Yay! 34 reviews reached, that's above the original target! Well done Pack followers!
I'm sorry to say that I have no ownership of Harry Potter, just lots of merchandise. The world is cruel.
On with the story!
Marauder Manor (for one simply could not call it anything but a manor) hadn't been this silent in weeks, ever since the Pack had arrived. Connie was sat on the sofa, nervously tapping her leg up and down, Sirius rubbing a circle on her leg comfortingly. Lola was flicking through a book, but not reading it.
Upstairs, the Cubs were all curled up in the animagus forms. Silver was on the floor, Paws and Claws snuggled against her. Twitchy was on the beanbag, Shadow on the bed.
Then the Floo chimed.
The reaction was instant. The five animagus shot up from where they were lounging, racing downstairs, while Connie and Sirius shot up, wands out just in case. Five kids stood with Lola, watching warily...
...and then a little girl tumbled out of the Floo, blonde hair a flyaway mess. She stood up, icy blue eyes growing wide at the sight of the two wands pointed at her. Her eyes wandered to the five children and the woman with the strange thing on her leg.
"Um..." she looked round nervously, fisting her dress anxiously. Then the Floo chimed again and she shot out of the way, just in time to miss being hit by another little girl, smaller than the first, brown hair tangled and eyes just as icy blue as the other's. "Stori!" The first girl cried, pulling the girl up, poking her in the arm when she put her thumb in her mouth. "Are you okay?"
'Stori' nodded and put her thumb in her mouth again.
The older girl pulled it out. "Are you sure?"
Again, 'Stori' nodded and put her thumb in her mouth again. The older girl went to pull it out, only to sigh and wave it off.
The Floo chimed once more and this time Rosie tumbled out, her face lighting up in a brilliant grin when she saw her Pack, her Family. She launched herself at Sirius, who swung her round with a laugh, Connie wrapping her arms around them when they stopped. Rosie giggled as she was passed to Lola who peppered her face in kisses then set her on the floor.
The Cubs quickly swarmed her, Luna kissing her soundly on the cheek, all of them hugging her tightly.
Daphne and Astoria watched in slight confusion at all the emotion and contact being shown. It was so...different to what they were used to. Nobody looked up as the Floo chimed, except the man who'd had his wand out, but it was only Mr Lupin. He came to the two sisters, smiling at them, then turned and cleared his throat.
The Cubs turned as one to look at the girls, intrigue clear on their faces. Rosie smiled comfortingly. "Silver, Shadow, Paws, Claws, Twitchy, these are Daphne and Astoria Greengrass."
"Actually," Remus said. "Courtney and I adopted them. They're Daphne and Astoria Lupin now." He paused as Rosie squealed, hugging Daphne and Astoria tightly. "Speaking of, where is Courtney?"
At that moment the Floo chimed again and Courtney stepped through in tears. Remus looked at her questioningly and she shook her head sadly. He closed his eyes briefly and fixed a smile as he looked back at the Cubs and Daphne and Astoria. "Why don't you lot go and find these pair a room?"
"Come on!" Luna grabbed Astoria's hand and dragged her up the stairs, Daphne on their heels.
"Okay, what happened?" Lola demanded, sitting down heavily.
Remus sighed and sat down, Courtney sitting on his lap and tucking her head under his chin. Sirius and Connie sat on the other armchair, sat together. "Rosie found Daphne and Astoria in the dungeons at Greengrass Manor."
"The DUNGEONS?!" Connie shrieked, Sirius pulling her back down again when she shot up. "Why the hell was she in the dungeons?" She snarled.
"Well, where do you put the people you kidnap?" Remus rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Daphne and Astoria had been locked in there by their father six months ago-"
"Six months?" Lola gasped, hands flying up to cover her mouth. "In all my years, I have never..." she trailed off shaking her head.
"You know, I'd get this done a lot faster if I didn't keep getting interrupted," Remus said all too calmly. "As I was saying, they'd been locked in there, but Rosie used her animagus form to slip between the bars and get the keys. She got them out and according to Rosie, she had the idea to go to Lady Greengrass."
