Author's note.

Hey guys! It's been... god I don't remember how long. This time last year maybe? Two years? I seriously don't remember. Well as you can probably tell if you're still following me, i'm not writing nearly as much as was (slight exaggeration), unless it's assignments. Uni has a bad habit of curbing the amount of available free time i have and my creative writing spirit. *sigh* There are plot bunnies breeding at the moment though! I'm hoping the creativity will catch on. :)

Anyway, I've got 2 weeks before final exams are done, then a week of relax and prep time, and then i'm going on placement for a month! So while I will have limited internet, I will have heaps of time on my hands when i'm not running around in an Ambulance (FYI i'm studying Paramedicine at uni, in case you're interested and I haven't told you all). I finish up early December, and will finally get back to normal internet! And yeah, i know you've all heard it before and I say it every time... I'd really like to make it a priority to finish Second Chance though before I got back to start my 3rd year of Uni February next year. The accomplished feeling of having actually completed something will be amazing.

So, if you have some semblance of trust in my word (not that I blame you for not having any), I do plan to get back into the creative writing scene, hopefully soon. :)

Anyway, enjoy reading!

~Vex

P.S. I apologise in advance for the severe awkwardness of this chapter. I hit writers block. :(

Roxas was curled up on the couch in the Gryffindor Common Room with a library book when Sora plopped down on his feet with a dramatic proclamation of "I'm bored."

"So go and visit Riku," Roxas replied without even skipping a word in his book.

"But he's being all weird."

"Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know. He suddenly wants to hold my hand and touch me all the time."

"And you find that odd how?"

"He wasn't like that a few days ago."

Sighing, Roxas used his fingers as a bookmark and closed the book on them, turning his full attention to his Somebody. "Sora, what did you think was going to happen when you agreed to date Riku?"

"That things would stay pretty much the same I guess."

Raising his eyebrows in disbelief, Roxas leant forward a bit. "Sora, you've agreed to date Riku. You know what happens when two people date, correct?"

"Well, yeah… but I didn't think it would really happen the same way between two guys."

"Then you're an idiot."

Blinking in surprise, Sora deflated a bit. "Yeah, I know."

"Not that I really want to ask this, but what's so weird about it? You like him, don't you?"

"Well, yeah. He's my best friend."

"If that's all you feel about him then you shouldn't have agreed to date him."

"But…!"

"No but's! That was your decision, and how you have to live with it."

Sora sighed and dropped his chin onto the back of the couch. "I suppose."

"If you don't want to go out with Riku then you need to tell him. Stop pulling the poor guy along by his nose."

Sora bit his lip a bit and chewed it, pulling the pillow he was sitting on onto his lap and clutching it.

A dark portal opened up in the corner and both of them jumped to attention as Xigbar appeared. "Oi, you two. Get off your butts and come help us. The Dungeons are overrun by Heartless. We're calling all hands on deck."

Both keyblade wielders jumped up and Roxas took Sora's hand while pulling him towards the portal. Sora closed is eyes as they ran, coming out into a burning room filled with a large swarm of shadows. A couple of beakers were blazing away quite happily in the corner while a purple liquid slid down the cupboards to the floor. Vexen was attempting to stop the flames and protect himself from the sharp claws at the same time; his shield was out and he wacked them and threw icicles at the bugs.

"What happened?" Roxas asked as he rushed headlong into the fray, keyblade out. Sora followed him.

"Experiment gone wrong," Vexen coughed and planted his shield in front of him just in time to avoid getting struck by a fireball from an element Heartless.

"No shit," Xigbar growled and shot an array of arrows into a patch of Heartless on the other side of the room. "What were you trying to do anyway?"

"I was trying to see if Dark Shards would have any effect on some of the potions here."

"And?" Xigbar asked as he reloaded.

"They do. They amplify the effects of the dark shards to create dark magic spots."

"Is that why there are so many Heartless being drawn here?" Roxas asked as he sliced through another Heartless.

"Precisely."

"Why would you research that inside the Castle?"

"Where else can I research?" Vexen growled back at the other blond.

Roxas stayed quiet.

Sora leapt into a pile of Heartless and quickly took them out. "Let's just finish this and we can discuss this after."

"Agreed," Vexen said and rushed forward to where a glowing purple vial was sitting on a desk, knocking Heartless out of his way as he went. "Roxas, destroy this!" Tossing it to the blond Nobody, Roxas swung the keyblade towards the vial and smashed it, the liquid and glass splattering to the floor. The stones let off some steam as the liquid evaporated and left behind only the glass shards and the dark shard that had been sitting in the bottom of the vial. Ignoring it for the moment, Roxas quickly turned to dispatching the rest of the Heartless.

