Disclaimer : All characters belongs to J. K. Rowlings. All were kidnapped in the dawn, and are not used to make money. They will be returned when I'm done.

See, don't own so don't sue, unless you're interested in my teddy bears collection...

Besides this work will contain : mpreg and people out of character since I am definitely not JK Rowlings, and some strange sentences since I'm French. Still here?

So, on with the show...

The sale

Chapter five – A new ally and a gigantic confusion

"Shit!" swore Remus gently. "We didn't need this!" As he turned to return to his compartment and his friends, he bumped into someone.

"Oh oh! More problems! Great! Just what I needed..." he mumbled, looking up, past the Slytherin's crest to see...

"Snape! What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? Just waiting for a distracted Gryffondor to bump into me, of course!"

"Sorry, but I'm a little bit in a hurry here."

Snape made no move to let him go.

"So, is Black so in need of his mummy that he can't stand being separated for too long?"

"That's it!" said Remus tersely, pointing his wand at Severus.

"Oh, I'm afraid, the big bad Gryffondor is gonna curse me!"

"None at all, I'm only giving you the occasion to be useful. Petrificus Totali."

Snape fell.

"Mobilicorpus."

With Snape floating before him, he quickly reached his compartment.

As he entered with a glaring and floating Snape, James looked up from the muggle chess game he was playing against Lily and snickered. Lily gasped and Sirius snored.

"So, Moony, when you told us you needed to buy something to eat, I imagined a sandwich, or some sweets. I didn't know snakes were part of your diet."

Snape's glare, if possible, increased ten fold.

Remus, after casting a slight sleeping charm on Sirius, explained the conversation he had overheard "by chance, I was not trying to spy on him!" "Of course, of course!"

At the end of his speech, Lily and James were grave.

"What are we going to do? We can't let them find Sirius."

"Yes. And that's where Snape is going to help."

"Hum, you know he will never cooperate..."

"Don't worry. He's just going to lend his robes to Sirius."

Snape's eyes bulged and flashed. "Now, why would I want to do that?" he sneered from the seat Remus and James had magically bound him in.

"Because you'll have the confirmation of what you already are suspicious about... and the possibility to learn one of Sirius' secrets..."

"Are you sure?" Lily interrupted. "This is kind of a big blackmail material..."

"What, that you three idiots are illegal animagi? Why would I want to learn something I already know?"

"Ah, but there's a difference between knowing and having proof." stated Remus.

"Besides, it will give you the possibility to actually survey us."

"Why should I accept? You practically confessed that you indeed are animagi."

"And what about that: if you willingly help us, we will teach you how to become one."

"Lily!" admonished James.

"Um, not a bad idea...Besides, for my plan to work, we need him and I don't want to get into a brawl with him."

"Afraid of getting hurt?" asked Severus with a smirk.

"No, just don't want to mix our scents."

Severus blinked speechless.

"So, do you accept, or do we have to force you?"

Severus quickly weighted the pro and cons. "Let me get this clear. You are ready to teach me how to become an animagi in exchange for me to lend my robes to Black. Isn't it a little bit overdoing it?"

"No. We're doing it in order to protect Sirius. And we may need your help again. So, do we have a deal?"

"I think so..." answered a frowning Severus.

"Moony, the plan?" asked Lily.

"Okay, Redfox." Began Remus, now pacing to and fro. "Is there a charm to counteract an animalia potion?" he asked Severus, stopping in front of him.

Severus thought of it for a moment before nodding.

"I thought so. So we must not let them test Sirius."

"Why?" interrupted James.

"Because if they do and Siri stay a dog, they might discover he is an animagi."

"So the objective is not to let them catch Siri."

"Or even saw him" quipped Lily.

"Or smell." drawled Severus.

"You're not stupid afterall!" exclaimed James.

"Oh please! After seeing this big dog at the barrier and hearing Lupin's reflexion, it's the only possibility that comes to mind."

"So that's why Snape here is going to lend his robes to Siri. With all those potions fumes, it will cover Siri's scent quite nicely."

"And if not, I think Prongs will be a great diversion to detained them..." James smirked and added "A bit of confusion will be welcome to allow Siri to run."

"No need of that, I'll just shrank him and put him in my pocket, with a bit of perfume..." Lily quipped.

"So you don't need me, just my robes..." added Severus.

Remus flushed.

"I don't think I like what I'm thinking..."

"Now, Snape, whatever your reaction may be, do not explode" Remus said, "we don't need a Sirius in the middle of a panic attack."

Severus sighed. "You want me to put Black's robes on and to slow them."

"In a dog form." Remus added, his voice nearly inaudible.

"That's what I feared."

"Why in dog form?" enquired Lily.

"To give them someone to test, of course."

"But we'll need an animalia potion, they already tested for charm" objected James.

"I have one." sighed Severus. "It was supposed to be the opening of the prank war, all those Gryffondors transforming into animals the first day after breakfast..."

He rose an eyebrow when Lily, James and Remus began to laugh. "That's a good one!" James breathed between his laughter.

"You can always brew some more, we'll help!" Lily said excitedly.

"We won't tell the others, Marauder's oath!" swore Remus.

"After all, it's only fair! We don't want to see a good prank going to waste!" Remus added when he saw Severus' disbelieving face.

All of this had awaken Sirius who blinked sleepily at his three laughing friends and a frowning Severus.

