When I awoke, I found myself looking upon a familiar sight. A circle of cloaked, hooded figures had their heads lifted so as to see me. A hissing sound emitted at my feet. Looking down I saw a diamond-patterned snake circling the gravestone to which I was tied. I closed my eyes and focused on transforming. Surprisingly nothing happened, only an excruciating headache.

"You have been given a potion to stop the change. You are mine, now," a cold voice issued from behind me.

Using my peripheral vision, I saw the speaker: Lord I'm-such-a-loser-I-killed-your-parents-in-law Voldemort.

"You, his greatest desire, will bring him to me."

"Son of a bitch."

Enraged, he whipped out his wand, pointed it at me, and muttered, "Crucio!"

A tinkling pain flashed through my body, but I didn't even flinch. Apparently, the Dark Lord noticed this, for I could tell he was suspicious.

"Maybe this will affect you: Avada Kedavra!"

In a flash of green light everything went black.

Voldie stood there cackling. The Death Eaters around him guffawed stupidly. However, a few seconds later, everyone noticed something. Where Harry's wife's limp body should have been there were wood shards and a single hair.

"I HAVE BEEN TRICKED!" Voldemort screeched.

"That you have, Voldie," said a voice from the direction of the portal.

All heads turned, and what they saw was astonishing.

There was Harry Potter, the main target in this whole plot. And there, right next to him, was the girl they had just "killed".

"HOW DID YOU DO THIS?" a Death Eater yelled.

"What you just annihilated was a mirror image of my wife: a golem. That is why the Cruciatus Curse wasn't effective," my husband explained.

"You see, I made my plan when a few reliable resources recognized Lucius Malfoy's voice saying, 'Soon, Master, the Potters will be yours'. Need I go on?" I sniggered.

Voldemort was outraged, but we didn't care.

Privately, Harry was telling our army to take their positions and wait for the signal.

"You see, Voldie, toying with family matters is extremely unwise, especially when it comes to a family of demons. What you still cease to understand is that when it all comes down, we fight back."

From the sky and portal, a horde of demons and wizards, including Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara, rampaged for the attack.

The battle raged for hours. Kirara gorged herself on several of the Death Eaters. At several points in time, Voldemort called more of them with the Dark Mark. But we waited for them with open arms, claws, you name it.

During the rage of the battle, I slipped away and headed toward the Riddle house: I had to know who had screamed.

I stole across the lawn, creaked open the door, crept up the stairs, padded down the corridor, and burst through the door.

There lay Will Vandom, the Guardian that united Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin, making the group called W.i.t.c.h. Apparently, Voldemort wanted her power as well because she was deprived of the Heart of Candracar. Suddenly, she stirred and woke.

Seeing my ears, talons, tail, and strange eyes, she screamed and backed away.

Surprised, I jumped up and my adamantium claws came out and sank into the ceiling. Unfortunately, this only frightened her more, and she screamed louder.

I detached myself from the ceiling and retracted my claws. I sank to my knees, made a fist with one hand, and placed my palm on my knuckles. "I will not harm you. I came here to kill Voldemort. He murdered my parents-in-law."

Will must have seen this as a sign of peace because she moved closer. "Who and what are you?"

"I'm a leopard demon, and my name is Akela Potter. I don't know whether or not I'm an orphan, but I doubt I'm not."

We have to go now. The others are in separate rooms," Will warned.

Together we set off and searched the house. Irma and Cornelia, unfortunately, were in the same master bedroom, and they'd made a mess of things, to put it lightly.

Hay Lin was in a cellar, lying among a few barrels of wine.

Taranee was in a fire-proof, locked cage. One of my claws on adamantium was able to unlock it.

Everyone, of course, was suspicious. They didn't entirely trust me, not knowing my real purpose. However Taranee threw me a searching look and smiled. The others stared disbelievingly at her, and I, being a demon, could read their thoughts.

She means us no harm, Will was saying.

I know. Her heart is clouded but pure, Taranee said.

How do we know she's not hiding something? Cornelia demanded.

She rescued us, Corny. What kind of person, uh, demon, would she be if she didn't? Irma argued.

One like any other, Cornelia pointed out.

I can hear this entire conversation, just so's you know, I intercepted.

They all started, surprised that I had heard them.

"Sorry," Hay Lin murmured. "If we offended you, we're sorry."

"Don't worry, I get it all the time," I assured her.

Suddenly I noticed Irma was leaning on one leg and not the other. She was bleeding through her jeans, and I could distinguish three scars. I approached her, knelt, and placed my hand on the wound, finding traces of the adamantium in my claws.

I looked up at her. "I did this, but it was an accident, I swear to God."

"How though?" she asked.

"My claws came out. They were covered with blood that I could wasn't mine.

"Oh."

Instantly, something fragile broke downstairs.

"We have to move. It's dangerous to stay in one place too long."