Next Chapter: Things That Go Bump in the Night

               The skies were black, and the water was high. Waves struck the side of the vessel, rocking the small dinghy as it sailed onward in search of the lost island. It had been straight ahead of the small crew moments ago, but the storm that had been chasing them had caught up and stirred up forces of nature that threatened to crush their beloved sailing vessel Shel. The island had faded into the horizon in thick darkness, and the crew could not see which direction to go in now. A gust of wind struck her side, forcing her to crash into another large wave, knocking the crew off their feet.

               “Man your stations!” Harry demanded as he clung to the wheel to pull himself back up to his feet. “Able-seaman Draco, adjust the sails.”

               “Aye, aye, Captain,” Draco said, pulling on the rope that shifted the sails fighting against the screaming winds.

               “Mate Ollie, keep us afloat. We’re sinking.”

               “I’m bucketing as fast as I can, sir!” Ollie said as he frantically poured bucket after bucket of water out of the ship.

               “Hold on,” Harry shouted as he spun the wheel, turning the ship away from an oncoming wave.

               The wave clipped the edge of the ship with enough force that Ollie slipped on the slippery surface, falling over the rail and into the violent waters below.

               “Help!” Ollie cried, splashing frantically.

               “Man overboard! Draco, toss the life preserver!”

               “Nah,” Draco muttered, pointedly turning away from the life preserver, and crossing his arms.

               “Draco,” Harry scolded, giving his friend a pointed look.

               “Fine,” Draco relented. He picked up the life preserver and threw it out to Ollie, who quickly grabbed it and held on as Draco pulled him back up into the ship, grabbing Draco’s hand when he could reach him. Once safely on board, Ollie and Draco ran up to Harry who was struggling to control the helm. All three kids grabbed the wheel and assisted in turning it in a vain attempt to escape the massive wave rising in front of them.

All three screamed as the wave came crashing down, but then two strong arms wrapped around all of them and lifted them up.

               “What in Merlin’s name are you boys doing?” Severus asked as he pulled the kids off the bed they were standing on and set them down on the floor in front of him.

               “Daddy, you’re messing up our adventure,” Harry complained.

               “I’m messing it up? Have you seen your bedroom?”

               Blankets and pillows were thrown all over the place, along with a few of his toys. His bed was nearly bare of its sheets, and a few beach toys sat on the bed waiting to be put back to use. Miss Trifle’s cage sat in its usual corner surrounded by toys and books, and the little black and white rabbit twitched her nose as she nibbled on hay.

               “At least Miss Trifle has kept her side of the room clean like a proper lady,” Severus commented.

               “This isn’t a room,” Ollie explained. “It’s an ocean. And we’re in the middle of a storm!”

               “There’s an island we’re supposed to get to,” Harry added. “It’s full of treasure we have to find. But our ship was taking in a lot of water.” Harry gestured to his bed. “Then this big wave was going to wipe us out.”

               There was silence for a few seconds before Ollie and Harry looked over at Draco, who was staring at them with a slight frown. Draco’s eyes strayed up to Severus, his hands clasping behind his back out of forced habit, and he looked back at the other two boys before shrugging his shoulders.

               “Yes, what they were saying,” Draco said.

               “Dude,” Ollie said with a shake of his head, “you gotta learn to be a kid all the time, not just when adults aren’t around.”

               Draco stuck his tongue out at Ollie, who repeated the action right back.

               “I’m starting to regret reading Swallows and Amazons to you three,” Severus said. “It is getting late, and I believe Papa wanted your assistance with Shel tonight, didn’t he?”

               “Oh yeah,” Harry said, nodding his head. “He wanted me to take Shel for a walk around the barn. To help him exercise.”               

               “Then you better head out to the barn and get that done. You have an hour left until lights out and bedtime so be quick.”

               “Okay, Dad. Come on, guys,” Harry said, waving his friends to follow him out to the barn.  