Before long the room was empty and Vexen quickly rushed over to put the fire out where the spilt chemicals were happily burning away and filling the air with noxious fumes. Waving his hand, ice surrounded the flames and melted into water as the heat battered against the ice. The flames were quickly put out with a smothered hiss and smoke rose into the air.

Sora coughed and covered his mouth with his sleeve, his blue eyes stinging from the smoke.

"Vex, I think we need to have a discussion about what it is you're allowed to do inside the Castle and what you're not allowed to do," Xigbar coughed as he dropped to the ground and opened a portal in the highest point of the ceiling, allowing the smoke to escape from the underground room to outside.

"I don't see what the problem is," Vexen huffed as he brushed himself off, black marks from the smoke covering his face and hair. "I never had limitations before."

"Yeah but we owned that Castle. We don't own this Castle. There's a difference."

Vexen huffed and bent down the pick up the dark shard. "Fine."

"We can go now, right?" Roxas asked, already heading for the door.

"Yes," Vexen dismissed, and Roxas tugged Sora out by his hand.

"Quick, before they make us help clean up."

Sora nodded and the two keyblade wielders dashed from the room and back out into the hallway.

Riku and Zexion were jogging down the corridor towards them. "Hey," Riku greeted. "We heard a ruckus. What happened?"

"One of Vexen's experiments gone wrong," Roxas reported as he pointed his thumb at the blond scientist's door. "It drew an influx of heartless."

"Everything okay?" Zexion asked.

"Some noxious fumes, burnt bricks and a few destroyed vials, but other than that, fine."

Zexion nodded and headed for the door, opening it and closing it as he stepped through it.

Riku looked at Sora and opened his mouth to say something, closing it awkwardly.

The three of them stood in the hallway awkwardly for a few minutes. Roxas finally broke the silence. "Well, I'm going to head back to my book. See you later Sora."

"Uh, yeah, okay. Bye."

Roxas stepped back and drew a portal around himself, watching Riku and Sora watch him leave as the darkness wrapped around him.

When Roxas was gone, Sora turned back to Riku with an awkward smile. "Hi."

"Hi."

"How's your day going?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Have you been outside today?"

"No, not really."

"Don't. The weather is terrible."

Riku sighed. "Sora, can we please not do the awkward 'how's the weather' chat?"

"Well, what do you want to talk about then?"

"Do you… do you want to come to the kitchen's with me? I have some slice that needs to be pulled out of the fridge."

"Oh, yeah. Okay." Turning, Sora followed Riku as he made his way through the dungeons. They stopped in front of a big painting of a bowl of fruit, and Sora watched as Riku stepped forward and tickled the pear. The portrait swung outwards and the two teenagers stepped into the bustling kitchen, the two of them immediately being hit with a wave of heat and the sound and view of house elves running around the kitchen cooking and talking to each other.

"Wow," Sora said, looking stunned as he stared around the room with amazement. "This is incredible."

"James showed me this," Riku said as he stepped down into the kitchen. "Pretty incredible isn't it?"

"I didn't think the castle had a kitchen," Sora said in amazement. "I just thought the food appeared magically."

The two boys were suddenly surrounded by squeaking knee-high house elves.

"Master!"

"Master Riku!"

"Master!"

"What can we do for you?"

"Master Riku, your slice is ready! Dobbins has cut it up for you Master!"

"Tibbins helped Master Riku!" Another elf threw in and Sora blinked as the two began squabbling in front of them.

"Wow," Sora said again.

Riku laughed and pulled Sora down into the kitchen by his hand, leading him over to a table in the corner, even as he himself was being led. "Wait here for a minute. I'll be back with some slice."

Sora, by this time bright red, nodded and sat in the booth, watching as Riku was ushered over to the fridge to collect the slice he'd made.

There was a tug on his cloak and Sora looked down, only to find a house elf with a big white chefs hat (that was easily as tall as she was and falling down over her nose) standing at his feet. "Would the young Master wish to have lunch in the kitchen?" she squeaked.

Sora blinked and looked back at Riku, who seemed like he was being asked the same thing. Their eyes met and Riku nodded with a smile.

Sora looked back down at the ridiculous looking house elf and smiled. "I'd love to."

She squeaked excitedly and turned around to rush off, turning back at the last second to say, "Master wait here. Loebely will get the young Master a plate." She then hurried off. Sora watched her dart through the sea of house elves in amusement. The only reason she stood out was because of her big white chef's hat.

