A/N: As always,

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: If it looks original, and you don't recognize anything, it's mine. If it looks familiar, and you do recognize it, it isn't mine.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: AND THEN IT ALL HIT THE FAN

Thomas put out the fire and quickly checked the immediate area, making sure no one was around who could have overheard him.

He had done the right thing, For his family. For his parents. It was what had to be done. Katlin was a Deatheater and she deserved to be in Azkaban.

But what if it hadn't been her people?

The question kept nagging at him. But after a few more rounds with it, he felt he had found a suitable answer.

What if it hadn't been them? Well, so what? Deatheaters had done a lot of terrible things. Even Katlin had admitted to that. Everyone of them that ended up in Azkaban was a good thing. Even her.

But a new point quickly rose up to thwart his contented reasoning. She had risk her own life saving them. How bad of a person did that make her?

Thomas sighed to himself as he wandered back to the main foyer. He was giving this too much thought. What was done was done. He couldn't undo things now. In the morning the Aurors would come and that would be that. If Katlin was innocent, let her prove it before the Ministry.

Heading down one of the hallways, looking for peace and quiet, Thomas found himself in a small, well furnished room, decorated in brown and dark greens. A sofa sat against one wall, several files stacked on one side, while another pile sat stacked next to it. A small fire burned in the fire place, giving the room a cozy, warm look. Pictures observed him from the walls as he walked around the room, looking at this and that. Coming finally to a large roll-top desk that sat in one corner.

The desk was piled with papers and rolled up pieces of parchment to the point Thomas wondered how anyone managed to make any practical use of the thing.

Picking up one of the top pages he noted it looked like some kind of file report. As he read it over he took a quick glance at the bottom.

His eyes widened in amazement when he saw the signature.

Orin Bale.

Thomas suddenly grabbed the paper with both hands.

Orin Bale? That was the head of the Unspeakables! Orion's boss!

The paper took on an almost religious significance to him. Now there was a man he would like to talk to about everything that was going on. His Dad had never spoken anything but reverence for the head of the Unspeakables, stating that things at the Ministry would be far better if they would just listen half the time to what Orin Bale had to say instead of writing him off as some loose cannon that was best just ignored.

Thomas was willing to bet everything he had left in the world that if anyone could give him a clear, straight answer about what to do about the situation, it was Orin Bale.

He wondered for a moment if Orion would let him talk to his boss, then quickly shook his head.

There wasn't any time. It was already late. The Aurors were suppose to come in the morning and he still had a lot to do himself. Like figure out how to get all of his siblings out of the house safely and without notice.

And besides, his parents had worked at the Ministry and never even saw the man. His Dad used to say that nothing short of setting yourself on fire could get you in to see Orin Bale.

Thomas looked over the papers on the desk again.

Well, maybe he couldn't get in to see the man himself, but he had a veritable treasure trove of information here. Most of the reports his eyes fell on had Bale's signature on them. Maybe one of them could shed some light his way on what to do. One of them may have information on the Deatheaters no one else knew about. Anything from them being a secret muggle network to actually being a spy set up for the Ministry. One of the papers may even have something on Katlin that may help show him he made the right decision.

Taking a seat at the desk, Thomas began to go through the papers as fast as he could. Anything that didn't have Orin Bale's name on it was quickly discarded. Anything that did was put to the side until Thomas felt he had a suitable pile to begin going through.

Taking the stack of papers, he moved to the sofa and began to read.

Most of the pages were interesting enough to him, but made no comment of the Deatheaters or of Katlin. The majority of their content was reports of various happenings at the department that Orin Bale seemed to have done no more than sign off on, with someone else having written the actual report. Likely Orion.

Halfway through the papers, and getting more than just a little tired of reading the same innocuous things over and over, Thomas suddenly stopped on a page that had him bolting upright on the sofa.

The report was titled with his parents names and their address.

Reading through the words on the page, Thomas grabbed at every sentence like a life line.

