Chapter Seventeen

Overpowered Overload

Severus's point of view

They had gotten caught. Severus had warned them, but they had still gotten caught. Apparently, they didn't have enough cages, because they'd been tossed into one of them, with the exception of Black, which happened to be the one Peter was being held in. Peter was chained, but they hadn't chained the rest of them. They'd explained the Flametail situation to him, and he was miffed, then he explained the situation with Potter. The wheels in Severus's mind were turning. He was creating a plan, a good one.

"I know what to do." He whispered.

"Yeah, what?" Flametail asked excitedly.

"I can't exactly say... if I told you, it wouldn't work."

"Sounds solid to me." She said. Severus blinked at her.

"Peter, do you think you could get one of the bars off?" He asked.

"Easily, why?" He responded. How could he remain so calm right now?

"I need to call in some back up."

"What?" Peter asked.

"Just trust me, Peter." Peter shrugged and pulled one of the bars out of their positions, throwing it to the ground. The chains stopped him from moving any further than that, so he was of no further use until the final phase... if his assumption proved correct.

"Peter, can shinobi magics be tampered with by emotions like wizarding magic can?" He asked.

"Well, sure they are, if you mean that accidental spell casting still occurs." He replied.

"Perfect." Severus grinned, rubbing his hands together.

"You look a bit like James and Sirius when they're planning something when you do that." Peter said.

"No I don't, don't you ever say that again." Severus shot at him.

"Flametail, how much do you know about the skinwalkers?" He asked her.

"Everything." Was her answer.

"What do they use to drain the power out of the wizards and witches?"

"The cages."

"Where do the store the power?"

"I'm not sure where exactly it is, but they have something like a giant crystal ball that locks the magic inside until skinwalkers come to eat some of it."

"Do you think there's a limit to how much magic it can hold?"

"That's the only explanation as to why they don't drain the power from everyone being held all at once."

"Perfect." Severus said. He slowly, carefully, climbed out of the cage and onto the stone ledge that wound around the cave. Feeling his way around the walls, it took him about fifteen minutes to find his way out. Skinwalkers were already out there, coaxing Lily to them. "Lily, no!" He cried without thinking.

He saw them knock Lily unconscious, and a raging fire of anger roared to life in his chest. He knew he shouldn't attack them himself, there was no way to use his wand, and no amount of pretending could make him a shinobi, but today was an odd day for Severus.

"Leave them alone!" He bellowed. A fierce wind howled to life, blowing his hair and his robes out in front of him. He was glowing such a strong white light that it was clearly visible around him even in the bright daylight. All five of the skinwalkers fell to the ground, clutching their heads and shrieking, morphing back to their human forms. He lurched forward, and caught Lily before she hit the ground. His white aura transfered to her for a second, then disappeared all together as her eyes fluttered open.

"Snape... how in the world did... was that a psychic's spell?" Lupin stuttered. Severus wasn't really listening to him. He had just realized that Lily Evens was in his arms, and she wasn't pulling away. His face was burning. Why'd he have to blush now?

"Erm... thanks, Sev." She said, sounding embarrassed. He put her back down on the ground, not really wanting to. He was glad he did put her down then, when she flung her arms around him and kissed his cheek. He was sure he might faint.

"You were so brave coming here today." She said. "I didn't know it was going to be so dangerous. I can't believe you're dealing with all of this to save them, even though they were always so mean to you. I'm sorry I ever thought you might become a death eater. Nobody as brave as you ever would."

Severus was feeling very dazed. He knew Lily was talking like that because she was both scared and embarrassed and wanted to get it off her chest without actually admitting that she was scared, but she must've believed what she was saying, right? She thought he was brave. He was very pleased with himself.

"Where's everybody else?" Lupin demanded.

"We got caught. That's why I'm out here, to get you two, we need help. I've got a plan that's got a ninety percent chance of working, but it has to be done now." He responded.

"Then what are we waiting around here for?" Lily asked, stepping back from Severus, who couldn't help but feel disappointed. "Let's go save them."

Carefully, and quietly Severus led them back into the cavern and through the winding tunnels to the point where Peter and Flametail were being held.

"Flametail, we need Black back in his body, think you can make that happen?" He inquired. Flametail's eyes lit up.

"Do crumple-horned snorkraks like to dance to the fairy song?" She asked, gleefully.

"What?" Lily and Lupin asked in unison.

"That means yes." Peter said from behind her.

She zipped out of the cage humming what Severus imagined to be the fairy song.

Remus's point of view

It was almost twenty minutes later when Scorpion returned with Sirius. She had her arms wrapped around both of his shoulders as they walked, and Sirius seemed quite pleased, if not a bit flustered.

"Kay, Sirius is here. What now?" Scorpion asked cheerily, squeezing Sirius.

"Everyone get into James's cage." Snape replied.

"Wait, why?" Remus asked. That was a slightly odd request.

"Just trust me, I have a plan." The next thing Remus knew, he was being pushed along into the cage by Scorpion, who seemed to be very trusting of Snape for some odd reason. Snape began to undo the chains around Peter. Peter stared at Snape for a moment, and Snape stared right back. It looked as though they were both attempting to access the other's mind. After a moment, Peter frowned but joined them in James's cage.

"So, er... what are we supposed to be doing now?" Sirius asked. Snape shrugged.

"I haven't a clue what you're going to do, all I know is I guaranteed myself permanent safety by making sure all of you stay here forever." He smirked.

"What do you mean?" Remus demanded. Just as he said this, he began to understand. His knees buckled, he couldn't stand, he was so tired. The cage was going to draw out all of their energy until they all collapsed.

"Severus, no! You can't be serious!" Lily yelled. Remus's vision was going foggy. Sirius collapsed next to him, out cold. Remus was, for once, thankful for his werewolf side, it was much stronger and much more unwilling to let go of consciousness. Lily was the next to fall.

