Chapter Fifteen

The Great Milkshake Rescue

Part One

Remus's Point of view

"You're name is Scorpion Flametail, right?" Sirius asked.

"The one and only." She said giving Sirius the peace sign and a wink. "How'd you know?" She gasped. "Are you a legilimence?"

"No, he's not." Remus said quickly, before Flametail could start spouting off questions again. "If you're completely sure you don't go to Hogwarts, then someone is attending school there under your name, who looks a whole lot like you, I might add."

"Heffalumps and Woozles!" Flametail said angrily, her eyes suddenly flashing. "Ugh, I knew Vipress would do something like this. Kuso!" Remus had heard that last word before somewhere, after a second, he recognized it from when Peter had been covered in blood because of the chinodobutsu or whatever it was called.

"Who's Vipress?" Sirius asked.

"My twin sister... I need to ask a gargantuan favor of you two." Flametail said, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly, her fists clenching just like her jaw. She took a deep, steading breath, and her expression softened again. "After I help you retrieve your friends and heal their injuries, I need you to bring me my sister, do you think you can do that?" She asked, her voice one of determined calm. Her expression changed again and, in a puff of smoke she so did her outfit. It was more or less the same, except now it was navy blue and the braided ropes were much darker. The tiny bottles had been replaced with daggers, knives with diamond shaped blades and small rings at the end, and long, thick needles.

"Let's go kick some shape-shifting butt!" She called, jumping up and punching the air, reminding Remus forcibly of the drawn characters Sirius, James, and now Peter had taped and pinned to the walls and their trunks. He looked over at Sirius who had his mouth open slightly again, and was blinking at him. "What? That was my alchemy outfit, this is my stealth outfit. Hold up, you two need suits too." She snapped her fingers and Remus felt the robes around him tighten. He looked down and saw that he too was wearing a navy blue catsuit. "Now, let's go kick some shape-shifting butts!" She repeated her earlier motion and took off through the trees, leaving Remus and Sirius no option but to follow her. One question was really bugging Remus. How had she just done such advanced magic without a wand? Then, another was added. How had she done magic in a magic desert? He would've asked her, but he didn't want to waste energy talking, when he could barely keep up with her as it was.

She looked over her shoulder and slowed a bit.

"Sorry, I thought I was running slow enough." She apologized. Remus was still having trouble keeping up with her, even at her decreased pace. He was sure he was about to give, and Sirius's face had turned a bit red, but Flametail looked perfectly at ease, she was even humming something, an upbeat and cheerful tune. Just as Remus was certain he was about to pass out, they came to a clearing that ended in a huge rock that looked as though it had to have been carved to look the way it did, because it was the perfect likeness of a roaring cougar with stalagmite and stalactite fangs and tunnels for the irises and pupils within the perfectly eye-shaped indentations, and came to a stop.

Sirius's Point of View

"This is cougar's cavern." Scorpion said brightly, flipping her braid back over her shoulders. Sirius felt his stomach drop away as the world seemed to slow down when she did this. He saw her turn and look at him with a big grin as though it were in slow motion. When their eyes met a nervous giddiness spread instantly across his body, but the moment had ended, and Scorpion was already on about something else. "Okay, we should take a rest here so you two won't be exhausted when we enter the cave. Oh, you know what? I've got energy replenishment potions in my bag, hold on." But that didn't make any sense, Scorpion didn't have a bag with her right then. Nonetheless, she made a motion as though she were pulling at a bag strap and reached down, her hand seeming to dissolve into the air. She pulled her arm back out of whatever she'd just reached into, and she was now holding two small vials filled with thick, bright blue liquid.

"Here, drink these... they kind of taste like candy floss." She said, offering one to both Sirius and Remus.

"Cheers." Remus said sounding grateful.

"Thanks." Sirius said, hoping they'd account his breathlessness for coming from running such a long distance so quickly. Scorpion beamed at them. Sirius uncorked the vial and downed it in one go, prepared for the usual feeling of wanting to get sick that most potions gave him, but Scorpion was right, it tasted like sweets. A flow of energy rushed through him, and, suddenly, he felt as though he'd just woken, very rested, from a long nap.

"Brilliant," Remus said, "you have got to show me how to do that."

"Sure, it's pretty simple really, you've just..." Sirius cut across her with a cough. "Right, not the time." She looked straight up at the sky, extending her hand out in front of her face, fingers spread out, like she was measuring something. "Okay, it's around a quarter to six, skinwalkers have odd sleeping patterns... but if I'm not mistaken the ones of Cougar Cavern sleep between seven and ten, they're probably originally from America or something. We've got a bit of time to plan, that's always a bad omen."

"It is?" Remus asked.

