As always, as soon as he'd stayed long enough at the Halloween feast to satisfy Albus, Severus made his escape. Severus nodded to his Slytherin prefects, knowing they understood to keep an eye on the youngsters. He nodded to Sinistra who smiled slightly. If she continued to do well, Severus was inclined to turn over the House to her within a few years. They had talked about it at length. They knew that Voldemort would return, and working together they were making headway with some of the students.

The few muggleborn were most comfortable with Aurora and the half-bloods were surer of her than of a recently outed spy. The purebloods were split - some had no intention of speaking to either of them other than to get information - likely at their parent's behest. Others were waiting to hear from parents, hopeful that Snape was really against the Dark Lord - others hoping it was an elaborate trick to fool Dumbledore.

There were some older students, looking at when they would be leaving Hogwarts and their parents reach. There were those who hoped to avoid service to a Dark Lord known for his viciousness. Snape was many things - but he took excellent care of his Slytherins. If Snape truly was against the Dark Lord they knew he would help them find options.

He could easily turn the House over to Sinistra earlier - next year, even, but they both felt that working together doubled their effectiveness. They would know when Severus needed to step down. Severus wandered slowly down to his quarters, musing on the amount of research he could accomplish if not weighted down by House duties.

He sat in front of the fire, summoning a pot of chamomile tea and a book he was reading. He hoped Harry and the others were having a good time at the Dragon Reserve party. Lucius had promised to keep an eye on Harry in case he looked depressed. Severus had barely finished a chapter when the floo flared and Lucius appeared.

"Severus? I need to talk to you about the party we just attended." Lucius said breezily, as he stepped through the flames.

"How did it go? Was Harry upset?" Severus asked anxiously.

Lucius barked out a laugh. "You could say that. McNair managed to get himself invited to the party and tried to kidnap Harry. We stopped him, but yes, Harry was somewhat upset."

Severus heart stopped for a moment, then restarted going double-time and he surged to his feet. "McNair tried to...where is he?!" Severus shouted.

"Harry's upstairs in bed at Dragonsrest, hopefully asleep." Lucius asked with a little confusion. The calming draught was still working quite well, and he could face Severus' fury with poise.

"NO! Where is that cowardly child-snatching spineless excuse of a dark wizard McNair?" Severus thundered.

"Oh, he got away." Lucius answered indifferently. "We were more worried about getting Harry to safety than capturing him, and he got to the floo."

Severus was dumbfounded at Lucius casual recitation of the events, and then he noticed the slight glassiness to Lucius' eyes and frowned. "What have you taken, Lucius?"

Lucius looked at him in surprise. "Calming draught." He answered with a grin.

That stopped Severus in his tracks in astonishment. Lucius had needed to take a potion before telling him about this? On reflection, if he had to tell Lucius about a near-kidnapping of Draco he might do the same. A parent's ire at a threat to their child could be quite daunting. That thought seeped in, as well. Harry now called him dad at every opportunity and he thought of Harry as a son.

He really was a parent.

Lucius smirked at him in understanding. Lucius was a poor Legilimens, but he read people very, very well - and he knew Severus and how his mind worked. It wasn't difficult to read his thoughtful gaze. Severus was becoming used to the idea of being a parent, with a parent's rather paranoid fears.

"The Director - Yuan demanded Wardwrights from the International Federation Wizards that were there, I'm sure they are scrambling to think of a way to improve security. Amos Diggory took off to roust the Aurors to start the hunt for McNair. The Dragonriders took great offence to his attempt - so I expect the Dragons are irate as well." Lucius was happy to be able to reassure Severus somewhat.

Severus nodded slowly thinking quickly. "If McNair is on the run, he may go to one of the old Death Eater safehouses or storehouses."

"Do you think he would risk that? He would know we would check the ones we know of." Lucius said doubtfully.

"Each of the Death Eaters only knew of three places - four at the most." Severus smirked. "Over time, with careful questioning, and a few exchanges of potions or information - I have the locations of over twenty."

Lucius raised an impressed eyebrow. "You likely know all of them - or close to it."

Severus grimaced. "Unlikely...at the least I have no idea where the Dark Lord's base was - he never shared the co-ordinates with me. I just got pulled there by the mark."

