista shouted. "You're going off half-cocked. Let me finish what I was going to say, okay? Gavin did go to visit the Ravens, but he's not there now."

"Where is he then?"

"Scout doesn't know because two men dragged Gavin away and drove off in a van. Scout couldn't follow, it moved too fast. And Gavin told him to find you, so that's what he's doing, tracking you down."

Severus felt as if the bottom had just fallen out of the earth. "Gavin's been kidnapped too?" he managed after a long moment. His mind was spinning. His relief was replaced by a sickening bout of terror. What could be happening to his son? He'd promised to protect the boy and now Gavin was in danger.

"I'm afraid so," Arista said, her eyes bright with worry. "But Scout swears he'll find out where they've taken him."

"And so will I. I'll turn over every stone in this city if I have to," the Director vowed grimly. "I have to go, Arista. I'm going to call in some back up. Too bad Flick and Drake are off in Pennsylvania hunting down that fake wand seller, otherwise I'd bring them along. If this is the Shifter's work, and I don't doubt it is, I want him to be so scared he'll be seeing Hunters in his dreams."

"Go get him, Dad. Teach him what it means when he messes with a Snape. And good luck. Talk to you later, I've gotta go to work, got a surgery this morning. Keep me posted, okay? Love you, bye."

Severus closed the spellophone and tucked it back in his pocket. When he turned around, he found Harry regarding him oddly. "What? Why are you staring at me that way?"

Harry coughed, plainly trying to conceal a smirk, but failing utterly. "It's just that . . . normally you're so calm and collected, Severus. I've never seen you flip out like that."

Snape grimaced. "I did not . . .flip out, as you put it. I was simply expressing my irritation and concern for my son."

"Like I said, you were flipping out. It's okay, Severus. Happens to the best of us," Harry was grinning openly now. Then he added with a slight frown, "But would you really spank him the way you said? Don't you think that's a bit . . .harsh, considering his background?"

"I'm no Ferrous," Severus defended softly. "The most I'd do would be ten swats with my hand. Nothing more. His pride would probably hurt more than his behind when I was through. Like I said before, that's a punishment of last resort. When I'm at my wit's end and don't know what else I can do to drive the point home to him that what he's doing is truly dangerous or forbidden. I would never spank him over nothing, Harry, the way Ferrous did. He probably wouldn't consider my spanking a real punishment compared to what he's had before."

"You'd mean it more to shock than hurt," Harry said, suddenly catching Severus's drift.

"Now you understand," Snape gave Harry an approving look. And it would probably hurt me more than it would him, because I would hate punishing him that way, the Director thought wearily. Not that he would ever admit that to Harry. The younger man would discover that on his own with his own children. One of the hardest things about being a parent was punishing your child, no matter how much he deserved it. There was a fine line you had to walk and it was never easy. Severus was good at walking fine lines, but that didn't make him like it. That would have shocked his former students, who all assumed he enjoyed doling out detentions and such, when as a matter of fact he detested it. Mostly. There had been a few whom he hadn't minded laying down the law to, but on the whole . . .But consequences were a necessary part of growing up and Snape knew it and did what he had to, as he always had. He was no stranger to doing his duty above all else.

Once Minerva had joked that his middle name was Duty and not Tobias. And he considered it his solemn duty to bring the Shifter in, dead or alive. He only prayed his son had not been harmed by the man. Or Ginny either. If they had, the Shifter would pay in spades. No one hurt his family and got away with it . . .no one.

"I'm going to make some more phone calls," he told Harry. "Get some of my people out here. And make sure Ari knows what's going on too."He bit his lip. That was one conversation he was not looking forward to. Ari adored her newest grandson, despite his mischievous ways.

"I thought you favored stealth over a direct assault."

"Normally I do," Severus conceded. "But that was when the Shifter only had one hostage. Then it made sense for the two of us to hunt him. But now that he's taken more than one, it means this situation could escalate into a full-scale hostages scenario, with him making demands we can't fulfill and allowing him the upper hand. I won't let him go that far. Best to get the other Hunters on his tail so fast he won't have time to do much more than react."

