Catherine groaned. "Are we done yet?" she whined as they exited the building.

"With this store," Avery admitted. "Clothes shopping is much more fun when it's not for me."

Catherine sighed and shifted her armful of bags. They had already been to three different clothing stores (which amounted to the armful of bags) and four completely non-related stores (the remaining five or six bags that Catherine was not carrying).

"Oo..." Krystal cooed. "Puffskeins!" She eagerly darted to the window and stared inside. "They're so cute!"

Avery sighed. "Too bad Fred and George haven't made Pygmy Puffs yet," she lamented, "because, these things are already adorable. Just imagine what a little pink one would be like!"

"I wonder what they would have to breed them with to get pink," Catherine mused. "Do you think it's recessive?"

"I don't know, and I really don't care," Avery admitted.

"Yes, you do," Catherine insisted. "Then, you could breed your own. If the Pygmies are pink and purple, then pink and blue are probably co-dominant." She glared at Avery, who was studiously ignoring her. "Basically, you could theoretically have a blue one."

"Hm..." Avery responded, mildly intrigued. "That would be cool. Then again, if Freddy and Georgie didn't sell any like that, there's only two reasons. It means that either the genes are specifically custard, pink, and purple, or there was a blue gene, and it was ugly. If there was a blue gene, I'm fairly certain they could isolate it, seeing as they could create a consistent population of small pink fluffballs out of a large yellow fluffball."

Catherine was thoroughly impressed. "Wow," she responded.

Avery glared at her. "Are you kidding?! That was amaz-"

"That was a compliment," Catherine dryly informed.

Avery froze. "You never say anything nice about me," she suspiciously replied.

"She just did," Krystal remarked with much amusement. Catherine nodded.

"Duck!" Avery shouted.

"'Duck'?" Krystal echoed. "Where? All I see are-"

"No! Duck," Avery repeated. "As in 'Catherine said something nice, which contradicts the laws of the universe, so now, we're all going to die!' That duck."

"Oh," Krystal responded, laughing.

Catherine looked around. "Funny," she remarked. "Must be a delayed response."

Avery glared at her again. "That's my line," she muttered. "Anyway... Yes. I'm brilliant, which was why I didn't bother to listen to your rambling. I obviously already knew all of that. My bet is that the blue wouldn't sell well to the targeted adolescent female population." She stopped before looking mortified. "Oh, my gosh. I sound like Cate."

Catherine laughed. "Great minds think alike?" she offered.

Avery wrinkled her nose. "How about extreme nerdiness is contagious?" she countered. "Besides, we all know I'm the great mind here."

"I don't know..." Krystal responded. "You forgot about the whole magic element. It could just be a series of spells. Or diet, like flamingos."

Avery rolled her eyes. "I don't care, anymore, but I'll make you a deal. If we get a Puffskein, will you leave the whole demon-penguin thing alone?"

Krystal debated this. "But Thomas..." she started, but a Puffskein bounced up to the window and stared at her with huge eyes. "Okay... Maybe I can look at them..."

Catherine stared up at the sign: "Leander's Animal Shoppe". Something stirred in her memory, but she wasn't for certain what she was searching for, which made it harder. She pondered over it as Krystal and Avery headed for the door.

This line of thought ended as a black and white cat bounded out into the street. "Oops," Avery murmured.

"Oh," Catherine responded, enlightened. "Potter."

"What about him?" Avery demanded. After a moment, she too recognized it. "Oh. So this is the place that James lost that owl."

"Here, kitty-kitty," Krystal called.

Catherine started to speak, when Avery rolled her eyes and cut her off. "Not you," she declared. "The cat we just lost."

"I know," Catherine insisted. "But she's a stray. She wasn't really supposed to be in there. I've had that conversation with him already."

"Oh, thank goodness," Krystal responded. "That could've been bad."

The shop owner (who may or may not be "Mr. Leander") opened the door. "It's alright," he informed. "She's not mine. Do come in."

Catherine shot Avery a pointed look. Avery simply shrugged and bounced into the store. Krystal giggled, and they followed after her.

Krystal immediately gravitated toward the Puffskeins, but Avery and Catherine wandered further back into the store. Catherine was admiring the owls, when-

"OH, MY GOSH!" Avery shrieked.

"What?!" Krystal inquired in surprise.

