Chosha's Notes Hello everyone and welcome back to Celestin. You know, I was looking at the stats for this story and it has the most C2's out of all my stories, and is already on over 10 favourites and alerts! I'm so happy! Cel is too. So I wanna give a big round of applause and a hell of a lot of thank you's for the reviews and for liking this so much. I hope I don't let you down!

Oh, and I've shortened the list of ideas for parings, based on the votes I've been getting. So, call this a sort of finals in the votes, yeah. I've been told by most that HP-Ginny and (even though I wasn't gonna have it anyway) HP-Hermione are a definite no. I sort of agree, there are waaaaay too many of those. Besides, you can't expect this AU Harry to become friends with the exact same people as in the canon, can you? So, the Votes have been shortened to…

HP-Fem!Blaise

HP-Daphne Greengrass

(HP-DG was one that many have asked for, despite not being on the list last time)

HP-OC

HP-Snape (yes, I was asked for a slash, so I thought I'd add it on.)

These are sort of…guidelines for me, just so I know who he meets (cause if he meets Blaise Zabini, I need to know if it's a male or female one, ne?) Just so you all know, this isn't going to be a romance fiction in any way, if parings do occur, they will all be slight ones, as this story is mainly going to be focused on the action, mystery etc element. Any Romance is all on the side, so if you don't want me going off on tangents, I know you'll be relieved. Too many good fictions mess up because they go onto a tangent from the original plot.

Well, that's all the blabbering from me for now, so I'll zip it so you can get on with it, ne?

Last time on Celestin

Celestin escaped the battlefield, but was forced to undergo an investigation of a different sort after the Dark Mark was fired into the sky. But when Celestin was about to leave, he overheard something that interests him greatly…something that he's sure the other side will not pass up on…

Chapter Four

Decisions

The house stood surrounded by thick forests, situated on the top of a hill in what could only be described as 'the middle of nowhere'. However, it looked more like a once, admittedly small, but grand-looking manor, rather than a house. It had once belonged to a rich family. However, they had long since died and the place had fallen to ruin, forgotten by the outside world. Some of the windows were boarded up, while ivy climbed unchecked over its face, clinging to it with a death-grip. It was said that it had once belonged to the 'eccentric' but rich family known as the Alrics. However, the last member of that family had vanished mysteriously around one hundred or so years before, though no one had ever discovered what had truly happened to the man. It would seem that the only civilisation anywhere near to the place was a tiny, peaceful town that slept in with a blanket of shadow and stars overhead, as night had long since fallen. However, it would be something of a mistake to think this was the truth.

Celestin stood at the edge of the forest and looked up at the run-down looking manor, his emerald eyes scanning the building. There were some things that were rather special about this house. One was that if a stranger had been walking through these woods, they would not be able to see the house at all, due to several charms that had been placed upon it. The place was unplottable and also had a charm known as the Fidelius Charm upon it, so basically even the strongest of wizards could not find the place unless the secret keeper allowed it. In other words, the only wizard in all of England who knew where this place was was probably only Celestin himself. This made the Alric manor a perfect hideout from both Magical and muggle worlds.

Celestin smiled, seeing the welcoming lights that flickered from within and headed towards the place with calm strides and placed his hand against the door. The wards, for a moment, flared lightning blue, as if trying to determine whom it was trying to open the door. However, seconds later it faded again and the door clicked open, allowing him entry. Celestin smiled a little as he pushed open the door and headed inside.

Within was definitely a far cry from the manors outward appearance. Though it was not the most extravagant of places, it wasn't in complete disrepair, either. The stairs were made of dark, oak wood leading to the upper levels of the house, while the wide entrance hall bore a long rug of deep crimson. The walls were whitewashed and dark beams held up the roof. On special stands stood candlesticks made of sliver, which shone a little in the warm light of the candle. A plain door with a brass door knob lead off from the hall.

