A/N: Hey Guys! I hope you all consider this chapter as my Christmas present to you all! J I wanted to post a couple before Christmas, but it's looking like this is going to be the only one. Who knows, I maybe able to post something on Friday, but I'm so busy with work and such I can't promise anything; but we'll see. If I can't post again, than, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and I know for a fact I'll post before the New Year. J

Writingjustforfun: All in good time my friend, J though I have to say, you'll see about how it's going to play out in this chapter.
SB: You'll be finding out shortly.

BookWorm1990: Glad you liked the chapter and your penguin. See-ya tomorrow! J

TheDarkOne8703: The sad thing is…I actually believe that. looks incredulously around and shakes head pitifully If I don't see ya before, I can't wait till New Years Eve!!!!

Chapter 25 – The Rescue

July 2 11:48 p.m.

James reluctantly handed Snape his invisibility cloak. Snape draped it over his arm and looked smugly at James.

"I'll meet you here with or without your son."

"It better be with, Snivellus." James threatened, glaring at him. Snape glared back and dissappropirated with a pop.

James sighed and sat down at the table at the twenty four hour bar. Why am I even trusting him? James wondered. Snivellus isn't going to want to help me; he doesn't like Harry and I know for sure he hates me. He hung his head and took a sip of his butter beer. Please if there is a God, let him bring my son back to me.

Destany crept around the corner, careful not to be too noisy. No one was around but she knew that could change in a heartbeat. She walked quickly to Harry's door and pulled a bobby pin out of her hair and studied it momentarily. She then slipped it into the lock as she had seen, and done, a hundred times.

"Come on," She muttered after moments of fiddling with the lock. She felt it give and was about to open the door.

"What are you doing?" A voice said. Destany jumped and spun around. A tall man with deathly pale skin and long greasy black hair that look as if it had never been washed in the mans, best estimated, thirty-odd years, stood in front of her. He had an elaborate…cloak draped over his arm.

Destany grinned sweetly and said "I got locked out of my room. Happens all the time. I always loose my key."

"Get out of here." The man said.

"No. I want to see my friend." Destany answered determinedly.

"Go now or I won't tell the Spray's their daughter is a common thief." The mean man said, glaring down at the girl.

"You're going to need to do better than that to intimidate me. And you know what? Have you ever heard of a shower? How about shampoo? I'll get you some if I need to. It's not that expensive. Oh and the black hair and black clothes with the pale skin? Yeah, vampirism is so out of date." Snape continued to glare at her. "And you think I'm intimidated by the Sprays? I'm used to them punishing me. So go ahead, tell them. See what I care. I'm not leaving my friend."

"Move out of my way."

Destany grinned triumphantly and stepped aside. The man glanced around and pulled out his wand. She heard him mutter something, but she wasn't really paying attention and a glow emanated from his wand. He reached out and opened the door. Destany shoved him out of the way and entered the room.

"Harry! How've you-"

The man grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth. All that could be heard from her was indistinct muttering.

"Hey! Let her go!" Harry yelled.

"Sh!" Snape yelled, shutting the door behind him. He felt something wet touch his hand and he let go of Destany with a look of disgust. Destany shuddered, and made a face like she had just eaten something terrible. "Harry, I know you probably don't remember me, but you have to trust me. I'm trying to get you out of here." Snape explained.

Harry regarded him silently.

"Why should I trust you?" He asked. Snape unfolded the invisibility cloak and tossed it to Harry. Harry caught it and examined it.

"I don't have time for all of this," Snape muttered.

"I can't leave Destany here." Harry said, not knowing for sure what would happen to his new found friend, but he had an idea.

"OK, fine, whatever."
"How are we going to get out of here?" Harry asked.

"We're going to sneak you out."

"How? This place is crawling with-"

"If you would just shut up for a moment, I would explain it to you. What you're holding there is your father's invisibility cloak. Anyone who wears it is invisible to any outside observer. You can still see things and people, but they cannot see you. You must keep it on at all times until I tell you to. Do not speak and do not loose sight of me."

"What about-"

"If your girlfriend must come along then fine. She should fit with you under the cloak." Snape said, not wanting to deal with this. He still couldn't believe he was helping a Potter, again!

