A/N: I don't know that it's the longest chapter, but I think it is the longest one to date.
The number for this chapter is for Sailor Sol. It was originally Chapter Thirteen D, but I couldn't resist.
Disclaimer: Go back and read chapter one again.
Chapter Thirteen Pi: Fun And Games
Orion returned home in a disgruntled mood. He hadn't liked leaving Katlin at the meeting alone. But he had to agree with her reasoning. She could handle the situation better than he could likely, and if the situation were reversed, he understood how much of a distraction his being there would be to her. And trying to contact her before she came to him could put her in danger without his realizing it.
And so with little else to do than wait, Orion turned his attention to matters of his own that still needed settling. One, what to tell Bale about the meeting he hadn't actually stayed through.
The other was his partner's story.
Orion hated the idea of having to confront Charly about the supposed attack. He hated even more how he had to go about it. He couldn't tell Charly where he had gotten the information, and so he had to make a good show of finding it some other way.
As soon as he got to the office the next day, Orion started digging into records on his computer. He dug far and deep, leaving a trail a child could follow to show his activity. Once he finished there he began asking around the office for any reports anyone had heard of any activity to find the Deatheaters who had attacked his partner. From there he went to his informants on the streets and made an equally good show of seeking out any information on any Deatheaters having attacked a lone Unspeakable on the night Charly had told him he had been attacked.
Orion had dreaded having to go to Charly with his findings. But Charly actually made it a great deal easier by making the first move himself. On the sixth morning of his search, Orion looked up to find his partner standing in the doorway of his office.
"You have a minute, Orion?" Charly asked.
"Sure." Orion tried to sound as causal as he could as he continued working on his computer. "What's up?"
Charly stepped into the office, closing Orion's door behind him and casting a quick silencing charm on the room, which caused Orion to immediately stop what he was doing as he turned his attention back to his partner.
"This sounds a bit serious." Orion commented.
"It is serious." Charly replied. "I understand you've been digging like a dog after a bone around the events the night I got attacked." Charly added, seating himself on the edge of Orion's desk.
"That right."
"Why?"
"Why?" Orion looked as surprised as he could. "Charly, you got the snokkers kicked out of you that night. Come on, mate! I'm just trying to set up the rematch. Can't do that if we don't know who to corner in a back alley, now can we?"
"I want you to stop, Orion." Charly replied solemnly.
Orion put on a mildly confused expression. "Stop? Merlin's Beard, Charly, Why? We can't just let those bastards go on thinking they can attack one of us and there won't be any pay back."
Charly sighed loudly as he turned to the ceiling for a moment, then shook his head, turning back to his partner. "You couldn't just let it go, could you?"
Orion continued to look confused. "Charly, this is pay back. It's almost a requirement in these situations."
"Not this one, Orion."
"And does this come with an explanation?" Orion asked calmly, praying as hard as he ever had that it did.
Charly sighed again as he studied the ceiling once more before turning back to Orion. "There were no Deatheaters, Orion."
Orion sat in stunned silence. No reaction could have been more genuine to Charly's announcement then the one he got.
"What do you mean, 'no Deatheaters'?" Orion asked quietly.
"I mean I lied." Charly replied shortly. "There were no 'Deatheaters'. There was no attack by 'Deatheaters'. I did not get my tail kicked by 'Deatheaters'."
"You beat yourself up?"
Charly stood up and began pacing the small office. "No. There was an attack, mate. It just wasn't Deatheaters."
"Then who?"
Charly stopped his pacing and turned to face Orion. "It was muggles."
"Muggles?"
"A few muggles to be more exact."
"A few?"
"Five. Maybe six. After the first few seconds I wasn't sure of much at all."
Orion sighed to himself as he leaned back in his chair. Of all the things Charly could have told him, this was certainly low on the list. "So, does this come with an explanation as well, or are we just going to do twenty questions until I get it right?"
Charly seated himself in a large lounge chair behind Orion's desk. "Everything on the mission went like clockwork. Not so much as a hitch. But when I finished up that night and was headed home, I was so stinking tired I hardly knew my own name. The next thing I knew someone blindsided me. Came out of a side alley so fast I never saw anything coming. He got me good with the first hit. I went straight down. One second after that his mates all joined in and.....well, the only laugh I got out of the whole thing was they didn't get so much as a shilling off of me."
"You were mugged?"
"Mate, I don't know if it was a robbery or just a bunch of drunken alley scum out looking for a bit of fun. And I don't much care."
"But why did you say....?"
"Orion," Charly cut him off abruptly, "what was I suppose to say? I was coming home and I got jumped by a bunch of muggles and had the snokkers kicked out of me?" Charly shook his head again with another loud sigh. "You have no idea what it's like for me, Orion. Being a muggle in the middle of a Department of wizards. Every day I feel like I have to prove myself all over again from the day before. Prove that I'm good enough. Prove that I can hold my own. Prove that I can handle magic with the best of them."