Lucius nodded. "He never told me, either. He didn't trust anyone that I knew with that. I'm sure that even crazy Bella didn't know where it was."

The only thing we really need to decide is whether to bring in Albus or any of the Ministry on our search - it would go quicker with them." Severus mused, and then scowled. "I'm reluctant to give anything to them that we might need later."

"We could search them one by one and bring in Aurors as soon as we find McNair. We could re-ward any safehouses we felt we wished to keep, perhaps give a few to Albus' Order. Give over a few that we don't really want to the Ministry so they can wave them at the media." Lucius thought rapidly.

"We could place students or families in the safehouses we keep that don't wish to follow the Dark Lord and can't stay in their own homes for whatever reason." Severus perked up considerably. McNair was doing them a bit of a favor, actually, pointing out that they had access to more of Voldemort's assets that they could exploit.

"We'll need time to do this properly. I'll need to tell Albus - as long as we provide him with safehouses, I'm sure he won't begrudge us a few for our plans, as well." Severus said, throwing down floo powder and calling for Albus' office. He was granted entrance and Lucius accompanied Severus up to the office.

Albus looked up in surprise, and waved them into seats. Lucius explained the evening's events and then Severus explained their impromptu plan.

"I'll need some time to go through the safehouses, searching for McNair and re-warding the ones we keep - turning some over to you, and letting the Ministry have others..." Severus bleakly wondered how many weeks he would need, having just then realized how extensive the plan was.

Albus sat back and thought briefly. "Severus, I know you are used to doing things on your own - I can easily fill in for you this week - it will be Sunday morning in a few hours and you'll have the whole week. However if you decide ahead of time at least some of the places you wish to give the Order or want the Ministry to have you can let us go through them. Plus - I'm sure you trust Auror Savage and a few others to help you with your ‘personal list'." Albus smiled at the pair. "If it takes longer than the week, we'll renegotiate."

Severus scowled "I expect you to at least try to stick to my potions schedule and not teach them to brew cheering potions or hot cocoa."

"I wouldn't dare, I assure you." Albus chuckled with a rather insincere twinkle in his eye.

Severus groaned and hoped his classrooms didn't get repainted into reds and yellows while he was gone.

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Severus went to inform Sinistra that she would have charge of the House for the week, and she attempted to not look gleeful. He then let his prefects know about Sinistra being in charge and that he would be away for a week.

While he was doing that Lucius firecalled a very agitated Minister with another front page story for him to give a press conference about. Amos was rallying the Aurors, but the Minister had still been dithering as to how to make this look less like ministry incompetence.

He was relieved to see Lucius and Lucius ‘suggested' that he ‘regretfully' say that yes, a Death Eater had managed to remain hidden in the ministry after ‘He Who Must Not Be Named's' fall, and tell the tale of the kidnapping attempt - emphasizing that it had been foiled by the Dragonriders and Lucius. The Minister would then reveal that a joint effort by the Dragon Reserve, the IFOW, and the Ministry were coordinating efforts to make Harry Potter safe and to apprehend the nefarious McNair.

They felt that this would silence any alarm in the population and if they asked probing questions about the ‘efforts' they could plead the need for secrecy to keep Harry safe. Lucius promised there would be results enough to provide plenty of good news to trumpet to the media in the near future.

The Minister hurried off the chivvy more Aurors into the hunt and to mentally compose a press release. Lucius was satisfied that Cornelius was properly motivated when he ended the call. The Minister did alright when steered in the right direction.

They arrived at Dragonsrest and shooed a still awake Petunia to bed with reassurances that they had a plan. They spent the remaining hours before dawn spiking their hot cocoa with pepper-up potions and listing the safehouses and storehouses they knew of. Lucius was relieved that he knew one that Severus did not, bringing the list to twenty three.

Then they carefully sorted through them, and made a list of seven to let the Ministry handle, eight for the Order - leaving eight for them to go through, themselves. They'd kept some nice houses that would make excellent abodes for on-the-run allies or students, and one storehouse that Severus recalled had several libraries and a lot of potions equipment and ingredient in it.

