Chapter Twelve
So I'm trapped here. Forever. Stuck at this age for the rest of my existence?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Alone? I mean, you are hundreds of millions of mile away from me. I can't get to you."
"You won't be alone for ever."
"How long will I be alone for though? What will happen to me?"
"You'll revert. You'll forget about some things in life that you will no longer be able to do."
"What like?"
"Ah, well Stars, when searching for their mates are always um... virginal so to speak. Unless, like myself, they have a child. If that is the case, then nine times out of ten, that child will also become a Star."
"But I'm not yours by blood! The story about Zeus was just that! A story! We both know you are not my blood mother and Zeus certainly isn't my father! I don't even look like him!"
"Arcas, this isn't the point. Zeus gave you to me, thus you are my child. This is beside the point however. You will have to wait until you meet your mate to find out those joys of life."
"I already have! I mean, how can I become virginal again! That isn't how it works! Once it's gone, it's gone!"
"Not for a star it isn't. You'll be celibate for a long time."
"How long?"
"A while. I'm sorry this has happened. I didn't intend for this. I promise."
"Will I be completely alone?"
"No. There are others who were taken at a similar age. You will be able to visit them, once you have learnt. And when you have found your mate, you'll never be alone again."
"You keep mentioning that, who is it?"
"He hasn't been born yet. You will know when it is time."
"I'll know when its time?"
"Yes. Now, let me introduce you to Deneb. He was taken when he was twenty. He normally hangs around with Vega and Altair. Both of whom are of a similar age. You are the youngest though. I truly am sorry."
"Who is Deneb?"
"He is the Alpha of Cygnus. Please Arcas. Please forgive me for this. You will not be too far from me. Should you ever need me, I'll come. No matter what. I'll never let you down again.
Arcas sat up in his bed, breathing hard. His memories were all coming back. His mother had been right, he really did forget things. Of course, that didn't mean he remembered everything. He couldn't remember much from before he was a Star still, and he doubted he ever would.
He wished the memories wouldn't come back as dreams. He was loosing sleep, which admittedly, as a Star he didn't need, but he had been getting used to the novelty of it.
Now he was awake however, he could think about Charlie. The man was somewhat of a mystery to the poor Star. Arcas was not sure what Charlie actually thought of him. He wished he had some idea of what choice Charlie would choose. Either way, he supposed he should get Charlie to at least cut his hair very soon.
--
The next day Arcas sat down next to Charlie on the sofa in his rooms. Regulus was going to be leaving that day, saying something about meeting with a swan about something. Or was it a man about a dog? Whichever it was, Arcas felt it best not to ask.
"Morning Arcas." Charlie mumbled sleepily, letting out a jaw-cracking yawn.
"Morning. I was wondering last night about our mating. Um... Well, besides what it entails, seeing as no one actually seems able to tell me. Maybe it's because everyone I've asked hasn't mated yet." Arcas suddenly said, looking pleased with himself.
"I don't think that is it. So what did you want to talk about?"
"Your decision." Arcas said, choosing not to beat around the bush.
"Ah. Can I think about it a little longer?" Charlie asked nervously.
"Of course, sorry. One thing though, can you cut my hair?"
"Cut your hair? Why? It's nice like that."
"It's a ritual of the Stars. We cut out the colour once we meet our mates. Normally by letting our mates do the cutting. So would you?"
"Of course. I'd be honoured. When would you like to cut it?"
"Um... Now?" Arcas asked, handing a stunned Charlie a set of scissors he had gotten from the House Elves when he made the decision.
"Sure then. Sit down here." Charlie said, indicating to the floor space between his legs. Arcas smiled at him shyly, then knelt down on the floor in front of him.
Charlie had just picked the scissors up to begin cutting Arcas's hair, when the door to the rooms opened and Sirius literally spilled into the rooms with a large smile on his face.
"Arcas! I've got some people here who want to meet you!" Sirius exclaimed with a wide smile.
"Who?"
"Charlie? How did you get here?"
"Bill! Fred, George! Why are you here?"
"We came"
"To warn"
"Arcas about"
"Dumbledore." Fred and George told them, making both smile slightly.
"We already know. My mother sent me a letter, and Regulus brought Charlie here, dressed as a woman actually." Arcas said with a confused smile.
"A woman!"
"Charlie! We didn't"
"Know, you had"
"It in you!"
"Do have photos?" Bill added with a grin.
"Oi! And no, no one took any photos. Thank Merlin."
"Why would you want to do that?" Arcas piped up suddenly.
