Harry Potter 1. Draco's Dilemma

**Harry Potter and the Catranas**

**Disclaimer**: None of the characters in the original Harry Potter books belong to me. They

are the rightful property of JK Rowling

**Summary: **This is basically an alternate version of HBP where Severus Snape is an actual prince of a race of creatures called Catranas which can turn into any animal from

the Feline family. Slash and Het. Warning HBP Spoilers!

**Chapter 1- Draco's Decision**

"Don't be stupid Parkinson, there is no way we can simply waltz into the Gryffindor

dormitory unnoticed unless we take a potion or have an invisibility cloak" snapped Draco

while furiously pacing in the Slytherin common room. He was under a lot of stress these

last couple of days, the Dark Lord pushing him for results, threatening to harm him and

his family and still he did not seem to be getting anywhere.

"I didn't mean that Dray, I simply meant that there is no reason you need the Felix Felicis

anyway!" replied Pansy becoming more than a little irritated before simply storming out the

portrait hole in frustration.

She doesn't understand though. I need that luck more than Potter does right now anyway. Draco continued to pace while asking himself how he got into this stupid mess in the first place.

Oh yeah! That's right, you just had to be your fathers son and therefore responsible for his

mistakes!

He had been assigned a task by the Dark Lord that he no more wanted to partake in let alone do the job itself, but he had to if only to keep his family safe. He had previously decided that

the best way to do the task would be to grab Potter's luck potion, however all previous chances of that had been unsuccessful. This did not stop him though. I just have to be more sly I suppose. He thought. And set about creating a plan to sneak into the Gryffindor dorms without being apprehended by anyone.

After several long hours of thinking incredibly hard he came up with one simple solution; Potter

had no way of watching the potion the entire day, especially during quidditch, he decided that

he would wait around the Gryffindor dorms till he could sneak in undetected just before the game started and he would begin making his way around the dorm searching for Potter's luggage and hopefully he would fine the potion.

This done he set about creating the invisibility potion which would allow him to get past the

over joyous Gryffindors on their way to the pitch. He allowed the potion to simmer for a while

and went to sit down to relax. However he found it a bit hard as his mind kept wandering to the

task present before him.

I do NOT want to follow the Dark Lord. I don't know what to do or who will help me. My whole family is in danger and it is up to me to save them, it's all too much I feel so trapped! What if my plan doesn't work? What if I don't manage to kill Dumbledore? Surely it would be good for the light side, but what about me? I hate to think about what could happen! I am so deep in shit that I have no idea how to get out of.

Severus Snape was not a very happy person as he stormed down the hallway to the Slytherin common room. This was the third time he had been down there that night to tell the students to go to bed when all he really wished to do was go to bed himself. Making his way through the portrait hole he found Draco Malfoy sitting on the couch in the fire all on his room.

Draco was paler than usual, he really wasn't looking well and Severus was to say the least

concerned about his student and godson but there was nothing he could do, the Dark Lord had

assigned the task to Draco and he was not telling Severus anything about how he planned to do

the task.

"Draco, you should be in bed by now, it's a quarter past twelve" he said gently as to not

startle the already highly-stung student.

"Oh, it's you, you almost gave me a heart attack" Draco replied "I have tried sleeping though,

but it didn't work. Never mind, I'm just rambling, I'll go to bed now"

"Draco, what are you planning?" Severus caught Draco by surprise.

"Please Severus, not now, I am not going to tell you so stop asking" he called over his shoulder

as he quickly made his retreat up the stairs to avoid further questioning.

Inwardly sighing Severus decided there was no point in continuing the interrogation at the

moment as it was obvious he was not going to get anything out of the teenager. He turned

around and stalked out of the room and back to his comfortable quarters under the watchful eye of Albus Dumbledore, vowing to take as many points as possible from the next poor soul to

interrupt his relaxation time.


	2. Thiefs

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**_

_**Chapter 2- Thiefs and Traitors**_

That morning Draco awoke in a cold sweat, he was having the worst dream about what would happen if he failed. He did not even want to think about the current situation at all, but knew he had to do what had to be done. He got out of bed and tried to calm his nerves by having a warm shower before he went to breakfast.

He ate his breakfast without too much fuss, quickly shoving down enough to last him to dinner. He then made his way to the Gryffindor tower. Stopping a fair distance away to take his invisibility potion before bolting to the tower.

Once outside the portrait he waited till a Gryffindor came out, and who should it be but the one and only Neville Longbottom who Draco had secretly had a crush on since 3rd year. This however was no time for him to worry about menial things like love; he had bigger fish to fry. Pushing aside the thought of how beautiful Neville looked that day; he made his way into the tower.

It did not take him long to find the right dorm, the Gryffindor tower had much the same layout as the Slytherin one. He opened the dorm room door and was glad to see that it was deserted and began searching the room.

The first trunk he looked into apparently belonged to one Seamus Finnigan; who he found out rather liked the look of that Patil girl. Shoving the belongings into the case roughly in annoyance he moved on to the next one.

Rummaging through the contents of the second trunk he found old assignment and scribbled love letters which had obviously never been delivered. This case belonged to Ronald Weasley; if the old divination assignment was right. Deciding that he was not going to be in the trunk he moved on.

He opened the next trunk and was disgusted to see a large, brown, rotten sock and made sure to avoid it at all costs. Rifling through the trunk he was thrilled to find that it was indeed Potter's. His elation however was short-lived when it appeared that there was no potion of any kind in there whatsoever.

He was just about to give up and leave; when he noticed that there was a slight bump in the sock that he had thrown away earlier. He quickly grabbed the two quills and transfigured them into tweezers and carefully picking up the sock so he didn't have to touch it poured the contents onto the floor. His heart leapt when he found that it did indeed contain the precious substance. In his excitement he forgot to clean the dorm floor.

When Harry returned to his dorm room that night it was pretty safe to say he was not expecting the site that greeted him. "Bloody hell! What happened here?" he cried shocked.

Ron came running to his friend's aid deciding on pointing out the obvious he said "well mate, looks like you've been done over".

"The potion, it's gone!" he yelled as he went over to inspect the damage. He suddenly felt very trapped, the potion was gone, he had no protection at all, from anything. Silently cursing whatever God decided to punish him for something so cruelly he dejectedly began clearing up the room and checking the components of his suitcase to make sure nothing else had been taken.

Professor McGonagall entered the room with a stern look on her face and asked Harry a lot of questions never bothering to heed his warning the Malfoy was up to something and that he was indeed capable of pulling something like this off.

After taking Harry's statement she sent the students to bed mentioning that there was nothing that could be done about the matter till morning and they all needed their rest.

Harry fell into bad dreams that night, not about Voldemort though, they were about a boy trapped behind bars calling out for help and protection from an unseen force. Harry could do nothing but watch, looking about for anyone who could help...


	3. Dumbledore's office

**Harry Potter and the Catranas**

**Dumbledore's office**

Severus and Dumbledore were sitting in dumbledore's office conversing about the problem facing the entire wizarding world.

"Severus, are you sure that the Catranas would not fight on the side of light? We could use their help, these are desperate times surely they could lend a helping hand?" Albus enquired to the prince of the Catranas.

The Catranas are race of people often outlawed in many wizarding societies and thus forced underground to hide. The reason for their reputation as dark creatures was because they had the uncommon ability to turn into any form from the feline family at will. Whether it be an ordinary house cat or a Tiger, they were ideal for spying as they were able to get in and out of tiny spaces. The main reason they were feared in the wizarding world however, was their ability to use staffs, wands and the very skilled Catranas could use wandless magic and professor Severus Snape was the prince of this wonderful colony.

"Well Albus, they would gladly fight for the Order. Most of them have agreed that the Dark Lord is not right in his views and they would very much like to eliminate them. However, there is just one problem" Severus replied.

"Oh, and what is that?"

"The Ministry of Magic headmaster, they-" before Severus could finish his reasoning Draco Malfoy decided he would pop in for a short visit.

"Mister Malfoy! What are you doing here?" Albus inquired "Oh, lemon drop my boy?"

"Umm... Yes thank you headmaster. To tell you the truth professor, I came here to make a confession."

"Ok then we are all ears, continue" Said the eccentric headmaster.

"Well you see, I sort of went through some Gryffindor's stuff yesterday. I was worried about a task that the Dark Lord has assigned me and I thought I needed a little help. So I broke into the Gryffindor common room and stole Potter's Felix Felicis. I know it was wrong and that Potter won it fair and square" snort " But I thought I would need it ore than him so I took it" Draco rambled.

"What sort of a task did the Dark Lord give you Mister Malfoy?" Albus asked, clearly dismissing the fact that Draco had not only stolen private property and entered the Gryffindor dorms without permission for the shock that he was here spilling his guts about what he had been doing the past year. Of course Albus already knew what was planned but for Severus's sake he pretended not to.

"He gave me the task of killing you headmaster, and if that isn't bad enough, my mother made a blood bond with professor Snape so that he had to kill you if I could not!" Draco was clearly panicking, he looked like he was about to hyperventilate, but still the headmaster made him continue.

"What is your plan to kill me, Draco?" queried the headmaster.

"Well first I was going to fix the vanishing cabinet that Montague got stuck in last year and acquire the second one so that I could transport the Death Eaters in through that while you weren't at the school, then I was going to conjure the Dark Mark over the school and wait for you to come running and then kill you." Draco rushed on "but I don't want to kill you professor, I know that you are the best headmaster Hogwarts has ever had, and I also know that you are the best chance for the survival of my family. Can you help me? Please!"

By this time Draco was in tears, clearly he was running out of Felix Felicis and really unsure of what he was doing and what he was saying. He looked over to the seat next to him and for the first time saw Severus sitting there. His face went pale and looked like he was about to faint.

Before this could happen though; Severus said calmly and assuringly "It's ok Draco, we can help. I am not loyal to Voldemort either.

Draco inhaled sharply at the mention of the Dark Lord's name but looked Severus in the eye apologetically and exclaimed "I am so sorry, I did not mean for this to happen, I am so sorry you have to kill him professor. I really am sorry, so sorry" With no more control over his emotions he slumped in his chair and began sobbing his heart out in front of the two men.

**Please R&R!**


	4. Plans Made

**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**

**Chapter 4- Plans made.**

The two men waited for Draco to calm down before even contemplating talking to him. Draco really had no idea why he had just done that. What a major blunder that had been. He just told the dark lords most trusted servant that he was not loyal to his master.

'Crap' he thought to himself 'what a brilliant way to protect your family. Why don't you just walk up to the evil bastard himself and give him the message personally?'

Snape snapped him out of his thoughts with a caring and concerned voice. At first Draco thought he was imagining it, but then he hoped he really wasn't "Draco, it's ok, Albus can help you and your family. Don't worry, everything will turn out just fine. You'll see."

Draco turned to face his godfather and stated "but you have to kill him. How can he help if you have to kill him."

"Draco, it's fine. I don't have to kill him. You see, the last band in the agreement is that I have to kill Albus if you can't, not that you won't. We all know Draco, you could kill Albus if you really wanted to, but seeing as though you don't, I don't have to kill him" explained Severus.

"Really?" Draco looked up hopefully "you mean you aren't loyal to you-know-who?"

"Course not Dray, I would never be loyal to anyone like that."

Albus cleared his throat making student and teacher look at him expectantly "This is all well and good Mr. Malfoy, I am pleased that you have no intention of killing me. But now we have to figure out a way to help you."

"Albus, I have a plan you may be interested in hearing" Severus said calmly.

"Well then by all means go on my boy."

"We could make Draco go along with his plan to kill you. When you leave to go out and get the horcrux with Potter, Draco could let the death eaters into the school and go along with the plan. But he doesn't actually kill you. I do. Only it will be completely fake. I could cast the killing curse at you, making sure to miss and then you could jump from the astronomy tower and make it look like you are actually dead but really you aren't.

I could then take Draco with me to live with the Catranas. While you will remain at the school pretending to be dead and after the funeral portkey to another country where you can wait till the Catranas join the fight. Then you can give dear old uncle Moldywart the shock of his life."

Albus clapped his hands joyfully "What a wonderful plan! But I do have one alteration to make. You can take Draco to the lair of the Catranas. After you have done that you can return to 'The Burrow' to look over Harry and the Weasley's, and of course Hermione and protect them from any danger there may be lurking around."

"Ok, got all that Draco?" asked Severus. Draco nodded dumbly "OK, go to your dorm then you need some sleep."

Draco left the room in much higher spirits that when he first walked in there. 'Wow, the potion really works! I think I should return it to Potter though, he may need it.'

Blaise sat in the chair in front of the fire in the Slytherin common room. It was getting late and he was worried about his best friend Draco who was yet to return to the tower. Blaise had been becoming increasingly concerned for his friend since the start of term but Draco had been very tight-lipped on the matter.

Millicent Bullstrode reached up and brushed a comforting hand along his cheek. She knew what he was worried about. Blaise never kept anything from his girlfriend, even that he had no wish to join the death eaters. Apparently she agreed and they grew even closer.

He smiled softly as an excited Draco literally bounced into the room. Millie sat up as Draco made his way over to the pair "Hey you guys! Whatcha doing?" He asked enthusiastically.

"Waiting for you to get back" Blaise replied seriously "We were worried about you Draco, we still are! Care to share, or does it involve your master?"

Draco looked around the room nervously before replying "Well actually it does. But it's a good thing. You see we figured out a way so that I don't have to harm professor Dumbledore, it's quite a good plan too. I'm going to be free!"

"Wow that's great Draco. I guess it means that you will be leaving school after this plan is put into action then?" Millie predicted both upset but also joyful that her friend could escape.

"Yeah but don't worry, I won't forget you guys. When you-know-who is defeated, you can come and visit me."

"Great well if there's anything we can do to help just let us know but for now I think we need to be getting to bed." Said Blaise.

**Please R&R!**


	5. The Kiss

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas**_

**_Chapter 5- The Kiss_**

Waking up at 6:30 that morning Severus began making preparations for the morning's lesson. 6th year Gryffindors and Slytherins. 'Great, why on earth did Potter have to get an O in his OWL's?' Sitting down at his desk to figure out a lesson plan he began to feel a headache coming on. 'Just the very thought of the boy gives me a migraine, why does Albus make me teach the infuriating brat?.'

Hearing a light knocking on the window he got up and opened the window allowing a black raven sporting a gold nametag around it's neck access to the room. The raven was that of Severus's bondmate Toro and his son Lucas.

Untying the letter attached to the bird's leg he unfolded it and began reading.

_Dear Severus,_

_I have informed the Cats of the idea and they seem to back in 100. _

_Love Toro._

'Good old Toro' Severus thought 'I bet even Umbridge would have never been able to figure out the meaning behind that.'

Draco awoke to the sun beaming through his window. 'Great. Today's the day I get Blaise to help me return the Felix Felicis to Potter. Well better go find the mate.'

Walking down to the common room he spotted Blaise sitting on the couch in front of the fire and as usual he was fondling with Millie's hair. "Hey you two!" Draco said.

"Hey Draco. What's up?" Blaise replied.

"Well you two know how you said 'ask us if you need anything'?"

"Famous last words" Millie joked.

"Yeah well anyway I need help with something so if you could please follow me that would be great."

Following Draco out the common room door Blaise had the distinct feeling that his world was about to be brought down around him. Clutching his invisibility cloak closely to his chest both Millie and Blaise followed Draco around to the other side of the castle.

When they reached the third floor Draco ordered the two of them under the invisibility cloak and led them to a portrait of a fat lady. He then ordered them not to move a muscle or say anything.

A few minutes later they found out why. Harry Potter came running out the dorm closely followed by an embarrassed looking Ginny Weasley. Pushing past them they entered what appeared to be the Gryffindor dormitory and Draco led them up some stairs till they came to a door which had 6th Year Boys in gold letters across the top.

Gently pushing open the door they entered the room. To their relief there was no one in the room so they slowly made their way over to a bed near the window where Draco reached into his pocket and pulled out a small phial which was filled with a silvery-looking substance.

Draco then placed the potion on the trunk at the foot of the bed. They then turned to leave when they heard a quite giggle coming from the bed with the hangings around it. Looking at each other worriedly they slowly approached the bed and pulled the curtains back.

What Blaise saw made him think that he would be haunted for the rest of his life. Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley were naked on the middle of Ron's bed. They were touching each other in places that Blaise would rather not think about at that moment.

Quickly closing the curtains the three Slytherins ran from the room in such a hurry that they collided with Neville Longbottom. The invisibility cloak flew off them leaving them completely exposed in the Gryffindor common room Blaise's brain was working overtime to think up of an excuse as to why they were in the Gryffindor tower in the first place but came up with nothing. He sincerely hoped Draco had thought up of a plan for this sort of situation because both him and Millie ran out of the room before Longbottom could interrogate them.

Neville had been heading up to the dorm room to get some sleep, he had been up all night trying to finish an essay for transfiguration, when he got the wind knocked out of him by an invisible object.

Trying to gather his thoughts he rose to his feet only to see that what had ran into him was no longer invisible. Draco Malfoy was lying on the Gryffindor common room floor staring at him, face paler than usual.

Neville realizing that he had the upper hand here since Malfoy would never dare to attack him in the Gryffindor tower let his curiosity take over and began to question Malfoy on why he was in the room in the first place and where he was going in such a hurry.

"Malfoy, what the hell are you doing in the Gryffindor tower, in case you haven't noticed you are in Slytherin? And don't bother lying because I can easily call professor McGonagall and she would come running along with the rest of the Gryffindors." Neville said bravely.

"I... Well I was... ummm...It's like this..." Malfoy trailed off as Neville stared down at him. Before he knew what Malfoy was doing he felt his lips being crushed. Malfoy had closed the distanced between them and was holding Neville close to him effectively muffling and cries for help that Neville tried to make.

As soon as Malfoy had started kissing him, he stopped. Staring at him dumbstruck for several minutes. Malfoy decided to make the most of Neville's confusion by grabbing the invisibility cloak on the floor and making a dash for the portrait hole before Neville could stop him.

