Tobias had spent many years learning, mostly by trail and error, to give as little away as possible as he awoke. With eyes still closed and a throbbing in his temple, he surveyed his surroundings as best as he could. The ground beneath his stomach was smooth, so he obviously was not outdoors. He could smell only a faint hint of cologne or perfume, which meant someone had been nearby recently. None of these things truly startled Tobias, but one thing did. The thing that kept him from opening his eyes or moving for quite sometime after he awoke.

He could hear nothing.

There was no sound of footsteps or movement of any sort. There was no hum of electronics or even breathing. All he could hear was the sound of his heart beating against his chest.

Tobias knew that silence was the most deadly sound.

After what seemed like hours of listening to his own heartbeat, Tobias slowly opened his eyes to survey what he could of his surroundings without moving.

As Tobias opened his eyes his senses where assaulted. He heard familiar angry whispers. He smelt vivid long forgotten aromas. He felt the cold, slick floor. His mouth tasted dry. And what he saw…

What he saw terrified him.

………..

“Do not tell me to calm down!” Severus screeched at Dumbledore. The staff, once again, had gathered in the teachers’ lounge and were almost in a state of panic.

Another of their number was missing.

Tobias had not met up with Severus as was planned. Severus had waited in the designated meeting place for several minutes before setting out on his own. It wasn’t like his father to not be on time. The man was beyond a doubt punctual. Nor was it like his father to throw caution to the wind and search something out in a magical castle where he was almost defenseless in order to look for an obviously deadly creature. Something had happened to Tobias as well as McGonagall.

“Severus, my boy,” Dumbledore tried to sooth. Normally he would not have address Severus in such a way in a professional setting, but the potions master, obviously, needed to calm down and the headmaster knew of no other way. “We will find Tobias and Minerva, but you must calm down and think rationally.”

“That’s just it, Albus!” Severus yelled, seeming oblivious to the audience he and the headmaster had while pacing rhythmically in front of the aged wizard. “None of this makes sense! There is no logical pattern to the attacks!”

“Perhaps,” Professor Sprout spoke up quietly, almost hesitantly as every eye turned to her, “Perhaps, that’s the key: that there is no logic.”

……………

She knew there was a way out and she had found it.

Minerva collapsed to her knees in relief then leaned forward to press her forehead against the edge of the opening she had created.

She had no idea how long she had been unconscious, but when she awoke, she had been faced with the most horrifying scene she could recall. Her broken and dirty nails dug into the dirt and rubble beneath her and she swallowed hard in a vain attempt to suppress the memory that had plagued her for fifty years.

Taking several deep breaths she straightened. This was not the time for having a breakdown. She had come this far, she would keep fighting.

Cursing her ageing bones, she pushed through the opening she had blasted in the brick wall.

When she had come to her wand was missing, she had desperately searched for a way out. Not finding one she had resorted to distracted measures. Using a torch, she took off the wall and she held it to the bricks making them easier to break before using a broken piece of metal pipe to smash a small hole in the wall. Trying to ignore the memory being reenacted around her, she smashed the wall ferociously, but before she had created a hole large enough for her head, the memory had disappeared, leaving her in a strange room with dirt floors. Even though the piece of metal had faded with the memory, she knew she had to escape. Using only her bare hands she tore at the scorched bricks frantically, expanding the hole until she could squeeze through it.

When she had first peered through the hole, she had seen trees and freedom, but as she crawled through she saw only another room and a wonderfully familiar person trying to find a way out. She only hoped that what she was seeing now was real.

……………

A feral howl reverberated around the lair. The beings were smarter then it had assumed. They had found a way to join.

They must not be allowed to escape.

They must be consumed and destroyed.

Perhaps watching their young destroyed would break them.

The primal howls turned into something resembling a purr as the creature left its layer. There must be a young one or two alone somewhere.

……………….

It took some time to break through the lair the young were kept in. The experience drained the creature of the majority of its energy, but it was desperate. It had to choose one of the young here or abandon the idea. It did not yet possess the strength to force its way into the other places the small ones were kept.

At first glance the scene was discouraging. All the young seemed to be kept in a single room, but it sensed more elsewhere.

Slowly, moving only in the shadows, the creature made its path away from the overflowing room and into another, with a single occupant.

An occupant that seemed strikingly familiar. As the creature moved closer it realized why. It was of the same blood line as the male it had captured earlier.

Perfect.

…………….

“Tobias,” spoke Minerva, relief flooding her voice despite the doubt that what she was seeing was real.

Quickly, Tobias spun away from wall, the knife he had been using to wedge between the loose bricks in his hand looking slightly maniacal.

“Tobias,” repeated Minerva, with a slight nervous edge to her voice as she swallowed. She took a step forward with her arms raised to show she meant no harm to the distressed man.

