Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the current Animorphs - yeah, that's right, all ten of them...

A/N: plans, plans, and more plans...also, descriptions of some Animorphs

Lily

Hi, there. I'm Lily. A Ravenclaw. A sixth - year. That's all you need to know. Oh, and that you know already that my last name is Potter, and the fact that I have a twin brother named Cedric doesn't really matter. In Ravenclaw, that is. I mean, everyone in Ravenclaw knows who I am...not.

Duh.

Anyhow.

The five of us are currently in no position to discuss what we're supposed to - how the hell do we recover that disk that never reached Rojer on the abandoned construction site. We are the second extremely unsuspicious group - the first, with Nick Anderson in the lead, is gathered in the other end of the Hufflepuff table. Among us are two Ravenclaws, a Hufflepuff, and two Gryffindors. The other group is more suspicious than us - two Hufflepuffs, two Slytherins, and a Gryffindor. Yeah. Unless the others decide it's conspiracy of some sorts...Uh-oh...

"Promoting inter house friendship, are we, Miss Potter?" asks Professor Farley.

"Uhhh...Yes ma'am," stutter I, glaring at Cedric. He's supposed to be the leader of this group, not I.

"Sorry, sis," he flashes me one of his trademark smiles. If I wouldn't be his twin sister, I might actually consider him handsome - with his shoulder-long, out-of-control blond hair with several black strands, and emerald green eyes, Cedric is more masculine image of myself... He is extremely serious person, most of the time. Sometimes, through, he's a bit reckless. I mean, if there's danger, he's sure to be in the front line of it. But that's my brother.

Another odd thing in our group are two Gryffindors - Terry MacMillan and Rojer Finnegan. The two are different like day and night, and here I as thinking that people at the same House should at least think along the same lines. Wrong here.

Terry is the one who loves doing things without thinking. Out of the two, I'd say he's the 'brave' one. He's got short black hair and grey–blue eyes, he's about five foot nine - taller than I am. Generally, Terry's the one having doubts and setbacks, along with last-minute decisions, but there's also those apparent qualities of a Gryffindor in him. The only difference between him and the others of that House, excluding Finnegan, are that he first weights all pros and cons of the action, and then does it anyways. At least he's thinking...

Rojer is a very shy boy of around seventeen, with wild dark hair and startling blue eyes, and this dreamy look. He's certainly not the reckless type, and when it comes to doing something outrageous, he'll often back out unless it's extremely necessary. I mean, if he chose, he won't be in that construction site the night we met Elloran...Probably, he'd be in the Library, searching out some stuff and daydreaming. Well, I personally think that a Hat has finally made a mistake by putting Roj in Gryffindor. He's more a Hufflepuff type.

Thankfully, the Professor moved on to torment another unusual group, and we could finally talk about our main goal for the evening - how we're supposed to recover the disk.

"So," say I, giving my brother a sly look. "What's the brilliant plan of the evening?"

Cedric

"We go and search the construction site, and with possibility kick some Yeerk butt," say I quietly, trying to ignore the weird looks my gang gives me. Rojer looks like he's extremely uncomfortable.

"For us to be able to do that, we must get to the zoo and acquire some morphs," continue I, ignoring Terry's apparent misgivings and Rojer's uneasiness.

"We'll be breaking God-knows-how-many-school-rules," says Alice reasonably, giving us all a very meaningful look.

"It's not like we have the Invisibility Cloak or something. If we did, there'd still be little chance we go unnoticed by the patrol."

She was, of course, right - the school patrol, consisting of seventh- and sixth-year Prefects and staff had very sharp eyes.

"Well...We'll find something," say I. "There's a new hallway in the North Tower," add I as an afterthought. "Unless I'm mistaken, it leads straight to our destination..."

"So, this evening we explore the North Tower?" asks Lily, hushing up. She's normally very quick to catch up with the ideas.

"Yeah, right," says Alice as innocently as she can, then makes a sweeping bow in my general direction. "The Squadron's at your disposal, Commander," grins she.

"What's our coordinates?"

I just roll my eyes and grin. And she's supposed to be a Ravenclaw...

Alex

Hi, there. I'm Alex. Well, my full name is Alexandra. I'm a sixth-year Slytherin, even through right now I lounge near the Hufflepuff table. We all do.

By us all, I mean Sandy, Nick, myself, Karen, and Sam. It sure looks suspicious from the point of view of our housemates, but we're not the only ones. On the other side of the same table is Cedric Potter's group.