**Please R&R!**


	6. Detention

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas**_

_**Chapter 6- Detention.**_

Draco sat behind his desk in the middle of charms thinking about how his entire life had just come crashing down around him. He had KISSED Neville Longbottom, one of the 'Golden Boy's' friends. He was so dead. Once the teacher left the room he would be bombarded by Gryffindors asking questions about why he thought he had the right to go anywhere near Neville let alone kiss him.

6th year charms was not the most riveting subject he had, but while ever Flitwick was in the room protecting him he would listen. Just so long as the small professor didn't leave the class. From what he was hearing he was supposed to be learning about how to perform a scent charm affective against most dreadful body odors.

Flitwick flicked his wand at the board at the front of the classroom as to what they were supposed to do for the rest of the lesson. On the board, to Draco's horror was:

_You are to work in pairs till both partners can perform the 'odorous coverus' charm correctly. The pairs are as follows:_

_Blaise Zabini, Ron Weasley_

_Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson _(haha Granger)

_Millicent Bullstrode, Susan Bones_

_Harry Potter, Justin Finch-Fletchley_

_Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom_

'Great, just great.' Draco thought 'I wouldn't really mind working with Neville, but after last week I just don't think it would be a good idea.'

Neville and Draco met in the middle of the room, staring each other in the eyes. Trying to decide on what the other was thinking of. Pulling out their wands, eyes never leaving each other they awaited the command from Flitwick to let them know that they could begin their task.

"Ok, on the count of 3 you can begin casting your charms one at a time till you have both got it. Then you may leave for dinner." Flitwick squeaked.

"1..." This is going to be a looooong day

"2..." I'm going to die!

"3..." I would like to thank Flitwick for signing my death warrant.

"_Odourus Coverus" _Neville pointed his wand in Draco's direction. The spell hit Draco square in the stomach. But instead of doing it's job of making him smell good, it did the exact opposite and made him smell worse than a skunk!

"Good job Longbottom, you are the most incompetent Gryffindork I have ever met! You can't even cast a simple smelling charm!" Draco yelled indignantly.

"On the contrary Malfoy, it looks as if he did a good job at making you smell" Retorted Potter.

"Oh shut up Potter" Draco commanded before rushing out the classroom door leaving all his belongings except his wand behind.

Coming to a stop at the lake just on the border of the forbidden forest he took out all his frustration on a nearby rock which only ended in a grass stained rock and a sore toe for Draco. Hearing footsteps coming closer he looked up and saw Neville heading towards him.

Having nowhere to go he just remained sitting against the rock waiting for Neville to talk. "Malfoy, Flitwick sent me. We haven't got the charm correct yet so we have to go back to the classroom and practice tonight at 8 after dinner. If you don't turn up you will get 2 nights of detention with Filch." As quickly as Neville had come he departed again leaving a very confused Malfoy behind.

At 8pm that night Draco was absolutely dreading his detention. He had been distracted from all his classes that day because he was thinking of all the possible outcomes of the detention. Some outcomes made him think that he would rather spend 2 of his nights with Filch, but others made him desperately want to go just to be close to Neville. In the end he decided that he would go to detention, just to see what would happen.

On his way down to detention he had again began pondering what would happen to him into he near future. Would he be alive by the time this war ended, would he be in Azkaban maybe? These thoughts led him to think about what Neville would think about him once the plan had been carried out. This led Draco to believe that he could never have Neville even if he wanted to.

He decided that despite this fact he would not treat Neville like he hated him. He would make the most of the time they had together even if his feelings were not returned.

Reaching Flitwick's room he pushed open the door to see Neville already seated in his normal seat waiting patiently for Flitwick. Draco took his seat to the left of Neville and pulled out his wand waiting for the professor.

Neville was being awfully quiet that night, he was reading through his notes on the charm that he had taken during the day, preparing himself for the task. Draco wondered whether Neville was really just reading or whether he was trying to ignore him.

A few minutes passed where you could hear a pin drop before professor Snape stormed into the room making Neville completely freak out and dropped all his things on the floor. Looking at the poor guy Severus smirked. Draco could see that this was definitely going to be a very long night.

"Professor, where is professor Flitwick?" Draco asked politely, he knew that despite Severus being his godfather he would not go any easier on him.

"He is conveniently ill tonight and I was the only one available to take his detention. Therefore you will be practicing that charm in the dungeons so that I may watch over you. Longbottom would you stop being so clumsy and pick the pen up!"

The two boys had been practicing the charm for over an hour and they were still no closer to getting it right. Neville could tell that professor Snape was getting quite fed up and looked as if he was about to leave them to their own devices while he attended to something in his storeroom. Neville did not want to be left alone in the same room as Malfoy all by himself again, not after what happened in the Gryffindor common room and this time he had nothing to threaten Malfoy with.

Making a decision he did what he did best...

He blew up a cauldron.

Professor Snape spun around quickly just as Neville lowered his wand. "Mr. Longbottom what the hell are you thinking you stupid little boy!" Professor Snape yelled "You aren't even using the cauldron and you managed to blow it up thus ruining the entire potion! If you weren't so disastrous at making potions I would have you remake it! Never mind here's what you are going to do. Both of you are going to stay here till you have cleaned this entire room, I don't want any bits of spoiled potion left in here! Is that understood?"

"Yes professor Snape" muttered the two boys simultaneously.

"Good, well get to work!" Professor Snape commanded before walking into the storeroom and the two boys quietly got to work.

Draco was glad to be out of detention, but he was also very disappointed that he had to leave Neville so soon. He was very thankful that Neville had not mentioned what had happened in the Gryffindor tower but knew that it was not forgotten. He briefly wondered whether Neville had meant to blow up the cauldron or not as he had not even been looking at his partner when it happened. Maybe Neville wanted to hex him.

Getting back to the common room he saw Blaise sitting on the couch. However unlike his usual position Millie was nowhere to be found which slightly frightened Draco. "Hey Blaise, what's up?" He asked nervously.

"Oh not much, Millie and I broke up though, it really wasn't working. She was too clingy, always wanting to know where I was, when I was there and all this other unimportant stuff. So anyway how was detention with Flitwick?"

"Actually, it wasn't with Flitwick, he was sick so professor Snape took over and we went down to the dungeons. Then Longbottom, being the massive bumbling klutz he is blew up a cauldron full of potion even when we weren't using it! So then we had to clean up all the mess."

"Perhaps you shouldn't have given back the potion, you look like you could have used it" Blaise commented amusedly.

"Yeah, very funny haha." Draco replied shortly.

**Hey, Please R&R!**


	7. The Falling

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**_

_**Chapter 7- The Falling.**_

Severus sat behind his desk waiting nervously for the battle to begin. He was worried that the plan would not work, he was worried that something would happen to Draco and the man he considered his father. Albus was the only one who believed that he was loyal to the Order. The only person who believed that he never wanted Lily and James to die, never wanted to be responsible for it. He was though and now all he could do was make up for it by fighting alongside the light side no matter how dangerous it got.

He didn't wait long before Filius came scrambling through the door. "Severus, there are Death Eaters in the castle! we need your help fighting them off!" He yelled.

Severus was into action as soon as he burst through the door. Thinking quickly he cast a freezing charm at Filius and ran out the door. Noticing the Gryffindors outside the door he ordered them inside to tend to Filius.

Plowing through the halls of Hogwarts he had only one thing on his mind... carrying through with the plan. Coming to the top of the astronomy tower through all the fighting going on everything was such a blur. He did not remember anything except casting the spell and then grabbing Draco by the scruff of his neck and fleeing the area, only to be pursued by Potter.

Calling him a coward, honestly, he hadn't even killed the old man! Oh well now was not the time to correct Potter, now was the time for running and escaping the madness while making sure Potter didn't die. All in a days work really.

Reaching the borders of the school he grabbed Draco and apparated away from the school. Now he was on the run and had to wait till Albus's funeral before he would be able to see the old man again.

The school was in an uproar. That Albus could tell from his position on the ground. He desperately wanted to help the people from the Order and check if all his students were in one piece but knew he could not risk it.

He laid as still as he could without breathing too deeply although he doubted Hagrid would have noticed as he dragged the supposedly deceased wizard through the halls of Hogwarts to place him in the castle for burial later. The inhabitants of Hogwarts would think that he was spectacular even in death when he portkeyed after the funeral.

He soon found himself being placed on a table in the middle of a dark room. He dared not move till he was sure there was no one in the room, all the time hoping that Severus and Draco had escaped the fight.

Moving carefully at the moment he sat up and began moving about the room working out all the cramps that he had developed during that jump from the astronomy tower. Walking around a couple of times he thought he needed a drink. Not really thinking about what he was doing he picked up the water that was to be used to clean his wounds before his 'burial' he swallowed some of it and placed it back on the table before returning to the table and lied back down moments before Minerva and Remus entered the room. Suddenly, the poison that was coursing through his veins was destroyed. 'Well who would have thought that one of the darkest poisons around could be taken care of by a simple sterilizing fluid'.

"Well Remus, looks like this is the end of the greatest wizard we will ever know" Minerva stated

'Little does she know'

"What is going to happen to the Order and the war effort?"

'Well try running it for yourself silly'

"Don't know Remus. Lets just get on with the cleaning shall we, his funeral is on on Monday and then we are going to send the students' home."

The two began clearing Albus of his clothes and then used the sterilizing fluid to clean his body.

Monday rolled around really slowly for Albus. All he could do during the day was meditate on what had happened and hope that he could escape without too much trouble. One good thing that came from all the waiting was that he found out Severus and Draco had indeed survived and were supposedly with the Death eaters.

On what Albus presumed was Monday, he was covered in a cloth and picked up by Hagrid. Hagrid took him to the grounds of Hogwarts so that he could say goodbye to the school before he was finally put to rest. Albus was very touched by Hagrid's gesture.

Hagrid eventually placed the old man on the table in front of the entire Hogwarts and then some. The funeral began. To say it was spectacular was the understatement of the year. There were wreaths scattered along the ground and all the students were dressed in their robes. Many people including Horace, who surprised Albus, said a few words.

Through the cloth, Albus could see the centaurs coming up from the forest solemn looks on their faces. They sat themselves down and waited till the end of the funeral just as Albus was about to portkey away leaving a stunned crowd behind but they appeared to be chanting something. Albus decided that it would be rude of him to leave while they were still chanting so he decided to stay.

The next thing he knew he was being surrounded by a white light that was so bright he thought he was going to be blinded.

When he looked up he noticed that he was covered up with a coffin. Deciding that this was the moment he had been waiting for he reached down for the small lemon drop that had been placed in there by Hagrid. And felt the familiar tug behind the navel as he was whisked away from the school.

**Please R&R.**


	8. The Lair

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**_

_**Chapter 8- The lair.**_

Severus and Draco had just been to a Death Eater meeting. They had both been presented by Voldemort as heroes of the day and were praised and feared by the other death eaters. Severus was used to this treatment but Draco was not. He had a worried look on his face but was carefully hiding it from other people's view.

After the debriefing on the current goings on in the death eater world, Severus took Draco and they apparated to Lithuania and began walking to the entrance of the Catranas grounds. They were surrounded by nature as far as the eye could see. The lair of the Catranas was cleverly hidden right under the nose of the muggles it was surprising that they had not yet encountered a muggle in their area yet. It was in the middle of a large mountain range, planes passed over it almost every night.

The came to a great archway with a heavy wooden door at the end, it had intricate carvings all over it signifying the extensive origins and history of the Catranas. The gate looked like a ramp as it sloped downwards, the door was the entrance to a secret underground area where the Catranas dwelled. Walking up to the door Severus knocked fourteen times and waited for someone open up, meanwhile he removed his glamour.

Green sparks formed at his wrists as he began turning into what he should look like. The green sparks spread over his entire body, Draco watched in amazement as his godfather revealed his true self. Draco had never seen his godfathers true appearance before, very few had as for extra security he never removed his glamour while at Hogwarts.

When the green sparks encompassing Severus cleared Draco would not have recognized him unless he had seen Severus take off the glamour. He was still the same height as he was before but the once prominent nose had deflated considerably and he was left with what many would consider a normal sized noggin. His hair was still the same length and was still black but the tips of his hair were then emerald green. The only features of his entire body that remained the same were his eyes (or that was as far as Draco intended to find out about).

Draco was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the heavy doors being opened. They were accompanied by a siren which Draco figured was a warning to the Catranas that the door was being opened so that if it was opened by an intruder they would have some warning. When the door came to a halt two guards dressed in long flowing black and silver robes stepped forward. They had the same style hair as Severus, long and black up to the tips. One of the guards had green tips the other had red. Draco wondered briefly whether either of them were any relationship to Severus but before he could reach any conclusions he noticed his elaborate surroundings.

The steps down to the Catranas grounds were covered in gold, silver and gems as far as the eye could see. the walls were made of sandstone including the roof, which gave the place a very ancient look about it. Reaching the bottom of the stair Draco noticed that the houses and shops were made of the same material and the walls and roofs surrounding the area were charmed to look like the outside which Draco figured was probably because the Catranas liked nature. There were shops scattered around the place some for grocery shopping and others specialty, not that they had many visitors in the area. Draco figured that the Catranas were just as interested in Quidditch as wizards were as there were many shops completely devoted to the sport.

Severus hurried Draco along the grounds up to a massive palace. Compared to the palace the rest of the area was completely dull and that was saying something. The Catranas flag hung from the rafters of the roof and at the two tallest points of the tower that extended high above the rest of the area. There were gems hanging from the corners of the palace, Severus mentioned that they were protection charms that were placed on there by their ancestors and could never be removed.

Walking up the palace steps the came to a massive hallway filled with portraits that greeted him and Severus politely as they passed by. Severus explained that they were past royalties, his relatives some of whom met a very untimely and gruesome end. Passing through the hall they came to a dining area that looked a lot more like a Quidditch field. There was actual grass on the ground and the walls were charmed to look like the outside, the only thing that even hinted that they were inside was the roof that towered over their heads.

Coming to a stop they sat at the dining table set out in the center of the room Severus had a worker make some food to bring to them immediately. Only after that did Severus turn his attention to Draco. "Well Draco, what do you think of the lair of the Catranas?"

"It's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Besides New... Um yeah the most beautiful thing I have ever seen" Draco replied.

"Besides what Draco?"

"Oh, umm no one."

"So it's a person then is it? A crush! Ooooohhh, Draco has a crush! I am going to find out who sooner or later Draco so you may as well just tell me now if I am to help you capture their heart."

"Neville Longbottom" Draco said nervously looking at his feet.

"Oh you are so predictable Draco!"

Severus looked up as a large tiger streaked into the room and transformed into a human just as it reached Severus's feet. "Hello Toro" said Severus to the man currently squeezing the life out of Severus "Draco you know Toro"

"Oh yeah umm hi" Draco stuttered. Although he had met Toro countless times before he still became nervous and had no idea what to say around the man.

"Hello Draco, why don't you hurry up and then Lucas can take you to your room."

Draco was helped to his room by Lucas who was being oddly quiet. Draco had met Lucas countless times before and had never actually seen him be quiet for very long, this was a new experience for him and wondered if Lucas was feeling ill or upset. Reaching their rooms both the teenagers entered. "Well Dray, this is your room and I hope you enjoy" Lucas said to Draco.

"Umm, thanks Luca. Before you go, are you feeling ok, you've been really quiet" Draco asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just a little upset because Emerus broke up with me. It's nothing really, I'll be fine in a few days so nothing to worry about" Lucas replied. Draco had met Emerus before, he was a cool guy and he didn't know why Lucas and Em had broken up but it was really none of his business so he didn't ask.

"Well, ok then. Want to come in for a bit and chat?" Draco asked.

"Sorry Dray, I would love to but I have to go to work soon."

Normally Draco would ask what the hell a prince was doing going to work but Lucas looked upset at the moment so he decided to let it drop besides he had already asked that question and got the same response thousands of times. 'I enjoy working, besides dad said it is a good way to get to know the other Catranas'

Sighing Draco laid down on his bed and let his mind wonder 'Well this is really weird, I have the feeling I am going to get sick of nature very soon. There is way too much of it here although it is pretty cool having cobblestone roads. It's not like they have very far to go so they can get away with it.' His thoughts quickly changed from his surroundings to something he thought he thought about entirely too much- Neville. 'I wonder what Neville's doing. I hope he's not too upset by the goings of late. Oh no! I hope he didn't get hurt in the battle! I forgot that he was fighting. Stupid Potter and his DA making Neville fight! I need to ask Severus if Neville's ok in the morning. Severus would have mentioned something if he wasn't ok wouldn't he? I mean he wouldn't just not tell me. Then again he didn't tell me any details of the battle except that the person I stepped over was Bill Weasley and he wasn't in fact dead, just injured. But what if someone did die in that battle? Would I get in loads of trouble for letting the death eaters in there even if it was to help out the war effort?'

Relaxing his body trying to forget the images of a lifeless Neville invading his mind he closed his eyes and fell into a restless sleep...

Draco was running through the woods, there was fire and dead bodies everywhere. No matter where he turned. He was running along so fast that he didn't see the hand of his godfather and stepped on it. Looking down he realized that something was wrong. Severus was not moving a muscle, wasn't breathing and his eyes were open. Knowing what that meant he promptly screamed...

**Please R&R!**


	9. Son

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**_

_**Chapter 9- Son.**_

Draco awoke early on Thursday morning, it was 6 o'clock and he thought it was too early for anyone to be awake let alone him. If he was still at Hogwarts he would be in bed for another few hours till class time anyway.

Getting out of bed he decided that he may as well have a bath seeing as though he wasn't going to get anymore sleep. Walking into the bathroom he noticed the elegant carvings on the tiles. This bathroom was like none he had ever been in. There was a wall which had been charmed to look out towards a beach and there were flowers surrounding the bath.

He turned on the taps, got undressed and began looking around for some bubble bath, finding it in a cupboard under the sink he poured a generous amount in thinking to himself 'If I'm going to have a bath I may as well have loads of bubble bath to make them last a few hours'. He checked the temperature before jumping in the bath.

Relaxing into the water he let his mind wonder to more pleasant things than the war and fighting. He thought about Neville and what he was doing now. He had asked Severus about what had happened to Neville during the battle an whether he was ok, thankfully Severus said that no one died in the battle which meant that Neville was ok.