"Sure, when things are working in your favor, yin and yang like to throw in an obstacle for you, especially when I'm involved... yes, they love to toy around with me. I think I might be their favorite. Oh, of course, you wouldn't know who they are, you'd know the sisters as fate or destiny... but really, you know there is no such thing as destiny."

"Absolutely." Sirius agreed immediately, wanting her to look over in his direction again. "You hold your own future in your hands." Remus raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged in response. Scorpion flipped her braid again as she turned her head to look at him.

"That's just what I've been trying to prove. According to a whole host of seers and psychics, I ought to have died two years ago... I was also supposed to be a Te-sukiru too, since Vipress was born thirteen seconds before I was. I didn't let that stop me from being a totally wicked shinobi and a great alchemist. Would you care for a milkshake?" Sirius blinked as she pushed a glass of a thick, pink liquid covered in whip cream and top with a cherry at him.

"A what?" He asked.

"Ohmygoshyoudontknowwhatamilkshakeis?" Scorpion spoke even faster this time than when she found out the Sirius and Remus were wizards.

"Sorry, what? Could you say that again, but a bit slower?"

"Oh my gosh you don't know what a milkshake is?" She said.

"No." Sirius replied.

"Ohmygoshyouhavenotliveddrinkit!"

"Slower."

"Oh my gosh you have not lived. Drink it." She ordered, poking a straw into it.

"Okay... where'd you get this from, anyway?" He asked, taking it from her while Remus only blinked a few times.

"Shush shush shush, don't ask questions. I want to see your face when you taste your first milkshake." She replied with a gigantic grin.

"Okay..." Sirius took a sip of the cold, thick drink and felt his eyes widen. It was a bit like strawberry ice cream, but it had a slightly different taste to it. "What the heck?" He asked, while Remus accepted one from Scorpion who was grinning even more broadly.

"You like it?" She asked.

"Erm, yeah! This has to be the best drink I've ever had!" Sirius replied truthfully.

"Brilliant! I made them myself." Somehow, she had a third one and was sipping it. "They're a Te-sukiru thing, I only found out about them last year, and I just had to see if I could make them well, and this is only the second time I've tried. Strawberry is my favorite, but I'll make some chocolate ones for you guys and you're friends some other time. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, once I take a liking to someone, I tend to show up at random moments around them. Hope that's not super annoying to you. If it is, I won't do it."

"Not at all." Sirius said immediately, shaking his head and getting another raised eyebrow from Remus. Scorpion beamed again.

"Brilliant!" There was the sound of footsteps and, in a blur of snowy white, black, and creamy pink, Scorpion was gone, revealing a mutated deer-wolf-man hybrid that sent a chill down Sirius's spine. He didn't have a wand and anyways they were in a magic desert. What was he supposed to do? Why did Scorpion just leave them there? Did she do it on purpose, did she just get frightened, or was she planning something? Was this a trap? Was she using them as bait? Had they stupidly trusted her when they shouldn't have? A loud thump and a "Ha!" reached Sirius's ears before he had the chance to move, and what was, most likely, a skinwalker fell forward into the grass, slowly morphing into a tall, old, reddish skinned man with long grey hair that looked like it was probably black at some point.

"Cowardly, shape-shifting trash, how dare you try to attack a poor, defenseless, little girl when her back's turned?" Scorpion scolded playfully. She was still holding her milkshake, and it looked as though not a drop had been spilled.

"OohIjustgotanamazingidea!" She called. This time, Sirius was pretty sure he knew what she said.

"What's your amazing idea?" He asked, a bit skeptically.

"You understood that?" Remus asked him.

"I believe so." Sirius replied, making Scorpion give her cute little laugh.

"I need you to look around and see if you can find any of the plant dragonshade." Was all she said.

"Erm... what does dragonshade look like?" Remus asked. Scorpion blinked, then said;

"Oops, sorry. I forgot. You'd know it as Henbane." She squeezed her eyes shut and stuck out her tongue slightly, then opened her eyes again and said; "Oops."

"Henbane is used in sleeping potions, what do you want it for?" Sirius asked, trying to sound smarter than he was.

"You'll see." Scorpion replied brightly. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say." He said.

"Remus, what does Henbane look like again?"

"It's a yellowish white flower that has green lines all over them that kind of make it look like its got scales; it has a brown center and all these tiny tubes poking out of the middle." He answered. "Its leaves are spiky looking, but they're a little soft to the touch."

"Okay." Sirius said. He took another sip of his milkshake while he was looking at the foliage in search for the flower Remus described. He happened to spot one, and reached out to grasp it, but just before his fingers touched its stem, it jumped back out of the way.

