Authors Notes: Hmmm. Getting depressed about lack of reviews... am dying from Feedback Starvation. It's a very serious thing!

Chapter Sixteen

The air around her chaffed with suspense, danger and anxiety written into every twitch and breath of every body in the room, save the one called Voldemort who seemed to be unaffected by everything.
Orion found herself wishing for the times when the most dangerous thing in her life was putting up with the biggest kids in school and getting caught after a prank. Now she was held at wand point and being held hostage to bribe a man they claimed to be her father.
Tasny (was that even her real name?) whispered a sentence, to quiet even for Orion's ears as close as they were, and a tingle ran down her spine.
Things had certainly changed some since the day she got the letter -apparently she had a last name. Black.
Though she tried to keep it at bay fear began to creep through her, edging though bones and stealing into her muscles, pulling them taut and making it harder to breathe.
This was not right, in so many ways.
Figures in cloaks hidden behind faceless masks.
A woman screaming.
Them laughing.
Images oh-so-familiar invaded her mind and she began to tremble.

It was happening again.

---

Harry watched the scene unfold with growing anger. Orion was paler than Nearly-Headless Nick, Sirius was practically transparent himself and Voldemort was radiating an irritating sense of glee at the situation.
No one moved, frozen in place by the last words spoken as if they were a spell.
This was all Voldemort's fault. Voldemort and his never-ending need for power and eternal life. Voldemort and his sordid followers who didn't question and didn't care. Voldemort and a world that fear him so much most were too afraid to stop him.
Rage boiled over from the recesses of his mind where every wrong collected and gained strength from its peers.
High up and behind him the lone window exploded. Shards of glass burst towards the Deatheaters, distracting them in a shower of cries and shouts.

The blast pulled Harry into the present, having lessened the fury for now, also woke up Sirius. Leaping to Tasny he pushed her to the floor, grabbed Orion and rushed towards where Harry and the others were still chained, Yesi hot on his heels and deflecting shots from those who had got their senses about them quicker than others.

Colour flashes of curses flew back and forth as the Order began their duels. Dumbledore and Voldemort engaged like two bulls locking horns, hexing back and forth quicker than the eye could see.

Sirius undid the locks that bound them to the pillar, not pausing for breath before pushing everyone to a safer position -behind a fallen pillar. Hermione scooped up Gabrielle, Ron and Justin each took one of the six-year-old Italian twins, Niko and Cirocco.
"What now? Alfred called in thickly accented English, having to shout to be heard over the din.

"What was that prophecy they were talking about, Sirius? Tell us everything you know, maybe then we can figure out what You-Know-Who wants!" Hermione cried barely a second after Alfred finished

Yesi continued to hold off a trio of Deatheaters as Sirius replied, temporarily distracted,
"In the ninth age, during first reign of Death
Bonds will be bound
of blood and betrayals.
There will be born
those to defeat the darkness.

"Two will perish on the eve of the grey days
Others will be lost through their own faults
One will be entrapped in personal dark
Others will be yet babes, not yet standing.

"The second reign, marked by blood,
will begin in darkness, deceit, death,
fortunes of what will come to pass.
It can be changed, paths can be altered, Death thwarted
if those born unite together as brothers and sisters.
They will unite, or all are doomed
to fall under Death.

"We knew that one of them was Harry and one of them was me, but that's it!"

Harry watched Orion and Hermione in turn. Orion was still sheet white, like everyone else, but her eyes weren't focused, and Hermione was working through the new challenge, muttering to herself about numbers by herself until Stacey joined in with her own rapid ideas, closely joined by Freda and Alfred, Susan and Hannah.
"There're sixteen of us." Said one,

"But some died before," said another.

"But there's always been sixteen of us in the end." That was Justin.

Neville looked at Harry, "The day you defeated Voldemort the first time, when he went away for awhile…"

Harry caught on quickly, "That was when my parents died 'Two will perish on the eve of the grey days' -that's them!"

"'The second reign, marked by blood,' Harry, that was you and Wormtail's blood."

"'Others will be lost through their own faults' bet you that was Wormtail too mate." Ron's voice was hoarse and Cirocco's hands stayed gripped to his cloak.

"But how can we all unite? We're all different!" Stacey shook her head and ran a hand through dyed red hair.

Harry didn't know either, so he turned away to watch the battles as they unfolded further, trying to decipher who was winning and who was loosing.
The Order was gradually pressing the Deatheaters back, now that there were none hidden in the shadows to ambush them. At Dumbledore and Voldemort, on the otherhand, was impossible to decide who had the upper hand. Wands swished and hands flicked quicker than the eye could see, voices raised to shout spells in English or languages that were probably long dead to most. Below him, it was as if the ground was fighting itself.

"Blood." Hermione breathed,

"What?" They all asked, for she'd spoken too quietly to be heard.

"Blood!" she shouted, "That's how this all started and that's the only way we can all unite! Where do you think the term 'blood brothers' came from? It was two wizards who shared their blood to share and increase their power in the Magic Wars years ago! I need a wand, or a knife!"

Yesi, who'd been listening as closely as she dared without detracting her attention from the fight at hand, summoned a larger piece of the fallen glass and transfigured it to a dagger, crystalline translucent, and pushed it to them.
Hermione sat Gabrielle on the ground next to her, picked up the dagger, held out her palm and drew the blade along her skin from below her forefinger, across her palm to the edge of her palm opposite her thumb, repeating the motion on her other hand.
"Everyone do that on both your hands," she looked at Gabrielle who'd started to scream at the sight of the blood, "Gabrielle you have to do it, okay? If you want one of us will do it, it doesn't hurt too much and we can heal it afterwards, when all the bad people are gone."
Gabrielle stopped screaming, staring as Alfred (the oldest other than Sirius and Yesi at twenty) cut Niko and Cirocco's palms as gently as possible before doing his own and passing the dagger to Justin. She nodded, seeing the two younger twins not cry out.
Harry took the dagger carefully and shook Orion, who still hadn't focused.
The ground shook with trembled beneath them, more noticeable this time.
"Orion… Orion?" No response, "Orion! Wake up!" He accompanied the last words with a slap on the arm, and her jerking forward, looking around quickly, rewarded him.

"What…what happened?"

Harry was taken aback. How could she not know? He didn't have time to explain now! "We're going to stop Voldemort once and for all! You've got to cut your palms like I do!"

Noting the lines of blood that appeared just seconds after he drew the slits he watched Orion copy him exactly and got Sirius' attention.
"You've got to cut your palms, then make Yesi do it!"

In painstaking slow motion, Sirius and Yesi ducked lower and completed their own cuts.

"Now everyone join hands in a circle!" Hermione ordered.

Harry took Orion's and Hannah's feeling heady. This had to work. Voldemort had to be stopped.

In the duel across the room, Dumbledore was thinking the same thing as the power each used in spell after curse, curse after hex, increased.
The walls began to shudder as magic filled the room, saturating the air and the ground quaked under his feet.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a glowing light rising from behind a pillar.

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

Authors Notes: Two chapters to go.... whatever....

Review Thank You's-
Heart of the Phoenix: I review 'cause you're a great writer! Where's your next chappy? I looked for it the other day but it wasn't there :(
Walking Through Shadows: :P