AN: Deary me, my gratitude for your patience and my apologies for my lateness! My excuse… I mean, reason for being late is that the computer in which my chapters resided refused to work. As soon as it was fixed, I was away for a week, and after that I just haven't found time to post. For all those of you who care, I found out that I passed all my exams! Yay!
Thanks for all reviews:
AmyPotter14- I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the encouragement!
Arizosa- sorry about my little weirdness at the end of the last chapter, never fear, it still continues!
Kateri- You're the second person who said that Harry should be some sort of cat, and I totally agree with your reasons. I have considered it, and you'll see what he becomes in the next chapter hopefully (escape was gonna be this chapter, but I was having some trouble with the actual escape! ^_^)
Gallandro-83- Well, I'm kinda making Magnolia up as I go along. I mean, she's spoilt, that's all I know so far, but that's not very deep, is it? I have taken your suggestion into account, and you'll see what he becomes in the next chapter hopefully. If you know the manga Inuyasha you may be able to guess what animal he becomes, and I'll give reasons for a magical creature in the next chapter. I agree that I didn't want Harry to be magical just so that that he's different, but there were all these properties I wanted him to have… especially flying… showdown between Harry and Lucius or Voldie? We'll see… but they will realise that Harry is not oHarry, still thinking about how to do that though… as for Magnolia getting her just desserts, I didn't want to be too mean to her, you'll see in this chapter. I have this stupid belief that Dudley will be straightened in the future, silly huh? Thanx for your awesome review!
Rhiain- Thank you for the review and encouragement, hope this chapter is to your expectations!
Sailor Sol- Yes, of course Harry's gonna be the hero of the day, or will he? As of now I'm still a little unsure of how they're getting out of the mess, I'll think of something, but thanks for the review anyway, sorry for the lateness!
Jasmine Black- I'm pleased that you thought chp9 was a good chapter, hope you like this one as well. Just don't be too disappointed that they haven't quite escaped yet!
Smile7499- Thank you for the compliments, and I'm glad that I'm doing something right with my story! Enjoy the chapter!
ShortySC22- Sorry this chapter couldn't come much sooner due to problems I've already discussed. I had thought about a dragon, but aren't they really big? And I didn't want Harry to be a huge animal. I also considered a snake, but you'll see what he becomes in the next chapter hopefully! Thank you for the suggestions.
Potter-Freak123- Wolf? That's different to most of my other suggestions. I had considered a dog, but not a wolf. Thank you for the suggestion, you'll see what he becomes in the next chapter probably!
Roxy- well, Harry will tell someone that he's a parselmouth… eventually. As for why Voldemort wants to know who the parselmouth is, Remus pretty much guesses why in this chapter. A fox? Well, that is an idea, thanks for the suggestion. I agree that Harry turning into a griffin is a little typical and just because he's in that house doesn't mean he'll turn into the house symbol. I've taken snake into consideration, but you'll see what he becomes next chapter hopefully. Hope this chapter was up soon enough for you!
Jackey- thank you for the encouragement. I actually passed all of my exams, and I did well too, to my own surprise! Mag may be spoilt, but I don't think she's stupid so no, she doesn't tell on Harry. How will they escape? I'd like to know too! You'll see an attempt in this chapter, but no actual escape!
WeasleyTwinsLover1112- Well, I had intended to have this chapter up sooner, but I've already discussed my reasons, please forgive my lateness, and hope this chapter satisfies you!
Savi2070- thanks for the review(s)! Well, you get to see what Magnolia thinks of Harry in this chapter. This chapter is pretty much the same lengths as the later chapters, and in fact I wanted to make it longer but decided you guys probably wanted a chapter seeing as it's been delayed long enough. I do intend for Voldie to find out Harry can speak to snakes, I'm still thinking about how I'm gonna do that though. As for Harry's animagus form, phoenix is a good idea, and I've seen a lot of other fanfic authors do that for good reason, and I even considered doing a phoenix, but I kinda wanted to be different, you'll see ^_^.
Chocolate Frog- Sorry about the later than intended update, hope this satisfies your, uh, addiction? ^_^ Hopefully the next one should be up sooner, although I'm making no promises in case the computer stuffs up again!