Lucius firecalled Auror Savage at the crack of dawn, explaining the situation to the confused man - he hadn't even had his coffee, let alone read the morning paper, so he hadn't seen the headlines screaming about McNair. Amos had rousted a large number of Aurors the night before, but he hadn't the nerve to disturb Hugo Savage. Hugo accepted the list of old Death Eater lairs with a smirk and lifted eyebrow.

Lucius just smiled back blandly.

"A rather surreal scene, that we wouldn't have imagined a few years back...don't you think?" Hugo said to the ex-Death Eater mildly.

"Truth is stranger than fiction and always will be Auror Savage." Lucius answered with a tranquil smile - the calming draught hadn't quite worn off as yet.

The old Auror raced through breakfast and headed to the Ministry to arrange the search of the safehouses.

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Albus received the list of six safehouses and two storehouses with satisfaction. There was a brief description of the places and contents - along with the last known passwords. One place would make a very fine headquarters if ... no, when it was necessary to reform the order.

He was glad there were no classes today, and began calling order members to assist the search of the places. Moody and Kingsley were with the Aurors search of the lairs, but Albus had others he could call. Dedalus and Elphias were available, of course, and he was sure Hestia Jones and Sturgis Podmore could help. Hagrid, of course would love to accompany them. Arthur Weasley - as it was Sunday - also agreed, and after contacting Great Aunt Muriel to watch Ron and Ginny, Molly came along as well.

He had contacted the Tonks household - Andy and Dora were going to Dragonsrest, but they would join him if they weren't needed there. Ted, though immediately came through to gab with Arthur.

Albus thought for a moment - yes, he believed Remus was in the country. He smiled a bit craftily and called the werewolf for assistance, as well.

Yes, Albus thought, although the primary objective at present was to find McNair, the Order was also getting a great boost as well. The members he had contacted had been bristling with excitement. They all knew that trouble was coming. Having these places of refuge could be the difference between life and death - with the added plus that they were depriving Voldemort of them.

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Lucius and Severus started plotting what places to search first and who to take with them. Hugo had promised to join up with them after organizing his own search parties at the Ministry. To their surprise, Andy and Dora showed up to check on them. The Prophet headlines had alarmed them, and they wanted to offer any assistance they could. Rosemerta arrived hard on their heels, looking equally alarmed.

It was decided to have Dora stay at Dragonsrest to guard, and Andy and Rosemerta would go with Lucius and Severus. Andy was not a Black for nothing, and Rosemerta had handled many a bar-room brawl and both felt they could hold their own in a fight. Auror Savage arrived and the group was almost ready.

Yuan came by with a contingent of dragons and Dragonriders. The Dragonriders were soon recruited to help the search of houses, when they learned of the plans, and were happy to be sworn to secrecy. The dragons had been conferring during the night and were intending to take turns guarding the house, itself.

The rescued Ukrainian Ironbelly and his dragon friend Hazelette were the first on guard, although a great many more dragons seemed to be perching nearby than usual. A pale looking Tom arrived downstairs, and Yvane was still muttering to him.

"Yes, the dragons - and I - are determined that nothing like that happen again. I promised to keep Harry safe, as well as you and the honor of dragons is now at stake. That rat McNair will die of old age before we let down our guard, again." Yvane said smugly.

Tom sat next to Dora for breakfast, wishing he felt well enough to help with the search. Dudley, Draco and Harry soon joined them sleepily. Harry was thrilled to see Severus and privately was almost glad about the crisis if it meant a week of added time with his dad. They all listened to the plans and were told to listen to Petunia and Dora while Severus and Lucius were gone.

Lucius pulled out a fistful of runic portkeys and divided the twelve Dragonriders up into three groups. "We'll go with the first group to a safehouse and get them started, and return for another group to go to another house, etc. We'll search for McNair, take down the wards and put up our own so he can't go there, later. It's been less than a day - he may still be running, for all we know."

They all headed to the first house - Lucius felt it was a good spot to start, as it had once been a summer home for a part of the McNair family. They entered with the password and slowly made their way through the dusty house; they were disappointed to find no sign of McNair. Once it was considered clear, Severus and Hugo stayed with that group of Dragonriders to take down wards and place their own.

