Follow Me

A/N: Thank you to all that have reviewed the story so far, and a thank you in advance to all those that will continue to do so. I have to admitt it does an ego good to see the number of people that are enjoying this story.







[...] or {...} = mindspeak

~...~ = parseltongue

'...' = thought



CHAPTER 19





Norische was glad that the ceremony was over and that they could go home, even though it was a beautiful experience, being nude in front of so many strangers had been unnerving and then the consummation of the bonding had been the last straw. His walls broke down and he fell apart. It took Draco nearly twenty minutes to calm him, and even then, he felt like he was nowhere near himself.



Chris had come in and helped Draco get him dressed again and made their apologies and they had thankfully returned home. Once they returned home, Blaise and Harry spent quite a bit of time in the suite, then reminded Draco that he had a Prefect meeting to attend and he was on watch that night. Since the beginning of the school year Draco had pretty well slacked off on his duties but Norische had informed him that he could not do so any longer so grudgingly he left his mates and went with Blaise back to Slytherin to meet up with everyone for the meeting.



Norische and Chris spent most of the night working on assignments that were due on Monday. Severus and Remus gladly gave Pari a tour of the school and introduced her to several of the Professors, even Dumbledore. Harry stayed around for a while then decided that he couldn’t put off going and doing his potions essay that he had been avoiding so he headed by to Gryffindor Tower to work on that.



Severus noticed that Norische was very quiet the rest of the night, but attributed it to being tired and the amount of stress of the day. No one said anything when Norische went to bed early, although Pari watched him closely as he left the room.



*****



Norische woke suddenly not quite sure what had woke him up. He could feel Draco curled up against his back sleeping soundly, and Chris was nuzzling against his front snoring softly. Everything seemed fine, but Norische couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly, horribly wrong. After lying in bed for quite some time, he cast tempus to check the time. 3:14AM, gods…what had woke him up. Norische decided to go out into the living area and check and make sure everything was ok. He untangled himself from his mates gently and crawled to the bottom of the bed, moving slowly to make sure he didn’t wake them. Norische put on his black jeans and grabbed a forest green jumper and slipped it on. He noticed as he was putting on his jeans that he was going to have to go shopping soon, as he fastened his pants he found a rather noticeable bulge where his flat, toned belly used to be. Norische stood there for a while rubbing the bulge and smiling, and decided to leave the top button of his jeans undone just for comfort sake.



As he entered the living room he found nothing amiss, no one was in there and the only sound that could be heard was the hissing of the fire in the fireplace. Deciding to go for a walk Norische grabbed his dragon skin boots and put them on.



Norische walked around for some time then decided to go to the Owlery and check in on Gazer, it had been way too long since he had seen his old friend. To say the least Gazer was a little more than miffed, first thing he did was bite Norische quite hard on the finger when he tried to pet him. After several minutes of apologies and petting the owl finally gave in and began to nuzzle him like he used to. Norische took him out for an early morning hunt and decided to hunt with Gazer so he transformed into his wolf form and followed on the ground. The two of them had hunted like that since Gazer was old enough to fly, he would spot the unsuspecting prey from the sky and Norische would stalk it, the thrill was in the hunt and it had created a great bond between the two.



Gazer shrieked in pure joy as he soared high above the black wolf, searching the ground for any sign of prey. Then he spotted it, a large boar making its way through the forest. Gazer called out alerting Whizzer to follow him as he dipped down low underneath the forbidden forest covering. Whizzer got scent of the prey and raced forward, when he had gotten close to the boar he crouched down and slowly crept forward. Whizzer remained perfectly still for a few moments, waiting for the right time, then he pounced. Hitting the huge boar with all of his weight, he managed to sink his teeth into the boar’s hindquarters crippling it without being gored by the razor sharp tusks, then he went in for the kill. Sinking his teeth into the neck of the boar, he could feel the blood dripped out of his mouth. Whizzer gave the limp body several good shakes just to make sure it was dead, then dropped his prize and leaned back letting loose on a triumphant howl announcing his kill. Gazer filled the air with his shrill call, declaring for all that could hear, the glory of the moment.



Whizzer fed on the blood of the boar but allowed Gazer to have the meat. Normally, Norische couldn’t eat pork but for some reason wild boar didn’t have the same effect as domestic pig. He never really under stood that but it was just something he was pondering while he set about cleaning the blood from his fur. Even with the magnificent hunt and the excellent kill, Norische still felt a horrible loneliness…a sadness that wouldn’t go away. Then it dawned on him, what today was.