"It's a-" Avery paused. "It's a-"

"What?" Catherine demanded in irritation. She glanced around the cages she was studying to come face to face with a bright red bird. "Oh. That's cool, I guess."

"You guess?!" Avery bellowed. "It's a-" (a string of words probably learned from Potter which Catherine therefore deemed unsafe to repeat) "-PHOENIX!"

Catherine sighed. "We are in a public," she mildly responded. "You probably need to quiet down a bit."

"I can't believe you," Avery murmured in horror.

Krystal appeared from behind them. "Wow... It's beautiful..." she whispered in an awed voice. "Aren't you, sweetie?"

"She's not for sale," the owner informed, drawn in by the shouts. "That is Serafina. She was just delivering a message." He handed her a scroll, and she immediately took off.

"Aw..." Avery groaned. "You would get rich if you sold phoenixes."

"No, he wouldn't," Catherine responded. "He would get a bunch of law suits."

The man chuckled. "That would not end well," he kindly informed. "Phoenixes would resent captivity and would either injure themselves or escape."

"Darn," Avery responded, obviously disappointed. "How did Dumbles get one, then?"

"You would have to befriend it," the man stated. "And even then, it would have to choose to stay with you."

"That makes sense, I guess," Krystal responded. "Disappointing, though."

The man turned to Catherine. "I remember you," he suddenly declared. "You were the girl that found the owl."

"Yeah," she responded. "That was me."

The man thought for a moment. "Did you see the sign?" he queried.

"What sign?" Catherine inquired, looking around.

"Oh, that cat," the man muttered. He went over to the window and stuck a "NOW HIRING" sign back into the window. "If you want," he continued while adjusting the sign, "the job can be yours."

Catherine was too surprised to respond immediately. "I still go to school, sir," she finally spoke. "And-"

"Oh, that's alright," the man assured. "Summer and Christmas are always the busiest times of the year. Besides, the cat keeps knocking the sign down, so not a single person has even asked about the job. You said you worked at the Hogwarts owlery, correct? I know Silvanus; I'll ask him about a reference."

"Oo, take it!" Krystal urged. "Then, you can work with all the precious animals!"

Catherine weighed her options. Not only would she have something to do and gain precious money, but it could set her up for the next school year when she was officially an "adult" by wizarding measures. That way, at least, she wouldn't be so blindsided. And of course, she could always quit...

This was all calculated in less than five seconds. "When can I start?" she inquired. "Don't I have to fill out paperwork first or something?"

The man smiled. "Can you come back tomorrow?" he pleasantly inquired.

Krystal quickly consulted with Avery, who moaned. "We're going to need a Puffskein, too."


James huffed. "I'm here," he declared. "What do you want?"

Avery looked up from her ice cream. "Oh, hello, Jamila," she greeted.

Lily eyed him warily, and Krystal giggled. James practically groaned. Typical girls. Avery was the only decent girl he had probably ever met, and she was horribly manipulating when she felt like it. Sometimes, it wasn't too bad; she could technically claim that she was the reason that he was friends with Remus. Others times, it was terrible. Such as then. If he didn't want the duck's tape so much-

"Did you bring the money?" Avery inquired.

James rolled his eyes and tossed it over. "Happy?" he demanded.

Lily counted it and nodded. "Good enough," Avery responded.

"Here's the instructions to get there," Krystal declared, handing him an envelope.

"Don't bother trying to open it yet," Lily cheerfully informed. "It's been charmed, so it won't open until the morning of."

"Does next Wednesday at three sound good to you?" Avery inquired, staring at her pad. "Sorry we couldn't do anything sooner, but everything before that is already sold out. Besides, that would give us a few hours to prep and eat."

"And get ice cream?" Krystal hopefully inquired.

"Muggle ice cream," Lily corrected. "Otherwise, it wouldn't count."

"Well, obviously," Avery agreed.

"Three is fine," James responded. He doubted they were listening.

"Good," Avery responded. "We'll tell the others."

"That's it?" James demanded. "You called me here for that?"

"No," Avery denied. "We bought you an ice cream. Oh, and what size clothing do you wear?"

"What?!" James exclaimed.

"Told you he would freak out," Lily reminded.

"For the Muggle clothes," Krystal assured.

"I can dress myself!" James protested. He didn't need those girls to pick out his clothes for him.