He did not know much about romance at all, but he was willing to learn how to be very romantic if that's what Neville wanted him to be. He would take him for walks along the beach if that's what Neville wanted him to do, he would buy him expensive gifts if that's what Neville wanted him to do. All in all he would be the best he could be if it meant that he could have Neville as his lover.

Draco finished his bath at 7 o'clock. That had to be the second longest bath he had ever had in his entire life after the one he had the day before the battle at Hogwarts when he just soaked for about 3 hours straight, and it felt good. He had wrinkles covering most of his body and was in a very good mood, he always was after thinking about Neville. Walking down the hall he saw Lucas heading towards him looking very smug.

"Hey Draco, good to see you up this fine morning." Lucas said suspiciously.

"Hi Lucas, what have you done? Don't tell me nothing because I can tell just by looking at you that you aren't exactly innocent"

"Oh well, I believe my dear father will have a very large shock when he gets out of bed this morning. I have, my friend, replaced his shampoo with dye, but not just any die. It is pink and unlike muggle stuff it will stand out really well." Lucas explained rather proudly.

"Ohhh, I can't wait to see that!"

"Well neither can I but I suggest that we get a move on before he comes out here and sees us hanging around, otherwise we may get blamed for the stunt."

"Well it is your fault so why would it matter if you did get blamed?" Draco asked.

"Completely beside the point Dray, so lets go down to the lake and sit for a while."

The two walked to the lake in silence stopping only for a few minutes to pick up some breakfast. The lake was the most purest body of water Draco had ever seen in his entire life. It was clear blue and surrounded by green trees, there was not a dead tree in sight nor was there any overgrown or dead grass. Draco began what it was with the Catranas and nature. It seemed that everywhere he turned in this place was covered with trees and plant of some description and that was something considering that it was an underground lair. He figured that he would ask Severus about this later.

They sat down on the ground and began eating their breakfast. "Draco, what's wrong? You seem really distant lately and I was wondering if there was a problem" Lucas asked concerned. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I would really like to know whether it's something that I could help you with."

"Well it's not really anything you can help me with, but I will tell you anyway." Draco said quietly. "There's this guy I know, his name is Neville. He is the most wonderful person I have ever met in my entire life and I really like him, but I doubt that he likes me back, especially now that I have apparently helped kill Dumbledore. I don't know what to do, I want to be with him forever but I don't know how to get him to want to be with me".

"Wow, Draco's in love. That's cool. I want to be in love too!" Lucas wined childishly "Well Draco, you are right, I cannot help you. Although I really would like to. If I ever meet this Neville I would put in a good word for you, and if he still doesn't like you then he is an idiot and doesn't deserve you. When we go in you have to tell me all about Neville, pictures included and what he did to make you fall for him. Maybe then I could help you to capture his heart."

"Thanks Lucas"

"No problem Dray, but enough with the sappiness, lets go for a swim" Lucas said right before tackling Draco and sending him splashing into the water. His second bath for the day.


	10. Contact

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**_

_**Chapter 9- Contact.**_

Severus sat on his chair in the corner of a dingy bar just outside America, he was waiting for Dumbledore to let Severus know that the plan was going smoothly for now. Waiting for Dumbledore so that he could begin the next part of the plan. Which was, as it usually is, protecting the bloody boy-who-lived. Oh, he did not hate Harry, merely believed that the boy was in too deep a trouble all the time and all he ever really heard at both deatheater meetings and orders meeting is Potter this and Potter that, the only thing that changed was what the different teams had planned for him.

It was early on Thursday morning, a few weeks after Albus's 'funeral' and the pair had agreed to meet up to discuss their options and put a few extra steps in the plan. He had just ordered a drink of orange juice although he thought it would be much easier to take this meeting with a bit of alcohol in his body.

A few minutes later his attention turned to the door of the pub. A man walked in with a long duffle coat and jeans on. He looked around the pub with his eyes resting on Severus for a while before he walked up to the counter and ordered himself a drink. Severus became uneasy at the man's presence as not only was he keeping Severus within his field of vision but was also fingering his wand menacingly. But that could just be because he had a slightly pink tinge to it due to a very unfortunate run in with his son.

Soon after the man, who could not seem to keep his eyes off Severus had gone to the toilet, another man walked in the door. The moment Severus saw him he knew it was Albus. Albus walked over to the bar and ordered himself a drink then collecting it walked over to the table.

"Good even Severus" Albus greeted "Would you like a lemon drop?"

'Typical' Severus thought 'Even in the midst of the battle Albus would be wandering around offering people one of those stupid sweets!'

"No thank you Albus, I believe we have things to discuss right now"

"Indeed we do my boy. What happened to your hair?" Albus asked slyly.

"Albus, you know that was not what we came here to discuss. There are more important things we need to talk about. But I know that you will not let it rest so lets just say I was on the receiving end of one of Lucas's pranks".

"Well then I suppose that we should get on with business then." Albus stated "The plan is going really well at the moment. As far as I am concerned there isn't anyone who suspects that what Harry saw was completely faked. I have adopted the name of Soremal Dudelbub-"

"Soremal Dudelbub? That is such a stupid name Albus! Come on, think of something better, for my sake!" Severus complained clearly outraged.

"Severus please, keep your voice down, you are going to blow our cover" Albus reprimanded Severus "Soremal Dudelbub is the name I have adopted and I rather like it so it is staying besides, if Tom can use anagrams then so can I."

"You would like it" Severus mumbled under his breath.

"What was that Severus?"

"Nothing Albus, lets just get this over with I assume you have other orders to give me."

"Yes indeed. I want you to go to the burrow and stay there till Harry and his company leaves. I want every area of the burrow completely searched and secured every day to ensure that there are no death eaters hanging around and I want you to be as close to the family at all times just in case something does happen and they are left completely exposed."

Oh sure, I'll just walk up to one of the Weasleys and say 'Hi, I know you think I kill the old coot but funny as it may sound he has ordered me to be your baby sitter till Voldemort is killed' Yeah I could imagine their reactions" Severus remarked sarcastically.

"Use your brain boy! I want you to transform into a cat, just an ordinary house cat and become one of the Weasley's pets. You might want to try the youngest Weasley as she is the only one without a familiar."

"Oh great, I get to be owned by a Weasley! The joys of life!

"Well Severus I think that about concludes our meeting for today, unless you can think of anything else that we haven't covered. I will contact you when it is safe or if something happens. I would appreciate it if you did the same"

"Of course Albus." Severus said.

"Well must be off"

"Certainly, don't want to keep the Weasleys waiting" Severus stated before walking out the door and apparating to the lair again to prepare for hell.

**Please R&R**


	11. Getting owned

_**HarryPotter and the Catranas.**_

_**Chapter 11- Getting Owned.**_

Severus prowled down Diagon alley on his 4 legs, being carful not to be trodden on or caught by anyone. Today was the day he was to be bought by the Weasley's as another faithful pet of theirs. He walked into Magical Menagerie and into one of the cages but not before placing a price tag on his cage which he thought the Weasleys would be able to afford.

The day went very slowly and he didn't get much attention. Everyone who walked passed him didn't give him a second glance figuring that if he cost so little there must be something wrong with him. One man really had him worried for a minute there when he came up to Severus and started petting him saying what a pretty kitty he is but then he turned back around and went outside.

The shop was about to close when who should walk in but the very people he was looking for- the Weasley's and their precious daughter. 'Ok, show time' thought Severus to himself and started purring really loudly as to gain the youngest Weasley's attention. Severus could see her pacing through the various cages till her mother hurried her up by dragging her to the section where Severus was situated.

Ginny looked down at Severus and it was love at first sight. Ginny pointed him out to her mother saying that not only was it really cheap but he was really cute too. Ginny opened the cage and picked Severus up and took him to the counter. 'Geez' Severus thought to himself 'How can animals stand this? 'He had never been so uncomfortable in his entire life! His feet were at awkward angles and his head didn't have anything to rest on. Thankfully the counter wasn't very far away.

Dumping him on the counter the Weasley's paid for her and then walked outside with Severus on their tails.

"So Ginny" Arthur asked as he walked in the house after he got back from work "What did you name this beautiful beast?"

"Well actually dad, I haven't thought of a name for him yet" Ginny said "I was hoping that you and mum could help me with that"

"Well I'd love to help you... umm... what about Bob?"

"Dad, are you insane? I will not name my cat something so appalling!"

"Why don't you name him Prince dear? That's a very popular name for cats these days?" Mrs. Weasley suggested from the kitchen where she was preparing a wonderful smelling dinner for her family and Fleur.

"Good idea mum! Oh thank you! I shall call you Prince of the house!"

'Little do you know how right you are Miss Weasley' Severus thought to himself 'Well at least I didn't get named Bob, what the hell was that man thinking?'

Severus was taken up the stairs by Ginny and placed on a mat in the corner of her room "Ok Prince, this is your bed and this is my room. Hope you like it here I know that you will love my family because they are the greatest! I will bring you tea after I have had mine, hope you like leftovers" Ginny said before bouncing out of the room.

'Better than dog food I can assure you miss Weasley' Severus thought to himself before transforming back into his original self and looking about the room. Ginny's room did not really look like a normal girl's room. Instead of pink wallpaper and posters of boys on the wall she had dark blue walls and the floor was an ugly brown colour. Her bed was very small compared to Severus's bed but then again so was most other people's.

Severus got up and started walking around the room being careful not to tread too loudly so that no one would come to investigate. e noticed some drawing that Ginny had obviously done herself of various people in Gryffindor and some of her professors. He was drawn to one particular image of a white tomb in the middle of the Hogwarts grounds and figured that it must be Albus's 'funeral'.

Hearing footsteps coming up the stair he quickly transformed back right before Ginny opened the door with a big plate full of meat loaf and vegetables. Just what Severus needed.

**Please R&R!**


	12. Burrowings

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**_

_**Chapter 12- Burrowings.**_

Severus stood up on his four legs early one morning wishing desperately that the Weasleys would not be staying here too much longer so that he could finally change back to his normal form as he hadn't been able to do so for quite a few days. As far as he was concerned nothing here was amiss and he was incredibly bored and beginning to really cramp up.

Walking out into the kitchen he found as usual Mrs. Weasley slaving over a stove and Mr. Weasley calmly sitting down at the table preparing for another day at work. Mrs. Weasley looked at him thoughtfully and reached a bowl on the counter and placed some leftovers in it making sure to give him a rather generous amount in the small pink bowl. Placing it on the ground she got back to work on the family's breakfast.

Severus quietly ate and about half an hour later Arthur had gone to work and the children of the family had made their way down the stairs to a delicious meal of bacon and eggs. The occupants of the kitchen looked up as they heard a screech and saw a barn owl heading to the house carrying quite a thick envelope.

Opening the window further Mrs. Weasley allowed the bird entrance and untied the letters from around it's foot setting out some food for it. Severus could tell from the look of the small bird that it was one from the owlery at Hogwarts, it had the Hogwarts crest hanging around it's neck by a necklace but because it was practically invisible due to the owl's dark feathers a person would have to look really close to notice it.

Molly opened the letter and found enclosed a list of books which were needed for the school year and a letter detailing what had happened that fateful night at the end of last year.

"Well mum, are you going to read it?" Ron asked while stuffing his mouth.

_Dear Parents and Students,_

_We regret to inform you that last year we lost one of our very dear educators- Albus Dumbledore who lost his life to help the cause of fighting the Dark Arts and Lord Voldemort. This, as many of you know, occurred at the school itself even though much was done to prevent this by Dumbledore's own Order of the Phoenix and the student organization appropriately named Dumbledore's Army (The D.A)._

_Despite the goings on at the school of the last year the governors and professors of the school have decided that it would be best to keep the school running although there will be stricter rules in place and more security personnel. Should any of the new rules be broken it will mean the immediate expulsion of the student/s involved. Visits to Hogsmeade have been cancelled until Christmas where students will get the chance to visit the village to do their Christmas shopping in small groups escorted closely by professors._

_The new rules are:_

_1) All professors and students nust be checked for the 'Dark Mark' regularly and anyone found with the mark will be dealt with appropriately._

_2) No student is to point their wand at another student without permission from a professor._

_3) Training sessions and study sessions must have a professor present._

_4) Professors are required to undergo a test under the 'Veritaserum' potion before they can assume a position._

_We look forward to seeing faces new and old for the new school year despite all the evil doings in the world. A new school year would be a pleasant change from the drama caused by the 'Deatheaters'. Together we can defeat the 'Dark lord', the school that Albus has run for many years provides us with a 'safe haven' to join forces._

_Sincerely Minerva McGonagall_

_(Headmistress)._

Molly looked over at the children unsure of what to do. She turned to the children gathered around the table and asked "Well, do you children want to go back to Hogwarts or not?"

The children looked at their mother and then at each other. Ron was the first to answer "well mum, I think that Ginny should go back to school seeing as though she has still not done her O.W.L's. But I don't think I will."

"What are you on about Ron! I am not going to school by myself! If you're not going then neither am I!" Ginny yelled outraged.

"Ginny, Ron's right" Molly said looking slightly flustered "You should go although I'm not really happy about Ron not going back to school I suppose he's got his reasons.

Severus was slightly intrigued as to what they were.

After breakfast the Weasley children had gone to their rooms to think about what had happened in the kitchen. Molly, looking like she was about to cry, left the building to go and see Arthur to discuss with him the mornings events.

Severus decided that seeing as though his new 'owner' would probably be crying and he was no good with 'feelings' and 'emotions' went or a walk outside looking at the scenery and getting to know the area better.

He pranced around the grounds for a good half an hour before coming to stop at a small run-down shed. The barn windows were all broken and the grey tin rusty. The gutter had half fallen off already and the grass surrounding the barn was ugly and overgrown reaching up past his form's head. Severus was just about to walk away from the depleted shed when he heard a noise within it and decided that it would be within his best interest to check it out.

Jumping up on a nearby milk crate he peered in through the window and regretted it immediately. 'I would have rather it be the Death Eaters they would be less disgusting!' he thought to himself as he stared shocked through the window. Lupin and Tonks were deep in action snogging on a termite-prone bed not noticing the utterly mortified cat in the window.

When Severus finally gain his composure he ran as fast as his legs would carry him all the way back to the house thinking to himself the entire time 'Why, oh why couldn't I have been so lucky as to find some Death Eaters? Why did it have to be that!'

Later that day after Severus had almost managed to clear his mind and forget about what had happened at the barn who should walk in but the couple themselves looking very sheepish but sedated. "Good evening Molly" Lupin said as he strutted in the room looking very pleased with himself.

"Oh hello you two. Did you have a nice date?"

'Euch. She just had to say it didn't she?' Severus thought as he resisted the urge to vomit although he would just make sure they put it down to a hair ball.

"Oh yes, thank you Molly it was a wonderful date we had a great time" Tonks told her.

Severus ran from the room as fast as he could, the images from earlier in the day fresh in his mind.

**Please R&R!**

**Thanks!**


	13. Burrowings Continued

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**_

_**Chapter 13- Burrowings continued.**_

Severus awoke the next morning more happy than he was when he went to bed. He got up and padded down the wooden staircase and into the kitchen where he found Mrs. Weasley slaving over the kitchen yet again. Severus made a mental note to himself that if he ever got out of this mess he would make sure to stay a while after Order meetings to help her prepare food for her visitors.

She saw him standing there and fondly got his bowl and filled it with leftover meat. Severus was confused as to why they didn't just do what normal people would do and feed him cat food. Not that he was complaining though he hated cat food. Molly placed the bowl on the floor for him and he began eating till Harry came down the stairs.

"Good evening Mrs. Weasley!" Harry said cheerfully. "Oh and you too Prince!" He literally bounced into his chair.

"Good evening Harry" Said Molly. "Why are you in such a good mood this morning? Did you have a good night?"

"You could say that. I managed to keep my mind clear last night! I did exactly what Snape told me to do and even though he is a deatheater he did occasionally come in handy." Harry replied leaving Severus feeling a bit annoyed, the boy owed him more than that! "I thought occlumency would come in handy these days what with the deatheaters hanging around and now we don't even have a spy!"

"Yes of course Harry dear, that's wonderful!" Molly encouraged.

"Good evening dear! Harry!" Said Mr. Weasley as he charged into the room clearly in a hurry to leave, probably for some ministry business. "Molly, you should go to Diagon alley soon. Get in before the rush starts. If Ginny is the only one you have to buy for then her books should be easy to get." He suggested before charging out the door in a flurry of robes.

Severus spent the rest of the morning in the company of Molly, watching her go about her usual business and various things she did for the order. She kept talking to him while he was sitting on her lap. Severus never really realized how hard she had it when it came to raising kids and Arthur was apparently not helping. Severus knew how hard it was to raise kids on your own, but to raise seven plus on adopted son without the help of your husband while in the middle of a war would have been hectic!

She told him many things that day that had made him want to throttle Arthur the next time that he saw him even though he knew he couldn't. He wanted to tell Molly that she deserved better and that she should tell Arthur what to do and to help her. Severus didn't think that Arthur was a bad man. He just thought he was a little dense when it came to other people and their feelings.

During the afternoon Severus made his patrol around the perimeters of the Burrow. He walked around the edge careful to avoid the old shed up the back of the property trying to avoid a similar scenario to last time.

Walking around he spotted Ron and Hermione sitting in the grass acting very strangely. Well Hermione was acting strangely Ron had always been a bit like that. They were looking in opposite directions then taking quick glances at each other without either of them noticing. Severus immediately knew what was happening he had seen this kind of behavior in teenagers before, his students and his own son when he met Emerus.

Trotting over there with his head held in the air proudly he caught their attention and deliberately stood in between them intent on getting them together after so many years of tension between them. He laid between them and went to sleep, or more accurately pretended to, they just stared at him for a while then looked at each other and shrugged.

They could not seem to take their eyes away from each other as Severus had planned and Hermione said "Ummm... Ron what are you looking at?"

'C'mon Weasley you screw this up and I will kick your butt' thought Severus to himself.

"I'm looking at the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my entire life" Ron replied.

'Bravo Weasley I am impressed, although you could have made it a little less sappy!'

"Oh, thanks" Hermione said.

"Hermione, I guess, what I want to know, is if you want to go out with me?" Ron asked nervously.

"Oh Ron, Of course I will! Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to ask me that!" Hermione yelled elated.

