Prince Manor

That same afternoon:

Severus clinked his glass full of apple wine, made from the apples of Avalon, the same Avalon in the Arthurian legends, which still existed on the fae side of the world, and smiled at his beloved warrior, soon to be his wife. "To us," he said in liquid language of the fae. He knew only a few phrases and words, but those he did know he could use fluently. He was hoping to improve his language skills now that Sarai would be around forever to instruct him.

Sarai, who was dressed in a very classy green gown that was elegant yet simple, smiled back and touched her wine glass to his. "And to all the days yet to come." Then she drank some of the sweet potent wine, it went down her throat like a lover's caress, smooth and leaving her wanting more. Just like Severus' touch always did.

Severus drank his own wine and nibbled on some of the snacks he had made to celebrate Sarai's arrival at the manor. There were tiny cucumber and mayonnaise sandwiches and small ham and cheese puffs, cheese and crackers, fruit with a cream cheese dip, and tangy cocktail meatballs. There was also a pitcher of merlinna juice and some water infused with peaches and pineapples, a new technique he had learned from Julie Snape, Phil's wife, who enjoyed drinking flavored water.

Just then the clock in the den struck four-thirty.

Severus looked startled, then it occurred to him that the boys and Nesmay weren't home yet. "That's odd. Usually, the boys and Nesmay are home by now from Ollivander's shop."

"What time do they work until?"

"Four." Severus frowned. "They're half-an-hour late. I told Harry and Draco to be on time today for dinner." He shook his head. "They probably forgot, or became distracted by some new Quidditch accessory. Still, perhaps I had better contact Lucian, maybe he kept them late for some reason." He rose to his feet. "This will only take a moment, Sarai."

He walked into the den, and tossed a pinch of Floo Powder into the fireplace and called, "Ollivander's Wands!" Then he stuck his head into the green flames. "Lucian! Are you there?"

"Just a moment." Then the wandmaker appeared, dusting off his robes. "Severus, is there something I can help you with? Is a wand malfunctioning?"

"No, Lucian. I was actually wondering if you knew the whereabouts of my children? Are they staying late working on a project?"

"Why, no. I sent them home at five to four, same as usual. Why?"

"Oh, I see. Well, they probably got sidetracked." Severus said, squelching down the first fluttering of panic. "Quality Quidditch Supplies is no doubt having a sale or something."

"Would you like me to go and search for them?" Ollivander offered, looking concerned.

"No, thank you, Lucian. I shall come and look myself. Serve them right if they're embarrassed by their father finding them and dragging them out by their ear in public." Severus said grimly. "Have a good evening."

He withdrew his head from the fire and canceled the spell.

"Sev? Is something wrong?" Sarai called.

Severus stood up, scowling. He was quite upset at how inconsiderate his sons and Nesmay had been, disregarding his instructions, making him leave and go search for them. This was supposed to be a welcome home feast, and the children were supposed to be home to eat dinner with them as a family. "It's nothing. They weren't at Ollivanders, which means they're probably lingering at some store or other. I shall have to go and fetch them, the irresponsible little—" Suddenly he gasped, as his medallion became searingly hot, warning him that his sons were in mortal peril.

He grasped the medallion and saw a glimpse of darkness and felt both cold and hot and then. . .nothing.

He gave an involuntary shout of alarm, which brought Sarai running into the den. "Severus, what's wrong?"

"I . . .something's happened to Harry and Draco. Nesmay too. My amulet . . .it warned me that something was wrong, it went hot and then ice cold and then I felt nothing . . .I must find them, Sarai."

"I'm coming with you." She said, and gestured sharply. Her gown became her familiar green and brown tunic and trews and her swirling Captain's cloak. Her sword was on her belt and so was her dagger. She looked lean and deadly, a hard look stealing into her green eyes.

Cafall suddenly trotted into the den, whining low in his throat. He clearly sensed something was amiss and came up to Severus and gazed at him worriedly. Severus knelt and ruffled the misthound's ears. "Cafall, the boys are in trouble. I wish you could . . .Sarai, how good is a misthound's sense of smell? Could he track the boys and Nesmay if he had to?"

The guard captain eyed the half-grown puppy and said, "Misthounds are known for never losing the scent once they are set on a trail. They have the best noses in the fae realm, and Cafall is one of the royal line, bred from the best hunters in the queen's kennels. If there is a trail to follow, he'll follow it."

