AN: I know, you've been waiting FOREVER for my chapter, and I doubt you've clicked on my chapter to read a long author's note, so it's just gonna be a short one (and a VERY long one at the end).  This is quite a long chapter, almost twice my usual length, so I hope it makes up for the unacceptably long wait.

Thank you to all reviewers, hope I don't miss anyone and if I do I apologise beforehand!

Tanya Dinocrisis01: Thanks for the review!

Kateri: I'm glad you liked that chapter, hope you enjoy this one as well!

Jen:  Thanks for the review.  A feathered serpent?  That's different, and your reasoning was sound, but as you'll see in this chapter, he'll become… you'll see.  Thanks for the suggestion!  A unicorn with a dark coat is a good idea, and I do agree that there is a darker side to him, and you'll see how I chose Harry's form to look cute but can also be ferocious.

Jasmine Black: Have you finished your fic yet???  I'll be sure to look at it next time I get the chance, thanks for the review, and of course Mags and Harry will be okay, I wouldn't hurt a hair on their heads!  Although if new ideas come to me, that may change… ^_^

Authoress: Thanks for your review, and I'm glad the 'oSirius' and 'oRemus' thing worked, I was afraid that if I started giving them different names or nicknames everyone will just get confused.

Savi2070- thanks for the long review!  I couldn't had Mags escaping, and I don't think it's unrealistic in the least, as she does know the Muggle ways better than the Death Eaters, she could use phones and stuff.  And don't worry, Harry's not a dragon, you'll see!  I'm glad you don't think I'm dragging this fic out, but I had planned Harry to have escaped in the last chapter.  Oh well, and my sister did tell me to divide this chapter into to two, but I told her then I'd be dragging it out TOO much. 

Anon- yes, they finally do get to escape!  But don't expect something brilliant, it might be a little anti-climatic… (sigh).

Clover- thanks fo the long review, and I'm glad you think it's unique.  I've never been muh of a creative writer, and I've certainly seen quite a few dimension travelling ones.  But as you think it's good… well, hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you!  And I'm glad that you relate to my sense of humour ^_^.

JaguarRose- I'm glad that you approve of Harry being magical, as I know I myself am not too fond of seeing Harry turn into something totally amazing regardless of how beautiful the animal is.  I absolutely agree the phx/griff are overdone, and you won't have to put up with it in my fic.  I don't picture Harry as a stag anyway, and I agree that Harry's a different person to his father, no matter what the physical resemblance, and you are correct that I have the same thoughts as you!  ^_^  The children do escape, finally, but as I've said, I hope you didn't expect something overly brilliant, as my muse has left me for quite a while now and I had to do this on my own L

AmyPotter14- thanks for the review, I hope you find this chapter satisfactory!  ^_^

Gold Silk- I am immensely flattered that you are enjoying my little (well, maybe not so little) ficcie.  To answer your question, actually, you didn't want the question answered, so whether or not people find out that Harry's a Parselmouth is for me to know and for you to find out ^_^.

Bookwrm580- I'm glad that you can't stop reading my fic, but please don't forget that whatever work you are doing is probably more important than reading what I write (I know, I'm a hypocrite!) ^_^.  I never really considered a dragon for Harry, I just don't really think it's him.  But you'll see what he is…

SiriusAboutMarauders- You'll see that Harry's form is quite good for sneaking around ^_^, and it's surprising that you think my fic makes any sense at all!  Hope you enjoy this chapter!  Btw, like your sign-in name!

Lily- Sorry, Harry's not a snake, but thank you for your input!  As for your suggestions, I had been thinking of  having them travel to yet another dimension, and now that you mention it, you've hardened my resolve to do just that!  I've taken most of your ideas into account, and your ideas will come to fruitation in the next chapter!  ^_^  Thanks again!

ShortySC22- You know Inuyasha?  Great manga, isn't it?  I think I've only read up to about 26/7 as well, I've kinda lost track as it's so hard to get it where I live, not to mention I get the Japanese ones, so even harder to get!  I heard that they made an Inuyasha movie, have you seen it?  Thanks for the review, you'll see what Harry's form is in this chapter!

Arizosa- I'm glad you think the story flows, as I have such long breaks between doing chapters and putting them up that I'm afraid that they don't flow very well.  Thanks for staying with this, and I hope I don't disappoint you!

Greyhound Master- thank you for the review, hope you enjoy this chapter!

JerseyPike- I do agree that the girl needs a smack, I really do detest spoilt behaviour.  Yes, two Snapes, this should be fun… ^_^

Cecilia Orechio- Hey, how's things?  Thanks for the review, as always.  You'll find out what happens to everyone in the chapter, I finally let them all escape!  ^_^  Hope you enjoy my update!

Wah!- sorry this update wasn't sooner, but I'm sure my length would make up for it!  Thanx for the review!

Natalie- thank you for your review, hope this chapter was worth your wait!

SNdReAmer- here's the chapter, thanx for the review!

Mella DeRanged- I'm glad you find this an interesting story, hope this chapter doesn't sway that compliment ^_^.

Carmezz- thanks for your review.  You'll see in this chapter that Harry becomes neither a phoenix nor a griffin.  Although I like both creatures, I think they're a little overdone, but please don't throw tomatoes at me for making him what he is in this chapter ^_^!  Thanks for the input, hope you enjoy this chapter!

Sweet A.K- thanks for the input, wolf was an idea I had flying around in my head for a while, but then someone planted 'cat' in my head, and with great reason, so I just HAD to go with that.  You'll see… anyway, thanks for the encouragement, I really need it at a time when I don't feel like writing (especially when overloaded with a load of assignments I don't understand ~_^)

DayStarofTwilight- wow, thanks for the long review, and I'm always overwhelmed when someone says they find my stuff interesting!  Thank you for the input on what you think Harry should become, I'm getting so many good ideas for Harry's form, I have a feeling I may have to write another story just to incorporate them!  But that won't happen for a long while.  A lot of your suggestions I had considered, like an eagle, or a lion, but you'll see… I haven't read Fantastic Beasts yet, was it good?  That would have been very helpful during my animal-choosing process.  Oh well.  What's a Chimaera, or a Nundu?  As I think I said to someone else, I don't really see Harry as the snake type, regardless of the fact he could speak their language.  I guess I just perceive them as a little evil, as I'm not too fond of them.  I don't watch Inuyasha, I didn't know they had it on TV (probably not in Australia, anyway) but I've read up to about 26 I think, I've lost track of what's been happening though as I can only get some manga every now and then, rather than the whole thing at a time.  Is the cartoon in Japanese?  Anyway, thanx again for your long review!

Melissa- sorry my update took SO long!  It's difficult to make someone totally horrible when I'm of the belief that MOST people can be good.  I think that going through a scare has changed her attitude a little.  Harry and Magnolia finally escape, and your question of who the other Parseltongue is is answered in this chapter, although it may be a little anticlimatic.  I don't intend for him to find out there's another universe, although if I ever finish this and do a sequel, it may happen.  Thanx for the long review, and hope you enjoy this!

Lilyoda- thanx for your review.  I didn't think I should make Magnolia too much of a brat since she is related to our beloved Harry.  Hope you enjoy the update!

This chapter is dedicated to Mella deRanged, my 200th reviewer!

~*~

Chapter 11

Harry had the distinct impression of dejavu as he opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling with the single light-bulb.  He sat up and looked around; Voldemort sat in the chair facing him, about twenty or so Death Eaters surrounded them in a circle, and Magnolia was pushed to the centre of the circle.  Harry's eyes widened in surprise as he saw a large snake circling Voldemort's feet.

Voldemort looked to the Death Eater who pushed Magnolia forward, and said in a cold voice, "where did you find her?"

