Chapter 3

Translation Code

A/N: It really is beautiful outside. The suns out, the birds are singing and the wind is at a nice cooling breeze. It's absolutely perfect.

I think I'll just write this one in doors.

Remus hung on to Snape for dear life. The interdimensional winds howled like madness and blue lightning danced across the air. Remus though, did not see much of this, as his eyes were firmly shut. But there were a few things that he noticed.

First and foremost was the odd glow approximately six inches above Lily's head. Whatever was glowing seemed to be dragging them through the tunnel, evidenced by the way that it would twisted above her just before they would make a tight turn. It seemed that Lily was tied to it.

Other than that, Remus was also vaguely aware of a weight on his legs. He decided to chance a look down, but instead of the bulk of Wormtail, Remus gazed down upon the slightly haughty but still very fearful eyes of Regulus Black. Remus also got a full look at the yawning gape of eternity directly below, and decided that looking down was a very bad idea. So he decided to look up- and got the shock of his life.

Directly above – or maybe below, he really didn't have any sense of direction in here, werewolf or not -his group of friends, was an enormous, pulsating ocean of blue light. And they were headed straight for it.

Remus tightened his hold on Snape's waist, trying to channel his magic for a silent sticking charm (opening his mouth would probably end with him electing his dinner), but started far too late. Before the charm was complete, the six hit the surface of the ocean.

Remus nearly lost his grip, one arm actually detaching itself from Snape's side. His other hand tightened on Severus's cloak, and Remus, for a moment, wondered at the weird symbolism of it all. Then, with a jolt, Regulus fell off of Remus.

Remus swung his loose arm up and snagged a handful of Snape's robes. Regulus… He filed that down under "Repressed and waiting for processing", and was just about to wonder if anything else would happen when Sirius suddenly jerked. Remus looked around Severus, eyeing the dog marauder that was barely two feet from him. Sirius looked Remus right in eye… and with a final jerk, he and James fell into oblivion.

Remus gaped, trying, desperately to process this. No, no, this could not be happening. Two of the three people that had ever accepted him for what he was, that had befriended him even though he was a monster, could not have just fallen to the deaths. A sudden, reckless energy stole over Remus, and he looked below him, ready to hurl himself after his friends.

He never did.

The air (or whatever he, Lily and Snape were moving through) suddenly started to change. Remus looked back up, but only got a quick look at what seemed to be the surface of a vast, roiling sea, before the sensation of being plunged into freezing water overtook him. Not a second later, the cold water turned boiling. And then, with a hum, Remus suddenly realized that he was now on dry, normal, earthly land.

But why was the horizon tilted, oh say, sixty degrees?

This question, while never to be answered, was quickly found to be irrelevant, as something in Remus's vision clicked, everything came into a sharper focus, and he fell seven feet onto hard stone. 'Well, that couldn't have been worse.' Remus stood back up, and turned to take in the environment.

He, Lily and Snape had landed in what looked like a flying mountain range. Several massive boulders were suspended around them, and a narrow path wove from north to south beneath them. A few bonsai trees were scattered here and there, but they were in the minority of scenery. Remus continued to take in the view, until he had turned full circle and was faced with Snape and Lily's backs and started. They were clad in the most ridiculous outfits!

Snape was standing, absent-mindedly clutching a blindingly white staff in one hand, in green and silver robes that, even though there wasn't a breeze, where billowing around him dramatically. Lily was crouching on the edge of the pathway, wearing a knight's set of shining armor, sans the helmet. A sword was sheathed on her back. Remus glanced down and saw he was wearing a similar costume, a black priest's frock with golden trim. A silver revolver was holstered in his belt.

"Potter, Black. Potter, Black. Where are you!" Lily shouted down to the ocean that rolled calming beneath them. Remus came to the edge, staring down to the water. Nothing stirred in the infinite reaches of the deep. "If you two don't come back here right now-."

"They're stuck down there Lily. They're not coming up." Snape turned back from the edge, and started pacing away from them. Then, with a complete lack of the famous Slytherin cunning, Snape burst out laughing!

"Severus Snape!" Lily whipped around and groped for her wand but came up empty handed. Snape continued to laugh and even started cheering. "Don't you see Lily, now with those toerags out of the way…" Snape stopped laughing. Remus was unsure if it was because Lily was looking absolutely murderous, because he probably had a similar look.

"Well, ere, you see." Snape struggled with getting the words out. Lily began to advance. "You, you, arse! You're happy that they died! Severus Marilyn Snape I refuse to believe you!" Lily was nearly up to Snape's overlarge nose, with the Slytherin at the edge of the path, shaking slightly. "You are a death eater in training!" Lily screamed the last proclamation in Snape's face and then turned and stalked off. Remus looked after the slowly retreating red-head, and made to follow her, but stopped when she seized the sword on her back and brought it down on a boulder, slicing it clean in two.

Snape remained where he was, watching as Lily left him behind.

