Chapter Eighteen: Escape

Yeah, I totally don't own any of this…

Okay, so I realized that this isn't really the Quidditch Final, so…yeah, I don't have any excuses other than a human mistake. Sorry! Just ignore all prior suggestions that this was the final, it's really just the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw game. Alright, I'll drabble on some more at the end. Enjoy!

He hadn't responded. Not that I'd expected him to but still, it would have been so much nicer for me to know for sure that he wasn't going to be an idiot. But no, he was probably going to be as rash and headstrong as he ever was and I couldn't even write to the other two to make sure that he'd gone back to the cabin. I hadn't slept very well, worrying over whether or not he would get caught and what would happen if he did and all that fun crap. I ended up giving in to sleep and heading down into the common room to just stare at the fire, not really thinking about anything.

The sun was just coming up and I was nodding off when I heard one of the upstairs dorms opening. I scowled, rubbing what should have been sleep from my eyes and glared at the fire once more. I sat up a little straighter and stretched before slumping over again, listening as whoever it was came down the stairs.

"You couldn't sleep either?" I asked randomly as the person paused at the bottom of the steps to the boys dorms.

"No," Harry's voice replied. I suppose I should've expected him to be the one to answer.

I leaned back and closed my eyes, feeling the couch shift slightly as Harry sat down next to me to stare into the fire. "What time is it?" I asked, my eyes still closed.

"About six," he answered. I groaned. "How long have you been down here?" I shrugged in response. "Are you going to stay awake for the match?" Again all I did was shrug before yawning hugely. "Did you sleep at all?"

"I don't 'member," I answered, fidgeting in discomfort. "It's been a long time," I said elongating the 'o' when I said long. I leaned my head to one side then towards where Harry's shoulder was and found I made contact with said shoulder. "You have comfy shoulders," I muttered, yawning again.

"Er, thanks?" he answered, laughing a little.

"Gah, hold still! I'm trying to sleep," I groaned, slapping his leg with the back of my hand. He only silenced his laughter, but I could feel him shaking. I sighed, frustrated but found myself nodding off quickly...

Next thing I knew, my head was being carefully lifted from my previously comfortable position. I was about to protest when I felt a hesitant arm wrap around me and pull me closer. I thought it was odd for a moment before falling back asleep.

"Kailey, Harry?" an amused voice asked. I groaned and opened my eyes, feeling confused, sleepy and irritated.

"Wuzz goin' on?" I asked, yawning and opening my eyes. I was about to stretch when I discovered that there was an arm around me and I was leaning on someone's chest. I blinked; confused for a moment before remembering I had fallen asleep on Harry's shoulder.

"Oh, nothing, Wood is just about to go ballistic," I looked up at to see Fred and George grinning their evil-twin grins.

"Why would he do that?" I asked, trying to pull myself away from the still sleeping Harry.

"Because he's going to think you two spent the night together,"

"Alone,"

"In the dark,"

"All cozy on the couch,"

"Alright, enough, I get it," I grumbled. "He'll be happy to know that nothing of that sort took place then, won't he?" I added to the twins.

"Oh, sure," George said.

"Of course," Fred agreed, winking.

I rolled my eyes, choosing not to comment and returned to trying to get up without waking Harry. He must have slept like the dead for him to have not heard the conversation. Or maybe he was a good actor. Whichever, it hardly mattered.

"Here, allow me," George said, lifting Harry's arm off of me. I stood quickly and George dropped Harry's arm, letting it fall with a soft thump on the couch.

"Should we wake him?" I asked.

"I guess we could," Fred shrugged.

"What were you two doing in any case?" George asked, as I began to shake Harry's arm to wake him.

"I couldn't sleep last night so I came down here early this morning. Harry came down around six I think and then we must have fallen asleep," I said, shrugging. "Harry, wake up," I added, shaking his arm a little more forcefully.

"Five more minutes," he groaned.

"Harry! You're going to miss the Quidditch Final and Neville is going to have to take over!" I said loudly. Harry sat straight up, his eyes wide and nervous. The three of us laughed. "Thought that might get to you," I grinned.