“Hold it,” Tobias commanded holding the knife at ready, threatening enough to halt the Professor in her tracks. “How did you get here?”

Minerva was slightly taken back by the question. Of all the things to ask, why that? She was more worried about seeing if he was indeed real or a memory and he was wondering how she had arrived.

Pushing her nervousness aside, as much as possible anyway, she took a deep breath before answering as steadily as possible. “I’m not sure really. The last thing I remember is a staff meeting, then…then I came to in another room like this one. Only…it didn’t look like this at first. At first, it was a…memory…but…it was so real…” Minerva couldn’t repress her shudder as every horrific detail came flooding back. “I managed to break through into this room.”

Tobias nodded, but didn’t lower the knife. “Tell me something I don’t know.” Tobias stated in all seriousness.

Minerva blinked. This couldn’t be real. Was he serious? She debated on whether or not she should answer.

“This place seems to be based on memories,” Tobias explained, somewhat impatiently, but steadily. “If you can’t tell me something I don’t know then you must be a memory and consequently not real.”

Minerva almost smiled. Severus obviously inherited his genius from his father. But what to tell the man who had a knife posed and ready to use? It had to be something he didn’t know yet not too unbelievable.

“My third year at Hogwarts, I almost failed Transfiguration,” the professor finally confessed in rushed tones, slightly ashamed as to what she had just told the muggle standing before her. “And if you ever repeat of word of that to anyone, I’ll turn you into a toilet seat.”

Tobias laughed, lowering the knife, whether the laugh was in relief or at what she said, Minerva didn’t know but she glared at him for good measure until the laughter subsided.

Before she could ask him the same question, however, Tobias was answering her, amusement still lacing his voice, “Severus’s first word was ‘Dada’.”

……………….

Severus led Professors Sinistra, Burbage, and Hooch through the maze of corridors that was his dungeon realm towards the Slytherin common room. Since it was obviously not safe to travel alone, it had been decided that all Professors would be staying the common rooms of the houses; for their protection and the protection of the students.

They had already stopped at all of their personal chambers to retrieve personal necessities and were now retiring to the Slytherin common room. The four professors were silent as they quickly moved through the cold dim hallways. The only sounds were the clicking of shoes on the stone floors. After hours discussing and planning, the entire teaching staff was more than willing to retire for the night. They still didn’t know where to look for the two missing staff members.

Severus seemed to be moving on pure instinct. He had no memory of walking though the stone corridors to the common room, nor did he recall saying the password to be allowed in. It wasn’t until he was standing in front of the large fireplace and all his students had grown silent, huddling closer to him then normal with looks of fear on their young faces that he truly became aware.

Severus studied the faces of his students, one by one. All of them seemed to be gathered in the common room and now gathered around him as well. Their fear was obvious and Severus knew that common platitudes would not comfort any of them. Even Malfoy had lost some of his arrogance, instead watching the professor’s face closely with wide eyes.

Glancing down at the floor, Severus drew in a deep breath before addressing his students in a tone that conveyed concern yet firm enough to express confidence. “As I’m sure you are all aware, Professor McGonagall was discovered missing earlier today. It appears as though the attack came from within Hogwarts. A few hours ago, Captain Snape also went missing.” Severus paused for a moment to swallow the lump that arose uninvited to his throat. “Until such time as it is deemed safe, you will all remain in the dorm. Any attempt to sneak out will be met with sever consequences. For safely reasons, Professors Burbage, Hooch, Sinistra, and myself will also be staying the dorm. For now, each of you will go to your dorms and prepare for bed. I will perform a bed check in half an hour, any student not in bed will spend all of tomorrow stuck to chair and sitting in a corner. You’re dismissed.”

As his students moved to obey his orders, Severus crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the older students who thought it okay to lag behind. Once the last of his students had disappeared up the stairs leading to their dorms Severus and Professor Burbage moved into one of the side rooms Albus had the castle create while Professors Hooch and Sinistra moved into the other.

……………

Harry scrunched his eyes tight as he began to wake. He had a horrible headache. It felt like the entire left side of his head was going to explode.

He didn’t remember falling asleep. The last thing he did remember was playing a game of chess against Ron after he and the rest of his classmates had been locked in their tower.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, but before they were fully opened he knew something was wrong. He wasn’t in his bed. He was on a hard floor, and it was dark. Even with his eyes, now fully open Harry was unable to see anything.

Harry swallowed hard and willed his heart to stop its pounding. He had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there, but he knew instinctively that he had to find a way out. He stood up slowly, feeling around blindly for a wall of some sort, or anything to help him get his bearings.

“There, there, young one,” soothed a deep voice in a terrifying purr.

Harry froze and his heart began beating fast enough that it pounded in his ears.

