Chapter Six

Voldemort paced in his throne room... Though if someone had even dared to mention the possibility of him pacing, he would have crucioed them to within an inch of their life. Come to think of it, he didn't particularly like the term 'Throne Room' either. Especially when he didn't have a throne...

"Wormtail!!" Voldemort yelled, walking back to elaborate, but yet not quite a throne, chair and sitting in it.

The little rat-man ran into the room, sweating and panting, which confused the Dark Lord, as he should have been just standing outside the room...

"Y-yes Milord?"

"Come here! I need to summon everyone!! And get me a throne!!!" He added as an afterthought. Pettigrew, shaking, nodded and offered his arm to his Lord. He cringed as the pain shot through his body and the rest of the inner circle apparated into the room. Once he was free of the pain, well when his Lord let go of his wrist anyway, Pettigrew shot back and ran out of the room. Ikea sold thrones didn't they?

"Luciussss. Tell me. What newsss do you have?" Voldemort hissed, ignoring the way that his minion shuddered as he stepped forward and kissed his robes. Actually, now that he was thinking about things, who started that? It wasn't exactly hygienic.

"Yes milord. There was a strange man walking through Diagon a couple of days ago. I'm not entirely sure that he is human, but no one has seen him since. He was seen leaving the Alley with the dog and the wolf." Lucius said, making Voldemort grimace.

"Who issss he? Do you know?"

"I have no idea. He spoke to the mutts before they left however, they erected privacy wards so I couldn't hear them."

"So the Order got to him first? Do we think there is any possibility of being able to sway him to our side?"

"I do not know my lord. If I hear he is in the Alley again, shall I approach him?" Lucius asked, still looking at the floor in front of him.

"Yesss. Try to find out what his interests in this war are and where his loyalties lie. If you can, try to get him away from the order and speak with him. Try to bring him to my side. He could be my equal." Voldemort said, waving Lucius to stand and move back to the group.

Lucius nodded and quickly shuffled back to join the rest of the Inner circle. Voldemort scowled and looked at the rest of the group.

"Severussss. Come here." Voldemort hissed softly. The man in question softly stepped forward and knelt before Voldemort.

"Yes My Lord?" Severus asked, looking up at the Dark Lord through his hair.

"Has the old fool told you anything of this mysterious young man?" Severus shuddered and kept looking at the floor in front of him.

"He has told me nothing of this stranger, My Lord. I have not seen him walking around Hogwarts but if I do, I shall try to see if he shows any interests towards a certain side of the war." Severus said, shuddering slightly as Voldemort stepped closer to him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Is that everything you need to tell me Severusss?" Voldemort asked, making Severus panic. Did Voldemort have another spy in the Order?

"There is one other thing My Lord. Dumbledore has started a new subject this year that all the students must attend. It is called History of War, Wizarding and Muggle. No one bar Dumbledore knows who the teacher is though. I will come to you as soon as I find out though My Lord." Severus said, hoping that Dumbledore wouldn't actually mind him telling Voldemort the news.

"Thank you my most loyal ssservant. I want you to find out more about thisss mysssterious professssor and alssso I want you to make me a potion. You will get the instructions from Wormtail and have it finished as soon as possible." Voldemort said, slowly circling Severus and making him even more nervous than was possible.

"Of course My Lord. If that is everything though, I will need to be getting back to Dumbledore before he starts to get suspicious." Severus said, making Voldemort stop behind him and Severus to start sweating.

"Of course Severus. But first. Crucio." Severus, even though he knew it was coming, tensed just as the curse hit and then bit his lip to hold in the screams he so wanted to let out. Just as he began to taste blood form his split lip (which was so going to hurt in the morning.) the curse was lifted and Severus took that as his queue to go. Standing up, Severus limped slowly out of the room, bumping into a very flustered Pettigrew on his way out, who passed him a crumpled piece of parchment and carried on mumbling about something called a pack of flat or something.

--

The next day, Sirius and Remus walked into the bedroom that had been closed until Arcas had come along and promptly woke up the little sleeping star (who knew stars slept?) with a lovely little spell Remus had developed in his school years to get his fellow classmates up in the morning.

Who also knew that Stars had such a foul mouth? Or had control over fire.

"Put it out!!! Put it out!!!!!" Sirius screamed as he ran around the room, waving at his now flaming hair.

