A/N: Not sayin' nothin' 'cept this is the first time where within a story I named two chapters exactly the same thing.

And as always,

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Go back and read the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before this one.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE B: REUNIONS (With no connection to Chapter Nine)

The body swayed slightly before opening its eyes again. Orion grabbed one arm before looking hopefully at the face before him. "Sirius?"

A tired nod answered him.

Orion barely managed to remain on his feet as a blur of brown hair smacked him in the face as the person all but shoved him out of the way.

"Sirius!" Arabella cried out with joy as she landed sounded in his arms. An openly deep kiss quickly followed as Sirius gathered his senses back together and hauled the woman before him into his arms.

Harry sighed as a hand snapped itself over his eyes.

"Right." He stated to his former teacher standing behind him. "Like I've never seen this before."

Orion was about to break things up when for the second time in as many minutes, a figure plowed into him from the side corridor he was standing in.

Knocked off balance for a few minutes, Orion quickly righted himself again, ready to take on his attacker when he found himself facing the very disgruntled expression of his wife.

"Really, Mr. Black!" She stated in a manner that conveyed nothing but her displeasure at the run-in. "For an Unspeakable, you're not very observant!"

Orion only favored her with a broad smile. "Happy to see you too, Love."

"Very nice entrance though, Katlin." Sirius offered.

Katlin quickly turned a questioning glance to the man behind her, taking in the scene for the first time.

"Sirius?" She questioned, looking over the man who still had his fiancee wrapped in his arms.

Sirius frowned at her. "Well, I would hope so." He replied, turning to Arabella. "Or someone has some definite explaining to do."

With that explanation tucked away, Katlin turned immediately back to her husband, her whole expression softening. "In that case," She practically purred, "hello, Mr. Black."

Orion smiled back at her. "Hello, Mrs. Black. Still upset at running into me?"

Katlin shook her head. "Nicest thing to happen to me in days." She replied before her husband yanked her up hard against his body and dove down to cover her mouth with his.

"Children present!" Came the call from the back of the group as Lupin again slapped his hand over Harry's eyes to the teenager's exasperated sigh.

"And if you'd remover your hand he might actually learn a thing or two." Orion stated as he pulled back from his wife with a slight frown.

"Seen enough, thanks." Came the stoic reply.

As the two separated, Lupin cautiously removed his hand.

Catching sight of her, Harry gave Katlin a welcoming smile. "I'm glad you're back. I was starting to worry."

Katlin returned the smile without hesitation this time. "I told you not to worry about me, Harry. I can take care of myself." She replied. Turning to him, she placed a kiss on his cheek. "But you're sweet to worry. Thank you."

Orion quickly brought her attention back to him. "And did you bring me a present, Love?" He ask sincerely, holding out his hand.

Katlin gave him an exasperated look as she put her hand into her robes and pulled out five wands. "Yes. But you'll have to wait until we get home for it. In the meantime, these will have to do."

Orion quickly passed the wands back to each of their owners as Katlin walked over to Harry. Reaching into her robes she pulled another object out of her robes and placed it in his hand.

"And I believe this is yours, Harry." She said.

Harry looked down to see the small magical stone Dumbledore had given him now sitting in the palm of his hand.

"How did you know it was mine?" He ask.

Katlin gave him a small smile. "Because I know what it is." She answered. "And it had to belong to one of you, since the wizard's people would have no use for it. A simple spell told me who placed the charm on it and that left only one person he would have given it to. Really, why must people make things sound so very difficult when they are actually very simple."

Orion tapped his wife on the shoulder. "Love, you said you knew what it was for."

Katlin quickly nodded.

"And?"

The Elite gave her husband a surprised smile. "You don't know?" She ask. "You, of all people, don't know what that is?"

Orion frowned. "So sue me."

"I should smack you. All that says for you, Mr. Black, is you sat in the back row of your charms class doing something other than learning diddle about charms."

"Trust me, I was learning charming."

"You weren't learning it. You were practicing it would be my guess."

"So, what is it for?" Harry ask.

But before Katlin could ask Sirius plucked the stone out of his godson's hand and held it up to the light. "Well, I wasn't wasting time learning to be charming in the back row of my charms classes." He stated as he examined the stone.

"Wasn't a waste of time." Orion stated under his breath.

Katlin ignored him as she turned back to her brother-in-law. "Well?"

Sirius rolled the stone over for a few moments, then handed it back to Harry. "It's a portkey." He announced with satisfaction.

Katlin shook her head. "Close, but no cigar. It's a homing stone."

"A homing stone?" Harry ask.

"Well, actually, it's sort of a reversal of the stone I gave you." She explained. "Or more accurately, the stone I gave you is a reversal of this one. The stone I gave you brings me to you whenever you use it. This stone will bring you to wherever the person who gave it to you is. In this case, I would guess it would take you back to Hogwarts."

Orion picked the stone up and looked it over. "Well, that explains why Dumbledore called it an emergency escape if we needed it. The question is, will it work against the magic in this corridor?"

Sirius took the stone from his brother and placed it back in his godson's hand. "Let's hope we never need to find out."

Q&A

Skahducky:

Sorry, I always keep forgetting how much Voldemort knows about Orion and Katlin. He knows they're together, but he thinks they're just doing it for information, right? He doesn't know that they have kids or anything, right?
You know, I thought Voldemort was either going to cast the Dark Mark into the sky so that the Auror would know where they are or somehow summon Death Eates. Well, I guess he did the latter by getting Katlin, though I'm not quite sure how he did that.
Anyway, this is a great chapter. Please update soon!

