Bonds of Affection

When Severus dreamed, he dreamed of Harry.



He dreamed of Harry somewhere where there was water. Severus saw glimpses of the grey sky, and dark – nearly black water with waves rising and falling, over and over again. The water bore the barely visible reflection of Harry\'s face, and the emerald eyes were piercing the darkness, gazing upwards.



In the dreams that followed, there were stone walls, covered by a layer of thin ice. Shadows hovered around, and when they moved in, warmth fled from their presence, leaving a trail of frost in its wake.



And then, there was bright light, bright light shining down from above, but even the light had no warmth in it; in fact it sent chill down his spine, and to the depth of his bones.



Severus awoke at St. Mungo\'s, with the realization of something being dreadfully wrong. He felt like he had slept for days, his body felt completely healed, but terror flooded him at the first waking thought.



“Harry,” he whispered quietly.



The Healer who had admitted him shook his head. “I am afraid your... next of kin never showed up. I have kept you in the healing coma for the past two days...”



Severus sat up abruptly, feeling instantly dizzy. “Where did he go?” he asked.



The Healer shook his head regretfully. “He did not say.”



Desperately, Severus attempted to calm himself down. Perhaps, Harry took his permission to heart, and simply went to spend some time with his friends. Or perhaps Harry decided that he had had enough of the relationship with his aging spiteful Potions professor, and simply bailed on him. He would not have blamed him if that were the case – in fact, deep down he was hoping for something along those lines.



Severus used the Floo to return home - and realized that Harry had not been there in two days, nor had he left a message. One by one, Severus firecalled Albus, the Weasleys, the Longbottoms, and finally, Lovegoods. No-one had seen Harry, or heard from him.



Despair mounting, he frecalled the Hogwarts library, Hog\'s Head, Three Broomsticks, the Joke Shop, and then, every business at Hogsmeade. He then called the Gringotts bank and asked if Harry had used his card recently. After a long argument with the goblins, he finally learned that Harry hadn\'t. That did not sound good either. Eventually, he gave up and firecalled the Ministry of Magic to place a missing person\'s report. The Auror took his information and assured him they would look into it immediately.



After the last call, the feeling of dread intensified, and Severus started pacing around the living room of the Manor.



He was still pacing like a caged animal, when a firecall came in from the Weasleys. Ron Weasley simply asked:



“Do you want to come over?”



“Yes,” Severus said instantly, and threw a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace. A moment later he emerged at the Burrow.



Ron greeted him and pointed at the chair, and Severus sat down instantly.



“Do you think he is dead?” Ron asked.



“No,” Severus said firmly. “If he were, I think I would know.”



“How?”



“I don\'t know how,” Severus said irritably. “I just would.”



“Where do you think he is?” Ron asked.



Severus shrugged. He shut his eyes, trying to focus. Throughout the years, he used to be able to find Harry whenever he suspected the boy was in trouble – through combination of logic and instinct. But this time, logic was failing him, and instinct was insufficient.



“I don\'t know where he his,” Severus said softly. “But for some reason, I think- it\'s someplace cold.”



“Cold,” Ron repeated absently. “That\'s all?”



“That\'s all,” Severus said tiredly. He buried his face in his hands, to realize that his hands were shaking slightly.



“Did you have an argument? A fight? Did you do anything to...”



“No,” Severus said softly. “Last thing he said was that he would come back six hours later to take me home from the hospital. He never showed up.”



“That doesn\'t sound like Harry,” Ron said with confidence. “You know, even if he decided he didn\'t want to.. you know.. stay with you, I think he would have told you to your face. He wouldn\'t just.. leave.”



“I suppose not,” Severus conceded.



“We should go see Hermione,” Ron said. “Maybe Harry is with her.”



“Maybe,” Severus agreed, no longer believing it. They took off at once, Floo\'d to the Diagon Alley, and finally, Apparated to the Grangers\' house in Muggle London.



Hermione opened the door and her eyes widened in shock at the sight of the two of them.



“Harry?” she asked. They nodded, and briefed her on the recent events.



“Any ideas, Miss Granger?” Severus asked finally.



She shook her head. “He never contacted me either. Professor – have you ever... removed his GPS tracking device?”



“No,” Severus said, and hope reawakened. “Perhaps you can track him...”



She nodded and went to her room, Ron and Severus following her closely. At her desk, she pulled out the receiver and looked at the readings.



“He is no longer in Great Britain,” she said quietly.



“Well, where the devil is he?” Ron demanded. .



“I don\'t know,” she said, a little tersely. “His last position was logged as somewhere between Great Britain and Norway.”



“Norway,” Ron repeated. “What\'s the location? What\'s there?”



“Nothing is there!” she snapped angrily. “Just the Atlantic Ocean, Ron.”



“Maybe your stupid GPS device is wrong,” Ron muttered. “Why would Harry be cruising the Atlantic Ocean?”



Severus glanced at the small red dot on the grid of the receiver and felt his heart clench in his chest. “He is not cruising,” Severus said absently. “Don\'t you realize what part of Atlantic Ocean this is?”



“The North Sea,” Hermione murmured. “Professor...”



“Yes,” Severus said. “He is in Azkaban.”



“He can\'t be!” Ron blurted out. “He\'s a bloody war hero!”



Severus cast him a sour look. “Since when did that make any difference to the Ministry of Magic?”



Hermione was already packing her GPS technology, slipping it all into her pocket.



“Hogwarts,” Severus said instantly. “Let\'s go see Albus.”



Ron cast him a surprised glance. “Why Dumbledore? What does he have that can help us?”



“Well,” Severus said thoughtfully, “Among other things, he has the ability to Apparate into restricted areas. Including Azkaban.”



.... To Be Continued....