Melissa- I think in a lot of cases the baddies always underestimate the goodies, otherwise they can't lose! So oVoldemort does underestimate Harry and that will probably be one of the key factors in Harry's and Magnolia's escape (I hope, as I still haven't written it yet!). I do believe that Magnolia, although spoilt, can be changed (yes, I believe in second chances! ^_^) I mean, if we were taught to be selfish, then we can be taught not to be, right? Okay, sorry, I'm babbling on a bit. Thanks for the review, apology accepted for your lateness ^_^, and I hope this chapter satisfies!
JaguarRose- ^_^ here's the update, hope you enjoy. Thanks for the review!
Zylexiaa- here's the update, enjoy!
Chapter dedicated to Gallandro83 for the very in-depth reasoning for what Harry should become, and to Savi2070 for the 4 separate reviews!
Disclaimer: Magnolia belongs to me. Oh, so does that big man and the old woman, but who wants them? Everything else belongs to JKR.
Chapter 10
~*~
Lily stepped out into the pub, eyes searching frantically for her husband and his best friend. Not seeing any of the Marauders, she headed for the door, hearing Tom call out after her, "didn't you want something, Mrs. Potter?"
Diagon Alley was very crowded; a lot of young wizards and witches flowed in and out of shops, happy families wondering the street. Lily sighed as she remembered the fun that she had the other day with her family. Why, oh why, did darkness surround the light? But wasn't there some saying: with light there are shadows?
As she approached the Magical Menagerie, she saw James and oSirius talking with an elderly couple; oSirius pretended to look interested, nodding his head and taking notes. James was asking the questions. There were two other young wizards standing by listening to the interview with expressions of amusement.
"So, just two hours ago, you saw a man speak to the snakes in the Menagerie?" James asked, looking at oSirius' notes.
The old witch nodded furiously, her eyes wide, "yes, and a scary man he was! His face looked positively like that of a snake's…"
"And he had a forked tongue…" the old wizard added, trembling at the thought.
"And he had slits for eyes, and when he saw us, he wobbled around as if ready to strike…" the old witch wobbled on her feet, acting out the movements.
The two other wizards looked up and saw Lily approaching. They smiled and went over to her.
"Hey Lils! Did you come for some entertainment as well?" The blond-haired, shorter wizard asked, a gleeful expression on his face.
Lily just stared at the blonde for a moment, then looked at the other wizard, who was thin and dark-haired. The dark-haired wizard smiled, "Snuffles derives pleasure from seeing old eccentric people being scared out of their wits."
The blonde wizard slapped him playfully on the arm, "are you implying that I'm sadistic...?"
"Enough!" Lily suddenly cried, realising that it was Sirius and Remus in disguise. This caught oSirius' and James attention as well, and they both came towards her. The old couple continued talking to thin air, making wild gestures with their arms.
"What's up?" oSirius asked.
Lily's hand trembled as she retrieved the letter from her robes. James snatched the letter and his eyes quickly scanned it's contents, paling slightly:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Potter,
After spotting your children wandering the streets all alone, my loyal servants have brought them to our care. They seemed eager to prolong their stay, and therefore you can retrieve them on Thursday afternoon at Malfoy Manor.
V
PS- I am not too fond of meeting too many people, so just keep our meeting small and family only.
oSirius, reading over his shoulder, snorted, "yeah right, he says that as though he's some child-care nurse.
Sirius and Remus looked at the letter. Sirius paled, "oh no, they've got Harry and Magnolia! Why would they want them?"
"Apart from the fact that they like to torture anyone, regardless of age, sex, and wizardry background? I'd say that they want any information we find on the Parselmouth," Remus deduced, "or, they want to see if you can spill the beans about the secret to unlocking his powers."
James put an arm over Lily's shoulder to comfort her, and shook his head, "I think it's the former. Several years ago he kidnapped Magnolia and tried to see if Dumbledore would share the secret, but he wouldn't. It was a good thing we had a tracking charm on Magnolia, Dumbledore himself went and retrieved her. We've had several attacks on our home in the past because of our relationship with Dumbledore, but they were not successful because of the wards we place on the house and it's occupants, and they realized that Dumbledore wouldn't tell him even if it cost the lives of our loved ones."
"But we haven't had any success looking for this Parselmouth anyway! He probably doesn't even exist!" oSirius exclaimed.
Remus sighed, "I doubt that matters to Voldemort. There's a chance that he exists, and if he does, Voldemort would want him by his side. Having the gift to speak to snakes is an indication of power, is it not? Voldemort needs that now that he is powerless."