The Death Eater had his head bowed in respect and said in a smug voice, "she was in one of those muggle glass rooms with a fellytone in her hand."  He must have realised by the look on Voldemort's face that that was not a good thing, and quickly knelt before Voldemort, who did not look the least bit happy.

"Are you aware of the application of the 'fellytone'?"  He said dangerously.

"They are… uh… communicating devices!"  The Death Eater realised now what that implied.

"Yes, which means that the girl," he glared at Magnolia briefly, causing her to tremble, "could have informed her parents where she was!"

"Master, I assure you… she had only talked in the fellytone for a mere few seconds before I blew it up… I doubt she had time to tell them where she was, not to mention I doubt she was aware of where she was," the Death Eater explained, wondering briefly what punishments the end of the day would bring.

"Really?"  Voldemort wondered.  "I permit for you to have a bite out of this man, and of the two standing behind him for falling for the children's ploy, you may inject some poison," he hissed to the snake.

"You will be punished for allowing the girl to contact her parents, and you two," he looked at the two Death Eaters standing behind him, "will be punished for falling for the children's ploy."  As soon as he finished his sentence, the large snake sprung at the man kneeling on the floor and clamped it's fanged mouth on the man's upper arm.  He cried out, but didn't stand up for fear of angering Voldemort further.  Magnolia closed her eyes and looked away as the snake advanced on the next victim, Harry stared horrified at the blood dripping from the corners of it's mouth.

The edge of Voldemort's mouth curved as he leaned forward with a glint in his scarlet eyes that stared at Harry, "I was quite surprised to be informed that you nearly managed to escape.  The bars on the window were quite well put in, do you care to tell me how they were removed?"

Magnolia moved closer to Harry, but Harry was frightened at what the snake was hissing:

"I am hungry Master.  The older humans do not taste as nice.  Are these children for me?"

Voldemort looked down and hissed back, "they are to stay safe for another three days.  After that, you may feast upon them as you wish.  Although you may be able to feast upon them sooner if their relatives track them here"  Voldemort looked at Magnolia's and Harry's frightened faces (though they were frightened for different reasons) and his mouth curled into the evil smile again, "I know that you used magic to remove those bars.  How else could you dispose of those bars entirely?  Now, how did you do the magic to remove them?"

Harry was still slightly shocked from what Voldemort had said to the snake, but still registered what Voldemort said.  Did Voldemort want to know how to do wandless magic now?  Surely a wizard like him should know how children managed wandless magic, but perhaps he did not know how to harness the raw power?  Voldemort was powerless, perhaps he wished to teach his Death Eaters the theory of doing wandless magic?  Harry couldn't help smiling inwardly at the thought of Voldemort standing in front of a classroom and his Snape-like reaction at a Death Eater doing something Neville-like in class.  Or maybe Voldemort wished to assess their abilities?

"I… I was scared, and I wished that the bars weren't there so that Magnolia and I could escape.  Magnolia was crying, and I wanted to be able to escape because both of us want to be home.  And then… we looked out the window and the bars weren't there!"  Harry stuttered.  There was no need for Voldemort to know that the two of them did wandless magic, and that the effect was what they wanted when they did it together.

Voldemort's red eyes surveyed him, "And not only did you remove the bars and made a rope to climb out of the window, you hid in the room and waited for the Death Eaters to leave with the door open so that you could leave by the stairway.  A very… cunning plan.  Very Slytherin…" Harry paled slightly, "perhaps you children may consider joining our ranks, instead of following in the footsteps of your parents, instead of following the footsteps of failure…"

'Failure?  Who are you to talk about failure?' Harry thought to himself.  Magnolia hitched a sob beside him, and Harry pasted a look of disbelief on his face.

At the look on the children's faces, Voldemort chuckled, "I see you are stunned at the prospect of becoming one of us!  It is late in the night, you children need a good nights sleep, and I shall see you tomorrow afternoon!  But alas, punishment for your attempt to escape is needed.  Lucius!"

There was pain again, and after Harry's screaming subsided, he heard Magnolia's.  As he was about to take the curse for her again, the curse was lifted.  Voldemort motioned for several Death Eaters nearby to take them away.  They were taken to the same room, and bars were magicked onto the window again.

One of the Death Eaters turned to them, "your trick won't work again, we are watching the room from the outside as well now, and there's no way you could get out of the door."  'Or so they think' Harry thought to himself, as the Death Eater closed and locked the door to their room and the group of them glided away back downstairs, probably rushing back to lick Voldemort's feet.

Harry turned to Magnolia, who had slumped onto the bed with tears in her eyes now.

"What happened?"  He asked softly.

"I ran away, and I was talking to mum on the phone when one of them found me!"  She cried, letting the tears full freely, and wiping them away furiously with the corner of some new bed-sheets.

"Did you tell her where we were?"

She shook her head, "I was about to tell her, when the phone blew up in my hand!"

Harry looked deep in thought for a moment, and sat down beside her, "you know what?  We might still have a chance.  I've seen in a muggle movie before that phone-calls could be traced, I'm pretty sure… mum… would know about that concept and do something like it."

Silence answered him, and he put an arm around her shoulders, "and even if they don't come, I'll figure out a way to get out of here."

"Your last plan didn't work too well, now did it?"  Magnolia said haughtily.

Harry flinched at her tone, "you should feel a little more confident; we were able to outsmart a group of evil adults, what makes you think we can't do it again?"

"The fact that there are bars on the window, and there are probably more of them now that they probably think mum and dad are coming for us?"

Harry shook his head, "they still don't know we can pick the lock on the door.  We're both exhausted from doing wandless magic, maybe… I can try something that can give us an edge," Harry thought back to his unsuccessful progress in his animagus transformation.  If he could manage the transformation, then their chances of an escape would increase.

"If you can turn into a unicorn, I can ride you and you can gallop away…" Magnolia dozed off, obviously tired from the long day.

"Not quite what I had in mind," Harry whispered in reply to Magnolia's views, and lay her down on the bed in a more comfortable position and covered her with the thin blanket.  Harry stood in the middle of the room and closed his eyes, thinking about all the theory he had learnt from his father and godfather(s), and concentrated.

~*~

"Sirius, you smell them?"

Lily had quickly located the Marauders and they made a quick trip to the local phone company, where they looked up the location from which the last call was made to their home, obliviated the operator, and made their way to the phone booth lying in the middle of the muggle street, apparantly a victim of a nasty curse.  Sirius had then tracked Magnolia's smell to a dilapitaded old house.

A large black dog jumped out from the bush and transformed with a pop into oSirius, "yep, I can smell Harry in there, and Magnolia must be with him as well, there was something like chocolate.  Does anyone know if Voldemort eats chocolate?"

"What, and ruin his reputation?"  James snorted.

Sirius shrugged, "it's better than being caught eating ice-cream, or fairy floss…"

"Okay, we get the picture," Lily interrupted, "I'm aware that Voldemort may be aware that we can trace the call, so everyone stay alert."

"This isn't the best place to discuss a plan, how about a quick apparition back home for a discussion?"  oRemus suggested.  Everyone nodded in agreement and apparated away.

~*~

Harry sat down defeated on the wooden chair at the desk.  He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and closed his eyes; he had been trying the transformation for the last hour or so, following the procedure step by step as he had been instructed, but he always lost his concentration halfway and was now exhausted from the unsuccessful attempts.  He truly was worried about what sort of animal he would become, he knew about Rita becoming a beetle and was afraid he would become something as small and insignificant.  'Well, at least I can fly away if I become a beetle, or a fly even…"

He opened his eyes and looked out the window; a half-moon glowed back at him, the stars littered the clear velvet sky.  He could see the outlines of peaceful homes with warm light flickering through the little square windows, and he sorely missed such warmth. 

