Amazing I'm still here and I have a new chapter this first half was murder to write. Still own nothing but if I could I would so love to own TX.

Harry grunted as he changed into a clean shirt, the dungeons had been a lot filthier than any of them had thought they would be. They had been of some interest to them though as they had been able to see the various things in the dungeon. The castle had been created as to be self sufficient in times of need and could actually be run as a small town and community for a little while. That included the ability to hold people should they ever find the need to it seemed. Their wandering around the dungeons had managed to turn up a few rooms that were mainly used as brewing rooms or storage areas for the various things that were kept in the castle, the place had so many hidden things inside of it that it was hard to remember that it was really a school place and not a museum. The group of Americans it seemed was promised several hours of interesting times with the way things were set up in this place. The group had even found what appeared to be a small torture chamber, the fact that the entire room had been painstakingly cleaned and every chain oiled till they glinted in the torch light did make one pause and wonder what it was that they thought of as needed in the school. Why anyone would feel the need to make those sorts of things ready to use should never be trusted.

As interesting as all of that had been though Harry's mind wasn't on the cages, whips, and chains that they had seen, but rather on the upcoming meal that he would now have to share with his mother and sister. This would be the first time that he had truly eaten with the pair of witches in years; he wasn't really all that sure just how he should act to the upcoming lunch. One of his closest friend's Colton would be coming with him, since the others had all told Sara that it wouldn't be very smart for her to go particularly after her little get in the face thing that she had done earlier with his sister. Bringing her along was likely to put the girl on the defensive, and the idea was to get to know them not try and get some sort of satisfaction for any wrongs that the pair of witches had done to him.

The two boys were dressed in basic clothes of western shirts, jeans, boots, with their dusters and cowboy hats they looked like typical Texas boys. While basic, the clothes were nice enough that they shouldn't cause any problems for them. As a final touch they each added a bolo tie around their necks. The two boys made their way back toward the castle where their friends gave them nods and Remus looked his nephew over for a moment before patting him on the back and sending him ahead toward the castle. Remus watched the nervous boy go and shook his head wondering how things were going to go. He had held his tongue on the invitation and everything else that had to do with the meal Sirus or James might have tried easing the tension with jokes but Harry merely needed the silent support of his friends right now not someone trying to make light of the situation that he was about enter. 'Actually James and Sirus would probably insisted on going.' The Texas Ranger mused, as the raven haired boy and his friend joined his mother before he turned away from the meeting.

Lily nodded at her son as the boy and his friend made their way over to them. She couldn't help compare the pair to what a pureblood would wear. While these two boys were dressed in muggle styles she and the two girls were dressed in casual robes that were meant for these kinds of occasions. The boys though were dressed in clothes that were obviously not of wizarding make, perhaps Dumbledore was wrong and Harry was not as interested as the headmaster had theorized about being one with this side of the wizard world. 'It would be a shame if that was true,' the witch thought, 'because with just a little bit of work he could pass as a very handsome wizard.' In that way he was much like his father. Lily was lost in memories for a moment as she remembered James Potter and what he had been like long along before the boy before her came between them she couldn't help but remember the times that they had back then. She managed to shake those childhood memories off before they got in the way of what she was currently doing. Dumbledore had given her a task and she needed to stay focused on that mission not on what things had been like long ago for her.

The witch composed herself as the two boys stopped in front of the three witches and tipped their hats respectively towards them. "Professor," Harry said in greeting as he took in both his mother and sister standing together with a girl whose red head of hair was just as bright as his mothers.

"Glad to see that you could make it Harry." Lily said with her most charming smile. "We can do the introductions after we find a place to sit and eat though." The woman led the group of teens away from the castle and near the green houses. "This place should work, and we have the advantage of having the aroma of the green houses nearby." The woman said with a smile.