"So what are we going to do?" Lily looked around at the solemn faces.
"Well, better not discuss this here, we've got three days until Thursday. Let's apparate to Moony's," James decided. And the five wizards apparated away.
~*~
As the Death Eaters led Harry and Magnolia through the corridors and upstairs, Harry's eyes scanned his surroundings, taking in as much as he could. Harry had thought the room where Voldemort sat with the roaring fire had looked familiar, and as Harry walked the corridor he became certain that he had seen this place before. He knew that he had never been there physically, and he remembered abrubtly that he saw it in a dream where an old man was killed by a still weakened Voldemort. He felt slightly sick at the memory, and continued to scan the place to see if there was an escape route. Right now, he couldn't escape, what with being surrounded by six Death Eaters, a bit much for two children in Harry's opinion.
The corridor was dark, only lit by a weak light bulb in the ceiling. The wooden floor creaked as they walked down them towards a set of stairs at the end of the corridor. Two Death Eater's walked ahead of them, one on either side of Harry and Magnolia, and two behind them. They stayed in this formation as they ascended the stairs, and Harry saw that the upstairs hallway was shorter than the one on the floor below. Harry and Magnolia were taken to a room two doors down, and were shoved in. The two of them turned around as the door slammed shut and locked. The bonds on their wrists magically disappeared.
"We shall be seeing you soon," one of the Death Eaters hissed, and the group walked away. Harry was surprised that none of them were left guarding the door; then again, they probably didn't expect the 'children' to be able to escape.
Harry looked around the room; it was relatively big and contained a large king-sized bed in the middle, a desk in front of the small window, a large comfortable-looking couch in the corner, and a door leading to an ensuite on the side. The wooden floors were dusty, and a single candle flickered in a candle-holder, even though it was not dark. Magnolia took several steps into the room, then turned abruptly.
"This is all your fault!" She hissed, eyes glaring daggers at Harry.
Harry gulped, "I…"
"If you hadn't spoken to those stupid snakes, You-Know-Who wouldn't be looking for you, would he?" She continued in a low whisper. Harry wondered if she did so because she was extremely angry or if she didn't want to be overheard.
"I only spoke to them because they wanted help…"
"Oh, being helpful now, are we? You would have helped a lot if you never came!"
Harry was silent for a moment. There was truth in her words; if he had never come, then none of this would have happened. But he had a chance to meet a family he never had, to experience his birthday as he never had, did he regret that? Obviously not. He was about to voice his thoughts when Magnolia continued.
"If it hadn't been for you, dad would still love me and I'll still be at home and safe!" She strode over to the bed and sat down, burying her face in her hands as she let out sobs she had withheld from the face of the Death Eaters and Voldemort.
"I know it's my fault," Harry said quietly, "that you are in this situation, but I don't regret getting to know your family. I've never had a family of my own who loved me, and I'll only get that for the holidays, you have that for your whole life." Harry walked over to Magnolia and sat down beside her. He debated on whether or not he should put an arm around her to comfort her, but decided against it as he didn't know if she would have appreciated the contact.
Magnolia continued to cry, and it seemed a few hours passed by, even though it was only a few minutes, before Harry voiced his curiosity.
"Why didn't you tell Voldemort that it was me who spoke with the snakes?"
Magnolia glared at him with tear-filled eyes, "I'm not stupid you know. If I told him, then he probably would have killed me!" The tears ran down her face, "no need for a little girl once he finds the Parselmouth!"
She continued sobbing for a while. Her crying finally subsided and she whispered, "thank you."
Harry jumped, surprised at the sudden change in tone, "what for?"
"For taking that curse for me," Magnolia wiped the remaining tears from her face, "I'm scared."
Putting an arm around her shoulder and giving her shoulder a squeeze, Harry said softly, "I know, and I'll find a way out of here."
~*~
oSirius returned from his quick trip to Malfoy Manor, with the news that Harry and Magnolia weren't there, confirming their thoughts that Voldemort would keep them some-place else until Thursday came.
"Voldemort knows that we don't believe he'll let our children go. Since when did the evil bastard keep his word?" James sighed, "And he probably guessed that we'd attempt to save them before Thursday, if we could find them that is." oHarry sat on the couch, having been taken home by his parents from the skateboard park, he just sat there and stared at a spot in mid-air.