Celestin had barely taken two steps into the room when the door opened and a woman came bustling out. She was an old woman with a kind, but strict face and soft but bright brown eyes that seemed full of life. Her hair was a curly grey-white, that was tied back into a small braid with a blue ribbon and she wore a long-sleeved blue dress, which came down to her brown-booted feet. When she caught sight of Celestin, she jumped and dashed to his side; her face turned to one of concern.

'Merlin, Master Celestin! What happened to you? You're covered in blood,' she looked over Celestin critically. 'How much of it is yours?'

'Thankfully, hardly any of it. It's mostly death-eaters.' He held up his hands as he saw the woman's face harden at the words "hardly any of it". 'It's just a scratch, Lucy, and nothing that can't wait until after I've seen Marius and I've got myself cleaned up.' Lucy relaxed a little, though begrudgingly. 'Where is Marius, anyway?'

'He's in his office, Master Celestin.' Said the woman, though she kept looking in Celestin's direction worriedly. 'But don't you want to clean up first? I could run you the bath…'

Celestin smiled at the woman's concern. 'It's fine, Lucy. But I've got to see Marius; otherwise he might worry that a death-eater got in a lucky shot. But I'll have a shower. Why don't you go rest? You look a little tired.'

'I was worried, Celestin, sir.' Lucy sounded indignant. 'You can't expect me to just be able to fall asleep when you could have got hurt or worse. You might have needed my help.'

Celestin sighed. ' One of these days you'll make yourself ill worrying about me. As you can see, I'm fine. You go rest. And please, you know calling me sir and Master makes me feel uncomfortable.'

Lucy inclined her head. 'Yes, sir-I mean, Celestin.'

Celestin smiled at the retreating old maid. The woman had been in the service of Marius for as long as he could remember. She was a Squib, a non-magic woman from a magical family, but had been taken in by Marius when she was a young woman. She had been happy to serve Marius, even though he was a Vampire, in return and had helped to look after Celestin when he wasn't being trained in the arts. She seemed to think it an honour to serve the last member of the Alric family. Celestin had to admit it was one of the kindest things the Vampire had done, in Celestin's opinion. Being a Squib, Lucy would never be able to truly fit into neither the Muggle nor magical worlds. Working for Marius, it was something in which she could make herself feel a part of the world she loved.

Celestin headed up the stairs to the office where he could see a light flickering, probably from a fire in the harth, from under the door. This wasn't abnormal at this time in the night, what with Marius being a Vampire and all. Still, Celestin knew that that light would be on much longer tonight. He almost winced at the prospect of having to face Marius in the state he was in. With a deep breath, he entered into the room, blinking a little as his eyes got used to the dimmer lighting.

The room looked like an ancient study during the Victorian period. An antique writing desk stood by the wall, which had a neat pile of parchment sitting upon it. A small jar of ink sat close by, a raven-black feather quill stood within it. At the other end of the room stood an extravagant bookcase filled with various ancient volumes that were most likely one of a kind by now, titles ranging from history to old magic spells to potions. There were even a few muggle volumes there about martial arts and there were atlas' from all over the world. A fire crackled merrily in the grate and, above the mantle-piece was the crest of the Alric family. Standing round a shield, where two wands crossed, was a rampant Lion and a proud-looking stag. Beneath it was the family motto: Strength through knowledge. Celestin had always thought this was a fitting motto for Marius Alric.

On a beaten-up looking red couch sat a rather aristocratic looking man with ivory white, unblemished skin. He wore old looking tailored black trousers and an open white shirt revealing a toned stomach and chest. Bluish-black hair that could make a raven blush in envy was straight and his fringe covered one of his cat-like amber eyes, which were focused on a muggle newspaper in delicate-looking hands. As Celestin stepped into the room, the man looked up at him, his nostrils twitching as he sniffed the air.

'I smell blood'

Celestin stared at him incredulously. Right then, he was covered from head to foot in half-dried Death-eater blood. 'Really. I never noticed, Marius,' he said dryly.

The vampire Marius stood up and moving with a deadly grace common only to vampires almost seemed to glide across to him. He took Celestin's face, cupping his chin with a cool hand and tilted it up to look into his own. 'I smell your blood, even under that of Death-eater – Fresh blood. There is no mistaking that scent.'

