Disclaimer: Me, own Harry Potter or Mercedes Lackey characters and situations? When did that occur and why did nobody tell me of this momentous occasion?

Warning: This fic will contain slash, shaych, yaoi, whatever you want to call it.

~Hogwarts~

To Albus's complete shock, the head in the fireplace wasn't Sirius or Remus. It was Severus Snape.

"Child, what is the matter?" Albus said to his distraught surrogate son. The only other time that Severus had been in such a state was when his gift for divination had been awakened. His stepbrother, James Potter, had also had the same ability. Lily, on the other hand, had been a telepath. She had been able to talk to all sorts of animals mentally, though she had been a bit weak when it came to communicating with other people.

"It was Harry. He was being chased by Dark creatures. Not human, but not animal either. He's in grave danger, and he's going to need help."

"So, what are you going to do about it, Severus?" asked Dumbledore.

"Albus, I'm going to go by his house to check on him," he replied.

Great, I have to explain to Severus instead about Harry going missing. The only way my day would get any worse would be if Fudge showed up, thought Dumbledore. "You won't find Harry at his home. He somehow disappeared in the middle of the night. All we know is that he didn't receive his Hogwarts letter, and that he hasn't replied to any of the letters sent to him over the break."

Severus looked at Albus calmly. "Can you repeat what you just said? Because I thought I heard you say that you have managed to lose Harry."

"Yes, I did say that. I have no idea where he is, and if you'll excuse me, I have a call on the other fireplace," Albus said hurriedly. With that last remark, Severus's face disappeared and the flames returned to there normal color.

~At the Canine Cavern~

Remus had been watching Sirius pace around for the past half-hour. They both could feel that something was wrong, but neither knew what exactly was wrong. Both could feel that it had something to do with Harry, and that was it.

"That's it Moony. I can't stand it anymore. I'm going to go check on Harry, and you can't stop me," declared Sirius.

Remus replied, "I'm going with you, Padfoot. Do you really think I'll let you go alone when you could be captured at any time? If so, you are more stupid than you look, and that, my friend, is almost impossible."

"So, we just Apparate then?" questioned Sirius.

"Can't. There are wards that prevent any other than Arabella from Apparating within ten miles of the house. We'll bring our brooms along, and ride then after we Apparate to the boundary of the ward."

"So why don't we just take a port key directly to the house?" Sirius asked.

"Because Albus changed the wards after what happened this past year. He doesn't want Voldemort to send someone directly to Harry's house. If you take a port key, you'll appear about two miles away from the house. However, even if we use a port key, Harry will refuse to use it," replied Remus in exasperation.

Sirius finally agreed with Remus so that Remus wouldn't hex him again. Sirius shuddered as he remembered the last time he had ticked Remus off. He had ended up in a pink sequined dress singing Pretty Women to Professor McGonagall.

Both Remus and Sirius searched the house for muggle clothes, and soon found some in an old trunk. Sirius smirked when he saw his black leather pants and his scarlet silk shirt, both carefully preserved by a charm. His smirk grew when he saw a pair of whitewashed formfitting jeans and a gold nylon shirt. "Here Remus, put this on," he said, handing Remus the latter outfit.

~Somewhere~

Wormtail was scuttling down the hallway towards his master. He hated it when his master called, because the mark on his arm always started to burn. He stared in trepidation at the doors leading towards the grand hall, where his master always stayed. The guards at the door smirked as they opened the door. They both knew that Wormtail was going to have something bad happened to him. Not a one of the other death eaters trusted Wormtail.

Wormtail entered the room, and stared at the scene before him. His master was laughing in a grotesque manner and Nagini was coiled around his master and the chair, no throne, his master was sitting on. "Ah, Wormtail, so good of you to join me," his master said as soon as he noticed that Wormtail was there. "I have a small task for you. I want you to go to Potter's house, and bring him back to me," he continued. With that, he dismissed Wormtail, who nearly fainted in relief. His Master wasn't going to punish him.

He was nearly to the door when he felt the pain. "Maybe next time you won't be late Wormtail," said his master. As soon as he stood up from his crumpled heap on the floor, his master threw a port key at him.

Wormtail looked around the place he found himself in, and walked into a grocery store near where he appeared. He put on a hapless expression, and told the cashier that he was lost, and would she kindly tell him where he was, and how to get to London?

The cashier complied and told him that he was in Little Whinging, and that the fastest way to get to London was to go down the street and to turn left at the Dursley place. Then take a right and then he should just follow the road directly to London.

Peter smirked as he left the shop. He knew exactly what his task was. He was to grab Harry Potter, and take him back to his master.

~Valdemar~

Ryo was nearly spent when he reached a waystation. The Herald who was staying there overnight tsked at the state the Companion was in. He didn't say anything, nor did the Companion, Gavina. The Herald just made sure that he was in good shape and feed him a warm mash. Afterwards, the Herald rubbed him down and finally said, "If it is so urgent that you are in that state, perhaps you should have someone go with you." Ryo just looked at the Herald and then went to sleep without speaking a word.

~Somewhere in the Forest~

The change-lizards had meet again. This time to come up with a more workable plan. They would have to make their move early than expected because of the Companion headed this way. If they didn't break the boy now, they wouldn't get another chance. Soon enough they came up with a plan. Now they had to figure out how to execute the plan.

The leader pointed to one of the younger, more agile, and better-gifted change-lizard to follow the boy until he was in an area where it would be easier to take him away from the Hawkbrother. They had to let them get farther away from the plains, but not in an area easily accessible from the Vale.