A/N 1: Sorry I took so incredibly long in posting this. I am a lazy person with a non-functional computer and a four-week summer vacation. So really, it's not my fault. It's this evil fiend's fault. Electronics are evil. I have become a cannibal. I ate practically a whole box of Double-stuffed Oreos yesterday. Everyone, the quote of the month is:
"I am the walrus!"
The Beatles
Disclaimer: If you recognize anything from somewhere else, then it's not mine. Except Starsnuffer. His personality is mine, kinda. He's a slightly exaggerated version of my "favorite" school horse and my bad side. And Artemis and Hollie Bright the Evil Traitor are mine. The quotes aren't mine. One belongs to some French guy, and the other belongs to someone else who's not me. The above quote belongs to the almighty Beatles. Oh! I also own thirty some Gelly Rolls and Milkys. I love those. If you don't know what those are, that's sad. For you Milky deprived people, those are two types of really cool pens. I love them. My Harry Potter Shrine sign is done in Gelly Rolls. I also own the first four HP books in hardcover and the first one in paperback. I own one last thing, which is my new CD. Anyone else like Blink 182?
"And the bloody morning after…
One tin soldier rides away."
-Source unknown
"When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drum
There is a life about to begin
When tomorrow comes!"
-Do You Hear The People Sing, Les Miserables
Minerva McGonagall quickly changed from cat to human. (Hopefully…The Oath magic, it's got to protect me! It has to!) she thought, which was more of a plea.
Before Minerva could even blink as a human, she was bound with anti-magic cords by a dozen of ghost-gray soldiers from the Dark Lord's army.
"A plan for escape?" Lucius Malfoy grinned evilly at Minerva. "As Commander in Chief of this army, I get to decide what to do with you until He gets here. Lucky for you, I am less…harsh. But not a lot less."
Minerva gave him a long look. "Lucius Malfoy. You were never, in all the time that I have known you, since your first year at Hogwarts, ever been such a coward," she said softly.
Lucius flinched, as though she had hit him. He glared at her. Pulling out his wand, he yelled "Crucio!"
Minerva fell to the ground writhing in pain, screaming.
Lucius quickly muttered something under his breath, and Minerva couldn't scream.
"Put her in one of the tents and leave her. Some pain will do her good."
~
Back at the prison…
A knock came at the door, startling both Remus and Sirius from sleep.
"Where is she?"
"What the…" Sirius' voice trailed off as he looked at the form in the doorway. Something, something that was definitely not human, stood there. It was a sickly green color, with many eyes.
"Where is the cat woman?" the creature rasped.
Looking around, Remus could see that Minerva was not there.
The creature waited, and when neither of the men answered, it gave a sigh of frustration, a noise sounding like a horse neigh mixed with an explosion. The door slammed as the creature left the cell.
Voices came from outside of the room. "She's gone."
"But who…which of my servants would have let…Hollie…"
The voices outside trailed off as whoever was talking walked away.
"How?" Remus asked Sirius. "Do you have any idea? They couldn't have murdered Minerva… could they?"
"If they had, then they wouldn't be wondering where she…" Sirius fell silent as he gazed up at the open window. It was small, and very high, but not for a small, nimble cat…and maybe not for a thin man…
~
Minerva lay inside the tent, twisting from pain when, suddenly, the pain stooped. A pair of strong hooves kicked in the side of the tent.
(Who is that?) Minerva looked carefully at the form, but could see only a shadow due to the darkness. A shadow…with…with…(Eight legs! Voldemort's horse!)
(This is the shape changer. Now, my plans can succeed!) Starsnuffer, using the little bit of magic that he had, lifted Minerva off of the ground. He made sure he still had the small bag hanging around his neck, and disappeared, as did Minerva.
(What is he doing? What's in that bag around his neck? Is he helping me?) Questions raced through Minerva's head as she looked around the place where she had just appeared. It seemed to be a forest, but Minerva knew that it was not the Forbidden Forest just by the feel of it. You could tell the Forbidden Forest had life in it as soon as you walked in, but this place was silent, not even a bird song.
Starsnuffer began to speak, if you could call the pitiful sounds that came out of his mouth speech, to Minerva. In garbled English, he said, " You are here as my prisoner. There is no one here to help you, and no way to escape. Even my master would be better than what I am going to do to you, but you aren't so lucky." The horse neighed, a high pitched whinny, that Minerva deciphered as a laugh. "You don't even have a chance! No wand, no nothing, but I have…I have…this…" The horse gestured behind him at the forest.
All was still for a moment. Then, like clockwork, animals, small mice to giant bears, came out from between the trees.
"Wizards. All wizards that have lost their magic, magic that will be used for the master race I will create! They will be forced to serve once I have enough magic, and you…you have power. More than these pitiful fools…You, like them, will become my mindless slave, until I give you the power…to kill."
Minerva couldn't stop herself from speaking. "You're mad," she said softly.