"Um right," Harry said while the two girls gave the woman an eye roll as if they were used to the woman trying to make everything seem all nice and pleasant even when it really wasn't. Lily ignored the teens attitude toward her and began waving her wand at the picnic basket. She watched as the basket seemed to belch out a blanket that flew out and stretched itself out before landing on the ground. It was followed by various things that had been packed into the basket which was slowly but surely belching everything inside of it out. The group then each found a spot to sit which ended up with the two wizards facing the three witches.

"Now then, why don't we go around and introduce each other?" Lily suggested to them all. "I'll start, I'm Lily Snape, Harry and Violet's mother."

Rocky looked at his friend and seeing that he was still comparing the woman's face with the pictures that he had decided that he might as well go first. "Names Colton," the boy said to the Hogwarts teacher tipping his hat to the group. The eldest witch smiled unaware of the slight that the boy had given her by not offering his nickname as he did to most people that he was introduced too. "And you are?" The boy questioned the redhead who seemed content to sit there and watch as the group as they stared at each other.

The girl blushed as she realized that she had been noticed. "Weasely, Ginny Weasley," the girl said with a faint smile that had thrown many a boy off balance. The girl then flashed a much fuller and brighter smile at Harry trying to get his attention. Colton waved at the girl along with Harry who as more interested in his family than in the girl that they had brought with them. The redhead looked slightly offset by this but didn't seem overly offended either as she turned her eyes toward Colton.

"Nice to meet you," the boy said, "quiet guy over here is the reason that we're all here." He joked as he jerked his thumb over at Harry.

The attention shifting from his friend to him seemed to finally throw the other boy back into reality. "Sorry, this is just a little odd is all," he muttered, "I mean I grew up knowing that you existed and all, but I never thought I would really meet either of ya unless it was under some sort of legal matter or something similar."

"Really, and what kind of legal matter would do you imagine would have drawn us together?"

"Eh, my dad, Sirus and Remus are all partners in law enforcement, they could very easily find something or someone that is more than a match for them someday. I mean sure things have been set up for if that were to ever happen but I doubt that would happen without me meeting at least you." He said staring Lily in the eyes with bright green eyes that held the wisdom of loss and possible loss in them.

Lily nodded in agreement she had to admit that the boy had a point, had something like that ever happened it was very likely that they would have met in a legal setting if she didn't send a lawyer of some sort to deal with the problem. Of course had James and his wild bunch died she would have probably left him in the States, she sincerely doubted that Severus would have been able to handle the teenage son of his old rival.

"So, you're Harry Potter," Ginny said breaking the moment of musing that the family members were all having as they considered how they would have reacted to having to be thrust together had something like that happened to the Marauders.

"Yeah so my identification says," Harry joked weakly turning to look at the girl before him he then turned to the last member of the group. "Of course that makes you Violet, the Child-Who-Lived, defeater of the lord of the snakes, Voldemort, who was some sicko who thought it was okay to kill everyone that didn't agree with the whole pureblood wizards are the only ones who deserve to live pile of bat guano, or some other craziness right?"

"Guano?" Violet asked curiously trying to understand what her brother was asking wondering why her brother and his friend couldn't speak properly, it was almost as if she was talking to younger versions of Hagrid.

"Oh sorry, I mean um bat poo." Harry said ignoring the amused snort that Colton was giving him. Ginny snickered at this as well while Lily frowned at the casual and insulting way that James child referred to Voldemort. It was one thing to talk about him when there was an ocean between you another entirely when the Dark Wizard could apparate to your neighborhood or down the road and kill whomever he thought needed killing. There was also the fact that James had earned the right to call the dark lord insulting names by surviving against him three times Harry didn't have that luxury.

