I hate rats.
Neenie snarled quietly at the back of Peter Pettigrew and tested the ropes around her wrists; they didn't give. She hissed deep in her throat, managing to sound like her Animagus form, and Pettigrew looked behind him and twitched.
You better twitch, Ratty. She spent the better part of the next minute having visions of grabbing Pettigrew by his wormy tail and flinging him against a tree before deciding that—fun as it was—it wasn't helping matters.
What to do, what to do…it was times like this she wished she had a connection to Ron like Harry had with Ginny——
Neenie stifled a gasp as a memory came flooding back to her.
"You may have noticed that Fawkes has just recently been reborn. When I went to brush away the ashes, these came with him. Fawkes created these."
She twisted against the tree bark just enough to bring her hand up; she'd been struggling for the last fifteen minutes or so, and this wouldn't be out of place. Her hand hit a fine silver chain against her golden one and she sighed in relief. She moved it down a little until her bound fingers came in contact with the pendant.
…I can't just dive down there, it'll make a lot of noise, yeah, but it won't help her any, and I need to help her, I have to, if anything happens to her—
RON!
Far above the Death Eater camp a red-feathered hawk forgot to flap momentarily. He fell several feet in the air before his wings pushed him back up again.
Ne—Neenie? What's going on?
There's no time to explain, Neenie said quickly, pushing her wave of joy and relief to the back of her mind. Can you see how many Death Eaters there are?
Sure. The answer came almost immediately. Five to six in your general area. About ten in another clearing a hundred meters out, but they're heading towards the school even now. It looks like you're in their camp.
Excellent. Neenie practically purred as a plan fell into place in her mind. She showed it to Redwing, and felt his grin.
Let's do it.
The man known as Wormtail, who had once been Peter Pettigrew, fought an internal battle. The girl he had caught was Remus' daughter, and Remus would definitely kill Wormtail for hurting her, even if he did let her go.
But no, it was too dangerous to let her escape… his Animagus form quivered in fear of hers, as his human form did of what she meant to him...
Wormtail jumped as something—some demon—screamed above them. The scream was answered a moment later on the other side of the clearing. All Wormtail could comprehend was flashing lights and sounds of animals before he was on his back.
Remus' girl had him pinned.
"That's impossible!" he gasped out, before her knee pressed against his throat and made further speech come second to breathing.
A dagger shone in her hand as she pressed it beneath his chin. "It's not, actually," she said, and something about her eyes was familiar to him. It took him a moment to place it, since his happy memories were the ones he tried to keep away.
Her eyes shone in the exact way Remus's used to when he was at his most angry—his maddest.
"Are you going to kill me?" Wormtail squeaked.
The girl removed the dagger, flipped it so that the hilt was towards him, and shook her head. Hope bubbled inside his chest.
"Several other people have first dibs," was the last thing he heard for a long time as the glittering blue hilt connected with his temple.
Fox grinned maliciously as he watched his twin sister take out Wormtail.
"Fun?" he asked as he gave her a hand up.
Neenie matched his grin perfectly. "Lots. Want a shot?" She gestured at the unconscious man.
Fox shook his hand regretfully. "Padfoot wouldn't like it if he we didn't leave some for him."
Redwing, who had been helping Starwing tie up the Death Eaters, came over just in time to here this. He laughed out loud and put on his best whining voice.
"But I wanna kick the Death Eater!"
He smirked as Fox and Neenie laughed.
Starwing smiled vaguely as she came to join them, a long lock of white-blonde hair in her fist. Fox gave it a questioning glance. Her smile turned predatory.
"Your beloved birth father tried to sneak up on me," she informed him calmly, sending a glance over her shoulder.
Fox followed her line of sight and nearly choked. Lucius Malfoy hanging upside down in a tree was an interesting thing to behold.
He put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple. "I love you."
Several minutes later, four highly satisfied animals went back to patrolling in peace, leaving a bunch of unarmed, unconscious, and undressed Death Eaters in their wake.
Pearl, her hooves picking across the forest floor carefully, stopped short. She felt the nothing in the air beside her do the same.
"What is it?" Neville's voice whispered a moment later. Pearl transformed back into a human and nodded up at where a white owl was perched in a tree.
"Starwing," she whispered back.