Sorry I missed you last time, Dear. You sort of came in right under the wire. When I went to post my story, there was your review.

On to the questions. And again, I'm sorry. I know this gets a bit confusing some times. And it is by no means my readers fault that they can't keep up with Orion and Katlin's ever changing relationship, since as the situations change, occasionally I have to make adjustments as to who knows what and how much. With that said, allow me to lay out the situation as it stands today.

Voldemort does know that Orion and Katlin are 'an item'. Kind of hard to hide that. He does not know they are married. Will he find out? Probably. Just not in the near future.

Now, the next part is a good bit sticker. Does Voldemort know they have children? Well, yes...and no. He knows Orion has five children. He views Katlin's part in that group as little more than Orion managing to get free child care in exchange for sex.

How Voldemort summoned Katlin was a bit tricky and if nothing else, sketchy in the reading. It was one of those 'you had to read between the lines' things, Dear. Voldemort stated that the person he had the greatest chance of being able to summon without using his own wand was Katlin due to his closer than usual connection to her as opposed to any of his other Deatheaters. Once he summoned her, Katlin had to connect to the magical link Voldemort had set up, and then it was a simple case of following it to its source. In other words, due to the fact that he did not have his own wand, all Voldemort was able to do with the one he had was send out a call. It was up to Katlin whether or not to answer it.

I think Orion said something about being back at Hogwarts soon. Does that mean he intends to stop searching for the wizard? Why did they discount the possibility that the wizard's not in the lair? Anyways, this is a great chapter. Please update soon!

No. If anything, after this chapter, and his last interchange with Becca, Orion is more determined than ever to find the man. But currently, his reasons are his own. But make no mistake, Orion suspects a great deal about what is actually going on. And it is through his conversations with Becca that he gathering the pieces of his own puzzle and putting them together.

The reason the discounted the possibility that they were in the wizard's lair was laid out in the one chapter. Too easy. Too convenient. If you're trying to keep someone from finding you, you don't open your doors and invite them in, true?

MasterLupin:

The wizard in the north will find out what Orion said to the man and know about the relationship of him to Katlin, then assuming that he has better knowledge then Voldemort will use the relationship/ and or their children to his/their advantage. Possibly trying to get Harry to agree to see him alone, under the premise that if he dose no one will be hurt.

You're doing it again, Dear. You're getting hard to answer.

First off, no, the wizard in the north did not hear what Orion said to the man pawing his wife. Does he know about their actual relationship? Ummmmm..., not entirely. He knows there is one. But then again, who doesn't! But Orion and Katlin are extremely careful when it comes to their marital status, even to the point they never wear their rings where they are visible. Katlin wears her's around her neck, hanging on the same chain as the pendant Orion first gave her. Orion never wears his except when he needs to. Such was the point behind its appearance at the adoption agency when he went to collect Harry. It provided the people at the agency with the picture of a stable 'married' man taking possession of a child. Appearance can be so important in those circumstances.

Using their children against them or to his advantage? Ha! You haven't met the kids yet. Thomas, the oldest, is something akin to Harry, but in a different vein. He is a very powerful wizard in his own right. And the person with the most interest in him isn't the person you would think. And the interest that person is showing in the teenager is a constant source of concern for his two adoptive parents, who keep a very close eye on the relationship.

Justin is more of The Ransom of Red Chief sort of scenario. You could try to take him hostage, but in the end, you'd be willing to pay his parents to take him back. Kid's a handful. What can I say.

Lucy? I doubt the wizard would survive three minutes with a hyped up, fashion-conscience hormones-running-rampant teenage girl.

Vincent? Probably debate him to death on the lack of merits of hostage taking. The only person I can think of off hand that could probably enjoy the boy's company without a book present would be Lupin. Maybe Dumbledore. For his adoptive parents, he's a dream come true. The boy actually wants to learn things.

Now Katy? Pleeeease! The man would be screaming into the night in under five minutes. She may only be three, but she's all three. Makes Bo look positively well behaved.

Now, THERE'S an interesting prediction! Considering this chapter, you came pretty close with that one. But the wizard isn't trying to get Harry to see him alone. You're on the right track here, Dear, and darned near all your passengers were on board before the train pulled away from the station.

What you need to keep in mind is what was laid out in this chapter. The wizard's goals are currently to feel out the group and establish what their dynamics are. Once he has those, he'll use them to forward his own ends.

Silverfox:

Ep! That was just a thought. The last thing I want is to cause any harm to come to Bo.
Yes, I'm quite aware that Orion wouldn't make that choice. I was talking of Talon here, because at the end of the day he still is the host and there wouldn't be much Orion could do, if Talon decided to sacrifice Bo. (I suppose I was talking both of Orion-Bo and Talon-Bo there ...)

Well, that's an interesting question really, Dear. Would Talon actually sacrifice Bo? In the end, I would say it would depend on the question 'Sacrifice him for what?'.

Not much Orion could do about it? Don't bet on it. Talon may be the host, but Orion is still the Channeler. In the end, yes, Talon is host and Bo must answer to him. But Orion can still tap into the 'Power' and there is nothing Talon can do to stop that. In effect, Bo would be forced to fight himself. All of which makes Orion a force to be reckoned with. As I have often said, if there were ever a fight between Orion and his father, it would be messy.

If Talon ever did decide to sacrifice Bo, for whatever reason, somehow I do not see Orion sitting back and saying 'Sure, Dad. I understand.'.

Again, it would be messy.

All reviews are as of 02/17/2006

And remember;

Happyhappyhappy birthday to my Mom. If it weren't in part for her, I wouldn't be here!