It was early in the afternoon when everyone gathered in the study to leave. Ron, Harry, Hermione and Cian were going to look for Horcruxes and the rest of the Order members had other matters to attend to.
"You'll apparate first," she directed the Order, "And then we will."
They all hugged and were told to be careful. Cian and Holst were thanked for hospitality and cooperation with the Order. There was one loud crack and the Order members were gone.
"Alright Holst the castle is under your watch," they hugged, "Thank you so much for everything you've done for this family."
She stepped back and joined the others. They quickly thanked Holst who waved as they disappeared. The four young wizards ripped through the darkness when they hit hard ground.
A tree to their right burst into flames and two in front of them exploded sending wood shards everywhere.
"What the fuck?!" shouted Cian as they got low to the ground. They could hear shouting and see people darting all around them.
"Death Eaters!" whispered Harry as he drew his wand.
"How?!" asked Ron firing off a spell into the darkness. They was laughter all around them and more spells being shot off in their direction. Hermione could feel Cian's grip loosen on her arm and the young witch was no longer around them. She disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
"Cian!" Hermione cried, but she was grabbed by Ron as they darted through the trees each of them were firing back spells at the Death Eaters.
"We have to keep moving!" said Harry as they tried to find their way through the smoke and darkness.
They were blindsided by a massive explosion that tore the ground away from them and sent them flying into the air. Harry slammed hard into a tree and it took him a minute to gain his sight back. Ron and Hermione were coming around too.
"What the fuck was that?!" said Ron trying to see through the smoke.
They heard the familiar cackle of Bellatrix LeStrange, but they soon discovered that she wasn't the one who caused the explosion. As the smoke was beginning to clear they could see two figures facing one another. Their wands were drawn as they circle one another.
"Cian?" Harry mumbled as they smoke finally cleared. The young witch stood facing away from them. There was the quick flashes and they were surrounded by Aurors.
"Are you ok?" they recognized Lupin's voice.
"Yea fine," Harry said getting to his feet.
"Who's the other chick?" asked Ron.
None of them had ever seen the other woman before. But the resemblance to Cian was striking and they knew immediately who it was once a smile crossed the dark haired woman's face.
"It's Saoirse…" breathed Hermione.
"Oo good we have an audience, sister," Saoirse looked at the Aurors as they advanced, but Cian raised her hand and they stopped. The tension in the air was extremely thick, but Cian didn't want an all out fight.
"I missed you, Cian," her older sister smiled, "What's it been? 6 years?"
"Wish it would have been longer," Cian smiled.
"But we had such a good time last time we got together," she raised her wand, "Remember how we completely destroyed that village?" A red light shot from the tip of Saoirse's wand, but Cian parried it.
"Unfortunately I do. I still carry the scar you gave me," Cian didn't counter the attack.
"Well I see you haven't lost any of your power," she threw her another spell that completely decayed a tree to her right, "Still light on your feet."
"Why are you here, Saoirse?" Cian finally raised her wand which made Saoirse smile.
"Now we're getting somewhere," said the dark witch.
"CARIO!" Cian shouted, but it was blocked. From what Ron, Harry and Hermione could see the two sisters were evenly matched even if Cian was supposed to be the stronger of the two.
"I would have figured you would have gotten stronger," Saoirse grinned, "I mean being locked in that castle for years and years with nothing, but books to read, spells to practice, and your own wretched self for company!"
Many of the spells they were using weren't vocalized, but very powerful none the less. Once again Cian's past was being brought up and it seemed she had many dark secrets she was keeping.
"How were you able to know where we'd show up?" Cian asked.
"I'm your sister. You need to give me credit for certain things. I knew about the Order in Myrddin, I knew what you were doing for years though you rarely left the castle, and I knew you had been in the hospital," she bowed, "Merlin left each of us with a unique ability. Don't forget that, sister."
"Funny how you would get the ability to locate loved ones and I do stretch loved ones."
Ron, Hermione, Harry and the Aurors stayed back. But they were greatly intrigued by the ongoing conversation between the two women.
"So have you told the Order about your little secret or should I say secrets?" said Saoirse looking to Lupin, Tonks, Fred, George and the others.
"Not here," desperation could be heard in Cian's voice, "Don't."
Saoirse turned to the three young wizards. She was now near them and Cian was further away. She flicked her wand at Hermione and the young witch raced towards Saoirse before anyone could grab her and hauled her up to face Cian. Cian's grip on her wand tightened. Ron and Harry went to strike, but knew it wouldn't be worth it. They were now standing, but they didn't dare cross the dark wizard. The Auror's kept them back knowing the danger if they started a fight.
"Ah! Hermione Granger!" she smiled, "My sister's little girlfriend," she sighed, "How cute!" she leaned into Hermione smelling her hair, "Reeks of a mudblood. I would have expected better from you Cian. You're royalty, you could get any beautiful pureblooded woman in the world and you chose her!?"
"Let her go!" Cian shouted, "This has nothing to do with her!"
"Oo, but it has so much to do with her. I'm sure she doesn't know your secret either. Do you Ms. Granger?" Saoirse looked at her, but Hermione just stared her down, "I'll take that as a, no."
"Saoirse don't!" Cian was pleading with her older sister now, "I'm begging you don't do this!"
"I guess it is story time," Saoirse smiled still having a tight grip on Hermione's arm, "Lady Cian Rorian Ambrosius is Merlin's heir. She has inherited his power and one very dangerous and powerful gift known as the Nex Mannus."
"The Death Hand," Harry murmered.
"Bingo! Mr. Potter!" she pointed her wand at him with a smile.