Violet meanwhile was looking slightly annoyed that her great magical accomplishment was spoken so causally. It also annoyed her that neither of the two boys seemed to fear the name of Voldemort like others did. She herself didn't fear it completely, was wary yes but she did not fear it. Her father and Dumbledore had long since taught her the difference between fearing a name and respecting a name. The way that these boys talked though, it was obvious that to them it was just a name and had no real meaning to it. Didn't these two Americans know the dangers that Voldemort represented for them all? Her managing to block the killing curse was still something of speculation to various magical studies, after all no one had managed to perform the same trick and until they could she thought that her brother should watch his mouth. If it wasn't for the fact that they wanted to earn her brother's trust she would have called him on that little fact. She decided she could at least remind them of why she was a celebrity though without insulting the boy too much though. "Yes, I am Violet Evans-Potter-Snape, the Child-That-Lived."

At the slightly pompous way the girl introduced herself the boys chuckled. They had never been large fans of people with large egos and often used their sharp tongues to deflate them when needed. The Marauders had been under the attack from the Titans and more often than they liked to admit, and had been forced to look their humility straight in the eye or face even more ego bashing than they cared for. "How can you stand to say that mouthful?" Colton questioned as the boys decided whether or not the witch needed to have her ego punctured before she drove them crazy.

The witch let out a superior smirk at the boys. "Do you honestly think that I would willing go with such a long name? No I prefer to go by the name Violet Snape, the rest is all too long to really worry about. The only times I ever go by my full name is when I'm doing something that is official and I have to use all of my titles. Much like our godfather most likely does when he goes to the rare and occasional meeting that is required of him as the Lord Black." He must be proud to work his name as he does.

Harry looked a bit angry at this comment. "The Lordship of the Black name is not one that we use, it is nothing in which to be proud of. The Black family was a family of killers whom thought themselves above the law. My godfather hopes to someday bring honor back into the family but for now the family will remain away from politics and hope that he can live that bad name down."

"Well then Sirus has his work cut out for him." Lily replied before her daughter used the outburst to goad her brother into doing or saying something in anger. It appeared that Sirus had raised his current heir to be just as much of a pureblood family rebel as he had been.

Colton looked at the famous witch for a moment with a grin. "You gotta admit it's a relief that you don't answer to that whole mouthful of a name though, otherwise it would be a real pain to say all of that all the time I would hate to have a name that long and then have to sign my name on stuff it must have been a real pain when you were first learning to sign your name."

Violet rolled her eyes at the humor that her brother's friend was spouting, if you really did judge a person by their friends then her brother was not in a very good company and didn't really want to be judged as he was nothing more than a simpleton as far as she could tell.

"So tell us a bit about yourself then Harry, I'm sure that there's plenty of things about you that you can tell us." Lily tried, wanting to get the conversation back on her son. She would probably regret the question later on if he was anything like James, but she needed to know how to talk to the boy and the best way to do that would be to learn about who he was and what interested him. That meant she had to deal with his bragging about himself as well though.

Lily was in for a surprise though as she looked at her son. Harry actually looked a bit embarrassed as the focus of the conversation was reverted to him. "Um, well I play football, and work on Marauder Ranch a lot with a lot of people from school, I also do a few odd things here and there."

Colton knew his friend wouldn't give a real glimpse of who he was for these people, and it would be up to him to show them who the real Harry was. "He's forgetting the fact that he's also a winner for Cowboy Action Shooting, he's won a few awards from the International Shooting Sport Federation, he's a ranked member of the Mystic Combat Society, he's considered one of the best for his age group in Enchanted object combat, he's not bad when it come to a guitar, he's a great receiver and quarterback, and he's an ace on magical creatures. If it wasn't for my hombre here I would have failed that class or at least be struggling in it."

"A dueler and a shooter?" Lily questioned with interest, while she was impressed with the magical combat placement, the muggle style of long range fighting was hardly something that she thought any self respecting wizard would admit to knowing how to do, much less actually competing in events for it. There had been a few years when wizards had started owning rifles after it was revealed they were part of what had been used to stop the Dark Lord but they had fortunately quickly fallen out of style before anyone had been seriously hurt by the weapons. If you didn't count that it sounded as if the boy here was trying to make her son out to be perfect.