The report read different from all the others. The wording alone gave ample evidence that Orion Black or whoever had written the previous reports had not been the author of this particular one.

But it was one particular section of the report that made his heart feel like it had stopped beating in his chest as he read it over and over.

Whereas the evidence clearly is laid out to implicate the Deatheaters in this attack, I have been assured by our contact in the Dark Lord's Elite ranks that there was no such planned attack on this family to this particular person's knowledge.

Although no apparent evidence was left behind to clearly implicate anyone outright, magical traces found at the scene that had not been effectively erased, though few and weak, did not match any known traces left by the Deatheaters.

Our contact, also having reviewed these traces, stated that they did not match any known magical signature of any Deatheater.

However, several of the signatures left behind did correlate with those brought back by agents sent to investigate and maintain overt contact with the faction in the north. It is believed by those that have investigated this incident, including myself, that this was the group directly responsible for the attack on the Belker family.

The reason for the attack is as yet unknown.

What had Katlin told him? She was an Elite. The head of the Dark Lord's best fighters. And she had told him the Deatheaters had not had any plans in place to attack his family.

And what had Loudmen himself said? Only a high ranking Elite would know about any planned attacks. Lower ranking Deatheaters rarely knew about attacks until absolutely necessary.

And Orin Bale's report stated that the Unspeakable's had a contact within the Dark Lord's ranks who had reported to him no such attack had been planned.

As tired as he was, Thomas could still do the math on this situation pretty quickly. And what it all added up to for him was one very bad error in judgment.

It only took Thomas a matter of seconds to decide what he had to do.

In less than a heartbeat he was on his feet and headed for the door.

"Katlin!"

-------------------------------------------------------

Standing in the kitchen, Katlin was calmly preparing a late night snack for she and Orion while her husband stood behind her voicing his opinion for the ninth time.

"I don't like it, Katlin." He repeated. "The boy isn't to be trusted, and yet you went and handed him practically your life story."

"I did no such thing." Katlin replied calmly, turning to face him. "Orion, he needs to know we do trust him. Or at the very least, we're willing to let the element of doubt, no matter how small, work for him before we judge him guilty before even trying to prove him innocent."

"That boy is just barely as innocent as half the people in Azkaban."

"He's not some criminal, Orion." Katlin snapped back. "He's a confused, frightened child."

"He's a danger to you, is what he is."

"Then I'll handle it."

However Katlin thought she was going to handle any potential trouble got called to the forefront a lot sooner than she expected it would when she heard Thomas screaming her name from the foyer.

----------------------------------------------------------------

"Katlin!"

Flying down the hallway now that led back to the foyer, he was already headed for the stairs when Katlin came out of the hallway leading to the kitchen.

"Thomas? What...?"

Grabbing her hand, Thomas wasn't interested in wasting time with explanations. He had to get her out of the house and he had to do it right now.

"You have to leave!" He stated, dragging her towards the door. "You have to get out of this house and you have to get out now!"

"And what is so blasted all important that my wife has to leave her home right this minute?" Came the stone cold question from the hallway opening.

Thomas stopped short at the man's question. Still maintaining his hold on Katlin's hand, he pulled her once again towards the front door. "I can't explain right now." He stated. "But she has to leave and she has to leave right now!"

Orion pulled out his wand and pointed it at the door. Instantly the door vanished, the front wall of the house filling in the area.

Thomas immediately turned back to him, anger and fear playing across his features.

"Put it back!" He demanded. "She has to leave!"

"Tell us why, and if I think it's that important, I'll put the door back. But until then..." Orion pointed his wand again at the front of the house. In a flash every window equally disappeared, replaced by a solid wall. "...no one is leaving this house on your say so."

"Are you nuts?!" Thomas all but screamed at the man before him. "You don't understand anything! She's in danger! She has to get out of the house!

"My wife is perfectly safe in this house. It knows her and it'll protect her."

