Chapter Two

Magic and… make-up?

"Lily!"

A hand slapped her forcefully over the face, making her head ring with pain. Why was she in pain? Oh right, the impact, the water, the leap… the gun powder… the mission… THE MISSION!

She opened her eyes and shot into sitting position, and then toppled sideways and threw up as the world did cartwheels around her throbbing head. When she finally looked up through curtains of sopping wet hair, feeling miserable, she was met by Andromeda's wooden glare and another stinging slap; for good measure, Lily supposed.

"You little fool!" the older woman snarled. "You price ass! Do you see now why I tell you to stick to the plan? Your wilfulness almost got you killed!"

"But it didn't," Lily snapped back sulkily, scrabbling in her coat pockets for a leather thong to tie her hair back with. "I managed to destroy their whole supply of gunpowder and..."

Andromeda grabbed her by the chin and forced her to meet her gaze. Steel forced its way into emerald, and Lily had to look away first, feeling her self-satisfaction and defiance shatter. "You know how much they put in store by you, you wretched slattern! It would demoralize every single rebel in this god-forsaken land if word came out that the Tiger Lily was dead. You may be my leader, but since it is obvious that you haven't the faintest idea of the responsibility it entails, it is my duty and my right to tell you that unless you stop acting like a spoilt child with a new toy, you will henceforth be taking all your orders from me. Is that clear?"

Lily hung her head, ashamed to have lost so much of her mentor's regard through one single stunt. She often forgot how much the other woman had sacrificed for the sake of the rebels, and her tendency to improvise during the course of her missions was something that regularly called down the disapproval of her mentor, but she had never seen her this angry.

Andromeda had been a captain of the Prince's troops before she fell in love with a rebel prisoner placed in her custody and fled with him into the wilderness outside the Meridian capital. When Lily's father – at that time the leader of the rebels – found out, he risked his own life to find them and smuggle them into the Eternal City, the sprawling labyrinth of caves under the capital where the rebels hid. He welcomed Andromeda into the organization with open arms, and when he and Andromeda's husband were lost, supposedly dead, during a mission, leaving Lily in charge of the band of rebels, Andromeda had sworn to protect and guide her.

"I'm sorry, Andy," she said reluctantly, sighing deeply as Andromeda regarded her with cold scepticism. "Look, I really am. But we put so much work into getting into the castle, and we're not even sure if we'll manage that again... I just wanted to make sure it counted for something."

Andromeda shook her head, but the worst of her anger had gone from her eyes. "Be that as it may, it was still irresponsible. But we'll have to leave that for later. We can't stay here, as I'm sure you understand. The place is swarming with guards, and I think that the Snakelord is with them."
Only then did Lily take in where they were. They appeared to be hiding in a thick patch of greenery in the unnatural forest of gigantic thorny vines that surrounded the castle. She could hear the distant calls of guards all around her, but not even they knew every part of the accursed forest, and wandered blindly in their search of the rebels. Lily guessed that Andy had told the others to get scarce, and had stayed behind by herself to watch over their unconscious leader, which meant that the only people they had to worry about getting out of there were themselves. Easy.

And sure enough, they managed to slip past the patrols without too much fuss. Lily was aching all over and was a bit clumsy, which slowed them down a bit, but they still would've managed to get out of there without raising the alarm if luck had stayed by their side just a little bit longer. As it was, at the very edge of the forest, from whence they could slip into wilderness and be lost to the soldiers, they managed to stumble right into a lone soldier taking a leak. Before Andy managed to slit his throat he had yelled bloody murder, and suddenly something was crashing through the thick vegetation, something that bore an uncomfortable resemblance to...

"The Snakelord! RUN!" Andy grabbed Lily and hauled her forcefully along, and even though blood was beating like drums in her hears, Lily still heard the panic in her voice, saw how the other woman's face had turned a ghostly white. As her father would have said, they were knee-deep in shit now.

"Why the hell did you ask him to come? Does he look like he'll be much fun?" James shot Severus, walking a few steps behind them, a sceptical glance. Peter had to admit he had a point. The look on the new boy's face could be described as somewhere between 'apathetic' and 'sullen disinterest'. But what could he do? He had already told Aunt Minnie that he would bring him and besides, Peter knew how much it sucked to be new and know nobody, so he supposed he ought to give the guy a chance.

"Don't whisper about him like that," he shot back. "Besides, I bet he's just shy. You know I was."

"Yeah, only you didn't glare like that."

"I can glare like that now if it helps?"

James rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Well, alright. I suppose it can't hurt."

"Funny, you sound like you're hurting a great deal, the way you're moaning," Remus said quietly, giving James an amused glance over his shoulder. Then he smartly stepped around the two shorter boys and took place beside Severus, starting to interrogate him on his old school. Sirius, who up till then had walked beside Remus, looked a bit put off but decided not to comment and instead fell into pace with James and Peter.