Whizzer walked over to lay underneath a mighty oak and watch Gazer strip the carcass of the boar. As he laid down he couldn’t help but whimper softly, his golden eyes filled with tears.



*****



Chris got up around 5AM and noticed that Norische wasn’t in bed. At first he thought maybe Norische was sick again but his mate wasn’t in the bathroom, so he went out into the living area…nothing, kitchen…nothing. Chris thought maybe he had gone out to the courtyard for a while…nothing. Now Chris was getting worried. He raced back to the suite and ran into the room, looking around to see if anything was missing. Norische’s boots were gone but his money bag and wallet were still there. Chris shook Draco awake.



“Draco. Draco wake up, I can’t find Norische.”



Draco mumbled sleepily. “He probably went down to the kitchen to get something to eat.”



“Maybe, come on get up lets go check.”



Draco sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Figuring from Chris’ tone of voice that he was truly worried. It only took him a few minutes to get dressed. Then the two of them raced to the kitchens…nothing. Draco suggested their dorm room so off they headed…nothing. What about the library, they may not really be open right now but that never stopped Norische… nothing. Now both Draco and Chris were in a panic. They ran back to the suite and Chris rushed over their father and dad’s door and pounded on it. Inside he could hear mumbling and a panicked call that was all he needed. Chris opened the door and ran into the room.



“We can’t find Norische anywhere. He boots are gone but his moneybag and wallet are here. We have looked all over the castle and can’t find him, and neither of us can feel him either.” Chris exclaimed.



Severus jumped up from the bed, oblivious of his state of undress. He grabbed his robe and began asking the boys where they had looked so far. As Chris listed the places both Severus and Remus got worried, both trying their own link to locate Norische, even the location charm on their necklaces was unable to find him.



“Alright, you two go check the lake and the quidditch pitch, Remus and I will go to the potions lab and the classrooms. Keep in touch with the mind link if you find anything.” Severus ordered.



The boys nodded and raced out the door. Severus grabbed his robes and started putting them on, Remus jumped out of bed and did the same, handing Severus his boots and grabbing his as well.



After almost two hours of searching they gathered back together in the great hall. The boys had checked the lake, the pitch, the infirmary, the Owlery, the green housed and gardens, and the docks. Severus and Remus had checked all the classrooms and study areas.



“I am going to wake Dumbledore, and the heads of houses. He may be visiting with one of the other students. Remus you go and alert Pari. Chris you and Draco head to Hogsmeade, he didn’t take any funds that we are aware of but he still might have gone there.” Severus ordered, everyone nodded and rushed off in different directions.



Chris decided they needed more help so he had Draco go get Blaise and he headed to Gryffindor Tower. Breathless he ran up to the painting who was still quite asleep. After several attempts at being polite and asking the painting to get Harry for him, Chris let out a loud roar that caused the fat lady to tremble and demanded her to send someone for Harry or he was going to rip her painting to shreds. Within minutes Harry came running out followed closely by Hermione.



“What’s wrong Chris? Come in.” Harry asked breathless as he led Chris into the commons room.



“Norische is missing, we have looked through the entire castle except the towers, he is no where. None of us are able to sense him or hear him. Draco went to get Blaise, Dad went to get Pari, and Father went to get Dumbledore, I wanted to know if you would help us look for him. Father and Dad want us to go to Hogsmeade and look there.”



Worry spread across Harry and Hermione’s face. “Of course we will help. Let me flew Sirius and tell him, we can have him check the forbidden forest.” When Chris nodded Harry ran over to the fireplace and quickly called to his godfather, in a matter of minutes the four of them were racing toward the main gates to meet with Draco and Blaise.



Chris linked with Remus and told him that Sirius was there as well and was going to head to the forbidden forest to search it. Remus told Chris to have Sirius wait by Hagrid’s shack and that he would meet him there, they would search the forest together. Chris passed on the information and Sirius nodded then took off running towards Hagrid’s.



Severus and Pari were running up the stairs to Dumbledore’s suites when it hit Pari. “Oh merciful gods.” Pari stopped and grabbed her chest.



Fearful that she was having a heart attack or something, Severus stopped and raced back to her side. “Pari, what is it, what’s wrong?”