"Think we should contact Dumbledore and ask for some help?" Lily asked everyone.
James shook his head, "Voldemort would probably expect us to call for help, as there's no way we'll see our children until Thursday, and besides, he said that he doesn't want too many people. If there were more people, there'd be more chance of him hurting our children needlessly."
"Ah, but we have an advantage!" oSirius exclaimed.
Everyone looked at him questioningly, and he said, "he doesn't know there are two Remus's, and two Sirius's."
"Yes, so we can have all of us come to pick up the children, and Sirius can go around in dog form, sniffing out traps and taking out Death Eaters!" James sat up, and his eyes brightened, however, he sighed and lowered himself again into his seat, "but is there a way we can find them before that?"
"I'll check recent apparitions in this area, see what sort of places wizards have come from and what sort of places they've been," oSirius offered.
Lily nodded, "okay, if we find out where they are before Thursday, we'll attempt a rescue, but if not…"
"Hey, we're Marauders," James said seriously, "we'll have a surprise for Moldywarts nevertheless."
~*~
It felt like several hours had gone by while Magnolia calmed down a bit and Harry surveyed the room they were in. There wasn't much to survey, just the wooden desk that looked as though they'd collapse upon contact, the large and heavy couch, the bed, the candle in the holder, and the barred window. By the time Magnolia settled, the sun was already low in the sky.
They had at first attempted to open the window, but it wouldn't budge, and if it could have been it open, it was quite a drop to the ground. Not to mention there were bars on the window, very similar to what the Dursley's had put on Harry's room (or, to be precise, on Dudley's second bedroom) two years ago.
Harry had then used one of Magnolia's hair-pins to try to pick the lock on the door, while Magnolia looked around to see if there was anything useful lying around. Apart from the furniture, there wasn't much else in the room.
The lock clicked, and Harry turned around and looked at Magnolia excitedly. She ran to his side. Magnolia looked to Harry, wondering why Harry stopped.
"We can either find another room without bars on the window and go from there, or we can take the stairs and find the front door," Harry said softly.
"I don't want to climb…" Magnolia started.
"But if we take the stairs, there's more chance that the Death Eaters would spot us, we'd be going through a minefield of them," Harry thought out loud.
Magnolia just glared at him, "then why do you ask? You've seemed to have made up your mind already."
Harry rolled his eyes, "I wasn't asking, I was just thinking to myself, and now I've decided. We can use the bedsheets to make some rope and climb out of another window."
Without waiting for a reply (as Magnolia wanted to have the last say), Harry slowly opened the door. It seemed as though the door was recently greased, as it made no creak at all as it was pulled open.
Harry poked his head out, and seeing the coast was clear, the two of them walked out softly. They made their way to the closest door, eyes constantly scanning their surroundings, and Harry put an ear to the door. There was no sound inside, and holding up the candle-holder Magnolia had handed him before they left, Harry opened the door.
Although he was posed to defend himself, it was not necessary, as the room they had entered look very similar to the room they had been locked in, and there were bars on the windows there as well. And the two of them found that all the windows on that floor were barred.
"This must be their make-shift dungeons or something, don't they usually have dungeons underground?" Magnolia queried.
"They probably didn't have an underground place here, although I thought they would because it looks like quite an old place. Maybe they're using those underground rooms for something else," like torture Harry thought to himself, "the next best place to stash away prisoners would be the upper floors, where escape through windows would be made more difficult, and keeping watch on them would be easier. All they need to do is patrol the first floor stairs."
"We can try the stairs now though," Magnolia stated, "I'll get another candle-holder from one of the other rooms."
"We can't beat a bunch of Death Eaters with muggle weapons (although the candle-holders couldn't be considered weapons) and we don't know how many of them there are," Harry ran a hand through his hair, "let's get back to the room they put us in, and think it out from there, just in case the Death Eaters come up and realise we can pick the lock."
And the two of them made their way to the first room they were in, and relocked the door.
~*~
"You know, no-one is supposed to have access to such information," Remus commented.
"Yeah, if no-one's supposed to know these things, one wonders why they keep records of them in the first place," James agreed.
"Well, it's not as if I had an easy time getting into that place to retrieve the info," oSirius looked at a piece of paper, "speaking of which, according to the detectors, there were a total of sixty apparations this afternoon in this area. Most notable would be what looks like a group apparition into the area, fifteen wizards. However, they all apparated to different places upon leaving, so we'd have a hard time checking up on all fifteen of them."
