Chapter Fourteen

"My loyal followers. Tonight we have need for celebration. Tonight one of us has managed to make his way back to us." Murmurs spread through the group of Death Eaters at this, each trying to guess who had come back. Only one was not joining the whispers.

"Tonight Bartemius Crouch has made his way back to us from Azkaban. Welcome him my followers, and may we start the celebration. Bring them in!" The whispers got more frantic and then silence as a family of muggles was brought into the centre of the room.

--

"Dumbledore, not long ago I was wandering through the forbidden forest and I came across this little boy—No. Um—Dumbledore I have a son, surprise! No, that won't work either."

"What are you doing?" Arcas jumped in surprise as the sound of Remus' amused voice.

"Oh! Um... I need to tell Dumbledore about Nebi but I don't know how."

"Have you heard back from Charlie then?"

"Yes. He is going to try and come over to meet him as soon as he can find the time. Apparently the dragons are acting a little and no one can figure out why."

"So what did he say?"

"He said he would have done to same thing. So how do I tell Dumbledore?"

"Just be honest with him. Chances are he'll turn the tables by telling you that he already knew." Remus admitted with a shrug, before picking up a playing Nebi. "You could always take the little guy with you."

"That's a good idea. Right, I'll go tell him now. I need to officially adopt him through the ministry though. How do I do that if I don't exist?"

"Well Harry Potter exists,"

"No. Harry Potter died, remember?"

"Ah, I don't suppose Arcas Orsini existed ever did he?"

"They didn't really have the means to make him exist back then. Pretty much just agreed when my mother said I was hers."

"Then give me a couple of days and I will try to sort something out. Are you going to tell Dumbledore now then?"

"Yep, hand me Nebi." Remus handed the little boy over to Arcas, who held Nebi close and walked to the door.

"Arcas, good luck."

"Thank you, not that we'll need it, eh Nebi?" Arcas asked walking out of the door and into the halls of Hogwarts. It was early morning, with about an hour until the first lesson of the new term, which was one of the reasons he was telling Dumbledore now.

Wandering through the halls, smiling at the odd few students he passed, Arcas made his way to Dumbledore's office and paused at the statue guarding the office.

"Um—Snickers." Moving Nebi slightly to get more comfortable, Arcas walked up the stairs and knocked on the door to Dumbledore's office, waiting until he was called in, then opened the door and walked in.

"Ah, Professor Orsini. How may I help you this fine morning? And who is this with you?"

"This is the reason I came to you. Dumbledore, I would like you to meet my son, Nebi. Nebi, say hello to Professor Dumbledore." Nebi looked at the old man in front of him and then shyly buried his head in his father's hair.

"Ah, you have a son? This is—soon." Dumbledore said, looking at Nebi questioningly.

"Oh, well I sort of found him a week or so ago. I adopted him." Arcas said, moving to sit down, placing Nebi on his lap.

"How do you plan on juggling him and your lessons?"

"Ah, well Bill Weasley has offered to watch over Nebi whilst I am in lessons and Charlie will be coming back for a little while soon as well. I will not forget about the lessons."

"That is good. Well I am glad you came to me about this, and I am very happy for you."

"Thank you, I should get back now anyway, I have a lesson soon, if I don't leave now, I won't get Nebi back and make it to my classroom in time. Thank you for understanding." Arcas said, smiling and standing up, shifting a now sleeping Nebi onto his hips.

"Anytime. You know you can come to me with anything."

"Of Course headmaster. Now, I must leave. Bye."

--

"So this is Hogwarts huh?"

"Regulus, don't wander off. We need to find Arcas."

"How come Deneb didn't come with us?"

"He will be later. Come on, I wanna see Arcas."

"Come on then." Four Stars walked up the steps to Hogwarts late one evening; a couple of days after Arcas introduced Nebi to Dumbledore. They walked straight to the Great Hall and then pushed the doors open, delighting in the shocked looks on the Students faces when they walked in.

"Arcas!! We came to see you!!" The only female Star ran from the other three and up to where Arcas was sitting at the table.

"Vega? What are you doing here?"

"Oh well, me and Altair wanted to see you, Deneb too, but he's busy right now. Anyway, me and Altair wanted to see you and so Regulus and Procy said they would come with us! So here we are!" The female Star, Vega, said excitably practically jumping on the spot in her excitement.

"Calm down Vega. Come on, I'll show you to my rooms. I have someone to show you anyway."

"Ooh! Do we get to me Charlie?" Vega asked, teasingly.

"Nope, he's gone back to be with his dragons for the time being. He will be back in a couple of days of so." Arcas told her, walking with her back ot the group of Stars and then leading them all out of the Great Hall.

"So then Arcas, how have you been? Cally has been out of her mind with worry over you. You sure know how to stir things up!" Procyon, a tall male with milky blue eyes and pure white hair, asked as they walked through the halls of Hogwarts.

"Ah, well things have been a little hectic here. I heard about the attack on Diagon obviously, some of the survivors are still staying here in a separate part of the castle.

"Really? I thought they would have relocated them come the new term." Regulus said, shocked.

"There isn't really anywhere else they can go. So those who have children already here, or young children are staying in a previously unused part of Hogwarts. So how is Rhea, Procy?"

"Rhea's fine. All the mates are staying in the constellation to give them some light. Well besides Alethea and Dorea. They refused to stay away. Dorea said something bout knowing how the wizarding world works." Procyon said with a shrug.

"Ah, how are all of you coping without your mates?" Arcas asked, concerned for his friends."

"Ah, well, I'm fine. Nero is still his brutish self, I think he secretly likes being in charge on a whole constellation to himself." Altair, a Star shorter than Procyon, but taller than Arcas, with pale grey, almost white eyes, said with a wide grin.