His eyes roved around the room he was stuck in, and landed on Magnolia, sleeping peacefully.  There were trails on her face where her tears had dried.  She was so young, she didn't deserve to be here and suffer what no-one should suffer.  Her red hair reflected the moonlight, reminding him of his mother's beautiful red hair.  Her face in sleep was peaceful and looked like that of an angel.  Sure, she was a little spoilt thing, but she was raised by the Potters, by good people, surely she wasn't all that bad.  He thought back to when they were first locked in the room; her words had stung and made ignited his temper, but then when she had thanked him, he just knew that she wasn't another Dudley after all.  He needed to save her.

And that was the reason he was trying the transformation, right?  It didn't matter what animal he became, whatever he became, would still give them an edge, a chance to escape if their parents weren't coming already.  Even if he became a bug or cockcroach, he could sneak out and look for help.  If he became a snake, he could poison those who held them, attack their stinking ankles with his sharp fangs.  If he became a rat, he could make it through the little hole in wall to look for help.  If he became a vulture, then he could peck at the Death Eaters with his sharp beaks.  If he became a flobberworm… he'd worry about it when he succeeded.  What mattered was that the animagus transformation was the only thing they had over the Death Eaters downstairs, and he would do it to save Magnolia.  Well, being a Parselmouth was something he had over the Death Eaters as well, but it didn't seem as though the snake would roam up here anytime soon.

He made his way to the middle of the room again, and closed his eyes.  He concentrated on the procedure outlined by his father, Sirius, and oSirius, and let his magic flow through him.

Harry breathed quickly as he felt a change overcome him; his senses suddenly engulfed him as he could smell Magnolia lying on the bed, the old toilet in the ensuite, the grass and trees from outside.  He could slightly hear the footsteps of Death Eaters patrolling beneath him, and some muffled voices.  He opened his eyes and looked down at his body to find that it was no longer that of a humans but that of… a small cat!  He jumped onto the desk and glanced at his reflection in the window; he was a small cat, and his colour mimicked that of a labrador.

'Yay, I'm not a rat, a cockcroach, a snake, or a flobberworm!' he thought triumphantly as he tested his movements.  He looked at his paws and was able to extend his claws from them.  'Cool!'  Well, a small cat was better than a flobberworm, and a cat's agility would be of great help to sneak out of the place.  He ran around the room a few times, marvelling at it's speed and almost felt like he was flying as he leapt over the furniture.  He was slightly disappointed that he wasn't a flying animal, but the flying sensation of the leaping made up for it.  He swished his tails in elation… tails!?  He swished again.  Yes.  Two tails.  What type of cat was he?  He hadn't read anything in the books about a cat with two tails.  Deciding that what sort of cat he was didn't really matter, he made his way to Magnolia's side and transformed back with a small 'pop'.  He suddenly felt very exhausted and fell onto the bed beside Magnolia.  He was going to wake her up, but decided he couldn't do much while he was feeling so exhausted, and closed his eyes for a quick rest.

~*~

"If Voldemort thinks that we're going to rescue them, let him think that we called lots of people to help us," James said to the room.

Sirius was pacing the room and oSirius sat next to oHarry on one of the couches.  Lily occupied the other with oRemus, and Remus was leaning on a wall with his arms crossed.

Remus nodded his agreement, "a rescue is easiest made with the least amount of people, so I think an illusion charm is needed," he looked to Lily.

"I can make them see about fifty Auror's, but for such an illusion to seem even realistic, it would only last about fifteen minutes," Lily explained.

"I can help enforce it, so that the people in the illusion would react to any spells," oRemus offered.

"Why not just ask for help?"  oHarry asked curiously.

"Well, for one thing, calling in so many people to help at this time of the day is a little unrealistic, and besides, we don't want anymore people getting hurt," Lily replied.

"While they are fighting the illusions from the front, James and I can enter from the back," oSirius pointed to a map he had conjured after having quickly explored the place.

"And Sirius and I will stay with Lily and Remus, so that we can protect them if someone tries to hurt them, or if something happens to Padfoot or Prongs there's still us for back-up," Remus said, noticing that Sirius looked disappointed that he might not get to take part in any action, "it's best if we stay out of it if we can Sirius, it's best that they don't know that a different dimension Remus and Sirius exists."

"What about me?"  Said a quiet voice.  Everyone looked at oHarry.

"Harry dear, it's dangerous…" Lily started.

"I know it is, but you don't see me trying to stop all of you from going!"  oHarry snapped.

"Don't you speak to your mother like that!"  James reprimanded.

Remus put a hand on James' shoulder, "he just wants to help…"

"Griff, this is dangerous business.  If they see you, they'll know that another dimension exists, and that could be dangerous for everyone in this world and all the other worlds," oSirius said.

"The other-world Remus and Sirius are going, and that's just as risky!"

"We'll have transfigured out looks," Sirius supplied.

"So you can transfigure my looks as well," Harry pointed out, "and besides, I can transform now!"

"What are you talking about, Harry?"  Lily asked.

"How?  You can't do it that soon!"  James exclaimed, ignoring Lily's question.  It was obvious that although Lily was aware that they were illegal animagi, she was not informed that her sons (as she now considered Harry her son as well) would be following in the footsteps of the Marauders.

"Well, I can and I did!  Doesn't that prove that I can help then?"  oHarry said pointedly, also ignoring Lily's question.

oRemus looked at oHarry thoughtfully, "I believe that it is your natural ability and determination that has allowed you to achieve the transformation so early."

Remus nodded in agreement, "and we should know with such determination, we can't leave without him."

"Although we can stun him…" James suggested, though looking proud of oHarry nevertheless.

"And risk him not forgiving us for the rest of his life?" Sirius said, a look of pride in his eyes also.

"Not to mention, the more people on the mission, the merrier," oSirius said with fake cheerfulness, although looking just as proud.

"I get the gist of what's happened," Lily began dangerously, "and we don't have time to waste.  Harry's coming with us, we'll rescue our children, and then we shall continue the discussion once they're all safe and sound…"

oHarry looked triumphant, and held onto oSirius' arm as they apparated to the Riddle House.

~*~

Harry opened his eyes slowly.  Magnolia was breathing evenly beside him, and he took off his glasses and rubbed his face, getting rid of the discomfort of wearing his glasses to sleep, and straightening the frame a little.  He replaced them on his face and looked outside; the sky was slightly brighter, and Harry guessed that he had only been asleep for a few hours.

He shook Magnolia awake, wondering briefly if she would forget where she was like the last time he shook her awake.

"Go away Sirius, and I'll give you a bone later!"  Magnolia said as she rolled onto her side.  Harry laughed softly at her statement, and shook her harder.

"Magnolia, wake up!"  He said loudly in her ear.

"Only if you promise to take me out for icecream," she said.

Harry became slightly frustrated, and decided to stop being Mr. Nice, "Magnolia, if you don't wake up, I'm going to cut off all of your hair!"

Magnolia sat up straight away, reaching up to make sure her hair was still in place, and scowled at the beaming Harry.

"Okay, I'm awake now, what do you want?"  She said, the flickering candle accentuating her annoyed expression.

"Magnolia, I can sneak out of here and get a wand!"  He said excitedly.

Her eyes brightened at the prospect of Harry obtaining a wand, then she frowned, "why is it that you can get out to get a wand, but I can't go as well?"

Harry decided showing her would be easier than explaining, "watch this," he went to the middle of the room and transformed with a 'pop' into the small cat.

"Oh, you're so cute!"  Magnolia couldn't help exclaiming, sitting up.

Harry quickly transformed back, scowling, "well, at least that's one advantage of being an animal my size.  Anyway, I can pick the lock and sneak out in my form, then I can snatch a wand off of a Death Eater…"

He stopped suddenly as he noticed Magnolia's eyes begin to tear, "I… I don't want to stay here by myself!"