               Harry, Ollie, and Draco ran past Severus out of the room, down the stairs, and out into the gardens, following the paths that led to the barn, chasing each other in a game of tag. The game ended when the three walked into the barn, spotting Peadar putting the last of the horses in its stall.

               “There you are, Harry,” Peadar greeted. “I was wondering when you’d come by to walk Shel.”

               “Sorry, Papa,” Harry said. “We got busy playing.”

               “That’s alright. Shel is doing better everyday standing out in the pasture and following his mam. However, it’s good for him to have these walks a little while longer to build his muscle up. Go ahead, up and down the stable a few times.”

               Harry walked over to Asphodel’s and Shel’s stall, where the mother horse greeted him with a snort through his hair. Harry laughed, then stepped into the stall where Shel was lying down in the hay at his mother’s feet. Despite being a month and a few days older now, Shel had hardly grown much in Harry’s eyes, but Peadar said the foal was improving, so Harry grabbed the rope and tied it around Shel the way Peadar had shown him. With a few tugs, Shel pushed up to his feet slowly and took a few wobbly steps forward before finding his rhythm and following Harry. Ollie and Draco petted the horse as he walked past them, then each kid took a turn walking the horse down the length of the stable and back.

               “Look at how strong he is getting,” Peadar commented, pausing next to Harry. “Remember when it took three of us just to walk him out of his stall and back?”

               “Yeah, now he can do three laps real easy.”

               “Yes, he can.” Peadar ruffled Harry’s hair. “Once you’re done, back to the house with all of you. I’m sure it’s almost you’re bedtime.”

               “That’s what Daddy said.” Harry accepted the rope back from Draco and walked Shel back to his stall, giving him a hug and a few pets before shutting him in the stall. “Night, Papa!”

               “Goodnight, Harry. Goodnight, boys.”

               Ollie and Draco gave a quick “goodnight” as they chased after Harry out of the barn. They shoved at each other playfully as they ran back for the house, laughing and jumping out of each other’s reach when one tried to tag the other.

               Suddenly, Ollie stopped short, holding a hand out to stop Harry from running ahead. Draco slowed down until he was next to the two, giving them a curious look.

               “Did you hear that?” Ollie asked.

               “Hear what?” Harry whispered; afraid he might miss the sound if he spoke too loud.

               Ollie frowned as he looked around the property, but the dark of the night obstructed a lot of his visual. Harry and Draco looked around as well, looking for anything out of the ordinary and listening for any strange sounds. After a minute of nothing, they all shared a look.

               Then, a high-pitched giggle broke through the night.

               The boys startled, then Ollie pointed toward the hedges along the far left side of the property, and he ran toward it.

               “Over here!” he shouted.

               Harry and Draco followed him. Once they were in front of the hedges, all three paused again, looking around.

               Another giggle broke through the silence.

               “I think it’s coming from the other side of these hedges,” Ollie said. He stepped closer, sliding in between two of the bushy shrubs and reaching a hand out. A flash of yellow flickered as Ollie brushed against the wards surrounding the property, then his hand broke through them. Ollie moved his hand around but felt nothing.

               “I don’t feel anything,” Ollie said. He peered through the shrubs. “I don’t see anything either.”

               “Careful,” Harry said. “The wards keep out all magical threats, but if you go past them, anything can happen.”

               “What about muggle threats?” Draco asked, crossing his arms.

               “Papa said the MacAuleys’ have never really had problems with muggles so I guess it’s easier to have wards set up and strengthened against one kind of threat than both. Makes them stronger or something.”

               “Hmph. My dad has wards against every possible threat ever. No chances taken.”

               Another giggle interrupted any further conversation. Ollie looked out past the wards.

               “Guys, I think I see something,” Ollie said, leaning closer, pushing against the wards once more. “It’s . . . hiding behind a bush. It looks red and . . . little? Let me see if I can . . .”