Remus was the first to sober "So, you'll do it?" he asked Severus, offering him his hand.

"We have a deal." Severus answered, shaking his hand.

"And we'd better start now, we're already nearly there" he added. "Relax me, I'll go and fetch the potion."

James pointed his wand at Severus and said the countercurse "Relaxo". Severus stood up and left the compartment.

"Do you think he'll do it?" Lily asked anxiously.

"Yes. He wants to know why we're doing all this, and he knows he won't have answers if he doesn't." Remus placated her.

"Besides, I know he has a thing for Siri." added James.

Sirius, still half awake, was blissfully oblivious to everything.

Somewhere else, in a Slytherin compartment, a plotting session was just finishing when Severus entered.

"So, where were you all this time, Severus?" asked Lucius, upon seeing who had just came in.

"Here and there, trying to collect information." he answered, rummaging through his trunk.

"What are you doing?" asked a curious Mac Nair.

"Looking for this." He stood up with a little flask of potion in his hands and closed his trunk.

"I'm going to try and prank some unsuspecting Gryffondors. I'll found you back at Hogwarts." He quickly exited the compartment with those words and carefully made his way to the Marauder's one.

"Having second thoughts?" Lily gently asked Severus while he was looking into the depths of the animalia potion.

"More being concerned about what his fellows Slytherins might think if they learned about that, I think" interjected James.

"Remus, what is going on?" mumbled Sirius.

"Shh, just let us take care of the situation" answered Remus.

"OK" with that, Sirius sat back in his corner.

Remus turned to Severus. "You can always tell your Slytherins friends that you tried to play a prank on us and that it backfired" he proposed.

With a nod, Severus gave him the potion and took off his robes.

"Stand up" he ordered Sirius. Sirius' eyes bulged.

"What?" he stammered.

"Just do as he says, Padfoot" James' voice was strained by his efforts to not to let Lily's trunk fall on the seats underneath the luggage rack.

As soon as he had put it down, Lily opened it and searched for her perfume.

Sirius bewildered stood up. He was shocked when Severus began to unsclap his robes and started to shake slightly.

Remus was standing guard before the door, and James and Lily were too occupied to notice.

When a drop of water landed on his hand, Severus looked up to Sirius' face to see him crying silently with his eyes scrunched closed and face whiter than an aspirin pill.

He sighed and murmured in Sirius' ear "Don't worry, we're just swapping robes" Sirius eyes opened.

"Pr... promised?" he asked in a small voice.

"Promised." Severus answered letting him see the truth in his eyes.

Sirius then nodded and relaxed, letting Severus finish.

Severus quickly dressed him into his own robes before giving him an handkerchief that Sirius accepted, his cheeks red from embarrassment.

"Okay, Siri. Now, you just have to transform into Padfoot and let us handle the rest." Lily smiled to the distraught teenager. Sirius nodded and transformed.

"We had to tell him what we knew. Thanks for helping him." James quietly told Severus as Lily was shrinking Padfoot and placing him into her pocket.

"Care to explain to me what happened to shock him like that?"

"Can't" James hastily added looking at Severus thunderous expression "It's not my secret to tell. You'll have to ask Sirius."

Severus nodded. "Fair enough"

Just then, Remus opened the door. "We're here. James you go first. Lily wait for a few minutes. I'll go last with Severus."

Remarking Severus' raised eyebrow, he added "If we're in this together, we might as well call us by our first name."

Everybody nodded, minus Padfoot from whom only the muzzle emerging from Lily's pocket could be seen.

"Time for me to go." were James' parting words as he went into the corridor and jumped out of the train.

Lily looked out of the window and swore. " They're already there" she then gently pushed Padfoot's muzzle back into her pocket and generously dosed herself with perfume. "I'm going"

At the door she was met by four Slytherins students, who taunted her about her "smell" asking her if she was trying to suffocate everybody, but let her go.

When they opened the compartment door, they were face to face with Remus and a big black dog.

"If you don't mind, Lupin, we're going to escort you out of the train."

"And why is that, Malefoy?"

"Why, to be sure nothing bad happen to you, of course!"

"I'm perfectly able to defend myself!"

"Oh, but you have absolutely no choice in this subject." With those words, he grabbed Remus' arm while Mac Nair put a rope around Severus' neck and forced him to walk. Nott was opening a way in front of them, while Avery was walking behind, ready to deal with anybody who might come.

Outside, Remus and Severus were promptly marched towards Sirius' mother, a red eyed wizard, and Regulus, Sirius' brother.

"Maybe you'll be kind enough as to explain me what is going on?" huffed Remus.

"But I think you are the one who have all the explaining to do, young one" drawled the wizard.

Remus managed to look convincingly confused.

"Then, I'll just have to do that." The wizard pointed his wand at Severus.

"Animalia Potion Revelae!" he intoned and, with a "poof" appeared a furious looking Snape on all fours.

"What?" gasped everybody.

Just then, all hell broke loose as a stag began to run frantically to and fro on the platform. Everybody, except Remus froze in surprise.

With the stag running towards their group and providing them with a diversion, Remus grabbed Severus' arm, helped him to stand up and to run towards the carriage where Lily was waiting for them.

They quickly boarded and the carriage departed.

"James will join us at Hogwarts" she informed them. The rest of the ride was silent.