"I'm afraid not. It won't melt until you get it to Harry, but I can't promise its integrity if it's bouncing about in your pocket," Fortescue said.
"Prove you love me, indeed," Severus muttered under his breath, tempted to abandon the thing here.
"What was that, lad?"
Severus gave the old fool a glare that would have had first years wetting themselves and answered, "Nothing. Good day to you."
"And to you," Fortescue said with an insipid smile.
Resting the ice cream on the counter, Severus removed his wand from his pocket. Old habits died hard. Even though he was no doubt perfectly safe on the Wizarding World's most trafficked street at this time of day, he hated to be unable to defend himself if the need arose. Shifting his wand, he reached out and lifted the ice cream. It weighed a ton, and was freezing to boot.
Shaking his head at his own foolishness, Severus adjusted his hold on the awkward, oversized container. Unless he wanted to brace it against his robes and risk staining them, holding it required two hands, just as he'd anticipated. Normally, he would have levitated this kind of burden, but since he had to apparate back to Hogwarts' gates, he would need to be in physical contact with whatever he was transporting. Most stores had anti-apparation wards on them to prevent after-hour theft, so he was going to have to move this frozen horror outside to transport home.
The charmed door opened as he stepped out of the shop onto the busy Diagon Alley. Severus paused in front of the store, preparing to apparate to just outside Hogwarts' gates.
Severus had no sooner stopped when a voice sounded behind him, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Cursing himself ten times a fool, Severus felt his body stiffen. Even in the crowded Diagon Alley, it was never wise to let down one's guards, but he'd become complacent over the years, and, beyond that, his mind had simply been on other things, namely Harry's reaction when he returned to the castle with this monstrosity.
Harry's treat and his wand fell from his paralysed hands as he toppled face forward.
His wand! Severus did all he could to catch his wand, but his hands wouldn't budge. Then that failed, he tried to use the wordless, wandless magic Harry excelled at to summon his wand to him as he fell forward, but it was useless. His ebony wand had just begun to wiggle under his efforts when a rough hand caught his shoulder. Severus never hit the pavement in his fall. That clawlike hand dug painfully into his shoulder and the next thing Severus knew, he was apparated away.
Still frozen by the petrification spell, Severus watched his new surroundings take form around him. The shadowy, crumbling, grey stone walls that were dripping water and dark with mould could only be the dungeon of an ancient keep. The dank, foul-smelling place was utterly freezing, but Severus suspected that would be the least of his worries.
The hand that was all that was holding him up left his shoulder, and Severus found himself falling face forward onto a filthy stone floor. Fortunately, his head had been turned to the side when he'd been hit by the spell, so he didn't break his nose in the fall. However, his right cheek and the side of his head hit the stone so hard that he saw stars.
Severus regarded his environment from his new perspective. All he could see now was the floor and the far wall, which had a human skeleton chained to it. Charming.
Bracing himself mentally for what was to come, he waited for his captor to enter his sight.
As retreating footsteps sounded behind him and he was abandoned helpless in this loathsome place, Severus tried to tell himself that the chill shivering through his blood was due to the cold alone.
*~*~*
Harry moved his bishop to take a white pawn that seemed innocently exposed. "I know I'm going to regret that. I'm just not sure how."
Ron chuckled and moved his knight.
Harry groaned as he realized that he'd just boxed in his queen. He could save either the queen or his bishop, but he was going to lose one of them.
"You're just not devious enough, Harry," Ron remarked.
"Like you are?" Harry questioned.
The curtains on the window were pulled way back. They were sitting at a small table by the bevelled windows in the Weasleys' sitting room, bathed in winter sunlight.
"Well, I must be. I keep winning, don't I?" Ron said with his usual cheek.
Harry was glad to see Ron's spirits returning. He knew that his squad's deaths were weighing heavily on Ron's mind.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that. Severus claims you're an idiot savant when it comes to chess," Harry reported, biting his cheek to keep from grinning.
He was disappointed, however. Ron merely pulled a face and said, "That's only because I beat him that one time he played me."