“Oh Severus, I have been so stupid. Do you know what today is?” She asked, tears coming to her eyes.



“November 5th. Why?” Severus answered.



“Oh my poor Nori.”



“What is it Pari, what is so special about today?” Severus honestly had no clue what Pari was referring too.



“Severus, this is the one year anniversary of the day Nori’s mother committed suicide. I am so sorry, I would have mentioned it if I had even thought about it. With everything that was going on I didn’t even think about the date. Oh my baby….” Pari was crying freely.



Severus felt the tears come to his eyes, and he immediately linked with the others letting them know.



Remus stopped running and fell to his knees when he heard what Pari had told Severus. Padfoot saw that Remus was no longer beside him and looked back seeing his friend on his knees with tears streaming down his face. Padfoot ran back to Remus and changed back to his human form.



“Remus what is it? Did they find him?” Sirius asked.



Remus shook his head, trying to gain the strength to speak. “Pari just reminded Severus, that today is the one year anniversary of the day Norische’s mother committed suicide.”



“Oh Merlin! Come on Remus get up! We have to keep looking! Get up!” Sirius helped Remus to his feet and they took off running again.





On the road to Hogsmeade Draco had to hold up Chris to keep him from collapsing. Both boys had tears streaming down their face.



“I should have remembered. I should have…” Chris cried.



Harry ran over to him. “Remembered what? What’s wrong?”



“Severus just informed us that this is the one year anniversary of when Norische’s mother committed suicide.” Draco whispered.



Hermione covered her mouth, and tears began to form in her eyes. “You don’t think he would do anything rash do you?” she whispered.



Chris raised his head. “No, he wont do anything. But the pain he must be in, that is the reason he is blocking us, he doesn’t want us to feel his pain.”



“Come on, lets hurry!” Blaise urged.





Padfoot and Remus were running through the woods stopping every now and then to see if they scented anything. Suddenly Remus heard in the distance a lone wolf cry, one of pure agony. Remus looked at Padfoot and they both took of running in the direction of the call. As they got closer Remus let out a howl of his own, calling to Whizzer, thankfully Whizzer responded.



Immediately Remus let everyone know, Chris and Draco told Harry, Hermione, and Blaise and started running back to Hogwarts. Pari, Severus and Dumbledore rushed out of his office towards Hagrid’s as fast as they could.



Remus kept howling for Whizzer every minute or two, to make sure he knew what direction to go in. They were no more than two hundred yards when they heard what sounded like a fight. Whizzer was growling and snarling and snapping at something, although Remus couldn’t see what yet, then he heard the voice…it was a male. He couldn’t make out the words yet, but Remus told Padfoot, who burst forward running much faster on four legs than Remus could on two. As the two of them broke through the underbrush, they saw a man in a black robe pulling a struggling large black wolf along on a silver chain. The man looked over his shoulder and waved at them then apparated both himself and the wolf out of there.



Remus and Padfoot ran over to where they had seen the man apparate, Remus saw Norische’s owl it was out cold, apparently he had been hexed. Remus grabbed the bird and then linked to everyone to tell them what he and Padfoot had seen and to have them all meet up in Dumbledore’s office.



*****



Severus began asking questions the second he spotted Remus and Sirius who had transformed back.



“When we got there Whizzer was fighting the chain and the man in the robe was pulling him along.” Remus said breathless.



“Did you get a good look at the man?” Pari asked.



“Yes the bastard must have heard us running up and just before he apparated he turned and waived at us.” Sirius answered.



“Describe him, did you recognize him?” Pari asked.



“No I’ve never seen him.” Sirius stated and Remus agreed. “He was white male about forty I would say, black hair with a white streak down one side, it was probably about to his shoulders, I guess and loose. I really can’t describe him much but if I saw a picture of him I would be able to tell you.”



Chris and Pari turned ghost white. “Pari? Pari who is it?” Severus begged.



Pari shook her head. “Remus, can you get me the black envelope that was sent with the pictures quickly.” She said barely whispering. “Gods I hope I am wrong.”



Chris rushed over to Pari and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her gown. Remus took one look at this and raced back to the suite and retrieved the envelope, not daring to look inside.



When he ran into Dumbledore’s office and handed Pari the envelope, she pushed Chris away, not wanting him to see what was in the black envelope. Chris was pulled into Draco’s arms and held tightly.