Neville whispered them invisible to everyone but the Pride. and Hands clasped, they waited. Thirty seconds later, a troop of Death Eaters marched past, exactly where they would have been.
Pearl shivered as she realized, had Starwing not been there, they would have been captured. Neville tucked her firmly against his side, wrapped an arm around her waist, and nodded to the owl, which bobbed its head back with a soft hoot and flapped off.
"Let's keep going," he said after a moment. "Harry and the others can take care of the Death Eaters up at the castle. We need to stop more from coming in."
Pearl nodded, and a moment later, a deer and a demiguise resumed their guard of the boundaries.
Harry watched as dots labeled Avery and Nott came onto the map he held in his hands, followed by eight or nine other Death Eater dots. He screwed his face up.
"What is it?" Hermione asked. She and the other DA "leaders" had come to check in with him, and the Map had switched hands.
"Ten?" he said to the parchment incredulously. "Voldemort thinks ten Death Eaters is all it takes to—"
"Take a mostly defenseless castle from a bunch of kids?" Hermione finished reasonably. "The fact that he underestimates us is his greatest weakness."
Harry nodded, accepting her point. "Spread out," he ordered to the assembled DA. "It looks like they're coming right in through the front doors."
"They think we won't be on guard," Susan Bones added.
Harry grinned in a way he'd learned from Wolf at her. "So let's prove them wrong."
All in all, it took about ten minutes to take the Death Eaters out.
They locked them in the dungeons for good measure.
Wolf spun around, fire spitting from his sword, and caught Voldemort's strike with his own just as the cold of his pendants disappeared. He was so surprised he almost pulled back, but years of training kept his sword arm locked in place.
In front of him, Voldemort's face wavered for a moment.
Wolf disengaged, sending a kick into the Dark Lord's chest that sent him stumbling backwards, and snatched a look at the mirror. The images in it wavered, then dissolved into his Pride, perfectly okay, bundling up a bunch of Death Eaters.
He growled and spun back on Voldemort.
The Dark Lord sent a green spell whirring towards him. Wolf deflected it with his sword and shot a spell of his own. Lights flashed everywhere as the battle raged, sword and dagger mingling with Voldemort's spells.
Lynx remembered flying through the air. She remembered relaxing her muscles so the impact wouldn't be so bad, remembered knowing that at the least she'd be knocked out, remembered cursing herself. She remembered pain—lots and lots of pain, both emotional and physical.
Now arms cradled her—protected her. She groaned as her pain came back, muscles that twinged as she tried to move, a sore throat and a throbbing head...
"Redheads," said the voice of the person holding her. "Can't ever control their tempers."
Lynx groaned again and opened her eyes a little at a time, so as not to give herself more of a headache. The face that hovered above her was topped by messy black hair; she smiled and looked past the glasses into hazel eyes.
Hazel eyes?!
She gasped and sprang into a sitting position, only to be pushed down by another pair of hands.
"Sit down!" another voice snapped. "Honestly! You shouldn't be moving yet."
Lynx let herself be pushed back and forced her sluggish mind to piece together the facts. She stared at the face above her again.
"Prongs?"
James Potter grinned down at her. "The one and only."
Lynx gritted her teeth. "I died?" she asked, her voice full of self-directed anger.
"Not exactly," the other voice said.
James' face moved out of her vision, to be replaced by another that was just as easily recognizable. Lily Potter's smile wasn't as raucous or mischievous as her husband's, but kind and affectionate.
"You did quite a number on yourself," Lily continued, cradling Lynx's head in such a way that a bit of her headache dissipated.
Lynx made an unladylike snort. "I figured death wouldn't be as painful as this. But…why are you here?"
"We are the Guardians," James said cryptically, in a sepulchral voice. "We are the ones to escort the deceased Pack and Pride members on."
Lynx raised an eyebrow at the voice. "Was that really necessary? I thought you said I didn't die…"
Lily shook her head. "I said you didn't die exactly. Now, we don't normally do this…"
"Are you guardians like Alex is?" Lynx interrupted, some things clicking in her mind.
Lily paused for a long moment, as if conferring with someone Lynx couldn't see. When she finally answered, it was hesitantly. "I suppose you could say that."