"And just look at Potter go on that brand new Firebolt! The very best professional Quidditch teams have all ordered them, including the favorites of the year, Bulgaria and Ireland! The speed is able to increase from zero to--"

"Jordan!" McGonagall's voice carried over the magical microphone as Lee Jordan began ranting about how fabulous the Firebolts were. Again. I laughed along with the rest of the Gryffindors as we cheered on Angelina who had just scored another goal.

Gryffindor was currently ahead by seventy points, the Ravenclaws trying desperately to slow their attempts to score again. The game had only been going on for a couple of minutes and two fouls had already been called, one for each side.

"Now it's Bell with the quaffle, she passes to Spinnet, back to Bell and a nice bludger sent by a Weasley! Bell passes to—wow look at Potter go!" he shouted and the crowd's eyes diverted to where Harry was now pelting towards the earth at break-neck speed.

The Gryffindors screamed in deafening excitement when a bludger came whirling out of nowhere and Harry was forced off course. The Gryffindor supporters all moaned in disappointment and Ron shouted an obscenity while Jordan went off on another tangent about the Firebolt. In all the excitement we had missed another goal, boosting the Gryffindors another ten points ahead making the score ninety to ten.

"That's the eighty points!" Ron said excitedly from my left as Dean and Seamus whooped as the twins did a loop, hitting one of the bludgers between one another to keep possession of it.

I turned my attention back to Harry as he circled above the stadium. He began to dive suddenly but was cut off short by Cho Chang. Even from in the stands I could see his confused expression before he shook himself out of it and went back to circling. From there Cho began to follow him, tailing his every move, though at a much slower pace. There was another loud gong signaling that the Gryffindors had managed to score again. I cheered with the crowd when suddenly Jordan's voice rang out through the stadium.

"What are they doing?" he shouted in confusion.

At first I thought he was talking about Harry and Cho, both of whom were speeding towards the ground but then Hermione grabbed my arm.

"Kailey, do you feel all right?" she asked. I didn't bother looking at her, my eyes glued to the seekers.

"Yeah, fine, what are you talking about?" I shouted back. I didn't wait for her answer though as Harry suddenly whipped out his wand. "What is he doing?" Before the words were completely out of my mouth, a large, shining silver stag erupted from his wand and raced to the ground where three tall dementor-imposters stood. They toppled over as the stag ran straight through them before turning around and shaking its head in fury before it disappeared.

"Potter's got the snitch! Gryffindor wins!" Jordan shouted over the suddenly screaming crowd. Seven scarlet blurs rushed at Harry and the team lowered slowly to the ground.

The audience began scurrying for the stairs to make it onto the field. Ron, Hermione and I pushed through the crowd to get close to Harry and the rest of the team.

"Nice patronus, Harry!" I shouted to him. He grinned.

"What happened to the dementors? I didn't even feel them!" he replied.

Before I could answer, Remus came up behind Harry and put a hand on his shoulder. Harry repeated his question and Remus led us out of the crowd.

"Stupid gits," Ron muttered when he saw Malfoy.

McGonagall seemed to agree as she was currently screaming about sabotage and un-sportsman like behavior, Ron quietly cheering her on.

"C'mon, let's go back to the common room," Hermione said, beginning to drag the boys away from the Slytherins.

"You guys go ahead, I need to ask Professor Lupin something on that essay we had due," I said, waving them on without me.

"Don't you go turning into Hermione, you know that stuff better than the back of your hand," Ron complained.

"Just go, I'll be right up," I replied, rolling my eyes.

By now the crowd had all but disappeared from the field and it was just Remus and me.

"I assume you don't really have a question on the essay seeing as I already gave you top marks for it," he said, nodding his head indicating that I was to follow him.

"Merlin, Professor, you're a fast grader," I complimented. He rolled his eyes. "Alright, here's the scope, I got a letter from Redtail last night warning me that Padfoot is all set to be an idiot and break into the castle again,"

"Did you try and write to him?" Remus asked, looking alarmed.

"Yeah, but I doubt he'll listen. I wrote to Prongs and Redtail too, just to let them know I knew what was going on, but…I'm sorta worried,"

"Is he going to get caught?"

"No, but…well, everyone is going to know that I knew and then…they'll expel me and…"

"Send you to Azkaban," Remus finished.

"Moony, you have to help me," I pleaded, my fear encompassing me.

"Alright, calm down. I have patrol of the Great Hall tonight; I'll do what I can to not let him get through,"

"But what if he does get through? What then?" I asked, nervously.