"Easy there buddy you're going to make me sound like Chuck Norris, which I am anything but." Harry told his friend neither boy noticing the confused looks that the witches were giving him over the name. "Besides, you're the boxer/brawler of the group remember?" Harry flashed his friend a grin to show that he wasn't upset with him. "Anyways we both know that you could take me in a fight if it came down to it."

"Only cause you're too nice to your friends, I've seen you beat guys that fought a lot like me." Colton countered to his friend.

"And I've seen you beat guys that fight like me," Harry returned back toward the other boy, as they started a slight argument that they had been having for years.

"Yes, well Violet is an extremely gifted dueler as well perhaps the pair of you should get together and see what you think of each other. Who knows, you might even learn something." The woman said while looking her two children over, she had little which of her children would actually be the better fighter. Violet had fought the Dark Lord, Death Eaters, and various dark and dangerous creatures throughout her time in Hogwarts while her son had been safe in the states."

"Maybe, what's your preferred fighting style anyways?" Harry questioned his sister with interest.

:What do you mean, I use a wand what more would I use?" Violet questioned in confusion.

"Huh, that's alright," Harry said shrugging, "having a wand to use in a fight is always good it also gives you a pretty big variety of spells to use too. Is that your only way of fighting though?"

"What other way is there then?" Violet growled feeling slightly offended that her style of combat was being dismissed. "Would you prefer that I try to use those monstrosities that you like so much that shoot chunks of metal a person?"

"Well there's nothing wrong with a gun actually," Harry said defensively looking slightly annoyed at the attitude that his sister was giving him over his guns wondering about her fighting style. "However for one on one they're not all that good for fights or duels. In fact they're better for when a person is doing a free for all, a running fire fight, or multiple targets. I can also use a wand pretty well if I have to, but I prefer to use objects that have magic in them though. It's a cross of enchanted and Shamanism for me, I actually prefer Indian Enchanted objects when I go into a fight.:

"Enchanted combat fell out of practice around a hundred years ago Harry." Lily informed her son. "Very few people actually bother with it anymore these days, as you said a wand allows a person to have a greater variety of spells."

Harry shrugged at this. "True, but you have to admit it is a fun way to fight, and some of the results are pretty impressive. Besides you know how magic combat styles come and go over the years, people are always trying to bring something back or get rid of it depending on what year it is."

Lily nodded in agreement surprised at the boy's ability to acknowledge history. Perhaps he knew something of history and the way that it repeated itself. Despite this view into some of his interest she still doubted that he would be able to stand up to her daughter. The only advantage the boy would have against her daughter would be his outdated combat style and guns and with a wand her daughter could easily overcome such obstacles. Still it would be interesting to see how effective such a fighting style was Dumbledore enchanted or animated items all the time during duels and Severus used a variety of potions to supplement his dueling skills when he needed them.

Harry eyed the two witches he was related to uneasily, Lily in particular was setting him on edge. The woman was treating this entire meeting as if it was a social gathering of some kind instead of the first time that they were meeting in over ten years. He turned away from his mother who was a bit of a disappointment as she seemed more interested in interrogating him than in allowing him to learn about them other than that his sister was a dueler. He looked his sister over for a minute ignoring their mother and any more questions she might have and talked at his sister. "So, what are your good classes?" HE questioned her.

Violet eyed her brother with interest for the first time, few people were brave or foolhardy enough to cut her mother off and talk when the redheaded woman was in her entertainer mode. Only her dad Amelia Bones, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Mr. Malfoy and Neville's Gram were the only ones who were willing to challenge her authority while she was like this. The girl figured it might be amusing to play along and see how nice her mother was willing to be, besides this was better than trying to kiss up to the muggleborn, bushy haired, know it all, teacher's pet, that was Granger.

