Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling's books/characters, but my story. In addition, I have my own characters in this story. Other disclaimers and author notes on first page (first chapter) of this story.

Chapter Two - Fores Protectus.

Chaldea

"There are no signs that she is in contact with any other wizards besides your family. When she arrived in London she went about with what looked to be her normal routine."

"What is a pseudo-Muggle's routine?" Chaldea asked, laughing. She didn't find it strange that her sister had chosen this lifestyle, but rather, she found it amusing. Leave it up to the both of them to decide to choose different paths from their parents. Chaldea didn't want Tarea to end up like those boring old wizards just as much as she didn't want herself to. If it meant that Tarea had to pretend to be a boring Muggle, then so be it. She also had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before Tarea would come back to the world that she was familiar with. Chaldea knew that there was more to life as a wizard; especially when one had control of their powers and was able to put them to use to serve a greater purpose.

"Well," Benjamin sighed, "She led me around her neighborhood and just beyond to do some book shopping… and then some more book shopping… and then some more." He exaggerated with hand movements as he spoke. "Er, you get the picture."

"Poor Benji!" Chaldea ruffled her friend's hair. "I'm sorry you were made to do this. I'm sure there would have been someone else to volunteer, but it looks like they had their hands full already."

"Benji" frowned. "I do what I must, if it means serving the Dark Lord in some way. However minute it might seem." He looked as if he was about to roll his eyes, but he did not go as far as doing that.

Chaldea smiled. "You will go far with that attitude, Benjamin. I will make sure that the Dark Lord knows of your loyalty."

"When will it be, that he recognizes me?"

"Soon, Benjamin, soon. You know that he has great plans that he must work through. You know that he does things only when he is ready. You must be patient. You will not be disappointed if you are." She smiled. What she said was true. The boy has been showing promise the entire time he has shown interest in following Voldemort. He was also very helpful to her. It was not exactly Voldemort's plan to have Benjamin follow her sister around for the past three days, but the Dark Lord did approve Chaldea's wishes. After all, Chaldea had been an invaluable member and devoted follower for these few years. In his own way, Voldemort had told Chaldea this. He considered her humble advice from time to time, and for that she was grateful. So grateful.

"Will you be going to see Tarea now?"

"Yes. I must go while she is home. I don't know how she will react to seeing me."

"Good point. A witch who does not know how to control her own powers is very dangerous." Benjamin pointed out.

"I know. Better if she does something in her own flat than out in public in front of dozens of Muggles."

"Why are you going to see her, anyway? Doesn't she want to be left alone? You know, she barely even speaks to Muggles. I suppose she would like to live her life in complete isolation."

Chaldea laughed. "Family business. Nothing more. Better to get it settled now before I won't be able to make time to see her at all."

"The Dark Lord has plans, then?" Benjamin asked, anxiously.

"He always does. I might ask you to do the same. Settle any unfinished business. It's best not to have anything in the way of you performing your duties."

"I have none. I am square. Well, school does begin, soon."

"No need to worry about school. No need to worry at all. You're in your last year, aren't you?" She laughed. "I came to the Dark Lord even before my last year. Quite a few of us did at that time." She paused for a moment, remembering the first time she bowed before her Master. "I have no time to reminisce, though. I must speak to my sister. Will you stay here for when I come back? We can speak later."

"Oh yes, of course. For as long as it takes, Chaldea. I am here for you and for our Lord."

"Very well. I do not mean to make this visit very long. If for some reason I am not back by nightfall you must return to Tarea's flat. If I am not able to return, if you do not find me there, Lucius needs to be warned. He will know how to proceed from there. Can I count on you?"

Benjamin came closer to Chaldea and took her two hands in his. He looked into her eyes and swore, "You can count on me as you can count on no other." Chaldea was not sure why he went to this length to show her that she could count on him, but she took his romantic reply as a very positive yes.

"I'm off, then. Be well." He let go of her hands and two seconds later she was gone.

When she was grounded once more, she was standing in her sister's flat. She steadied herself as she tried to keep an eye on Tarea. She decided to sit down on the bed in fear that she might fall from her dizziness. The girl had her back to her, but as soon as the loud POP! the apparating sounded, Tarea had turned around. The look of surprise on her sister's face was priceless. She knew that she would surprise her sister, but not by this much. So amusing. She smiled, "'Afternoon sis."