"You are probably going to have to run for it. I'll fight on your side here, I'm sure your father will as well. Dumbledore has enough trust between the two of us that he won't send the dementors for you."

"So you're saying I should run? To Prongs and Redtail?"

"Yes, I'll write to them as I have been and as though you aren't there," he said sounding much more confident. At least one of us was.

"Okay, so how do I get out?"

"Where is Padfoot going to be?"

"Boys dorms,"

"Wait for him in the common room, then," Remus suggested.

I sighed. "Alright, well…I'd better go, it's going to be a very long party,"

McGonagall had come up and sent us all to bed half an hour ago. I had waited until the other girls were in bed before creeping back downstairs. I sat in front of the fire and waited. I was jumping at the smallest of noises and had nearly leapt out of my chair when Whitetip leapt into my lap.

"Sorry, kitty," I whispered, petting her and she began purring. I sighed.

"Are you alright?"

This time I really did jump up, letting out a yelp and Whitetip hissed before peeling out of the room.

"Damn it, Sirius, don't do that!" I whisper yelled as he gave me a smirk. "What are you doing here? Didn't you get my letter?"

"Yeah, but I figured Lily had just told you to say that," he answered with a shrug. "It isn't as though I'll really get caught; only seen,"

"Do you know what happens to me if you're seen, then?" he frowned and shook his head. "I get expelled and then sent either to St. Mungo's for being insane enough to let you out or to Azkaban for letting you out,"

"Dumbledore wouldn't--"

"He's the one who made the bloody threat," I replied. "You need to leave, now, before anyone sees you," I added, beginning to push him back towards the portrait.

"What's going on down here?" Sirius and I both turned to face the seventh year boys' dorms to see Percy Weasley staring at us, wand out and aimed at Sirius.

Before I could even begin to think of an explanation, Sirius had grabbed me from behind and had his wand aimed at my throat.

"Let her go, Black!" Percy shouted, his arm beginning to shake out of nerves.

Sirius laughed, "And if I don't? You can't even hold your wand straight,"

"I'll sound the alarm!" he shouted, louder this time. Doors began opening upstairs and people poked their heads out to see the commotion.

"Looks like that threat is moot," Sirius replied, beginning to back us away and towards the portrait. "Do you want to at least pretend to put up a fight?" he muttered in my ear.

"What, when you could blow my head off with your wand? No thanks, I'm no fool," I answered, trying to look worried.

"Suit yourself," he answered, reaching behind himself for the handle.

"Wait!" Harry came running down the stairs, forcing his way through the Weasley twins. "You don't have to take her," he said.

"On the contrary, I think I really do," Sirius answered.

"Who is it you've been after all this time, then?" he challenged.

"No one you need to be concerned with, I can assure you. Taking her is merely a bonus," he explained.

"Bloody pedophile," I muttered, low enough that only he could hear me.

"It really was nice chatting, but I'm afraid we've got to go," Sirius continued as though I'd said nothing. "Go lions," he added, before opening the portrait behind us. Once the portrait was closed again we ran for it.

We were less than half a staircase from the exit when a spell went flying by my head. I turned to see Snape running after us, though not gaining. I faced forward again as Sirius shoved the doors open. We slammed them shut behind us and transformed into our animagus forms, racing down the stairs and sprinting for the woods, staying close to the greenhouses and out of view of the front doors of the school. Soon we were running through the woods and some of the adrenaline began to wear off, though that's when my temper and nerves seemed to get the better of me.

"Bloody, freakin' awesome, Sirius! You've just 'kidnapped' me in front of my father! How do you think everyone is going to receive this? Do you ever think things through?"

"I'd rather not have a thirteen year old yell at me," he growled, sounding frustrated.

I stopped running and changed back into a human before changing into Keena.

"Is this better?" I yelled. He just growled and nudged me with his nose. I transformed back into a wolf. "Would you rather I yell at you for acting so rash and headstrong? One of two things is going to happen now: either the world will believe that you just kidnapped a thirteen year old after making suggestive comments in which case Harry will hate you or nobody will believe the act in which case both myself and Kailey are all set to go to Azkaban and/or St. Mungo's!"