"Well, it's either you stay here by yourself while I look for a wand, or I stay here with you, and we'll be in Voldemort's hands for a few more days until he decides that he doesn't want us alive anymore," he said, patting her on her shoulder.  She became rigid at the last statement, and Harry regretted saying it instantly.  "It'll be okay, I'll only be gone for a couple of hours, and then I'll be back here with a wand, and I can fight our way out.  You'll be okay, just think, Voldemort isn't scary anymore, he doesn't have his powers… I'll be quick…" he rubbed circles on her back.  Magnolia nodded between her sniffles, and Harry put some pillows under the blanket so it looked like a body.

"If they check up on us, pretend to be asleep," Harry said, and Magnolia nodded.  He walked over to the door and picked the lock.  The lock clicked, and he let himself out and relocked the door.  "I'll be back soon," he said softly, and transformed with ease and sped down the stairs.

~*~

"Remember, if you  see red sparks within the next ten minutes, that means that we're in trouble.  Ready?"

Lily nodded, with an explosion, a group of over fifty wizards appeared.  With the invisibiliy cloak over themselves, James and oSirius, in dog form, sped towards the back of the mansion.  oRemus reinforced the illusion charm, and oHarry, Remus, and Sirius stood by their side, faces transfigured, marvelling at the illusion, keeping their eyes and ears out for any mishaps, and wands up, ready to throw hexes at Death Eaters.

As James and oSirius hurried away, James quickly glanced back and saw a load of Death Eaters barging out of the front door and throwing curses at the illusion.  He felt proud that Lily's and oRemus' skill in charms were so good, as the illusions shielded the curses and threw their own back, or what looked like their own, as all the illusions could do in return was throw an image of a curse back.

They reached the back door, and James opened the door with an 'alohomora' and they stepped in.  James closed the door behind him softly, and oSirius began to sniff out the two children.  They made their way through several scarcely furnished rooms towards a set of stairs.  oSirius stopped in his tracks, and James could hear him taking quick, deep sniffs around the bottom of the stairs, and then with a 'pop' he transformed back.

"What's wrong?"  James whispered frantically.

"I can't smell them out, there are coffee beans everywhere…" oSirius started.

"And there are also Death Eaters everywhere…" a cold voice whispered.

Several candles flickered on magically and James and oSirius saw that they were surrounded by a dozen Death Eaters, all with their wands out, and Voldemort, looming over the rest.  They realised though, that they couldn't be seen due to the invisibility cloak.  Soon they had to scramble from the cloak and defend themselves as the Death Eaters threw curses towards the general direction of where they were.  James hurriedly shot red sparks out the window, but as they were outnumbered, both their wands were soon in the Death Eater's hands.

oSirius brought up his hands in a surrender, "hey, my friends, how goes your costume party?  I'm sorry to inform you that I have forgotten to bring my mask.  Could I kindly borrow one of yours?"

Voldemort chuckled, "you humour me, Black.  Had you followed in your ancestors footsteps, you would have been worthy of one of my masks."

"I think that had he followed his ancestors footsteps," James remarked, "he'd be dead now."

The evil sneer came on Voldemort's face again, "true, but he would have died in service, and that would have been quite an honour," he looked at oSirius rolling his eyes, and continued, "how foolish of you to come tonight, if only you had waited several more days, we could have had a nice discussion before I returned your children…"

"Where are they?"  James asked desperately.

"My servants have gone to retrieve them…" at that moment, four Death Eaters came downstairs, Magnolia in front of all of them with a wand to her head, looking like a frightened little rabbit, "where's the boy?"  He asked dangerously.

One of the Death Eaters were a little braver than the others and stepped forward, "M…My Lord, the… boy, they were sleeping and h…he turned into pillows!"

James and oSirius burst out laughing, James holding onto oSirius' shoulder, oSirius wiping a tear from his eye.  Magnolia was controlling the laughter bubbling inside of her in the face of Voldemort, although there was no need to keep in the laughter as Voldemort's burning red eyes were concentrated on the Death Eater.

"Nonsense!"  Voldemort roared and gestured to Malfoy, who stepped forward and gladly punished such nonsense with a Cruciatus.  Voldemort then rounded on Magnolia, "where's the boy, girl!?"

'Mags, don't tell him…'  James thought silently to her, laughter subsided now in the face of seriousness.

Magnolia drew back and there were tears in her eyes, obviously from her attempts not to laugh, and with brilliant acting skills that matched her (other) brother's, she feigned stupidity, "I don't know!  We both went to sleep when we were taken up there, and then your Death Eaters came to get me, and that's all I know!"

Voldemort was about to ask more when another Death Eater rushed in and knelt hurriedly in front of him, "My Lord, we have the others!"

The malicious smile returned to Voldemorts face as he disregarded his questions to Magnolia for the moment and turned to James and oSirius, "well, my friends, the rest of your party will soon be present, then the celebrations can begin!"  At their confused looks, and their gasps of surprise when the 'others' were brought in, Voldemort laughed softly to himself, and continued, "when the large number of wizards seemed to appear on my doorstep, my friend…" he indicated a snake sliding in and out of the Death Eater's feet that no-one had noticed there before, "was kind enough to inform me that it tasted no more than five wizards present.  The illusion was quite impressive, the work of the muggleborn?"  Voldemort walked over to Lily, tied and gagged, and brushed a cold finger along her cheek, "obviously, we outnumbered you five to one, and what a catch it was!  The werewolf comes along for the ride!"  He stopped in front of oRemus, who glared back at the red eyes.  He then went along and stopped in front of the remaining, "and who is this?  You bring other people into danger?"  He turned around and asked Remus and oHarry, "now who might the two of you be?"

The Death Eaters holding oHarry and Remus undid their gags.  oHarry gasped for air as soon as the gag was undone, and Remus looked at Voldemort, "I'm sorry, did you want something?"  He asked in his usual politeness, although it was obvious he was being sarcastic.

Voldemort hissed (not in Parseltongue!), "I asked, who are you?"

"Oh, I thought we met before and you asked me how I am.  Well, looks like memory hasn't been serving you well, Snake Man," Remus replied.  oSirius sniggered a little at that, and James had a look of pure glee on his face.

Voldemort was not impressed; on the other hand, he was positively outraged, "Lucius!  Torture the girl!"

Malfoy stepped forward, wand raised for the honour of torturing for his master, and everyone realised they were going to torture Magnolia for an answer, so Remus hurriedly said, "okay okay!  I was just kidding!  Can't a man take a joke?  I thought you of all people had a sense of humour," he was, again, being sarcastic, "I'll tell you who we are.  I am a Professor, Professor Moriarty.  I am qualified to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.  This," he indicated oHarry with a flick of his head, "is my son, James, who is also quite experienced in the field.  You see, my friend, James, over there," he pointed to James, "was quite distressed about the disappearance of his children, and I happened to be in his company when he heard the news and decided to join him on his quest to save them…"

"Really?  The name does ring a bell…" Voldemort interrupted Remus' time-stalling, "perhaps we have met before.  Either way, being an old acquaintance does not guarantee your own safety," he turned to everyone else in the room, "what guarantees safety is accurate information…"

"Okay, I confess!  It was I who smashed McGonagall's cat ornament in first year!"  oSirius suddenly bellowed.

Several Death Eaters had to control their laughter at the outburst, Lily, oRemus, and Remus rolled their eyes, oHarry smiled at Magnolia, who rolled her eyes too, and James laughingly smacked oSirius' head.

"Seriously!" He said.

Voldemort just watched the by-play, and walked over to Magnolia, a pale hand reaching into his robes.  To everyone's surprise, Voldemort pulled out a muggle handgun and pointed it at Magnolia's head.

"What are you doing with that muggle contraption!?"  James couldn't help exclaiming, a look of fear in his eyes.