Celestin pulled his face away feeling a little embarrassed. 'Er…one got in a lucky shot, but it was better than being hit by the Avada. It's not too bad.' Marius raised an elegant eyebrow, obviously in disbelief. Celestin gave him a mock glare. 'Don't start, Marius, you're like a mother hen. Look, The only reason I came here first was because I knew you'd fret, but I really need a shower. I hate the feel of blood on my clothes. You can prod me all you want then.'

Marius sighed, as if irritated with him, but allowed Celestin to pass. Celestin unstrapped Masamune and his guns, laying them on the desk beside the parchment and ink and headed off to the bathroom, pealing off the coat that felt as if it had become attached to his skin from the blood as he went in.

The bathroom was almost as elegant as the rest of the house's interior. An Oval shaped bath stood against the wall, standing on golden clawed feet, with golden taps situated at the end, shaped like lion's heads. The wash basin was wide, and shaped like a shell. In a way, It kind of reminded Celestin of a Pensieve at times. Next to it on a golden rack was a deep crimson towel. At the far end of the room stood a slightly newer looking acquisition – a shower, with a golden handle for the water switch and the shower head was in the shape of a roaring lion's head, where the water would rain down from. Carefully, Celestin made his way over to the shower, his feet sinking into the lush, thick crimson rug in the middle, slowly pealing his dirty clothes from his skin. Unfortunately for Celestin, though he was great with offensive and defensive spells, he was severally lacking when it came to normal household spells. He felt a little sorry for Lucy and Marius' House-elf, Bede, when they had to get round to getting the stains from the clothes. However, he knew that Bede would enjoy himself (he never could understand house-elves…)

'Bede, could you come here?' Celestin said wearily.

There was a loud crack and a little creature that looked like the one from the world cup appeared. He had large, bat-like ears and big, brown eyes. His nose was a little longer than Winky's, but it was no less rounded. It looked a little like a small cucumber. He wore a well-kept red toga-like tea towel with Marius' crest upon it. Marius had tried to get Bede to have normal clothes, but Bede was horrified about it. It was half amusing to break Bede of the clothes equal sacking habit so he could help Lucy. Bede was just happy to get more jobs to do. Despite the time of night, the house-elf looked wide-awake and ecstatic that he was called.

'Yes, master Celestin, sir,' Bede squeaked.

Celestin rolled his eyes. 'I told you, just call me Celestin, or Cel, or…I don't know, "Long haired idiot," just stop with the master bit.'

Bede looked scandalised, 'But, Celestin, sir! Bede could never do that, sir! Bede thinks too highly of master Celestin, sir!'

Celestin pinched the bridge of his nose. He was really thinking this was just a lost cause. 'Anyway, do you think you could help clean up the blood on these things…I'm afraid I always seem to mess up on Household spells.'

Bede beamed as if this was his one and true ambition in life. 'You leave it to me, Master Celestin, sir. It is Bede's job, sir. You let me take care of it.'

Celestin had to smile at his excitement. 'Thanks, Bede. That's all.'

Bede grinned and, gathering the dirty clothes in his long hands vanished with a loud whip-crack.

Dirty clothes now out of the way, Celestin entered the shower and tugged the deep-red curtain around him. He took hold of the golden handle and turned it downwards. From the lion's mouth shot a stream of warm water.

Celestin raised his face into the shower stream, feeling the soft drumming of water against his hair and skin. The water, he knew, would be turning pink as rivulets running down his body cleansed it of dried blood and gore, swirling round his feet. He could feel his tense muscles relax a little. He couldn't help but smile a little, remembering the first time he had done this after a mission, trying to suppress the flashes of the fight. It seemed like such a long time ago…

Turning of the shower, he dried himself with a towel and held it against his arm which, to his annoyance, was still bleeding. He snorted and pulled on a bathrobe, but kept his injured arm uncovered so it would not dirty the bathrobe. Better let Marius see to me, he thought. Or he'll go mother hen. This made him laugh a little. A vampire of at least 100 years of age and well known amongst the vampiric council acting like a mother hen was definitely a funny picture.