Severus, feeling his job complete went back to prowling the perimeter.

**Please R&R!**


	14. Pleasure and Pain

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**_

_**Chapter 14- Pleasure and Pain.**_

The day of Bill and Fleur's wedding was a nice summers day and in Molly's opinion could not have come at a more appropriate time. The war was gaining momentum and the children needed something good to keep their minds of the impending battle between Harry and Lord Voldemort. She had set the kids their own little jobs to do for the wedding, Ginny and Harry were on decorating duty at the house, blowing up the balloons and putting the streamers up, Hermione was helping her in the kitchen to prepare food for the reception, and Ron was outside helping his father clean the yard up.

Molly, despite her cool exterior, was entirely too nervous to think straight, but there were things to be done and she had to do them. She had gotten up extra early today just so that she could fit everything in. She had already made two big cakes, one chocolate and one vanilla and was now onto making some more healthy snacks like fruit salad and sandwiches. Hermione was standing beside her cutting up some kiwi fruit and trying to avoid getting in the way. Molly suspected that Hermione had an idea of what she was feeling even if the other people in the family had no idea whatsoever.

Arthur came prancing into the room wearing mud covered shoes and looking very pleased with himself. "Good evening dear!" he said cheerily "What are you making there? Anything I can have?" he asked. Before Molly could tell him that it was for the wedding and he was not allowed to have any he reached into the bowl and grabbed a handful of the juicy salad and shoveled it into his mouth.

This was the last straw for Molly, who had been inches away from exploding. She was now fuming and was looking rather red in the face "Arthur Weasley!" she yelled "That food is for the weeding, not your grubby mouth! Get out of the kitchen now before I decide that I would rather like to hex you into oblivion! You can clean that mess up too! I'm sick of having to clean up around everyone in this house, you would think that no one had heard of wiping their feet before they come inside!"

"Molly, calm down" Arthur said in a hopeless attempt to get Molly to relax.

"Calm down? What do you mean 'calm down'? how am I supposed to calm down?" She said frantically "My son is getting married in a few hours and I have all this work to do and then people like you come in here and start creating more work and more mess! You never help around the house anymore Arthur! Never! Because you are always too busy with your precious work and your precious muggle contraptions to help do anything!"

By this point Molly was looking like her ears were about to start steaming and charge Arthur into the door behind him. She had tears in her eyes and was looking a lot older than she actually was. Storming out of the room she hollered behind her "And clean that mess up! I want it gone! NOW!"

She left behind her a very stunned and embarrassed Mr. Weasley, a very uncomfortable Hermione and hidden in the corner behind the door, a very angry Severus.

After Molly had stormed out, much to Severus's pleasure Arthur seemed really put-out but none the less the preparations for the wedding continued with the rest of the house oblivious to the argument that had taken place in the kitchen earlier. Although Molly had not come down again after that a lot had been done to get ready for the wedding.

The lounge room, Severus thought, was looking splendid decorated in gold and red something quite befitting for a wedding of a Gryffindor. The streamers dangling from the lounge room roof just enough so that they could not hit anyone on the head were in the formation of a phoenix and it had two yellow balloons as eyes. There were balloons on the floor and around the walls but best of all was the box of balloons and streamers that were attached to another rope that if pulled would cause all the balloons and streamers to fall to the ground.

They had made a similar sort of set-up in the backyard where the ceremony was to be taking place but they had instead, got Remus to put the balloons in the air using magic and charmed to fall when the couple kissed. Severus made a mental note to himself to get Harry and Ginny to decorate for him if he ever needed it later.

Severus saw Molly coming out of her room and down the stairs and walked over to her and began rubbing himself against her purring. "Oh hello Prince" She said to him glumly "Why can't you be my husband? You are a lot better company than him at the moment"

All her thoughts about Arthur were ignored when she saw the lounge room "Oh kids it's wonderful! How on earth did you create something so beautiful in such little time?"

"It was nothing Mrs. Weasley, I think we both enjoyed playing decorators for the day" Harry said enthusiastically.

"The food is all done too Mrs.Weasley" said Hermione proudly.

"Great! well it looks as if everything is in order then. I suppose I should go and check on Bill before the wedding to see if he needs any help"

**Please R&R**


	15. The Wedding

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**_

**_AN:_** Warning- if I do not get a reasonable amount of reviews from this chapter then I am going to take that as a sign that no one is interested in this story and I will discontinue it so if you like it please R&R!

_**Chapter 15- The Wedding.**_

Walking out onto the grass beside the Weasley family home Severus saw everyone there chatting between themselves in the seats beside the red carpet. He walked down the aisle looking for his owner. When he saw her sitting in the front seat he was amazed at how good she looked. She had her hair in a formal style with glitter sparkling through it and it was curled down the back. She was wearing a maroon dress like her mother which suited her extremely well along with a small emerald hanging off her necklace.

Severus walked over to the young girl, eager to get away from prying eyes who may guess his true identity. Sitting on her lap he waited for the ceremony to begin.

Bill emerged from his room ready for the ceremony some 30 minutes after Severus had found his seat. He took his place at the altar and waited for Fleur. He was dressed in the traditional black dress robes flowing down to his ankles and was sporting an expensive looking coat over the ensemble.

The congregation quietened down as Fleur arrived looking as lovely as usual in her white dress. She had red flowers in her hair and wore an expensive necklace of pearls around her neck which Severus found out later that she got from Molly. She approached the altar slowly with her father by her side.

Coming to a stop in front of the guests she turned to Bill and awaited the bonding ceremony to get underway. The bonder was chosen by Molly and just happened to be Minerva. After Albus 'died' Molly believed that she was the most trustworthy and strong person that she knew, and she wanted tis bonding to be a success and last forever.

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the bonding of these two people, William Benjamin Weasley and Fleur Sminn Delacour, on the date of July 15th." Minerva began before taking both their hands and wrapping them together with a piece of silk. "Do you William, take this woman Fleur to be your bonded?"

"Yes" Bill replied clearly and confidently. The silk responded by glowing a slight reddish colour.

"Do you Fleur, take this man William to be you bonded?"

"Yes" Fleur replied in the same tone as Bill. The silk glowed again, this time though it turned blue instead of red.

"Could the bands be presented now?" Minerva ordered.

Ron walked out onto the stage carrying the rings on a piece of frosted glass edged with gold and held it out for bride and groom to take them. Bill moved in closer to place the ring on Fleur's bounded hand before Fleur repeated his movements.

After the rings were exchanged Minerva pulled out her wand and pressed it to the silk saying clearly "With the magic within me I now pronounce you the bonded." As she finished this sentence a green spark flew out of her wand and spread around the silk before dissolving into it and forever binding the two together.

With that the ceremony was over and everyone moved to the inside of the house for the reception. Severus tailed behind looking back at the stage thinking how good it would feel to finally be able to bond with Tori. Trotting to the house severus thought to himself 'Now I have another reason to fight the dark lord'.

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Molly sat in the chair after a hard day's work and began eating her assortment of goodies. She reflected on the wedding thinking about how beautiful it was and how happy she was for Bill and how proud she was. Although she had been a little reluctant to let go of her little baby boy she knew it was a necessary step.

She had been thinking all day about how fast he had grown up. One day he was a tiny baby completely dependant on her and the next he was a fully grown man going out on his own into the world to leave his mark. This thought made her panic a little as she thought about Ron and Ginny and Harry too growing up right in front of her wishing that she could slow it down just so she could have a little more time with the three of them.

During her thinking she noticed that something was not right. She didn't quite know hat it was but decided to say nothing about it as to not worry anyone, after all, the reception was as important to her as the actual ceremony and she did not want to worry it for the young couple.

Arthur cleared his throat and stood up to give a speech. Molly tapped her glass with her spoon to get everyone's attention. "I'm glad you all could come" he began. "The last few weeks have been very stressful for everyone and we are happy to have such a wonderful reason to celebrate. We would just like to say a few words before the dinner is brought out. Today has been a wonderful day and everything has gone splendidly. We wish good luck to the newly bonded couple and hope that they have a wonderful time on their honeymoon. Molly and I knew this day would come, where we had to give away our son to a very capable woman although I must admit that I had not expected it to be this soon. It seems like yesterday that I was holding Bill in my arms and changing his diaper and now he is here, in the prime of his life and getting married and I think to myself where has the time gone? But it is a fact of life that everyone flies the coop at some point, and this just happens to be his time. I wish you both luck." Arthur finished and sat down. Molly could see tears in his eyes and began to cry quietly to herself.

The food was brought out from the kitchen with the help of the twins and Molly knew immediately why she had been feeling funny earlier. However, before she could get a word in to warn anyone the twins had dumped the soup on the table and a large 'bang!' could be heard and the entire party was covered in vegetable soup.

**Please R&R!**


	16. Surveillance

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas**_

**_AN: _** ok I decided that I would update (obviously) because people do actually like it. Although I would feel a lot more inspired if people would review more (hint hint). Well sorry for the wait and here's the next chapter.

_**Chapter 16- Diagon Alley**_

The day had come for the Weasley's to head off to Diagon Alley for their annual trip to get school supplies. This was going to be a shortened trip seeing as though Harry, Ron and Hermione were not intending on going back, however they decided they would tag along for the trip to have a look around.

While Mrs Weasley took Ginny to get her things for school, Hermione went off on her own to look at the books while Harry and Ron went to Quality Quidditch Supplies to check out the latest broom the 'Sparrer', which was said to be the most agile broom on the market, as well as being able to give the Firebolt a run for it's money.

"Wow!" Said Ron in wonderment "This is the BEST broom I have ever seen! No offence to your Firebolt man but this broom is brilliant!"

"Yeah, but I still like my Firebolt better, it probably works a heap better than this one, just the company over exaggerating about how good this broom really is" Harry replied loyally.

"Sure, well even if they are, it looks great, lets go have a closer look". The boys walked in the shop to have a look around. There were old model brooms lining the sides of the shops with varying prices depending on the model, none of which Ron could afford but he liked to imagine hmself riding one of them. Looking around he saw countless broom care kits and decided that he would get one for his own broom, it needed some serious trimming, it was beginning to look terribly dilapidated.

Little did the Weasley's know that back at their home trouble was brewing. Severus, who had been left alone while the Weasley's had gone on their shopping trip was watching the house carefully to make sure that everything was secure. Deciding that it was, he decided to let himself transform to his natural human form while no one was there. Walking around the house he took what he wanted from the fridge being very careful to not leave anything suspicious around and walked back outside to sit in the sun.

He finished his meal in peace being mindful that if anyone saw him he would be in serious trouble, he transformed back into his animagus form and went wandering around the grounds again.

He had almost finished his rounds when he heard voices heading up the road, and to his horror saw that the six invades were wearing Death Eater masks. From where he was standing he could not see who they were but clearly they were in Voldemort's inner circle as they had obviously been told what his plans were as they walked sinisterly through the gates of the old house and up the drive.

Severus, deciding to trail them, keep out of their way as much as possible and not arise suspicion, or to avoid a confrontation if possible. Severus walked along side the old shed which he had seen Lupin snogging, straining his ears to hear what the Death Eaters were talking about.

"We have to make sure that the goody-goody-muggle-lovers haven't set up any extra traps or any extra surveillance, we need to be completely undetected when we come back tonight" Said one of the Death Eaters. Severus figured that he would have been the leader of the group but he could not quite place the voice.

"When is the Dark Lord having us attack?" Said another, clearly he had only recently been let on to the plan.

"As soon as the Weasley's get back from their dear shopping trip, that's when. We are to wait outside the apparition barriers and then when they come home we attack them from behind after they have gotten inside their house. They will be caught completely unawares." the leader replied "Come on, lets get moving, they haven't set any traps, lets go and wait"

Severus stood there for a few minutes allowing time for the Death Eaters to get completely out of sight before coming out of his hiding space. 'Great' he thought 'now what do I do?'

**Please R&R if you want to know what happens next!**


	17. The Persuit

_**Harry Pottet and the Catranas**_

**_AN:_** Ok here's another chapter for you, hope you enjoy. There's no excuse now, you can leave anonymous reviews so please R&R at the end.

_**Chapter 17- The Persuit**_

The Weasley family were headed up their driveway towards the house with the arms laden with the day's shopping when Prince came up to meet them. "Hello Prince, how are you?" Asked Ginny quietly.

"Don't be silly Ginny, do you seriously expect him to answer that?" Ron said stupidly. As if in answer to the question the cat in her arms began squirming and stuck out his claws scratching her.

"Ouch!" Ginny yelled as she dropped the cat onto the ground where it, to everyone's shock transformed back into a person. Not just any person at that, Severus Snape stood looking at the small group before turning and running in the opposite direction up the back of their property.

The group were in shock for a few seconds before taking off after the wanted man, the older ones shooting off hexes that Snape dodged them expertly. Running around the corner they saw him taking off into the overgrown garden that surrounded their property. They realised that they were losing sight of him fast. The path that they were following was covered in stray vines making it harder to navigate their way around it.

Through a spot of luck, Arthur saw that Snape had tripped on one of the vines in his hurry. Catching up he pinned Snape to the ground his hands holding Snape's wrists firmly to the ground. Snape laid there dazed for a few seconds trying to orientate himself once more giving enough time for Remus to catch up and threaten him with his wand.

Getting off the ground Arthur demanded "Stay down there, you move, we hex. Got it?"

Severus simply nodded hoping that they would go easy on him, he would rather that them kill him than face the remaining Dementors that were guarding Azkaban. His quickly thought out plan wasn't going quite as he had thought it would. He was startled when he heard the Death Eaters from earlier that day apparate down to the property so close to where he had taken the Weasley's.

Panicking slightly he saw his chance, and in the confusion pushed himself off the ground and handed each of the members of the group the portkey which would hopefully save their lives. Focussing on the spell needed to activate the keys he could hear the death Eaters coming closer making it harder for him to remember what it was he was supposed to be doing.

He finally managed to get the portkeys to work just as the Death Eaters made it into shooting distance of the group and began firing off hexes in every direction hoping to hit them. Severus felt infinitely safer as he felt the familiar tug of the portkey.

Harry fell to the floor with a loud 'thump'. Lying there for a few minutes he tried to control his erratic heart beat and ragged breathing. Thinking back to what had happened, he was trying to figure out which side Snape was really on. Deciding to think on it later he looked to see what was going on.

When he looked up he saw that the entire party was looking around trying to think of what could have happened, except Remus who, like Arthur was previously, had Snape pinned to the ground wand against his temple. Looking around at his surroundings Harry noticed that they were surrounded by a lush forest with no sign of civil life for what could have possibly been for miles. 'What a perfect place to murder someone, no one would find the body for ages' Harry though suspiciously 'then again, why would the Death Eaters leave Snape to take on such a large group by himself. More to the point, why would Voldemort come to such a beautiful place, he's more the grim sort.'

Hearing a loud grinding noise he looked over and saw a bunch of men and women dressed in what looked to be very formal attire, there clothes were green in colour and had a weird looking emblem on the front. He looked to Hermione for answers hoping that she recognised the signs. Shrugging her shoulders at Harry she turned back to the group, fear plainly etched onto her face. Harry wondered where the group had come from, it looked as if they came out of the ground but Harry thought that impossible as, even if there was a trapdoor there, they would not fit all those people in there unless some poor people had been working on it for decades.

The army then surrounded the small group with their staffs and wands pointed at them. Mrs Weasley pulled the kids closer to the rest of them offering some form of protection by huddling together. A section of the army split apart allowing for a pathway through which a man, clad in the same clothes as the rest of them, surrounded by personal guards walked through and towards Snape.

Pushing Remus off the top of Snape he gave him a hand up which Snape accepted gratefully. Standing up, the man asked Snape something in a language that Harry had no hope of understanding. Snape replied in the same language. They continued their conversation for some time before Snape turned and headed through the split in the circle. The man then turned to face the group and began shouting orders at his army. Harry was extremely worried about this, he had no idea what the man had just told the soldiers. 'Were those orders good or bad?' Harry thought as the army started to move.

**Ok, that's it for now. Please R&R!**


	18. Acknowledging the Existance

_**Harry Potter and the Catranas**_

_**Chapter 18- Acknwledging the Existance.**_

Severus ran through the lair to get to his own personal study, all the time thinking of a way to explain what had happened to Albus. This was going to be hard. Albus would no doubt kick his arse, especially if he had been seen by the Death Eaters. No one was supposed to have any idea that what had happened was a complete hoax, even the Order of the Phoenix. 'Oh well, what's done is done and there's nothing I can do about it' Thought Severus as he walked down the stairs and into his study. Grabbing some floo powder he stepped into the fireplace and yelled "Soremal Dudlebum's office." He cringed as he said Albus's adopted name and hoped that he could still convince the man to change it.He felt the spinning of the floo but dared not open his eyes, he did not want to get too dizzy.

Landing in the office he saw some strange man sitting behind a desk typing very slowly on a computer. To any normal person, this man would just look like another computer illiterate old man, but to Severus this was the most conniving Gryffindor he had ever had the misfortune of meeting, learning how to use a computer. Albus looked up as Severus had entered the room but did not look up for a few more minutes long enough to finish the sentence he was typing to his new friend in England. "Good evening Severus" Albus said eventually acknowledging Severus's arrival.

"Good evening Albus, how are you this evening?" Severus replied, trying to put off the inevitable.

"I'm rather enjoying the idea of living as a muggle, did you know that these computer's are capable of communicating with people from all over the world? Quite fascinating really. Lemon drop my boy?" Albus asked in his usual dazed tone of voice.

"Geez Albus, you're really roughing it aren't you Albus? Come to hide out but you still haven't managed to give up those blasted lollies?" Severus said disbelievingly. "No I don't want a lemon drop. I'm here on serious business Albus"

"Ok then Severus, your loss, more for me. Besides, I'm on the run from the Death Eaters while you are in exile, and you are sitting in the middle of a forest with your lover and many other creature comforts, it is highly hypocritical for you to be talking about roughing it. So onto business, what is this news you are talking about?"