Lynx nodded as much as possible. "Isn't there a 'no interference' rule, then?"
"Would you rather be dead?" James asked blandly.
"Sorry," Lynx said quickly.
Lily laughed lightly. "Normally there is a 'no interference' rule, or we would have appeared for a certain son of ours long before this. But this whole mixing of worlds wasn't supposed to happen in the first place, so everyone has been given free rein to do whatever is necessary to fix this."
"Free rein?"
"Free rein," Lily confirmed, with a significant glance upwards. "Whatever is necessary."
Lynx grinned in a way she'd picked up from the twins. "Cool."
"Can I continue?" Lily inquired dryly; Lynx nodded. "Thank you. As I said, we don't normally do this, but Wolf needs to win this battle against that world's Voldemort. Now listen carefully, Ginevra Molly Weasley, because this next bit is important."
Lynx nodded again, more seriously.
"Wolf needs to win, because when he does it'll cause something of a chain reaction. The injuries his causes this world's Voldemort will affect your world's Voldemort. They won't be defeated—not by a long shot—but they will be out of the picture for a good time. Long enough that everyone can gather their forces back up again, and get everything settled from this little…world escapade."
Lynx took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. "And my choice? You mentioned I had a choice."
Lily nodded again. "You see, Lynx, there's a lot of technicalities in here. Our problem is that you're…well, you're dead."
"You call that your problem?" Lynx exclaimed, with some justice.
Lily gave her a look. "What did I say about interrupting?"
"Sorry, continue."
"Thanks ever so," Lily said blandly. "Like I was saying, our problem is that you're dead, but it's not your time. Nor is it even your world. So you're not supposed to be dead, at least not yet."
Lynx bit back a comment about that last statement.
"However, it did happen. So here's the choice you're presented with. We can return you to life. It'll be painful, because we won't be able to heal you, and we don't know the side-affects the injuries you sustained—while no longer being life threatening—will have on your body, but we can do it."
"Or?" Lynx prompted when Lily hesitated.
"Or you could stay here. The Oath you swore with my son and the rest of your friends permits you life here. You'll become a Guardian, watching over the worlds along with James, myself, and others, and making sure they go as planned. But…"
"But what?" Lynx snapped.
"But you'll have to give up love," Lily said slowly. "You won't be able to feel emotions like love anymore, because you'll be leaving Wolf behind, and you won't be a good Guardian if you're forever grieving for the love you can't have."
Lynx swallowed hard as she tried to imagine it. "What about Wolf?" she asked quietly.
"Wolf would go on," James said. "He'd do what he had to do. He'd eventually find someone he'd love second best, and die…whenever he's set to die."
"You don't want me to," Lynx observed quietly. "You don't want me to choose the second one. You want me to go back, even if I'm forever crippled."
"So what if you are?" Lily countered.
"I'll be a nuisance!" Lynx shouted back. "I'll be a burden. I won't be able to fight alongside those I love. It would be a nightmare in real life, with no escape."
Lily started to shout back, and stopped when James put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. Lynx pushed herself up to glare at him.
"You have to make this decision on your own," James told her, refusing to wither under her glare. "What we want or think can't be part of it."
Lynx shoved herself away from Lily's arms to lie on the grass beneath them all, feeling it tickle the back of her neck through her hair. It brought a memory surging into her mind, from back in fifth year, back when Wolf had been hiding from Professor Umbridge, who had expelled him and tried her best to persecute him.
The third time it happened she reached back quicker. Her fingers encountered flesh and she twisted to the side, sending Harry rolling over her and onto the grass on her other side. He was laughing, a piece of grass in his hands.
"You're dead!" she growled, pouncing on him.
They wrestled playfully for several moments before she managed to gain the upper hand.
"Pinned ya!" Ginny crowed, making herself comfortable with her position on his chest. "Again. You're really losing your touch, Potter."
"Oh really," Harry asked mischievously. He reached up and dug his finger into her ribs before she could react.
Ginny shrieked and launched herself to the other side, out of the way of his attacking fingers, and another game began; he attacking and she evading. It continued, sometimes as human, sometimes as animals, and sometimes as a combination, until they both lay exhausted, panting and laughing on the ground.
Harry stretched out an arm that snaked around her and pulled her close to him. She snuggled against his side.