"Do what?" Bill asked, a little confused by the Star if he was honest.
"Why thank Merlin. He's dead. And was a bit weird if you ask me."
--
Arcas managed to avoid the Halloween ball by visiting a volcano during the holiday, but he could not avoid Christmas. Which was something he didn't understand. His mate had been very patient, trying to explain to him the joys of Christmas, but he was slowly giving up hope. Even Fred and George were failing.
"So we give people presents to celebrate the birth of someone who died over a thousand years ago, whom, to be honest, no one is entirely sure he existed anyway. Don't ask me if he did or not, I wasn't looking over that area during that time. Anyway, we buy and exchange gifts and put up a tree?" Arcas asked, looking at the bauble in his hands dubiously.
"Yes."
"Why?" Charlie groan and seriously considered smashing the bauble into his face to relieve himself of the pain.
"Just because." Bill pretty much whined.
"But – I don't get it. Is it like Halloween? Because, this guy's been dead a while now, so he isn't going to come and thank you for celebrating his birthday. Which, might I add, he probably never celebrated himself."
"That's not really the point."
"No. The point is that it's a time"
"To be with family and friends and surrounded by those you love."
"So my mother will be coming here?"
"No." Charlie admitted softly.
"But Fred and George said loved ones."
"Yes, but Dumbledore wouldn't allow it. He wasn't very impressed when he found out I was here."
"I don't understand the gift part."
"Let's be thankful that no one mentioned Santa." Bill muttered to the twins, groaning when Arcas looked at him curiously.
"Who's Santa?"
--
Voldemort secretly liked Christmas. It was the perfect time to bring misery upon the wizarding world. He had been advised by his super special secret advisor (not that he would ever call him that out loud) that Christmas Eve would be the perfect time to attack. Plenty of people would be there doing last minute shopping, and it would have been a brilliant act against the wizarding world.
He had been somewhat grouchy recently due to the Stars having joined the war. He knew that now, he had pretty much no chance of survival. He definitely would not win this war, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to go down without a fight. He wanted to leave his stain on the wizarding world. He wanted them to remember his name for centuries to come. Fear it even.
So he planned the attack and when Christmas Eve came. He attacked.
The screams echoing around him were music to his ears. The sheer terror in the eyes of those he killed and tortured was something he would be able to take with him to the grave. He had chosen well and Diagon Alley was brought down around him on the Eve of Christmas.
Shockingly, it was the newly allied Elves who came to the rescue. Not the Stars, as many would have assumed. The Order and the Aurors were missing, which was something no one missed.
It wasn't until Voldemort decided to give the Alley to the Elves and to apparate away that the Order finally arrived. Followed swiftly by the Aurors.
Arriving in his mansion, somewhat surprised that no one had ever decided to do a background check on him and discover that he had Muggle family and thus was using their family home as his headquarters, he walked to his throne and waited for his followers to report back to him.
He didn't have to wait long before the first started to drift into the room, soon followed in groups, by the rest, until nearly everyone was there, and the only ones missing were either in Auror custody or dead.
"My followers. We successfully raided Diagon Alley and made the wizarding world fear us!" Voldemort announced to much cheer from the Death Eaters. "Now tell me exactly how well we did?"
"My Lord." A Death Eater with long white-blond hair poking out underneath his hood knelt in front of Voldemort.
"Malfoy, tell me what you know."
"I stayed behind for a while to see if I could hear anything of use. The overall tally was twenty-two killed by us and seven of ours killed. We managed to injure, permanently or not, over fifty." Lucius said, before quickly going back to his place amongst the other Death Eaters.
"Tell me Lusssciussss, what news have you of your ssson?" Voldemort asked smoothly.
"My lord, all and any attempts to contact him via owl are impossible. He has been placed somewhere unplottable, or under the Secret Keeper charm. I cannot get in touch with him, nor can I find out where he is. I'm sorry My Lord."
"Find out who the Sssecret Keeper is! Rodolphussss! What newsss do you have?" Voldemort asked, looking at another masked Death Eater, who quickly moved forward to face his lord.
"My Lord. There was no one of importance killed, however Madam Bones was there shopping with her niece, both of which were injured. I'm not sure how badly though My Lord."
"Ssseveruss! What does Dumbledore think of thisss?"
"My Lord, Dumbledore deliberately waited until the last minute to see how the Stars would react. All seven of the Death Eaters killed were killed by the Elves. The Order and the Aurors all seem to still follow by the rule of shoot to stun."