"Keena, calm down," Padfoot said, sitting down. "You are not going to Azkaban and even if you did you are perfectly capable of escaping,"

"Don't you tell me to calm down, you hypocritical fool!"

"Keena," he barked (no pun intended). I growled and sat down. "I'm not going to let anything happen to either of you, least of all you," he paused, looking a little confused and I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, let's just go to Lily and James' house,"

"You know she's going to yell at you too," I reminded him in a growl.

"She'll only repeat most of what you said," he answered as we began heading for their house once more.

"How d'you figure that one?"

"You two always have the same arguments and I'd bet it'd be the same with Nickie, Lexi and Amanda too,"

"That's quite the generalization,"

"It's how men survive,"

"You're crazy,"

"Yep,"

We reached the front steps of the cabin and transformed into humans. Sirius knocked on the door while I stood behind him, scowling.

"Would you please calm down at least a little? You aren't the one everyone is going to think is a pedophile," he said as we listened to the footsteps coming closer to the door.

"No, but do you know how hard I've been trying to get Harry to believe that you aren't a bad guy? He's going to hate you now," I answered, shaking my head.

"He already hates me,"

"No, he hated what people were saying; now he can actually say with a solid reason that he hates you,"

"I think you're just mad at me still," he decided as the door open. "You've got another guest," he said to James who had spotted me.

"They saw him, then?" he asked, stepping aside to let us in.

"Yes, and I told him that they would but he ignored me," I replied, still feeling annoyed. "You don't mind if I stay here for the next couple of months?" I added. "I don't fancy Azkaban,"

James sighed and gave Sirius an exasperated look. "Hey, nobody told me what would happen if I was seen but not caught," he defended. James rolled his eyes, but grinned which aggravated me.

"So it's funny to the both of you that Kailey is missing the end of her third year? All exams and the Quidditch Final and everything else? Great! Just fantastic! Where is Lily? She'll be on my side,"

"She's in the other room, sleeping," James answered.

"Oh…well, then you just wait until morning!" I sighed, knowing my anger wouldn't hold for that long. "Where do I sleep?"

"Back here, we added a guest room after Sirius showed up," James said, leading the way to the back of the cabin.

The room was small, only large enough for the two-person bed and closet that were in there. There was a mirror on the wall and the comforter on the bed was a deep scarlet. There was also a chest at the end of the bed but I was betting that it was just for show for the moment.

"So where is Sirius going to sleep?" I wondered out loud.

"On the couch," James answered without a second thought.

"The couch is lumpy though!" Sirius whined, though he was grinning.

"We are not repeating any sort of history, Padfoot; they'd arrest you this time," James stated, though he was grinning too.

"Goodnight," I said, shutting the door tightly and shaking my head as I heard their laughter. At least they thought they were funny.

The next morning I went into the kitchen to find Lily standing over the stove making breakfast. She looked around and sighed when she saw me, shaking her head.

"We should've known he wouldn't listen," she muttered.

I just shrugged. "It's his own fault if he's accused of anything new that comes out of this I suppose,"

"Severus is going to be furious," Lily said, shaking her head again.

"Probably, but he saw me running with him so…Kailey is going to be grounded, that's for sure," I added. "Well, unless we prove Sirius innocent somehow but that can't be possible unless you and James go to Dumbledore yourselves,"

"What if we ask Severus if he has any Veritaserum?" Lily suggested.

I blinked. "I hadn't really thought about that…it would make everything much easier, that is for certain," I scratched my head for a moment. "It could work…but I'm almost positive that they would question him on his whereabouts for these past months and unless you're present at the questioning it'll look like the potion didn't work,"

"Well, when can we find out whether or not Severus has the potion?"

"There's a Hogsmeade trip coming up. Kailey's friends know what Dumbledore had been planning if Sirius got in again so I'll just find Harry and Ron and get them to talk to Snape and then write me a letter or something,"

"You two have been in here how long and you're already scheming?" Lily and I looked up to see James and Sirius walking into the room, both looking tired and suffering from monstrous bed head.

"Scheming makes it sound illegal," I said, shaking my head. "It's more like planning,"

"If you insist," Sirius shrugged. "What's for breakfast?"

Saturday came and the four of us decided we all wanted to go to the Shrieking Shack to wait for Harry and Ron. I had changed back into Kailey and was waiting near the gate; Padfoot was running around like a crazy mutt while Prongs and Redtail stayed just out of sight in the trees. I paced back and forth waiting for them to show up and wondering what I would say and how mad they would be.