With a menacing laugh, Voldemort elaborated, "without my magical powers, I must use other means to kill, and this contraption is one of the simplest results to overcome my inability to cast magic.  Now that we all know what it is I have in my hand, and what I can do to the girl, I believe even you lot can be serious and answer some questions I have…"

"What do you want to know?"  James asked, although he knew quite well what the Dark Lord wanted.

"No doubt you have deduced my intentions; I wish to know of any information about the Parselmouth…"

"In case you didn't notice," oSirius interrupted, "we didn't get to do much investigating."

Voldemort turned his blood red eyes on oSirius, hand tightening on the gun, "if the girl had not escaped, you would not have come and maybe you would have had more information for me."

James looked at the gun in Voldemort's hands and Magnolia's scared face, "we had asked around, and an old couple said they saw a young man speaking to the snakes…"

"Really?  Describe this young man…"

~*~ 

Earlier on…

Sirius had watched the place where James and oSirius had been, and on impulse, he transformed and slipped away unnoticed.  He sniffed his way to the back of the home, careful to stay out of sight of the Death Eaters, and peeked into one of the windows.  He saw a group of Death Eaters surrounding James and oSirius.  His fur stood on end as he tensed, then he made his way quickly back to the front to tell everyone else that James and oSirius were in trouble, only to find the team out the front outnumbered and captured as well.

He was in a panic now; they were easily outnumbered, what can one man/dog do?  He was a Marauder, and lots of different ideas were popping into his head, but he disregarded them as new ideas came.  He trudged back to the window, and saw the Death Eaters surrounding James, oSirius, Remus, oRemus, Lily, and oHarry.  The latter four were bound and gagged, and Magnolia was at the front with Voldemort.  Sirius noted that Harry was not there, and his heart skipped a beat.  Maybe Harry was already dead?

With a sense of dread he tried to ignore, Sirius made it to the back door.  There were two Death Eaters on guard, and Sirius crept up to them in his dog form, camouflaged in the darkness, and transformed.  In their surprise, both Death Eaters were stunned.  Taking their wands, Sirius reached out and pulled open the back door, glad that they didn't creak.  He transformed into a dog again and made his way towards the familiar smell of his friends.  With his senses alert, he froze when he saw a small cat in front of him.

~*~

Harry made it to the bottom of the steps, and was about to pounce on the next Death Eater he saw and steal his wand when a dozen or so Death Eaters started prowling the living room; if he was in human form he doubted he would have seen the Death Eaters blended into the darkness.  They all had their wands out and were muttering smells, and Harry's enhanced sense of smell was overcome by that of coffee.  Harry, hiding himself under a small table in the corner of the room, was momentarily confused, but then realisation dawned on him; he had seen something on TV about coffee beans used to override a dog's sense of smell so that it couldn't sniff out drugs and other such things, and no doubt that's what the Death Eaters had in mind.  Harry knew that Sirius must have been coming for him, and no sooner did he think that when he heard some voices, and then Voldemort's whisper:

"And there are also Death Eaters everywhere…"

There was a moment of chaos when magic was thrown everywhere, however, soon James and oSirius' wands were in the Death Eater's hands.

Harry watched the scene unfold before him; Magnolia was brought in, then Lily, Remus, oRemus, and oHarry.  He saw that Sirius was not with them, there was a spark of hope.  He heard two thumps from far away, and deducing that it must've been Sirius, he slipped out of the room and made his way towards the sound.

As he had deduced, Sirius came prowling in, and Harry quickly transformed into human form.

"Sirius, it's me!"  Harry whispered frantically.

Sirius made a motion with his head, and the two of them quickly slipped into an empty room and closed the door.  Sirius transformed and cast a silencing charm on the room.  He gave Harry a quick hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay!"  Sirius ruffled his hair, and held Harry at arms length, "and you can even transform!  That's wonderful!  That is gonna be really helpful, we need to get everyone out of there…"

"Well, I'm not too sure a domestic cat is going to be of help to everyone else…"  Harry said uncertainly.

"Don't you know what you are?  You've got two tails!  You're no ordinary cat!"  Sirius exclaimed.

"Well?"  Harry asked impatiently, eager to know what was so special about his form.

"I don't know much about your form either, but you're magical for sure.  I think you're a demon cat, and if I remember right, you can transform into a bigger cat.  And, I think you can fly," Sirius said quickly.

"Big cat?  Fly?  Really?"  Harry asked skeptically.

"Transform into your form, and then think about transforming into a big cat, quick!"  Sirius urged.

Harry did as he was told, first transforming to his cat form, and then thinking about a larger form, and no sooner did he do that then he felt himself grow bigger.  He saw Sirius hop back a little, and conjure a large mirror.  Harry gasped, or what could be a gasp in cat sense, as he saw the larger version of himself in the mirror; he looked somewhat like how he'd imagine a saber-toothed-tiger to look, with two long fangs, the large eyes, the finely muscled body… he wondered if what Sirius said about flying was true, and no sooner did he think that and he found his paws several inches off the ground.

He quickly transformed back to his human form, and looked at Sirius with wide eyes.

"That was cool!"  He gasped.

Sirius grinned, "of course it was, I knew you'd be something different.  Anyway, we don't have much time to ponder on your form, we have people to save."

"There were about fifty Death Eaters altogether I think, and Voldemort no doubt thinks that I've escaped and am looking for help.  He'll either want to move, or get answers as soon as possible," Harry said.

"Probably the latter, it'll take too long to move everyone away, because he has apparition wards around this place.  Also, if he thinks you have escaped, you are without a wand.  It's still everyone's bed-time, and there aren't any wizards in this area, so he probably estimated it'll take up to two or three hours for you to gather help.  I've got an idea though," Sirius said and dug in his robes and pulled out one of the Death Eater's wands, "I can perform a charm on every Death Eater in that room so that they are not capable of normal speech, therefore they wouldn't be able to say the incantations for a spell.  They wouldn't be able to feel the spell on them, and once that's done, they wouldn't have anything to use against us.  While I'm doing that, you can probably sneak up to Voldemort himself and take him hostage.  Sound simple enough?"

Harry thought for a moment, "well, that would quite surprise them, and it might just work."

So the two of them opened the door, transformed, and made their way towards the Death Eaters.  Once they were there, Sirius transformed back into human form and whispered the incantations that would make the Death Eater's speech become babble, keeping in the darkness.  Harry made his way around the room, determined to transform while he was behind Voldemort, and as Voldemort was at the centre of the room, he had quite a bit of sneaking to do. 

"…Really?  Describe this young man…"  Harry heard Voldemort say.  At that moment, Harry saw a snake slithering towards Voldemort, hissing to him, "Master… there are others here, they are doing something to your servants…"

"What?"  Voldemort hissed back, and Harry noticed that James was going on about 'red eyes' and 'wobbling on his feet' as he made weird hand gestures, and no-one else realised that Voldemort  had hissed that single word to the snake.

"There is a human to your right, pointing his stick at your servants…"

"Strike him…" Voldemort replied, and turned to another snake in the corner, "you too".

Harry was too far across the room to make it to the snakes in time, and Sirius didn't realise what was happening.  Harry was about ten metres away from Voldemort, would the snakes stopped if Harry made it to Voldemort in time and threatened the snakes' master?  While these thoughts flashed through Harry's mind, the snakes had advanced on Sirius and was a mere two metres away before Harry decided that he had only one thing to do.

He quickly transformed and pointed his wand at the snake closer to Sirius.

"Stupefy!"  He yelled.

The snake stopped momentarily, seeming to quiver.  Sirius looked around and saw what was wrong.  As the Death Eaters in the vicinity all started to point their wands at him, Sirius reached into his robes, pulled out something, and threw it at Death Eaters on the far side of the room.