"My Loyal Death Eaters! Tonight we shall celebrate the success of our raid! Bring out the muggles!" With which, a family of terrified muggles were brought out to the centre of the room to be tortured.
--
When the Order arrived on the scene at Diagon, it was to a massacre to put it bluntly. The elves had managed to put the survivors into two groups, injured and not injured, and were currently guarding them. There were bodies littered on the ground, both Death Eater and civilian, the Death Eaters were the only ones that were physically injured. The blood silt from them, staining the cobbles on the floor.
Dumbledore looked over at the Elves that were still guarding over the uninjured, the injured having been sent to Saint Mungo's hospital. Having quickly come to a decision with himself, he chose to walk over to whom he assumed was the head Elf.
"Excuse me... Ah..." Dumbledore walked over to the tall blond elf.
"My name is Aerendyl, Dumbledore. What may I help?" The elf said in stilted English.
"Ah, Aerendyl. May I ask what you propose to do with those you guard?"
"They stay here. Unless there is safer place to go with them."
"Ah, well Diagon Alley has been pretty much destroyed so there will not be many places they can go that is safe." Dumbledore agreed, looking over at the distraught patrons of Diagon Alley. "Perhaps we should send those who have homes away from here, home and those who do not have anywhere to go, should perhaps come to Hogwarts."
"Why Hogwarts? It is school is it not?"
"Yes, it is a school. But it was also built to withstand any attempts to be seized in a war. It is a castle, Master Elf. It is built for these times in war."
"Very well. Then take them to this castle of yours. My kin and I shall leave now. We have people to see."
"Thank you for your help. If you would be so kind as to come to Hogwarts later on today or tomorrow if that is suitable for you."
"Of course. Thank you Mr Dumbledore. I shall see about that. Now we must be going." The elf, Aerendyl, then turned to talk to his fellow elves and they all disappeared out of the alley with a word. Presumably the use of a Portkey.
"Now then, if those of you who do not have anywhere else to go, then please form an orderly queue and I shall distribute portkeys to take you to Hogwarts to stay. As of now, Diagon Alley is no longer safe for anyone to live. Sorry." Dumbledore said, twinkle absent form his eyes.
"If everyone would also like to tell a fellow Auror of anyone you are missing, and we shall try to find them at Saint Mungo's. Thank you." Kingsley told them, once Dumbledore had finished.
"So everyone is coming to Hogwarts, Professor?" Tonks asked, looking at the group of over seventy wizards and witches. "Will they all fit?"
"Of course my dear. Hogwarts is somewhat bigger than most think. Have no fear over them fitting. Would you kindly start handing out these portkeys?"
Tonks nodded and took the portkeys from Dumbledore, proceeding to them drop them all on the floor, and then blushingly pick them up once more.
--
If one was to go start gazing at night during this time, they would have noticed a startling peculiarity. The nights were getting darker and, one by one, the Stars were leaving the sky.
It was a sign of the apocalypse to some. To others, however, it was a sign of something else altogether. It was a sign of war. And that war was very close.
--
"So Santa is this large jolly man, who enters the bedrooms of small children at night and no one ever thinks to question him? Why would anyone agree to let someone do that? Is it not um... frowned upon?"
"I don't think you are getting the gist of this, Arcus." Fred stated slowly, much to the amusement of his brothers, who had conceded defeat not too long before.
"Why though?"
"That's not the point! Just open your damned presents!" Fred finally yelled, making Arcas flinch away from his and shuffle closer to Charlie, who laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Don't yell at him Fred. It's not his fault he doesn't celebrate the same religions we do. In fact, I'm not sure why we celebrate Christmas either. None of us are Christians, no one in the wizarding world is."
"It's fun! Just let loose for a little while! Once you've opened your presents, we can go prank to newbies that have arrived!"
"George! They've been through the ringer! You were lucky to have closed your shop and missed it all!"
"We've been here a while Charlie. Some one else was managing the shop. Hopefully Lee got out alright. We are actually gonna head down to look." Fred admitted with a sheepish grin.
"Do you want to go now? I'll talk to Arcas. I wanted to give him his present from me alone anyway."
"Okay. See you later Arcas, Charlie!" Fred said, leading his other two brothers out of the room.
"What did you want to give me alone?" Arcas asked, smiling at Charlie when the taller male sat down next to the Star on the floor, when they were alone.
"I wanted to talk to you about the mating."
"What about it?"
"I've made my decision."
"Oh? What was your decision?"
"I wish to stay with my Dragons Arcas."
"Oh. So I'm guessing you don't want to officially mate with me."
