Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all it's characters belong to J.K. Rowling, although I do own the Mastakos and maybe later a few other little characters.

Chapter Seven: Escape Into Another World.

That night Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived-to-become-a-mastako, slipped unseen out of his private rooms. Earlier, after Harry was told that he was now Snape's adoptive son, he waited for the adults to leave his room before he came out and locked his door. They could always get in through the flue, but Harry would just have to deal with that when the time came. After locking the door, he waited, not even answering the door for Ron and Hermione. Then when the the sun went down and the moon showed like a sideways smile, Harry got ready to leave. He packed clothes and place his wand in his pocket.

The halls were dark except for a stream of moonlight that showed through the windows. Harry quietly ran down the hall, his feet making no sound. Suddenly, Harry heard the sound of approaching footsteps, panicking he flung himself up onto the ceiling. Underneath him, Snape walked past quickly and Harry remembered that he forgot to close the doors to his private rooms. Waiting until Snape was far enough away, Harry jumped down, running as fast as he could now for the exit. The boy could hear a quiet curse from far behind him and he picked up the pace only to collide with Filch.

Filch gave a cry of surprise when the two of them crashed to the ground, Harry quickly rolled off of him and jumping past Ms. Norris, continued running at an even faster pace. He heard Filch scream after him and Snape answering the janitor's cry. Cursing loudly, Harry had to push everything he had into reaching the exit. Finally, Harry slammed open the great doors and tore off across the grass for the dark forest. Reaching the tree line, Harry hesitated at the sight of two large mastako males standing at the edge of the woods waiting for him. A gray and red mastako stepped forward and spoke urgently to him.

{My Prince, please you must hurry before they come for you.}

'Prince?'

{I will explain along the way, young Prince, but we must leave.}

'Okay, let's go then.' Already Harry could hear commotion near the front of the school.

Not wanting to get caught so close to the forest, Harry hurried away with the two large mastakos. They traveled quickly and were soon in the middle of the dark forest. They were able, with their senses, to avoid anything dangerous. Along the way Harry studied the cats before him, one; the one who talked to him, was almost a solid red with gray stripes. The other was a brownish gold with dark brown stripes, he hadn't said anything yet to Harry but he didn't seem to dislike the black haired boy. It was more like he didn't have anything to say and Harry didn't mind because he couldn't think of anything to say either. Instead, Harry looked at the forest around him admiring how beautiful it was now that he could see it so clearly at night.

{Prince, are you alright?} The red mastako asked turning his great head to look at the young mastako.

'I'm fine, why do you keep calling me Prince?'

{You were turned by our Queen, so that makes you our Prince.}

'Your Queen?'

{Yes our Queen, in our...culture, we have one Queen and one King, and everyone they turn become our princes and princesses. After the Queen, King, princes and princesses, come the warriors who act as fighters and hunters for the pride. Next in line is the medicine mastako and then come the mothers and fathers who have young the more natural way. Followed by the elders and the crippled who share knowledge in times of both trouble and peace. Everyone pulls their own weight, everyone helps the others, our bonds our very strong. The stronger the bond in the pride the more likely the prides survival.}

'That's really something, so I'm a prince. Are there other princes?'

{Yes, there are three others, and like them, you'll be expected to hold your own weight. No special treatment there really.}

{You are forgetting the titles and the little shows of respect, Rustic.} Said the brownish-gold mastako, speaking for the first time.

{Oh, yes. But those are really simple things.}

{So you say.}

'What are these shows of respect?'

{What Copperbeam means by shows of respect are the titles, bows, and different sleeping areas, but otherwise there are no differences between the mastakos.}

{We are almost there now, Young Prince, Rustic.}

{So we are. Welcome to your new home, Prince.}