"What if he decides to hurt them in retaliation?"

"I don't think he will yet. Remember, he thinks he won with Ginny, since we gave him what he wanted. He'll probably think about pulling the same trick with Gavin. I'll tell Colin or Ari to be on the lookout for any notes. They're his trump cards, he'll keep them healthy for now. Without them, there's no reason for us to go easy on him, and if he kills them, he's a dead man." Severus declared grimly and there was a terrible look in his dark eyes that made Harry tremble. "This way, he still has a shot at a plea bargain, maybe his lawyer will be able to get him a lesser sentence in Inferno."

"He'll get a lawyer? But he's a criminal!"

"So? This is the States, Harry. Innocent until proven guilty, remember? And everyone, even the worst mass murderer, gets a fair trial with a defense attorney. Wizard or Muggle, that doesn't change. Only the evidence presented and the sentencing."

"You don't use dementors over here, do you?"

"No. We have something better. A Null Magic collar. It suspends a wizard's magic indefinitely. With the collar on, a necromancer is just like a Muggle, magicless. It doesn't hurt, so they say, and it's a bit more humane than a dementor feeding off your soul. We have golem guards as well as human ones, however, and the golems can't be bribed or otherwise coerced, since their primary purpose is to guard the prisoners and keep them from escaping. And they do it very well indeed."

"What's a golem?"

"Didn't you pay attention at all when Minerva taught Transfiguration?" Severus asked a bit waspishly. "A golem is a construct that's wizard-created. It usually is transfigured from a rock or some other hard substance, like iron, steel, or a hardwood, to look like a person. It's not really intelligent, but then it doesn't need to be. All it needs to do is to be able to follow orders and the wizard who created it usually gives it specific instructions depending on what he made it for." He took a sip of his now cold coffee, his throat was dry from all the yelling he'd done. "The golems in Inferno are spelled to prevent prisoners from escaping and that's exactly what they do. And they do it without driving the prisoners insane with fear. And no necromancer has ever escaped from Inferno, in case you were wondering. They grow old and die there."

Harry had to admit that sounded like a far better system than Azkaban. He would have to tell Moody about it, perhaps they could steal a few ideas from the Hunters and import them.

"And now, if you'll excuse me, I have people to speak to," Severus said, drank the last of his coffee, and walked into the small bedroom so he could speak privately with Colin and his other agents and Ari as well.

He emerged some ten minutes later, looking marginally less tense. "My Deputy, Colin Flynn, is going to send out ten Hunter pairs, with more available if they don't seem like enough. In the meantime, we should continue with our original plan, save for one thing."

Harry cocked a quizzical brow at him. "What's that?"

"We use Scout to track instead of the map."

"How? We don't even know where he is."

"Be patient, Mr. Potter. He'll find us."

"In a city this size? I don't believe it."

"That's what he does best. Believe it. Scout is the very best tracker a Hunter could ask for. His reputation is second to none. He always gets his quarry, no matter how long the chase."

"Then why didn't you use him in the first place?" Harry scowled.

"Because he's retired and I wanted him to stay that way. My other methods work just as well as a magehound, and I don't like to become too dependent on any one method or creature. A Hunter needs to be flexible. But since Gavin's involved him, I'll use him to track Gavin's scent."

Harry was puzzled. "But didn't Arista say Gavin was taken away in a van? So how can Scout track that particular van down?"

"He can't. But he can track Gavin," Severus explained patiently. "Gavin's a wizard, and all wizards emit a unique aura. Scout can smell it and follow it, even through Manhattan's streets. The stronger the wizard, the more powerful the aura. Gavin's powers haven't fully emerged yet, but Scout's familiar enough with him that it shouldn't matter too much."

"If that's so, then why didn't he follow the trail immediately?"