"Snape!" Peter roared, but even he looked as though he were about to pass out. Snape started to walk away.

"Don't you dare turn your back on us!" Remus growled as loudly as his exhausted state would allow. Snape looked back, and smirked again, then continued walking toward what was surely the exit of the cavern. Two skinwalkers standing there moved aside, bowing slightly as though to show gratitude, and Remus snapped. So did Peter and Scorpion.

"I'll kill you!" All three of them yelled at the same was a deafening bang, and the sound of wrenching metal. Accidental magic had caused a spike in magical energy, and the chains securing the cage to the roof of the cavern snapped. They were falling, all of the cages were. People who were still awake were screaming. Everything came to a stand-still.

"Wonderful plan, Snape-samma!" Scorpion called out. "You really had me going there!" White light and black smoke engulfed the cages that had been falling. They were now all suspended in midair.

"Now I get it. We overloaded the power stores!" Peter yelled. "Brilliant, Severus!" James groaned, sitting up.

"What... when did you guys get here... why is Flametail here? Lily!" His eyes widened as Lily too began to sit up. James helped her to her feet. Sirius woke up next.

"I don't even want to know, do I?" He grumbled.

"We overloaded their magic reserves." Peter shrugged.

"Snape-samma saved us, Sirius." Scorpion said, brightly, wrapping her arms around him again.

"We're never going to live this down." Sirius pouted. Snape laughed good-naturedly.

"Just don't tell anyone this happened and I'll forget all about it." He said, loudly enough for them to hear.

"Deal." Sirius responded. Snape slowly lifted his hands up, causing the cages to rise up to the ledge around the pit. Skinwalkers littered the walk way, obviously unconscious. The sound of cheers and joyous crying were soon echoing off the walls. The doors to the cages flung open as they reached the ledge.

"Watch your step everybody." Scorpion announced brightly. "The ledge is thin and slippery. Please do not hang body parts of any kind over the side, if you fall, we may not be able to help you. Please feel free to kick a skinwalker on your way out. Thank you for visiting Cougar cavern!"

Sirius and James laughed loudly along with a couple of the other hostages. Everyone took the invitation to kick a skinwalker while they made their exit. The marauders, Lily, Scorpion, and Severus hung back. Scorpion looked around thoughtfully.

"Severus, would you help me repair these cages?" Scorpion asked. "We could just destroy this place, but I've got a use in mind for it."

"I got it." Peter said with a smile. He clapped his hands twice and the chains seemed to weld themselves together again. Remus had intended to watch Scorpion for a minute as she busied herself with whatever she was doing, but James had walked straight up to Snape, and that drew everyone's attention. Everyone other than Scorpion who was now humming I Can See Clearly Now.

"Snape... I... er... I think that it's time we... we put our... our differences behind us." He choked it out as though it were painful to say the words.

"I had nothing to do with that." Peter claimed, looking alarmed.

"Flametail, I think you missed one." Snape declared, pointing at James and pursing his lips. Remus looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, Scorpion had rounded up all the skinwalkers and shoved them in the cages Peter had repaired.

"Snape, could you just not be an arse for twenty seconds?" James huffed hotheadedly.

"Never mind, it's fine." He said.

"Look, I had time to think when I was locked up in that cage..." James began.

"That's dangerous." Snape interrupted. Scorpion snorted.

"You are making this very hard to say." James growled.

"Okay, okay." Snape held up his hands in a motion of surrender.

"I'm trying to say that I realized that I was unfair to you for almost no reason and if I had died then, I think I would have regretted not being able to say sorry. So can we just pretend like none of that had happened?" James had an expression on his face that made it clear that he'd rather be eaten alive by puffskins than say that to Snape, but he held out his hand.

"Sure, Potter." Snape said, surprisingly. He shook James's hand, though admittedly briefly.

"So... er... water under the bridge?" James asked, awkwardly. Snape nodded. They were both refusing to meet the other's gaze. "So we're cool?"

"Yeah." He said.

"But that doesn't mean we're friends." James said immediately.

"God forbid." Snape muttered.

"Aw, I told you you guys were going to turn into best buddies soon enough." Lily said brightly.

"We are not friends!" James and Snape said firmly in unison.

"Does anyone else feel like we're forgetting something?" Sirius asked a bit randomly.

"The skinwalkers at school!" Peter said his eyes widening. The school could be crawling with them by now!"

"All right kiddies!" Scorpion called, grinning. "Field trip's over! Grab a souvenir and let's head back to school!"

"What happened to her?" James asked as Scorpion yanked some teeth out of a skinwalker's mouth and a fist full of hair from the same one's head. They followed her out of the cavern.

"We've been dealing with her identical twin sister at Hogwarts." Sirius explained, catching up with Scorpion. James smirked at their backs. Once outside, James found a long, sharp, jagged piece of stone and slipped it into his pocket. Remus cocked his head at him.

"Hey, if I'm going to be going on crazy adventures, I want something to remember them by. So, how much detective stuff have I missed?"

Remus filled James in on them knowing that Peter was a ninja and that Snape was psychic, information he'd gotten from Lily, and about Scorpion and how she told them her sister was pretending to be her. They were going to go find that carriage that Remus had ripped up and repair it so they could get to Hogwarts in a day. Lily started a conversation with Peter over "What the heck is a kunai used for other than throwing at people's heads". Scorpion was chattering away about some kind of creature that Remus was sure didn't really exist called a blibbering humdinger, while Sirius stared at her, most likely not taking in a word. James was tossing the stone in the air and catching it again and Snape was looking over toward Peter and Lily with a jealous and possessive expression. The question was, who was he feeling like that over? Peter or Lily? Remus sighed. The rest of this year was going to be a long one.