"Um, I don't know how." Arcas admitted, sheepishly, making Sirius stop in his panicked screaming and look at him in stunned silence. For all of a second before the burning smell of his precious hair snapped him out of it.

"Reeeeeemus!!!!! Help me!!! Stupid Star!" Sirius yelled, glaring at a still blushing and now dressed Arcas.

"I didn't mean to. You startled me! I could have hugged you!" Arcas pointed out, ignoring the hysterical werewolf, who had at least managed to put out the fire in Sirius' hair.

"Oh be quiet to stupid wolf! Anyway, you ungrateful little wretch of a star," Sirius said with a grin, looking at a still sheepish looking Arcas. "We came in here to wake you up for our shopping trip!" Sirius said, suddenly excited again, and seeming to forget that his beloved hair would be in great need of a good hair growth potion or just a hair dresser.

"Shopping trip? Oh. Okay/" Arcas said with a small smile, making Remus reassure him.

"It'll be okay. I'll make sure Sirius doesn't get carried away."

"What are you taking about Moony? We need to buy him new clothes, and possibly some spooky war type objects to litter his classroom with just to intimidate the new students he'll be getting! Maybe some weapons!! They'll be sufficiently scary!!" Sirius said, almost bouncing with suppressed energy.

"Sirius. Now you're being silly. Don't worry Arcas, we'll just buy you the things that you actually need. Though I do hate to agree with Sirius on the clothes side. You only have one set of robes, and you will definitely need more."

"Will they be different colours?" Arcas asked quietly, looking up at Remus through his eyelashes, making Remus just want to grab him into a hug.

"Er... if you want them to be." Remus said, placing a hand on Arcas' shoulder.

"Of course we will be! Why would you just want robes in the same colours?" Sirius asked, dragging them both out of the room and then thrusting a portkey into his newly found godsons hands.

Harry disappeared with a tug behind his navel and a strange queasy feeling in his stomach. He appeared in front of a wall, which was somewhat of a disappointment to him and he looked around him in confusion. Where on earth had the crazy black haired man sent him?

Remus and Sirius then appeared next to him and made the small space even smaller. Sirius then turned to him with a wide smile on his face, which dropped somewhat when he saw the confused look on Arcas' face.

"Er... welcome to Diagon Alley!" Sirius said with a feeble wave behind him.

"This is it? It looked different the last time I was here." Arcas said, looking around him at the walls. Which were beginning to close in on him...

"That would be because we haven't opened the entrance yet. How did you get in the last time?" Remus asked slowly, a frown crossing his face in confusion.

"I appeared there. You know? Like you just made me do, but to the right place and without the nausea." Arcas said with a nod and a smile.

"How did you appear? Can you apparate then?" Sirius asked, completely forgetting about the shopping trip and practically swallowing Arcas in an excited hug.

"Er? What's that do? I can literally appear anywhere I wish. It's how Stars move about. Otherwise, it would take centuries, literally to visit other Stars."

"Oh, well then, I suppose the portkey was completely irrelevant. Maybe we should have asked you first if you had anyway of getting there."

"It would have helped. So then, how do we get to see the Diagon Alley that I know?" Arcas asked, nervously eyeing the walls, which he would swear had closed in even closer.

"Oh, well you have to tap these bricks here in a certain order. Then, See! It opens up!" Sirius said brightly, not noticing the sigh of relief Arcas gave when the walls no longer closed in on him.

"So what do we need to get first?" Remus asked Arcas, ignoring Sirius completely.

"Clothes? They're what I need the most of." Arcas said looking to Remus, as he seemed to be the sanest out of his two escorts.

"Clothes it is then. So do you want different colours or is it just white that you want?" Remus asked him, from one side, as Sirius latched onto his other side.

"Of course he wants different colours. Maybe some black robes of course to teach in and then darker colours when he's-"

"Maybe we should ask Arcas before you go over the top with the shopping for robes." Remus interrupted Sirius, noticing the uncomfortable twitching coming from Arcas.

"Fine, so do you want different robes or not?" Sirius asked, finally getting the opinion of the slightly overwhelmed Star.

"I want white robes. Just white robes. As a Star, we are not permitted to wear other colours if we do not have a mate. Technically, most Stars prefer not wear any other colour anyway, we feel more comfortable in white. Plus it's easier to glow in white. There are exceptions to the rules of course. Libra is quite partial to wearing black. Probably explains why she is quite hard to spot." Arcas said musingly.

"So you're basically saying you just want white robes?" Sirius asked, ignoring a chuckling Remus.

