Outside the castle, everything was absolutely still, absolutely quiet; the landscape sparkling with white light from the nearly full moon that stood overhead. Hermes' and Harry's feet crunched loudly over the large expanse of fresh snow that had fallen since they had gone to bed; their breaths steaming out huge and bold in front of them, the cold biting painfully in their lungs.

It was simultaneously breathtaking and frightening. Neither boy had ever been surrounded by so much silence, nor had either ever felt so alone. Impulsively, Hermes reached out and grabbed Harry's mittened hand and was relieved when the other boy squeezed back tightly.

They looked ahead to the Forbidden Forest; the only spot of darkness on the entire landscape, and Hermes shivered at the metaphorical implications facing them.

. . .

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

Blearily, Hadwyn stumbled to his door and pulled it open, only to be greeted with the irate face of one Severus Snape.

"Severus?" Hadwyn grunted, nonplussed when Severus strode past him and headed for his bedroom.

"Please do come in," he muttered, closing the door behind them and following after his longtime friend.

He found Severus grabbing clothes from his closet and growled, "You plannin' on letting me in on what's going on?"

Severus flinched and whirled around briefly to tersely remark, "Harry is missing."

Hadwyn felt as though someone had just spelled ice water into his stomach. Stepping forward, his eyes suddenly much more open, he asked, "Missing? What do you mean missing?"

Severus chose that moment to fling a pair of wool trousers at him. "Get dressed. I'll explain on the way."

. . .

Hermes was glad that Harry seemed to know where he was going, because he sure as hell didn't. The forest was darker than he'd thought it be; the moonlight just barely trickling through the thick branches in some places, while completely absent in others. Those spots were like dark pits to his imagination; places where even the light of their wands didn't penetrate, leaving his eyes to make assumptions about the shadowy shapes found within.

It was the perfect setting for a nightmare, and Hermes prayed that they wouldn't be too overwhelmed by similar dreams afterward.

Provided there is an afterward, he thought, none too optimistically.

As Hermes' mind was filled with these rather uncomfortable thoughts, Harry's mind was also centered on a number of unpleasant images as well. Too many memories of angry Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were at the forefront of these sights, and though he had never seen Severus truly angry, he wondered just how much it would resemble those past relatives' outbursts.

He didn't think that Severus would go so far as to end his guardianship of Harry, but there were several things the older man could do to make him wish for such a thing instead. He shivered and stepped closer to Hermes for comfort. He hoped that his Papa Pa wouldn't be like his other relatives at the end of this ordeal, but he also knew that they couldn't leave a baby unicorn to die at the hands of a monster. It was a terrible choice, one he wished he could have avoided making at all, but a choice nonetheless.

Some things were more important than punishments. Some things needed to happen, even if he had to do them alone—or, as he glanced sideways at Hermes—nearly alone.

They kept walking until they reached the small clearing that Harry remembered seeing in his dream. There, highlighted by the moonlight streaming in through a break in the trees was the dead unicorn; still splendid and glorious even in her death.

"Oh God, Harry," Hermes murmured beside him, his voice tight with the anguish that Harry felt in his chest.

Harry stepped forward, releasing Hermes' hand as he did, and laid a gentle finger on the flank of the dead unicorn.

"I'm sorries, so so so sorries," he whispered, trying to find a way to convey his anger and mystification and sorrow and horror at the monumental waste of life before him. "I dreamed see, I dreamed—had dreams, thoughts, ideas, and saw bad things, bad man, the dark monster . . ." he cut himself off and bit his lip to stymie the incessant flow of words from his mouth. Sometimes it seemed as though his tongue would wag forever, maybe even after he died; almost as though it were completely independent from his brain.

A soft sound from the bushes beside him drew his attention and he turned his head toward the darkness at the edge of the clearing.

He took a step forward and felt Hermes move into step just behind him. They would face whatever was in the darkness together, and Harry smiled grimly at the thought of having yet another someone at his side. It was his year for finding people, apparently.

With a deep fortifying breath, he stepped forward once more and reached a hand out to pull the low hanging branches out of the way.

. . .

Hadwyn studied Severus' face closely as the man explained what was going on as they raced outside. His friend was worried out of his mind, but only someone like Hadwyn would have been able to tell. Severus was a blank wall of mind numbing anxiety over his boys; a sight that was only noticeable in the occasional clenching of his jaw and the tightness of his fists as they swung stiffly at his sides.

They found the path leading away from one of the castle's many side entrances; a door that Hadwyn was somewhat surprised that either boy would have known about, but knew better than to ask Severus about it. There was no room for suppositions inside his friend's mind, at least not now.

They ran across the field of otherwise pristine snow, following the double trail of small footsteps as they made a beeline for the Forbidden Forest. The night was far too still for Hadwyn's preferences; each sharp intake of breath colliding loudly against the sound of his wildly beating heart. It made him far too aware of how afraid he was for Harry and Hermes and from the way Severus was acting, he felt sure it was getting to him as well.

They neared the edge of the Forbidden Forest just as distant scream rent the air. Hadwyn nearly plowed into Severus' back as he stopped to listen and cast a Point-Me spell with his wand.

"Was that Harry?" Hadwyn gasped out as they began moving again.

A stiff nod was the only answer he got.

. . .

Harry pulled back the branches hanging in front of him and came eye to eye with a long golden haired face. Big brown eyes stared back solemnly back at him, and Harry's breath caught painfully in his throat as the two orphans eyed one another.