Harry quickly summoned the hand-gun from Voldemort's hand, and saw from the corner of his eye Sirius throwing the spare wand in the general direction of the other Marauders.  Harry saw now what Sirius had thrown; he had obviously raided Harry's prank collection from the Weasley twins and had thrown 'Blind Bombs' at the Death Eaters that had not been charmed yet.  The blind Death Eaters were a mess; they waved their arms about them, yelling that they couldn't see, and ran into each other.  Harry sniggered at the result.

The Death Eaters around Harry realised that they could not perform spells, and that no-one around them could take the charm off for them, so instead they advanced on the gathered Marauders and Harry for a physical attack.  Sirius, in the midst of his dodging, conjured a wall that separated Harry, Magnoila, Voldemort, and the blind Death Eaters from the speechless Death Eaters and the Marauders.

James quickly conjured a shield.  Harry caught the summoned gun and made a run for Voldemort and Magnolia.  Death Eater #1 standing by Voldemort's side seemed to begin to regain his sight and saw Harry running towards them, he pointed his wand at Harry and uttered a nasty curse.  Harry's quick reflexes saved him as he dodged to the side and shot back a stunner.  Death Eater #2, also standing near Voldemort, decided it was best to get the other Death Eaters, who were trying to attack James' shield, to have normal speech again, and shot a reversal spell at them, breaking through the wall Sirius had conjured.  One of the Death Eater's who were charmed regained his normal speaking, and began to do the reversal spell on the others.  Several of them decided to make their way towards Harry and Voldemort.

James saw that they would be outnumbered; he was the only one with a wand, and Sirius, who also had a wand, was still busily dodging the angry snakes that weren't affected by spells.  So he handed the wand to oSirius, and oSirius looked at James and understood what James was about to do when the shield would no longer hold.

Harry quickly dodged another spell by Death Eater #2, and had to be a little quicker on his feet as Death Eater #3 also regained his sight.  Harry conjured a make-shift shield as he advanced on Voldemort.  All this time, Voldemort had been watching Sirius dodging the snakes in amusement, hissing encouragement at them, and barely took notice of Harry, who he had been sure would have been taken down by his Death Eaters by now.  He was therefore quite surprised as he saw Harry dodging the spells of Death Eaters #2 and #3 and pretty soon Harry was working his hardest to avoid hexes from Death Eaters #4, and soon up to #10 as everyone regained their sight.  The Death Eaters were hit yet again by a Blind Bomb, and a 'Caging Cluster' was thrown at the Death Eaters who were chasing Harry, effectively caging them up in separate cages.  Another of the clusters were thrown at the snakes and the Death Eaters surrounding the other Marauders.  Harry aimed his wand at Magnolia and summoned her to him.  She was soon by his side and he was facing Voldemort, who actually looked afraid of him.

"Death Eaters, stop, or I will kill your master!"  Harry yelled in a clear, strong voice.  It was just as well because at that moment James' shield had gone down and James was about to transform into a stag and charge them as the cages were quickly disappearing and the blind Death Eaters were regaining their sight.

As the Death Eaters began to protest, Voldemort bellowed, "stop!"

Harry took a quick look behind his shoulder and saw Sirius still dodging the two large snakes, apparently the cages didn't last very long at all.

"Tell your snakes to stop attacking him!"  Harry commanded Voldemort.

Voldemort looked at him with narrowed eyes, and then turned towards his snakes.

"Stop for now.  Once Nagini (sorry, not creative enough to make up another name!) reaches this boy, you can strike that man again…"

Harry jumped a little in shock, and looked around for Voldemort's large snake; which was a mistake as Voldemort had his eyes on Harry and looked contemplating.

"You have me at your mercy now, you can save your family and go home peacefully," Voldemort said softly, eyes not leaving Harry's as he seemed to be reading Harry's mind.  Harry gulped at that thought.

"Give my family back their wands," Harry said.

Voldemort glared daggers at him, and gestured for his followers to comply.  They did so very reluctantly.  Harry felt rather than saw the presence approaching him from his side, and knew that it was Nagini, Voldemort's large snake.  Nagini hissed, "Master, I shall strike his hand so that he can not hurt you with the thing he is holding."  Voldemort nodded slightly, and Harry knew that if he reacted to Nagini he'd reveal he understood Parselmouth, but if he didn't do anything, he'd be dead, and so would his family.  As the dark snake was camouflaged, Harry doubted he would have known what was coming had he not understood the snake language, and quickly pointed his wand in the snakes' general direction and fired a stunner.  With speed Harry didn't know an old and powerless man like Voldemort could possess, Voldemort had knocked the gun out of Harry's hand.  As one of his Death Eaters reached for it, Sirius skillfully transformed it into a teddy bear.  The two snakes attacked Sirius from either side, but James had seen them and shot them both out of the air with a quick succession of spells.  Everyone had  their wands back now, and they began to hex and stun Death Eaters all around them.  James was pleased to note that even only just finishing fourth year, oHarry did admirably. 

Harry pointed his wand at Voldemort, but had to move as the snake jumped at him again, and Voldemort took this chance and lunged at him, pale hands reaching for his neck.  Death Eater #2 was about to shoot something at Magnolia when the whole bunch of them was hit with a combination of a smoke bomb and various hexes from the general direction of the Marauders.  Harry was pleased to make a quick note that Death Eater #2 was in fact Lucius Malfoy, and it was a moment that Harry would remember to cherish everytime he saw Malfoy at school.  He didn't have much time to ponder as Voldemort, still on his course for Harry's neck, found his target and the two of them fell onto the ground.  Voldemort's fingers tightening around Harry's neck.

~*~

James saw that although they were outnumbered, most of the Death Eaters still weren't capable of uttering normal speech, and would have laughed had the Death Eaters not tried to physically attack them.  Everyone had their wands back now, and they were faring pretty well.  He saw that Voldemort was lunging for Harry and was about to curse him when he saw a Death Eater about to curse Magnolia and turned his wand in that direction instead.  As he uttered a hex, he saw something hit the Death Eaters and saw it was a smoke bomb, a very dense smoke bomb.  The whole room was filled with smoke.

"Cat run, everyone!  Ants!"  James yelled, and ran in the general direction of the door, spelling bodies out of the way and making a little spark as he reached it.  He heard "bears" from Magnolia, and "cats" from Lily.  Soon, James, Magnolia, Lily, oHarry, oSirius, Remus, and Sirius were at the door, where the smoke was considerably less dense.

"Oh no, Harry doesn't know the code!"  James said.

~*~

"Nagini, this one's for you…"  Voldemort hissed, outraged that he had been held at gun-point by the boy, outraged at his own unsuccessful attempt to retrieve information about the Parselmouth and the Marauders outdoing him.

"Potter, now I finish what I set out to do fourteen years ago…" Voldemort said through clenched teeth.

Harry tried to struggle, but Voldemort was bigger than him, and Harry felt it was hard to breathe.  With no wand, no gun, and no strength, Harry could not transform while out of breath and quickly hissed, "no!"

Voldemort loosened his grip slightly, and hissed at his snake to stop it's advanced, "what did you say?"

Harry coughed and took great gasps of breath, "I… did I say something?"  Harry feigned confusion.  Voldemort didn't buy it though, and released his hold on Harry's neck.  He took a knife from his robes and pointed it at Harry.

"I knew there was something suspicious about you," he hissed, looking at Harry with wonder, "I knew there was something… Slytherin-like… about you, and I was right, you must be related to Slytherin himself to have acquired such a skill.  But I wondered, how could you be a Potter and be a Parselmouth?  And you seemed to want to protect the girl…"

Harry knew that he couldn't let Voldemort think he was Harry Potter, as oHarry would be in quite a bit of danger if Voldemort thought oHarry was a danger to him, and Harry had been doing some lying in Voldemort's presence lately, so this lie came a little easier, "you are correct," Harry said in a low voice, "I am not Harry Potter, I am Salazars invention, so naturally I can speak the snake language."