               As Ollie inched a little closer to whatever he was looking at, he was suddenly jerked forward with so much force he fell with a shout before being dragged out of sight behind the hedges.

               “Ollie!” Harry cried, running forward without a second thought, Draco following a few seconds of hesitation.

               They pushed through the hedges then past the words, stopping when they didn’t see Ollie anywhere.

               “Ollie!” Harry cried out again.

               “Ollie!” Draco called as well.

               There was a strange sound of choked laughter to their right, then a low snarl to their left.

               “Harry,” Draco whispered, taking a few steps back toward the hedges. “We should go back. Tell Severus or Mr. MacAuley or . . .”

               Draco’s voice suddenly cut off and scuffle sounded behind Harry, who spun around in time to see Draco’s legs drag away under the hedges.

               “Draco!” Harry cried, running forward before dropping down on his hands and knees and looking under the hedges.

               A small goblin-like creature stared back at Harry from under the hedges. Harry frowned at the peculiar creature. It stood no more than two feet high, and it had toad like skin under it’s red clothing it wore. Stranger still was the brown, human-like eyes that blinked at him. Harry tilted his head, and the creature copied him, blinking inquisitively. Then, the animal grinned, showing off small, pointed teeth.

               Harry felt his blood run cold and a shiver tickled his spine. He nearly jumped to his feet and ran for the house, but his feet were grabbed, and he screamed as he was dragged away from the hedges, the little creature beneath them giggling in delight as it waved at Harry.

               Severus drummed his fingers on the desk he was working at. The boys should have returned from the barn by now. It hardly took Harry fifteen minutes to walk the horse one last time before bed, and he was expecting demands for dessert when they did get back to the house. Eileen would be sure to cave, and he had to make sure they didn’t get too spoiled by his mother. Perhaps he should go make sure they weren’t sneaking anything from the kitchen.

               Severus left his study and walked downstairs, listening for any sounds of muffled laughter or clinking spoons. There was nothing but nails on the hard floor as Shandy and Finn walked out of the kitchen and toward the stairway Severus was coming down, wagging their tails at his presence. A door shutting caught Severus’s attention, and he followed the sounds to the kitchen to see Peadar taking off his boots in the mudroom just past the kitchen.

               “The boys aren’t with you?” Severus asked, a dread rising in his chest.

               “No, I sent them back inside about twenty or so minutes ago. They’re not in Harry’s room?”

               “No, they haven’t come up the stairs yet. Where’s Mother?”

               “Tending to the birds in the tall tower, last I knew. Ya sure the boys aren’t playing one of their games?”

               “If they are, they are all in serious trouble with me.”

               Severus ran upstairs to double check the rooms, opening every door there was upstairs before climbing the stairway up to the tower, startling Eileen who was feeding all the birds.

               “Is something wrong?” Eileen asked.

               “The boys are missing,” Severus said. “They went out to the barn to tend to Shel and they haven’t returned.”

               Eileen quickly followed Severus downstairs and back to the first floor, where Peadar confirmed the boys were not in the house. All three went back outside and began calling names, casting various spells, and checking every inch of the property.

               “Harry!” Severus shouted as he flicked his wand around, trying every locator spell he knew, but all were failing. “Oliver! Draco!”

               “Boys!” Eileen cried out in the stable, all the horses turning their heads to look at her. Shandy and Finn were sniffing around the barn. “Are you in here? Harry! Please come out if you’re hiding, it’s not funny.”

               Peadar used his wand to scan for any human presence through the pastures and gardens, but it came up negative. Looking up at the tall tower where the birds were watching with interest, Peadar said, “Time to light it up, ghosts.”

               There were several cries of agreement as several birds sat up and flew to the ledge of the tower. One by one, they ruffled out their feathers, causing a reddish orange glow to illuminate their bodies before they took to the sky. If not observed close enough, they could be mistaken for a ball of fire flying through the air. They traveled in small groups of three to five birds and flew over the entire property first, lighting up every acre for Peadar, Severus, and Eileen to see that the boys were indeed gone before they left the property in several different directions in search of the three missing boys.