"Well you see" Severus said uncharacteristically nervous "Earlier today, while the Weasley's were out a handful of Death Eaters came to the Burrow and planned an ambush for when the Weasley's returned from their shopping in Diagon. When the Weasley's got home I showed myself to them and they pursued me. The Death Eaters came as they had planned and were heading in our direction when I gave all the members of their group a portkey and took them to the lair. Now I have the Army and Toro looking after them, but other than that I have no idea what to do with them." He finished holding his breath waiting for the outburst that would surely follow.

He looked up at Albus and saw that he was thinking intently. "Well Severus, this was not what I had expected" He said, any previous joking gone as the seriousness of the situation became apparent. "I will come to the lair with you, to see things out, make sure that the Weasley's and friends are not panicking. Do you know if you were seen?" At Severus's shake of the head he continued "They will have to stay there of course, we cannot risk them being caught by Voldemort and our secret revealed. Well then Severus, lead the way"

Severus turned back to the fireplace and grabbed some floo powder from the pot. Realising that Albus was not right behind him he turned around, only to see that Albus was still typing on that blasted contraption. "Albus we have to go" He said urgently

"Yes, yes Severus, I'm coming I just need to say goodbye to my muggle friend. I have heard that if you leave one of these conversations without saying goodbye you get the reputation of being a snob, and we wouldn't want that now would we?"

Severus groaned and walked into the fireplace, flooing back to the lair to wait for albus.

**SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS**

After the Catranas Army had escorted the group into the lair they led them through the large city to the shock of the entire group. Remus couldn't seem to shut his mouth, everything was so elaborate and the forest theme agreed with his wolf side. Leading them up to the palace, Toro came out to greet them speaking in the same language the other man had earlier. The guards on the side loosened their grips on each of the party members and went to stand off to the side, watching them from a distance.

"Welcome to the lair of the Catranas-" Toro started. He didn't get very far before he was cut off by a very confused Hermione.

"Did you just say Catranas? Catranas aren't real! They are mythical creatures you stupid Death Eater!" She said rather rudely.

The guards off to the side were about to jump into action at the great insult that Hermione had just used. To be called a Death Eater in the Catranas world was the biggest insult one could ever use, and anyone caught using it was punished severely. Before the guards could attack though Toro yelled for them to stop and to be lenient as they did not know what they were doing, they had just been through a terrible ordeal involving Death Eaters.

"I assure you young lady, that we very much do exist. I would also advise you not to mention those abominations you call the Death Eaters, we do not take kindly to such insults." Toro said calmly. "Now, Severus will be back in a few minutes hopefully, and then we can decide what to do with you."

"Wait just a minute!" Said Neville, who had went to the Burrow with the Weasley's after their shopping trip. "If you don't like Death Eaters much, why are you associating with Snape?"

Toro growled in annoyance at the criticism of his lover, his anger quickly growing. Neville looked like a nervous wreck now. The growl affecting him more than the advancing armed guards ever could.

He was saved as a very annoyed and perplexed Severus wandered into the room. All attention turned to him as he walked over to Toro, speaking in Catranian. "Hello Toro, what's going on?" He asked.

"Well they just called you a Death Eater Severus! What are we going to do about that?" Toro asked.

"We, my beautiful, are going to prove my innocence" Severus said lovingly, the wedding that was held earlier fresh in his mind.

**SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS SS**

Waiting for a few minutes, the assembled people turned to the door as it was opened revealing a very smug looking Albus Dumbledore, wearing the most outrageous looking dress robes, consisting of purple polka dotted dinosaurs. While Severus and the other Catranas present stared open mouthed at his choice of clothing a few of the members of the Weasley clan and their friends stared in shock at the fact that h was alive. A few of them fainted but Severus put that down to the clothes too, they were enough to make anyone faint.

After enervating the fainted people Albus began to address them being careful to explain the situation as simply as he could but still enabling them to understand what was going on. "Good evening everyone. This is awkward isn't it? Well I had better start explaining then. Please save your questions for later on." He said "You see, what Harry saw wasn't exactly real. Draco had come to Severus and I previously, explaining what he was planning to do and asking for us to help him. We obliged and Severus came up with a plan to make it look like I was killed when I really wasn't" Albus continued the explanation of how they came to be in this position. He finished by telling the group "Oh yes, and if you haven't guessed already, Severus isn't exactly loyal to Voldemort."

After the group had gotten over their shock a little, Albus told them what was going to happen now. "Ok, you are all going to have to stay here where we can protect you properly. We didn't tell the Order any of our plan simply because the less people that knew the better. If anyone had gotten a hold of you and tortured you into revealing this information then we would be. How do you say it? Up shit creek I think would be the appropriate saying."

"Well I must depart, I have certain meetings to attend to" Albus said as he departed.

"Albus are you perhaps meaning that blasted computer of yours? That really doesn't count as an appropriate reason for leaving so early" Severus complained.

"It does to me, my boy. I promised to meet that young man I was speaking to earlier on there again. Rather pressing business really."

Severus just stared at Albus like he had grown an extra head. After the man had departed Severus stated simply "That man really needs to sort out his priorities." Turning to their new guests he removed his glamour. There was a shocked silence after he had done that as the visitors took in his new look.

It remained quiet as Severus ordered a few of the guards to tell the cleaners to make up two adult rooms and two children's rooms, one with two beds and the other three. He didn't even bother to ask Remus and Tonks if they would rather share a room or sleep separate he thought, given their history that it would have been a waste of his breath.


	19. Life of the Cats

**Harry Potter and the Catranas**

**AN:** This is just a brief relaxation sort of chapter, so that I can get over my writters block. I can't think of how to start the more important chapters! Oh well, this chapter is still essential to the story as it lets you get to know the way Catranas's live and Lucas more: )

**Chapter 19- Life of the Cats.**

The boys had woken up that morning to the sunshine glow coming in the window. 'That can't be right' Harry thought as he opened his eyes 'We're underground!' Sitting up he noticed that the rest of the group were just waking as well, but unlike him it took them a few more minutes to realise what was going on- having a mad man after you had it's perks when waking up in the morning.

The three of them got up and went about their usual routine, still wondering about the sun and were about to read their quidditch magazines they had purchased before they were chased by the Death Eaters, when a teenage boy wearing muggle clothes knocked on the door. At their response, he came in and announced to them "Breakfast is ready boys. Get ye butts down stairs and to the hall now, under threat of missing out. Some people here eat like pigs." he then muttered something that sounded like 'Lucas' and took his leave.

"Well they are formal here aren't they?" Said Ron, secretly wondering if the same idiot was going to wake the girls up. Realising the implications of this statement, he took off after the boy, intent on protecting his not-so-secret crush and his sister. Even though, in reality, they could look after themselves -and Hermione would not stand for a boy coming in the room.

After Neville and Harry had caught up with Ron, who was now standing around with the girls, who had, as Harry suspected, been woken by a girl, went down to the hall escorted by the same boy and girl from earlier.

They entered the area and were greeted with the sight of Remus, Tonks and Mrs and Mr Weasley, sitting in companionable silence with Snape who was sitting next to his lover, next, a half-naked boy, who looked exactly like Snape only younger, and sitting next to the mini-snape was Draco Malfoy. Walking up to the table they joined the other people, all enjoying a breakfast feast just like at Hogwarts.

**SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS**

Lucas looked up as the door was opened in the hall. Seeing some strange people wearing wizard robes he looked questioningly at Draco, silently asking him if he knew what was going on. Seeing Draco blushing furiously and trying to sink into the floor made Lucas even more curious than he was before. "What are you doing Draco?" Lucas asked, sounding rather annoyed that no one had told him about the strangers.

"I'll tell you later" Draco murmured as he sat back up and ate his food in silence. All the while Lucas noticed the glares that Draco was receiving from the group. Deciding he was going to get no information from Draco yet, he went back to eating his meal taking quick glances at the teenagers.

Now that he thought about it, the one on the edge of the group was quite easy on the eyes. He was wearing a green dress robe, which Lucas thought really brought out his stunning green eyes. Which Lucas immediately fell in love with, too bad he hid behind those glasses. Lucas vowed to get to know this guy. If he was gorgeous and had a killer attitude then Lucas would set about making him his lover. That would no doubt be the hard part.

As soon as lunch was finished, Draco and Lucas headed 'outside' to play with the other Catranas in a game of basketball. Reaching the basketball hoops the kids then began choosing teams with Lucas and Draco being on the same team.

After about half an hour of playing, they realised that it was entirely too hot to be doing so much physical activity. However, instead of going inside like any normal person, the boys in the group decided to take their shirts off and the girls decided that they would roll their sleeves up as far as they would go and the group continued playing.

Many other Catranas came out to the court to watch the children play. After all what else would they need to do when they live in a tight-knit community in an underground area. Watching the kids play sport was something every Catranas, old and young, loved doing. They had even developed some teams for the kids to play in with various sports being available. They had basketball, baseball, football, hockey, tennis and the treasured martial arts which every Catranas had been trained in, in case of emergency. Lucas played in the Panthers team, while Draco was in the cheetah one. 'No doubt the new kids in the area will get put into a group too' thought Lucas wishing that the one he had been thinking about earlier would get put into the Panthers group.

Harry came out of his room just in time to see two boys heading off down the hall, excited looks on their faces. Deciding he would much like to know what's going on, he called to them "Hey! Excuse me, err... where are you going?"

One of the boys called back to him "We're going to the basketball court to watch a game, you coming?"

"Umm... sure, I suppose" He said "Is it fun?"

"Hell yes!" Said the other boy. "My name's Cato by the way. And this is Reiner. Who are you?"

"I'm Harry" said Harry happily. His first day here and he was already making friends, the people here were definitely not biased or mean like some at Hogwarts. 'Of course, there has to be a few' thought Harry. But he didn't mind this, he was happy he could make friends.

"Well come on then Harry, we don't want to miss the show now do we?" Said Reiner as they both took off down the stairs, Harry hot on their tails.

'Wow' Harry thought as he reached the court and took his seat beside Cato. 'The Catra-mana-whatsit's actually LIKE muggle sport! This is soo cool! Not only am I living underground, surrounded by really nice people, but I'm surrounded by really nice people who like muggle sport and geez, talk about cute boys! I'm going to love it here...I think'

Looking up he saw Hermione, Ron, Neville and Ginny coming down to see what all the fuss was about. Coming to sit next to Harry, Ron said "What the hell are they doing?"

"Geez Ronald, they are playing basketball. It's a muggle game" Replied Hermione.

"I don't care what they're playing! They have their shirts off! This is brilliant!" Ginny squealed excitedly.


	20. Talking

**Harry Potter and the Catranas**

**Chapter 20-Talking.**

After the basketball game the Gryffindors spent the day wandering around the complex and admiring the beauty of their surroundings. They each looked in various shops that contained both muggle and magical objects alike. They had been given money by Mrs Weasley who had apparently got some from Snape. They used this money to buy food and drink during the day, they never actually bought anything else because they were very reluctant to buy anything with Snape's money.

After they had finished their adventuring, all the shops were beginning to close and it was really late. They decided that they would head back to the palace before it got too dark and the adults of their party begin to worry. Glancing around they realised that they were very much lost. The buildings here were tall and in the darkened light they couldn't see the palace that they needed to get to.

"Great, just great" Ginny said frustrated "What are we supposed to do now then?"

"We could ask someone" Said Ron unsurely. He had seen that the Catranas were generally loving people, but was he really supposed to trust them so early on? For all he knew he was about to ask some murderer to give them directions.

They all started walking in a direction down the street, hoping that they were going in the right direction. Turning around the corner Ron ran into someone and fel to the ground with the person ontop of him. Looking up he didn't take any time in checking who it was before he began laying punches into them and screaming to get off.

"Oww! Hey watch it!" Said the person under him. He looked up and noticed that it was the boy they had seen at breakfast, the one that looks like Snape. Ron then was pulled roughly up of him and restrained as another man came and helped the boy up.

They began talking in the same language that Snape had been using earlier in the day and the man holding Ron loosened his grip a little. Ron was more than a little scared by this point and was seriously considering pulling his wand out, consequences be damned.

The conversation continued for a bit before Ron was released and the two men left. "Sorry about that but you really shouldn't hit people like that, especially if you don't know whether they mean you any harm" Said the boy.

"You shouldn't have run into me then should you! Especially when it's getting dark! For all I knew you were going to kill me!" Ron blurted out stupidly.

"Yeah sure, why would I do that? There are witnesses and I'm sure you can defend yourself" He replied rubbing his jaw. "That's going to leave a bruise! Now my dad's going to be bugging me about it! Never mind though. My names Lucas, what's yours?"

"I'm Ron and this is Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and Neville."

"Nice to meet you, finally. Aren't you supposed to be back at the palace by now?" Lucas asked curiously.

"Yeah, and we would be there, except, we have no idea how to get there. We're lost" Said Ginny, the drama that unfolded moments ago taking their toll. She was looking rather lost and scared, convinced that those guys were going to pommel her brother. Tears were beginning to make their way down her cheeks as she became more and more frustrated.

"It's alright, don' cry, I'll show you the way, I'm going there now." Lucas said trying to avoid a breakdown.

Leading the way, they went through various streets which were now lit using fire lamps and glowing stones on some of the buildings. "Wow, this place is great during the day but man, it's even better now!" Exclaimed Neville enthusiastically.

"Yeah it's brilliant here. So nice. I'll show you the lookout tomorrow night or something. You think this is good, you'll love the lookout!" Lucas responded, thoroughly enjoying his nighttime stroll.

Reaching the palace they all went inside where they found the adults waiting worredly at the entrance hall.

Mrs Weasley ran to the group yelling "Where have you lot been? In an unknown area and the lot of you are galavanting around like it's your own backyards! How are we supposed to know if you are in trouble or not! Get up to your rooms now!"

"What about food?" Ron asked.

"I don't care whether you get food tonight or not Ronald! Now MOVE!"

"I'll have food sent up to you" Whispered Lucas into Harry's ear as they began the treck to their rooms. He completely missed the shudder that passed through Harry at this.

Up in their rooms Ron began immediately complaining about his empty stomach. "She could have at least let us eat something! I'm starved here! It's not our fault that we got lost!"

"I'm sure you'll live without food for a night Ron. After all you did eat like a pig earlier today so you should be absolutely full." Said Hermione, silently she agreed with him though, they should have at least gotten some food.

"Don't worry about it guys, it'll be fine!" Said Harry calmly lying on his bed. Unsure of whether to tell them Lucas's plan or let them suffer for a while. He choose the latter as it was considerably more amusing for him.

"Yeah whatever" Ron was getting quite fed up with this place, nothing much good had come from their being there yet and he had a feeling that that's the way it was going to be the entire day.

Back in Lucas's room he and Draco were sitting on the bed after they had eaten their dinner and Lucas had made sure that someone would take their guests a meal later on if their guardians hadn't decided that they should be allowed to eat. They were discussing the day's events with Lucas very curious about why Draco was acting strangely.

"It's him isn't it?" He asked.

"Who?"

"That Neville boy. He's the one you like isn't he? Which would explain why you tried to hide when he came in the hall this morning at breakfast!"

"Yeah that's him" Said Draco nervously. "Don't tell anyone ok? I mean the only two people who know are you and Severus and I would prefer to keep it that way"

"You told my dad and you expect him not to tell Toro?" Lucas asked incredulously "You are an idiot then Draco because he would know. But don't worry Toro won't tell anyone!"

"Great so even more people know wonderful. Well while we're on the subject of fancying people, do you like anyone?"

"Yeah I do actually. I met him today and he is friends with Neville! Give you any clues?" Lucas said excitedly, finally getting to talk about the handsome young man he had met.

"Potter? You can't be serious? That is soo odd! Granted you would make a great couple but still! It's Potter, your dad would totally shoot you!" Draco said in between laughs.

"Well he's cute, an I don't think that my dad would go mental, he might actually like Harry, you never know." Lucas replied blushing.

"I doubt it somehow. But you never know. Stranger things have happened, especially where Potter is concerned. It would be great if we could double date though. You and Harry, me and Neville."

"Yeah that'd be brilliant! So what do you like about Neville anyway? Anything in particular or everything?"

"Well everything I guess, but if I had to choose the thing I like about him most it would have to be that he's soo kind and caring. To the point where he doesn't care if something would reflect badly on him so long as you're happy." Draco's eyes were glazing over as he said this, imagining himself in a special little place where Nevile and he were happily dating "And he's beautiful. He doesn't think so but I do. His eyes are absolutely stunning and everything about him is perfect"

"Sounds great really" Said Lucas listening intently to Draco. "I hope Harry's like that. Looks aren't everything, though Harry has good looks and I wouldn't mind that, it's all about what's on the inside. Is Harry nice?"

"Nice enough to his friends I suppose. We used to be enemies, not sure whether we still are because I haven't spoken to him for ages but I assume we are and then he's not really nice, he's actually quite a prick."

"Oh well, I'm sure we can change that can't we Draco. We need plans! We should help each other. You help me gain Harry's heart and I'll help you sweep Neville off his feet! This'll be soo great!"

"Hold up" Said Draco confused "What about Emerus? Aren't you still upset about that?"

"Nah, I'm over it, really, he was a pig."

The boys continued talking as in the other room where the resident Gryffindors were staying, food was being delivered, just in time too because Ron looked like he was about to go on another one of his rant sessions.

"FOOD!" Yelled Ron as he saw the trolley being pushed into the room.

The boy who had woken them up this morning shushed Ron quickly, explaining how he was not actually supposed to be eating but the prince didn't very well want them starving.

"The prince?" Said Harry curiously.

"Yeah, he's the one who sent the food to you"

"That was the prince?"

"Yeah assuming you are talking about the same person I am. Why?"

"Oh, I just didn't expect him to be the prince. I mean he was walking around unprotected" Harry said, very confused about the recent goings on.

"You mean that guy I was punching?" Ron said dumbly.

"You hit the prince? you are very lucky that you were not seen, you might have been punished for it!" Yelled the boy.

"Oh, umm... we were confused, the prince knows that, he said he understood. Being that we were in unfamiliar territory and all"

"Ok then, well here's your food. Just put your plates and whatnot on the trolley when you are finished and it will disappear to the kitchens to be cleaned. Enjoy!" The boy said and backed out the room, leaving the food and trolley behind.

"That guy is soo odd" Said Ginny as the teenagers began digging into their food.