Voldemort twirled the knife in his hand like he would a wand, "if you are an invention of Salazar's, who died thousands of years ago, why are you in this time, why do you protect the girl?  In fact, why do you protect any of my enemies?  And why do you take the form of Harry Potter?"  Voldemort looked at Harry with calculating eyes.  Harry knew that Voldemort was inclined to believe that Harry was not really Harry, as there was no way a Potter could speak Parselmouth.  Knowing this, Harry felt more confident and his lies, therefore, came more easily.

"Master died a long long time ago, but he had wanted me to take refuge in a home where I could attack the light side from the inside when the time came.  I protected the family as it was my duty to act the son.  Now, however, I feel that I must find another refuge and return their son to them, so as to not direct suspicion at myself.  Until you have your powers back, I will not risk my position…"  Harry knew it was an outrageous lie, but did it matter, as long as Voldemort didn't think that the real Harry Potter could speak Parseltongue?

It was only then that Harry realised the smoke had dissipated greatly and that he had a slightly cloudy view of the whole room.  Everyone gathered had their eyes on Voldemort and Harry, and Harry wondered if they had heard the whole conversation.  Harry quickly transformed into the small cat and dashed towards the doorway, past everyone's feet.  As he was out of the door, Sirius reached into his robes and threw some more Blind Bombs and dung bombs, then the Marauders quickly conjured a wall and a shield.  Harry turned to the Marauders, became a large cat, and made a gesture with his head, looking pointedly at Magnolia, she seemed to understand what he meant, and hopped onto his back.  He felt he could carry another weight and gestured to Lily, who also hopped on.  Sirius, oSirius, and James transformed and galloped away, Remus and oRemus, with superhuman speed, sped after them, oHarry turned to Harry and grinned, transforming, and speeding after them.  Harry bounded towards the door, and when he reached the outside, he bounded into the air.

~*~

Everyone was lazing around the living room; Lily had gone to make some tea and coffee in the kitchen, while the Marauders fell over each other on the couch.  Harry, oHarry, and Magnolia shared the other couch.  They all sat in silence, Magnolia's head lolling a little as she fell asleep, oHarry yawning and just relaxing back, Harry feeling a little worried about what had transpired and wondering if Voldemort believed him.  James had his arm over Sirius' shoulder and a leg over oSirius' lap, as Remus was sitting on the soft carpet with his head on oRemus' stomach.

James had notified the Ministry of the where-abouts of Voldemort's gang, and Aurors had been sent out to search the place.  Voldemort was nowhere to be seen.  The place was thoroughly searched, and the only thing that suggested that Voldemort was ever there was some snake skin in the corner of a room.

Lily came back with the food and drink, but no-one seemed to have the energy to reach for it.  Harry wasn't surprised; everyone had to run a block before they were out of the apparition wards, and some of them had to apparate another person out as Harry, oHarry, and Magnolia couldn't apparate yet.  Once they came home, they all fell into the positions they were still in now.  Lily occupied a single sofa and sighed.

"You all did very well tonight, I am proud," she looked at everyone.

James got up from his awkward position and dragged his legs over to her and sat by her side.

"Your charm was just as smashing," he sighed into her hair.

She giggled, "it was so good, only the snakes caught onto the act!  But I must admit Sirius' snake dance was quite amusing."

Sirius scowled, "hey, they were fierce things!  I think Voldemort must've had them drink lots of potions or something, not many spells worked on them!"

"Of course he did, but in the end, Prongsies blasts were too much for them," oRemus said.

"Hey Snitch," oSirius looked at Harry, "how did you turn into a bunch of pillows?  I thought we taught you better than that!"

Harry blushed a little, "I actually picked the lock and was on my way down to find a wand."

"Picked a lock!?  That's my boy, a true Marauder!"  James cried.

"The Weasley twins taught me how to do it," Harry remarked, and definitely didn't intend to tell them why they taught him how to do it.

"Speaking of Marauders, could you please tell me why my sons can miraculously turn from having two feet, to four feet!?"  Lily turned to James, a glare in her eyes, obviously dulled by the fact that she knew their transformations might have saved them that night.

"Two feet bad, four feet good!"  Remus couldn't help chirping.

Sirius looked at him confused, and Remus shrugged, "I can't help it if I'm more literate than some of you!"  oHarry sniggered, having read 'Animal Farm' at Muggle school and knowing exactly where Remus got that statement from.

James looked at her adoringly, "I don't know why you ask when you already know the answer!"

"I'd still like to hear it, so that I can snap back at you!"  Lily said.

"Don't bother with the snapping, mum," oHarry said, grinning, "both Snitch and I knew that we'd need the skills one day, you can't deny us an edge in a dangerous situation."

Lily sighed, "still, it was dangerous."

"No more dangerous than being captured by Death Eaters with no way to escape," oSirius said.

"Speaking of which," Remus said, "I thought you were at home all day, how did you manage to get captured by Death Eaters?"  He looked at Harry, and Harry had the impression that Remus refrained himself from saying 'again' at the end of his question.

Harry shrugged, "Mags and I went for a jog, and we just happened to run into a whole party of them."

"Oh," Remus said, although he knew there was more to it.

"Now, how did you two manage to get surrounded by the Death Eaters?  I thought our local Lassie would have sniffed them out before approaching the building?"  oRemus looked to oSirius and James.  Sirius looked confused again, and Harry couldn't help letting loose a slight snigger.

"Are you calling me a girl!?"  oSirius' pitch rose.

Harry, oHarry, and Lily laughed out loud, while Remus tried to hide a smile behind his hand.

"You really need to watch more Muggle television.  Lassie is a famous smart dog," oRemus stated matter-of-factly.  oSirius and Sirius still looked confused, but oRemus just shrugged, "you still haven't answered my question."

"Oh, yeah, Paddy here said the place was filled with coffee beans, obviously to confuse his sharp sense of smell," James answered, patting oSirius on the head, who pretended to enjoy the attention and smiled in a very dog-like manner.

"Anyway, my pet dogs and myself would like to say that we are proud to see our sons have successfully mastered the Animagi transformation, even quicker than we did!"  James looked at Harry and oHarry proudly.  oHarry stuck his nose up in the air, while Harry blushed.

"Of course we did, we are just much more talented, much smarter…" oHarry began while oSirius threw a pillow at him.

"Don't even start!"  oSirius warned, as oHarry shrugged, tossing the pillow back at him.

oHarry turned to Harry, "anyway, what was that thing you became?  It was pretty cool!"

"I'm not too sure, but Sirius tells me I'm a demon cat," Harry looked to Sirius, who looked to Remus.

"Well Professor, what do you say about Harry's form?"

"I'd say he's a demon cat, not much research has been done on them as they are quite rare, and only some characteristics of them are known.  They are known to be very loyal, and fierce when the need arises.  They have the ability to change from a small form to the larger form, which can also fly.  They are quite strong as well, and their sight is probably as sharp as a hunting birds'."

Everyone just sat there, slightly shocked at what Harry had become.  Harry was slightly embarrassed that he could become something so amazing, then he turned to oHarry, "and when did you first transform?" he asked.

"While everyone was out looking for you, I just did it, simple," oHarry shrugged and grinned and his godfather.

oSirius grinned back, "I am pleased to see that you have followed in my footsteps, you are the most beautiful husky I have ever seen!  Way better than some cat…"

"Don't let McGonagall hear you say that!"  James warned, and everyone laughed. 

"Speaking of cat, what were you shouting out animals for?"  Harry turned to James.