Clumsy Tarea dropped her pot of boiling water. The water splashed at her feet, and Tarea jumped to the side. Once the pot settled and the boiling water had stopped pouring out, Tarea shuffled over to it, but before she could get her hands on it, Chaldea reacted. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The pot floated, mid-air. Tarea studied the levitating pot and then her sister. Chaldea stood up and began to walk over to the pot, but Tarea grabbed the pot instead. She steadied it down on the stovetop, as if it would pop up once more.

"You should be more careful." Chaldea reached her sister and put her arms out for an embrace. Tarea hesitated at first, but gave in, and gave her sister a long awaited embrace. "It's so good to see you, Tarea."

Tarea was the first to pull away. "It's… been a very long time, Chaldea."

"I know it has. That's why I wanted to see you."

Tarea walked over to the small table that took up most of the kitchen area of the small room and sat down. "Why don't you have a seat? You must be a little disoriented from your trip."

"You never skip a beat, Tarea. I know you are clever despite your choice of lifestyle."

"I like to think I am more clever for choosing this lifestyle in the first place."

Chaldea looked around the room. What sort of lifestyle was this? Living in a one room flat? Dedicating ones life to book and hermitage? She wanted to ask her sister this but she did not want to argue with her. She had other things to discuss. "That's your choice."

"And what of your choice? Certainly our parents didn't raise us to be Death Eaters."

Chaldea responded quickly, "Well, surely they didn't raise us to be Muggles, either."

"I am satisfied with my choice of lifestyle."

"As I am with mine. Then who are we to complain?" Chaldea tried to smile for her sister, but Tarea was not accepting it.

"I would like to do a lot of complaining, actually! You left the family to become a murderer! And don't tell me that's not what you do, because I know what Death Eaters do."

"From where, the Daily Prophet?"

"Among other places, yes." Tarea admitted.

"It's not your business what I do."

"But isn't it? You're my sister."

"And you are mine! If you are able to judge my lifestyle, then I will judge yours. I think it's despicable that you would choose to live life as a Muggle with no respect for your roots in magic. You are a disgrace to wizard-kind." Of course she was lying. She did not think her sister a disgrace. She almost envied her in a way for choosing to live a simple life, but she wanted to show Tarea that if she was going to judge her life, she would judge hers in turn.

"I am no disgrace. I may be an outcast, but I am no disgrace."

"It's your own fault, then. You're just as miserable as a Muggle as you were a potential witch."

"So, what comes out of me becoming a witch? To turn to a life such as yours? Do destroy all that don't fit into a certain mold? We were lucky to be born into a pureblood family… it was just luck alone. There was no other force stopping us from being born to a Muggle or a half blood, just like there is no other force stopping anyone else born into the wizarding world. Surely you can't destroy someone because of their luck of placement."

"I don't wish to argue politics or philosophy with you, sis. I didn't come here for that. I just want you to reconsider your choice of lifestyle. I want to warn you of things to come."

Tarea's expression darkened even more. "What… things?"

"Wizards bringing death to Muggles and the impure."

"That has already been happening."

"I know it has, but not on such a scale as it has been. There are larger things in store. I don't know who or where it is going to strike, but it is going to be happening soon and I want you to be prepared. You are not prepared to protect yourself if something should happen. You need to reconsider your lifestyle. I suggest that you go back home and that you have Mum and Dad train you on at least the simplest skills. You will have time after that to be tutored in the more complex spells, but you need some basis…"

"I don't want this. Chaldea, I don't want this. I know you don't want this, either. I don't know what made you follow this fool in the first place, but…"

"The Dark Lord is no fool, Tarea." Chaldea stated quite seriously.

"The Dark Lord, is it?" Tarea asked, jokingly.

"HE is not fool. He will touch the lives of all wizarding families. You will not be excluded from this. The very fact that you are related to me puts you at risk. Not from my side, I would never hurt you… but there are others. There are others who will stop at no end to see Voldemort and his followers defeated. They are called the Order…"

"And you come here, knowing this? If I wasn't in danger I am now!"

"You are not. There are no Order members around."

"Then who has been following me for the past three days?"

"Oh. You knew about that?" Chaldea may have blushed. "How did you? You didn't even see him…"

"So it was a him! I had a feeling. I didn't see anyone. But when someone has been following me for three days, it's hard to escape their eyes on me. I might not know how to use my powers, but that doesn't mean they don't know how to use themselves."