"Be careful, mate," Harry warned. "Pride goeth before a fall."
"Does it, now?" Ron asked in a teasing, mild tone and took Harry's queen with a rook Harry hadn't even noticed laying in wait. The pawn Harry had taken two moves back, had, of course cleared the path for Ron to take his queen.
"Ugh!" Harry groaned.
From the other side of the room, Hermione lifted her nose from the book she was reading long enough to say, "The actual quote is Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."
Ron and he stared at each other in horror.
"You know this – off the top of your head you know this?" Ron questioned.
"Well, of course," Hermione answered in a 'Doesn't everyone?' tone.
"Is 'an haughty' even proper English?" Ron demanded.
Hermione's sigh sounded clear across the room. "It's from the Bible, Ron. Most of -"
A knock on the sitting room door interrupted whatever Hermione was going to say.
They all exchanged a look. Most of the students were still on holiday, and the majority of the ones that had remained were out playing in the fresh fallen snow.
"Maybe it's Severus with my ice cream," Harry said.
"Snape is bringing you ice cream?" Ron appeared stunned.
Harry gave him a grin and said, "If you leave my knight alone for four more moves, I'll share," as Hermione called out, "Come in."
The opening door revealed Minerva McGonagall. Harry tensed immediately at the grim expression on her face.
"Ah, Harry, I'd hoped I'd find you here," Minerva said.
"Is everything all right, Minerva?" Hermione asked, rising to her feet, though it was clear to everyone that something was far from all right. Minerva had the same expression on her face that she'd worn the day Carl Westfield had been assaulted.
"No, I'm afraid not," Minerva said. "Ron, your boss just firecalled me to inform me that Severus was . . . abducted from Diagon Alley less than an hour ago."
The black knight in Harry's hand fell to the board. He was too shocked to speak.
"What?" Hermione and Ron chorused together.
"Apparently, Severus was assaulted from behind by a Petrificus Totalus spell when leaving Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour," Minerva reported, sending a chill right through Harry's soul. "I must admit to some confusion as to why Severus would have been there. He never takes sweets, but there's no mistake. His wand was found on the pavement in front of the store."
"Oh, my God," Hermione whispered.
It was Ron who asked the question whose answer Harry was dreading. "Do they know who did it?"
If possible, Minerva's already pinched and worried face became even more lined. "Mr. Fortescue witnessed the entire exchange through his window. Chief Lawrence's men showed him the images of possible suspects and . . . well, Fortescue picked out an old picture of Burke. He said the man who kidnapped Severus looked much younger, though."
"Damn," Ron said.
The chill that had gripped Harry's soul wasn't thawing enough to allow him to react. He just sat there bathed in the winter sun's incongruous warmth, staring at the woman whose news had turned his blood to ice.
Burke had Severus. His mind could go no further than that thought.
"I, er, thought you should know," Minerva said, her gaze sympathetic as it met Harry's.
Shaking himself out of his fugue, Harry forced himself to say, "Thank you, Minerva."
"Chief Lawrence gave me Severus' wand," Minerva said. "Would you like to keep it for him?"
The last was a kindness. Everyone in the room knew that the chances of any of them seeing Severus Snape alive again were astronomical. Harry wouldn't give odds on his lover being alive even now.
Something breaking inside, Harry forced himself to his feet and moved across the room to accept the wand that Minerva was offering him. Although he was too upset to acknowledge it, he knew she was paying him an honour here. Normally, a wizard's wand was only turned over to his spouse or parents.
The ebony wand felt strangely cold in his palm as he closed his fist around it with a murmured word of thanks.
"The Ministry has sent out twelve teams of Aurors to find Severus, more than eighty men," Minerva said. "Chief Lawrence assured me that they are doing everything they can to locate him."
"Yeah, well, they were doing everything they could to locate Burke before that," Harry couldn't keep the words in.
"Harry!" Ron chided.