At Harry's perplexed look, James chuckled, "just this code we made up a long time ago.  When us Marauders thought a professor was around, usually Professor McGonnagal (I swear, I can never spell her name!!!) we'd make respective animal sounds to let each other know we're on our way to the nearest exit.  If we hear the animal and no-one comes, we know they're in danger.  If we don't hear the animal, we'd know that they were either not in hearing range or were in danger.  Either way, it lets us know who needs help.  In a situation like tonight, we know that simple animal sounds couldn't be heard, so we each shout out our assigned animals and make it towards my spark.  We need to assign you something, in case you get in danger though…"

Harry just smiled sadly, "I don't think there'll be anymore adventures for me while I'm here."

"Harry, there's always an adventure when you're with the Marauders!"  oSirius commented.

"Otherwise, people would think we've gone nutters!  Marauders that don't maraud, honestly!"  Sirius added.

Everyone laughed, agreeing that adventureless Marauders would be more than slightly unnatural.  The laughter subsided, and Harry felt that it was time he confessed his abilities.

"I, uh, I have something I have to admit to you all…" Harry began.

"Oh no, don't tell me you're Voldemort in disguise!" oSirius joked, while James smacked him on the head.

"Well, no, but close enough," oSirius stopped fussing, and everyone could see that Harry was dead serious, "I was the one who spoke to snakes the other day, I'm a Parselmouth."

There, he had said it, and he expected James to jump and furiously and verbally attack him for being a Parselmouth, he expected oSirius to pull out his wand and hex him, he expected Lily to look at Harry with pure shock and loathing, and oRemus to take a bite out of him (even though he truly knew that oRemus would do no such thing, even to his worst enemy), and he expected oHarry to throw a punch at him, but none of those things happened in the seconds that passed.

"Well?  Aren't you going to do something to me?"  Harry asked impatiently.

James just frowned, "why do you think we'd do something to you?  Why didn't you tell us in the first place?"  He sounded a little disappointed, and Harry couldn't stand the disappointment in his voice.

"I saw how you reacted when Patil said there was a Parselmouth lurking about, it was quite a negative reaction," Harry said quietly.

"Well, of course it was," oSirius began, "but we even came to accept Moony for the fierce," James smacked him on the head again, "we came to accept Moony for the werewolf he is, sure, we're a little wary of those who mix themselves with anything related to the Dark Arts, but we know that being Dark doesn't necessarily mean you're evil…"

"And because we know what sort of person you are, Harry, we'll know that just because you can speak to snakes doesn't make you evil," James finished.  Harry somehow felt a little teary eyed, and Sirius walked up to him and put an arm around his shoulder.

"See, we told you they wouldn't mind that you're a Parselmouth," Sirius grinned.  Harry couldn't help but hug Sirius, while Sirius hugged him back.

"Harry dear, you are such a kind and wonderful person that speaking to snakes wouldn't make us think any less of you," Lily said and also put an arm around Harry, who felt tears slide down his face.  He quickly wiped them off with the back of his hand, while Lily stepped back.

"Yeah, and my abilities did sort of help me escape tonight," Harry went on and told them about what he told Voldemort.

"At least that man was so unwilling to believe that a Potter could speak Parseltongue," James said.

"And this way he's not aware that another dimension exists," Sirius added.  Everyone just nodded in agreement.

 "I think it's been a tiring night for everyone, bed!"  Lily said loudly into the silence, stretching.  James walked over to Harry and gave him a quick hug, "I'm proud of you," he said softly into Harry's ear, then picked up the sleeping Magnolia in his arms and looked down at her sleeping face, "I think I owe you an apology, Doll," he whispered, and took her to her room.

Remus and oRemus took some guest rooms for the night, and Sirius made his way to his room.  To Harry's surprise, oSirius just transformed on the spot and settled in on the couch.

"Dog's are comfortable sleeping anywhere," Sirius explained.  But he still went to his room to sleep.  oHarry looked at Harry and, grinning, also transformed and settled onto one of the comfortable couches.

Harry shrugged, and transformed into the small cat and settled on the couch beside Harry.

~*~

AN (which I should change to AB for 'Author's Babble', anyway…): Well, finally finished the ruddy chapter!  I have to shamefully admit, I had the first half of it finished AGES ago, it was just Harry's escape that took a long time due to my, uh, lack of planning.  You can see why I don't write action a lot, it's difficult to keep track of all the characters, especially when you're like me and don't plan stuff.  I also have to admit, I am not very pleased with the way their escape turned out, but right now I couldn't really care less as I know you want my chapter and I know I want to get the chapter out of the way so that I can go and try to get my head around relativity.  I know Harry's lie was just a lame way of getting himself out of the situation, so if I ever come up with a more brilliant escape or someone suggests something, I'll re-do it, but I wouldn't count on it.

  As for the ending of the chapter, that took me about twenty minutes to do, I know I didn't put as much thought in the conversation and their reactions, I just didn't know how else to bring the chapter to an end.

  A note on Harry's form:  I knew it had to be something different, because it's just Harry Potter.  Anyway, I had wanted to make Harry something that could fly because of his love for flying, then someone said that I should make him a cat and gave very good reasons too.  So I wanted him to be a cat, and I wanted him to fly, so apart from a Griffin (which I really didn't want to do) Kirara from Inuyasha (by Rumuko Takahashi, should check out her manga, great stuff!) was the only thing that came to my mind.  I haven't read 'Fantastic Beasts…' yet, so there may have been something in there I could have used.  Anyway, Kirara seemed perfect to me; she's (I'm quite sure Kirara's a she) a cat that has the ability to fly, she's very loyal to Sango (her, well, master, or friend), and the thought that she can change from a small form to a large form suits Harry's character I think, because Harry is so small compared to his classmates and if he wasn't Harry Potter then I think everyone won't really notice him because of his size, and no-one would suspect he's a strong person because he's so quiet.  But Harry can also be fierce, and we know he is strong, and I think this is signified by the larger form of Kirara.  If you don't know who Kirara is, just do a search on a Japanese manga called 'Inuyasha' and you should find that Kirara is Sango's pet (Sango is one of the main characters, a demon hunter in a sense).

  As for oHarry's form, I knew that he had to be a dog.  Dogs are just so loyal, playful, and are a man's best friend.  And they are just so cute!!!  I had some trouble choosing what sort of dog, I mean, I didn't want to make him a chihuahua (can't spell it!) or a bulldog or anything like that.  I wanted something that was, no offence to chihuahua-lovers, a little smarter than that.  I had labrador, German shepard (can't spell that either) or even blue heeler in mind.  But then my sister suggested a husky, because she said that it would be influenced by both Sirius and Remus who are influencial people in oHarry's life apart from his family, and they are such beautiful things that I had to make oHarry one of them.  Not to mention it snows where he lives, so a husky would do nicely.  I had actually wanted him to be something a little more special as well, otherwise he'd be jealous of Harry, and also because there had to be something special about oHarry, being in the prophecy and all, but I figured that for my characterisation of oHarry, he's just not the type to get jealous.  As for the prophecy, you never know, maybe he's a magical husky ^_^.

  I thought I should mention that oSnape was not among the Death Eaters, after Voldemort lost his powers, he no longer risked having anyone who's loyalty was questionable around him, so oSnape is no longer parading around as a Death Eater ^_^.

  In the next chapter, I'll be acting on one of the reviews left for me (by Lily, thanks Lily!), and it won't really be part of the story as a whole so it'll only go for a chapter, two at most.  It's going to be as wacky as I can make it (so it'll be full of silly stuff), but hopefully believable (if any fanfic is), and if anyone has suggestions for what a different world could be like, leave it in a review or send me an email at tonderumushi@yahoo.com.au.  I'm not going to make any promises on updates due to my very hectic schedule, but I promise I'll try not to take longer than 2 months.  Until then, adios!

~ultrasoul

oh, for those of you reading Ask Snape, the next chapter should be up next week!