Peter's grandmother was waiting for them with hot chocolate and crumpets, and then she discreetly faded into a generic sort of bustling around the kitchen. But Peter got the feeling that she was actually watching them all the time, as if she was waiting for something else than awkward conversation to happen. She seemed especially interested in Severus, for every time he moved her head swivelled around, and for a few moments her gaze would not leave him. Finally, after the crumpets had run out along with the topic they had been pursuing, and silence fell for a moment over the kitchen, she approached the table.

"You boys want some more?" she asked, apparently trying to sound cheerful and not managing very well. Her normally stony face seemed to have difficulties bending into a smile. The boys shook their heads and politely declined, and she nodded and lifted the tray. As she did so, something slipped out of her hand and landed with a faint clatter on the floor next to where Severus sat.

"Here, you dropped this," he mumbled, bending forward to pick whatever it was up. Then out of nowhere came a blinding flash of pink light, and when they had all blinked the black spots from their vision, Severus was staring at a strange-looking necklace dangling from his fingers, looking rather silly.

"I knew it." Peter's grandmother was looking at the five of them, and Severus in particular, with definite smugness. "Of course it has never happened before, as far as I am aware, but there is no reason why it shouldn't." The last part appeared to be for the benefit of herself, or perhaps someone who wasn't even there.

"Do you want this back?" Severus demanded, looking at her as if she had gone stark raving mad.

"Of course not, you silly boy," she said briskly. "It is yours now, after all."
"Uhm, thanks, but really, no thanks," Severus said, looking at the jewel with badly hidden scorn. It really was very pink.

"You don't have a choice, boy," she replied sternly. "You're a Guardian now."

"What? Guardian of what? What's this all about? Is this some kind of a joke?" Severus was looking at Peter, demanding an explanation for his grandmother's behaviour, but Peter was just as bewildered.

"Granny? What are you on about?" he wondered plaintively, in a voice that said 'why are you embarrassing me in front of my friends?'.

"What I am 'on about', Peter, is that you have all been chosen to do something very special. You see, the story goes like this..." She made a motion with her hand and suddenly all background noises seemed to die away, as if they were now trapped in a bubble. The room seemed to grow darker, the shadows twisting into strange shapes. Sirius, Peter and James opened their mouths to speak, but Minerva McGonagall gave them a look so fierce that they all suddenly found themselves speechless. "There is another world called Meridian," she continued, "which lies only a shadow's width away from our own. For thousands of years, its history has been bloody and turbulent, as the eleven provinces made war upon one another." As she spoke, ghostly pictures appeared in the air, showing armies clashing and peasants starving; dying soldiers and mourning mothers. The boys watched in horrified fascination, too overwhelmed to disbelieve what they saw. "But fifteen years ago, the citizens of Meridian knew hope. A prophesy was made, that if the second son born to the royal family was to rule, the land would know peace and prosperity again. Soon thereafter, the queen gave birth to a son. They called him Regulus, 'the little king'." A woman holding an infant in her arms appeared in a window, and the crowd below cheered. Old ladies and men alike cried without shame. "But there was one who did not rejoice. The older prince, Lucius, was furious at being bereft of the throne which he saw as his by right. And through violence and treachery, he overthrew his parents and seized power over Meridian." A pale-faced youth with cold eyes stood over the woman from the last vision, a long dagger dripping blood in his hand. Behind him towered a monstrous creature, like the perverted child of a man and a snake. "Lucius sought to kill his younger brother, but Regulus' nursemaid fled with the boy, bringing him to earth through a rift in the worlds, a portal. Here she found a family where the parents resembled members of the royal family and left the child on their doorstep, using magic to make sure that they would keep him. Then she returned to Meridian with word of what she had done. And once more, the people knew hope, and out of that hope was borne a force of resistance against Lucius; out of that hope, the Rebels were born." They saw faces of men and women, all with the same hard look in her eyes; they were being led by a beautiful young woman who laughed as she fought. Then the images faded away.

"And where do you stand in all of this?" Peter's grandmother swept her eyes over the stunned boys. "Since anyone can remember, there have been Guardians. Guardians are people who watch the boundaries between two worlds; warriors serving to protect the people of both. Their most important duty is to close the portals between two worlds whenever they open. And now, with Lucius ruling Meridian and seeking power over more worlds than one, it is more important than ever. Also, since you now are Guardians over Meridian and Earth, it will be your duty to try to find Regulus before Lucius does." As she said these words, the sounds from the street outside gradually came back, and once more the room looked ordinary and bright.

At length, James said, "This is impossible. It's... it's completely illogical."

"You just saw visions floating in the air, and you are trying to bring logic into this? Should I be impressed or amused?" Minnie raised her eyebrows and James blushed.

"But why should we...? What makes you think that we should be this... this thing... Guardians or whatever?" Sirius demanded.