               Severus held his head in his hands as he tried to control his breathing. This could no be happening, not now! Forget that Lucius was going to kill him for losing his precious heir, and that he had failed muggle parents of a wizard in protecting their child, he had lost his own son! How on earth had he lost three children?

               Two orange glowing birds flew down to Peadar and Eileen, one landing on the shoulder of their respective bonded partner. Kieran gently nuzzled against Eileen while Fia preened Peadar’s hair in an attempt to be comforting.

               “Thank you, Fia,” Peadar said. He rested a supporting hand on Severus’s shoulder. “We’ll find them, Severus. Right now, I think, would be a good time to call the aurors.”

               “Yes,” Severus agreed, then he groaned. “This is going to make me look like an awful parent.”

               “Now, now, you wouldn’t be the first parent to lose sight of their child. These things happen. The sooner they can investigate and help us search, the better. It’s mostly farmland and towns out here, so they can’t have gone too far.”

               “Daddy!” Harry’s voice sounded.

               Severus startled and looked around, Peadar and Eileen jumping as well.

               “Over here!” Harry shouted, and a sound against the gates drew Severus, Eileen, and Peadar forward. They spotted Harry, Draco, and Ollie waiting at the entrance gates, pulling against them in an attempt to get back inside. “We thought we saw something and then we couldn’t get back through the wards.”

               “Harry, you had me worried to death,” Severus started as he stepped toward the gate to let them in. Peadar, however, grabbed Severus’s upper arm, stopping the man in his tracks. Severus quickly glared at his stepfather. “What are you doing?”

               “Something’s not right,” Peadar explained.

               “What are you talking about?”

               “The wards know to let at least Harry through at all times, and Draco and Ollie are both invited guests that the wards would recognize for a temporary time. There should be no reason they could not open the gates and walk in themselves.”

               “What, are you just going to leave us out here then?” Draco asked, frowning at the adults.

               “Daddy, I’m really sorry,” Harry said, his eyes widening and his lower lip puckering out. “I didn’t mean to go past the wards.”

               “Peadar’s right, Severus,” Eileen said. “Something’s not right here. The gates would just open for them, they did earlier today when I took them to town with me. They raced back and beat me home. This doesn’t make sense.”

               Severus crossed his arms and stared at the children still holding on to the bars of the gate, pitiful looks on all their faces. Severus wanted to believe Harry was right in front of him, safe and unharmed, and that there was no threat. However, he knew what Peadar and Eileen were saying was true. Harry could just open the gate, so why couldn’t he now.

               “Please, Severus,” Ollie pleaded, tugging against the bars again. “May we come in, now?”

               Suddenly, Kieran and Fia both growled before diving for the children, talons out, and they lashed out at the kids, scratching and pecking. Severus nearly drew his wand to stun the birds, but then he watched as a few more birds dove down from the sky and lashed out at the children.

               At first, the children cried out, begging the birds to stop and asking for help from the adults, but then, something changed, and they were hissing and snarling at the birds, revealing pointy teeth.

               Peadar gasped, then flicked his wand at the children, conjuring ropes that tied themselves around each child tightly, trapping the growling kids.

               Peadar moved forward, finally opening the gates and stepping up to look closely at the kids, peering directly at Harry.

               Harry’s eyes softened and his teeth returned to normal as he gave Peadar a sad look.

               “Can I come home now, Papa?” Harry asked.

               “We need to call Magical Creatures Control as well as the aurors,” Peadar said. “The kids have been taken.”

               “What do you mean?” Severus asked. “Then who are these kids?”

               “These kids are changelings,” Peadar said. “Shapeshifting fairies that are left in place of stolen human children.”