"Um... Yeah, is that wrong? I'm really sorry, but it's just how it is." Arcas said with a shrug.

"Fine, white robes it is then." Sirius said with a sigh and then lead the way to Madam Malkins.

--

After what felt, to Arcas, like hours of shopping, though was probably only an hour or two, Remus, Arcas and Sirius all arrived back at Grimmauld place overloaded with bags full of what they had bought. Why they hadn't shrunk them, Arcas had no idea. Well to be fair, he had no idea how to, though now that he had a new wand (phoenix feather and holly, and apparently the brother to Voldemort's though they weren't going to share that little tit-bit of information with anyone else.) he could probably learn it should he so wish to.

"So then, shall we go put these things away?" Sirius said, smiling brightly at the two exhausted wizards. Both of which were wondering how on earth Sirius seemed to still be full of energy when they were both completely worn out.

"Sirius." All three turned to face the portrait on the wall, Arcas smiling broadly at her in welcome. They had managed to find another portrait of Walberga and Arcas had promised to place her in his quarters at Hogwarts when he left for there.

"Oh god. Yes mother?" Sirius said, pasting a smile on his face as he turned to face her.

"I need to talk to you. Why don't you and Remus go and unpack upstairs Arcas." Walberga said, getting a wide smile from the Star.

"Sure thing. We'll come down later and chat with you. I'd love to hear if you know any stories about my Sirius. He wouldn't tell me anything about finding his mate. Though Dorea is kinda nice and told me some things that happened after she met him." Arcas said with a small grin at something he remembered being told.

"Of course I will tell you any stories I was told. Though we were very respectful of the Stars, so I may not have any truly juicy stories to tell you." Walberga admitted with a small smile. Arcas nodded in understanding and then dragged Remus up the stairs to leave Sirius and his mother's portrait alone.

"So what is it that you wished to talk to me about?" Sirius asked, conjuring a small beanbag and sitting down in front of his mother's portrait.

"Have you spoken to Arcas about the facts of life yet?" Walberga asked, her mouth twitching a little.

"No. I'm putting it off. I figure I can either get Remus to do it, or we can just eave it to whoever his mate turns out to be. It could turn out to be a fun conversation for them..." Sirius faded off, not noticing his mother's proud smirk.

"Ah, there's that Slytherin side. I knew you couldn't look so much like a Black without having some sort of Slytherin side."

"You do know that the Blacks date far before the Slytherin's right? I mean, there are records of the Black family before Hogwarts even existed... So you do realise that there were Black's who weren't Slytherin's right?" Sirius pointed out, gaining a glare from his mother.

"That's not the point. I was complimenting you. Just accept it and stop picking faults with everything I say."

"Why? Because that's your job to do with me?"

"You know, yesterday we had a semi-nice conversation. Why can't we do that today?" Walberga asked, leaning against her portrait frame.

"Maybe it's because we have both over come the shock of actually wanting the same thing for Arcas and have realised that we don't actually have anything else in common. Nor do we actually like each other." Sirius admitted with a shrug.

"You do have a point there. I so had big aspirations for Regulus. Though I will admit that you were my favourite when you were a child. Regulus was a little too whiny."

"Where did you get Regulus' name from anyway. I don't know of any star with that name."

"Not all Black's are named after stars you know. There is no Walberga in the constellations. Regulus though is the main star in the Leo constellation. I believe he was good friends with The Dog Star, though you would have to ask Arcas that."

"Fair enough. What do you think is going to happen to Arcas? Dumbledore is not going to let him leave in the middle of a war."

"Sirius, you worry too much. He is a star, if he wants to leave, then he will." Walberga said, noticing the frown on her son's face and sighing.

"That won't stop Dumbledore form doing something to prolong Arcas' stay. He has already managed to make it so that Arcas lasts out the school year. What else will he do?"

"You forget that the stars watch over us. If one of their own is in trouble, they will not stay in one place. In which case, nights are going to become a whole lot more dark."

--

"So Remus, you're a werewolf?" Arcas asked bluntly, placing the robe in his hands into the wardrobe.

Remus coughed in shock and looked up form the bags he was sorting out to look at Arcas in shock. "Why do you ask?"

"Well I was wondering why you look so old." Arcas said innocently, not aware of how insulting he was actually being.

"I look- I am old." Remus pointed out, making Arcas frown.

