While Vernon was out retrieving the money early that next morning, Dumbledore had just called Severus to his office to talk.

“Would you like a Lemon Drop Severus?” Headmaster Dumbledore asked when his potions master entered his office.

“What is it that you want?” Severus Snape asked, completely ignoring the fact that he was offered a Lemon Drop, as if he would ever eat one anyways.

“Straight to the point as usual, Severus. I have a favor to ask of you. I would ask one of the other staff members but they are all busy or on vacation visiting families…”

“What is it that you want?” Severus repeated, trying to get the main reason for him sitting in the office currently. He had potions to brew and there was too much time wasted when playing along with the headmasters little suspenseful guessing games.

“I was contacted recently by Arabella Figg and she claimed that she has not seen young Harry Pot--” Dumbledore was cut off suddenly by Snape’s exclamation.

“You are sending me to check on that brat?! Why? I’m sure he is perfectly fine! His relatives are probably catering to his demands while we are sitting here chatting.” Severus was about to continue ranting but Dumbledore interrupted before he could say another word.

“Severus, please. He is not the only one that has not been seen. His relatives have not been seen either and they could not have gone on vacation since Arabella is left in charge of Harry when they do so. Please just check into it. If you don’t want to do this for me, then do this for Lily. She would have wanted you to keep an eye on her son for her.”

Severus knew that he could not say no after Albus added that last part. Lily was probably his only true friend throughout his years at Hogwarts. She was always the one who would help him when he needed it, even if he never asked. She was pretty much the caring sister that he never had. Severus resigned himself to his fate of checking on Harry.

“Fine.” Was all he growled out before he left the room with his robes billowing dramatically behind him. Severus apparated to an alley near Privet Drive and quickly transfigured his robes into appropriate muggle clothing, in all black of course. He walked briskly to number four and rang the door bell. No one responded after he rang for the fifth time. He murmured the spell to unlock the door and let himself inside.

Severus looked around the house with disdain as he spotted many photographs of a large child. He briefly studied each photograph and noticed the lack of a certain dark haired boy in any of them. Harry was not in any of the family photos and there were not any school photographs displayed either. Severus stopped his examinations when he heard keys rattling and the door slowly opening. There was a very large fat man in the doorway and he was carrying a briefcase.

Vernon looked up from his position in the doorway and saw a man dressed in all black. His first guess was that this was one of the people who kidnapped his family.

“I-I have your money. Where are Petunia and Dudley?” Vernon stuttered out fearfully. He sounded desperate and he was very pale.

“What on earth are you babbling on about muggle?” Severus said with one of his trademark glares. Something was obviously wrong here and he intended to find out what it was.

“Who are you then? How did you get in my house?” Vernon bellowed, completely ignoring the death glare that was sent his way and was more interested in who this man was since he was not the kidnapper.

“I am here looking for Harry Potter.” Was all that Snape said and that sentence alone caused Vernon to pale a bit more but then turn purple in rage.

“There is no Harry Potter here! You are one of those freaks aren’t you?! Get out of my house!” Vernon roared at Snape, who was not impressed by the man at all.

“I am a wizard if that is what you were referring to. Now, I demand to know the whereabouts of Harry Potter.” Snape leveled Vernon with his death eater glare and Vernon caved.

“I don’t know where he is!” Vernon went into the kitchen and pulled out the letter and the photograph that came with the letter. He handed both items to Severus.

Severus looked over the letter and was about to question Vernon further when the phone rang. Vernon immediately went to answer the phone.

“He-Hello?” Vernon stuttered out. “Yes I have the money.” He listened for a moment then hung up the phone when the other line hung up.

“Was that them?” Severus asked Vernon after he had a chance to look over the letter and photograph that portly man gave to him.

“Yes. The exchange will take place here tonight at midnight. Wait-why are you still in my house?! Get out!” Vernon roared at Snape. Snape was unfazed by the overweight man’s yelling.

“I am still here because Lily was a great friend to me and I owe it to her to get her son out of this mess alive. I will be staying here.” Severus said in such a commanding voice that even Vernon would not dare attempt to make him leave. “No one will know that I’m here and if the exchange goes well, then you shouldn’t ever see me again. If anything goes wrong, I will be able to help remedy the situation. Is that clear enough for you to understand Mr. Dursley?”

“Y-ye-yes” Vernon stammered out, obviously very much intimidated by Severus’ death glares and the fact that he was a full grown wizard who could do magic as he pleased.

“I will be putting up a silencing ward around this house so that the neighbors will not hear anything tonight, along with a few other minor wards.” Since Vernon did not seem to like magic, Severus felt that it was necessary to inform him of what he was about to do so the man wouldn’t panic. Vernon nodded his head but still cringed slightly when Severus pulled out his wand.

After finishing the minor wards, the potions master decided to interrogate the muggle about how this situation was created. Vernon explained how the briefcases were switched by accident and how he kept the money. Apparently these people were not too happy about their money being taken and tracked Vernon down. It was not too hard to do since information about his name and workplace was found inside the briefcase that they had.

“Why is Potter not in any of these photographs?” Severus had wanted to ask about that for a while now.

Vernon paled slightly when he was being questioned about Harry. “The boy is just camera shy.” That was the best excuse he could come up with and since Snape wasn’t looking at Vernon, he didn’t see the relief that crossed Vernon’s face when he let the matter drop.