"What? Why?" Sirius blurted.
Remus furrowed his brow. "Apparently, Rosie remembered something Daphne had told her earlier. I think she cares about us a little. She had no idea if it would work, but she got a House Elf to take them to Lady Greengrass. Dangerous but one, she's five, well, I think she's six after that weird thing the Cubs do."
"So weird," Connie agreed.
"Two, there was nowhere else for them to go and Rosie was following up a vague lead. They went there and Rosie used her secret weapon. The kicked puppy eyes."
"I taught her those," Courtney smiled faintly.
"From there, Lady Greengrass sent Daphne and Astoria to clean up while she wrote us that letter. When we got there she practically begged us to take Daphne and Astoria with us. She was scared her husband would kill them and she was stuck with him. A contract. She wanted us to take them, to change their name to Lupin, to raise them as our own. So we agreed."
"What happened to Lady Greengrass?" Connie asked softly.
Courtney's shoulders slumped. "She didn't tell me directly, but she hinted... she was going to kill herself...and her husband."
Lola swore under her breath, but Remus didn't have the heart to scold her.
Daphne and Astoria gaped around the large room, not quite sure how a room could be so...messy but tidy at the same time. The clothes were all away, the shelves neat, shoes in a neat pile in the corner by the door. But there were toys across the floor, a jumper dumped on a chair, just little things that made the room seem...welcoming and homely.
"This is our playroom," the boy with brown hair and forest green eyes - Harry - said with a grin.
There were five 'Cubs' as Rosie called them. Harry, Hermione, Luna, Drake and Kaliani, but apparently they were hiding and so had secret names. Harry was Jamie, Hermione was Mia, Luna was Selene, Drake was Christopher, Kali was Lia and Rosie was Annie.
"Can they be Cubs too?" Rosie suddenly asked, looking at the sisters.
There was a moment of silence, in which they all looked to Luna, who nodded. All the siblings turned to the sisters who stepped back slightly.
"Pack sisters. Place your hands within our own, join us in our home. Protection is what we give, this is the life you shall live. Fear not Pack Sisters any danger, from neither familiar or stranger. We take you as our own Sisters. Our magic binds, our hands unite, we are one."
There was a flash and all the glamours faded, while Daphne's blonde locks shifted to a strawberry blonde like Luna's but her eyes stayed the same icy blue. Astoria's dark brown locks darkened to black, her eyes also staying the same, but she got taller, going from four to six.
"What was that?" Daphne squeaked. "What happened?"
"You're our sister now," Hermione smiled.
"You're Pack," Drake agreed.
"Pack?" Daphne blinked. "What's that?"
"Omnes enim una omnium. Ignavique nihil crudele. Numquam desistas, numquam in," Luna recited.
"All for one, one for all. Never cowardly or cruel. Never give up, never give in," Daphne translated. She then titled her head to the side. "Are you all animagus?"
"Yup," Harry nodded. "I'm a wolf, Mia's a kitten, Drake's a fox, Lulu's a unicorn, Kali's a dog and you know Rosie's a tiger."
"Can we be animagus?" A soft quiet voice asked.
They all looked to Astoria, Daphne smiling when she heard her speak for the first time in ages.
"Sure," Hermione nodded. "Cas!"
Albus Too-Many-Names Dumbledore was having a bad day. Scratch that, he was having a bad few weeks. Three weeks ago, Sirius Black had broken out of Azkaban. Dumbledore was certain he had had help, for Connie Black and their daughter was missing, along with Remus Lupin. Not only that, but Harry Potter was missing. He'd gone to check up on him after Sirius' breakout, only to find him gone and the Dursleys refusing to say anything. Now the Greengrass' had been found dead and their daughters missing, meaning there was some killer and kidnapper roaming. Many blamed it on Sirius Black, although, what he would want with the Greengrass girls, nobody knew.
With a sigh, he turned to Severus Snape. "I want Harry Potter found," he told him. "And I want you to do anything you have to, to try and get him back."
"Anything?"
"Anything."