His gaze drifted to Riku, who was walking back towards him with a serving platter in his hands, the slice all nicely set out on it.

"Here you go," Riku said, placing the platter down on the table before he took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

"Yumm," Sora grinned and immediately grabbed a piece of what looked to be cherry ripe slice. He popped it into his mouth and closed his eyes in bliss. "This is amazing," he mumbled around the mouthful.

Riku smiled and took a bite of his own piece of slice. "Are you staying for lunch?"

Sora nodded and quickly finished the piece he was eating. "Are you?"

"May as well. Why head to the Great Hall when we can eat in style?"

Sora nodded again in agreement. "That involves walking."

"And no slice," Riku said with a knowing grin.

"And no slice," Sora agreed.

The two of them turned to watch the hundred or so house elves scramble around the kitchen, their seemingly clumsy motions completely random. Yet Sora and Riku both noticed that despite the chaos none of the house elves actually ran into one another, even when they were carrying large serving platters and pulling hot roasts out of the oven.

Before long the house elf with the huge white chef's hat reappeared with two plates piled high with both of their favourite foods. Sora grinned at Riku and they both tucked in.

Before long they were both done and bid the house elves goodbye with a container full of Riku's slice.

They walked through the corridors together, both teenagers feeling quite full. "What classes have you got after lunch?" Riku asked.

Sora crinkled his brow and thought about it. "Potions and charms."

Riku nodded and waved at Demyx as he walked towards them, an armful of books under his arm. "Hey."

"Heya," the musician greeted. "How are ya both?"

"We're ok," Sora replied.

"Where are you off to?" Riku asked curiously.

"The library. Zexy wanted me to return some light reading for him," Demyx sighed and with a grunt of audible effort hefted the pile of books from under his arm up into both arms.

"That's a hell of a lot of light reading," Riku commented as he raised an eyebrow.

"Tell me about it. Anyway, I should get going before I drop them. Later guys."

"Bye Dem," Sora farewelled with a wave. They watched him until the blond vanished around the corner.

The awkward silence fell between them again, broken only by the odd group of students walking past.

"I suppose I should get going," Riku muttered finally.

Sora flushed a bit and nodded, shifting awkwardly on his feet. "Yeah, same here. I need to go and get my stuff for potions."

Riku hesitated before stooping down a bit and placing his hand on Sora's shoulder, forcing the brunette to meet his eyes. "I'll see you later?"

Sora nodded and smile. "Yeah."

Hesitating, Riku looked down at shorter male's lips, and Sora licked his lips in response. He leaned in a bit, his eyes meeting deep blue.

"NO KISSING IN THE HALLS!" a prefect bellowed in their ears, causing them both to swear and jump.

By the time they both got their breath back and glared at his laughing retreating back, Sora started to laugh as well, and Riku quickly joined in.

"Well that was… unexpected," Sora laughed.

"Not entirely," Riku grumbled a bit, still chuckling. "Anyway, I really do have to go. Later Sor."

"Cya Riku," grinning and waving, Sora took off at a trot back towards the Gryffindor common room.

LINEBREAK

Sora sighed as he stood staring at Rose mixing the potion currently bubbling away in the pot as she read the instructions off the board and muttered to herself.

"…Add three sprigs of fox glove and mix counter-clockwise twenty-two times." Picking up the sprigs, she dropped them into the pot and watched with a hawks gaze as Sora stirred the potion twenty-two times counter-clockwise. She then quickly went back to the book. "Then add the powdered fire beetle and stir clockwise four times." She blinked in confusion for a couple of seconds before shrugging it off and dropping the powdered fire beetle into the potion.

As soon as the powder hit the potion, her eyes flew open in realization and she quickly threw herself away.

The potion exploded in Sora's face, his eyes widening a split second before they flew shut and his arms flew up to protect his face. A spinning sensation surrounded him, and when Sora blinked and came fully back to reality he found himself on the floor. "oooh… ow…" he groaned and staggered to his feet, clutching at his head.

Rose stared in horror down at Sora, her face having gone white the moment she realized what she'd done. "Oh Merlin…"

Sora blinked as his face felt kind of weird, and he pulled his hand away from his face, blinking as he realized it was a paw. Spinning in a circle to look at himself, Sora felt dread settle in the pit of his stomach as he realized he'd been changed into his lion form that he'd been in the pride lands. "Darn…"

"Sora?" Rose asked tentatively as she knelt down in front of him. "I'm so sorry," she murmured as she held a hand out for him to sniff.

"What did you do?" Albus asked angrily as he stormed over to them. "You turned Sora into a cat!"