"You're but a small child compared to me. Anyway, even in the wizarding world you are relatively young. I don't see how you can look so old."

"Well it is common knowledge that Were's do not live as long as normal witches and wizards. I have been a Werewolf since I was four. I am one of the longest living Werewolves in recent history."

"Well it's a common knowledge lie. Who told you that? Why would the moon want to kill her most beloved creatures. You reject the wolf don't you?" Arcas asked, looking down at his hands, fiddling with the cuff of his sleeve.

"I don't know what you mean? I dislike being a werewolf yes. Why would anyone wish this upon themselves?" Remus asked, sitting down on the bed and looking at Arcas, placing a hand on his wrist to stop his playing with his sleeve.

Arcas looked up at Remus and smiled softly, "There was a time when it was considered a gift. You are one of the chosen. It is no mistake what you are, and the fact that you were only four when you were chosen just goes to show your strength. The Lady Moon would not allow any of her children to suffer and die before their time. Unless they reject her, then she can do nothing to help you."

"I don't know what you mean."

"I mean, you keep drinking whatever it is that they are giving wolves nowadays and lessen your connection with Lady Moon. She can't see you, but she still affects you. It is the same if you ignore and begin to resent her. You should have been taught this when you were created."

"My sire ran off. He was chased out of the village by the rest of the villagers after I had been bitten."

"So he could not have stuck around to help you adjust. You were raised by werewolf fearing humans and learnt to reject the wolf before you even accepted it." Arcas said sadly, sitting down on the bed next to the confused werewolf.

"So you're saying if Fenrir had stuck around, then I would have accepted my wofl and been in less pain."

"Pretty much yeah! It's not so easy anymore though. Sure you can tell yourself that you accept the wolf, but deep down your mind won't believe you and come next month you'll still be in pain."

"So you're saying that I won't ever be able to change?" Remus whispered in shock, looking down at his own clasped hands on his lap.

"No. I'm just saying it's not going to be easy. Eventually you actually will be able to change. You just need to believe it yourself when you say you accept your wolf. Plus you will need to actually find your wolf and talk to him. And he's gonna be pissed." Arcas added cheerfully, making Remus groan and looking at him in shock.

"What do you mean? My wolf? I can talk to my wolf? And not be considered crazy?" Remus asked, looking up at Arcas.

"Why would you be considered crazy? And of course you can speak to him. We Stars consider it very healthy to talk to our other sides. Whom else would we speak to before we mated?" Arcas asked innocently with a bright smile, making Remus groan and shake his head and the, quite possibly, clinically insane Star.

--

"We need a... a plan of action or something." Sirius said after he had left to the kitchen to get some snacks and then returned back to his mothers portrait and settled down for a long talk.

"A plan of action for what?" Walberga asked, munching on an apple from one of the surrounding portraits.

"Arcas and his mate. Let's be honest now, do you trust Dumbledore to not interfere? Seriously? I mean I know he said he wouldn't, but it's the way he worded it. It's bugging me."

"That would be because you are neither stupid nor naïve. He worded it in such a way that meant he would somehow make it so that if he found the mate before you did, he could probably hide him so that Arcas never did find him until Dumbledore wanted him to."

"Oh god. What if he does find him before us?"

"How, my dear son, would he find Arcas' mate before Arcas himself did? No one knows who it is. I think you should start to keep an eye on Arcas though. He will begin to show an interest in those that are alike to his mate. It has been known for a Star to confuse a family member of their mate for their mate. Obviously that was until they spoke to the mistaken person."

"So will Dumbledore know this?"

"I honestly don't know. I think it would be best to keep an eye on them though. Phineas will be keeping an eye on Dumbledore in his office for us. Hopefully we will be able to stay one step ahead of the Headmaster. Stay close to our little star when school begins. That will be the hardest time for him. He will soon begin to feel the need to find his mate. You can't allow him to just leave though. Do not let him be on his own in November. It is when his constellation is least visible in the sky,and thus it supposed to be his mating season. He will become desperate then and Dumbledore will find it easiest to manipulate him."

"How come it's when he is least visible?" Sirius muttered to himself, making Walberga raise an eyebrow and smirk.

"Why do you think he is least visible? It's because he's going to be finally learning the facts of life." Walberga said, actually grinning when he son went green.

"Oh I so didn't need to hear that. I so didn't need to hear that." Sirius muttered, covering his ears with his hands to block out his mothers cackling.