Severus made himself as comfortable as possible and waited for the time to fly and the exchange to occur.

....................

Harry woke up somewhat disoriented. It was too bright in the room for him to be in his ‘room’ and the mattress he was on was much more comfortable than the one he normally slept on. He stood up and walked over to the door to see if it was open. It wasn’t but the door gave a sudden click and became unlocked. The memories came rushing back as he remembered the same thing happening the day before. He peeked out into the hallway and noticed that Jason was sitting on a chair reading a magazine, obviously there to make sure that none of them got out. Jason suddenly looked up and saw that Harry was standing there in the doorway.

“What the hell?!” Jason dropped the magazine and darted into the room where Harry had retreated. When Jason entered the room, he found Harry sinking to the floor in the corner. The boy was shaking slightly because Alex wasn’t there to stop Jason from hurting him again. Jason smirked at the sight of the terrified ten year old.

The rogue flicked open the switchblade that he carried in his back pocket and went up to Harry. Harry didn’t move because he was afraid that he would end up being stabbed if he ran for it now. Jason placed the cool metal blade against Harry’s throat and asked, “How did you get out?” in a very dangerous voice that promised pain if the kid didn’t answer.

“I-I don’t know.” Harry trembled slightly as he spoke. “It was the same as yesterday. It just opened for me.” Harry whimpered slightly when Jason pressed the blade to his throat a bit harder. A very small cut appeared on Harry’s neck and a small amount of blood oozed down his neck.

“Do you really expect me to believe that?” Jason asked skeptically. He was about to say something else when he heard someone moving behind him. He relaxed his hold on Harry a bit to turn around.

Ryan was standing in the doorway. “I though Alex told you to leave the kid alone and to not hurt him anymore.”

“I wasn’t hurting him much. I just needed to question him a bit. Get out of here and leave us alone.” Ryan left them and wandered into the kitchen. Alexander was sitting at the kitchen table reading some papers. He murmured something before stacking the rest of the papers into a pile and then stood up. Looking around the cupboards he pulled out some Fruit Loops cereal. The blond haired man poured some cereal in a bowl along with some milk before grabbing a spoon and heading down the hall. He immediately noticed that Jason wasn’t sitting in the chair anymore and that Harry’s door was open. Alex placed the bowl on the chair before rushing into the bedroom. He saw Jason holding a knife to Harry’s throat and questioning him about picking locks. Alex hastily crossed the room and pulled Jason away from Harry.

“What the hell are you doing?! I told you to leave the kid alone! What part of that is unclear to you?!” Alex shouted. Harry’s once fearful green eyes now shone with slight appreciation for Alex for once again saving him from Jason.

“He tried to sneak out again!” Jason yelled back at Alex. Alex snatched the knife from the thug and pulled him out of the room where they continued yelling for a few more minutes. Alexander returned after the yelling stopped carrying a bowl of soggy cereal which he placed on the floor before approaching Harry, who was still huddled in the corner.

“Hey kid. Are you okay?” Alexander asked, slightly worried that Jason had a chance to hurt Harry with that knife. Harry just nodded his head to say that he was alright. There was only one shallow little cut on Harry’s neck from the knife and other than that, he was okay. “What about your hand?” Harry looked confused as he looked down at his hands. There was nothing wrong with either hand. His left index finger was a little sore but that was it.

“Huh. That’s certainly weird. I was almost certain that you finger was broken yesterday. Well at least its better. I brought this for you in case you were hungry but you don’t have to eat it since it’s soggy.” Alex passed Harry the bowl of soggy cereal. Harry had never tried this cereal so he ate it anyway.

“I have a daughter named Lisa who is about your age. Now that I think about it, she has done a few odds things before. I remember one time when she was playing in the tree and fell. The weird thing is she sort of floated down the ground and didn’t even get hurt. I had forgotten about it until I noticed that your finger was perfectly fine this morning. I guess you and my daughter can both do strange things.” By the time that Alex had finished talking, Harry was done with the cereal.

“Thank you.” Harry once again said to Alexander. That was probably the fifth or sixth sentence that Harry had said throughout the entire time that he was here.

“No problem kid. Do you need to use the bathroom before I lock the door again?” Alexander asked as he stood up and grabbed the bowl. Harry nodded so Alex led the boy to the bathroom and waited outside the door until Harry was done. “Will you stay in here even though you have a knack for unlocking this door?” Harry nodded his head and Alex paused for a minute before turning around and grabbing the magazine that was still on the floor from earlier. “Here. Why don’t you read this? Just stay in this room.” Alex repeated. Harry mumbled another thanks as Alex closed the door. Alex was just heading back into the kitchen when he heard Dudley’s obnoxious voice.

“Let me out! I’m hungry! I’m bored too!” Petunia could be heard in the background trying to shush Dudley. They were kidnapped after all and typically it is not a good idea to aggravate the kidnappers too much. Alex decided to make things easier by grabbing a rag with chloroform on it and entering Petunia and Dudley’s room. He quickly shoved the rag over the obnoxious boy’s mouth and did the same to Petunia. They both fell into the darkness and the house was finally silent again and would stay that way until either woke up. It would be great if they did not until the exchange that was taking place that evening. It was almost noon so there was still about twelve hours until the exchange was going to occur. All there was left to do now was to wait.