"What was your life before the Pack moved to Devon?" he asked unexpectedly after a few moments.
Ginny turned and smiled into his shoulder. "A little lonely," she answered after some thought. "Ron was always older. Sometimes he would let me play with him, but sometimes I was the dreaded girl and he didn't. Luna was nice, and my age, but a little weird. Why do you ask?"
"Because," he answered, "I want to know everything about you. What made you the person you are today, and I realized I'd never asked you that before."
She lifted her head from his shoulder to look him directly in the eyes. "Philosophical today, aren't we?"
Harry chuckled. "I had a lot of time to think last night and…I don't know why I didn't see you before."
Ginny put her head back against his chest, listening to his heart thumping beneath her ear. "You did see me," she answered after a minute. "But at first I was just Ron's little sister, and that girl who blushed every time she saw you."
He chuckled again, and this time she felt it as well as heard it.
"And after that I was your Pridemate, but still Ron's little sister, and your brain was twice as fervent about blocking those kinds of thoughts about me. And then you got distracted by Cho…"
"I like to think of those as 'The Lost Years'," Harry interrupted.
Ginny reached up a hand to smack the top of his head, but it only made him laugh again.
"And after that I was still your Pridemate, and still Ron's sister, but now your thoughts were heading in my direction and that little person on your shoulder was saying 'That's WRONG, mister!'..." She lifted her head to look at him, "So…mmmf."
Harry had effectively shut her up.
"Can't we say that life is wonderful and complicated and go with that?" he asked wistfully when they were done.
Ginny let out a dramatic sigh. "I suppose," she consented mischievously.
"Good." Harry nodded and pulled her closer. "Then here's to our complicatedly wonderful life, and to never having to live it without each other again. My lady."
And they went back to their previous occupation.
Wolf's proclamation had started out as a joke, but gotten progressively more serious as time passed. To the point where the thought of him facing Voldemort and losing would sometimes give her nightmares; thankfully, though, they usually came to her in places where he was able and ready to comfort her, to prove that it all wasn't true, to whisper in her ear that it wouldn't happen…
But it had happened; just not to the person they thought it would.
She opened her mouth to ask Lily what she thought, opinions and interference be damned.
"I'll go back."
Well, she hadn't meant to say that.
However, upon a moment's thought, she realized that didn't make it any less true. She was going back, for better or worse. She couldn't leave her beloved there to fight alone.
Lily relaxed all over and all at once, all the muscles in her body loosening. "Thank Merlin."
Lynx frowned. "What would have happened if I'd made the other choice?"
Lily met her squarely in the eyes. "At some point in the battle, Wolf would have made his way over to you. When he realized you were dead, he would have lost his mind—quite literally. His control over fire would collapse, burning the entire upper floor of the tower in a flood of flames."
"He would have told it to burn everything," James said quietly. "Including himself."
"That world's Voldemort would be sent back into his half-living form; not alive but not dead, looking for a body," Lily continued. "He would have found one eventually, and then that world's Harry would have to face him in battle. The Voldemort in your world wouldn't be affected by the flames. He'd grow stronger and more powerful, and eventually gain control as he had originally planned to do sixteen years ago."
Lynx shuddered, and kept on shuddering, thinking about the fate she had almost doomed everyone she knew and loved to.
"I want to go back now," she said quietly, but surely.
Lily smiled at her. "Just say the words."
"So I speak, so I intend," Lynx recited.
James and Lily put their hands to her forehead.
"And so let it be done."
Wolf was tiring. He knew it, knew it as surely as the blade in his hand. He was good for ten more minutes of this kind of fighting; dodging, rolling, slashing with his sword where he could, shooting spells where he couldn't. His eyes kept darting back to Lynx, motionless against the wall.
Just let me get to her, he thought. Just let me get over to her. Let me make sure she's okay.
It was at that moment that a spell caught him in the leg. Wolf went down hard, his wand flying from his hand and skidding across the stone floor to the other side of the room. Something in his left arm snapped, making the sword useless. He looked up into Voldemort's red eyes, and closed his own so he wouldn't have to see them.
"You'll be down," he remembered Padfoot's voice saying. "Bullies always wait until you're down; seemingly defenseless, seemingly defeated. And sure as he is a coward, he will try to kick you."