Lily ground her teeth but kept a smiled on her face surprised that the boy wasn't like James and Sirus in wanting to brag about his accomplishments to them all. It probably meant that despite the way he talked and postured that he didn't spend a lot of time with his father and godfather, which meant that it was really Remus that had raised the boy before her. That was good though, it meant that boy would be somewhat bearable and probably didn't have very many of James more annoying habits.

"I'm good with Charms, Potions, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and DADA, of course I'm not too shabby with my other classes as well and am one of the top students here how about you?"

Harry nodded and gave her a wry grin. "Well I'm crap at potions, I'm good at DADA and pretty good with Charms, transfiguration I'm not bad at Shaman and voo doo type magic, and I'm one of the better students when it comes to Magical Beasts. Arithamncy might as well be French as far as I'm concerned and I doubt I would do to well with your Ancient Runes Fox Cloud tells us that they're based on early writing styles from around here."

"So the thinking arts are the ones that you have the most problems with?" Lily questioned the boy latching onto the weakness that he was admitting to. "Perhaps we can help you with those, as a Charms and Potions Mistress I would say that I have a lot of knowledge on some of the more subtle styles of magic and how best to use them." Lily admitted with a proud smile as she figured she may have found a way for either her or her daughter to get close to the boy. "Perhaps we can even figure a way to give you some extra tutoring in those sunjects." She offered the young man helpfully. The boy could trust her and then with that trust perhaps the Marauders would be willing to do what she asked of them, or she could have Dumbledore manipulate the boy into doing what was needed.

Harry looked at the woman suspiciously. "Why," he questioned calmly "why would you be willing to help me?"

Lily recognized the signs that the boy was showing something that had been done or said had triggered his temper and the boy was doing his best to control it. Violet said the worst thing in the redheads mind though which seemed to push the boy even farther into having to hold in his temper. "We're family aren't we? We're bound together, family is supposed to help each other out."

"Is that what you believe about us?" Harry said heatedly, as he tried to control himself. "If we are family then how come you never even bothered to try and get in contact with me? I sent enough owls to the both of you over the years that I would think that I would have gotten at least response."

Violet looked unashamed at having never answered her brother. "The mail wards filter out a lot of stuff you probably just didn't rate very high on the importance level and you're letters got diverted to one of the other places where I store mail. We probably never even noticed them when we were going through the various things that those things change the course of."

"So that's how you consider those that share blood with you." Harry said glaring at his twin, as she dismissed his importance. "I was obviously wrong to hope that you and I could connect if that's how you treat your family." The boy turned to the teacher that he shared blood with. "I think I should leave now perhaps we can talk again after I've cooled down. A pleasure to meet you Miss Weasley." The boy said as he stood up he then tipped his hat at the group before storming off.

"Later," Colton said giving the group a wave before he took off after his friend.

Lily sighed as she watched the two leave. The boy had abandonment issues it seemed, something that could be used if worked correctly. She briefly wondered what the boy had thought of her and her daughter before they had said the wrong things. This would obviously take some time though if she was to get on the boy's good side. It was obvious that in her eagerness to get the Marauders under the control of the headmaster she had rushed things for the boy she would have to figure a different way to try and befriend the boy other than being the friendly and doting mother as that way was obviously no longer an option judging from the show of temper that he had just put on for her.

Harry stormed ahead of his friend angry at himself for exploding like he had. He was also angry at how things had gone in general; the meal had been far from enjoyable as far as he was concerned. His mother and sister hadn't really said anything wrong, they had even been asking all of the right types of questions but it was the fact that they had to ask those questions that he was angry about. They were supposed to be family yet they were really strangers. It also showed that neither of them had ever read any of the letters that he had written to them over the years as he had given brief overviews of his life it appeared that he wasted his time and paper though in writing those letters. The way that Violet had told him he didn't rate as important enough to let through the mail wards had been the last straw though. He didn't know why they suddenly cared, but it would be a cold day in hell before he blindly listened to anything that they had to tell him.