Lily sighed, she looked at oHarry, who had been silent throughout all of their discussions. He seemed to be in shock, and Lily was not too sure how to assure him when even she realised how difficult it would be to save Magnolia and Harry.
"They don't stand in one place once they apparate, so unless we know who and what smell to look for, Sirius wouldn't be able follow their smell," James looked to Sirius and oSirius.
"Well, as a dog I can sense some dark magic, and they've all got those awful masks. I know what sort of material the mask is made out of, I might be able to follow that smell," oSirius said.
"But to check out all fifteen? We better get started now," Sirius looked around, "I guess we'll split up."
oSirius made a copy of his notes, and handed one sheet to Remus, "I guess I'll go with James, you two go together, and Lily and Griff can stay here in case there's some news. Oh, you should get in touch with Dumbledore, he should be able to help us some"
They all nodded in agreement, and left to carry out their tasks.
~*~
Harry was relatively small for his age, due to the mistreatment towards him when he was younger. Aware of this, he knew that Magnolia and himself could not overpower Merlin-knew-how many Death Eaters roaming the lower floors of the Riddle house.
Try wandless magic again? He didn't want to risk Magnolia's life on the chance that his magic was not stable without a wand; not to mention conjuring a simple shield had been difficult enough.
Magnolia breathed softly in her sleep; she was tired from all her crying and Harry had promised to wake her up once he thought of a plan for them to escape. Cold lunch sat in the corner; neither of them trusted the Death Eaters, not to mention their cooking. The Death Eater had informed them that dinner will be 'served' at seven thirty. It was now quarter to seven.
The windows were all barred, and the only option left was the stairs down to the lower levels where Voldemort and his Death Eaters were. What about an attic? They couldn't find it and besides, it would be difficult to get outside from the attic. What was at their disposal? The bed-sheets, a few candle-holders and candles, toilet paper from the ensuite, a toilet brush, the large couch, the bed, and some rickety wooden furniture.
What if he found a way to snatch one of the Death Eater's wands? Then he may have a chance…
"Magnolia, wake up," Harry nudged her softly. She slowly opened her eyes, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"Griff, is mum gonna tell us off for playing all night?" She yawned.
Harry smiled slightly to himself, and shook his head, "Magnolia, it's Snitch."
Her eyes widened as she remembered her predicament, "oh. So what do we do?"
"Have you ever done any wandless magic?" He asked, looking at her expectantly.
Magnolia frowned a little as she thought, "yeah, several times I blew up some things, why?" Harry thought that she must have blown up the objects due to anger at not getting something she wanted, but didn't voice his thoughts.
"You see, when we feel strong emotions, our magic becomes stronger and we direct that at certain things, we harness it. For example, you may have broken those things because you were angry and felt the need for such, er, destruction. I blew up my aunt once when I was very angry with her…"
"Really? Who?"
"Oh, you probably won't know her, but she's Uncle Vernon's sister…"
"She must be really ugly," Magnolia stated simply, and Harry couldn't help but chuckle.
"Yeah, she was. Anyway, what I'm saying is that we can concentrate on our strong emotions together and try to make the bars disappear…"
"I don't want to climb," Magnolia said, eyes widening.
"I didn't say we were going to climb. Making the bars disappearing would be difficult enough, not to mention transfiguring something into rope, or conjuring rope. And with these tatty bed-sheets, I doubt they'd hold our weight while we climb down. Also, while we climb down, a Death Eater may be watching the nice night outside and spot us, or Death Eaters on patrol might spot us. So, we'll rip the bed-sheet to make a rope, and hang it outside. When the Death Eaters come to check up on us, they'll think we climbed out and they'll send out a group or two to look for us. The watch on the first floor wouldn't be as secure, and we can try to get out from the stairs."
Magnolia looked at Harry in awe, "that actually sounds like a good plan, a true Marauder plan."
Harry blushed, "come on, let's hold the bars together," Harry thought about his experience with the wandless shield, "think about how scared you are of the Death Eaters, how scared you are of Voldemort. Think about how angry you are that you aren't at home playing computer games, how angry you are… at me for causing all this to happen…" Harry watched as Magnolia had her eyes closed, and her face was contorted into an expression of pain, a frown marring her forehead, "think of how much you hate the bars for being there, and think that the bars aren't there."