When I look around at the people at our table, I think it weird that the five of us should be even brought together by extremely unusual circumstances. We all look like so-not-war-council-type.

"So, we wait for them to begin, or do we slip right after them?" asks Samantha softly.

Sam is the one with do-it-first-think-about-it-later type of person. True Gryffindor. When you glance at her, you might think of her as some airhead who is this gonna-be-model-for-a-very-long-time sort. Come fog, fire, or rain, however, Sam will be right in the middle of everything and come out of it looking perfect. (A/N: yeah, I know sounds like R-a-c-h-e-l with the big 'R', but that's what she is) Well, that's a big mistake. Sam's perfect when there's a cold weapon in her hand, and that ranges from fist to frying pan, so bad guys should beware.

We discuss the plans for spying on the Sharing, the Yeerk front organization, currently based in Slytherin.

"We certainly can't barrage all in at once into the Slytherin Common room, where the ceremony is most likely to take place," replies Nick. "Unless, we could get some hooded cloaks..."

Nick is this sort of our unofficial leader person. He can balance our suggestions, see the right from wrong, and stuff like that. We all normally turn to him when it comes to making decisions. If you want to "see" how he looks, just picture a lean sixteen–year–old guy about five foot six, with dark hair and dark eyes who often twirls that lock of hair falling on his forehead whenever he's deep in thought, on the verge of making decisions, or extremely nervous...

"A visit from the Lord Voldyfart and his minions?" ask I, snickering. "That might certainly throw them off for a little bit."

I'm an average girl type. No make-up, no perfectly planned clothing, with extremely large amount of freckles and fiery red hair, and bright blue eyes. (A/N: no, not a Weasley) Most say I'm a natural when it comes to soothing big arguments, and Nick, Sandy, and Sam all insist that this talent of mine is the only reason the three of them are able to tolerate each other in the same group. Interesting, considering the fact that I'm a Slytherin myself. Very interesting, indeed.

We giggle nervously for a while then Nick shakes his head.

"No, we do nothing dramatic. Remember, we're on the spy mission, not the war time theme."

"We are at war, through," points out Sandy reasonably. "And it looks like we'll be fighting it at two fronts...An enemy of my enemy..."

That's Sandy for you. He's an arrogant sort of person, throughoutly balanced out by the Hufflepuff traits - his mother was a Hufflepuff, and his dad a Slytherin, so there was no surprise at the outcome. He's got a younger sister - Anne – in Ravenclaw, and Sally and Jack are in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, respectively. And let me tell you, sometimes the four Andersons are a bit too much for Hogwarts to handle. Sandy's this average-Joe-type when it comes to looks: rather plain, with huge brown eyes and straight black hair. Nothing unusual. Sandy's normally the one who takes charge when Nick is in a big emotional wreck - or a physical one, for that matter. Sort of like the Second-in-Command.

"Is my friend?" asks Karen doubtfully. She sounds uncertain, and I know what she means. The Death Eaters certainly won't be ceremonious with any of us, and joining this Sharing is certainly not a good idea.

Karen - the unusual one in our group. Her hair is very long and white already, although she's just sixteen. Put that together with icy-blue eyes, thin complexion, and dreamy air, and you get the impression of a very fragile girl...She also has the rare gift of the Second Sight - she can really see. Actually, right at the beginning of the term, she said that something extremely unusual will happen, and so it did. Of course, nobody takes the frail Karen seriously, but they should...They most definitely should, especially when her voice gets all dreamy and far-off.

"Alex, Sandy, can you check this Sharing out?" asks Nick after a moment of thinking. "Wait until they get onto the suspicious stuff, then see what you can learn. Stuff like who's currently in the gang, and where they plan to meet next. Sam, same for you. It's not like we don't trust you Gryffindors or something, rather to see if any bought the bait."

The three of us nod in agreement.

"Sure, boss," says Sam off - handedly. "I've been wondering if you two have a spare Slytherin cloak," she turns to us.

'Sorry, Sam," grins Sandy evilly. "No Gryffindors allowed."

After laughing some more and making sure we know our Gathering time, we drift off to our respectful tables, leaving Nick and Karen deep in thought. Well, they do have something to think about.

And so do we.

A/N: So, that's how the A/N will look like from now on – like this. The names of the Animorphs who are currently narrating the story will look like this... Next up, Sandy and Alex tell about their spy work, and Rojer tells about the trip to the construction site. Any ideas are welcome...