Orion was stunned. "But, Charly......you've done all that."
"Weren't you listening, Black?" Charly repeated. "I feel like I have to go through the same thing every day. Proving myself over and over and over again. And to top it off, I'm partnered with the best agent the Department has. I can't screw up, Orion. I'm not the wizard you are." Charly gave a small laugh. "Heck, I'm not even half the wizard you are." Charly leaned over the edge of the desk. "I'm no wizard at all, Orion. I'm a muggle. And everyday I feel like I have to fight to keep my place here. One screw up and Bale and Olivers are going to think I can't handle it anymore. Then goodbye magic, goodbye job, goodbye money, and.....goodbye partner."
"That'll never happen!" Orion shot back fiercely. "Everyone's entitled to mistakes, Charly. We all make them. Wizards and muggles alike."
But Charly only shook his head. "Not here, mate. Not for this muggle. You're Bale's golden child, Orion. He's priming you day by day to take his place. He finds out about this, that Charly Misser couldn't even hold his own against a bunch of muggles, and I'll be out the door so fast I'd be surprised if Bale would bother opening it for me first."
Orion jumped to his feet, pointing a finger directly in his partner's face. "First of all, Charly, Bale is going to die sitting in his chair of old age, so I wouldn't worry too much who he wants to replace him. Secondly, since you draw your magic off of me, that makes you every bit the wizard I am. And finally, the day that this Department is so stupid as they fire one of the best damned agents I've ever worked with is the day I leave myself. You have nothing to be ashamed of in how you do your job. I wouldn't have anyone else for my partner....."
"That's because we're friends, Orion." Charly cut him off quickly.
"I'm sorry to disillusion you, 'friend'," Orion replied with a smile that verged on a sneer, "but in this line of work, sentimentality can get you killed. I partnered with you because I felt you were the best person for the job. My 'friend' is who I go out and have a drink with after work. My 'partner' is who I trust my life to." Orion pulled back from him. "So you got jumped?" He stated past opened arms. "So what? It happens, Charly."
Charly got back to his feet, stepping right up to his partner. "Well, it can't happen to me, Orion. Not is this business. It's a black mark against my record. One I can't afford. So you'll just have to excuse me for turning a bunch of muggles into a pack of Deatheaters. For all I've taken off of those blighters over the years, I felt that for once they could do something for me."
"You falsified a report, Charly." Orion replied calmly. "I found out. Someone else might. You want to talk about a black mark on your record?"
"Are you planning on being the pair of lips wrapped around that whistle?"
"You know I won't."
"Then I don't see why anyone else should care."
"If Bale finds out....."
"He won't. Not if you drop this information scavenger hunt your on. Just let it lay, Orion. Please. For my sake."
Orion stood for a minute staring back at the man before him. He couldn't believe the lengths the man had gone to to hide the truth from everyone. But he also wasn't going to be the one to expose him.
"All right." Orion replied finally. "I'll drop the matter."
Charly let out an audible sigh of relief. "I appreciate it, partner. You have no idea how much."
"I just think you're going overboard on this, Charly." Orion added. "No one would have thought one bit different about you because of what happened."
"Because you're looking at it like a wizard, Orion. You can't see this from my point of view. You aren't able. Now please, just let it go. Everybody's happy with the version I told them. Especially me."
Orion shook his head slightly. "Lies always come back to haunt you in this business, Charly." Orion warned him.
Charly quickly undid the silencing charm and left Orion's office without further comment. But he stopped outside his partner's door and leaned against it for a moment in relief. "Yes they do, mate." He whispered finally, pulling away from the door and heading down the hallway.
Charly had known from the start the story he told with have to be intermingled with some level of truth in order to fool his partner. To make the whole thing just believable enough that Orion would disregard the tale-tailed feelings of the lie coming through as just a case of nerves or embarrassment. All in all, the story ended as a well constructed balance of truth and fiction, delivered with flawless perfection.
"Yes they do."
A full day later it was with more than relieved concern that Orion opened his door late in the evening to find Katlin standing on his doorstep.
Without a thought, he rushed forward and grabbed her in his arms and pulled her to him. But his actions met with a slight noise that sounded suspiciously like pain from her.
Orion quickly let go of her and pulled back.
"Katlin?" He asked. But he stopped from going any further. One look at her told him all he needed to know.
A worried expression met her's as Orion brushed a thumb gently over the bruise on her cheek.
"What happened?" He asked just the same.
Katlin shrugged, wincing slightly from pain.
"You didn't think there wouldn't be any punishment at all?" She replied quietly.