"Hm?" He made another grab for it, but it moved again. He was sure Henbane was a plant muggles knew about too, so it shouldn't be able to move, but he'd been wrong before and he didn't really remember much about the plant. He was about to ask Remus, but the plant was now starting to walk off. It was the only Henbane around, so Sirius put his milkshake down and dove after it. He closed the flower in his hands, and made to yank the plant out of the ground, however, he ended up tugging it out of a hand, a light green hand that was reaching out of the ground. Zombie. The word flitted through his head in the beginnings of panic as the only conclusion his startled brain thought of chilled his blood, sending a shutter down his spine.

Scorpion's point of view

She saw Sirius Black put down his milkshake and dive out of sight. That guy was so funny sometimes. She rolled her eyes, laughed, flipped her braid out of her way, and continued mashing the witch hazel she took out of her potions kit. She was wearing her alchemy suit again. She felt she had to wear it, it just helped her concentrate on the task at hand.

"Merlin!" Sirius yelped. Scorpion was on her feet before he finished the word, and was over the bushes and into the tiny clearing before she heard Sirius laughing. Remus had come into the small clearing as well. Sirius was stuck in the dirt, his entire body underground, except for his head. A female flower elf stood in front of him, her back turned to him and a Henbane blossom clasped in her light green hands. Her hair had short, yellow-white elegant spikes that simulated flower petals on the top of her head, while straight pale green locks fell over her shoulders. She wore a brown ribbon as a head band that was tied in a hasty but nonetheless good-looking bow. Her eyes were closed, but Scorpion guessed they were also light green. She was scowling.

"Ah, my mistake Sirius, I should've guessed a henbane flower elf lived around here. My bad." Scorpion grinned."We really do need a henbane flower." She added to the elf who opened one of her pale green eyes to lock Scorpion in a calculating gaze. "We only need one, just to use in a potion, so we can get those shape-shifting demons out of here."

The elf pursed her lips, one of her pointed ears twitched slightly.

"Are you speaking of the skinwalkers?" She asked. Her voice was much more gentle and soothing than the rose flower elf Scorpion had once met. It was rather like listening to a veela's voice.

"Yes I am." Scorpion replied calmly, trying not to laugh as Remus attempted to pull Sirius out of the ground.

"The intrusive shapeshifters must leave, but they refuse to listen to reason. They have scared the other elves away, and my brothers, sisters, and cousins refuse to come back until somebody shows the demons that they do not rule the world." The elf frowned. Her ears drooped, but her eyes contained a hopeful gleam. "You need a flower to get rid of them?"

"Yes." Scorpion replied truthfully.

"Then you will have a flower." She plucked a leafless, thin vine from a tree and squeezed it in her fist. Instantly, jagged leaves pushed themselves out of the tiny vine, and white, scaly looking petals formed at the top.

"Domo Arigoto, Guardian." Scorpion said, bowing slightly. "Remus san, let me get Sirius out." She called brightly, practically skipping as she crossed over to them.

"Okay, but he's stuck pretty deep. We should probably sling a vine up over that branch up there, and I'd pull on that end, then get a thick branch and find a way to get it under Sirius's feet and you could push down on that end, that way it'll be a lot easier to... oh, never mind I guess."

Remus's Point of view

"Remus san, let me get Sirius out." Scorpion called. In a puff of smoke she was wearing something that looked like black yoga pants and a tight black tang top with a bright pink stripe down the side, except the tang top only covered the top half of her torso. She really did have an outfit for everything. He stepped back to let Scorpion attempt to pull Sirius out of the dirt, but immediately started talking about using a crude mix between a lever and a pulley system. There was no need, apparently, for his idea, because Scorpion wrenched Sirius out of the ground as easy as if he were just laying on his back and she'd pulled him to his feet. Sirius blinked, then flushed slightly and murmured,

"Wow, er... thanks." Most people would have figured that Sirius was embarrassed because he had to be helped by a girl, but Remus knew better. Sirius respected that some girls, or rather, a lot of girls were even tougher, stronger, and more rebellious than he was. No, Sirius was flushing for a different reason, and Remus knew why. He was embarrassed because he had to be helped in front of his knew crush who just so happened to be the one to help him.

"You're welcome. Well, now that we have the Dragon, sorry, Henbane I can put the first phase of the Great Milkshake Rescue into action.

"The Great Milkshake Rescue?" Remus and Sirius repeated in unison. They both looked over at each other, sharing an exasperated look, but Remus could tell Sirius secretly thought it was a cute title. Another puff of smoke and Scorpion was in her catsuit with gleaming powders again. She took a running start then leaped gracefully over the shrubbery and under the tree branches landing gracefully and silently on the other side of them.

"Come on then, I need your help for this, this is a three person job." She called.

"This should be interesting." Remus muttered to himself. Sirius had already began to take a running start. He jumped over the bushes and did a sort of summersault when he almost nose dived into the grass.

"Nice, Sirius, I'll make a ninja out of you yet!" Remus heard Scorpion say. He rolled his eyes, thanked the elf, and walked around the bushes like the sensible person he was.