…

The near instantaneous change from semi-difficult trek across flying mountains to heart ponding battle would seem to be a rather shaky transition, unless handled by a truly talented writer, or being dipped in with a heavy dose of self-awareness. However, the fact that the trio of wizards (or two wizards and a witch) had such little time to react that it would be fairly appropriate to move to this scene.

When we left our trapped hero's, and heroine, they were not surrounded by wasps, and they certainly not standing in a circle back to back, but as we return, they, in fact, are surrounded by wasps, and standing in a circle, back to back. That Snape was slight excluded from the group was another thing entirely, but when one was rejoicing over the supposed deaths of two people that had tormented him for five years and one that had tried to get him killed, one could be forgiven on figuring out why they were being hated on, regardless of the fact that two of the nearest persons happened to be fairly good friends of said dead ones, and fairly decent too.

Severus took stock of the situation as quickly as five years of sleeping in the Slytherin common room could allow him to. They were surrounded from all sides, but the aerial targets weren't making any hostile moves. Lily and Lupin had both drawn weapons, a sword and a gun, respectively, and Severus was left with a long staff. Why no one had pulled their wands was understandable, as currently no one knew where the wands were. So instead, they were using their preselected weapons. And they weren't happy about it.

"Well, does anyone have any ideas?" Severus self-consciously twirled his staff. He really didn't like this setup. For one, Lily wanted to kill him for liking that fact that his bloody tormentors of five years were dead, and Lupin was less then helpful, but probably had himself under control. 'Okay, first things first, perimeter.' Severus selected the thickest concentration of flying creatures, and cast a shield charm.

"Protego."

Then something weird happened (you know, other than the fact that they're wizards in a computer).

When Severus cast the charm, he had expected some sort of then, invisible shield to spring up in front of them. Instead, the ivory staff hummed with an ethereal noise, the entangled tip glowed white, and an enormous shield enveloped Him, and the very shocked figures of Lupin and Lily.

Severus took a moment from analyzing the situation to simply stare at the long staff in his hand. Long and white, it was fairly plain, with the head being an ornate arrangement of thin roots, interwoven together. It was, in short, a very good magical prop, but one that should not have had any effect on his magic like a wand would. So why it worked here was a myste… oh wait, magic, yeah, forgot about that. It's always like this.

Severus decided then and there that, if whatever was surrounding them moved, he would get to the bottom of whatever was going on here. And just like that, the sensation of being thrown into boiling hot water, having said water turn ice cold in an instant, and finally having gravity reassert itself in the least spectacular manner ever, Severus suddenly found himself face down in a well-lit, circular room, populated with three relatively slender tubes, one of which he had fallen out of, and the other two currently occupied by Lily and Lupin.

Severus twitched his hand. Said hand felt cold and prickled at his movement, as though it had fallen asleep and blood hadn't quite circulated to it yet. The rest of his body felt the same way, but Severus could tolerate it, at least until he needed to leave. Then a muggle boy came down from a ladder, walked over and nudged Lupin. Severus brought his wand out of his pocket (so that was where it had been.) and pointed it as well as he could. "Stupefy."

The blond muggle convulsed, gave a whimper, and collapsed.

Severus pocketed his wand, and before either of the other two wizards could comment, loudly said "Well, he would have found us here. He would have started asking awkward questions." Lily just gaped at him, then turned around and started for what looked like an elevator. Lupin looked around a little, obviously wanting to figure out where they were, and Severus quickly realized that he had to be the one to carry the muggle. Sighing with annoyance at the fact that he wasn't getting any help for having done something for the group, he picked up the scrawny boy and slung him over his shoulder.

The elevator ride only lasted a minute, but it really acted to encapsulate the new status quo. Severus stood to one side, the stunned muggle lumped on his back. Lily stood on the other side, determinedly looking anywhere but at Severus. Lupin stood, dejectedly, in between the two. Severus could tell he was mourning. He had seen the same look on his mother's face when Tobias Snape had been lowered into his grave, dead from a knife in his back.

The doors opened with a pneumatic hiss. As the three walked out, Lily quietly said, "Well, we're in a factory. I say we get out." Severus nodded, though Lupin remained still, standing in the elevator, before finally starting behind them, as if he finally realized that they had reached the surface. Severus sneered away from them. After all the things that Potter and Black had done to him, he had every right to be happy that they would never be anywhere near him again.

'Or near Lily either.' Severus cast a furtive glance at his longtime friend. He hadn't been so stupid as to not notice that Potter seemed to have his fancy for her, but would rather have ignored it. If only he could convince her that what he had said was an accident…

Severus stepped onto a long bridge and out into the blinding light. The sun sat hot and strong in the sky, casting long shadows and inky blackness where it could not reach. But when his eyes finally adjusted to the glare, Severus was met with a simple dilemma. Three people, muggles, were lined up at the far end of the bridge, fists raised. Severus lowered the unconscious boy and drew his wand.

This was turning into a very interesting night.

A/N: Yeah, I do trailing authors notes too. I like to. For clarification, I will update with exception regularity, but a lot of my time will be devoted to researching different ideas and incorporating them into my story. Soon, until next time, Hasta la proxima.