               “No,” Severus muttered. “Then where are the boys?”

               “I don’t know,” Peadar admitted. “But the only creatures around here willing to snatch humans and leave changelings in their place are not friendly creatures. They are vulgar tricksters with an affinity for torturing and tormenting those they kidnap. They can draw nightmares to your head and make you live your worst fears over and over again as you sleep. And they love hearing kids scream.”

               “What kind of devilish monster are you talking about?”

               “The fear dearg.”

               Harry slowly opened his eyes, fluttering his lashes and groaning at the small ache in his head. He clutched at his head for a moment before looking around, but everything was blurry. He reached up to adjust his glasses, only to find them missing. He felt around the dirt, but he did not feel his glasses anywhere. Instead, his hand brushed over a body, and he shook the shoulder of whoever was next to him.

               “Draco? Ollie?”

               “Ollie,” Ollie said as he rolled away from Harry’s shaking. He groaned as he rubbed his face before he sat up. “Did you get the number of that bus?”

               “I don’t think it was a bus that hit us,” Harry said, crawling along the floor as he searched for his glasses. He ran into another body, and assumed it was Draco.

               “Draco,” Harry said, shaking his friend’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

               “My father will hear about this,” Draco muttered as he slowly came to. “Oh, Harry. Where are we?”

               “I don’t know,” Harry said. “I can’t find my glasses. Everything is so blurry right now.”

               “We’re in some kind of room,” Ollie said. “Surrounded by brick wall but no windows. Oh—here’s the door!” Ollie ran to the small wooden door they must have been dragged through, but it did not open. “It’s locked.”

               “What a surprise,” Draco said dryly. “Are you okay, Harry?”

               “I’ll be okay. Wish I could see though.”

               A shrieking laughter startled the kids, who huddled closer together. It went on for a full minute before silence fell upon them again. They stayed quiet anyway for a few more minutes before Ollie whispered, “What do you think it was that took us?”

               “I don’t know,” Harry whispered back. “It almost looked like a leprechaun when I saw it, but it was wearing the wrong color. Draco? What do you think?”

               “I don’t know. It’s Ireland, they could have completely different creatures than where I live.”

               “Right. Okay, we have to find a way out of here. Let me see if I can reach out to Dad. Maybe he’ll have an idea.”

               Meanwhile, back at the estate, several aurors were investigating the property while Magical Creatures Control officers were discussing the best way to go about negotiating a safe return of the stolen children. The changelings had returned to their former state of half-grown fairies with goblin like appearances and scaly skin. They gnawed at the cage bars where they had been locked up for the time being. According to the MCC officers, they would be released back into the forests once the children were returned. They would be taken in by their own kind once more, though only until another child could be snatched.

               “How long ago were the children taken?” an auror asked.

               “At this point, maybe forty minutes ago.”

               “And these changelings showed up in their place?”

               “Yes.”

               “I’m going to be honest, it is very hard to get these creatures to comply with anything, no matter what we bargain, and in most cases, the children are released when the fear dearg decide they’ve had enough of tormenting the kids. That could be an hour from now, but it could also be ten years from now. These creatures are unreasonable, difficult, and stubborn to the bone. And they hide their victims well. We’ll do our best, Mr. Snape.”

               Severus nodded his head, to afraid to speak. The auror moved on to talk to the MacAuleys, leaving Severus to his own horrifying thoughts. He had tried occluding his thoughts and reaching out to the bond between himself and Harry, but he could not even get a flicker of connection. He wondered if it was because he still didn’t have quite the control over it that Harry had, or if Harry was unconscious somewhere far away from him, helpless and afraid.

               How could this have happened? How could these things have gotten the kids in the first place? Peadar had said the wards reported no intrusion of magical enemies, which meant the kids must have left the safety of the wards on their own accord. Peadar then explained that the fear dearg were excellent at luring children away from safety. Severus should have discussed the wards more closely with the boys. He had always enforced staying on the property and inside the wards when they were outside, and when they left the estate, they were to be with an adult at all times, but he never really felt the need to go into further details on how the wards worked. Perhaps he should have anyway. This was all his fault!

