Chapter Ten

Charlie shivered as he stared into the pale grey, almost white, eyes of the person who had taken him. He was still trying to get his head around the information he had been told not a few minutes before.

"So you're a Star?" Charlie asked, taking in the pure white hair and pale skin of his captor.

"Yep."

"And I'm the mate of a Star?"

"Yep."

"And Dumbledore tried to kidnap me to keep me away from said Star who is my mate?"

"Yep."

"Is that all you're going to say?"

"Yep."

Charlie glared at the infuriating Star in front of him. "So what am I supposed to do?"

"What do you want to do? I can let you go, hide from Dumbledore, Voldemort and everyone else. I can take you to Arcas (that's your mate by the way), or I can take you to his mother, so you can join the war with us. Or you could really throw us for a loop and go to Dumbledore or even Voldemort and join the war on their side."

"So you're not going to force me to mate with er... Arcas?"

"Yeah, Arcas. And no, no one will force you into doing anything. I would ask that you meet with him, give him a chance though. He's a nice kid. Known him since he was a little twinkle."

"And he's searching for me? I don't get it. How do I meet him even if I wanted to? You said he was at Hogwarts."

"He is."

"Then how do we get past Dumbledore? If he wanted me to stay away from Arcas then he's not going to be very happy if I just turn up at Hogwarts."

"Nope. Which means you're going to have to meet with my little Arcy underneath Dumbledore's nose. He can't know about it until you have both reached a decision with regards to your mating."

"Do you have a mate?" Charlie asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes I do. She's lovely. An elf, or was an elf. Once she mated with me, she chose to become a Star. She's the secondary star in my constellation now."

"Will that happen to me?"

"If you want it to happen. You can just stay with Arcas or you could even stay on this planet until its end. You won't need Arcas to live even if you do mate with him."

"So I can just carry on with my life?"

"Yeah, sure"

"So then Regulus, what do we do to meet my possible future mate then?"

--

Harry stared at the woman in front of him. She was beautiful and pretty and all other words that described her looks. He was six years old, his vocabulary wasn't all that up to scratch. Still, the woman with her long black hair and dark brown, almost black eyes, was staring down at him and smiling! People didn't normally smile at him. He looked at her dress and frowned, he had never seen his aunt Petunia wearing anything like her. It was long, floor length and, if Harry was honest with himself, then he would say it looked like a sheet held together with those pretty rope things that held back the curtains. He liked to run the tassles through his fingers whenever the Dursley's weren't around. Still, this lady seemed to carry it off and make it look majestic on her. It suited her.

"Hi." Harry said shyly looking up at the woman through his lashes. He had no idea where he was but it was warm and there were no Dursley's. Things had to be getting better. They had to be.

"Hello little one. Who might you be? And how did you appear in my home?" The woman asked, kneeling down to be eye level with him.

"H-Harry." Harry told her quietly, before looking around the room he was in. It was sparse with white stone washed walls and two wicker chairs facing each other at an angle.

"Well hello Harry. Can you tell me where you were before you came to me?" Harry glanced at the woman and shrugged. He had no idea where he was or how he came to be there, but if he told her where he used to be, then surely she would send him back. "Can you tell me what you were doing before you came here?"

"In the garden." Harry said looking back down at his tatty trainers.

"Ah, and where was this garden?"

"Surrey."

"Where is that?"

"England."

"And that is?"

"It's England. Erm... In England." Harry said with a shrug. How as he to know where England was, and who was this woman not to know?

"Ah, maybe my idea of the world is not as good as it should be, hmm?" The woman asked smiling gently at Harry, who blushed and smiled back. "Can you tell me where you think you are?"

"England?" Harry asked, even though he knew that clearly wasn't the place he was, as this woman hadn't even heard of England.

"Ah, then I am afraid to tell you that this is not the case. You are here in Olympia. Home of the Gods. I am Callista. And as I told you before, you are in my home. Would you like something to eat?"

Harry gaped at the woman, Callista, in front of him. She was offering him food. Without any visible strings attached. Harry narrowed his eyes and warily nodded slowly.

"Um... Please. I can water your plants if you would like in um... return?" Harry said meekly, refusing to look up from his shoes, even when Callista tried to catch his eye.

"Ah, little one, you do not need to pay me for food. Everyone is entitled to food, even the slaves. It is a terrible crime to withhold food from another being."

"So I can have food?"

"Of course. I have some fresh olives that I collected earlier this morning. Would you like some?"