"I don't care how many wards, spells, or charms you have on this place." Thomas fired back in desperation. "It won't protect her from what's coming. The only thing she can do is leave. Go somewhere else until it's safe."

"'What's coming'?" Orion ask with a questioning lift of one eyebrow. "And what might that be?"

As though slapped back to reality, Thomas suddenly froze in place, realizing too late he had said more than he intended to.

His original plan had involved a grateful and cooperative Katlin, who would happily follow his instructions, giving him plenty of time later to carefully lay out a story of what he had done that didn't make him look nearly so stupid or untrustworthy.

It in no way included her husband standing guard and blocking their exit, demanding explanations immediately.

"I can't explain right now." Thomas stated, hoping he would except that explanation. "Katlin's in danger and I have to get her somewhere safe."

Orion remained where he was, making no move to allow them to leave.

Thomas saw his only option being held in the man's right hand.

Without warning, the teenager launched himself at Orion, his attention set solely on getting Orion's wand.

He expected and prepared for resistance from in front of him. He had set his sights on getting the wand and felt with a clear, single focused goal, he could obtain it.

He had not planned on resistance from behind.

A single hand seized him by the collar and before he even made three feet of forward progress, found himself yanked backwards.

"There will be none of that, young man!" Katlin's firm voice stated. Pulling the boy about to face her, Katlin set a hard gaze on him, but stopped short of a good three minute lecture when she saw the utter distress and desperation in his eyes.

Crouching down in front of him, Katlin soften her tone as well as her expression as she met his stare.

"Thomas," she ask carefully, signaling the man behind them to stay where he was,

"Orion and I want to help you, but you have to tell us what's wrong. Why is it so important to you I leave the house? Why right now? Can't we leave in the morning"

The boy came back to life in an instant. "No!" He nearly shouted at her. "You have to go now!"

Katlin studied the boy for a second. "All right." She replied calmly. "We'll make a bargain, you and I. I'll leave..."

Thomas breathed a sigh of relief.

"...if you tell me why."

His breath froze in his throat.

For several very long seconds Katlin held the boy's stare as she watched the battle going on behind his eyes. Something was definitely wrong, but she needed a bit more information to be able to make even an educated guess at this point.

"Well?" She asked finally.

"I can't tell you." Thomas replied in a whisper. "If I do, he'll kill me." He added with a slight indication of his head towards the man behind him.

"Thomas, Orion isn't going to kill you." Katlin tried to reassure him.

Thomas shook his head. "How can you say that? You don't even know what I've done yet."

"Maybe not. But I do know my husband. And Thomas, Orion cares about you and your siblings. Maybe he hasn't learned how to relate to you very well yet. It takes time. But he does care."

Thomas took a quick glance behind him before turning back to Katlin. "Then why is he looking at me like I'm target practice?"

Katlin glanced over her shoulder to see her husband indeed eyeing the pair like they were co-conspirators working on some plot. "Because," Katlin explained, turning back to the teenager, "as much as we don't know all there is to know about you and the others, you don't know us very well either. But I'll help you out with this one and tell you something about my very formidable looking husband, Thomas. Orion is a very volatile man. It's who he is. It's what he does. He has to be to survive in his work. But he would never needlessly, or for the sheer pleasure of it, harm anyone.

Yes, Orion is upset right now. But it's not you he's upset with...not entirely. He's upset because he's facing an enemy he doesn't know anything about. And the only source of information he has is you. So," she added with a small smile, "my advice is to suck it up and tell the man what he wants to know. Answer clearly, and answer concisely."

"He's going to kill me." Thomas reiterated.

"Thomas, he may be upset, even a little angry, but all he wants right now are answers. He wants to know what he's facing so he can sort out a way to deal with it." She said. "Now come on. We'll face it together."

Katlin, with her hands on the teenager's shoulders, carefully turned him back around to face her husband.

"All right." Orion stated, trying to keep his tone level and unthreatening. "Let's hear it."

