Smoke and Mirrors
Thorne and Deanna found themselves surrounded by black mists, separated from the others. The Draven cat looked around wildly, his eyes burning. Deanna moved along the side of his body and hopped on his back, as she had seen Raven do before. She wasn't getting separated from him again. The large feline didn't seem to notice her at all as he sniffed the air, a low growl building in his throat.
Dark shapes writhed as multi-colored eyes stared out at them, and low growls and snarls echoed in the darkness around them. Thorne hissed again, his fur bristling in anger.
"Where the hell are we?" Deanna whispered, holding tightly to Thorne's mane. He again acted as if he couldn't hear her.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" She tried to gain his attention by tugging on his ear, but still got no reaction.
Thorne's body tensed up, as the black shapes took form and loomed over him. Even though Thorne in his natural form seemed alarmingly huge for a cat, he was still very young, not yet at his full growth; the creatures that were born from the shadows were fully grown, larger than houses. With large glowing eyes the size of dinner plates, these beasts were at least five times Thorne's size.
moonslayeerrrrr, came an icy hiss that sent a shiver up both Thorne and Deanna's backs. A monstrous Draven cat stood in front of Thorne, dwarfing him with its immense size. The huge cat's single eye glowed an eerie yellow; his long fangs hung over his lips like tusks.
go away, shadow! Thorne hissed, his back arching, nearly knocking Deanna off her perch.
coward... you can't even protect your pet human, the larger Draven cat purred as he stepped aside. Raven lay on the ground behind him, her body torn and ripped asunder, her dead eyes staring glassily into nothingness.
NOOOOOOOOOO! Thorne roared, running to Raven's corpse. He laid his head down on what was left of her chest and howled in mourning.
Deanna gingerly slid off his back and grabbed handfuls of fur on either side of Thorne's face, trying to get him to look at her. His eyes were now glassy-looking as tears slid down his cheeks.
"C'mon, this isn't real!" she yelled, yanking on his fur, trying yet again to illicit some sort of reaction from him. Thorne still did not respond.
Suddenly an idea popped into Deanna's head. One of her old classmates at Hogwarts had tons of cats, and had once told her the secret to disciplining felines. Cats had very sensitive noses and when you flicked them there, it tended to stop them in their tracks. So, knowing that doing this might incur the large feline's wrath, but really not seeing any other choice, Deanna flicked her nails across Thorne's snout.
He flinched back, snarling, his large eyes blinking in surprise as they returned to awareness.
wha-where... what happened?
"You had me worried there," she stated, noticing that Raven's corpse and the large Draven cats were now gone, to be replaced by swirling blackness. "I guess you were sucked into your fears as well, eh?"
Thorne let out a disgruntled noise as he rubbed his tender nose gingerly with his paw. did you really have to do that so hard?
Deanna shrugged, "Hey, what else was I supposed to do? It knocked you out of it, right?"
i suppose, he conceded with ill grace. c'mon, let's find the others...
Raven closed her eyes, opening the mental link that she and Thorne shared.
Thorne?
There was no answer. Raven hissed in frustration as Snape raised an eyebrow.
"Is there a problem?"
"Not sure yet..." she muttered, as she concentrated harder and sent again.
THORNE? You there?
Raven felt grief and rage roll through their mental link, then confusion...
Thorne? she sent again worriedly.
i'm here, came a soft reply.
Raven let out a breath of relief. I was worried about you, damned feline... Where are you?
i'll be with you shortly. He paused before he continued almost timidly, are you okay?
Yeah...
"Well, have you found them?" Snape asked, a trace of irritation creeping in his voice.
Raven opened her eyes, and smiled.
"I'll take that as a yes," he smirked.
Thorne and Deanna suddenly appeared in front of them. The cat's eyes brightened at the sight of Raven and he proceeded to butt his large head against her chest and purr very loudly. Raven smiled, a real genuine smile that seemed to light up her entire face. She hugged the Draven cat for a moment before pulling away.
"Alright everyone, let's get the hell outta here."
The room seemed to be as timeless as the grave. The dark swirling masses stretched on into the distance and obscured a clear view of the room. Snape wondered if that was the essence of their fears. It seemed an appropriate medium: a dark smoke with no real substance to it. They walked on and on until they were sure that somehow they were wandering in circles.
"Are you positive you know the way?" Snape asked although he wasn't quite sure who he was addressing. No one answered.
They walked on and on and still the undulating smoke threatened to suck them in, like some sort of liquid dementor. That gave Snape a thought. He pulled out his wand, thought of the happiest thing he could manage under the circumstances and said softly, "Expecto patronum."
A silver wisp fought its way from his wand and died.
"Damn," He stopped and closed his eyes, sighing heavily and trying again to conjure happy thoughts. Suddenly a smile crept onto his face and he raised his wand, more confidently, "Expecto Patronum!"
Glowing silver smoke shot out of Snape's wand and splintered off into many smaller flying shapes. The swarm pushed its way through the black smoke, fighting at it mercilessly. Suddenly, the flock faded to reveal a path straight to a door.
Deanna gave him a funny look, "Bats?"
Outside, they found themselves on a moonlit street. Even in the darkness, everything seemed familiar somehow...
"This -- this can't be right..." Raven surveyed the area.
"What, do you recognize where we are?"
"I'm not sure." She looked critically at the scenery, turning slowly until she was looking over her shoulder. She gasped, "Look where we are!" She pointed to the building they had just come from. Snape turned around.
"That's the Shrieking Shack! Sort of…"
"It looks so different."
"If that's the Shrieking Shack, we must be in Hogsmeade," Snape mumbled to himself.
Snape noticed Deanna was peering into the darkness, as if looking for something.
"What's the matter?" Raven whispered.
"There is a vampire here." She clutched her necklace, the only piece of jewelry she owned. The pendant was glowing a soft red.
Snape tensed as he peered into the darkness. Thorne made himself less conspicuous and shrunk down to his housecat size.
Suddenly, a shape slipped up alongside them; it was definitely a human shape, tall and thin and well dressed. He walked up to them confidently and stated with authority, "It is past curfew. I will need to see your papers."
All four of them started in surprise. They all knew that voice -- it was Snape's.