               Severus closed his eyes and focused on breathing. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt a small flicker, then he heard Harry’s voice.

               “Dad, I need your help,” Harry said.

               Severus opened his eyes, and the blue ghostly form of Harry sat on the ground in front of him.

               “Harry.” Severus let out a sight of relief. Several people in the room turned to stare at him. “Thank merlin, are you okay? Are any of you hurt?”

               “No, just some headaches, but we’re okay. We’re stuck in some weird circular prison. I don’t know where we are exactly, there’s no windows. And my glasses are gone. I think . . . those things took them.”

               “Those things are called fear dearg and they are very dangerous. We have several aurors and magical creature control officers here right now trying to figure out how to find you. The fire ghosts are also out and about looking for you.”

               “Should we make noise, so it’ll be easier to find us?”

               Severus looked up at the aurors and officers.

               “He asked if they should make noise so you can find them?”

               “No, do not do that,” a MCC officer quickly said, ignoring the fact that he had no clue what was going on with Severus. “That will only entice them to play with the kids and they won’t do so in a friendly manner.”

               “Do not make any sounds, Harry,” Severus said. He took a deep breath before saying, “Just hold tight, son, we will find you.”

               “Okay, Dad. I’ll tell the others. Please hurry.”

               “I will find you, Harry. Do not be afraid.”

               Harry smiled at his father before his form faded from view. Severus felt hope fall away as his son vanished, reminding him that Harry was not in a safe place at all. They needed to move fast.

               “He said these things are called fear dearg,” Harry told his friends.

               Ollie gasped and Harry and Draco looked at him.

               “You’ve heard the name before?” Harry asked.

               “Yeah, but I always thought it was a scary bedtime story for kids. Dad used to say that if I was really naughty, the fear dearg would come and snatch me away. We used to play games at school to try and get fear dearg to appear but they never did. We all thought it was make-believe.”

               “Do you know anything else about them?” Draco asked.

               “Not really. Just that they’re the evil twin of leprechauns, and they like to kidnap children and replace them with look-a-likes. And the children they kidnap, they lock away somewhere and torture them until they either grow bored or the children somehow escape.”

               “Dad said that aurors and magical creatures control are looking for us, along with all the fire ghosts. They’ll find us, I’m sure. But we can’t make any noise because it might anger the fear dearg. We don’t want to give them reason to torment us.”

               Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to crumble away, and the kids backed away and up against the brick structure as two of the fear deargs appeared out of tunnels they burrowed through the ground. They wore little red coats and red caps, and besides the goblin like skin, they shared a lot of resemblance to pictures of leprechauns Harry had seen. They giggled as they stared at the kids.  

               “Freaks,” Draco muttered.

               “Careful, Draco,” Harry warned. “Don’t upset them.”

               The creatures moved forward with rigid steps, and when they were inches in front of the boys, Ollie flicked his wrist, sending dirt flying up into the air and striking one of the fear deargs, causing him to stumble into the other one, which sent both of them stumbling back into the tunnels they had burrowed to get in.

               Harry and Draco glared at Ollie.

               “What?” Ollie asked. “I panicked. They’re creepy and they were getting too close.”

               Before Harry could reply, the bricks behind them shifted and collapsed away, causing Harry, Ollie, and Draco to fall backwards. They rolled over and stood up, Harry rubbing his eyes and squinting at the landscape around them.

               They were deep in the forest as trees surrounded them everywhere, along with hundreds of fear deargs, all grinning and laughing at their guests.

               “Oh no,” Harry said.

               “What do we do, Harry?” Ollie asked.

               “This is not good,” Draco remarked.

               Daddy, please hurry up and find us fast, was all Harry could think.