Harry grunted a greeting to Remus who was waiting near the paddock by Hagrid's hut. Harry calmly threw himself over the fence that separated the horses from others. The boy checked the animals out by caring for anything that might be ailing them. The boy unfortunately could find little that needed to be done for these animals, as it seemed that Hagrid was just as good with animals as the Marauders had told him he was. The boy finished and jumped the fence again and headed back toward the tent with Colton and Remus following after him.

Harry entered the tent for a moment and came back out, his wolf familiar trailing behind him as he carried his six string acoustic guitar. The boy then found a spot to sit down and began strumming out tunes that had no real meaning as Cap laid down in front of his master and merely watched as the teen played.

Remus watched him for a few minutes before he found himself a nearby seat and watched as the boy played. "Do you want to talk about it?" The Ranger asked warily not wanting to upset the boy anymore than he already was.

Harry turned away from his guitar and looked at the mighty castle with a glare as if it was the fault of the school that he was feeling the way he currently was. "They're strangers Remus, and I'm afraid that's all that they'll ever be." The boy told the man bitterly. "They don't seem to have any problem with us being strangers to each other either. If that's the way that they want play it then I'll go with my hand."

Remus nodded in understanding, the secret hope that something was stopping Lily from answering all of those letters that Harry had written to her had finally had its last cord broken this day. The Ranger wished he could have shielded the boy from this, and a part of him was wishing that the boy hadn't come here but there was nothing that could be done about it now. They were here, and the damage had been done now Harry would have to come and accept all that had happened and learned. He wished he could comfort the boy, but Harry was a private and proud person this was as close to comforting as he would allow unless he let his guard down or was hurt even more.

"Don't beat yourself up over it too much cub," Remus advised the teen, "remember you already have a family without them. It may not be one from blood and what not, but the Marauders and Titans are just as much a family as anything that you could be born into."

"Yeah I guess so," Harry said not sounding overly convinced by what he was being told.

Remus raked his hand through his hair as he tried to figure out the best way to talk to the boy and make him understand that he would be alright. "Harry, let me tell you something that took me a long time to fully accept even with James and Sirus pounding it into my head all of the time. We care for you for you, not because of some fancy thing or other with who you are. We had a choice long ago on whom we could support and we chose you and we have never thought that we made the wrong choice cub. You are our family, forget about what others may think, say, or do. We're a family just not a traditional one."

Harry nodded in understanding of what the Ranger was saying; he would always have a home with the Marauders no matter what. It was pointless to let him doubt himself because his mother and sister didn't want him around. He would just have to show his mother just what she had lost by turning her back on him the boy thought with a slight smirk. Harry looked up as he saw his friends heading towards them. His friends were like family and he wouldn't give them up for anything. He breathed out deeply as he let a little bit more of his anger out as he prepared to join up with his friends and family.

Remus sighed as he led the group of teens into the outer edge of the forbidden forest. He had used their old communication mirrors and explained everything to James and Sirus about the little luncheon that Lily had hosted and about the mental state that Harry was currently in. Their responses had been quick and predictable they had been severely tempted to head down to the school and find out just what had happened from the redheaded woman. Remus had just barely managed to convince the pair of Texas Rangers to stay where they were and finish what they were currently doing and not interfere. The pair had reluctantly agreed with his suggestion but made no promises about getting revenge later on for Harry. Before signing off the mirrors they had suggested that Remus take the group out, as it was the best type of therapy that they could come up with. Remus knew that had cost them as they had wanted to meet with the group the first time that they journeyed into the Forbidden Forest but they were still too busy to leave things alone for the moment.