"I know that! I just… I just wanted to make sure that you were as isolated from the wizarding world as you were mentioned to be. And you are. I made sure of that."

"By having someone follow me around? Way to go about it!" Tarea crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well, what else was I going to do? Call you on the telephone and ask you if you've talked to any wizards lately?"

"I don't even have a telephone!" Tarea squeaked.

"Exactly!"

"I was just at Mum and Dad's why couldn't you reach me there?"

"I just missed you."

"Well… well… I don't even know what to say, Chaldea. I don't."

"Say nothing. Just… consider what I've said. I don't mean to upset you, or interrupt your life like this, but you're my sister and I want to be sure that nothing will happen to you. Especially when I can't be around to protect you all the time."

"I'm not asking for your protection."

"I know. But you might need some form… I didn't want my visit to be this way. I didn't want to make you upset."

"I know. You have mentioned that already."

"Well, forgive me for wanting to protect my own sister!" Chaldea, in turn, crossed her arms.

"I'm not… I'm not upset at you wanting to protect me. It's… very caring. I would appreciate it even more if you actually came around more to see me or see Mum and Dad. This is just coming out of nowhere. It's all very strange. Besides, living in Muggle society is protection enough for me." Tarea unfolded her tense arms.

"In the future, it won't be. Will you at least allow me to put Wards up on your flat? So that no one might enter it without alarm?"

"Do I have a choice in the matter?"

"Not really."

"Go ahead, then." She sighed.

Sirius

"I want to warn you of things to come."

"What… things?"

Before the other girl had the chance to answer, he was already asking himself, What things? He leaned closer to the wall, hoping that a neighbour might not come and distract him from listening. He knew this wouldn't look good to anyone else. But he needed to listen to this conversation. It was no longer between two sisters reuniting --- it was something completely different. He never suspected that the conversation would turn this way. From where it was heading, he thought it might go into more about the girls' every day lives or perhaps their family. There was a tone to both of their voices, though; a tone that worried him.

Obviously, one girl was a Death Eater and the other was not. The Death Eater came off as surprisingly caring for her sister, but then, a Death Eater could still remain loyal to his or her family. It wasn't their families that they were set to destroy, after all, their families were the purest of purebloods. Her sister, although not practicing, was pureblooded (if these were indeed the Hanephers)… so why wouldn't she want to protect her?

"Wizards bringing death to Muggles and the impure."

He wanted to leave; to tell the others right away about his findings, but not until the conversation between the sisters was over. He couldn't afford to miss any information that they might have. Although he had the feeling that the Death Eater would go no further with the information she was giving out, he had to remain where he was.

The word death lingered in his mind. No matter how much death he came across in his short time in the Order, he could never get used to it. With these words that this young girl uttered, it seemed that it was inevitable that he would be witness to more and more of it. Her words were enough for him to think about getting back to Dumbledore or to the Ministry to send Aurors over to take care of her, but he would not move. He would hear of her plans. He would hear of any more clues that she might be able to give. All of his work for today would not go to waste.

"By having someone follow me around? Way to go about it!"

He chuckled, even though it wasn't particularly funny. It had turned into a conversation that two sisters might have, though. It sounded familiar to a conversation that he and his brother Regulus had shared once, when Sirius had expressed for the first time his distaste for all that Voldemort stood for. He recalled saying something along the same lines as the other non-Death Eater girl that they couldn't judge someone solely on their family because what family a person ended up in was up to luck and nothing more. Regulus had it in him to tell Sirius exactly how he felt, and held nothing back as this other sister did… but then, the brothers had the entire winter evening to argue back and forth. Sirius then regretted his choice to spend the Christmas holiday at home. He knew that he couldn't agree with one word that his brother or his parents spoke. He should be used to it by now, but it angered him just the same thinking about it as it had when he was there in the middle of the heated argument. Thank the stars that he no longer lived at 12 Grimmauld Place. Enough of that…I've wasted enough time fussing over them.

This conversation was much more important right now to him, anyway. The fact that it had similarity to any he might have had was not the issue. In fact, there were probably families and friends having similar conversations at this very moment. Wizards were always arguing over which side was the right side and which was the wrong. Death Eaters were probably in similar situations with their families, making sure that they were safe from whatever harms the future might hold.