Harry looked at the cloak in uncertainty again. Destany moved over next to him and he pulled the cloak over his head and Destany moved under it with him.

"Don't say anything and stay out of anyone's way." Snape reminded them and opened the door. He stepped out into the hallway and glanced around before motioning for them to follow. They closed the door and Snape locked it behind them with a simple spell.

The group made their way through the halls at a slightly slower pace than normal. It was going smoothly and surprisingly, no one made their way by them. Snape turned quickly around another corner and was met by Bellatrix.

"Professor, have you seen Potter? Or the Spray's brat?"

Snape looked directly at her, seeing the amusement in the situation and perhaps, for the first time, cracking a joke. "I can honestly say, Bellatrix, that I have not seen them."

Bellatrix studied him for a moment suspiciously and continued on her way. Snape continued, wondering if they already knew Potter was gone or if it was some trick Bella was pulling.

They made it safely out of the house, surprisingly without too many confrontations or conflicts, which Snape suspected would happen at this late hour. Once outside, Snape quickened his pace and headed towards the forest, knowing he could easily loose any death eater on his trail that way; being careful not to get hit with flying branches or breaking too many to not give away their path.

When Snape felt they were a safe enough distance away, he stopped and stood by a tree and waited as Harry and Destany uncovered themselves from the cloak. Harry folded it neatly and went to give it back to Snape.

"Keep it. It's your fathers." Snape said, though he longed to take it and keep it for himself; he knew what Potter was capable of and though he was no longer a weak teenager, Potter and Black both had more power than he could ever have.

Harry draped it over his arm and looked back at Snape.

"We need to con"

"Wait. I want to know why I should keep trusting you. They obviously know you and are not suspicious of your presence."

"Harry, we do not have the time to discuss this." Snape said and glanced around. "Unless you wish Voldemort to catch us all. Then we will all die a very slow and painful death. Quite frankly, I wish to live a bit longer." Snape said harshly and added "We need to go and go now." Snape began to walk off to his right. Destany and Harry looked at each other uncertainly and shrugged. The two teenagers followed the professor through the woods. What else could they do?

James Potter glanced at his watch for the thousandth time. He was starting to get worried. Snape had been gone for just over two hours. Something went wrong. James thought, getting up from his seat and pacing again. The Dripping Drinks was empty except for a few drunks and himself. What if something happened? He wondered. What if all of this was a trap and I just lost my son out of my own selfish reasons? No, it can't be a mistake. Not if it gets me Harry back.

The door opened with the bell ringing pleasantly. James stopped abruptly and looked up. He felt his heart sink. It wasn't Harry. He'd even be happy to see Snivellus standing there. It was just a young girl, no younger than ten.

"Excuse me, sir?" She asked, very timidly.

"Yes?" James snapped, giving the girl half of his attention. The other half was on the door.

"A P-P-Professor Snape asked m-m-me to"

"To what?!" James yelled impatiently, giving the girl his full undivided attention.

"He…he said it may…be…s-s-safer to meet…o-outside th-th-the village." The girl stammered out. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of crumpled parchment and handed it to James. He snatched it quickly from her hands and read the note to himself. He cursed silently and thanked the girl before disappropriating away into the night.

James reappeared on the other side of the village. He turned to look behind him and jogged quickly down the dirt path that led into a meadow with a stream alongside it. James followed the stream as Snape had instructed, contemplating changing into the Stag and all the ways he could torture the former Slytherin if this did not go as 'planned'.

"James." A voice said. James gaze hardened as he stopped in his tracks and turned around. It was a voice that taunted him night and day. A voice he once trusted. Once confided to. One that betrayed him so easily it made his head spin and turned his world upside down. Not even fifteen feet away from him stood the man James hated as much if not more than Voldemort himself. Peter Pettigrew; along with him, Bellatrix Lestrange. Sirius's much hated cousin.

Before James could react, Bellatrix tried to hit him with the immobulus curse, but James ducked and saw it hit an owl in the tree behind him; pulling out his wand as he did so.