"I've never had them before?"

"Ah, well you never know if you will like something until you try it. Come little one, lets get some food in you, you look like you may need it."

"T-thank you ma'am." Harry said shyly, following the woman into another adjoining room. He glanced around it cautiously, noting that there were no appliances that were in the Dursley's kitchen.

"No need to call me ma'am. Call me Callista. Once you have eaten, I can then take you to the temple of Zeus, to ask what I must do."

"Do?"

"Yes, whether you will have to go back, or if you are in fact a gift of the gods to me."

"A-a gift? People don't normally give people as gifts. Do they?" Harry asked, he felt sure he would have known if they did. Dudley would have wanted one straight away.

"No silly. But you appeared in my room from nothing. I wish to know how, perhaps the Gods decided to send you to me."

"And if they did?"

"Then I shall raise you as my own."

"Really? You'll be my... my um..." Hary didn't quite dare to say what he wanted her to be, but didn't want to say aunt or something like that as he didn't have a good experience with the last one.

"Mother." Callista told him firmly, before kneeling once more and wiping away the tear that fell down Harry's cheek as he smiled brightly at her. Perhaps things really were looking up for him.

"Can I have a new name? I heard people sometimes change their children's names. I would like a new name if I can."

"Of course. How does Arcas sound?" Harry beamed at her and nodded quickly, before being lifted onto the table in the room and cautiously eating the olive that was handed to him.

Arcas sat up in bed and frowned. He didn't normally dream of when he left that family. It was sp long ago, to be honest he had forgotten about them, happy to believe that Callista was his birth mother. Of course he knew she wasn't, but most of the time he forgot. Since talking with Remus however, his memories of his childhood had started to haunt him in his dreams.

He could remember going to the Temple of Zeus for the first time. Feeling in awe of the great god. He could even remember when his mother was punished for sleeping with said god and sent to the Stars before she was meant to. He remembered being human. Which was an altogether unsettling feeling. Having been not human for so long. Since his seventeenth birthday. Well a little before said birthday actually. A little over ten years after being sent to Callista, and he was sent to become what was destined. Nearly three and a half thousand years before he was supposed to.

His time line was completely screwed up. Harry groaned and fell back to his bed. And his Mate was still, for all intents and purposes, eight years older than him. Well according to the records in the department of births and deaths. Of course he was also listed as dead in there as well, so he felt it best to ignore those, just in case it completed made his brain melt down. He wanted so desperately to meet his mate, so he could start aging again. True only for another eight years, but being stuck in a sixteen year old body for three thousand odd years can become tedious. At least his mother had lived her life for long enough to be considered an adult before becoming immortal. He just thanked the Gods that Stars didn't have to deal with hormones. He shuddered at the thought of three thousand years of that! Regulus mocked him enough as it is. He wished he had Altair with him. He could talk to him. Maybe even find out, once and for all what was involved in mating! Why wouldn't anyone tell him? It was actually beginning to make him nervous that on one would.

Harry groaned again and finally sat up in his bed. He was never going to get back to sleep. Plus he really needed to find some more fire-liquid. He was getting really hungry. And cranky. Hungry and cranky.

--

Dumbledore coughed to get the attention of those in front of him. The numbers of this elite group had started to grow somewhat since finding out who Harry's mate was. The people in the room settled down a little and looked at Dumbledore expectantly.

He looked around at those gathered there, noting slightly that there were two new students, unsurprisingly, both were Gryffindors. Seamus Finnigan and a sixth year, Louis Gale. He shouldn't have been surprised really. He was surprised over the fact that Percy Weasley was still there with them. Also of the fact that he had invited the Minister to join this meeting was surprising. That Rufus agreed shocked many more than just himself.

"Some grave news has come to my attention. One Charles Weasley has been taken from where he was living in Romania." Dumbledore said, looking at those in front of him solemnly. Molly gave a small strangled gasp and gripped her husbands arms tightly.

"Professor, does You Know Who have him?" Arthur asked fearfully, wincing slightly at his wife's tightening grip.

"I have heard from a reliable source that Voldemort does not have Charles." Dumbledore told them all, ignoring the expected flinch at the Dark Lords name. "This means that we will have to up searches for the young man, and make sure that he does not find his way here."

"Why?" Rufus asked curiously, Dumbledore set his twinkly eyes on the the Minister and smiled softly.

"Alas, we cannot allow our young Star, Mr Potter, to meet his mate if we want him to win this war for us."