Thomas took a deep breath before starting, still certain he was facing his last moments on the planet.

"You...you remember how I thought Katlin was a Deatheater?" He ask, which Orion solemnly nodded to. "Well, I...I thought we were in danger...me and the others. And...and I thought she and the...she and Bo...were going to hurt us or something."

"Go on." Orion stated.

Thomas took another breath. "So, the day Katlin took the others shopping...I...I...had put some Floo Powder in a bag and hid it in my room. And when they left..." Thomas found his voice failing him. How was he going to tell the man standing in front of him that he turned his wife into the Ministry? He was going to kill him.

But the gentle hands on his shoulders gave a small, reassuring squeeze. "Thomas," Katlin whispered in his ear. "Just tell us what happened. We can't help you if we don't know what's going on. Now go on, please. What did you do when I took the others shopping?"

Thomas pulled back slightly, backing right into Katlin as he never took his eyes off the face of the man in front of him. One move from him and Thomas swore, door or no door, he was making for where the nearest exit used to be, reintroduce it to the architecture, and he wouldn't stop running until he fell over from exhaustion.

Taking what he felt was likely to be his last breath, Thomas decided to get it all out in one quick sentence.

"I went to the Ministry and I told the head of the Department of Aurors that your wife was a Deatheater."

If Thomas thought Orion was going to be angry, he couldn't have been more wrong.

The man in front of him, in fact, did nothing at all in response to his declaration. Instead he only slowly shifted his eyes to the person standing behind him.

The two hands on his shoulders had suddenly tightened their grip as they slowly turned him around. Greeting him were two wide eyes, as hard and clear as ice on violet, pinning him to the spot as they slowly narrowed into two sharp slits.

"You did what?"

Q&A

MasterLupin:

Oh man, what a move to pull. Orion and Katlin reveal half of the truth and Thomas goes and calls in the cavalry. For some reason I don't forsee this event having a good impact on Thomas' relationship with either Katlin or Orion. I wonder how Thomas is going to get his family out of the house before the raid, because as soon as they get near that door, Orion is going to know something is up. I don't think that Thomas will have a hard time getting Justin or Vincent to go with him, all he will have to say is that Katlin admitted being an elite death eater and they will cling to him for protection. Kathy won't know what's going on and will think it's just another day, but Lucy will be a problem. She is thinking about things from a different perspective then Thomas is and might not go with him when he tries to leave. In fact I think Thomas will try and convincer to come by saying that he told the Aurors and that they need to leave ASAP and Lucy will go and tell Katlin what he did.
Poor Katlin she must think that she will never be able to raise a family at this point because as soon as any child knows about her being a death eater they will prefer to live on the street rather than spend another moment with her. And Orion probably has less of a clue about what to do to contain the situation then Katlin dose. Although that might change when the Aurors come knocking.
Post again ASAP, I'm hang on a cliff here.

So I'm curious if the story took the turn you expected. I'd be happy to know this was one of those rare occasions I manages to actually toss a curve ball at you.

Indeed, Thomas' actions have not helped foster any relationship with his caretakers. But the truth of the matter is that currently, Orion is taking things a lot better than Katlin.

Indeed things are not all that rosy between Lucy and her older brother. But they are basically both teenagers, vying for control. Thomas of his family and Lucy of her life in general, while Vincent and Justin indeed look to Thomas for guidance still.

Nice theory, but...no. As this chapter laid out, Thomas went to Katlin on his own and told her what he had done. Thankfully, he managed to come to the right decision not a moment too soon. Katlin and Orion now have something just short of six hours to come up with a viable plan to keep her safe.

Indeed, when she has a moment to stop and gather her thoughts, Katlin may not be seeing motherhood in her future after all. Of course, after all is said and done, she may not want too, either.