Orion sighed sadly as he stepped up to her again and carefully wrapped her in his arms, gently leading her inside as he closed the door behind her.
Inside the safety of his home he wrapped her a little more securely in a tender embrace.
"What can I do?" He whispered softly.
Katlin buried her face into his shoulder as her arms slipped about his waist.
"You're doing it." She whispered back.
Orion let her stay in his arms for as long as she wanted, or at least until he felt her leaning her weight more and more against him.
"All right," He said softly to her as he wrapped an arm securely about her waist, "I think it's way past someone's bedtime."
"Oh, I'm sorry for keeping you up past your bedtime." She answered with a small smile.
Orion smiled down at her as he led her to the stairs. "Brat. I meant you 'someone'. Lets get you to bed."
But Katlin dug her heels in. "Orion, I have to get back."
"And you need a few days of tending to." He replied past a firm stare. "Where exactly do they think you are right now?"
Katlin sighed. "They probably think I'm off licking my wounds somewhere. I'm well-known for it."
"Sulking?"
"Something like that."
"Well, you're in for the best damn sulk you ever had." he stated, leading her once again to the stairs.
"Orion." Katlin dug her heels in again.
Orion turned to her. "What is it?"
Katlin paused as she turned to the stairs, then turned her gaze back to him. "I'm just.....I don't think I'll be a lot of fun right now."
Orion suddenly understood her hesitancy at even staying.
"I'm not looking for 'fun', Katlin." He replied gently. "You came to me for whatever reason besides 'fun', and I'm going to see that you're taken care of. Now, come with me." He added, holding his hand out to her. "There's a nice, warm, private bath waiting for you and a nice soft bed in the guest room."
Katlin smiled slightly up at him as she slipped her hand into his.
A few minutes later Katlin found herself relaxing in a large tub of warm water while Orion added several vials to it. Each added ingredient seemed to practically charge the water around her as it worked over her sore body like a gentle massage. Orion spent much of the time seated behind her as he gently washed and rinsed her hair for her. When he finished he leaned over her from the back and gently whispered to her to stay in the water for at least another half hour and he would come and get her when the time was up. Placing a gentle kiss on her lips, he quietly left her to finish soaking in the tub.
Shortly after a half hour was up Katlin found herself being tenderly nudged out of a half awake state. Orion carefully helped her from the tub and helped her dry off. He then led her down the hallway to a room with a large, four poster-bed with a soft, down comforter over it. Katlin slipped beneath the sheets and pulled them up around her. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this warm and relaxed.
"Everything all right then?" Orion whispered to her as she lay against the pillows with closed eyes and a pleasant, relaxed smile on her lips.
Katlin didn't feel she could manage more than a slight nod. But she did manage a smile for him as she snuggled down in the sheets a bit more and pulled the comforter up a bit higher.
"It's a charmed comforter, you know." Orion told her.
Katlin opened her eyes and stared at him.
"You just wait until it reaches a temperature under there you like, then tell it to 'stay', and it'll stay that temperature the rest of the night."
"What about you?" She asked in a half-asleep sounding voice.
"Me?"
A hand worked its way out from under the comforter and found his, wrapping slowly about it.
"Stay." She said softly.
Orion smiled slightly at her.
"You only had to ask." He replied.
Katlin watched him quickly pull out of his clothes before pulling back the comforter and sliding in next to her. Her arms quickly wrapped themselves about him as she cuddled up next to his body, shivering slightly at the rush of cold air.
Orion pulled down next to her under the covers with a small laugh. "Getting out of bed or back in negates the spell, by the way." He informed her.
"Then we'll just have to wait for it to warm up again." She muttered softly, settling against his chest.
"Just don't make it too hot." He whispered to her, kissing the top of her head. "I hate a hot bed."
"Of what?" Came the muttered response.
Orion laughed softly again. He didn't bother to answer. He doubted she would have heard him as he felt her whole body relax against his as she settled almost instantly off to sleep.
Orion woke the next morning with a bit of a start. The first thing he registered was that he wasn't in his bed. The second was it wasn't his room. Third was the body next to him.
As the situation came back to him quickly enough, he carefully settled back down against the pillows, hoping he hadn't woken Katlin up. He lay for several moments listening to her breathing. Finally convinced she was still asleep, he relaxed down to waiting for her to wake up.
Without much else to do to occupy his time, Orion decided to fill the spare space by simply watching Katlin sleep. It amazed him how a woman who was likely ranked by his own department as one of the most dangerous of Voldemort's Deatheaters, could look so perfectly harmless while she was asleep.
Her auburn hair lay spread in an array over the pillow behind her. A few strands cascading over her shoulder and across her neck. From somewhere hidden in the dark ribbons, a small diamond caught a bit of the morning light and reflected it back.