Reaching out an open palm toward the foal, he found himself blinking hard against the sudden urge to sob at the object of pure lonely innocence standing before him.

The foal turned her head toward his palm and exhaled on it through her nose.

"I dreamed about you, I dreamed, I did, I saw—I came. Please," his eyes filled up again and a few tears leaked out and dripped down his cheeks. "Please," he whispered, stepping forward and wrapping a gentle hand around the side of her head.

The foal exhaled again over the top of his head and he stopped trying to talk; instead choosing to reach out his senses, and feel with his magic and his mind and his thoughts. He tried to show her what he'd seen and she snorted loudly at the all too horrific sight of seeing the Dark Thing kill her mother.

Then something peculiar happened; something that had not happened with either the trees he had "talked" with, or the troll. The foal pushed back against his mind, and suddenly he saw a red haired woman standing in front of a crib screaming. He could hear her screaming his name and together they watched her body fall down to the feet of his own Dark Thing.

The foal nosed his wet and cold cheek and he felt warmth spread out from her touch. Impulsively, he reached out both arms and wrapped them around her golden neck and she obliged by moving to rest her head on his shoulder.

"You're just a baby, you are you are," he whispered against her coat. "Can't be out here all by yourself, can you, nope you can't. My Severus will take care of us, honest, I swears," he added, trying to mentally recreate and share with her the feeling of safety and love he had received thus far from his Papa Pa.

"Harry," Hermes hissed suddenly.

He lifted his face from the foal's neck and turned to look at his friend with wide eyes.

"Something is moving over there," Hermes whispered urgently, pointing in the opposite direction from where they were standing.

Blinking, he tried to stare into the darkness at the other side of the clearing, but there was nothing to see. Tentatively, he stretched out his magical awareness and then nearly wretched at the malevolent waves of energy his senses met up with.

Turning to look back at his new friend, he whispered, "We gotta goes right now."

The foal didn't seem inclined to disagree and they followed quickly after Hermes, skirting the edge of the clearing until they were back in the thick of the trees. Harry could hear the sound that Hermes had mentioned mere moments ago. It was a slithering sound that set his teeth on edge and made him feel as though someone was running a frigid cheese grater down his spine.

"It's following us," Hermes astutely pointed out and Harry nodded his agreement.

"We gotta run," He answered, moving in front of Hermes with the foal trailing closely behind.

They ran, but no matter how hard they pushed themselves, Harry could still hear the Dark Thing—for that's what he was sure it was—gaining on them. It was getting lighter now as the trees thinned, and he could tell they were nearly free of the Forbidden Forest when suddenly the malevolent presence exploded inside his head and he screamed out with pain, his knees buckling under him.

Teeth gripped one of his sleeves and a hand grabbed his opposite arm, pulling him forward another few feet before the pain surged up in his chest and he vomited up his supper onto the floor of the forest.

"Little boy," the Dark Thing hissed at him. "There's nowhere to go and no one to rescue you but Death."

Twisting away from the mess in front of him, Harry put a hand up to his forehead only to realize it was bleeding. His hand felt warm and tacky and he desperately tried to make it to his feet, even as the world swam and screamed past his ears and eyes.

Beside him, he realised that Hermes had his wand out, and was casting some kind of fire curse at the Dark Thing. His head shrieked with pain once again just as the world around them lit up with a blue-orange glow and dimly he heard the Dark Thing scream. He couldn't move against the pain as it surrounded him. He felt as though he was drowning in it, and the only thing he could think about was his Papa Pa and pray that the man got there soon.

. . .

As it happened, Severus very nearly tripped over his boy as they finally got to where they were going. Casting curses automatically toward the screaming darkness opposite him, he jumped over Harry's prone body—don't think, just do!—and put himself in between the two.

Now faced with two full grown wizards and in pain, the dark creature flung back a few burning hexes of its own before quickly withdrawing, leaving them with the children.

"Harry?" Severus knelt over his boy's still body as Hadwyn stood poised on the defensive above them.

A golden mouth nickered softly against his head and he glanced briefly up at the pure golden foal standing beside them in shock.

"Is Harry going to be okay?" Hermes asked, drawing his attention to the other boy. While white faced and trembling, Hermes appeared to be physically okay, and he reached down to draw Harry into his arms securely.

"He will be, Mr. Granger," He growled out, standing up with his boy in his arms.

Harry moaned softly and turned his head into the dark warmth beside him, breathing deeply of the familiar scent as he did.

"Papa Pa?" Harry asked weakly.

"Shush child," Severus answered softly as they began making their way back to the castle, the foal moving steadily beside them.

"Do you hate me?" Harry's voice was barely audible, but it still managed to cut a slice through Severus' heart.

"No, little one," He answered resolutely. "Worried? Terrified? Furious? Possibly," He added, drawing his thumb gently down the soft cheek of his son.

"Goldie needed us," Harry whispered, his eyes rolling back in his head as soon he finished speaking and his body relaxing fully into Severus' arms.

"Goldie?" Severus paused just outside the door to Hogwarts and glanced at the foal following loyally after them.

The foal nickered softly as though to say, "Yes, that's me."

"And Mr. Granger, would you agree with that statement?" Severus asked, turning to the boy standing on his other side.

Hermes only nodded, his eyes wide with more honest sincerity than Severus had seen from him all year.

Severus sighed and nodded to Hadwyn as they moved inside the castle. Hadwyn didn't shut the door until the foal was inside and then they all headed for Severus' quarters.