Marius was waiting for him outside the Bathroom. He took one look at his arm and ordered him to his office to sit on the red coach. 'What caused it?' he asked tensely.

'Secare.'

Marius nodded and pulled out a needle and thread, before saying 'I'm going to cast a localised numbing charm, but it won't completely take away all sensations. You will still feel some.'

Celestin hummed in acceptance and Marius pressed his hands either side of the wound and mumbled something. Celestin shivered at the strange feeling that swept over his arm, numbing it. Marius, after a moment's pause to thread the needle, began to stitch the lesion. Celestin felt the first poke of the needle, and while it didn't hurt so much, it still felt strange. He looked away from the Vampire. He knew that Marius was a good and experienced physician and wasn't worried that he wouldn't be able to still the blood flow from such a wound.

They were silent for a moment. Finally, Marius paused in his work to squeeze Celestin's shoulder a little with his free hand, massaging it with his long, skilful fingers. Celestin winced a little as he rubbed out a knot in his muscles. 'Something happened.' Marius stated.

Celestin nodded slowly, his free hand slipping under his damp fringe to rub his forehead behind it. 'Or something will soon be happening…something a have a very bad feeling about.'

He felt Marius tense and pause for a second in his stitching, before continuing. 'You mean something to do with Voldemort?' he whispered.

'I believe so…' Celestin paused for a minute, arranging his thought into order, before taking a deep breath and describing what had happened at the Quidditch world cup. He explained about the targets and the fight. He heard Marius hiss as he told him of the sighting of the dark mark and the confrontation in the forest where Celestin had overheard about the Tri-wizard tournament. Otherwise, Marius remained silent, carefully stitching the wound closed. When Celestin had finished, Marius was silent for a moment.

'And about this feeling you had,' Marius said finally. 'What did it tell you?'

Celestin paused for a second, then shook his head. 'I don't know how to explain it, exactly. All I know is that the other side won't let a chance like this pass them idly by. We both know that Voldemort is far from gone. We both know that Voldemort is trying to gain more power and we definitely know that Voldemort is slowly getting stronger, even if we are cutting down his forces. The disappearance of that woman from the ministry, Bertha Jorkins, is proof of that. The tri-wizard would give them the chance to dispose of those powerful and potentially dangerous to them and make it seem like just an accident… or even draw a student away from the castle. My guess is that Voldemort is up to something and it has close links with the tournament.'

Marius looked at him sharply, 'You haven't dropped your shields, have you?'

Celestin knew he was referring to his Occlumency. From a young age, Marius had taught him how to protect his mind. Though Celestin had struggled with it at first, Celestin had finally got the hang of it. Now his shields were very strong.

Celestin shook his head. 'My shields are fine. But we always did suspect that were Voldemort and I are concerned that there will always be a slight crack…a link that can't be shielded from. But that's where it comes from. I can feel a…dark excitement, but it's detached. I definitely don't feel it – it's not my emotion, so…'

Marius closed his eyes. 'I see,' he said softly. 'Then it might be in our best interest if we were to investigate this.'

'So, how do you think we are gonna go about this then, Marius. I could go undercover as a student of some kind and find out any information I can among the teachers and students, but I would be limited in any action that I could take. Or we could watch and wait to see what happens…but by then it might be too late to do anything.'

Marius sighed, his amber eyes lifting from his work to look at his protege. 'Well, we always knew that the wizarding world would have to find out one day.' He said, finally.

Celestin frowned, unsure as to what he meant by his cryptic words. 'You're being rather sphinxish, Marius. Care to elaborate?'

Marius finished the stitches and began to wrap a bandage around his arm to prevent them from catching on his clothes. 'What I mean is, it might be to our advantage if they were to find you.' He looked him in the eye, 'If they were to find the real you.'