Severus snapped his fingers and a long lead flew into his grasp. He bent and attached it to Cafall's collar. "We'll go by Floo to The Leaky Cauldron and then we'll start out by trailing them from Ollivander's shop. I have scarves and a shirt that we can use to give Cafall their scent." He Summoned the requisite items and tucked them into his pockets. Then he took down the Staff of the Magi from the wall. He hadn't used the powerful artifact since that battle in the graveyard, but he had an uneasy feeling he might need it.

Then he activated the Floo and they stepped through the fire, Cafall whimpered but followed obediently, since the magical flames did not give off any heat.

They emerged into a rather crowded pub and no one gave them a second glance except Tom the barkeep. "Evening, Severus. My lady."

"Good evening, Tom," Severus said casually. "You haven't by chance seen my sons around lately? Or their cousin?"

Tom shook his head. "Not since this morning. Playing hooky from their chores are they?"

"Late coming back from Ollivanders," Severus said shortly.

"Ah. Well, if I happen to see them, I'll tell them to wait for you here, shall I?"

"Thank you, Tom. That would be fine." Severus said quietly.

Then they walked out of the pub and started down the street, Cafall suddenly sniffing hard and making a strange half-bark and half-baying noise. He tugged at the leash before they were even halfway to Ollivanders.

"Easy, boy. Settle down now," Severus scolded as the dog tried to run across the street to where Knockturn Alley was located. "Nothing but trouble down there. Harry and Draco know better than to go down there."

But Cafall strained at the lead, barking.

"Cafall, stop it!"

Sarai touched his arm. "Sev, I think he's found a scent. Misthounds don't act like this unless they smell a quarry."

"Sarai, I haven't even asked him to track yet. How would he know what he's searching for? Besides, what would they be doing down in Knockturn Alley? That's the haunt of dark wizards and their apprentices."

"If the children were abducted, wouldn't that be where they would be taken?" Sarai mused.

"I . . .yes, I suppose so." Severus conceded reluctantly. Gripping the leash firmly, he followed the eager misthound across the street.

As soon as he stepped into the alley he felt the breath-stealing chill and darkness of Winter magic. "Sarai, do you feel that?"

She nodded, her eyes dark. "Unseelie magic has been worked here, Severus. I feel it within me."

"You're certain?" Severus wasn't truly asking. He knew all too well the taint that dark magic left behind.

"Yes." Frowning, she pointed to the ice-rimed cobbles and bricks. Her foot struck something and she bent to see what it was.

She immediately recognized Harry's medallion, covered in frost, and picked it up. "May the Bright One have mercy!"

"What is it?" Severus turned to look at her and saw the amulet. He felt as if someone had squeezed his heart with a giant fist. Harry never took off that medallion. Then he saw the broken chain dangling from the medallion. He knew that the medallion could not be removed by force, which meant that Harry had deliberately left it behind or it had broken and fallen off. "Damn! I had hoped he still had the medallion, because then I might have been able to feel him a she little through the link."

Cafall sniffed the medallion, then bayed loudly.

Severus winced, for the dog had a voice like a bugle and it echoed through the narrow alley. "Shhh!"

"You know what this means, don't you?" Sarai asked, her face grave. "They have been taken by someone who either works for or is a member of the Winter Court."

"Why would they do something like that? They've broken the Accords by kidnapping Nesmay and my sons."

"I know. Whoever has done this must be desperate . . .or is hoping for a much greater prize. None of the Unseelie do anything without some benefit to themselves or their monarch."

"Then you think Maeve is behind this? Surely she knows this could start a war if the children aren't returned?"

"She would not be adverse to that, if she thinks it would benefit her. On the other hand . . .this could have been done without her sanction."

"Who would be bold enough to defy both queens of Winter and Summer?"

Sarai was quiet for a moment. "I know of one person. He has been sniffing around Nesmayallindra for quite some time. Jarillion, younger son of the queen. He was supposed to have entered into a betrothal contract with my small cousin, but her grandmother refused. She said she would not see Nesmay bartered to some cold Winter lord who would mistreat her and make her life a misery. Not even for the sake of peace. That did not sit well with Oberon."

"Surely, he wouldn't have . . ."

"Oberon would not openly defy Titania," Sarai said. "But he might have made a small deal with Jarillion on the side. I do not think the Winter Prince would have come to the mortal realm otherwise. Especially here."