Orion didn't think he would ever forget the day he gave her that pendent. He was long past being simply enchanted with her at that point. But it wasn't being simply obsessed with her either. It was much worse than that and he had known it long before he had seen her standing before the tiny jewelry store window. Of all the women who had been in his life, of all the ones he had dated, the few he had given any serious thought to, the one he had fallen in love with was the last one he should have.
A Deatheater.
Despite his best efforts to distract it, Orion felt his mind begin an all too familiar mental trek down the road of logic. One he couldn't seem to help but find himself on from time to time.
Katlin was a Deatheater. One of Voldemort's best agents. She had likely killed a fair number of Aurors in her time. Possibly even a few of his own people. Maybe even people he knew. Friends. Acquaintances. People he had fought beside for years. She was the enemy of everything he believed in and fought for all these years.
He knew he should put a stop to it. To what was going on between them. A permanent one. Arrest her. Take her to the department. Let them question her. She was likely to be an invaluable source of information. A few days with her and they could learn more than months of spying on the Deatheaters.
And when they were done with her.......
Things suddenly started to get a bit fuzzy in Orion's train of thought. Somehow his mind didn't seem to want to go any further with the thought.
But he didn't need it to. He knew all too well what would happen next. He'd seen it often enough. Captured Deatheaters were sent to Azkaban. After that he never cared, although he had a pretty good idea of their fates. The more harmless ones were sent there for life. The less harmless ones, the one's like Katlin, were given to the Dementors to be Kissed. The Department wanted them utterly destroyed. With no hope of ever coming back. Nor did they simply want to waste the manpower guarding them.
It was a very popular solution to a very unpopular problem.
Katlin suddenly broke his fragile train of thought as she shifted against him in her sleep. A long, slender white arm snaked its way across his chest and wrapped itself securely about his body as she pulled herself up tighter to him.
All the thoughts in his mind just then went blurry.
'Oh, well,' He told himself as he glanced down at her still sleeping next to him, quickly dismissing the ideas that were fading out of his mind. He wasn't very interested in that train of thought anyway.
But the one that took its place he was all too happy to pursue. Like it or not, logical or not, safe or not, he was in love. With a Deatheater.
So it wouldn't be easy. So no one else was likely to understand, much less approve. All that mattered was that they loved each other.
Logic rose up with a vengeance at the thought and quickly slapped it into non-existence.
He loved her. There was no proof whatsoever to support the other half of the equation.
Orion frowned at the thought. It was a point to consider.
"Oh, that's much too serious a look for this time of the morning."
Orion was snapped out of his thoughts by the comment. He turned to see Katlin laying on his chest, staring up at his face.
"Hmmm?"
"That look," she repeated. "That's much too serious for this hour of the morning."
Orion managed a smile for her.
He was instantly rewarded.
"Ohhhhhh, that's much better." She cooed at him as she pulled up and kissed him lightly on the lips. Settling back against him, she cuddled up in his arms as he wrapped them about her.
"Now," she stated, "tell me what had you so deep in thought this morning?"
Orion thought for a moment about whether to tell her.
"It was nothing." He stated finally.
Katlin suddenly pulled up out of his arms and turned a fixed stare on him. "You're going to start the day by lying to me?" She scooted over in the bed, swinging her feet out from under the covers. "Well, this day has a lot of promise."
"What?"
Katlin turned back to him. "I know when I'm being lied to, Orion. And I won't take it from you of all people.
"All right." He said a bit firmly. "You want to know what I was thinking about?"
Katlin paused, then pulled her feet back under the covers and scooted back over next to him, looking at him expectantly.
The bruise on her cheek and the one under her eye were both more prominent than they had been the night before.
Orion reached out and lightly traced a finger over the bruise on her cheek.
"I was wondering how someone who you claim cares so much about you, would allow others to do this to you."
Katlin pulled back slightly, but her expression was utterly neutral, revealing nothing. "It was punishment, Orion. Pure and simple. It had nothing to do with how Voldemort feels about me."
Orion sighed as he pulled his hand back. "It just seems like an awful lot to go through just to keep having fun and games." He replied.
Katlin smiled at him, scooting over closer to him. "I like our fun and games." She said with a small smile. "As a matter of fact, I had the most wonderful idea for......."
"Katlin, what if it wasn't all 'fun and games'?" Orion cut her off abruptly.
Katlin stopped short in mid-sentence. She paused for a moment as she let her mind work over the words.
"What do you mean?" She asked quietly.
"Just that." Orion repeated. "What if it wasn't all just 'fun and games' anymore."
"I thought we already established that it wasn't just that." Katlin replied.
"Katlin, what if I was in love with you?" Orion asked bluntly.