Starsnuffer glared at her, then neighed. It seemed to mean something to his troops, for a number of the larger ones grabbed Minerva and carried her to a clearing, where they tied her to a tree and left her.
~
"Sirius, come on! Just a little bit higher!" Remus stood on Sirius' shoulders, reaching for the window that had been left open. "Almost there…just a little bit to the right…There!" Remus reached up and grabbed the windowpane, pulling himself onto it. "Now, hurry!"
"All right, all right…calm down. Everyone's out looking for Minerva, they aren't going to find us…All right, I'm coming…" Sirius quickly turned himself into a dog and leaped as high as he could. He had judged the distance right, and landed right on the windowpane, but accidentally knocked Remus off, who fell into the darkness of the night. Fortunately for Remus, it was the first story and he landed on his feet.
"Hurry up…they could be anywhere…we have to try and get back to Hogwarts…we don't even know where we are!" Remus looked at Sirius, who had landed and transformed next to him.
Sirius looked around. "Yeah, we are pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Maybe there's a centaur or something nearby…"
"I don't think at this point we're going to be that lucky…" Remus said, looking around at the shadowy figures who were moving in closer, surrounding them. "No, we aren't going to be lucky at all…"
~
"Please, milord, I didn't let her go!" Hollie shrieked as Artemis added to the pain. "Please, no more!"
"Keep going, Artemis. She knows something." Voldemort laughed, and the high, evil sound echoed through the chamber.
~
Sirius and Remus, trapped by a circle of creatures moving in closer and closer, looked for a place to escape. There was none. The figures moved in closer, surrounding them so close that a claustrophobic person would panic. The two wizards heard a laugh, sounding like a horse, which was the last thing they heard before they were Stunned.
Later…
Remus woke up, but he couldn't tell where he was. He was tied to something, but what? Maybe a tree?
"I was wondering when you two would wake up."
(Is that Minerva?) Remus looked around, and saw her also tied to a tree on his left.
"Minerva? Where-But I thought-How can-You escaped!" Sirius looked at her in surprise.
"I did." Minerva didn't bother to explain any further, but Sirius kept prying.
"So…what happened? Why are you here? Actually, why are we here? What's going on?"
"Which of those do you want answered first?"
"Just tell me why we're here, and then you two can sort out what happened and so on," Remus said impatiently.
"His horse…that eight legged stallion…wants to take over the world. He's already taken at least a hundred's magic so that he can brainwash them into evil…and I'm next."
Sirius didn't bother asking any other questions, and the clearing was silent.
~
"All right! I did! I did let her go!" Hollie screamed. She would tell them anything to escape the pain.
"So, you did. Well, if you hadn't said anything, I would have had to kill you, but now, I think I can make an exception. Especially since she's been caught." Voldemort stared at Hollie, thinking.
A peregrine falcon flew in the open window and landed on Artemis' bookshelf. Voldemort snatched the letter it carried, and the falcon flew off.
Voldemort quickly read the letter, then Disapperated. Artemis picked the crumpled piece of paper off the ground, which read:
Milord,
Prof. Minerva McGonagall has disappeared. The side of the tent in which she was prisoner bears the prints of eight curious hoof prints. A centaur, perhaps?
Your horse, Starsnuffer, has likewise disappeared.
Respectfully,
Lucius Malfoy
~
"We can't let them just do this! We have to at least try and get away!"
"Sirius, it's no use. Non-magic ropes. There's no way out," Remus told him.
"There has to be!"
"There isn't! You haven't noticed that you can't transform or anything?" Minerva asked him sarcastically.
"Minerva, you're not making this any easier, and seeing as you and Remus have given up all hope that you're going to actually live, I would be quiet."
She sighed, but didn't say anything. Minerva still hoped that she would live (human hope is irrepressible), but she felt that she wouldn't. Hours passed in silence. Finally, it was dusk in the forest, and the moon would-
"The moon!"
"Okay. The moon. Great. It's not out yet. What about it?" Sirius stared at her. Remus, who had fallen asleep, didn't respond.
"Don't you see? If last night was the full moon, tonight will be, too!"
"And…Remus…it'll be dangerous…but still, he might be able to control it…" Sirius smiled at her. "We still have a chance!"
All of a sudden, Remus woke up. "The moon…" The ropes burst of as he became a wolf slowly.
"Remus, you're going to have to keep yourself for a second. Cut the ropes holding me and Minerva!"
Remus, in his mutated wolf, carefully cut the ropes holding Sirius, who quickly changed to a dog. Noticing that Remus was almost full wolf, Sirius cut Minerva's ropes, who changed into a cat.
"It worked!" Sirius almost yelled, elated. "All we have to do is wait for Remus to turn to human, and then Apparate as close to Hogwarts as we can!"
Minerva smiled, or as much as she could being a cat.
A/N 2: One last part! Everyone, I am the walrus. Kukucathcoo.
Oreo the Insane Cookie