Harry then closed his eyes and thought of the unfairness of the situation, how Magnolia didn't deserve to be here, how angry he was at Voldemort and his minions, how afraid he was for their lives, and how much he hated the bars on the window, and before he knew it, his hand was gripping nothing. His eyes popped open and stared into Magnolias.
"It worked!" She whispered. They both looked at the non-existent bars, and to their relief, the window had disappeared as well.
Harry just nodded stiffly, then turned to the bed, "now it's time to make our rope."
The two of them worked together on the bed-sheets, ripping pieces and tying them together to make a rope. They both worked silently and quickly, and finished in less than ten minutes. Then they pulled the ends of the ropes as though they were doing tug-of-war, so that the rope looked a little more stretched, and had to stop putting force in their pulls when the rope started to rip. They then hung the rope out of the window, tying the end to the leg of the large couch.
"Do you think they'll believe we climbed out the window?" Magnolia frowned at the tatty looking rope.
Harry shrugged, "we'll just have to see, won't we?" He looked at his watch, fifteen more minutes, "come on," Harry quickly picked the lock, and carefully locked the door again after they were out of the room. They made their way to the room across from the one they had been locked in, and hid under the bed. With the door slightly open, they could make out the shadows of people coming in and out of their old room, and they could also hear everything that went on outside.
True to their word, two Death Eaters came up the stairs at seven thirty and stood outside the room they were in before.
"Potter, and Potter, your dinner."
Harry heard the door open, and a gasp of surprise, quick footsteps, and then, "they escaped!"
"What do we do!?" This voice was slightly panicked, obviously afraid of Voldemort's wrath.
"What else? Alert everyone else, send them out, they can't be too far from here…" too right there Harry thought to himself.
The footsteps were hurried as the Death Eaters quickly made their way down, Magnolia looked at Harry, and he nodded. The two of them crawled out from their hiding place and made their way out to the top of the stairs. Candle-holders in hand, they made their way down the stairs quietly. After four flights of stairs, they were on the ground level and, out of his sketchy memories of his dreams, he led the way to where he thought the back door was.
It seemed as though all the Death Eaters were outside looking for them, and hope flared in Harry's heart until he heard voices around the corner of the hallway, and Harry motioned for Magnolia to stop while he stepped forward quietly and risked a quick peek; two Death Eaters were standing in front of a pot-plant. Harry tip-toed back to where Magnolia was and whispered his plan in her ear. She looked slightly pale as she nodded her head. They crept back to the corner, and Magnolia let out a short scream.
The voices around the corner silenced, and a gruff voice said quietly, "did you hear that?"
"That might be the girl!" The other voice said excitedly, "wands out!" And two sets of footsteps approached the corner.
Harry's hand was slightly slippery on the candle-holder as his hands sweated from nervousness. The Death Eaters were getting closer. As they turned the corner, Magnolia tripped the first one with the candle-holder, and Harry pounced on the first Death Eater, hitting him over his head with the candle holder and grabbing his wand. Taken by surprise, the second Death Eater lost precious seconds to raise his wand as Harry stunned both the second Death Eater and the first.
Magnolia looked slightly impressed. Harry motioned for her to follow him, and they made their way to the door.
Outside, the street-lights from the roads cast eerie shadows. There was a very tall brick wall out the back, and both silently agreed that they will attempt the wall, with the help from the trees lining the backyard, rather than risk circling to the front and being seen by the Death Eaters.
However, Magnolia's fake scream earlier must have alerted other Death Eaters to their location as someone yelled, "they've gone out the back!"
Harry and Magnolia exchanged a fearful glance and ran to the side of the house, attempting to make their way around the large house to the front gate. Harry heard Death Eaters behind them, and quickly pulled Magnolia into some bushes as a stunner flew past them. They continued to scamper towards the front gate, using the bushes to shield themselves. They turned to the front of the house, and quickly ran to the front gate. They almost made it when a leg-locker curse hit Harry and he fell flat on his face. Luckily, the wand was still in his fist, and he saw a Death Eater step out from a bush near the front gate, about to grab Magnolia, and stunned him. Magnolia turned around, but Harry frantically motioned for Magnolia to go.