Voldemort cast the Full Body Bind on him. Immediately, Wolf began to break it from the inside. Three blinks of his left eye.
Voldemort lifted his wand, chuckling as he described what he was going to do to Wolf's Pride. Wolf ignored him. Three blinks of his right eye.
Time seemed to slow as the first syllable of "Avada" left the Dark Lord's lips. Five rapid, hard blinks of both eyes; he felt the spell crumble.
The second syllable came out just as Wolf's eyes flew to Lynx's body. Hers were wide and open, shining with love and fear for him. He winked at her.
"Kedav-"
Quick as the snakes he could talk to, Wolf lunged. A scream of agony ripped out of his throat as he forced his broken left arm to move, but move it did; swiftly and surely it buried the blade it held in the Dark Lord's gut.
Voldemort looked down at it in astonishment, as if believing it would disappear if he looked long enough…
…and then he crumbled into dust.
He wasn't gone—Wolf knew he wasn't, even as he felt his world's Voldemort crumble as well. They both had fail-safes; they always did. The Order of the Phoenix had maybe two months before the Dark Lord was back in action, but two months would be enough to regain their feet, and maybe an edge.
He managed to make it to Lynx's side before he blacked out.
"…broke every bone in her body…"
"…don't know how he manages to get himself…"
"…lucky like that…"
"Wha?" Wolf blinked his eyes open blearily. Everything was fuzzy and blurry; he could vaguely make out shapes moving above him.
"He's awake!" Meghan threw herself onto his bed and hugged him tightly around the neck.
Confused and disoriented as he was, Wolf hugged back. "Need to breathe, Megs," he said in a choked whisper.
Meghan giggled and let go. Neenie was next in line for hugs, but she kept hers in check. "You gave us a really bad scare, Wolf," she scolded. "Don't ever do it again."
"Never," Wolf smirked. "Right. Remember who you're talking to?"
Fox laughed from nearby. "You're the one who got hit with more spells than a Charms teacher. Do you remember anything?"
Wolf let himself fall back as he saw the rest of his Pack and Pride standing around his bed and closed his eyes. "Stabbed Voldemort," he said tiredly. "It was fun."
Well good morning, love, said the voice he most wanted to hear in his head. Sleep well?
Would've slept better if you were over here, he replied mischievously.
Lynx administered a mental smack. I already broke every bone in my body for you, boyo. Don't push it.
Every bone? Only her mental presence kept him from darting to his feet and leaping onto the bed next to his to take her into his arms. Are you all right?
I'm perfectly fine, or I would be if Madame Pomfrey would let me out of this damn bed.
Language, love, he said affectionately.
"Can we go home now?" he asked aloud. Apparently he sounded enough like a plaintive child to make his Pack-parents laugh.
"In fact, yes," Dumbledore said from somewhere nearby. Wolf opened his eyes to look at the Headmaster. "It will take significant power, but if your Neville and Meghan are willing to accept power from our Hogwarts, I see no reason why you cannot go home as soon as certain people are allowed to leave their beds."
Poppy Pomfrey leapt to her feet as the hospital room outside her office erupted in noise.
She calmed down when she realized it was only cheering.
One by one, the members of the Pack and the Pride stepped through the hole in space and time; Meghan and Shade first so as to keep the hole open, until only Wolf and Lynx remained on the side with Harry and his friends.
Lynx pressed Wolf's hand once and stepped through. Wolf turned to Harry.
"All right?" he asked quietly, holding out his hand.
Harry looked at Ginny beside him, took her hand, and looked back at Wolf. "All right."
Two hands clasped.
Wolf stepped through, and all of them waved until their Others couldn't be seen anymore.
"Well," Harry said to his friends as the hole disappeared. "I think I liked them."
Everyone stared at him for a long moment before they started laughing.
"Home sweet Nuthouse," Padfoot said as soon as the hole closed behind Wolf.
He was tackled before the last word even left his mouth
That particular adventure ended as all adventures should end, with much laughter and rejoicing.
And kissing. Of course kissing.
A/n: Well, there we go folks. I thought the last line was a good one to end the story. ;-) As always, thank you to the wonderful Anne Walsh (whydoyouneedtoknow) for beta-ing!