"You have Mr Potter? The rumours are true then? Why was I not told of this?"

"You were not told because we were unsure of spies and did not want for Voldemort to hear about it. Plus we did not want the media to get wind of it. However, now that we are sure no one will be able to get wind of it, we will need your help in securing young Harry to our side."

"Surely if you keep his mate from him, then it will make him adverse to helping you."

"That maybe so, but he has not found out that it is my doing that is keeping his mate away."

"You are a fool Dumbledore. The Stars look down on us and hear everything we say. To think that Harry will not find out about this is very naïve. However, I can understand why you would want to keep his mate away from him and so I will help you in this. I will want some publicity on this though. When the war is over, I want everyone to know that I helped this war end."

"That will be fine Rufus. Now, would you like me o introduce you to Harry and you can try to distract him from whatever ails him. He was somewhat grumpy this morning at breakfast. He even snapped at Sirius."

--

Voldemort sat in his throne, which was the third one he had had to get seeing as the previous ones kept falling apart. Much to Wormtail's distress. It probably had something to do with the fact that, no matter how carefully he made the throne, there was always one screw left over. Perhaps he should punish Wormtail more. Or use magic to build the damned thing next time. Sticking charms maybe.

Voldemort was pulled out of his musing over his thrones when the doors opened and a Death Eater walked in. He assumed it was his spy, as he didn't have many Death Eaters of his height, but one could never be too sure. Contrary to the rumours going round, the dark marks didn't tell him who each Death Eater was. He was just a damned good guesser. Or addressed them all the same way.

"Why are you here?" Voldemort asked once the minion had stopped kissing his robes. Really, he had no idea who had started that habit. He surely hadn't, very unhygienic.

"My Lord, I have just come from a meeting with the old fool. I have word that he has discovered Charlie is missing."

"So the Star's mate is missing? Does he know where he is?"

"No my lord. That is not everything."

"Well?"

"The minister has joined Dumbledore in this war against you My Lord. He wishes to take some of the credit should their side win. However, they are beginning to worry about the Star and his mate. Security has been upped at the school in order to keep the mate away. The effort against you, My Lord, has been lessened in light of this."

"Really? Then perhaps we should begin to step up this war somewhat. Make the weak wizards sit up and realise I am going to win."

--

Arcas sighed and leant on his elbow, glaring at his plate, so that he didn't glare at Dumbledore for his bloody stupid ideas. He had watched down on these Humans, watching them celebrate their strange rituals. Watching as he and his mother and family were forgotten and only viewed as lights in the sky. Watching the religion come and then die out with the passing of age.

Yet as he watched all of this. Halloween thrived. Sure, the meaning of the holiday changed with every prominent religion until it is now only something to celebrate so that they can get dressed up, however, it was still around and Arcas hated it. He couldn't see the joy in dressing up as a demon or angel or something that only exists in nightmares or those strange paper book things that children read. People forgot about the stars though.

"Arcas? Why are you glaring at the cabbage?" Remus asked nervously, well aware that the Star was not feeling particularly nice today.

"It doesn't taste nice. It's cold and it makes me feel funny. I don't like it." Arcas told him, upping the glare somewhat when the students began to whisper to their neighbours on what they would wear to the ball.

"Bloody stupid idea." Sirius grumbled from his other side.

"I couldn't agree more. Stupid holiday. Can I not just hide somewhere?" Arcas asked with a slight whine to his voice, making Remus try to suppress a smirk.

"No. If I have to go to this damned thing, so do you."

"The rabid children won't accost you! They all think you and Remus are together and erm... Shagging?" Arcas asked innocently, tilting his head in confusion at the word and looking at Remus in concern when he spat his coffee across the table. What's shagging?"

"Erm... It's something you should ask Remus about." Sirius said hurriedly, before grabbing a piece of toast and hurrying out of the hall. Filius chuckled as they watched the man practically run out of the hall.

"Ah, um... Well... See... It's when erm..." Remus floundered as Arcas gazed at him with his unnervingly large eyes.

"It's slang for mating, young Arcas." Filius told him with a smile as Arcas whipped round to see him.

"Oh, and what is that? When are you going to explain what that is? Does that mean you and Sirius are mates?" Arcas asked, innocently excited.

Remus flushed as all the teachers within hearing range turned their attention to the two near the end of the table.