"Go! Leave me…"
Magnolia stared wide-eyed at Harry as he was stunned, and turned quickly on her heels and ran for it. She risked a glance over her shoulder to see a Death Eater taking the wand out of Harry's hand and then three more Death Eaters emerging from around the house. Knowing the danger of staying in the empty street for too long, Magnolia climbed into the back-yard of other homes as she tried to lose the Death Eaters pursuing her, hearing curses behind her wake. To her relief, after cutting through a dozen back yards, she could no longer hear any Death Eaters behind her. She crouched in some bushes and took in lungful after lungful of air. After her heart-beat had slowed down to an almost regular speed, she approached the front door of a nearby house and knocked.
A big bold man answered the door and glared down at Magnolia, a bottle of beer in his hand and his stomach bulging under his tight grey t-shirt. She gulped as she gathered her nerves and said in a scared voice, "hello mister. I am lost. Could I please borrow the phone so that I could ring my parents?"
The man seemed to think for a moment, taking in the state of Magnolia's clothes and hair, then sneered, "look kiddo, this isn't the Salvation Army, now scram!" And the door was slammed in her face.
Magnolia's temper flared, and as she left the property, she noted the big number '7' on the mailbox and remembered the street name. 'Once I'm out of this mess I'll be back, I promise. You'll regret that, you whale of a man, no-one messes with a Marauder's daughter and gets away with it!' She thought to herself. She made her way to the next house, only to find out that the old lady, with knitting in her hands, didn't have a phone in her place. Greatly disheartened, Magnolia looked up and down the street, and made her way to another street, and looked up and down it again. After jogging another block, she finally found a phone-booth and hurried to it.
Once she was in the booth, she picked up the phone and remembered her mother's lessons about muggle telephones and making calls. She remembered the number for reverse calls and dialled it in. After speaking to an operator, there was a ring tone, and then Lily's voice sounded from the other end of the line.
"Mum?" Magnolia said excitedly.
"Magnolia? Are you okay? Where are you?"
"I'm okay," she said bravely, "I'm near a street called…"
Unbeknownst to her, a Death Eater had crept up on Magnolia while she was in the phone-booth, and blew up the phone in her hand, glass from the phone-booth window flying everywhere. Magnolia's heart jumped, and she was surprised that she got but two or three of the flying shards of glass, the Death Eater must've wanted her unharmed and shielded her from flying glass. She turned and looked to see who did it, only to see a wand pointed at her face.
~*~
As Sirius, oSirius, James, and Remus left, Lily made her way to the fireplace. She was ready to call Dumbledore when there was a knock on the door.
"Harry dear, could you get that for me?" oHarry stood up silently and made his way to the door. oRemus came in and looked around.
Lily turned from the fireplace and looked at him. oRemus said, "is everything okay? I heard that Sirius was in the ministry before, and as it was a rare occurrence, I thought there might have been some case I could help with."
"Oh Remus, it's Magnolia and Harry…" the phone suddenly rang, and Lily, who was standing right next to it, grabbed it.
"Hello, Potter residence, Lily speaking," her voice had converted to her polite teaching voice, but changed suddenly as her eyes widened, "Magnolia!" oHarry and oRemus looked at her, oHarry's an expression of hope, and oRemus' an expression of confusion, "are you okay? Where are you?"
Lily listened intently, but the line suddenly went dead.
"Mum? Is Magnolia okay?" oHarry asked after some silence.
"The line went dead," Lily said softly. She looked at the ground for a moment in thought, then there was a flicker of hope.
"Harry, you stay here, we don't want any of Voldemort's Death Eaters seeing you. Remus, we've used a tracking charm on the others. Can you get James and Sirius, and I'll get Sirius and the other Remus."
~*~
AN: Sorry, my bed beckons me, and how can I refuse such promises of peaceful slumber? I can't believe that Harry and Magnolia are still captured, I guess they aren't escaping until the next chapter. Geez, I sure am dragging this fic out. Hope you don't mind it!
A lot of people have had ideas about what animagus form Harry should take, and I have taken into account all of them and have finally decided on one. It's a magical one, it's not a phoenix, nor is it a griffin. And no, it's not a basilisk (not very Harry anyway). If you do not want Harry as a magical animal, please suggest an alternative with reason, and I may consider it. Let me know at tonderumushi@yahoo.com.au, or leave a review. Thanks for reading!