"Everyone here is odd Ginny" Ron replied shaking his head at the days events.

"Yeah but I like the prince, he's cool." Harry said dreamily.

"Like or fancy Harry?" Hermione questioned. Hermione didn't need a verbal answer as his blush was too hard to conceal. Laughing she turned to Neville "What are you going to do about Draco?"

"Umm... I don't know. Do you reckon he would like me like that?" He stammered nervously.

"If he doesn't then he's not worth the time! I think we should help you get together with him."

"And help Harry get with Lucas" Ginny piped up excitedly.

"Yeah good idea!"

All the teenagers went to bed, neither group knowing that the other had the same idea in their heads about getting Draco and Neville, and Harry and Lucas together.

PLEASE R&R!


	21. Destroying the Burden

**Harry Potter and the Catranas**

**Chapter 21- Destroying the Burden.**

Severus and Toro were sitting in their room one day after dinner, talking, cuddling and kissing as usual when there was a frantic knocking on the door. Severus got up to answer it with a worried expression on his face.

Swinging the door open he saw two of his most trusted warriors leaning on the wall and looking slightly out of breath. "Oh, hello. What's wrong?" Severus asked suspiciously.

"Severus, it's good to see you again. We have some good and some bad news, well at least we think that's what we have anyway." Said the first warrior, his name was Raith, he had black hair like most other Catranas, with purple tips on the end. He had a lot of muscle, something that helped him out when he was faced with danger as no one was stupid enough to seriously take him on. "Which would you like to hear first?" He asked.

Toro spoke up for the first time since he and Severus had been interrupted "The good news, please." Wrapping his arms around Severus he looked at the men expectantly.

"Well you see, we have found and destroyed all the Horcruxes bar one, they are all gone just like you ordered sir, the snake one was hard to come by though, we had many injuries from our expedition to get it and the snake put up a bit of a fight. But don't worry, everyone will recover fully in a few days!" Said the second guard who looked identical to the first as he was Raith's twin brother, Kaiah.

"That is good news." Severus said happily but quickly sobering up again as he remembered that the guards had said that they brought good as well as bad news "What is the bad news then?"

"The last horcrux might be a little more harder to be rid of that's all." Said Raith clearly trying to avoid the next question.

"Why?"

"Well, you see, it's not exactly a thing, it's not an animal either. It's more a person. Who is unfortunately or fortunately- we haven't quite decided yet- that is living in the lair with us."

"Lemme guess, Potter?" Severus said unsurprised.

"Well sort of yes, more specifically his scar, and we have no idea how to get rid of it without killing the boy. Any suggestions?"

"Not at the moment, research it, there must be something about that sort of thing in the library. Get a group of people in there working on it, close the library to the public if you must, we need to have all the Horcrux's destroyed before the boy can even think about destroying Voldemort" Severus gave his orders very swiftly and the warriors left to carry them out.

"Great, just great" Said Severus as he turned to look at Toro who was starting to look more than a little worried "What are we going to do now? We can't be rid of Voldemort without all the horcrux's destroyed, it would be way too easy for him to come back...again"

"Don't worry Severus, I'm sure you'll think of something" Toro said encouragingly.

The next morning Severus woke up feeling a great weight hanging on his shoulders and a weird feeling that something horrible was going to happen soon. Getting up he went about his daily routine of washing and then gently woke Toro up by kissing him senseless and departed from the room to find out if any developments had been made on their current predicament.

"Raith, you look like shit, have you slept at all yet?" Severus asked as he walked into the library and found a bunch of his scientists and warriors working on finding anything which might help destroy the last remaining horcrux without harming it's bearer.

"Not yet Severus, but really, thanks for the complement. We haven't found anything of use yet, everything we have found has been proven to destroy the entire thing the horcrux is on, not just the horcrux itself."

"Well you are just going to have to keep looking then aren't you? I'm really sorry about this, but I have no idea what else to do" Severus said apologetically.

"That's alright Severus, we are just as lost as you are" Said Raith.

Severus said goodbye to the workers after a while of talking and left to talk to Potter, the boy may as well know what was going on at least.

Walking into the hall he headed for the room the resident Gryffindors were sleeping in and stopped out the front, rapping gently on the door and waiting for a reply.

"Come in" Said one of the boys and Severus pushed open the door to find that the room was full, the girls were in the room watching movies with their friends, his son and a few other people that Severus knew but could not remember their names, lack of sleep was having a disastrous effect on his brain.

"Hey dad, what are you doing this side of the palace?" Asked Lucas curiously.

Severus smiled gently at him, not feeling like talking at the moment, Lucas would understand. He turned to Harry and said "Potter, I need a word with you quietly."

Harry looked at him confusedly while his friends looked at him in pity and wondered what Snape would want with their hero friend. He got to his feet and tailed Severus out of the room and into another rather small room across the hall. Severus put up some silencing and security charms so that they would not be overheard even if the other kids decided to use the extendable ears they were no doubt in possession of and they both sat down on either side of the desk.

"Potter, you may want to keep an open mind during this session as there is a lot to take in and I couldn't really deal with an outburst at this time" Severus explained gently as he placed two glasses of water on the table before beginning to explain the current situation to Harry.

"There are rumours flying around that you had intended to go looking for the horcrux's instead of going back to school. Is this true?" Severus asked.

"Yes sir, I was planning on leaving a little while before school got back in session." Harry replied truthfully, wanting to know where this was going.

"Well you had need not do that anymore Potter as we have located all the horcrux's and destroyed all but one." Severus said, knowing that the news would not give Harry much comfort after he learnt about where the other horcrux was located.

"That's great sir!" Harry exclaimed in joy. "But why haven't you destroyed the other horcrux yet? Is it here?"

"It is here. We have not destroyed it because it is a little more complicated than destroying the rest of the horcrux's"

"Why?"

"Because, it's you Harry" Severus said, being more gentler than he had the entire conversation "Well, your scar to be exact, it's why you have his power, can see what he does and what he is feeling"

Looking for Harry's reaction to the news Severus noticed that the young man was still rather confused by everything and had no idea what to say to the information that Severus had just given him, so Severus decided to continue speaking.

"The problem is that we have no idea how to get rid of the horcrux without actually killing you. Nagini was one of the horcrux's, but she was not worth saving and a danger to people, so we just got rid of the horcrux and she died along with it. We aren't sure whether it was her that was the horcrux or only part of her, the point is she died so we can't use the same method on you" Severus saw Harry reach for the cup and mimicked the movement allowing time for this small bit of information settle on Harry before he continued. "There are currently people in the library researching what we can do to help you but it could be a while before we know anything. Unfortunately, until we have disposed of every one of the horcrux's you cannot destroy Voldemort as it would be entirely too easy for the stupid overgrown foetus to come back again."

"Wow" was all Harry said before he became very light-headed and slumped forward in his chair unconscious.

Severus levitated Harry to the medical bay rather than back to the room Harry shared with the rest of their guests, he had had enough of answering questions and worrying for the day, and walking in the room with an unconscious Potter would definitely stir up the guests when all he really wanted to do was go to bed.

Walking down the corridor to his room he felt a burning in his wrist and looked down to see the dark mark standing out very clearly on his slightly tanned skin. Rushing through the halls and onto the streets he put on his glamour and spelled his death eater clothes onto him before charging out of the door and apparating to the meeting place Voldemort had called them to.

**Please Review!**


	22. The Meeting

**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**

**Chapter 22- The Meeting.**

Severus arrived in an old mansion that looked like it hadn't been used in years. He knew better of course, in the upstairs bedroom the most feared wizard in the entire world was sitting perched in his makeshift throne, surrounded by some of the most vile people ever to have walked the Earth. Severus should have been afraid, he really should have. But he wasn't. Voldemort had nothing on the Catranas, Severus could crush him like a bug, only problem was that he would have to get past his followers first. Severus was good, but he most certainly wasn't that good.

Reaching the top of the rooms he saw Voldemort surrounded by his followers, all looking very smug about something. Severus began to get concerned about this meeting as he was not aware of any proceedings that would leave the sadistic group in such a state of euphoria. Voldemort turned to look at Severus as he entered the room and bowed down beside Lucius Malfoy in front of their 'lord'.

"Ahh.. Severus, so good to see you my friend" Voldemort hissed at him. "Or should I say my traitor?"

Severus's head shot up at the added statement. "What? I don't know what you are talking about my lord, I am not the traitor." He said as calmly as he could, unfortunately that wasn't very calm given the circumstances.

"Are you sure Severus? I have it on good authority that you are"

"Whoever it is that told you that is a liar and probably the traitor themself!" Severus exclaimed defensively.

"Oh, I don't think so. I think it's you" Voldemort cackled evilly as he pointed his wand at Severus and yelled "Crucio"...

Meanwhile back at the Lair, the Gryffindors were currently wrapped up in a debate with the other Catranas teenagers that they had met, about the impossibility of keeping a society like this completely hidden from the rest of the world and how there can't be such an advanced security system that there is little to no crimes committed every year.

"Not possible" declared Ron disbelievingly.

"It very much is!" Said Ray, a slightly younger boy than the rest of them who sat comfortably in a leather recliner in the lounge room. The other Catranas nodded in agreement with the boy.

"How then?" Said Harry curiously.

"Well we don't actually know" replied Kady, she was a quick-thinking, sport-loving girl with curly black hair, red streaks ran down the sides creating the rebel look that Harry thought every single Catranas was in the possession of. 'Hmm... Maybe I can get my hair coloured before I leave too!' He thought to himself.

"Then how can you say that it is protected?" Ron asked, thinking maybe he had finally won a debate.

"Because the royals and soldiers protect the lair from outside penetration and to do that, our methods of control have to be kept a secret to ensure that no one gets past the security" A voice from behind Hermione answered.

Swivelling around Harry saw Lucas had come to join the group, obviously tired from lack of sleep and overexertion. "Hello" Said Harry and the rest soon followed with their own greetings. Lucas smiled and said hello back before taking up a seat next to Harry and asking what the debate was about.

"There is no way in hell that you can have such a low crime rate! Even if this place is warded from outside intrusion, there is nothing stopping Catranas going out and picking up bad habits. There is always crime, anywhere you go." Ron said frustrated.

"Well you lot would say that wouldn't you? You come from a world that is full of crime. Take Voldemort for example, he is evil to the bone and he has enough followers to challenge everyone in the entire wizarding world and not one of them hasn't done their fair share of law infringement." Said Jazzie, one of the girls that Hermione and Ginny had befriended.

"Yeah but at least we can admit that we have a problem with crime! You lot can't just sit there and say that nothing ever happens here that would be considered worthy of punishment!" Ron yelled aggressively.

"Settle down, there's no need to shout" Said Lucas tiredly. "We do have crime here, we even have a prison for them to go to when they commit crimes, and yes sometimes Catranas do go out into the world and try to bring us down, thankfully they have so far failed. But our crime rates are far lower than that of the rest of the world. We have no reason to break any rules down here. We have nowhere else to live, we go above and reveal ourselves and we get persecuted. There just isn't any point in breaking rules down here, everyone is provided for."

"Good point" Said Hermione, listening intently to the prince's words. Harry had been listening closely too, but that was for an entirely different reason.

Just then Snape's lover, Toro came running up to the group with a worried look on his face. "Lucas, there you are!" He said.

"Were you looking for me?" Lucas asked.

"Well, yes and no. I was wondering if you had any idea where Severus has gotten to? I haven't seen him for a while and we were going to do some reading up in the library."

"I haven't seen him. Sorry"

"Oh" Said Toro dejectedly "Well I suppose I should stop worrying, he'll be fine, he's a big boy now" Toro muttered, trying to calm himself down and stop panicking, but he was entirely too worried about Severus to do anything other than run around like a chicken with it's head cut-off.

Toro charged off in the other direction thinking about heading to the library to do something useful. "Well that was odd" said Lucas, his father's actions concerning him more than he would like to admit.

"I'm sure it's nothing" Said Emerus as Jazzie moved around to place her arm across Lucas's shoulder.

"Yeah it's probably nothing" repeated Lucas as the teens got back to their debate.

Little did they know, that at the mysterious setting in an unplottable location, their loyal leader was being cruelly tortured for information about what the Order was planning. Severus had found out, after countless courses of the Cruciatus curse, that Severus had been quite clearly seen saving the group of Gryffindors from the advancing Death Eathers at the Burrow. Now Voldemort wanted to know everything he could.

The spell lasted for an agonisingly long time. Being a Catranas was an advantage in some aspects but unfortunately resistance to the Cruciatus curse was not one of them, if anything, it increased the effect of the curse.

"Well Severus, ready to talk then? Reveal to us your plans" Was the only noise that managed to register in Severus's mind for a good ten minutes or so.

Severus then managed to lift his head off the ground and look into the eyes of the foetus that was currently seated comfortably in front of him, grinning like he had just gotten laid. He heard the other Death Eaters in attendance at the meeting snickering in pleasure, the loudest of which was Bellatrix Lestrange, jealous whore that she is, had wanted the position at her lords precious side since she had joined the group all that long ago.

"Drop dead Tom" Severus said viciously and spat on the almost dead wizard's robes.

"Ohh.. Very feisty Severus. You will pay for that coward!" Voldemort retorted. Entreating the Catranas to another round of the Cruciatus curse. Severus was only glad that the Death Eaters had yet to find out that Albus was still alive. That kind of information was vital to the outcome of the war and Severus wanted to keep it a secret till there was no other choice than to reveal it.

"Well, I see that this is not going to help, and while I would love to stay here and torture you endlessly, but we have plotting to do" Without warning Voldemort uttered two small words that can so abruptly end life. "Avada Kedavra"

Severus saw the green shoot of power heading for him at lightning speed, but he could think of nothing to do to avoid it and the curse pounded right into him. For Severus, everything went black his body lying on the floor of the Riddle Mansion.

"Well that was some good entertainment for tonight wasn't it?" Voldemort asked his remaining Death Eaters as he went along discussing his plans as if there wasn't a dead man lying at his feet.


	23. The Wooden Casket

**Harry Potter and the Catranas.**

**Chapter 23- The Wooden Casket**

Lucius stared at the body of his best friend, the only friend who had always been there- been a true friend- and now was nothing more than a lifeless corpse on the cold wooden floors of the Riddle manor. Lucius tried as hard as he could to ignore the growing hole in his heart and concentrate on the task at hand but it was becoming increasingly more difficult to hold back the tears forming.

He was brought back to reality as he heard the Dark Lord call him. "Lucius, may I entrust you with the removal of the body from this house? Scum like him does not deserve to be anywhere near me, even in death. Send him to Hogwarts. I believe that is rather fitting considering his choice of sides, the Order will regret ever sending a spy into my ranks! Oh to hear the screams of the children when his body is found."

Lucius took Severus from the room and down to the lowest level rather roughly before picking his friend up and carrying him to the lounge room and gently placing him in one of the wooden make-shift coffins that the Lord had so graciously had created for his enemies. Taking the lid he put it in place and hammered the nails down, securing it tightly. Pulling the coffin outside, he walked to the apparation point and apparated both him and his friend to the gates of Hogwarts where he left Severus leaning against the stone walls before leaving again to mourn his friend in peace.

Back at the Catranas lair Toro was beginning to freak about Severus's absence. "This is not good, very not good" he kept chanting as he paced the length of the hall at breakfast the morning after Severus left.

"Calm down dad, I'm sure he's fine, probably got another assignment or something." Said Lucas, trying to sound reassuring but was failing miserably as his voice was unusually high and his face was almost completely drained of colour.

Draco sat watching the scene unfold, unable to eat with all the tension in the air but realised that there was nothing that he could do to help the situation. He knew that Lucas would no longer like to go to the park to play with the rest of the teenagers and found himself not very interested in playing games either.

Deciding that he would stick around to help Lucas with his problems he waved on the other kids who were waiting for them and watched as they departed leaving him to escort Lucas back to his room to talk.

Once inside the room Draco sat on the edge of the bed with Lucas and waited for him to say something. "I'm really worried Draco" Lucas said after a lengthy silence. "He has never been gone this long without telling us where he is before. What if something bad has happened to him? Oh my God! Draco what if he's dead?" Was the last thing Lucas managed to choke out before completely breaking down and clinging to his friend like his life depended on it.

Draco's heart went out to his devastated friend. He knew how close the family of three was and couldn't bear to see them suffering so much. He felt his own tears start falling down his face as the idea that Severus could be dead finally took hold. His mentor, his godfather, his friend gone. The idea was entirely too horrible to think about. The two friends sat on the bed crying their eyes out on each other's shoulders, drawing support from each other to help cope.

At Hogsmeade the Hogwarts express had just arrived to drop the students off signalling the start of another year at Hogwarts with Hagrid calling the first years to him and the rest of the students boarding a carriage to the school completely unaware of the horror that was awaiting them when they reached the gates.

Luna Lovegood sat in a cabin with four other students she didn't even know. She was completely lost now because of the rather sudden disappearance of the Weasley's, Hermione, Harry and Neville. It had been three weeks since the groups mysterious disappearance, it was almost certain that Death Eaters had taken them as there was a large Dark Mark hanging over their home, but there was no sign of any bodies. The house was a mess when the Aurors turned up, this was a sure sign of a struggle but Luna seriously hoped that the Aurors were wrong about that. She had no one to talk to since the disappearance as the small group were her only friends.

She was quickly brought back to the world of the living as the carriage came to a stop out the front of the school and she got out with the rest of the other students. She began walking inside the walls of the school she quickly changed her mind as she saw a large number of students looking at the outside of the walls and went to investigate.

She came to the front of the crowd, which took a large amount of versatility on her part, and came to a stop in front of a wooden casket standing suspiciously against the wall. Secretly she thought to herself that maybe the Weasley's or one of the others had finally made an appearance, killed for a ransome that the Order hadn't accepted.

Soon after Luna got to the front of the group, most of the teachers from the school including McGonagall, Flitwick, Hooch, Sprout and madam Pomfrey, came running from the school to the front gates. By the time they got there they were looking extremely flush from the run and highly worried. McGonagall's hair was hanging around her face, having come out of her usually strict bun, her eyes wide with an expression of fear on her face.

None of the teachers even thought to order the students away from the casket and it was clear that even if they did the students wouldn't move, too transfixed by the wooden box to even think straight.