"Can you not stay with me?"
"No. I have a duty as a Star. I need to go back to my constellation soon." Arcas admitted with a small shrug. "There's only so much lava I can consume before I fade away."
"So you'll die?"
"No. I just will fade and automatically return to my constellation.
"Well then, I want to be your mate. Can we go with the option where I stay here until my friends and family leave me? I promise to come to you when that happens. You said you could visit me."
"I could, yes. Is that what you would rather do?"
"Yeah, sorry. Maybe one day, I'll want to become a Star myself or something."
"Well then. I suppose we should officiate it. Um... What do we do?" Arcas asked sheepishly, looking down at the carpet.
"Ah, well I suppose I should show you then. Come on. Let's go to your room." Charlie said, holding out a hand for Arcas to take, and smiling when the Star placed his smaller hand in his.
"Why my room?" Arcas asked as he stood up and followed Charlie slowly to his bedroom.
"This is something best kept private. Exhibitionism is something to explore later on in the relationship."
--
Callista opened the door where someone was knocking urgently on the door. Outside, there was a small group of people huddled in the hallway.
"Can I help you?"
"We were attacked. The elders told us to find the Stars. You are them, are you not?" The chosen leader asked, shivering slightly.
"Attacked? Who by?"
"Voldemort. He found out our existence. You can rely on us to help your side."
"Um... I can tell you're weres but which kind?"
"We're leopards, jaguars and panthers, Please, may we come in?"
"Oh! Of course, sorry. How did you find me?"
"We followed the owl." The young were told he sheepishly, pointing to the exhausted owl on his friends shoulder.
"Ah, well then. Come on in and tell me the story. How old are you?"
"I'm the oldest one left. The elders were all killed. I'm twenty-four."
"Well, we'll sort something out for you to live in then, but first, I need to here what happened.
--
Arcas felt the need to leave the castle and go to the grounds. He had no idea why, but he felt it was important. Something was telling him where to go. He walked out of the castle, feeling a little empty.
Charlie had had to go back to his Dragons the day before, leaving Arcas to bravely pretend there was nothing wrong. Not to mention he had only just been introduced to the joys of mating. Charlie had told him he was insatiable, whatever that meant.
Thankfully, Bill had chosen to stay with him, lessening some of the pain with the link he had to Charlie. Arcas was not very often found far from Bill.
Which was why it was odd that he was here in the wee hours of the morning, walking towards the forest for some reason. Bill had fallen asleep in the new room the castle had placed in the quarters he shared with Remus. Arcas didn't feel the need to wake Bill up. Just to get out to the forest as soon as possible.
He heard a rustle coming from behind some of the trees. Entering the forest, he went towards where the sound was coming from and looked behind a small shrub with spiky twigs.
On the floor, half asleep and shivering, was a small Werepanther. Arcas gasped, waking up the small child, who looked at him with large green eyes.
"Mama told me to find the Star." The little creature said weakly, pushing himself up. Arcas quickly knelt down and gathered the small boy up in his arms, being careful not to invoke any skin contact.
"Don't worry little one. You've found the star."
"Can I sleep now?"
"Just one minute. Where is your mother?" Arcas said, quickly making a snap decision on what the answer was.
"She fell asleep in the bad man's arms. She wouldn't wake up when they dropped her on the floor. I ran here." The little kitten asked.
"What is your name little one?"
"Mama called me her kitten. The others called me Nebi." He said with a wide yawn.
"One last thing you need to do little one. Please open your mouth." Arcas told him, the little boy looked at him with keen eyes, which was somewhat unnerving, then opened his mouth. Arcas quickly jabbed his finger on the bush and then placed the bleeding digit into Nebi's mouth. "I'm sorry I had to do that little one, but now I can touch you. Unfortunately, you will now be recognised as my son. I'm sorry for what I have brought upon you."
"Are you my daddy now?"
"If you want to call me that. If not, then just call me Arcas."
A/N – I have been waiting to introduce Nebi since I started this! He isn't a major part in the fic, but he will become important to Arcas very soon! Well he already is important to Arcas! Lol! So Arcas is mated huh? Lol! I'm sorry to anyone who wanted a sex scene, but I just can't write them. Maybe another time, huh? You don't wanna read it anyway, it was bound to be awkward. One other little thing, my grammar and sentencing with the elves is deliberate. They don't speak English well so um... Hopefully I managed to get that across... Lol!
Thanks go to everyone who supported me during my loss and to those who sent me encouraging reviews! This chapter is dedicated to you!"