From the look on Katlin's face, Orion surmised that wasn't the statement she was expecting. As guarded as she tried to be with her emotions, the look was clearly one of surprise.
"In love?" She asked in a disbelieving tone. "And when did you decide this?"
Orion sighed again as he studied the ceiling, thinking. "I would have to say when I kissed you."
"In the lair?"
"In the alleyway."
"In the alleyway?" Katlin repeated, none of the disbelief leaving her voice. "The first time you kissed me you were in love with me?"
"Pretty much."
"You didn't even know me."
"I had been devoting a lot of fantasizing time to you."
"You fell in love with your fantasy, Orion." Katlin replied.
"Well, it was your fault then that I fell in love with you." He defended.
"Mine?"
"You lived up to it." He answered. "Surpassed it even."
Katlin couldn't completely hide the small smile at his statement.
"So," Orion ventured, "is there any hope at all?"
Katlin sat for a moment staring at the covers as the smile drifted off her lips.
Orion sighed to himself as he turned back to the covers. An answer, any answer, even a negative one, was better to him than silence.
"I see."
But A firm hand on his arm turned him back to her. "No, you don't." Katlin said. "You don't see at all."
"Well then?"
"Would you be terribly disappointed in me if I said....I didn't know?"
Orion smiled slightly as a wave of relief washed over him. That answer he could actually work with. Could understand.
He leaned over and kissed her head softly.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not the one being asked to give up a part of themselves, Katlin." Orion answered. "Being asked to give up my whole life. I'm not the one who feels like I'm being asked to do something I felt was going to betray someone who trusts me. Who I felt, in their own way, loved me."
"He does love me, Orion." Katlin put in quickly, leaning her body against him as she sat up against the pillows behind her.
Orion turned to her, lightly tracing a finger once more over the bruise on her cheek.
"This isn't love, Katlin." He said.
"And this is?" She asked, leaning in more against him.
Orion sighed again as he hugged her to him. "Oh Love, I think the good news is....I think we're off to a really good start."
"And the bad news." Katlin asked quietly.
Orion shrugged under her. "I have no idea to what."
Many arguments later, Katlin snuggled back down in the covers as Orion got up and headed for the shower. She had put up as much of a show of defiance as she cared to. But quite frankly, long boring meetings in a hot room filled with people didn't stack up too well against a day in a soft, comfortable bed while she had the daylights pampered out of her by an incredibly attractive man.
Shifting under the covers slightly, she winced against a pain in her side. She sighed slightly and, pulling up in the bed, summoned a mirror off the dresser. As she held it up, she winced again. But this time it was from the sight of her reflection. The bruises were a bit darker than they had been before, and they still stung a great deal.
She never committed to memory who was responsible. They were, after all, only doing what they were told to do. Mostly out of fear more than any real desire to punish her. Mostly because many of them had had to endured the same. And refusal was not advised.
Katlin sighed as she lowered the mirror. Orion had been so upset last night. And so concerned.
She smiled slightly at the memory. It had been a long time since she had been able to look to another for comfort in her pain. And it was...pleasant...to have someone who understood.
Someone who cared for the sake of caring.
Katlin laid the mirror on the bedside table and crawled back under the cover.
She smiled at the memory of the night before.
Orion had been absolutely wonderful.
He had done whatever he could to take away some of the pain. And when they finally went to bed he had asked nothing of her. Instead he had wrapped her protectively in his arms and held her gently against his body until she had fallen asleep.
When she had woken the second time that morning, it had been to the same, protective embrace. And to the same concerned, pensive stare as he gently brushed a hand over her cheek and asked her if she wanted to stay the rest of the day.
And a few half-hearted arguments later, she was headed for, as Orion had said the night before, the best damn sulk of her life.
Pampering was good.
A small smile crept across her lips. But it quickly vanished under the pain from the bruised muscles underneath, replaced just as quickly by a slight frown.
"Excuse please, Misses."
Katlin's eyes flew open.
A soft shriek later she was sitting up in the bed, staring back at a small pale green creature, standing at the side of the bed, looking at her with a mixture of concern and interest.
"The Misses remembers Tets?" The little house-elf ask.
Katlin gave the little creature a small, tentative smile.
"Hello, Tets." She said softly. "Yes, I remember you."
Tets look up at her, the expression on his face looking like he was about to burst into tears.
"Is....is the Misses all right?" He asked quietly.
Katlin thought for a moment about what the little elf was asking. But a hand suddenly came up to her cheek.
She managed a slightly better smile for him the second time.
"Oh....I'm fine. A.....small accident. That's all. I'm fine."
"I could.....perhaps make the Misses a cup of tea?" He asked hopefully.
Katlin gave him another smile. "Oh, Tets, that would be lovely. Thank you."