I heard voices and Padfoot and I stopped moving, staring towards the base of the slope, waiting to see Ron's red hair. He finally came in view and stopped short when he saw me, his mouth hanging open.

"Hi," I said, waving weakly.

I saw him wave back just as I was tackled by thin air. I registered that I was being hugged by something invisible after a moment and then requested that I be allowed to breath. I was released and I looked over at Ron to see Padfoot jumping up on him.

"Sorry," Harry's voice came out of nowhere. "How did you get away? Are you alright? Where is Black?"

"Well…I'm perfectly fine and Sirius is off somewhere out there," I said, waving my hand towards the woods.

"But how did you get away?" Ron repeated, having come up and stand next to the still invisible Harry while Padfoot sniffed at something that didn't seem to be there (probably Harry's feet or something).

"Sirius pretended to kidnap me so that Dumbledore couldn't send me to Azkaban, but you guys saw that so…yeah," I finished lamely, running a hand through my hair.

"No wonder your dad is going ballistic! He saw you two just before you reached the doors but he didn't mention that you were running without being forced to," Ron said. "Potions has been dreadful," he added. The dog gave a bark that sounded like a laugh of sorts.

"Sorry, but I do need to ask you guys a favor," I said, taking a quick glance around. "You need to ask my dad if he has a store of Veritaserum, if he says no, tell him that I need him to make some. Tell him I sent a letter. If yes, I need to know right away,"

"What's Veritaserum?" Harry's voice asked.

"A truth potion, you can't lie when you take it," I explained quickly.

"You want to give some to Black?"

"That's the idea," I nodded. "And if he does then he can be--" I stopped suddenly, listening. There were voices coming up the hill. "Crap!"

"Here," Harry said, lifting the cloak just enough so that I could get under it with him.

My feet had just disappeared when Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle came into view.

"Weasley are you day-dreaming of a new house for you and your family? I'm sure that place is a step up from your trash bin," Malfoy drawled. Padfoot began to growl, bearing his teeth.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron sneered, his ears quickly turning pink.

"Harry, I've got an idea, but you can't tell anyone about this," I muttered. He looked confused for a moment but nodded and I transformed into Keena before turning into my animagus form. I heard a small "wow" from Harry before I leapt out from under the cloak.

I jumped in front of Ron and growled at Malfoy, snapping my teeth. He and his loons began backing away when from behind them came a flying mush ball. I have no idea what it was, but they all rushed forward, cursing.

"Wanna chase them up to the house?" I asked Padfoot, though I was still growling at the Slytherins. Padfoot let out a bark in reply and chased at them from the left while I went for the right. When they tried to get through a hole in our chase another flying mud ball went their way and they turned back towards the Shrieking Shack once more. Padfoot and I got them cornered in the door way and Crabbe let out a squeal like a pig before turning and banging his fist on the door.

The house shook slowly at first before a sound like a volcanic eruption sounded throughout the forest and all of the windows spewed out a disgustingly neon green slime that covered the three Slytherin boys. They cried out in disgust, running from the house before it burst into violet flames. As they ran past Ron, Goyle tripped and collided with what should have been thin air. His hand grabbed at the fabric of the cloak and Harry's face was exposed. No one moved for a full fifteen seconds before Malfoy let out a strangled yell, pointing a finger at Harry before wheeling around and racing back to the village.

"Harry, go! Get out of here!" Ron yelled, pointing back to the village before he took off himself.

"Well, that was an adventure," Padfoot observed.

"Yeah, let's hope they remember about the Veritaserum," I muttered.

That's the end of this one! Again, I'm really sorry about the Quidditch thing but it doesn't really make a huge difference in the overall story so…yeah. Also, I've been super busy with school and swimming and crap so I'm very sorry for not updating more often, I really am trying! So please, continue reviewing! Um…oh yeah, and live2luv asked a question about the Buckbeak-going-back-in-time scenario and to answer that, I'm juggling between doing it and not doing it at the moment but I should have it figured out by the time I post the next chapter. If you've got an opinion on the matter I'll gladly take it into consideration as I write the next chapter! Okay, that's all. Please review! Next is 19!

:-D