James almost stormed off when he saw the doubtful look on Avery's face. She shared a look with Lily, who responded, "We'll see."


"Sevvy, why are you tied up…?"

"Tobi?!" Severus practically squeaked for joy.

"I'm here," Tobi informed, her voice full of cautious concern. It sounded like she hadn't moved any since she had last spoken. "Please tell me that I'm not interrupting anything kinky or-"

"What?!" Severus's voice squeaked again but for a much different reason.

"Well, you're tied up in a bedroom, and you weren't really struggling, and you sounded upset when I found you, and-"

"NO!" he managed. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no-!"

"Okay, okay," Tobi comforted, rushing forward and yanking the blindfold off. Her face bore such a mixture of concern and relief that he couldn't help but feel touched. Well, until she continued: "Just making sure-"

"NO!" he finished, but his alarm was fading.

"Are you okay?" Tobi gently but firmly inquired. She carefully checked him over for injuries.

"Yeah," he shakily replied after a moment. "I'm fine. I'm only sort of kidnapped."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tobi demanded, pausing from the knot she had started on. "I'm the only person who gets to 'sort of kidnap' you. This is not okay. I'm going to murder whoever-"

"I wasn't really kidnapped!" Severus quickly responded.

Tobi stopped again, arched her eyebrows, and threw her hands to her hips. He looked down in shame, unable to answer. "Really? You mean you were voluntarily snatched off the street, bound, blindfolded, and tied to a chair?" she sharply retorted.

"…no…"

She laughed, but it wasn't pleasant. "Then, I'm pretty sure it's kidnapping," she flatly informed.

"No," Severus disagreed. He took a deep breath and tried to order his thoughts. "My friends-"

"Bartholomew?" Tobi dangerously grilled. "Maximus-?"

"-and their siblings and stuff have a club, and they were going to induct me, but they thought it would be funny if I didn't know where it was until I was a member…"

"Your friends have a cult?"

"Honestly, Tobi, they were just playing," he insisted. "And, when I got upset, they said they would take me right back… They're getting directions back or something."

That last part wasn't exactly truth, but Tobi must have heard the desperation in his voice because she didn't question it. "Fine," she angrily responded. "I won't kill them. But, we're leaving. Now."

"But-"

"You said they were taking you back now, anyway," Tobi pointed out. "Right?"

She had him there. "Yeah," he weakly lied. "Let's go."

She quickly slashed through the rest of his bindings with a rather scary looking pocket knife and led him down a corridor. Mute thumping could be heard from behind one of the doors, which in his effort to avoid thinking about it prompted Severus' next question: "How did you find me, anyway?"

She tried for a nonchalant shrug, but Severus could see that she was still a little tense. "Well, you were late for our meeting, so I finally went to your house, and your father answered."

Severus practically died right then. "You- he-"

She held up a hand to stop him. "I didn't kill him," she promised. Then, as an afterthought, she added, "Yet, anyway."

"Tobi-"

"Fine, I won't!" she promised. "Let's just say he got really unfriendly once I mentioned you, and he may have smelled a bit like liquor. That being said, I got really mad and stormed off to interrogate the neighborhood kids, and this little boy mentioned that a group of boys snatched you off the street, and-" She paused. "You know… I don't remember much after that. I was kind of in an angry haze."

The pair made it to the front door and exited onto the porch.

Catherine immediately leapt out of the wicker chair she had been perched on. "You found him?" she anxiously inquired. Her eyes briefly rested on him, but she still appeared upset. In fact, he may have seen a flicker of contempt. "And you didn't kill anyone?"

"No," Tobi sourly admitted. "He wouldn't let me."

With that, Catherine sighed and any worry faded. "Oh, good," she responded, utterly herself again. "SHE FOUND HIM!" she called to the house.

"SEVERUS!" Lily cried, bursting out the door and hugging him. "Oh, my gosh, we were so worried-"

"We?" he inquired, before realizing the sheer number of people collecting on the porch. There was Emil, Julian, Jenna, Tammy, Sebastian, Catherine, Lily, and large number of Muggle teenage boys. "How long have I been missing?" he demanded. Honestly, he was surprised that that many people would go out looking for him, especially excluding his friends that had "kidnapped" him in the first place.

"Two and a half days," Catherine casually informed.

"What?" Severus muttered in shock.

"It was terrible," Lily agreed. "We've been searching this whole time, too."