"The Death Hand is probably the most powerful if not the most powerful piece of magic in the world. Created and perfected by Merlin himself. It requires quite a bit of power to use and can render the castor very weak or even dead," she pointed her wand to Cian's right hand, "And there ladies and gentlemen is The Death Hand passed down the Ambrosius bloodline straight to Cian herself."
Cian was fuming as her sister spilled everything about her. Hermione looked her in the eyes and saw Cian apologizing to her, but also something that scared her something she had never seen in the young witch's eyes before.
"You all witnessed it the other day when she dragged the two Death Eaters from the forest. The man went down in a flash of white light. Although once you've completely mastered the technique there won't be a light or any evidence of it being used. You can simply touch the person and they'll die instantly."
"What does this have to do with anything?" Hermione finally asked not understanding the relevance.
"Oo I'm getting there," she continued, "As I'm sure you all know I was kicked out of the family when I was 16 due to obvious reasons," she looked directly at Cian, "But as you also know our parents have been absent from the picture for a lot longer than that."
"Saoirse this is enough!!" Cian shouted.
"They have a right to know," Saoirse told her, "You'll be quite surprised to find out that Cian wasn't always the perfect child. She has a very bad and violent temper in her. Cian has learned to control it over the years, but growing up she had quite the reputation for being rather destructive which often lead to catastrophic events in the castle and the town."
"What are you talking about?!" shouted Lupin.
"Cian murdered our parents," Saoirse finally said. Hermione looked to Cian and could see the tears rolling down her face.
"Saoirse please," she cried, "You know it was an accident. Dad was teaching me how to control the Praeter Unus spell. He was teaching me how to hold onto it longer, build both physical and mental strength needed for the spell. Mom had come down into the hall to watch," she paused for a moment.
Cian and her father were down in Merlin's Hall. They were working on the Praeter Unus spell which involved creating multiples of herself. It was both a defensive and attack spell. It required both physical and mental strength.
"I can't…I can't do it," Cian breathed dropping to her knees.
"Get up!" her father demanded.
Cian took a moment before getting her wand and getting to her feet. She was weak, bruised and bloodied. She didn't know if she could keep this up. The spell was sapping her energy.
"Again," her father folded his arms.
Cian nodded, held her wand above her head, "Praeter Unus!" immediately she felt her body begin to split and the pain was immense. She needed to keep herself centered and herself intact as her body split into several versions.
"Good!" she heard her father, "You've got it! Don't let it go!"
The pain was tearing her apart. It was immense. She had to master the body separation before she could perform the required spell. The spell was chosen by the castor and it could be anything from a mild spell to an unforgivable curse. Cian's father was slowly teaching her this technique at the same time first start off with low level spells and now working up to the unforgivables. She was at the Cruciatus.
"Don't push her so hard, Ambrose," she heard her mother. Cian's head felt like it was splitting in two.
"She's almost there," there was pride in his voice. She wanted to make him happy. She lived to please her parents.
"Now! Cian! Now!" she heard him cry out.
"I can't! I won't be able to control it!" she cried. She wanted to stop for the pain to end. She couldn't take much more of it.
"Do it!" he shouted at her.
But it was too late. Something in her had snapped. Cian could feel power surging through her body. On one hand she reveled in it, but on the other it scared her. And the scared side was fighting the darker side.
"Cian!" she heard her mother call out, "Stop!" she was screaming. They were both screaming. Her parents screams weren't normal. They were in massive amounts of pain. They were yelling at her, begging her, but Cian had no idea what was happening. She wasn't controlling her actions. Finally she was able to shut the dark side of her away and able to regain her body. Cian regained her vision, and saw her parents lying on the ground, but before she could get to them she blacked out.
It was a few hours later that she finally came to. Cian's head was splitting, but she stood and rushed over to her parents, but it was too late. They were dead. It hit her hard right away because she knew she had killed them. She lost control and killed them.
"It was an accident," Cian whispered looking at Saoirse, "And you know it…"
"Once again your actions were covered up by the Ministry and by the family. You were shielded from the world. They figured it they kept you within the confines of the village no more damage could be done. It's why you didn't go to Hogwarts because your power couldn't be controlled," Saoirse let go of Hermione and she ran over to Cian.
"I have made my mistakes, Saoirse. And I have worked to gain control of my temper; I have worked to clear our family's name because they saw me as some sort of savior! To restore the old order so they could remove non-magical borns from the wizarding world. So the wizards and witches could once again hold all the power and that a clear, non-crossable line could be drawn! They used me Saoirse and you know it!"
"You're Merlin's heir," she retorted, "You were supposed to be a shining light; a hope, but instead you turned into something no one wanted. You didn't want what the rest of the family wanted, but to have removed you or killed you would have been blasphemous."
"Our parents' death was an accident. I lost control and our father pushed me too far. I was too young and inexperienced for such magic!"
"You were treated like some sort of god," resentment could be heard in Saoirse's voice, "They put you on this pedestal and you could do no wrong. I could never live up to you."
"I am sorry for the way you were treated when we were younger, I am sorry you were neglected, but I didn't ask for this!!"
"But you did nothing to stop it!" she shouted at Cian.
"What was I supposed to have done, Saoirse!?" she cried, "I was 11 years old! You weren't the picture of perfect either!" she pointed her wand at Saoirse, "You were expelled from Hogwarts because of not only practicing the Dark Arts, but for performing it as well. You murdered people! Your behavior is why you were removed from the family. You inherited incredible power to, but you abused it."
"But it wasn't long before they all followed in my footsteps leaving you all alone. Resemble some else's life, Cian?" she smiled, "Merlin lived the same secluded life too. You truly are his heir."