The small creature positively beamed at her.
"Tets will be back straight away, Misses." And with that, the little creature disappeared.
When Orion came out of the shower, he was surprised to find Katlin sitting up in bed sipping at a cup of tea, a stack of pillows piled comfortably behind her. On the foot of the bed before her, sat Tets, who was animatedly gesturing about as he spoke to Katlin.
"Tets!" He stated so loudly that both occupants of the bed jumped slightly.
The little elf turned about so abruptly he nearly lost his balance.
"Ma...ma...ma....master?!" Tets stammered in his reply.
Orion looked over the scene carefully, then turned his gaze back to Tets.
"What are you doing here, Tets? Have you been bothering my guest?"
"No, Master!"
Orion shifted his gaze to Katlin. "Has he said anything to you?" He asked in a slightly softer voice.
"Aside from asking me if I took milk in my tea?" Katlin asked, her voice slightly edged with annoyance as she stared back at Orion.
Orion advanced on the little creature, who looked up at his master with wide eyes. "I's is not saying anything to the Misses." Tets stated quickly. "I's is only concerned."
But before Tets could say another word, he suddenly found himself grabbed from behind and yanked back over the bed. Trying to sort things out, he found himself quickly wrapped in a pair of long, smooth white arms that held him protectively against the soft, padded pillow of the woman's chest.
"Orion Black!" Katlin nearly shrieked. "How dare you speak like that to him?"
Tets watched from between the woman's arms as his master abruptly backed down under her tone.
"You don't understand, Katlin." He stated softly again. "Tets sometimes says things....that are inappropriate...to the wrong people when he's alone with them for too long. I only wanted to make sure he hadn't...."
"And what did he say to me that was inappropriate?" The woman fired back in a heated voice. "If he could make me breakfast? Bring me another pillow? Some potion for my pain?"
The grip around Tets tightened protectively.
"I will not have you yelling at this poor thing!" She demanded. "He hasn't done one thing wrong! All he has done, in fact, is sat here and kept me company."
Tets poked his head out from between the two arms holding him against the woman.
"I's is only keeping the Misses company." He agreed. "I's is meaning no harm, Sir."
Tets couldn't for the life of him understand why Orion was so angry. Usually Tets was just told to leave the room when Orion caught him trying to make one of the Master's female guests feel at home. But this time the master seemed genuinely angry.
Orion's gaze shifted from Tets back to Katlin.
"You're sure he hasn't said anything.....offensive to you?"
Katlin looked shocked. "Like what?"
Orion seemed to search for the right words.
"Tets has a propensity for.....finding Deatheaters in my house." Orion said slowly. "Everyone who comes in the door he thinks is one."
Katlin suddenly smiled as she stared down at the little elf.
Tets thought he saw something of a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
"Really?" Katlin asked slowly, turning Tets to her. "Well, now. Aren't you the clever little one. Protecting your master from the evil Deatheaters."
Tets beamed at Katlin.
"Oh yes, Misses. Tets is very good at knowings Deatheaters. They's is clever, they is. But Tets knows Deatheaters when he sees thems."
"Really, Tets?" Katlin asked in a soft purr of a voice. "Well, I'm sure your master must feel very safe having you about."
His earlier confrontation with his master forgotten, Tets bask in Katlin's praise.
"Tets serves his master very well, Misses. Keeps my master and his house very safe."
"And surely no Deatheater could ever get past such a clever little elf as you."
Tets cast a curious stare at Orion as he slid out of Katlin's arms onto the bed in front of her. But as that he wasn't being reprimanded anymore, he quickly turned his attention back to her.
"Most certainly not, Misses." He answered formally. "No house elf is as good at spotting Deatheaters as Tets."
"Really?" Katlin seemed genuinely impressed.
Tets beamed at her happily as he nodded.
"But Tets." Katlin asked in a concerned voice. "Aren't you afraid of Deatheaters? Of what they might do to you if they caught you?"
Tets looked at her sternly. "Oh no, Misses!" He stated confidently. "Is much to being the other way round, it is."
"Other way round?"
"Deatheaters is afraid of Tets. Is why nones is ever coming in my master's house."
Katlin looked even more impressed. "My, but you certainly are brave."
Tets smiled happily. "Tets is not being afraid of Deatheaters, Misses. Never."
"Tets?" Orion said softly, slipping onto the bed next to Katlin as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
Tets turned back to his master.
"Yes, Sirs?"
"You know, Misses knows lots of Deatheaters."
Tets looked surprised. "Ah!" He reasoned quickly. "Misses is an Auror. Like the master."
Katlin shook her head as she giggled slightly. "Nope."
Tets looked at her a bit tentatively. "Misses works for the ministry?"