The Texas Ranger inhaled deeply and found himself assaulted by all sorts of familiar scents. He looked off to one side and smiled as he ran his hands across a tree. Embedded deep in it were the marks from Mooney and Padfoot's claws and Prongs antlers, when they were younger they had spent many a full moon sharpening their respective weapons on this tree. It was great to be back in the first forest that he had truly felt comfortable in, but it was no longer the one that he lived in. "Welcome kids to some of the first stomping grounds of the Marauders." The Titans blinked at this for a moment before they finally noticed the marks on the tree that Remus was leaning on. "We figured some of you could use some time to clear your heads and the best way to do that we figured was to head out into the forest."

"Alright," Sara cheered high fiving with some of the other members of the group.

Remus shook his head at the excitable girl. "I want you all to obey these simple rules, because to be honest there are things in here that are a lot bigger and meaner than any one of your forms could ever hope to manage." The group nodded in agreement to obey the rules that the man was going to give them. "Alright, stick to the edge of the forest, stay on the footpath, always travel in a group; or at the very least pairs if you have problems try and get away from whatever is threatening you long enough to send up red sparks and someone will head out to find you as quickly as possible. I would say if you saw sparks to leave it to the adults, however I know you all well enough to know that if you though one of your group was in trouble then the rest of you would be there quicker than I could probably be." Everyone laughed at this, not bothering to deny the accusation. "Very well then, if Loupa and Moonshine would each choose a corner to get rid of their extra clothes we can get going then." Remus told the teen werewolves. "It wouldn't hurt the rest of you to go ahead and change either. Oh and try and keep the noise down a bit, we don't want to draw to much attention to ourselves tonight."

"Why not, it's not like we're doing anything wrong." Jenna questioned the Texas Ranger.

Because not everyone is aware of what it is that is going on here. Remus explained to the young witch. It's not exactly well known outside of the states that we've learned how to control the werewolf ability as well as we have. Remus paused as he considered what he had just said and how he had said it. In the old days he would have called it a curse and believed it without hesitation yet now that he had learned to control the power that was the werewolf it was no longer a curse or infectious disease but was instead a gift that he was extremely happy to have. It seemed that being back here was bringing back a number of other old memories out as well.

The teens all nodded while the werewolves wandered out of sight to hide their clothes and change the others merely shifted to their animangus forms. Hosea transformed into a small canine form and a coyote with a row of sharp teeth began nosing around the new and unfamiliar place they were at Wiley coyote was now in the Forbidden Forest. Sara climbed up into a tree and balanced herself on a branch above the others spread her arms out and changed into a red tailed hawk with wings stretched out, giving a shriek of joy as she gave out her battle cry before she swooped off of the branch and flew above the heads of the others, Redwing had joined the sky. Colton chuckled before he changed into his white tiger form stretching himself out feeling all of his mighty muscles ripple the boxing tiger Rocky was ready and able. Casey took one last look around taking in all of their surroundings before changing and letting out a roar as his giant form shot up above the heads of the others as his grizzly bear form declared its presence to the forest. His sister grinned at her brother before changing into a panther and letting out an answering scream to her brother's roar. Grizz and Screamer were ready and abke to go about their duties tonight. John shook his head as he then transformed, the Native American teen's transformation wasn't as instantaneous as the transformations of his animangus friends. His body instead flowed into its new form as he turned into a wolverine. Morph growled at the much larger animals warningly as sniffed the air. Harry chuckled at his friends before he transformed into another feline only instead of the dark panther color or striped figure of his friends he turned into a smaller form that was a dark tawny brown color as he shifted into a mountain lion. Jag hissed at the group as he came into being.

The group of animals then turned to look as the three werewolves joined them two males and one female the werewolves nodded to their friends for a moment. The animals began nosing around each other checking each of their scents before they then began running along the edges of the forest making sounds of enjoyment as they ran. Tonight they were free from the stress of being watched by the inhabitants of the castle and instead could do as they pleased. The native creatures of the forest heard the familiar sounds of creatures that were not native to the forest giving out their cries as they sounded off their presence in the forbidden forest. Had any one of these animals made its call it would have been answered by a dozen different challenges but the unity that came from these animal cries stopped them from coming the unnatural sound of the three werewolves baying toward the forest also was enough to stop them. The centaur tribe heard the calls and looked to the stars and saw that Mars was coming closer soon to its climax.