"He would have, unless Gavin specifically ordered him to find me, which makes sense. Scout is trained to work with a Hunter to bring in criminals. So he'll come to me first and then we'll work together to get our quarry."

"How long do you think it'll take him to find you?"

Severus checked his watch. "By my estimation, he ought to be here in, oh, another hour at the most. Nothing moves quite like a magehound on a scent. They're relentless and they'll run till they drop. Especially for one of their family."

Harry decided to sit down and relax for the next hour, if that state were even possible for him with Ginny gone. And now Gavin was missing too. Harry would hate for anything bad to happen to the irrepressible young scamp. In the short time he'd been with the boy, he'd grown to like him very much. He reminded Harry a bit of himself, except that Gavin now had the life Harry had always wised he could have had, living with someone who loved and cared for him. I hope the kid realizes just how lucky he is. I'd have given my right arm to have what he does. Thank God my kids will never have to grow up like me, unwanted and unloved. Never ever.

Harry pondered for several moments how different his life might have been if Dumbledore had allowed him to go and live with someone other than the blasted Dursleys. Sirius would have been his first choice back then. But to his surprise, he was now thinking that maybe his godfather wouldn't have been a wise choice. Sirius was an adult, true, but he was also a wanted man, and that alone would have made him an unsuitable guardian for a young boy. He would have been forced into hiding as well, and Harry knew he would have been tempted into dangerous stunts and decisons just to relieve the boredom, much as Sirius had.

Then too, he couldn't exactly see Sirius as the kind of adult who'd be willing to set rules for him. The man had a casual disregard for rules even as an adult. And while that kind of attitude would have appealed immensely to him when he was thirteen, Harry knew now it would have been the worst thing for him and might have led to him getting killed. All the times Harry had been around Sirius, the other wizard had treated him sort of like a younger brother, protective and encouraging, but not a parent. And a parent was what he'd needed all those years ago, he admitted, someone to watch over and guide him and give him boundaries and even punish him if he needed it. Someone who could shoulder some of the awesome responsibility he'd been given and allow him to be an ordinary child once in awhile.

Someone like . . .Severus Snape.

The idea would never have crossed his mind before the past two days in the man's company. But now, knowing what he did and seeing the way the man was with his own son . . .Harry realized that a parent like Snape was just what he'd needed back then. Severus would have been there when I wanted him or needed him . . .whether it was to kick my ass or to hold me after a nightmare. I'd have had a chance at a normal childhood if he'd been my guardian. He was one of the few people who could've stood up to Albus and he would've, if he thought it in my best interest. For Severus, family is everything. He smirked at the odd fancies he was having. Imagining Severus as his guardian, of all things. One of us would have killed the other, considering we couldn't stand each other back then, the Auror reminded himself. Or would we? Oh well, no sense in wishing for what might have been. Now is too late for regrets, as Moody would say.

His musings were interrupted by the sound of a dog barking close by.

Very loudly and insistently.

Harry sat bolt upright in his chair, just as Severus went to the door of the ground floor brownstone and opened it to admit a very excited golden magehound.

If the dog had been able to speak, Harry felt certain he'd have been yelling at them to hurry up and follow him. As it was, he frisked about Severus, panting and making an odd sort of crooning whimper in the back of his throat, almost as if he was talking. He was also wearing a black bandanna with a gold border and the words DH Service Dog embroidered on it in gold script.

Severus petted the dog for a moment, then said in a low commanding voice, "Scout, let's go and find Gavin." The dog bayed eagerly. The Director turned to beckon Harry. "Come on, Potter. Time's wasting."

Harry rose and came to stand next to his former professor. Scout's eyes were shining and he looked ready to fly through the door at a moment's notice.

Severus summoned an extra long nylon leash and attached it to the dog's collar. Then he opened the door and gave the magehound the long awaited command to search.

Scout practically bolted down the sidewalk, making Snape and Harry have to run to keep up with him.