“No reason to be so upset,” the voice spoke again, almost seductively and Harry was startled to realize that the sound seemed to be coming from his head.

………….

Severus entered the common room slowly, having finished with the bed check, with a neutral expression on his face that refused to display any of his worry and concern over his father’s disappearance. He was not prepared for the sight that greeted his eyes when he stepped off the last stair. The headmaster, as well as the other professor who were staying in the Gryffindor common room, were there with faces displaying sympathy and fear.

Severus studied each of them in silence for a moment, no one willing to be the first to speak. Suddenly, his breath hitched in his chest and he swallowed convulsively with widening eyes, before speaking in an unsteady voice.

“Harry.” It wasn’t a question. He without a doubt knew something had happened with his brother.

“I’m terribly sorry, Severus,” the headmaster spoke with sincerity and sadness. “His friends all attest to him being locked in with them, but apparently he went up to his dorm early and…now he seems to have vanished.”

“There is no sign of the wards being breached. Fred and George Weasley,” began Professor Vector, her tone filled with compassion, “Even found this for us, among his things.”

The Professor help up a very familiar piece of parchment and Severus mechanically took it from her outstretched hand. It was a map. A map of Hogwarts that showed where everyone was. It was not a perfect map, however, several passages were missing and the room of requirement was nowhere to be seen, but it was quite…impressive.

He made a mental note to strangle Lupin and Black later.

“He’s nowhere on there. Neither are Minerva and Tobias,” the Arithmancy teacher continued.

Severus could only stare unseeingly at the parchment in his hands and wonder how he could have felt so… happy… a week before and now his entire world was caving in on him.

………..

Standing on the other side of the second hole she had put in a wall, Minerva felt like screaming. This room looked the same as the last.

Hearing a curse from behind her, she spun around quickly, just in time to see Tobias jerk his leg out of a quickly sealing hole. She watched mouth agape as the hole they had spent hours creating healed up of its own accord, leaving them once more trapped.

Tobias stood up, slowly having come through the hole immediately after the Deputy Headmistress. Looking at the Deputy Headmistress he almost laughed. The tall woman beside him hardly resembled the strict, uptight, and proper Gryffindor he had come to know. Instead, her hair – usually held in a tight bun – was coming loose, creating a mane of grey hair around her face. She had scratches and bruises on her arms and face and her hands were dirty and bleeding from where she had desperately dug her way through a wall to escape her memories.

Tobias realized he didn’t look much better. His hands had been spared the same harsh punishment only because he always carried a knife with him. He did have a rather large gash on the side of his face stretching from just below his eye to just below his ear and his arms were spotted with purple and blue bruises.

“We should probably rest for a bit and try to come up with a plan,” Tobias finally spoke, an unusual tired tone to his voice.

Minerva nodded, seemingly unable to take her eyes off the wall where a hole had once been.

…………..

“Who are you?” Harry spoke out loud, his courage overcoming his fear. He still seemed frozen in place, but his eyes, which refused to adjust to the dark, shifted wildly looking for…something.

“Come, my delicious little pet,” the voice continued undisturbed as though it hadn’t heard Harry. “You must calm down.”

“No!” screamed Harry, putting both hand on the side of his head and pressing down hard as though trying to squeeze the voice out of his head. “Where is she? You took her, I know it!”

“Hush, young one, you must calm down,” the voice continued sounding like a cross between a purr and a hiss.

Surprisingly, Harry did calm down…marginally.

He had to find a way out. He had to find McGonagall. Taking several deep breaths, he began moving again searching for way out of the darkness.

………….

The small newly created room was small and dark, but Severus’s eyes had adjusted well enough to see even in the curtained area of his temporary bed. He had been lying in bed for what felt like hours, but was probably only one or two. His tossing and turning to find a comfortable place had caused his covers to tangle about him, which in turn caused him to sweat.

He was missing something, he knew. He just didn’t know what.

With a tired sigh he took hold of his blanket and sheet and with a couple of jerks straightened them out, causing the cool air to caress his body before the covers once again flew over him. Closing his eyes, he turned on his side, determined to successfully clear his mind and get some sleep.

One thought, one emotion at a time, Severus painstakingly sorted through thoroughly jumbled mi…

Severus jerked up in bed sitting up straight eyes searching wildly as he dissected the revolutionary thought he just had. He knew what he had been missing. It made sense now.

It wasn’t that there was not logic. There was logic, it was scattered. Like human thought. It never truly, at least not willingly, followed in a pattern that made sense at first. Stream-of-consciousness! It had to be looked at individually then all together.

And the creature had to have left something behind. Perhaps that’s where the missing memories came into play. If he could only…

Jumping out of bed and almost becoming tangled in the curtain in his haste, Severus hurriedly dressed while yelling at Burbage to get up.

He had to speak to Dumbledore immediately.