Katlin shook her head.
"Misses is a guard at Azkaban?"
"Tets." Orion said, staring down at his house elf. "Misses is a Deatheater."
Tets looked stunned for a moment, casting his gaze between Katlin and Orion, who both sat simply smiling back at him. But Tets quickly let his expression dissolve into an equal smile.
"Ohhhhh!" He stated finally. "Master is having a joke with Tets. Misses is not a Deatheater."
Orion took Katlin's arm and, turning it wrist up, slowly pulled the sleeve of the robe she had slipped into earlier up from her arm, revealing the outline of the Dark Mark on her forearm.
Tets looked at the mark as though he had never seen anything quite like it before in his life. He then slowly turned his eyes to the woman sitting before him, still smiling down at him.
"Misses...." Tets stated slowly in a very quiet voice, "...is a Deatheater?"
Katlin nodded at him.
"Tets?" Orion prompted his attention back to him.
Tets looked over at Orion, but never quite let his gaze ever really leave Katlin.
"Go get breakfast, would you?"
The little elf had disappeared before Orion had even finished his sentence.
Orion rolled over on the bed laughing hysterically. Earning himself a hit from a pillow by Katlin.
"That wasn't very nice, Orion." She stated with a slight grimace against the pain in her back. "He was being very kind to me."
Orion slowly pulled himself up. "You don't understand." He gasp. "I have lived for years with that little self-proclaimed Auror accusing everyone that steps in this house...including myself.....of being Deatheater. This is the first time in all those years he's actually met one."
"Oh, and I'm a good representation of a Deatheater at the moment? All the poor thing thought I was was another of his master's.....guests at the breakfast table." She finished carefully.
"Well, he doesn't get that many of those, I assure you." Orion replied. "He was probably nearly ready to kill himself to show you how solicitous he can be."
"Well, he was doing a very good job of it." Katlin answered as Orion seated himself on the bed next to her again. "Is he really going to make us breakfast?"
Orion shook his head as he snuggled up against her, wrapping an arm over her waist. "He's probably hiding in the basement right now with Bo."
"Bo?"
Orion stopped abruptly. He wasn't really eager to explain Bo to anyone. Especially since, for all intents and purposes, Bo was part of the house's security.
"Well," He said slowly, " Bo is sort of....the family's pet boggart."
Katlin shifted under him as she turned to him in surprise.
"You have a pet boggart?!"
Orion nodded against her.
"In the basement?"
"He seems to like it down there."
Katlin tried to pull out from under him. "You have to show me this." She stated, trying to move against the pain in her arms and legs.
But Orion held fast to her, pulling her back into the bed.
"Later." He mumbled into the covers. "Right now all I'm in the mood for is a good lie-in."
Katlin sighed to herself, but agreeably settle back against the pillows.
The boggart likely wasn't going anywhere.
And a lie-in did sound nice.
Katlin woke up an hour later to find herself again, alone in the bed. Stretching out, she rolled over to the side of the bed and, again, nearly jumped a foot into the air.
"Can Tets be getting the Misses anything?" The little house elf asked solicitously.
Katlin laid a hand over her chest as she waited for her heart to slow down a bit. "Tets," she said carefully, "we really need to have a talk about your methods of waking people in the morning."
"Was not waking the Misses." The little elf replied carefully. "Tets was waiting patiently for the Misses to wake up."
Katlin sighed to herself. You just couldn't argue with someone who was dead-set on pleasing you.
"Where's Orion, Tets?"
"The master is in the den, Misses. Is working."
"Working?"
The little elf looked as though he were suddenly having some very deep internal conflict. "I's is not sure I's should be telling you about that, Misses." Tets replied finally. "The Misses....being....what the Misses is."
"You mean because I'm a Deatheater?"
Tets paused, then nodded almost apologetically.
"Tets," Katlin asked, "does it bother you that I'm a Deatheater?"
"Bother me, Misses?"
"Well, you liked me well enough before you knew I was a Deatheater. What about now?"
Tets seemed to think the question over quiet seriously for a few moments. "The master likes the Misses." Tets replied finally, slowly and carefully it seemed choosing each word. "And.....and the Misses is very nice....very kind to Tets. And Tets...likes the Misses before. And...the Misses makes the master very happy. Tets never remembers the master having a Misses around for quite so long. So the master must like the Misses very much. And a good house elf's job is to make his master happy."
"So you're going to like me because it's your job?" Katlin asked with a touch of disappointment.
Tets looked up at her as he traced a pattern in the rug with his toe. "If that would be all right with the Misses?" He stated quietly.
To Katlin it looked like the poor thing was about to burst into tears. She suddenly realized Tets wasn't so much looking for an explanation as he seemed to be looking for an excuse.