Making the first move McGonagall turned to the wooden casket lifting her wand towards it with the intent of opening it. Thinking twice, she transported it to the ground where the contents of the bx could not fall out onto anyone in case it was dangerous. She spelled the nails away from the lid and, holding her breath, looking very on edge, levitated the lid off the box and put it to the side.

No one could see what was in the box to begin with as the thick fog was starting to role in obstructing their view. Professor Hooch carefully approached the casket before anyone else could move.

Luna saw her tense and turn deathly white and she began focussing intently on the contents of the box. Fearing for what was to come Luna felt tears come to her eyes and became aware of just how forboding the darkness of night was. As the other professors approached the casket, which she now supposed she should call the coffin because it was obvious that was what it was, Hooch fainted away, the sight too much for her to bear.

McGonagall was the next to lean over the edge of the coffin and let out a loud scream when she saw what was inside. "Get all the students inside!" She said to the other professors before they could see what all the fuss was about.

As Luna and the rest of the students were being led away, they heard another scream from McGonagall and all eyes turned to the coffin. Seeing that someone was now sitting up in the box. Thinking it was an inferi Flitwick turned and set the box alight with his wand, not taking anymore chances before the thing in the box jumped out.

"Who the hell did that?" Yelled someone who sounded suspiciously like Snape "Well? Geez, survive the killing curse, get killed by fire, real nice."

"But Snape, you are dead! What do you mean survive the killing curse? You're evil!" McGonagall yelled at him ferociously.

"What the hell are you blathering on about woman?" Thinking for a moment Snape appeared to come to an understanding "...Oh, yeah."


	24. Bad News

**Harry Potter and the Catranas**

**Chapter 24- Bad News**

Severus looked around trying to come up with a solution to his current predicament. This wasn't good, he was a traitor as far as these people were concerned and this was a really stupid place to be considering his circumstances. He was supposed to be dead! He couldn't wrap around the fact that he had actually become the second person to ever survive the killing curse. But that was a mystery better left for a more appropriate and safer time, right now he had to convince the remaining professors of Hogwarts that he was actually on there side. Failing that he could always run again but he had a feeling that he wouldn't be near as lucky this time around.

Before Severus had realised what was happening Flitwick had cast a body bind on him severely inhibiting his movement, although being a Catranas means that he was a lot stronger than Flitwick, but why try and escape? Especially seeing as though there were a bunch of trained wizards and witches watching, he would be re-caught entirely too easily. Feeling himself falling without the ability to move freely Severus greeted the ground with a rather loud thump. 'Being already injured you would think they would lay off a little' thought Severus trying to see the humour in a rather serious situation.

The teachers then transported Severus through the hallways and up to the hospital wing where they proceeded to bind him to the bed before Flitwick removed the body bind. Severus laid there for a while trying to orientate himself once more his eyes adjusting to the bright lights of Poppy's domain.

"Alright Snape, here's the deal!" Said Minerva none too kindly "We are going to heal you, then we are going to call the minister for magic and he will come and hopefully bring some of those nice dementors with him"

Severus just stared at the woman for a few minutes worry and fear shown clearly in his eyes, too dazed and confused to open his mouth and explain what was going on. Minerva paused for a little while before continuing "Unless, you give us an excellent, beyond spectacular, reason that we should not let them take you and give you The Kiss"

Draco heard the door open at six the next morning and looking around the room he was in he noticed that he had apparently bunked in Lucas's room last night as Lucas was currently draped around him sleeping softly despite the loud sirens that announced a visitor to the Lair.

"Lucas, wake up" Draco gently shook Lucas so as to not get him in a bad mood.

Lucas opened his eyes slowly adjusting to the light in the room around him. He sat up and regarded Draco thoughtfully "Hello Dray, what are you doing in my room at..." Lucas turned and looked at his bedside table clock "...six in the morning! are you insane? I have another good four hours sleep ahead of me!"

"Someone just came through the door. Do you think it's your father?"

"I have no idea Dray, I hope so though, I'm beginning to get worried about him too." Lucas replied and jumped out of bed, finding something to wear and walking out the door of his bedroom closely followed by Draco who was already clothed from the night before.

The pair came to a halt outside the palace noticing that the guards were on standby. Lucas approached one of the closest men to enquire about what was going on when they heard a struggle followed by two armed guards carrying in a very raggedy looking Lucius Malfoy. "Let go of me you fools! I have important information for Tori!"

The guards looked to Lucas for an indication as to what they should do. "Let him go, he's an allay" The guards released Lucius and cleared the way allowing for Draco to hug his father for the first time since the attack at Hogwarts.

"Dad! I missed you! What are you doing here?" Draco asked elated that he could finally contact his father again without risking interception.

"I missed you too Draco." Said Lucius hugging his son back forcefully showing the truth behind the statement "I'm here to talk to Tori and it's urgent"

Lucas looked to Draco like he wanted to be anywhere but here at the moment. There was only a few reasons that Lucius would be here needing to talk to Tori. White faced, Lucas turned to Lucius and beckoned him into the palace.

Once inside the entertainment room Lucas went to fetch Tori while Draco and Lucius proceeded to inform each other of their activities for the last few weeks. "What's been going on here then Draco?" Asked Lucius interestedly.

"Oh you know, this and that." Draco replied, his mouth breaking out into a grin showing that more had occurred than just this or that.

"What is it?"

"Well first off, it was just me coming here to live! But then Severus brought some other people here. Gryffindors!" Seeing his father waiting for a more detailed description Draco continued "There's Potter, Weasley, Granger, littlest Weasley and a few adults. But best of all there's Neville! He's so close now I, I get to see him everyday!" Draco said putting emphasis on the last part of his recount.

"Ohhh..." Lucius replied in a completely un-malfoyish way "Going to make a move are you Dray?" He teased affectionately.

"I have this entire plan set out with Lucas about it" Draco told his father.

Before their conversation could proceed any further Tori came rushing down the corridor and into the room that housed the visitor. He was closely followed by Lucas and a man that Draco remebered seeing before but couldn't quite place his name.

Sitting down on the couch looking quite apprehensive, Tori asked "Hello Lucius, What is this urgent news you have for me?"

"Well you see..." Lucius stuttered nervously "We were at a meeting last night and some things were said and... well... Voldemort murdered Severus. I'm really sorry Tori. There was nothing I could do."

Draco watched his father very carefully feeling his heart aching to know that his godfather was no more. Dead. Draco felt tears forming behind his eyes, trying to keep them from falling. But his will broke as he saw his father start mourning for his best friend. Crawling up to Lucius, Draco snuggled up next to him, both of them drawing strength and comfort from each other as they tried to give Lucas and Tori some privacy so they could mourn.

Tori sat dazed for a few minutes, waiting for the news of his lover's death to sink in properly. 'Severus is dead.' he thought confusedly. 'This can't be true! Severus is a good person. He didn't deserve that. I never should have let him go' Thoughts raced through Tori's mind, full of regret, anger, frustration and the most prevalent emotion- pain.

Letting himself go, Tori leaned over to gather Lucas in his arms. Lucas would be his responsibility now, the Catranas would be his responsibility too. Everything was too much for him at the moment. Failing to be able to think straight was not really helping his cause either.

The tiny group, now one member less, sat together and cried for a good few hours before a few members of the army came in to see Tori. "Sir, we hate to disturb you while you are grieving, but we need to know what's going to happen now."

Tori looked up at the men and women in front of him. His eyes were red and puffy from crying and his cheeks were tear strained. His once perfectly controlled hair now hung in every direction from his head. "I suppose you should gather the rest of the Catranas so I may make a speech informing them. I'll get ready now, have them meet in half an hour." He said bravely, bracing himself for the horrible task ahead.

Walking from the room in a daze, not really thinking about anything at all Tori went down the halls and into his room. 'Severus is no longer going to be here' he thought. Staring at a picture of him and Severus on a date a few years back he felt tears well up in his eyes again. Fighting them back he focussed on getting ready to face the crowds thinking the entire time about his past with Severus.

Coming up in front of the assembly was harder than he thought. He was currently standing up in front of the Catranas delivering his speech. The people were devastated at the news that their leader had died. Many of them were crying now, wishing this all just to be a major hoax. Unfortunately for them it wasn't. Tori didn't know what he was doing when he made the call, he hadn't intended to take it that far. But he did. "We shall go to war with the side of the light! Not for the wizarding world, not for ourselves, but for Severus! In honour of his memory, to avenge his death! None of us thought that the war would come this far to home, we all thought Severus was indestructible. But unfortunately this is not so. The Death Eaters will pay for what they have done to our prince!"

Tori did not expect the overwhelming support that graced his ears when he finished his speech. Every single Catranas in attendance was cheering him on, just as keen to get back at the Death Eaters for killing Severus. The entire day had been horrible for Tori, and it wasn't even lunchtime yet. Raith came up behind Tori and wrapped his arms around him, letting Tori use him for support.

They departed from the conference area and Tori went to mourn Severus with his closest friends Raith, Boran, Diena and Cati. Reaching Tori's room the group huddled inside each feeling the support of the others around them while they grieved the loss of their close friend.

**Please R&R!**


	25. Luna's Discovery

**Harry Potter and the Catranas**

**Chapter 25- Luna's Discovery.**

Luna was in shock when all the teachers ordered the students into the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony and feast, as Snape was lead away from the eyes of the students and up into the school. Professor Flitwick and professor Sprout led the students up to the castle a fair distance behind.

Not wanting to be left in the dark about anything, Luna walked at a considerable distance away from the rest of the group waiting for a time when she could track the ex-professor down and see what was really going on.

She saw her chance to sneak off when the students all entered a portrait-free, dark corridor. Wasting no time, she hid behind one of the statues in the room and waited for all the students to pass before coming out of her hiding space and heading for the hospital wing, hoping that she was right about where they were taking the fugitive.

Apparently she was not the only one who had this idea as she had only gone a few steps when another person came out of hiding and they collided with each other. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" asked a male. Luna couldn't recall ever hearing his voice so she assumed it was someone she didn't know.

"You tell me who you are first!" Luna demanded, her voice more high-pitched than she would have liked.

"I asked you first." Argued the voice "Where are you going?"

Luna began to get very frustrated with this conversation. "Look, this is getting us no where! I am Luna Lovegood. Who are you?"

"Blaise Zabini" replied the boy.

"Ok then, since I answered that question first, you have to answer the second first. Where are you going?"

"Fine! I'm going to see if I can see what's happening with professor Snape, he's supposed to be dead. Voldemort supposedly killed him himself." Blaise answered forcefully. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see what's going on too! I want to know what happened to the Weasley's."

"The Weasley's?" Blaise asked as the pair began walking in the direction of the hospital wing.

"Yes" Luna replied, nervousness starting to set in as she would finally find out what happened to her dear friends when she got to the infirmary. "They've been missing for ages! No one knows what happened to them. If Voldemort got them, Snape would know wouldn't he?"

"He didn't get them. I mean, he went to. But they were gone. Some Death Eaters said that they saw Snape leaving the scene with them through the use of a portkey. That's why Snape was 'killed'."

Luna turned to her new acquaintance apprehensively. She could now see his face clearly as they reached the stairs leading to the hospital wing. She saw his Slytherin robes and immediately caught on to what was happening. "You are a Death Eater aren't you? Well, just so you know, I'll kill you right here, right now! So just turn around and walk away!"

She mustn't have looked very convincing as Zabini turned to her and laughed. "You wouldn't kill me. Even if you wanted to, you wouldn't be able too and nor do I think it's in your nature to kill. Besides, I'm not willingly a Death Eater!" Zabini immediately gasped at his sudden confession, he stopped walking and covered his mouth with his hand.

He turned to Luna white-faced and stunned. "Please don't tell anyone I said that. I'll be killed for sure!"

For some reason Luna trusted the boy. Turning to him she said "Don't worry, I won't. You help me, I help you right?"

"Ok, what do you want me to do?" asked a now incredibly relieved Blaise.

"Help me find out what's happening in the hospital wing." She stated bluntly.

The new friends walked to the hospital wing each in their own world til they found themselves standing at the double doors between them and the condemned man.

Reaching into her pockets Luna pulled out two flesh coloured contraptions and passed one to Blaise instructing him what to do with it."Ok, place this end on your ear." she said pointing to one end "Then roll the other end under the door." She went first, showing him how it was done.

When they had both set the extendable ears up they became silent, waiting for any noise to give them a clue as to what was going on.

They didn't have to wait long before the noise from the usually quiet room of the hospital wing filtered in.

"...we should not let them give you the Kiss" McGonagall was heard saying clearly talking to Snape.

There was almost complete silence for a few minutes, with only McGonagall's impatient tapping of her foot to let the students know that the ears were still working.

They heard the squealing of the bed springs as Snape shifted positions. "Albusisn'tdead!" He said in a rushed voice. They didn't catch what he was saying. Thankfully neither did McGonagall.

"What?" She said rather rudely for someone usually so dignified.

"Albus isn't dead" Snape said again, a little more slowly. The events of the day taking their toll on him. "I didn't kill him. It was a hoax."

The two teenagers at the door were stunned into silence, looking at each other with identical looks of astonishment on their faces.

"Pull the other one Snape." Said McGonagall, her voice now wavering. "Potter saw him die, saw you kill him."

"Looks can be deceiving Minerva" Said Snape

"Why would Albus do that without telling the rest of the Order?" McGonagall asked sceptically.

"Because the more people who know, the more chance there is of our plan being blown!" Snape replied irritated.

"Can you prove it?" Their professor asked plainly.

"Got any Veritaserum handy?" the runaway asked arrogantly.

"We do actually" Said madam Pomfrey, speaking for the first time since the students began eavesdropping. The teenagers heard the opening of a cabinet and some clinking of glass before Pomfrey said harshly "I trust you know what to do with this"

Luna listened carefully as the two women questioned their new patient. His story checked out. Luna was rather amazed and over the moon as it was revealed that the Weasley's and their companions had not been captured by the Death Eaters at all and that Snape had been the one to save them.

As Luna was about to hear where her friends were being kept, Blaise tapped her on her shoulder and pointed out that there was someone coming this way. Running around the corner, they hid taking cautious looks toward the hospital door. Professor Sprout came up the stairs and immediately went into the hospital wing without looking back.

The two spies reacted by placing the extendable ears back under the door. "Ok, the students have all been sorted and introductions have been done. What do we do now?" She asked McGonagall.

"Now Pomona, you stay here and keep Severus company. He will fill you in, and don't worry about him lying. We checked his story using Veritaserum. While I go and obliviate the students, we don't want this getting back to Voldemort do we? You didn't dismiss them did you?"

"No, they are all still there." Sprout replied as McGonagall swept out of the hospital wing giving strict instructions for no one to be permitted in, except in emergencies.

The pair of students decided that they should move before their luck ran out and they were discovered. Running to the room of requirement, Luna walked infront of it a few times and waited for the door to appear before them and then led the way into the newly transfigured common room to discuss their findings.


	26. The Preparation

**Harry Potter and the Catranas**

**Chapter 26- The Preparation.**

Lucius looked through his Death Eater mask at his 'lord' wondering what this meeting was all about. He had left the Catranas after he had delivered the bad news and unfortunately only had a day to grieve for his friend before the Dark Lord called again. Two meetings in such a short amount of time was never good when it came to the Dark Lord.

"My loyal followers, I have vanquished the bastard spy from our ranks a great victory for us all. Now it is time to unleash terror on the world! To destroy all forms of happiness and force the people to live in darkness and fear! My forces have been gaining strength ever since I returned and I now believe I have enough followers to pulverize the enemy" Voldemort hissed out through his slit-like mouth, his split tongue occasionally showing through.

Lucius was getting more on edge as the minutes of the meeting ticked on, thinking that maybe Voldemort had caught Potter and the rest of the Catranas. He quickly dismissed this idea though because the Catranas were more than capable of caring for a bunch of teenagers and as far as Lucius was concerned, Voldemort thought the Catranas to be mythical.

"We are to attack at Hogwarts! There are many innocents there and the bloodshed shall be spectacular! By the time the Order Of the Phoenix gets there, there won't be any innocents left to save" The maniac snarled at the idea of the Order. "We shall gather all the Werewolves, Giants, Dementors, Vampires and Death Eaters. I can feel it now, all the glory! All the power! Mine!"

Lucius was sure that if he wasn't wearing his mask that Voldemort would be looking at him like he was crazy. He was standing at his usual position beside Voldemort with his mouth hanging open and a rather dazed expression on is face. Wondering what he should do, Lucius didn't ever register that he was being addressed by the Dark Lord. "...then Lucius, we will send out our legions to attack Hogwarts when we are at full capacity."

Lucius was by no means stupid, he knew that if he let on that he wasn't paying attention he would be severely punished so he pretended he knew what the man was saying and nodded his head making sure to block against an attack of legilimency. A mistake like that could be costly to him at this stage of the war.

"Well then, by the next week we shall attack, I shall not say the date. It would be foolish to do so if any of you have the same ideas as Snape did. Right now I want Bellatrix and Rudolphus to summon all my Vampire fighters to this house, Rabastan and Lucius you can fetch the Giants..." Lucius tuned out after that thinking to himself how he was supposed to warn the Catranas and Dumbledore of the impending battle if he was out gathering Giants with Rabastan LeStrange, a fiercely loyal Death Eater.

His attention was snapped back to the present when Voldemort announced gleefully "McNaire and Goyle, you will go to Lithuania and try and convince those bloody Catranas to come over to our side. I have it on good authority that they are against the Ministry of Magic, so maybe they will help us."

Apparently some of the other Death Eaters were under the opinion that the Catranas weren't real because many of them whispered amongst themselves. "You don't seriously believe those fools at the ministry do you? The Catranas are a real race and rest assured they are as spectacular as they are made to seem. It is even rumored that some can withstand the killing curse, although I highly doubt that." Pausing after his sentence to let the information to sink in he dismissed the group of followers by saying "Well? What are you all waiting for? Get to work!"

Lucius and Rabastan met up in the foyer of the Riddle House, masks still in place, discussing the arduous task ahead of them. Lucius was not looking forward to the trek up the mountains any more than he guessed Rabastan was. But being a loyal Death Eater Rabastan would never disobey the orders given to him by the Dark Lord, his precious master.