Pari started to thumb through the pictures only looking at each to know it wasn’t the one she was looking for. Then finding the one she searching for she put the rest back in the envelope and used the envelope to cover the lower half of the picture.



“Is this the man you saw take Nori?” She showed the picture to Sirius.



“That’s him! That’s the guy…who is he.” Sirius exclaimed excitedly.



Remus and Severus looked at the picture, and Remus nodded “Yes that’s the man. Who is he Pari?”



Pari lowered the envelope to show them the bottom half of the picture. Remus immediately turned and vomited. Severus’ eyes got big and he fought hard not to do the same. Sirius rushed over to help Remus. Doing a quick scorgio to clean up both the floor and Remus.



In the picture, a naked little boy was chained to a barrel, behind him stood a man in a black robe that was open in the front. The boy was evidentially screaming and had tear streaked face. Although you couldn’t see the exact details, you could tell that the man behind the boy was raping him; the little boy was Norische when he was eight, the man was his grandfather.



Pari raced over to the headmaster and showed him the photograph. Even Dumbledore gagged at the sight. “This is the beast that has my godson. I want you to do something about this immediately!”



Dumbledore quickly stood up and went over to his fireplace. “Do you know the location where he may have been taken? Or anything I can tell the Ministry?”



“Let me have a piece of parchment I am going to write down his name and his address. I want as many people as available there immediately. I am going to go there right now, so I will meet them and open the wards for them.”



Remus was leaning on Sirius for support, but he looked up at Pari and growled. “You are going no where without us! I am going to kill him!”



Severus was seething with rage and everyone in the room could literally feel the magic seeping from him. “Pari why didn’t you tell us that his grandfather was still alive?”



“I thought he was dead. He left her body to rot and disappeared. I prayed he was dead, for not only Nori’s sake but for his own as well.” Pari hissed. “I am going to kill that bastard once and for all, anyone who wants to go had damn well better be ready because I am leaving right now.” The venom on her voice could be heard by all.



Everyone in the room, even Harry and Hermione rushed over to where Pair was standing. “Everyone grab hold of my gown, it is going to be a rough ride with so many of you, and Dumbledore remember you didn’t see this.” Pari felt eight hands on her as she apparated the entire group through the wards of Hogwarts directly to the old mansion where Norische was raised.



Pari ran through the front gates followed quickly by Severus, Remus and Sirius. Blaise, Harry and Hermione were following closely behind Chris and Draco. When they got close to the house Pari let out a wild roar and wings burst forth through her gown. Using wandless magic, she ripped the front doors of the mansion from their hinges.



“He has probably taken Nori to the dungeons, this way.” Pari hissed.



They raced through the halls of the old house until they reached a narrow stairway heading down. When they reached the bottom of the stairs they could hear Norische’s screams.



“I am going to kill him myself this time.” Pari swore.



“Only after I have finished with him.” Severus raced in front of Pari towards the sound of Norische’s screams. Sirius transformed into Padfoot to run beside him. They found Norische and his grandfather in a room at the far end of the dungeon. Norische was chained to the same barrel as what was in the photo and his grandfather was behind him standing with his robes open touching both Norische’s ass and stroking his own cock.



Padfoot charged the man and knocked him away from Norische. Severus did a quick Exonero to remove Norische’s bonds. Then walked over to the man on the floor. Padfoot had managed to knock his wand out of his hand and grabbed it, biting the wand in two. The flash of magic from doing so had knocked him out but otherwise he was unhurt. Severus looked down at the man and spit on him.



“Mr. De LeNoir I presume. I am Severus Snape… you dared to touch my son, now you will die.” Severus took aim…



“Father stop!” Norische ran to Severus’ side.



“This is the creature that has caused so much pain in your life and you want me to stop? Why….” Severus asked, his voice clearly indicating the level of rage he was feeling.



“Remember the Ministry of Magical Defense?” was all Norische said.



Then it dawned on him, the man would be immune to most of the curses that Severus could inflict, including the killing curse. He looked into his son’s eyes and saw his own fury reflected in his eyes. Severus handed Norische his wand and stepped aside.



“This is something I should have done years ago you pathetic piece of meat. I pray to the gods that they find no mercy for your soul….. Omorator Blestem….” Norische pointed the wand at his grandfather and watched as he burst into flames, and the ashes scattered across the dungeon floor.



Norische handed the wand back to his father and looked up at him “Vampyric killing curse.”