--

Inside of Dumbledore's office several members of the Order were meeting. Remus and Sirius were notably not part of the meeting. Much to no ones confusion.

"I will now this meeting to order. First off, does anyone have anything they need to share?" Dumbledore asked, looking around the room at the sparse group. Besides himself, only the two oldest Weasley's, (though he was considering adding the two youngest as well, they were the nearest in age to Arcas. Perhaps the young Granger as well.) Kingsley, Tonks and Mad Eye. He had asked Snape to join also, however, the man had become increasingly paranoid since Harry Potter had returned and now refused to be a part of the Order, preferring to report to Dumbledore when he was alone. Dumbledore wasn't entirely sure why, it wasn;t as though there was a spy within the order. He would know.

"Ron and Ginny have continued to show an interest in joining to Order when they leave Hogwarts. In fact I believe that they wish to join now, however I refuse to allow them to join until they are of age." Molly said, sitting up straight in her seat and looking at Dumbledore with narrowed eyes.

"Ah, well I was considering allowing them to join when the new Hogwarts years starts. I wish for them to befriend our new little Star. And speaking of Harry, I have a new agenda we will need to set into place."

"What is that Albus?" Moody asked, false eye spinning in it's socket.

"It is imperative that we find Harry's mate before he does. We cannot allow such a huge advantage in this war for us to leave us. Be sure that he will once he finds his mate. Never has it been recorded of a Star staying for longer than a week once they have found their mate."

"You wish for us to keep a Star away from it's mate?" Tonks asked, stunned.

"Yes,I realise how cruel it may sound. However, that Star may well be the turning point in this war. Without him, Merlin knows how long this war will continue. And there is no guessing which side will win."

"I agree with Albus. We must somehow find out who the mate is and keep him away from the Star." Moody said gruffly.

"I... I can't be a part of this." Tonks said, standing up from her seat nest to Kingsley and walking over to the door.

"Now Nymphadora. It is not as bad as it sounds. Once Harry has done his duty to us, we shall introduce him to his mate and allow him to leave." Dumbledore said soothingly.

"No. I may have a different last name, and I may not agree with many of their beliefs, but I am first and foremost, a Black. I grew up hearing the stories from my mother about the Stars. We help them find their mate, not hide their mate form them!!! I cannot allow you to do this!! I'm sorry Professor, but I can't be a part of this plan. I just can't." Tonks said quietly, looking at the ground, her hand not leaving the door knob.

"In which case Ms Tonks. I am sorry to say, but I just cannot allow you to ruin our plan. Obliviate." Dumbledore gently placed his wand back on his desk, and looked at a now confused looking Auror. "So as I was saying Ms Tonks. It would perhaps be best if you could try to find out if anyone in the ministry is sympathetic to our side."

"Erm...Sure... Well I suppose I should leave then and er...start that." Tonks said, holding her hand to her head before shaking it and leaving the office in confusion.

--

Callisto, also known as Urse Major, or Arcas' mother, watched the meeting going on in Dumbledore's office with growing ire. Astronomers all over the world watched in awe as the main star of the Ursa Major glowed brighter than ever for a brief moment then suddenly winked out of sight.

Callisto was not impressed with Dumbledore and no one messed with her son. He was all she had and she would not allow anyone to jeopardise his future happiness. Even if it meant joining the war and not on the side of the so called Light. Her son would be happy and content with his mate.... And soon if she had anything to do with it.

The main star of the Ursa Major narrowed her eyes as she appeared in front of the one person she knew, who could tell her who her sons mate was. Dumbledore would not harm her son or his mate.

A/N – Oh wow, this took ages to finish!! I'm sooo sorry!! I just have had so much on my plate at the moment. Not including going to New York for a small break for my mum's fiftieth. I also had to take the entrance exam for medical school, though I have no idea if I got in until later in the year... Anyways, enough excuses.... Hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint and don't forget, the poll on who Arcas' mate is is still open, though it is only between the two eldest Weasley brothers, Bill and Charlie, and this truly I the last chapter you get to vote... One will be making a guest appearance in the next chapter. So get voting and I will tell you who won it next chapter... I also promise that I will not extend the poll anymore after this chapter as well... Heh.

Thank you to everyone who has voted so far, this chapter is dedicated to all of you wonderful, wonderful people and please do review this chapter!!! Also (Shameless plug time)... I've posted another story which is a Supernatural/Harry Potter crossover... Please go check it out and tell me what you think!!! Pretty please!!!