"Ready to leave Malfoy? We have an errand to run." Rabastan said gleefully.

"Oh shut up you fool and lets get this over with!" Lucius replied harshly, immediately changing back to his Death Eater facade with ease.

He turned and headed towards the door, and only then did it hit him. The comment Voldemort had made earlier about the Catranas popped into his head and in his shock and hope he stumbled and almost landed face first onto the dusty wooden floor boards if it wasn't for the arm that wrapped around him, stopping him mid-fall.

Looking up into the eyes of his savior, he roughly shoved Rabastan away and glared at him as if it was all his fault that Lucius fell. Dusting off invisible lint from his robes Lucius composed himself carefully, trying to force back the hope he held that his best friend was still alive and well. Although he had to seriously wonder how well he could be in the company of people who still considered him a traitor.

Rabastan trailed after Lucius as the exited the mansion and headed towards Lucius's home to gather supplies, presents to offer the Giants and clothing for the trip ahead of them.

The pair apparated to the mansion and went straight to Lucius's study to gather the elaborate gifts. Walking in the room Lucius note, much to his dismay, that he had forgotten to remove all the pictures of Severus and himself that were decorating the area.

Rabastan appeared to notice these immediately as he walked up to one and inspected it carefully, a perplexed look on his currently unmasked face. "Why have you got pictures of Snape in your study?" He said turning to look at Lucius's face.

Lucius replied truthfully "I haven't had time to remove them yet. Been too busy."

"Aha, sure" Rabastan was developing a rather nasty glint in his eye that Lucius didn't like one bit.

"Why else would they be there then?"

"Because you secretly like the man, and you are a traitor too!"

"You would do well to hold your tongue LeStrange. I happen to... I hat...he's a..." Lucius was stuttering, he was shocking himself to say the least, never mind Rabastan who was openly gawking at his superior. For some reason Lucius couldn't find it in him to bad mouth his friend, even if his life hangs in the balance.

"You can't even say you hate him, or that he is a traitor. Tell me Lucius, do you even like the Dark Lord?" Rabastan was studying him carefully for any sign of dishonesty.

"Don't be stupid Rabastan! I work for him don't I?"

"Yeah but that doesn't mean that you like him."

Lucius realized that this was not doing any good convincing the other man that he was loyal to the Dark Lord but he could not think of anything to say. For some reason, the usually reserved, aristocratic English man froze.

There was a long awkward silence in which the pair just stared at each other completely still.

"Are you a spy Lucius?" Rabastan asked curiously, his words however, held none of the malice Lucius assumed they would.

Lucius didn't answer, he just hung his head. He couldn't do anything to further incriminate himself.

His silence was taken as a yes by Rabastan, who instead of running out of the house to tell the Dark Lord, walked over to Lucius and pulled him into a hug saying "I'm so glad I'm not the only one upset about Severus!"

Lucius just stood there with his eyes as big as saucers and staring at the wall in front of him, unsure whether this was real or not.

After Rabastan stepped away from him, Lucius came to his senses and began discussing the task ahead of them. "We have to go and summon the giants remember. Shall we go now, or do we wait a while till we have had more time to grieve and discuss this latest development?"

Rabastan looked over at Lucius and proclaimed, "We should grieve and talk first, I'm not much liking the idea of visiting the giants anyway. Besides, if the Catranas are real, and Voldemort recruits them, I doubt very much that it would matter if the giants are present at the battle anyway."

Lucius stared at him for a few seconds, just remembering the tasks that some of the other Death Eaters were given. "You just gave me the best idea Rabastan. How about we go to the Catranas home and warn them about the Death Eaters coming before McNaire and Goyle get there."

The other man just looked at Lucius like he was insane "Do tell Malfoy, Voldemort didn't tell anyone who doesn't need to know where they are, how are we supposed find them? McNaire and Goyle are stupid, but they are not that stupid, they would notice us following them."

"I already know where the Catranas live though. Severus was one."

"What!?!" Rabastan yelled rather amazed at the new information "Well, where do they live then? And doesn't that mean that he could still be alive, Voldemort mentioned something about the Catranas being able to withstand the killing curse?"

"Yeah he did. But you have to take into consideration that he had also been put under the cruciatus curse for a few long minutes first. That and Severus never mentioned anything about being able to stay alive after that had been cast on his people."

"I really don't think they would go experimenting with something like that though do you? Maybe it was just a one off thing."

The two walked along the empty halls of the Malfoy Manor, their feet echoing off the walls. Lucius never realized how empty this house was till after Severus's death. Usually, when Lucius got bored and the house was too dark and empty for him he would go to Hogwarts and spend time with his friend till he could stall no longer and had to go home to his unfaithful wife.

Coming to the door Lucius grabbed his cloak and handed a spare one to Rabastan so they could easily hide their identities from the other Death Eaters and walked to the edge of the anti-apparition borders.

Lucius grabbed Rabastan's hand and they were both gone with a crack to the homeland of the Catranas.


	27. Intrusion

**Harry Potter and the Catranas**

**Chapter 27- Intrusion.**

Harry looked out over the lake surrounding the Catranas lands early in the morning. It had only been a few days since the potion master's death and no one was really up for playing games at the moment. Harry was feeling particularly miserable due to the fact that Lucas, who was usually so cheerful, was now sitting on a rock on the edge of the lake, eyes downcast and crying. That seemed to be all that Lucas was doing these past few days, and Harry wanted to help out a friend and crush by making him forget everything that happened, even if it was just for a split second.

Harry decided to let his Gryffindor side take over and walked over to Lucas thinking about what to say to him. Coming to a stop beside Lucas he sat down on the rock and placed a comforting arm around the destraught boy. "Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked rather stupidly.

Lucas looked up into the calming eyes of his companion and stated rather bluntly "Like shit. How about you?"

Harry didn't respond with words he didn't want to ask another stupid question like before. So instead he just drew Lucas closer towards him in a hug and they both settled in that position looking out towards the trees on the other side of the lake.

He didn't know how long they had been sitting there like that, each caught up in their own thoughts, but his attention was immediately brought back to the present when Lucas turned around and wrapped his arms around Harry and pulled him down for a soft kiss.

The kiss was soft and unhurried just like Harry had ever imagined it would be like. Lucas had warm full lips which were now slightly parted to allow Harry's tongue to explore the wet cavern. The kiss seemed to last for eternity, tongues brushing gently against each other but soon enough they had to pull apart when their oxygen supply ran out.

The two teens just stared at each other, neither knowing what to say. Harry was about to ask why Lucas had kissed him when the prince got up and ran off back to the castle away from Harry.

Meanwhile, Lucius and Rabastan were wandering through the forest that had formed around the lair, Lucius was trying to navigate his way to the lair with Rabastan keeping his eyes out for the other two death eaters who were supposedly scowering the area looking for the hideout of the Catranas.

Lucius admitted to Rabastan just half an hour into the walk that, while he had been to the lair many times, he was not sure on it's exact location due to the fact that Lucius was an aristocratic man and not at all much for tracking and hiking. Rabastan had just stared at him for a few minutes probably thinking that now he was a dead man.

If they hadn't been walking in these areas for such a bad reason, Lucius might have been compelled to take Rabastan on a detour so that they could enjoy the fresh air and each other's company, but time was against them and they had to warn the Catranas of the impending battle and discuss the possibility that Severus was still alive and well. So far though, the other two Death Eaters had not been seen and Lucius was almost worried about that. What if they had already made it to the lair and had convinced some if not all the Catranas to join? He then shrugged this off as a stupid idea, the Catranas were the most peaceful people he knew, they were not about to turn into muderous lunatics, let along team up with the people who killed their prince.

The two had stopped at a lake and were gaining their breaths when they heard a yell not far off from them. Rabastan gave the signal for Lucius to lie low and he would go and investigate what was going on. When Rabastan had made it a fair way into the woods Lucius followed closely behind to make sure that Rabastan would be alright. '_Can't have my only help in this mission injured now. I may need his help soon and he's no help when he's dead' _Lucius thought to himself, denying the fact that he was becoming rather attached to the other man.

He quickly navigated the forest until he came to a stop behind Rabastan who was now standing as still as he could and was trying to conceal himself behind a tree at the same time. Lucius forgot that he was meant to be hidden and came to stand next to Rabastan trying to see what would cause him to be so tense.

In the clearing, Lucius saw something that made his blood freeze. There, in front of the lair were the two Death Eaters Goyle and McNaire but they weren't alone, the Dark Lord had apparently decided that this would be a nice master-servant outing and was now sitting in a chair that was being pulled by two blood-covered Thestrals. They were trying to figure out how exactly they could get into the lair and Lucius and Rabastan were powerless to do anything to stop them.

Lucius became pale when he heard the door begin to open and the familiar sound of the alarm informing the Catranas to the presence of intruders. Lucius wondered what would become of his son if they found him in there, wishing to which ever supreme being that would listen to protect his son.

At least one god must have been smiling upon Lucius as at the present moment Draco was currently safely tucked away in Lucas's room trying to calm the boy who had, as far as Draco could decipher, single-handedly destroyed any chance he may hae had with the Potter boy by jumping at him when all Harry really wanted to do was take a swim. Draco thought this must have been an exaggeration but Lucas was adament that he had royally screwed everything up.

"Look, Lucas, I'm sure it's not really as bad as you say it is. I don't know what you did to him, but I'm sure he'll forgive you, he's a very forgiving person. Please just relax. You need something to cheer you up, so maybe tomorrow we could go outside and travel around Rome a bit? That might cheer you up a little, we can go shopping and all." Draco tried once more to convince Lucas to stop worrying.

"I kissed him Dray!" Lucas screamed back at him.

"What?" Draco was stunned.

"I kissed him when we were out by the lake. I was crying about Da you know, and then he came over in his swimming trunks and tried to comfort me. Then I kissed him. Without any warning I just reached up and started snogging his brains out. Don't get me wrong, it felt brilliant, but now he probably won't ever want to speak to me!"

"Ok, that was not what I expected" Draco said awkwardly. He was about to say something more but before he could, he heard the sound of the door being opened and the wail of the sirens to signify the entry of an unexpected guest.

"Wonder who that could be" Lucas said confused. Getting up the two boys raced out the door and to the nearest observation deck which consisted of a powerful spyglass that could see the entire span of the Catranas lands. Lucas set up the glass to point out towards the door.

He leaned down to have a look through and the next thing Draco knew, Lucas was reeling backwards yelling "I'll kill him! You just wait. I'll get him good." He then turned and sprinted out of the room Draco hot on his heels.

"Lucas! Who are you going to kill and what's going on?" He said trying to slow the other boy so he could get some answers.

"He's here Draco. Voldemort is here"

Draco came to a complete stop, thinking to himself that he must have heard wrong. He hoped he heard wrong. "What?!? He can't be here! Where's my dad?" The poor boy was in near histerics by now, thinking that something must have happened to his father and that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had got information about his whereabouts afterwards and had now come to kill him.

As Lucas walked out the door and up the road escorted by Toro and a few other warriors, Draco sat in a small recess of the castle crying for his father.

**REALLY REALLY SORRY IT TOOK SOO LONG. honestly I just got caught up with everything else that was going on in life but I've now sort of figured out a routine and our new computer is up and running I'm not here to make excuses though so... hopefully the next one shouldn't be too long in coming.**

**Please R&R especially if you have any ideas. That might make the updates come faster. **

**Thanks.**


	28. Deceiving the Dark Lord

**Harry Potter and the Catranas**

**Chapter 28- Deceiving the Dark Lord**

Toro and his guards ran as fast as they could to the door of the lair. Everyone in the area thought that perhaps it was Lucius coming to give them some more news, this was quickly proved wrong when someone yelled out that it was indeed Voldemort and a few of his followers. By now everyone in the lair knew what was happening and was trying to get a look at their enemy. Toro sent out the order to hold the people off at a respectable distance so that they wouldn't get injured.

When Toro got to the door, the other soldiers had managed to push the Catranas people back away from the area so that they were at a safe distance from the Dark Lord. Toro looked into the eyes of his enemy trying not to shudder as he saw the demon-like eyes staring back at him. "Why have you come to our home Vodemort?" Toro asked sounding a lot more braver than he actually was.

"Hmm..." Voldemort stared at Toro for a few minutes contemplating his response to this "You dare to call me that? You must be as powerful as the rumors say"

"What? You mean that you are not well informed about our capabilities or loyalties?" Toro asked trying to turn this confrontation to his advantage "I would have though that you wouldn't come here not knowing whether there was a risk of your destruction. No matter. Please do answer the question I asked I don't like being ignored. What are you doing here?"

"A straight to the point kind of guy... I like that" Said Volemort menacingly "I am here to ask for your alliance in this next war. Times are changing and the time to make a decision on where you are going to place your support is now. What's it to be then Catranas, will you join us?"

Toro thought about this for a few minutes. He wanted so badly to tell Voldemort to leave and never even think of entering their domain ever again. He didn't think that this would be a very productive step. He needed to know what the enemy was doing so that he could exact revenge on this murderer for taking his love away. Forcing a look of glee on his face, Toro smiled and answered "I would be honored to join you in your quest for the betterment of the world. What exactly would you have us do My Lord?"

"Good to hear it, we look forward to working with you. As for what you can do, we'll keep you informed through one of my most loyal followers. Lucius Malfoy" Voldemort hissed. "He will come to you with the information and instructions you need. However, you will all need to be marked of course, to ensure loyalty to me you are expected to take the mark if you are 17 or older. Agreed?"

"Of course, but not today we have preparations to make"

"We shall take our leave then." Voldemort sneered before turning and walking out the door his two followers tailing after them.

Toro breathed a sigh of relief thinking about how he could have possibly just lied to a 'thing' as powerful as the slimy bastard that just waltzed in to his domain as if he owned the place. Putting everything out of his mind for the moment Toro walked up to the castle to begin the planning of the upcoming war which he had just committed the Catranas to fight in.

He came to the board room where all the important decisions were made and was greeted by the leaders of the Catranas army and highly ranked advisors. Each one of them had a solemn look on their face obviously thinking that Toro had lost his mind after agreeing to fight along-side the people that murdered his lover.

Toro sat in front of them and patiently waited for the questions to come. When no one said a word for about five minutes Toro began to get irritated. "Well? Aren't you going to ask me what the hell I was thinking or what? Well as you might have guessed, if you have half a brain in your head, we are not really going to cooperate with the bastard we are going to double cross him the moment we get the chance to slay him, he will be gone for good. How dare he get rid of someone as wonderful and brave as Severus simply because he believed him to be a traitor."

One Catranas thought this would be a good time to argue her opinion against this theory at that moment. "You haved just committed this race to a war which we have no place in. You heard what Voldemort said, he believes us to be a truly powerful race and if we were to not fight in this war no matter the winner we would undoubtedly be left to our own devices afterwards. It is regretable that Lord Snape was killed, but we cannot condemn our people to fighting a war against the wizarding world, there would be no benefit and too much to lose."

Toro turned to the young woman. She was a Catranas totally devoted to peace and forgiveness. Something Toro had no interest in right now. "You should watch what you are saying around here. That might be interpreted as being traitorous. The people all agreed that they would like to get revenge for Severus. Not just because he is a leader, but because he is a true friend to them, he goes out of his way to help them, he is brave and loyal and they wish to avenge him in the best way possible. If you think that I am leading these people into a war that they do not wish to partake in, then by all means, ask the people what they want. If they should wish to not participate in this then I shall not make them do so. But if you do not have the whole facts then do not trouble me with your concerns."

Toro looked around the table at the rest of the people around him as if daring them to challenge him. When no one looked up at him he decided that he would get on with planning the rebellion so that they would be ready. Just as he was putting out the writing paper there was a knock on the door and a palace guard opened the door and stuck his head in. " Sir, Lucius Malfoy is here to have a word with you. Shall we tell him to eave immediately?"

"Why would I want you to do that? Voldemort did say that he would be sending the man to do his bidding did he not? And since when did I ever refuse an audience with Lucius under orders of Voldemort or not?"

Well I know that Sir, but he has an assistant with him at the moment whose intentions I have not yet discovered."

"I will be very careful with this then. We do not want our real intentions relayed back to Him now do we? Where is he I shall meet him immediately?"

"He is in the entertainment room Sir. Shall I send in a guard with you?"

"No that is not necessary I will be fine on my own. Please go and offer them refreshments and make them comfortable I will be there shortly."

The guard bowed as he backed out the door and footsteps could be heard as he went to carry out the orders he had been given.

Toro turned to the officials at the meeting and excused himself. He wandered leisurely down to the room that his friend was staying in all the time thinking about what this impromptu meeting could be about. More bad news? He seriously hoped not, he was still getting over the last bit of bad news that Lucius had given him.

As he entered the room Lucius and some one that Toro had never seen before rose and Lucius came forward and greeted him warmly. "Hello Toro, how are you feeling now?"

"I am as well as can be expected Lucius, how may I help you on such a dark day as this?" Toro asked bearing in mind that he did not know what this stranger was doing here and how much of a threat he was to his friends and family.

Lucius shifted uncomfortably clearly Toro was more than a little unhappy to see this new person hanging about his home. "I'm here because, ummm... well first let me introduce my friend Rabastan Lestrange Do not worry, he is a friend of mine." Lucius's words hellped to put Toro at ease seeing as though now Toro knew that he did not have to hide his real emotions. Sitting in the large comfortable lounge chair opposite the pair.

"I'm not too well Lucius. Lucas is moping around and I'm moping around and everything seems very dull and I just feel like I'm going through the motion without taking anything in."

"Is that why you agreed to fight with the Dark Lord or was that about something completely different?"

Toro laughed a dry laugh at that. "Lucius that was probably the first time I had been thinking right since 'it' happened. What a better way to exact my revenge than to get close to the thing that killed my love. But you have avoided my question long enough Lucius, why are you here?"

"Well I actually came here to talk about Severus." Lucius paused here watching for a few seconds to see what Toro's reaction would be. Apparently some of Severus's habits had rubbed off on the other man because his face remained impassive "We would like to know if there is any truth to the rumor that a Catranas could possibly survive the killing curse?"


End file.