"Sorry, Ron. But . . . you more than anyone know how useless their efforts will be. Even if they find the bastard – sorry, Minerva." Stopping himself before he said too much, Harry slipped Severus' wand into his robe pocket.
"You're all welcome to wait in my office. Chief Lawrence promised me he'd call as soon as they learned anything," Minerva said.
"Thanks, Minerva, we'll be all right here," Harry said, refusing her offer as gently as he was able.
"As you wish," Minerva said, her eyes nearly haunted. "I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything. And, Harry, I'm truly sorry."
Harry nodded and reached out to squeeze her hand. Her eyes were bright with tears as she withdrew from the room.
The silence after she left was thick enough to cut with a knife.
"I, er, I'll see you two later," Harry said, knowing what he had to do.
"You're not going alone, Harry," Hermione insisted, quickly moving to take his arm as though she feared he would apparate away without her.
"Hermione -" Harry began.
"Not alone!" Hermione answered. Her attention moved quickly to Ron, who was now struggling up out of his chair. The blanket on top of his brown house robes fell to his feet as she demanded, "What do you think you're doing?"
"You don't think I'm just going to sit here waiting for the two of you to get back, do you?" Ron argued.
"You can barely stand on your own, Ron," Hermione relentlessly pointed out. Ron's energy levels were still dangerously depleted.
"Maybe, but I can use my wand. That's all that counts," Ron said.
Harry thought that last claim was sheer bravado. He hadn't seen Ron so much as summon a teacup since he'd been released from hospital.
Both of his friends turned to stare at Harry, as if expecting him to sort the argument out. Harry didn't want either of them in the line of fire, but he knew how useless it would be trying to dissuade them.
"All right. We'll all go," Harry said. "I think we should start at the top of Ron's list and work our way down."
"There are going to be eighty Aurors traipsing over those same places," Ron pointed out.
"Don't worry. They won't see us," Harry promised.
"We're bringing your invisibility cloak?" Ron asked. "I don't think we'll all fit under it anymore, Harry."
"No, no cloak, but . . . we won't be seen," Harry assured.
Ron asked, "How?"
Harry sighed. He knew Hermione understood the scope of his powers, but Ron could sometimes be frustratingly obtuse, even though he saw demonstrations of his freakish abilities every day. "Don't worry about how. Just know that we won't be seen or heard."
Surprise filling his blue eyes, Ron nodded. "All right, then."
"We should floo to the Three Broomsticks and then apparate from there," Hermione suggested.
"We don't have time for that," Harry said. "Give me your hands."
"What?" Ron asked, even as he was offering his hand. Hermione held hers out without question.
Harry took hold of their hands, closed his eyes, and did the near impossible, whisking them through Hogwarts' previously impenetrable security wards quick as a lightning strike.
Hermione gasped as they materialized on a snow-covered lawn outside a rambling mansion. Even from where they stood, looking through the curtainless windows, red-robed Aurors could be seen searching the place. The grounds were practically crawling with them.
"They'll never know we're here," Harry assured, casting a potent invisibility charm of his own creation over them all. "Just stay close to me, all right?"
Both his friends nodded and fell silently into step beside him as Harry approached the mansion's towering mahogany doors.
*~*~*
Two days and sixty holdings later, they were no closer to locating Severus and Burke.
Harry didn't know what was eating at him worse – the worry or the guilt. Although he knew on a mental level that Severus' abduction wasn't his fault, he couldn't help but feel that he should have been there to prevent it from happening. He'd promised Severus that no one would ever hurt him again, and less than a week later, Burke had snatched Severus right off the street. Logic wasn't any help here. In his heart, he still felt it was his fault.
"How is he?" Harry asked as Hermione emerged from the Weasleys' bedroom.
Ron had finally collapsed at the last keep they'd investigated, but he'd held out until they'd searched them all.
Hermione ran a hand through her rumpled, bushy hair. "He's asleep, thank God."
She came to sit in the other armchair beside where Harry sat staring into the dancing flames in the hearth. They'd searched every damn one of the estates on Ron's list and come up with nothing. He honestly didn't know what to do next.