Lucius and the ladies went back for another group and repeated the same process at the next house. Once it was inspected Andromeda and Rosemerta were left to lead the re-warding. Andy had smugly stated that the rather paranoid Black family knew a great deal about such things.

Lucius' energy was flagging by the time he had transported the third group to the last house they intended to go through today. That house was cleared and Lucius downed another pepper-up and led the group in re-warding the place. They would place heavier wards later, when they had time.

They were all done in time for a late lunch. The elves had been very pleased to provide a meal for the Dragonriders in thanks for their help, and then they were sent off to let Yuan know how it had gone. All but two had promised to return the next day. The other two had apologetically said they were scheduled to fly reconnaissance for the Reserve.

Lucius staggered off with a scolding Draco to Malfoy Manor, already half asleep from the drain on his magic. Andy was yawning - no longer used to casting non-stop for hours, and Dora helped her through the floo to home. Rosemerta kissed Severus and then Harry goodbye and also went to rest before having to open the Three Broomsticks. Hugo bid them goodbye as well, saying the Ministry would likely insist he be at his office in the morning but to call on him if there was trouble.

Severus was more used to sleepless nights and heavy magical use, and joined the group in the living room. Petunia was reading an owl-care book and Tom was dozing over a book on warding - having found a sudden interest in that.

Harry was petting Hedwig and talking to her, but he looked up at Severus with a smile of welcome. Dudley was gazing raptly out at the enormous Ironbellys that were just outside the front door.

Severus sat in a chair near them and sipped at his tea. After a good nights sleep, they should be able to repeat the search of at least three houses tomorrow, leaving only one or two for a third day. He began to think they would not find McNair in the old Death Eater safehouses, the three they had done today had been the ones he would most likely to have fled to, so he must either be with friends, or hiding elsewhere.

Severus was still furious at McNair, but it was now tempered by hours of plotting and the exhaustion of hours of spellcasting. He felt he needed to catch McNair and make an example of him; apparently the captures at the house on Spinners End hadn't made a deep enough impression on the Death Eaters not in prison. Of course, Lucius' broadcasting his defection to an entire ballroom full of them at the Parkinson's had likely stirred them up.

Hedwig winged her way quietly to the window, and Dudley opened it for her to leave. Harry sat beside his guardian and gazed at his exhausted face. "Was it really difficult?" Harry asked.

"No, just tiring. Taking down wards not placed by yourself is intensive work because the magic fights you. Placing wards is very tiring as well." Severus looked closely at the boy. "We had hoped to find McNair, but he's eluded us, so far."

Harry fidgeted a bit. "I'm sorry to be such a bother..." Harry trailed off uncertainly.

Severus scowled, "Harry, you are no bother. McNair is the bother, and his actions are not your fault. We have to expect that those loyal to the Dark Lord will likely target you. But that is their choice - and you cannot blame yourself for it."

Severus' somewhat snappish response was somehow especially reassuring to Harry. If he had been overly reassuring Harry would have suspected him of insincerity. The fact that his guardian was usually a rather austere and sarcastic individual - except with his closest friends and the occupants of Dragonsrest led Harry to feel that Severus would be unlikely to hesitate to point it out if Severus felt ‘inconvenienced' by Harry.

Harry was slowly feeling more secure in his faith that his ‘dad' was not going to suddenly become tired of taking care of Harry and his needs - that he wouldn't hear the words ‘burden or undue expense' coming from Severus.

"When do Christmas Holidays arrive, again?" Harry asked. "I'm making a list of what I need to get - I'd like to have a look around Diagon Alley again and see what's available. Do you think we could go this week - or weekend? I've already arranged for one of yours - but I should get started on some of the others." Harry added slyly.

Severus chuckled, Harry had already hinted when he first learned about his potions vial company that Severus could expect gifts that might be potions vial oriented.

"It will depend on how the next few days go. We cannot underestimate McNair - or the fact that he may be feeling quite desperate. I cannot promise an outing, but if possible we will try." Severus smiled a bit at the whoop from Harry, as well as the one from Dudley, who had been listening in.