"Huh, I don't know about you lot, but I miss Jeffrey the most at night, if you get what I mean!" Vega, the shortest of the group, with lilac eyes and long white hair, said, getting laughs from the others with her.

"So who is it that you want to show us?" Regulus asked, pale blue eyes twinkling.

"Ah, well come on in and I'll show you." Arcas said, walking through the portrait opening and waiting for the four to follow him.

"So? Oh, hello."

"Guys this is Bill Weasley, not who I wanted to tell you about. Is he asleep?" Arcas asked Bill, who was sitting in a chair, reading.

"Yeah, I've just put him to bed."

"Oh, well then, this is Vega, Altair, Procyon and Regulus. If you lot are quiet, then I can show you who I want you to meet."

"Okay, we can be quiet," Vega said, almost vibrating with excitement. Arcas looked at her and sighed, before motioning them to follow him quietly.

"Shh, he's sleeping." Arcas said, opening the door and then leading them over to the smaller bed in the room. "This is Nebi."

"Ooh! He's so cute!" Vega exclaimed quietly, Arcas nodded quickly in agreement, then ushered them back out of the room.

"Who is he Arc?" Regulus asked, moving to sit down next to Bill.

"He's my son."

"Er... Now, I'm no expert on these things, but um... isn't there normally a nine month wait?" Altair asked, grabbing the seat nearest the fire before Arcas could.

"Well yes."

"And Stars can't get pregnant." Regulus added, with a grin.

"Yes, well see—"

"And you and Charlie, well, let's just say you don't strike me as being the top." Procyon said with a wide grin.

"See, the thing—Top? What do you mean?" Everyone in the room stopped and looked at Arcas, before looking at Procyon.

"Ah, well see—What was it you were saying about Nebi?"

"Oh! I found him and adopted him!"

"You adopted him?"

"Well what else was I gonna do?"

"Find his parents?"

"He didn't have any."

"Give him to someone who wouldn't ruin his life forever?"

"I'm not ruining his life."

"He'll be a Star! He'll be alone!"

"Not for a long while yet, and he'll be brought up by Stars, so he'll be sued to it. At least this way he'll have a mate. He may even find his before he becomes a Star, so he won't ever be alone."

"Maybe, well congratulations."

--

C

There will be an attack on Hogsmeade tonight, nine.

B

--

Voldemort walked through the village, grinning and throwing the occasional Crucio at any one who tried to pass him. He laughed as he set fire to another building, relishing in the screams he could hear.

"Leave no survivors! Destroy everything, we will not leave until we get the Star." Voldemort yelled, stripping a woman of her skin when she was pushed into his sight.

"No survivors? Huh, well that's a bit mean." Voldemort spun around and stared at the woman standing nest to what was once the Three Broomsticks.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Callista. Now, why are you attacking this village again? Besides for the fear and general destruction."

"I want to Star."

"Well I'm a Star. Will I do?"

"I want to one that resides within Hogwarts."

"Ah, that'd be me." Another Star, this time a male, stepped forward, coming up next to Callista.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Procyon."

"I want Harry Potter!"

"Harry Potter's dead. Did you not get the memo?"

"You lie! He is a Star."

"You're not going anywhere near Arcas. Sorry to break it to you." Voldemort glared at the two stars and then apparated away, soon followed by

--

After Voldemort and the Death Eaters had left, the clean up began. It was during this that they discovered the body of Amos Diggory amongst the dead and amongst the nine captured Death Eaters, was one Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"I say we question him and then send him to Azkaban!" Tonks said from her space at the table.

"Why question him? We caught him in the act!" Moody growled, looking around at everyone who might disagree.

"He needs a trial. We have to ask him why he did it."

"What's to say he has a reason?"

"He might not have a reason, but we need to find out. We can't just send him to Azkaban without finding out."

"Nymphadora is right of course. He will have to have a trial. It has been scheduled for tomorrow morning at nine. We will find out the answers then. Now, does anyone know the final count?"

"It was worse than Diagon. We lost twenty-four, five of which were our own people, including Amos. Someone needs to tell Mrs Diggory. This is going to kill her. There were only five people that got away without any serious injuries. The Stars found out and arrived pretty quickly or else there would not have been this many alive. I don't know how they found out though." Minerva said, looking at the numbers in front of her.

"One of the Stars that is here was there, can we ask him how he knew?" Dumbledore asked.

"I already have asked them. I was suspicious of how they knew before us." Moody told them.

"And?"

"He said they have someone on the inside. He also told me that they think He knows about Severus."

"Did they tell you who their man on the inside is?"

"No. He refused to tell me that."

"Dumbledore, what are we going to do now? It is because of the disorder in this group that Voldemort managed to kill so many people." Percy Weasley said uncomfortably.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean, if we were not so disorganised, then perhaps someone would not have to tell Mrs Diggory that Voldemort has managed to rob her of her husband now, as well as her son."

"Amos knew what the risks were when he joined the Order."

"He wasn't there for the Order, he was there picking out a present for his anniversary. Many people were there shopping as Diagon is no longer available." Filius told him, making everyone glance down at the table.

"Then what are you implying? That this happened because of me?"

"No. Just, we no longer have trust within the Order. That was lost since you started having an inner-circle. You do not trust all of us as much as you trust others."

A/N – Okay, so another short chapter that is more a filler really, I just need to move things along a little. I don't think that there is much left of this story, things are all coming to a head pretty quick! In the next chapter you'll find out why Kingsley did what he did, the bad bad man! Lol!

Charlie will also be in the next chapter!! Yay! So we will have some interaction between the new family! Tell me what you think! I am truly blown away with the response this story has received, thank you so much!!