Katlin gave him a warm, understanding smile. "That would be just fine, Tets." She replied.
The little house elf suddenly beamed up at her. "Oh, I's is thanking you very much, Misses!" Tets replied happily. "And Tets, being a good house elf and is doing his job very well, is liking the Misses very much still."
Katlin smiled down at the little creature. "I appreciate that, Tets. Now, what did you want?"
"Tets is wondering if the Misses is ready for her breakfast now?"
"That would be fine, Tets. Thank you."
The little house elf quickly disappeared.
Katlin sat in the bed for several minutes, thinking over what Tets had said to her. His master liked her. She made him happy. And Tets never remembered Orion having anyone else around for quite so long.
Katlin sighed as she laid back in the bed.
He had said he was in love with her. He had admitted it freely. And he had never done one thing to make her think otherwise.
He seemed so bloody sure of it. How could he be? How can you know your in love with someone so quickly? How do you know it at all?
Katlin closed her eyes. The problem wasn't Orion. He had his answers and he was happy with them. He was in love.
The problem was her's. She wasn't sure. She wasn't even close to being sure. And there were so many reasons not to be in love with him. So many very good reasons. But weren't his reasons all the same? And Orion had gotten past them. Maybe she should ask him how he had done that.
No. That would only show him for certain how unsure of their relationship she was.
Relationship.
Katlin smiled slightly. Now there was progress, she thought. Even just to herself, she was now calling it what it was. Her eyes suddenly snapped open at the thought. Then maybe it wasn't just 'fun and games' to her anymore. Maybe there was something more to it now. Maybe she was.........no. She had better control than that. She knew her own mind well enough. If she was in love she would know it. Plain and simple.
Katlin closed her eyes again. She couldn't be in love.
Not with him.
Not with an Auror.
Not now.
She sighed with relief as the smell of beacon suddenly assaulted her senses. Tets was back with breakfast. And that was something much easier to think about.
Q&A
Werepup: I suppose my version of Voldemort is a bit toned down. But I find it hard to write an interesting psychopath. And I really don't see him that way. He's not insane. He's basically a man who has a belief system that he's taken to extremes. But folks, I'm sorry, but I do not believe that classifies you as insane. And so far in the books, that isn't what I've seen him acting as at all.
More Charly is coming. Why is it my secondary characters seem so much more popular than my primary ones?
The restaurant scene was just for fun. I wondered what a man with that much money could do to try and impress his girlfriend. And that is what that scene evolved out of.
Sailor Sol: Hope you enjoyed the chapter number.
The chapters straighten out for a while after this as that I get back on my regular number system now.
The restaurant scene was, as I said earlier, just for fun. How could a man as rich as Orion is, impress his lover? Spend money and lots of it. Because basically, what else is he doing with it?
I would hesitate to say they are 'working things out'. But they are trying.
Don't let college terrify you, Dear. PAR has been there, done that, has t-shirt. And trust me, they will be the best days of your life. As any new situation, it takes some getting use to. But it isn't really that different from high school, just a lot more fun. Don't look to make radical chances in yourself to try and meet others expectations. The only person you need to impress is yourself. And look for opportunities to do work in the field you are interested in. Because what's going to get you that first job isn't the grades you made, Dear, it's the experience. Especially if you are looking at anything in technology. Take it from someone MUCH older than you.
And just remember; Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil. (PAR just loves that one!)
nessie: Kristen, Dear, is sort of like the energizer bunny on speed.
I hope you can adjust for the scanner problem. I would love to see some of your work.
This story is currently running after Family Life in length. It will be somewhere around thirty chapters. Maybe more. Maybe less.
The best picture of the movie I have seen so far was in Newsweek (August 4th edition) where they showed not only the new Dumbledore, but an excellent picture of a scene in the Shrieking Shack showing the back of Peter's head, Sirius, and Lupin. IF you intend to try and see the picture logging into Newsweek.com, I will save you the trouble. The picture is one of the ones they cut. I am surprised, however, that none of the websites appear to be carrying that many pictures from the set. Much less any pictures of Sirius or Lupin.
I agree. I haven't even seen the movie and I am not hopeful.
And for the fourth movie, I have heard not only have they changed directors (again) but they have opted to film it as one movie and not two. Might as well just cut their throats now and be done with it. I wonder what Rowling has to say to that?
sweets: Package will probably have gotten there by the time you read this. I mailed it Monday, August 18, 2003.
Congratulations on the job. As I said, House of Mouse isn't that bad to work for. And I have heard the perks are good.
Katlin has been playing with fire for a very long time. But technically, Orion was not with her. By the time she approached the other Elite, Orion was already gone.
Actually, the author's note had nothing to do with Katlin at all.
Reviews as of 08192003.