"Yes, Remus. Please do let the rumours to rest. Are you and Professor Black... mates?" McGonagall asked, smirking when Remus groaned and glared at Arcas.

"Fine. No we are not mates. Im sorry to disappoint. Yes we have... Ermm.... Oh forget it. Werewolves don't have mates, contrary to popular belief."

"He's right you know. Though Were Leopards do for some unknown reason. It is very strange. I never understood it, even though Arneb tried to explain it to me." Arcas said musingly.

"Exactly, now then, shall we go? Classes are about to begin." Remus said with a strained smile, standing up and walking out of the hall.

"Hmm. I think he wants to mate with Sirius."

"Really? Maybe we should set them up then at the ball and they can mate!" Arcas said with a bright smile.

"Indeed we could. Shall we meet, the four of us, tomorrow after dinner? We can discuss this then?" Pomona Sprout said with a smile. The others nodded as they stood up and left the room together.

Arcas smiled at something Pomona said, looking down as he felt a hand on his arm and looked behind him to see a coyly smiling Ginny.

"Miss Weasley? How may I help you?" Arcas asked with a somewhat false smile. The other three teachers grinned lightly and walked away to their separate classrooms.

"Professor Orsini. I was wondering if I could talk to you after classes about the essay you set. I have a couple of questions to ask about the Elves and Vampires."

"Of course you can Miss Weasley. Come to my office after your last class and I shall answer all the questions you may have." Arcas said with a small smile at her. He walked away from her, not noticing the smug grin on Ginny's face and looks of sheer murder on many of the females that had over heard.

--

Arcas watched the owl fly in the open window of his office with a frown. His free period was nearly ending and was expecting Ginny Weasley to his office soon. Standing up, he walked over to the white, regal looking owl and took the letter clasped in his claws.

"What's this? Would you like some water?" Arcas asked, conjuring a small dish and filling it with water form the jug on his desk and offering it to the owl. He then looked down at the letter in his hands and opened it, not recognising the handwriting.

His eyes raised as soon as he read the first words of the letter and sat down on his chair to read it.

My Dearest Son,

I have felt a need to send you this letter to inform you that I am here, on this planet they call Earth. I heard your need for your family, we are joining this war. Slowly, the night sky will be darkening. Be on you guard son, for you are in the midst of a betrayal.

It has come to our attention that the esteemed Headmaster has been trying to hide your mate from you. Fear not, he is quite safe and is currently staying with Leo. We will be bringing him to you soon. You will soon have you mate my son. His name, if you have not been told, is Charlie.

Love You

Callista

Arcas read the letter and leant back in his chair, clutching the letter tightly. He was too concerned with the letter to even hear the gentle knock on his door.

"Charlie."

--

Callista looked around the front room of her small apartment at the people gathered there. She didn't actually need any lights on from the inner light of all the other stars in the room.

"Okay people. Here's the deal. I want some suggestions on how we should enter this war!"

"Um... We need to have more beings on our side. We only have the Goblins support so far. These wizards need to be put in their place. They have become complacent and biased in their views of the world. They need to have a Were come and save their child from death. They need to see reason." One woman said, making the others grumble in agreement.

"Indeed Andy. I have sent missives to those that are scorned. I have yet to hear from most, though the Vampires sent back a missive saying they are with us. They remember what we did to help in their war. They will be sending someone to see us soon."

"So we really are joining another war?" A small Star asked, he had white feathers hanging in his dark red hair, seeming to melt into the white roots.

"We considered ignoring it and letting them deal with it themselves, however Dumbledore swayed our side when he tried to keep Arcy's mate away from him."

"I want to be there for him. He needs us. Please let me go to him." The Star with the white feathers said, getting nods of agreement from two other small Stars.

"Indeed Deneb. I shall have to consider it, your other form will work for us in this case. Discuss it with the other two and decide what you course of action will be."

"What happened to Arcy's mate?"

"He is currently with Regulus. We are working out a plan to get him into Hogwarts without Dumbledore knowing. Any and all ideas are welcome. At the moment however, we are just at the brain-waving stage. So, what shall we do and how do we get it across that there is now a third faction in this silly little war?"

A/N – So, another chapter, and more Stars are a coming! Yay! Plus, a little flashback moment for you all there. I may try to incorporate more into it, if I can find the room and appropriate place. So tell me what you think? Please do review!!! Thank you! And I'm sorry for the amount of time it took for this update. I have no idea when the next one will be, but I ma honestly trying. Things are just a little difficult right now.