Albus Dumbledore stood in his office his hands clasped behind the small of his back and heard the distant baying and other such noises coming from the forest. He wondered what was out there tonight that would cause those noises, while a part of him felt that he should go and investigate the other part of him decided to leave them for now besides maybe they would soothe Hagrid to sleep before they moved on. He sincerely hoped that the sounds would moved on as he rather doubted that he was really hearing a werewolf despite the number of times that he had heard that particular sound. It was merely his mind playing tricks on him he assured himself, as he turned and watched as a half moon appeared from behind a cloud bank where it had been hiding from his view. Now he could see it though and that sight was all he needed to confirm that his imagination was merely getting away with him. With the way that the world was changing into a darker place he was seeing and hearing things that simply weren't really there. There was no way that there was a pack of werewolves in the forbidden forest on this night, it was simply an impossible thing to happen having assured himself. The headmaster of one of Europe's finest schools turned back toward his desk.

The next day Dumbledore looked over the group of school children as they ate their breakfasts. This was the start of a new week a week that would probably be a prelude to what the rest of the school year would be. He looked down at his schedule with interest Slughorn, Sprout and Filus would be observing this week while Severus would be teaching D.A.D.A, Minerva would be teaching transfiguration, and Sinistra would be teaching astronomy this week. A friendship had come up between Fox Cloud and Sprout as they discussed the various plants that they were familiar with. Dumbledore was glad to see that the pair was on friendly terms as it made things easier to work with when they were all willing to be polite. He looked up at Remus and Lily who appeared to be trying their best to be cordial to each other he didn't know what had happened other than the fact that the picnic lunch with Harry had somehow gone off course and now Remus was doing his best to be polite to his muggle studies teacher who had somehow insulted her son.

The headmaster shook his head away from the politics that erupted from this and focused on the children at the table particularly the Potter children. The pair were doing their best to ignore each other Harry had even gone as far as placing his schoolmates between himself and his sister this also happened to put him dangerously close to Hermione Granger. He didn't know what would happen if the two of them were to become friends, fortunately the pair were currently ignoring each other. He would tell his teachers to place the Potter children close together in the hope that they would begin to get along if the boy continued to be resistant to the offered hands of family and friendship then he would have to see if he couldn't make the boy appear dark to the rest of the masses that were in the school. Having some of the more talkative portraits pass on a few choice words to certain people would soon have the whole castle believing that young Harry was considered as a danger. He sincerely hoped that he wouldn't have to resort to such a tactic but if it helped in the upcoming war then he would do what was required for the greater good for all.

He was just glad that the Marauders had not done anything foolish requiring him to do damage control. It seemed that despite all of their talk they were not really going to be doing much after all since they had yet to do anything. The fact that the Marauders were just making sure that all of their information was iron clad didn't seem to occur to him since he was used to the rash decisions of others as opposed to people ensuring they were correct. He finished his meal and then watched as everyone departed for their own classes wondering how each of the Americans would do. He hoped that they didn't teach them anything that they didn't really need to know, he would truly hate it if their ideas were to start the Hogwarts student into thinking that it was alright to do certain things. He didn't mind thinking for oneself but he also didn't want people to abuse the ability and cause problems either, hopefully he wouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing. In this dark time the awakening of new ideas could be deadly in times such as these and he had no wish to find out that his students were dead.

The headmaster turned and watched as the group of Americans checked their book bags before heading off for the classes that they now had. The sixth year Americans would be with the Gryffindor sixth years hopefully that would increase the chances of the Potter siblings in making up with their differences surely the boy should know that what Lily had done was actually all for the best for all concerned.

Shorter than the other chapters I know but on the plus side I do have nearly ten pages for the next one already done.