A Muggle boy nodded. "We have, honest." (Severus must have looked as skeptical as he felt) "Miss Nancy got mad at us for coming back to late."

"The Headmistress," Catherine clarified (Severus must have still looked confused). "Of our orphanage." She gestured to the Muggle boys, who waved enthusiastically.

"But why-" Severus began to ask, but the first boy waved away his question.

"Glad to help," he assured. "A friend of a friend is a friend to us. We orphans have to stick together." Catherine studiously studied her feet, but Severus could still see her turning red through her curls.

"Besides, it gets us out of that dreadful place," another boy informed. "This is the most we've done all summer."

"And we got to jump those guys," another boy agreed. "The looks on their faces when we locked them in there…" The boys grinned collectively at this, and Severus could only hope that his friends and their group weren't dead.

Catherine smirked a little. "Thanks again, guys. You were a ton of help. Oh, did you sock Lucius for me?" she inquired.

"The one with the long blonde hair, right?" the second boy inquired. "Twice."

"We normally don't hit girls," the fourth boy informed, "but the Bella girl was just as obnoxious as you said, so we made an exception."

"Good," Catherine declared with a smile.

"And one of them was related to Cromwell, so we had to rough him up," the third boy added.

"You should have seen their faces when we locked them in the closet," a new boy spoke.

Severus stared at Catherine, who instantly lost her smile and glared back at him. "You have no idea what these people are about to do," she assured. "They deserve this and more. Plus, they abducted you or whatever, and it was the only way to pacify Tobi."

"I heard that," Tobi informed.

"Isn't this breaking the statute of secrecy?" Severus inquired.

Catherine shook her head. "They know I go to boarding school and nothing more," she answered. "Besides, Emil and Julian are the only two that are allowed to do magic, anyway, and they've been careful. Now, I've got to go. I've missed my lunch break for this."

"Lunch break?" Severus repeated.

Catherine gestured to her new clothing, which Severus hadn't noticed before. She was clad in black shoes, dress pants, and a black, button down shirt with an emblem for "Leander's Animal Shoppe" over her heart. The look was completed with a stray owl feather caught in her messy hair, proof that she must have rushed straight from her job.

Tobi shrugged. "My Sevvy is way more important than your lunch," she declared. Lily laughed and nodded, and Severus felt his face get warm.

"You should get kidnapped more often," a boy teased.

If it made Lily look at him like that, he thought that it might be worth it.


Catherine sat cross legged on the bed. "Caesar?" she dubiously repeated. "You named the Puffskein… Caesar?"

"Yeah," Krystal responded. "He's my adorable little world domination minion, isn't he?"

Avery laughed. "Hey, don't look at me," she informed, throwing her free hand into the air and cradling the second Puffskein in the other. "I named mine Sunny."

"I wanted her to name him Napoleon," Krystal teased.

"But he's not short!" Avery countered. "And he's not very French, either. He's obviously a Sunny."

Catherine laughed and clapped her hands together. Before she could speak, however, something pecked at the windows.

"One moment," Avery declared, throwing the sash open. A medium sized, dappled owl landed on the desk next to Ciara's perch. The two owls hooted in friendly recognition.

"A Boreal Owl?" Catherine commented in surprise. Avery stared blankly back at her. "You know, Tengmalm's Owl?"

"Who's he?" Avery inquired as she took the letter.

Catherine groaned. "The guy who discovered them or whatever," she informed.

"And you point is…?" Avery continued.

"You don't really see many of them here," she enlightened. "They live in Russia or something…" She paused. "Oh, no."

"What?" Krystal inquired. Then, it hit her, too. "Oh. Please don't tell me you're still bugging that poor vampire."

"He's not actually Russian," Avery defended. "He's Belarusian."

Catherine flopped backwards onto the bed with a loud groan, and Krystal burst out laughing. "Oh, Catherine," she managed.

"Relax," Avery irately responded. "I'm being careful. Besides, he doesn't even live in the same country. He practically doesn't live on the same continent. It's not like I'm going to meet him at midnight in an alley or something. I do have common sense." She turned to the owl. "This might be a while. Want a treat?" The owl bobbed its head. "Oh, this is Nikita, which, by the way, is actually masculine in Russian."

"He's like five years older than you," Catherine protested. "And a stranger. And a vampire." She paused. "And I knew that, by the way."