"Will you at least allow me to put Wards up on your flat? So that no one might enter it without alarm?"

And so it goes, he was not able to stay as long as he would like. He sprinted down the hall and then down the stairs wondering who he should tell his discoveries about first, Remus (who was most likely at home recuperating from the night before last) or Dumbledore and the Order (who would be able to do more than just listen to Sirius go on about their former schoolmate). He decided on Dumbledore, although it was not his first choice, it was the better choice. He shouldn't disturb Remus about these things, anyway. He had enough to worry about without hearing about all the death and destruction that Voldemort had in store for the near future. He paused for a moment at the bottom of the stairs, just before the main entrance, and wondered if he should wait to see if more Death Eaters came. It could be a meeting place that they did not yet know about. But it was very unlikely that they would bring a non-Death Eater to such a place.

Unless of course, they were recruiting. They were always recruiting.

Tarea

"I'm just going to make sure that no one is outside your door before I do this. They might be knocked off their feet." Chaldea stood, pausing for a moment before she headed over to the door, as if waiting for Tarea's permission.

"Don't worry, there won't be anyone outside my door. As you can see this isn't the ideal place to host guests."

"Well," Chaldea opened the door and looked around. "No nosy neighbours, anyway." She shut the door after she felt satisfied that no one was around. She took a good look at the door, studying it for a moment in a strange way. She held her hand out to Tarea, who was at a close but safe distance. "You should step back a few paces."

Tarea stepped back what she thought was a sufficient amount of paces and waited to see her sister perform this spell. She watched Chaldea as she took out her wand and pointed it at the middle of the door. "Fores protectus!" She outlined the perimeter of the door with her wand. After she was through and after a moment's pause, Chaldea turned to her sister and announced, "No one will be able to enter this flat without permission."

"Should we test it?" Tarea asked, suspiciously.

"If you don't think my magic is good enough…" She complained, but all she got back from Tarea was a blank stare. "Very well, I will leave, closing the door behind me. I may be able to open the door, but I will not be able to enter. Let me demonstrate." She did as she said she would, and upon trying to cross the threshold, she was not able to move any further. She jumped at the doorway, only to slam into the invisible shield. She rubbed her arm as if this shield bruised her in some way.

Tarea moved to the door. "Hmmm… I think I like this very much. You won't be able to enter again, will you? I don't see why I should let you back in." A smile crossed her face.

"Very funny. You don't have to let me back in, but at least step out here so that I can say a proper goodbye to my own sister."

Hesitating for a moment, just to frustrate her sister, Tarea waved and said, "Come back inside." Chaldea crossed with no problem whatsoever.

"See, works like a charm. Er, no pun intended."

Her sister laughed. "Yeah, sure Chaldea."

"In any case, I wanted to know if I might check on you from time to time when things are… well, when things are not so overwhelming."

"I would really like that."

"Would you? So there are no…"

"Well, you know where I stand on your beliefs, but you are my sister. There is some good in you still."

"Some good in me, still?" Both sisters laughed.

"You know what I mean."

"I think I do."

Benjamin

He couldn't sit still while she was gone. Walking the streets of London didn't appeal to him, either, as a way to pass the time, as he had been out most of the day doing just that. He was tired of walking, but although he finally had a moment to rest his legs, he could not. He decided instead to tidy up the room that he had rented. He had not been back here in three days. Dishes from that day were still placed on the counter next to the sink. Although he was hungry, he dare not touch the stale biscuits that Chaldea brought over for him just a few days before. He suspected that the rats had already nibbled at it, if not took half pieces away with them. A trail of crumbs to the floor reinforced this thought. He took the plate off the counter and dumped its contents into the trash before wiping the plate clean with a cloth. The water barely ran out of the plumbing. That's what he got for renting from Muggles. But he needed to keep a low profile while in London, and this type of place was perfect for that.

He changed out of his Muggle clothes and back into his robes. He tossed the clothes beside his unmade bed. Yet another thing he could do to pass the time, make his bed… but once he was standing next to it he couldn't help but think it looked very comfortable and inviting.

"Bed…" he said aloud to no one in particular. A nap would not do any harm while he waited. In fact, it could only make the time that he had to wait go by even faster. So, he lay down, sinking into the pillow and barely got the blankets over his body before he was asleep.

He dreamt he was following Tarea again.