Keep them theories coming, Dear. You know I love 'em!

ilovesiriusblack:

Apologies I misread your last chapter and assumed someone else had joined them in the room but it was Katlin that spoke as you have made clear in this chapter.
I don't envy Thomas his position at all. I don't think I could wish the dementors kiss on anyone but it is a low blow to try and guilt him out of his prescent course of action, no he might not believe anymore that deatheaters killed his parents but surely he can't now believe that they have never killed anyones? Does the fact that they are not guilty of this crime absolve them for all their others? Nope do not envy Thomas this ethical debate at all, I wish him luck.
Excellent chapter looking forward to the next.

Kind of thought maybe that was what it was. And I apologize as well. I thought it was a cute ending for the chapter. I did not intend to confuse you with it.

It is indeed a difficult position. But Katlin was by no means trying to guilt Thomas out of any action. Her point was put in here to try and show she is in no better a position than he is.

Over the past few years, Katlin has had a lot to deal with, and all in all, come out pretty well. She did not want to abandon her people. But she also no longer believed in the things Voldemort was pushing on his followers. She has watched them go from being a pain in the backside of the Ministry who were simply fighting for things she herself believed in and supported fully, to be a little more than a mindless mob with all the morals of a wall-street broker, following a man she hardly even recognizes anymore. But Katlin can't bring herself to desert Voldemort either. She believes that having him in control is better than someone else, since she still can exercise a small amount of control over him. And he still trusts her. So she still hears about things more first hand than anyone else. And if she feels the idea Voldemort has is a bad one, she goes to Orion, who in turn takes it to Orin, and they try to sort out the best way to stop a lot of people needlessly dying.

So Katlin is doing some good in her current position. But she is finding it harder and harder to reconcile what little good she can do with the evil growing about her.

As she told Thomas in response to his question 'What changed?'..., "People changed."

Unfortunately for Katlin, the worst is still to come.

And a few quick comments on your points, Dear, I would like to clear up.

First, is Katlin trying to guilt Thomas out of thinking of her as a bad person?

No. But she does want him to consider that things are not always as they seem.

Just because the Deatheaters did not attack Thomas' family, does that make them not bad people?

No. Katlin even said, the Deatheaters have done a great many bad things. Even she admits that. And one of the reasons she's still with them is that she's trying to get them back to their basic ideals, which weren't all bad. (OK, the chlorine in the gene pool thing was a BAD idea, but that wasn't the only article of their beliefs.) But she's not going to have Thomas hating her or her people for something they didn't do.

And Dear, yes, it is one bugger of an ethical quandary. One that is getting deeper and murkier by the second for those involved.

Silverfox:

Ah, my dear Auror Loudmen, I'm sure any fleas will be the least of your worries once you meet the dog. (I am so looking forward to that moment!)

Quite surprised Thomas has managed to make that call unnoticed ... or is Bo just observing and reporting again?
As for Tets and the death eaters, Katlin was an invited death eater. I think one trying to sneak in would be much less inclined to peacefully accept the delivery of breakfast in bed.

You know, you need to stop making comments like that. They start me thinking about scenes that don't actually exist, but would be an awful lot of fun to write.

Sadly, no such scene between Bo and Martin Loudmen exists. But I will promise you this. The person who is going to want to have a nice private chat with Loudmen will be a lot more fun.

That call went entirely un-noticed. How? Bo was currently with Orion and Katlin. Whenever Orion is agitated, upset, worried, or angry, Bo isn't far from him. Why? Because Bo is most closely tuned to Orion's emotions. And when they are running amuck, so-to-speak, Bo wants to know why. So he sticks closer to his Channeler to try and figure out what's going on. And right now, Orion is varying between any one of the four at any given moment.

Ah, good old Tets. One of these days he'll realize his dream and actually catch a Deatheater. His biggest problem with that goal right now is he keeps missing the real ones and accusing everyone else.

All reviews are as of 02/23/2008.

And remember;

Why is it no matter what color bubble bath you use, the bubbles are always white?