"Because Peter is my grandson," the old woman replied. "It is always inherited through one of the old Guardians, such as myself, and since I was the only one of us to have children, we knew that I would be the one to find the new Guardians."

"You were a Guardian?" Peter blurted out, staring at his grandmother.

"Well, yes. In fact, the Guardians have always been, well, female up until now. But my daughter never showed any signs of power, and she only had a son: You. So I have to suppose that is why you are all boys."

"But we're no warriors, Mrs McGonagall," Remus pointed out respectfully.

"At least one of you has a sensible question. But the Guardians are not warriors in the traditional sense; that would not be enough. The Guardians fight using magic."

A long silence followed her words, and then Remus cleared his throat. "Well, Mrs McGonagall, we don't know how to use magic either."

"Not yet, you don't. But you will learn. I would guess that you, Remus, will evolve a power over the element earth. Peter, you have already displayed power over air, as your room bears witness of. Sirius, you remind me of Renée, so my guess would be that you will soon learn to control fire. And that leaves you, James, with water."

"And that leaves me free to go home, I suppose," Severus said, standing up. "Because whatever this is, I don't want any part of it, and obviously this only concerns the four of you, so..."

"Sit." Minerva's eyes flashed. Severus sighed, sitting down. "You are the most important one of all. Your power is that of the heart. Now, the power of the heart cannot burn down a building or cause an earthquake, but the heart is the element that binds all the other elements together. In other words, only you can release the full potential of the power of the Guardians, and to you is given the power to close the portals when they open. And that is why you shall carry the Heart of Kandrakar." She gestured at the pendant that Severus still had clutched in his hand. Almost as if it had been listening, the Heart started pulsing gently, emitting a soft pink radiance. Severus almost dropped it in shock.

"Well, that settles it," Minnie said, as if that was all the consent she needed. "I suggest you get together tomorrow somewhere where you won't be seen, and you," she fixed Severus with a steely gaze, "hold the Heart aloft and activate it through the words, 'Guardians unite'. If this is just the ramblings of a senile old lady," she gave them all an amused look over the top of her glasses, "then nothing worse will happen than you looking mildly silly. And if it isn't... well, then you've got some things to consider, don't you? Now, are you sure you don't want more chocolate?"

"I can't believe we went here. I mean, the lady is obviously off her nut-"

"Hey! Fuck off!"

"Sorry Peter, but what are we supposed to think? I mean..." Words failed Sirius, and he just gesticulated in frustration at the gloomy, dripping forest around him.

Severus was staring at the pendant dangling from his fingers. "Well, if she's crazy then we are too."

There was nothing to answer to that. What they had seen could be a hallucination, of course, but on the other hand, what business did the five of them have, having the exact same hallucination? It made no sense.

"Well, should we get this over with, then?" James suggested, brushing a spider away from his jeans. "I mean, at least Peter's grandmother was right about that; we won't lose anything by trying."

"Except if she's right," Remus pointed out with his most sensible tone of voice. "Then we'll be forced to battle a prince and, presumably, his whole army together with a rag-tag rebel force. That's a bit of a loss in my book."

"Well, yes," Sirius conceded, "but wouldn't it be sort of... wrong of us not to try?"

"He's right," Peter chimed in thankfully. "I mean, if we could help people..." His words faltered into silence, and as they watched each other in the second-hand light from the bleak autumn sky, they were all thinking the same thing: Who in this world – or any world – would want to be saved by them?

"Very well then," Severus finally said, shrugging "Here goes, I suppose." He lifted the Heart of Kandrakar into the air, glaring at it as if that would make it look less silly. "Guardians unite."

After that things became a little confused. Remus had the impression of everything becoming very bright, all swirling colours and flashing lights, and the air got warm and almost... liquid, enveloping him, and as he opened his mouth in shock, inhaling against his will, the warmth spread to his body and he felt something inside him... shifting. And then it was gone, and he was on his hands and knees on the ground, panting, trying to rid his lungs of the feeling that they were filled with warm glue.

And then he heard James saying, "What the hell are we wearing?"

Remus looked up, confused, and then, for a long – very long – moment, did nothing but stare. At James. Wearing a long, flowing skirt and showing more of his stomach than Remus had ever felt the need to see. And everyone else. In the same kind of feminine, figure-hugging, purple-and-green clothes, topped up with what was obviously large amounts of make-up. And himself. In a pink mini-skirt.

Sitting back on the cold, moist ground, he covered his face with his hands. "Please tell me we are not going to fight bad guys wearing this!"

A/N: Oh, of course I was going to use the horrible costumes! I mean, what would be the point of this fic if I didn't get to turn them into cross-dressing giant bugs?! Plus, I'm sure there's at least one warped fangirl out there who would consider this TEH HOTNESS! Try to get into that mindset while you wait for the next part ;D