'What!' Celestin spluttered and spun round to stare at the man. 'Have you finally gone senile or something?' He tugged his arm into the bathrobe sleeve, muttering obscenities under his breath.

'I don't mean the you that you have been for the past thirteen years, Celestin.' Marius said.

Celestin looked at him confused, before a slightly nervous expression made its way to his face. 'You don't mean…'

'Well,' Marius pushed back his dark hair and looked Celestin in the eyes. 'You know that a lot of Voldemort's activity has been focused around Hogwarts. First the Philosopher's stone, then, from what I have heard, the memory from his school days forcing someone to open the chamber of secrets.' He pushed back Celestin's fringe, revealing a strange, lightning-blot shaped scar on his forehead above his left eyes. He traced his pale fingers over the mark. 'I am sure Albus will want you to go to Hogwarts once they find you, seeing as he is Headmaster there. Plus, Albus was one of the only other people, apart from myself, who heard the prophecy that night. Albus might be able to help us in your destiny.'

Celestin hesitated for a second, an interested look spreading on his face. 'I guess it could prove useful…' he admitted. 'After all, it was him who defeated the dark lord Grindelwald, so he must be experienced in their handling.' He sighed and tugged at his long, damp hair nervously. 'Still, I know I'm gonna hate the attention "Harry Potter" is going to get. I'm not exactly what they are expecting. The boy they expect is not a killer, Marius.' He idly touched a tiny golden mark on his neck, just over the artery that ran through his throat– the vampiric mark of protection. 'The boy they expect is also not one raised by a vampire, nor brought under their protection either.'

Contrary to popular belief amongst the Magical people, this marking, though it meant being adopted in some way by a Vampire, or Vampiric clan, did not make that person a vampire themselves, though it did have added benefits. One was that it gave the person more heightened senses. The other was that it stopped other vampires from using that person for a food source, as it made them "family" – kin to the vampires. Celestin knew that this was a sacred law amongst the vampires that none have ever dared to break.

'They won't know.' Marius countered.

'Feh'

'And I will continue to lower the Death-eater ranks in your absence.'

'Feh'

Marius gave him an amused look. 'You really don't like the idea, do you?'

'About as much as the idea of kissing Borgin – of course I don't! But if we're going to get anywhere, I guess I'll have to deal with it. I'm more concerned for the house if I'm sorted into Slytherin, though. I don't think Albus will be pleased if he finds that the snake-house's population has dramatically been reduced by the end of the year. I know all too well that the children of many Death-eaters are in that house, though, mind you, there are probably supporters in other houses as well...'

'You might be able to get information from them,' Marius suggested.

'That is certainly true…' He looked at him, eyes darkening. 'But if they join with him of their own will, I will not hold back.'

He was silent for a moment. Marius put a hand on Celestin's shoulder. 'We will cross that bridge when it comes. But for now, we can only plan ahead and be ready for when the time comes.'

Celestin looked away from the vampire for a second, thinking, his eyes resting on the guns, Dies and Nox, and blade Masamune resting on the desk. He knew he had to do this if he was going to find out any more about Voldemort – enough to put him away in the afterlife for good. And Hogwarts was where it had all began, where the boy Tom Riddle began his transformation into the monster known as Voldemort. After a moment, he smiled. 'Marius… I think it's time that I paid Hogwarts a little visit. I guess Harry Potter is finally going to return to the wizarding world after all…'

TBC

Chosha's notes

So, Celestin is ready for an adventure of a different kind – Hogwarts. So, what did you think? If you've got any Questions, constructive criticisms or general pointers or Ideas (If I like said ideas, I will dedicate the chapter to you!) then please review and I'll try to answer your messages. Just so you know, all votes will continue until Hogwarts officially opens and the train leaves the station, so if you really, really want a paring of one sort or another, you can vote several times. I'll keep you posted on that.

Next time on Celestin:

Celestin heads off to Hogwarts to gain admittance to Hogwarts by meeting the Headmaster himself. I don't know who to feel the more sorry for…Next episode: Meeting Albus.

But until then, Ja ne!

Chosha Kurenai xXx