"I didn't mean to! It was an accident!" Rose yelled back, her voice bordering on hysteria.

"Oh my," Zexion murmured as he knelt down beside the confused looking brunette. "This certainly is a predicament. Sora, can you understand me?"

Sora nodded and placed his paws on Zexion's knee. "Zexion, what's going to happen to me? Last time I was like this I was visiting the Pride Lands and it was a world effect."

Zexion's chest tightened as all he heard from Sora was a series of yowls, squeaks and whines. "Sora, we can't understand you."

"But I'm speaking perfect English," Sora protested, lifting his gaze to meet the young teen's half covered concerned gaze.

Again, all Zexion heard was a whine. He shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry Sora. I promise you we'll figure this out though."

Sora sighed and looked down at his paws. "Riku. Riku will know what to do." Backing down off Zexion's knees, Sora turned and sprinted for the door, ignoring Zexion's yell for him to stop.

As he ran through the castle, Sora grumbled to himself as the already huge castle seemed even larger in his smaller form, although he did manage to get around it quicker.

Reaching the transfiguration classroom, Sora leapt against the door, growling as he found it was closed. Summoning the keyblade he pointed it towards the keyhole and waited as the keyblade unlocked the door. He then quickly trotted inside, searching around the feet for Riku, even as McGonagall's voice faltered momentarily and the door closed again behind him.

Riku yawned as he absently jotted down notes as Headmistress McGonagall droned on about the historical laws of transfiguration and why they were enforced and later demolished.

A tug on his robes and a loud yowl had him looking down in confusion, eyebrows raising as he found a lion cub trying to crawl up his leg, crying and whining as it tried to talk to him.

Riku bent down to scoop the cub up, the whines turning into a squeak of surprise.

"What is that? Riku, is that cat yours?" Minerva asked disapprovingly as the silver haired teen disrupted her lesson.

"It's a lion cub, Headmistress, and no, it's not. I've never seen it before in my life."

The lion cub growled at him, blue eyes glowering at him.

Riku blinked and looked at the cat more closely. It looked familiar for some reason.

"Well then, why is it here?"

"I don't know."

"Whoa…" Demyx suddenly voiced, peering at the cub closer. "Hey, he looks like Sora."

The cub's tail began to wag a little as the blue eyes shifted to look at the musician.

Riku looked at the cat more closely. Actually, now that Demyx mentioned it…. "Sora?"

The cub yowled happily and began wriggling in his grip.

Riku quickly put Sora down on the desk and blinked as his best friend began talking, yowls, purrs, growls and other various noises emerging.

"Sora," he quickly interjected, "I can't understand you."

Sora stopped chattering immediately and his ears and tail hung down, the blue eyes growing sad and he lay down on the desk, putting his chin on his paws.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened, but we'll figure it out, okay?" he promised with a small smile, placing a hand on the brown fur and ruffling the spikey looking head of fluff.

Sora blinked up at him and nodded, a cat like smile finding its way onto his face.

Minerva blinked in surprise as she looked down at the lion cub. The feline was curled up on Riku's desk, relaxing under the pale hand as it looked rather sorry and sad. "Mr Valley, why don't you…?"

"Riku!" The door was suddenly thrown open and Albus and Scorpius burst into the room. They spotted the silver haired of hair and immediately headed towards him. "Riku, have you seen Sora? Rose accidently turned him into a cat. Zexion thought he might come here."

"Yeah, he's here," Riku replied as he patted the furry head.

"Oh, thank Merlin. Sora, you scared us all when you ran off like that," Albus complained as he knelt down so he was face to face with the cub. "Come on, Professor Higgs sent us to find you so he can figure out how to change you back."

"He can do that?" Riku asked with a smile of relief.

"Yeah."

Sora whined and looked up at his best friend. "Riku…"

The other islander looked down with a gentle smile. "Come on, go with Albus and Scorpius. I'll come and see you when class finishes."

"No," Sora replied as he shook his head and crawled closer to his best friend. "I'm scared Riku. I want you there."

Riku blinked and sighed, reading the brunette's body language correctly as the other keyblade wielder clung to him. It wasn't the first time Sora had done this. "Headmistress," he began with a sigh, looking up at the older witch. "Would you mind if I went with them? Sora won't go without me."

She looked rather unimpressed and shook her head. "You can go at the end of class Mr Valley. Mr Hikari, you can manage for twenty minutes, I'm sure. Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy, take him with you. He's disturbing my class."

Albus gave a helpless shrug and went to pick Sora up, jerking back as he was hissed at.

Sora slunk back into Riku's lap, ears flat against his head.

