Snape was feeling much more calm now. He had drunk and he had breathed in fresh air. He had thought about things through a clear mind.

Finally, after his anger, he was feeling calm and stable and he set back to Spinner's End.

Finally he reached his house, or rather, whatever was left of it, and walked through the shabby garden to the front door. The front door opened and he walked inside, hanging his coat on the peg and walking to the living room...and then he remembered Harry.

Sighing, he went to the little room and peered inside. Everything was impossibly quiet. No crying, no murmuring...nothing.

Severus neared the crib and found it...empty. Absolutely empty. The covers were thrown to the floor and the rattle and the little owl were left behind-Harry was gone!

XXX

"Dumbledore, Dumbledore please...you need to come here...it's urgent," Snape begged through the fire.

"You are worrying me, Severus. Is Harry alright?"

Snape closed his eyes in despair. "Just come."

"I'll be there soon,"

The connection ended and Snape buried his head into his hands and worried and worried. He had searched the entire house, the entire garden and backyard, the entire flipping street. Harry was nowhere! He couldn't even using a tracking charm-he hadn't put one on Harry, which was immensely stupid of him, of course.

Where was he gone? Was he kidnapped? That strange wizard who had been stalking them-had he kidnapped Harry?

Snape had no idea what to do. He couldn't just writhe on the chair and wait for Dumbledore to arrive. Time seemed to pass extra slowly and the guilt was choking Severus up, there was so much of it.

Finally, finally, Dumbledore arrived and knocked on the door with urgency. Severus rushed to open it and was not at all surprised to find Minerva standing next to the old man.

"What is it?" She asked the minute she saw him.

Severus shook his head, looking gaunt and much older than he was, much older than 21. "Potter...its Potter..."

Minerva gasped sharply and reached for her necklace. Dumbledore went pale.

"What happened, Severus?" He asked, concerned.

Severus closed his eyes and then spoke, knowing that he deserved whatever reaction would be drawn out of the two. "Potter is missing."

XXX

Severus had never felt so guilty in his life. Dumbledore was not speaking to him at all-and Minerva, oh she was speaking all right-but speaking only to berate and scold him.

"Reckless, immature behaviour! You should be ashamed of yourself! Absolutely ashamed!" She raged, as Severus sat idly on a chair, staring at the floor.

"I'm sorry," he said, more than once, but she went on:

"How could you leave him alone? How? You are a grown man, you should know the dangers!"

"I know. I was a fool."

"Don't you take that hopeless tone with me! I feel like hexing you!"

"I'd deserve it." Severus looked up, his dark eyes showing that he was serious. "I even deserve to be locked away in Azkaban. I promise I'll do anything I can to find him."

"Then don't just sit there moping, get searching Severus!"

Severus nodded mournfully and got up. He knew that Dumbledore was in his office, calling a search team to look for a small, black-haired child with green eyes.

He went to his office, just as Dumbledore finished his call with whoever he was speaking to. The old man turned to look at him, blue eyes sharp.

"Severus, you-"

"I know," Snape said, softly. He stared at his hands. "I will help look for him."

"You were going to do nothing else," Dumbledore said, coldly. "I am very disappointed in you, Severus. What possessed you to leave him alone like that?"

Snape looked up. Dumbledore had never seen so much guilt in the obsidian eyes. "Rage. Sheer rage. And contempt. I have been letting myself go after Lily's death, but now," He shook his head. "Now it is time for me to pull myself back together." He walked to the door. "I am going to look for Potter,"

"I hope you find him before the Aurors do,"

Snape nodded and then disappeared. Dumbledore looked out of the study window, frowning. He saw a black figure rush out of the house and down the street.

Maybe Severus had turned over a new leaf, after all? The man was kind-natured but hardened and snappish after everything that he had gone through. But he was still kind-natured. Dumbledore knew that Snape was serious this time. He was going to change for the better.

Harry's POV

Harry was cold and shivering and weeping bitterly. He had been confined up on a high-chair and could not move. He was wailing for Evrus, begging for him to come back and hold him.

"Hungry, are you brat? What is the use of you eating? You are going to die soon. But not yet-not until I show my friends that I really have caught you," a strange, bad-smelling man said. A man with blue, cruel eyes. Not Evrus's dark eyes-this wasn't Evrus!

Laughing, the man tilted up his little chin and glared at him. Harry struggled and screamed.

The man let go and brushed his fringe away. A red scar could be seen.

"Ah. Proof," the man chuckled. "Thought you could kill the Dark Lord and get away with it, little chump?"

"EVRUS!"

"I wonder who that is," The man said, walking away. "Not dear old Snape, I hope? What does he know about tending to little infants like you, eh Potter? He can barely take care of himself!" With jeering laughter, the man left Harry all alone.

Sobbing, Harry struggled to get out. He screamed and wailed, but the room he was in had a silencing charm. He banged his fists on his high chair. It did not crumble.

He wanted to go HOME.

XXX

Harry was awakening, eyes crusty. He rubbed at them, sniffling mournfully. He was still in the high chair and his back was feeling awful.

"Mama!" Harry sniffed. He looked around. "Dada!"

Silence.

"Evrus!"

A deep, dark silence.

"No..." Harry whined, eyes screwing up.

XXX

The awful man was back, and he was pacing. "They will be here any moment," he said.

Harry glared at him. "NO!"

"Mm, I can't wait too, Potter." The man was grinning manically. "Soon you'll be dead and the Dark Lord will be back,"

Confined and miserable, slapped several times to be silenced, and dirty, Harry felt himself weakening. When would Evrus come to take him? Harry wondered if he would even be there if Evrus came after all, because he was probably going to die from all this...