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McNair sat in his conjured chair, feeling somewhat bored - but still a little excited. He had accioed a Daily Prophet that a Dragonkeeper had discarded, so he knew he was hunted by everyone. He smiled grimly. He had a vague idea that he would eventually find refuge with some old friends in Bulgaria or Albania. A lot of Death Eaters or sympathizers had gone there to live, as the locals had no interest in anything they might have done in England. Russia was also an option the few remaining wizarding communities were widely scattered and hiding was easy.

But, before leaving Britain he wanted to strike a telling blow on his enemy. Preferably his would kill or capture Harry Potter, but Severus or Lucius dying would do as well.

He had outwitted Lucius and Severus by hiding here - not an easy accomplishment. McNair knew he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but he had watched carefully when planning was done at Death Eater meetings. He quite often copied actions done by others wherever the circumstances seemed to fit.

When the kidnapping went south he had thought quickly and remembered someone having had the same problem, and didn't dare return to Voldemort without the victim that had been demanded. They had flooed away - but not far, and the family hadn't realized to check close to home to make sure he'd gone. The Death Eater had waited a day or so and snuck back in - from the nearby tool shed.

Well, there hadn't been a tool shed, but he'd flooed to a storehouse on the Reserve that he'd peeked in while looking around. He'd grabbed supplies, shrunk bags and boxes and fled to the caves lining the cliffs. There were those that were too small for any but a very small dragon. Since it hadn't been claimed as yet for the winter, it would most likely be left alone.

McNair had unshrunk the supplies and cast stasis charms on the food. Transfiguring rocks and driftwood into a table, chair and bed had made him comfortable enough for his wait.

McNair knew how to wait; he'd done years of it in the Ministry knowing one day the Dark Lord would return. After all, the dark mark was still there - very faint, but still there.

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Neville listened while Callidora told him more stories about her father Arcturus, her husband Harfang and her son Frances. She even knew quite a bit about his father, Frank. All he had even heard was about was his parents being Aurors. He hadn't known about how much Frank had liked plants - he'd wanted to be a Herbologist like his father Frances, but with the war escalating just as he graduated he'd followed his fiancé into becoming an Auror at his mother's urging.

Neville bitterly wondered what career she would be picking out for him. He supposed it would depend on how much ability he revealed to everyone. Callidora had mused that it might be wise to play ‘inept' at school at least for a time, so as not to alarm Uncle Algie into stepping up any new plans to be rid of him.

Neville had leafed through the ‘Hexing your family...etc.' book but now that he had a wand that worked they seemed daunting. If he did any of the pranks they would figure out quickly enough it was him. After all, with only three in the house it would have to be August or Neville if Uncle Algie suddenly was cursed with large painful boils on his butt.

He would have to think of a way around that. Callidora had assured him that the wards on the house would prevent the Ministry from knowing who did what magic here - so there would be no charges of underage magic. He just needed a way to get the hexes blamed on someone else.

Of course, he thought bitterly, he'd really rather find a way to do something as terrifying and potentially fatal as Uncle Algie had done to him.

He picked up the Daily Prophet. The headlines yesterday had been all about the attempted kidnapping of the ‘Boy Who Lived' by a Death Eater at a Halloween party on the Welsh Dragon Reserve where he apparently lived. The papers had been gleeful to finally pin down exactly where Harry Potter made his home. The constant speculation had begun to get boring.

Today's paper had been all about the seven Death Eater safehouses that the Ministry Aurors had ‘discovered' and seized. McNair hadn't been found, but the finding of the safehouses was being touted as a ‘strike against dark wizards and any remaining Death Eaters'.

There were several pictures of Harry Potter and his cousin and friends, and one with a smiling Harry Potter flanked by his guardian Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy. The two men were staring out of the picture menacingly. The picture's caption oozed approval of Snape and Malfoy's ‘protectiveness'.

Neville grimaced in anger. Although it didn't sound fun to be targeted by Death Eaters like McNair and have to fear for ones life. He at least had adults trying to protect him and not drop him off a pier or out a high window.

Neville sneered; he just couldn't understand how Potter could stand having his protectors be Death Eaters, themselves. Apparently Potter didn't care who they were as long as they indulged his every whim and treated him like a little prince.

Neville burned with resentment, for Uncle Algie, his Grandmother, and especially for Harry Potter who was living with people who cared about him.

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