Severus nodded then pulled Norische close to him. Remus rushed over to them and placed his cloak around Norische’s shoulders, covering his nakedness.



Harry raced over to Padfoot, thankfully finding him only dazed. As soon as he could think he changed back. “Wow a wand packs one hell of a punch….remind me not to do that again will ya kiddo.” Sirius laughed. Harry smiled and hugged his godfather.



Pari pushed the kids out of the room and took them back upstairs to the main entry hall, where they were met with half a dozen Aurors. Pari began to explain what was going on to them and then they started their search of the house to make sure no one else was there.



Norische pushed himself back from his father slightly, and pointed to a corner in the room. “That’s where he kept her caged father. That is what my mother lived in for all those years.” Norische indicated a ten by eight heavy iron cage that was on the other side of the room. “Can we leave father?”



Severus pulled his son close to him and took one last look at the cage, then started walking away. Harry looked at the cage, and shook his head…memories of his own cubbard underneath the stairs flooded into his mind. Sirius wrapped his arm around Harry’s waist and they followed the others back upstairs.



As they reached the entryway, Chris and Draco ran up to Norische and wrapped their arms around him, both were crying and asking a thousand questions. “Its ok, no he didn’t rape me, although if you guys hadn’t shown up when you did…” Norische looked at his father and gave a half smile.



“Pari, can you take us home. Madam Pomfrey is going to be seriously pissed that I apparated, but she will be even more so if I do it myself.” Norische asked.





Twenty minutes later Norische was laying on a bed in the infirmary being thoroughly examined by the medi-witch. “Young man, I warned you about apparating, gateways, ports and such why in the world…”



“I didn’t do them myself, I wasn’t exactly in control the first time.” Norische asked.



Poppy shook her head, “Still you know that such activities are harmful.”



“Yes Ma’am…”



Poppy nodded and then opened the screens she had put up around the bed for privacy to examine Norische.



“How is he Poppy?” Severus asked.



“Well he and the babies appear to be fine but I want him to be on bed rest for at least two days just to make sure, and I don’t care how much he complains that is my final say.” Madam Pomfrey looked over her shoulder and winked at Norische.



“But Madam…. Crap!” Norische began mumbling about people being too protective and driving him nuts.



Severus walked over to the bed and looked down at his son, Remus and Sirius came over to stand next to him. Then Draco and Chris walked around the other side. All of them looked down at him with what appeared to be frustration even anger.



“What in the world were you thinking, what made you leave Hogwarts, and go traipsing out in the forbidden forest?”



“I’m sorry. I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I headed over to the Owlery to see Gazer and realized how long it had been since I had seen him. So, I took him out hunting. I transformed into my wolf and we tracked down a wild boar, the hunt was great and the kill was magnificent. I fed my fill and let him have the rest. Then as I lay there I realized what day it was and I began to howl in mourning for my mother… it wasn’t long after that I heard dad calling me. After a few minutes I could here them getting close. Then I saw him, I had been listening for dad so I wasn’t paying attention to what was behind me. The next thing I know he has a chain around my neck and is pulling me away. He forced me to return to my human form and chained me up. He had just started….when you all showed up…” Norische explained.



Pari walked up to the bed and stood at the end. “If I wasn’t afraid I might hurt those babies you are carrying I would beat your butt bloody. How dare you scare us like that?”



Norische looked down and said. “I’m sorry, I honestly didn’t intend to be gone more than an hour or two. I planned on being back at the school before anyone woke up. But when I started thinking about mother…. I kinda lost track of time. When I woke up I knew something was wrong, I felt so incredibly lonely and sad, I just didn’t know why. All I wanted to do was forget everything and go for a quick hunt to clear my thoughts. I didn’t mean to scare anyone.”



Remus put his hand on Norische’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you wake us up?”



“Because I didn’t know why I was sad or why I could possibly be lonely. I thought everything in my world was perfect; it was when I went to bed. I didn’t know what had changed. I needed to figure it out on my own.”



Norische looked so sad, he wanted to explain to everyone but he really didn’t know how. Severus looked at his son and started to say something. All of the sudden he grabbed his left forearm in shock.



“Father, what’s wrong?” Norische asked concerned.



Snape gritted his teeth. “Nothing you need to worry about.” Severus put his hands down to his side. “I do need to take care of something though. Stay out of trouble and no wandering around…understand?”



Norische nodded.