I don't have time for this now. James thought. He quickly glanced around but kept the pair in his line of sight; something he learned from years of being an auror. As much as he wanted to make Peter scream, to beg for mercy, to kill him painfully for his betrayal, it was going to have to wait until next time. And he would make sure there would be a next time. Peter was not going to get away with this easily.

He quickly called out the first spell that came to mind and ran before he could see the outcome. He knew it would not distract them long, even if it hit them, but it was enough to bid him some time. As he ran, he kept glancing back over his shoulder, expecting to see at least Bellatrix running behind him or a brown rat running along the path. He stopped and quickly tore a piece of his robes off and hung it on a patch of bush, hoping they would be stupid enough to think he would be dumb enough to let something like that happen. He quickly turned into a Stag and walked carefully away a few steps so his tracks would not show up as well in the dirt. After getting ahead a few feet, he took off at a gallop.

"Come on, he went that way!" Bellatrix said, pointing to a piece of cloth that had to be from James Potter's robes.

"I don't think so Bella. James is an animagus. He could have-"

"He would not have had time to plant this and transform before we got here. He didn't have that much of a lead Pettigrew." Bellatrix said and started off.

Peter glanced at the ground for a moment, hoping to see a change of footprints. Then again, He knew Prongs was smarter than that. He probably walked slowly a few feet before galloping off. He sighed and followed Bellatrix, knowing James would not head that way; but knowing he was safer following her and facing the Dark Lord than James Potter.

"He should be here by now." Snape muttered, glancing around and tapping his foot impatiently.

"Maybe he got lost." Destany suggested. Snape scowled

"It would be like a Potter to screw things up." Snape said, looking pointedly at Harry. A Stag came into view at that moment. Snape heard it approach and looked over to face it. Snape glared at the beast and it blew out a breath of air and morphed back into James.

"Really Snivellus, real intimidating." James said. Snape looked shocked at first.

"What took you so long?" He asked.

"Pettigrew and Lestrange." James answered. Snape rolled his eyes.

"And you felt it better to get revenge than-"

"I never said I stopped to take them. I tricked them and now I'm here."

"Some things never change." Snape muttered. James glared at him.

"I had nothing to do with that!" James said, feeling offended. After all, he had saved him from likely death. Not even a slytherin deserved to be hit by the walloping willow. Though it was tempting to let him get walloped by it now.

"Never said you did."

The men glared at each other.

"Oh grow up Snivellus. That was what? 15 years ago?" Snape said nothing. "We should probably be moving. They'll figure it out sooner or later I didn't go the other direction." James said and added quickly while looking around "Where's Harry?" I can't believe I got so lost in arguing with Snivellus about that stupid time Sirius decided it would be funny to let Snape run into Moony on one of his days. You would think he'd be thankful that I saved him, but no…stop it! Harry, remember, your son! He scolded himself. He glanced around and saw Harry standing off to the side a distance away, watching the two men as if they were complete strangers.

James walked over to his son, slowly, like one would approach a wild animal.

"Harry, I know you probably don't remember me, and that's ok. I'm-"

"My father." Harry finished. James looked into his son's emerald eyes and was still surprised on how much they reminded him of Lily's. He searched for any sign of recognition but found none. Harry was just stating a fact.

"Professor Snape said we were going to meet you." Harry explained. James nodded, not really sure what to say.

"Harry, I know you've got to have a lot of questions, and are confused, but we have bad people after us right now. We need to get out of here." James said and watched as Harry slowly nodded.

"Come on already." Snape said, starting to continue. James followed and Harry walked next to his father.

"Wait. What about Destany?"

James stopped and saw where his son was looking at his friend. Destany was standing even further off to the side, trying not to intrude. James glanced at Snape.

"We can't leave her here." James said. Snape shrugged and kept walking.

"Come on Destany." Harry said she ran to catch up to them. Harry paused for a second and withdrew the invisibility cloak. "Here." He said, handing it to James. James looked at it with a small smile on his face.

"You keep it. You'll find more use for it than I will." James said, though it did come in handy during some raids. Harry looked uncertain. "If I need it for anything, I'll let you know. Deal?" Harry nodded and looked at the cloak and then up into his father's brown eyes.

"Thanks dad." He said, and James ruffled his hair. The group continued on in silence; in for a long night ahead of them.