"Sora," Riku chastised and dropped a hand on the brown furry back.

Sora looked up at him with a whine and pleading eyes.

Riku looked back at the Headmistress, and so did Sora.

Minerva sighed and folded her arms across her chest, looking displeased. "All right. But I want you to catch up."

"Got it. Demyx, you're on note duty for me," Riku decided as he stood up, grabbing Sora and holding him in his arms while he turned to look at the water mage.

"Why me?" Demyx whined as he pouted.

"Because Axel's are useless."

They both looked at the red head, who was sat up and sound asleep, head resting on his palm as a pen rested in his hand, book open. As they watched, drool escaped from his open mouth and splashed onto the desk.

"Ugh… point taken," Demyx agreed with a shudder.

Riku pursed his lips and put Sora down before grabbing his textbook. "Oi, Fire-crotch, wake up!" Handling the book with both hands, he slammed it down on the red spikes, forcing the fire mages head to slip off his hand and slam onto the desk.

"What the fuck was that for?!" Axel snapped as his head shot up to glare at the silver haired teen.

"You could at least pay attention," Riku replied with a frown as he collected the rest of his books and picked Sora up again. "Later."

"Oi, wait! Where are you going? What are you two doing here?" Axel asked as he suddenly focused on Albus and Scorpius.

"We came to get Sora," Albus explained with a roll of his eyes as he turned to Scorpius with a shrug.

"Sora?"

"Long story," Demyx replied with a sigh.

Sora nodded his agreement and dug his claws into Riku's shoulder to keep his balance as his best friend began moving.

"Ouch, Sora, claws," Riku explained with a wince and reached up to detangle them.

Sora's tail swept out for balance as he pushed back a bit.

"Hey, Riku, is that a…?" Axel began suddenly, taking note of the lion cub attached to the older islanders chest.

"Sora? Yes. See you later." Without another word, Riku was gone, Albus and Scorpius not far behind him.

Axel blinked in surprise, turning to Demyx. "What did I miss?"

"If you'd paid attention Mr Flame, instead of sleeping through my classes, you'd know," McGonagall chastised with a frown. "Ten points from Gryffindor, and detention with me tonight, straight after dinner." She fixed the red head with a disappointed look before turning back to her notes.

"Now you did it," James grumbled and leant over his desk to whack the fire user on the arm.

LINEBREAK

"All right, fix him." Riku dropped Sora none too gently on the potions masters desk in his classroom, ignoring Sora as he hissed at the other teen about his mistreatment.

Professor Higgs gave the cat a blank look before looking at the older student. "How did you find him?"

"He found me," Riku replied icily and fixed the man with a calculating look. "Now, can you fix Sora? This did happen under your watch after all Professor."

The Slytherin head frowned. "Of course I can fix him Mr Valley. I would hope you would have more faith in the staff teaching your subjects."

"How long then?" Riku asked, ignoring the reprimand.

The fourth year Slytherin and Gryffindor students watched the exchange silently.

Professor Higgs sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Miss Weasley, did you figure out where you went wrong?"

Rose's chin trembled, but she nodded. "Yes Professor."

"Good. Bring me the rest of your potion. Mr Valley, I will have the cure by breakfast tomorrow. Until then, please do not let Mr Hikari out of your sight." The man frowned though as he gazed down at the small brown lion on his desk. "Although I am confused about how he ended up in that body in the first place."

"What do you mean?" Riku asked curiously.

Sora also tilted his head curiously.

"That potion Miss Weasley made was designed to turn the drinker into a form they have previously been in temporarily. Clearly you are both-"

"Wait, temporarily?" Riku forced in. "So this was never meant to be permanent?"

"Of course not. Although the fact that the potion was incomplete means that we cannot expect it to act normally. The potion may wear off within a few hours, or we may need to forcibly turn Mr Hikari back to human."

"I see. You were saying?"

"I was saying that the both of you are clearly too young to be animorphmagesus, so I am confused as to how this situation happened. Was there perhaps an accident with a spell when Mr Hikari was younger?"

Sora and Riku looked at each other before laughing.

"I don't understand," Professor Higgs murmured, his eyes narrowing. "How is this funny?"

"Sora has had a few previous physical forms professor, a lion being one of them." The older teen then grinned at his best friend, placing a hand on the furry head. "Be grateful you didn't wind up as a merman again," Riku teased, waggling his eyebrows up and down a few times before yelping in pain as Sora chomped in hand angrily. "OW! Jeeze, I was joking! Lighten up Sor."

Sora sniffed, sat back and licked his lips and fixed his best friend with a satisfied gleam.

~TBC