Severus shook his head. "We can speculate later. I think we should start tracking them. Cafall, find Harry and Draco! Find them!"

Cafall promptly pulled them down the alley and then halted at the end, pawing and barking at the brick wall unhappily.

"A portal. They must have used a portal," Sarai declared. She closed her eyes and concentrated. "Yes. A portal to the fae realm was opened here."

"Can you re-open it?"

"Not to the exact location. The signature is too faint. But if I do open a portal to the Winter Kingdom, we had best be prepared to face what's on the other side. Which is miles of trackless forest and wastelands buried beneath tons of snow and ice, a land of perpetual cold and wind and sleet. We need to gather supplies and appropriate clothing, or else neither of us will survive to find the children."

Severus, who had been so anxious and frantic to find his missing children and Nesmay, had not even thought about venturing into the realm of the Unseelie, and he was grateful that Sarai was there to keep him from going off half-cocked, like some impulsive Gryffindor hero. "Right. We can find what we need here. But we need to be quick about it."

He ordered Cafall to heel and headed back towards the lights and warmth of the shops in Diagon Alley, his heart heavy and fearful within him.

Half-an-hour later, they were outfitted for the cold, with Warmth-Charmed insulated parkas and breeches, shirts and waterproof cloaks, enchanted snowshoes which would make them able to run swiftly over the snow, and packs filled with fleece-lined blankets and a smokeless ever-warm brazier. They had extra clothing and boots, healing potions, a first aid kit, tins of tea, and time-spelled plates of food, which could be revived with a single word and eaten cold or warmed over the brazier. They also had water skins and gloves and scarves, plus Sarai also had a triple-strength rope and a grapple as well as a bow and arrows. They also had dog food and a bowl for Cafall.

Everything was split between them and Severus shrunk all the items so they fit into the small packs and lightened the packs afterwards. Sarai estimated it might take them a week, perhaps two, to locate Jarillion's castle, for the realm of the Unseelie was not easy to navigate, even with a misthound leading them.

Inwardly, Severus cursed the fact that they had to travel overland, but he could not Apparate to a place he had never seen or been to before. His only hope was Cafall. "Should we inform the queen of our mission?" he asked when they stood at the end of Knockturn Alley once more.

"Technically, yes. But if we do so, it could cause a major incident, especially if Titania accuses Maeve of breaking the Accords. I don't want to start a war until we have the children back and if Jarillion suspects that we're making a rescue attempt, he may take them somewhere that it could take months to find them."

"Why risk the wrath of Titania in the first place?"

"Jarillion wishes to marry Nesmay and he would take a refusal as a personal insult. He is arrogant and I believe he wants to flaunt the fact that he has a princess of the royal house in his dominion."

"Why take Harry and Draco though?"

"Perhaps as a bargaining tool?" Sarai shrugged. "I fear for Nesmay, Severus. Jarillion is ruthless and evil, he hates us with a passion. There is no telling how far he will go."

"When I find him, I shall make him wish he was never born," growled Severus, and there was a terrible light in his eyes, deadly and fierce. "No one harms my children and gets away with it. No one!"

She placed her hands upon the wall, fingers spread and lowered her head in concentration.

Glowing green and purple ribbons of light spread out from her fingers and across the wall, creating a brilliant archway of light. Sarai shouted something in the fae tongue, and then the light faded to reveal a stark snow-filled landscape, barren of all vegetation except a few gnarled black oak trees and scrub plants. The sky overhead was a leaden gray, as if it were going to storm any moment, and ice rimed the crooked tree branches.

"Cold enough to freeze the warmest heart," Sarai whispered quietly, quoting an old saying of her people.

Cafall bayed again and jumped through the portal, towing Severus after him.

Sarai stepped through an instant later, then sealed the portal with a wave of her hand.

The cold made her gasp, despite her winter gear, but she knew she would have to adjust to it. She turned about. Severus was standing in snow up to his ankles, trying to restrain Cafall, who was pulling hard on his leash, unmindful of the snow clinging to his paws. Clearly the misthound had the scent and was eager to hunt.

Severus cast a Switching spell and swapped his boots for snowshoes. Then he began to run, following Cafall deeper into the frozen landscape. Wherever Jarillion had hidden, Severus vowed he would find him. And then the Winter Prince would feel the wrath of Severus Snape. Hold on, children. I'm coming.

Behind him, Sarai strapped on her own snowshoes and raced after him, her sword drawn.