"Of course," Krystal teased.

"Cate, we're just pen pals," Avery pointed out, ignoring the last part. "Besides, that's not even the one I've been writing to. I've been writing to his human friend. See? Look." She snatched the stack of letters off her desk and handed them to Catherine. "Perfectly harmless."

Catherine suspiciously perused them. "Oh," she mildly responded. "The friend does kind of like you."

"Wow," Avery responded. "I didn't totally say that when we met them."

Krystal curiously peeked over her shoulder. "Wait. It's signed 'Sergei'. Wasn't that the dark haired one?" she inquired.

Avery looked up. "Yeah. He wasn't as cute as Luka, but I'll have to settle," she responded.

"But I thought Sergei-" Krystal began, puzzled.

Catherine sighed. "Stereotypes," she viciously muttered.

Avery nodded. "I know. It's totally unfair," she agreed. Then, to Krystal, she informed, "No. It's a joke between them, you see. Everybody assumes that Sergei is the vampire because of stereotypes and stuff, which naturally drives Sergei nuts. Luka gets a kick out of it every time, though. I think that's part of why Sergei likes me, actually. I knew he wasn't the vampire. That, and we both hate those dinner party thingies."

"Oh," Krystal replied in surprise. She wouldn't have thought that the cheerful blonde one would have been the vampire of the pair. That instantly made her feel terrible, and she promised herself that she would touch up more on the subject to avoid future offence. "Tell them I'm sorry, please."

"I already did," Avery assured. "We've been talking for a while. They know you didn't mean it. Oh, Catherine, Sergei told me to say thanks to you for also noticing that he wasn't the real vamp. I explained that you weren't freaked out because Luka was a vampire so much as you have an extreme case of Antisocial Stranger-Danger, so they like you. They would like to meet you both again the next time they come to Britain."

"That would cool," Krystal earnestly answered. "I'd like to talk to them some more. And apologize again. I bet it would be really interesting."

"Yup," Avery agreed. "They're interested in American stuff, and we're about as American as they get." She turned to Catherine. "Don't look so stressed. They're not coming for another year or two."

"I'm sorry," Catherine apologized. "I'm honestly trying to be friendlier, but-"

"Paranoid, much?" Avery teased.

"I have trust issues," she simply responded. "And anti-social issues."

"Well, Sergei's still alive," Avery continued, "so, Luka can't be some evil homicidal maniac."

"Avery!" Krystal chided.

"True," Catherine agreed. "Although, it's not unheard of for serial killers to work in pairs."

"Kitty!" Krystal moaned.

"Yeah, but the Belarusian government keeps extra tabs on their vampires," Avery pointed out. "It would be harder for them to get away with it, and certainly we would have heard word of it by now."

"You're right," Catherine reluctantly agreed. "And you said they liked sarcasm?"

"You guys are terrible," Krystal moaned with a giggle.

"Says the girl who named her innocent puffball after an emperor bent on world domination," Avery countered.

"Et tu, Avery?" Krystal teased.

"Ugh," Avery moaned. "I hate that play. Now, give me my letter back."

A/N

Sorry this took a while. This chapter was becoming too long, so I ended up splitting it into two.

Avery: Yeah, quit making up excuses and just learn to write faster.

Whatever. :P

Thanks to my reviewers: LadyLoophole, Akozu Heiwa, Blue Luver5000, Hopeful star, White Story, and mingkurosakikagegami. I love knowing somebody actually reads this. Thanks also to my lovely favs and followers... You guys are great, too. :D

Don't know if you remember the vampires from Chapter 43...

Avery: I do!

Krystal: I think they know that...

Anyway, they may show up again later.

Now, White Story... As to where I'm going with Severus and Lily... I try to stay as cannon as a complete AU can get. ;) So far, I've done my best to make it obvious to the reader that Severus has a crush on Lily without making it so obvious that Lily figures it out. Sorry if that got a little confusing. As to where I end, this story is really about the Marauders, so it will end with the end of the Marauders (the end of the First Wizarding War). If anybody's interested (and not completely fed up with me at that point), I might do a sequel with my AU gang during Harry's time. Does that help any?

Now, even though it's clear that I'm as paranoid as Catherine:

Disclaimer:

I do not own Harry Potter, or any of its people/places/terms/ etc. If I did, I wouldn't be musing over Puffskein colors. ;)