Chapter 2

I do not own Harry Potter, to the sadness of my bank account. Recognisable parts of this chapter stem from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K Rowling.

A soft curse, and the hands wrapped around Sarah pulled her upright.

"Don't faint on me now, Saviour." The voice said. The voice sounded familiar, somehow, the low, pleasant baritone oddly comforting. Sarah regained her legs, looked up, and flinched violently, only the quick movement of the stranger's hand preventing a scream from escaping. Her rescuer, whoever he was, wore dark robes and gloves- and a silvery face mask.

"Death Eat-"

"Hush, Miss Potter. I am no Death Eater. If I was, I would hardly have saved you from the Dementors, would I?" the man said softly. Sarah's brain forced itself back into action, and she realised that not only was the man correct, but he wasn't wearing a mask at all- rather, he was wearing a silvery scarf and the dim light had deceived her.

"Can you walk on your own?" the man asked gently, and Sarah nodded slowly, her mind whirling with thoughts of who he could be, before she realised-

"Dudley!"

"He seems to be in shock. Some chocolate would do him a world of good, but for now- Mobilocorpus!" said a second figure, shorter and slighter than the man who had helped Sarah- a woman, thought the Girl Saviour. Dudley began to float in the air, apparently still stunned. Sarah blinked, and her rescuer gave a slight shrug.

"Much easier to- Stupefy!"

Sarah flinched as a streak of red flashed past her, and a thump sounded from the entrance to the alley.

"Oh, well done. You Stunned Arabella Figg." Noted the slighter figure.

"Ah. Well, she knows about us. She is a Squib supposed to keep an eye on Miss Potter after all. We'll wake her up once we reach Privet Drive- Mobilocorpus."

"Um," Sarah said, looking at the two strangers, "Isn't it a little…obvious…that those two are floating? Won't we be noticed?"

"Good point. Well, it's easy enough to-"

The man briefly tapped his wand on each floating figure, and they vanished. Sarah stared, and she heard the smile in the voice of the man.

"Disillusionment Charm- a bit like an Invisibility Cloak just less effective. Stealth is always useful, Miss Potter." He said, before motioning her to follow them through the dark and silent streets.

"Incidentally, you can call me Orion, and this is Theia."

"Uh, you might as well call me Sarah." Sarah replied, a little hesitantly. Orion and Theia? She had no idea who they could be- Orion walked with a slight limp and a cane in his right hand, but the only two people she knew like that were Lucius Malfoy, who had no limp, and Alastor Moody, who carried a staff. Still, those names…

"Are you related to Sirius Black, by any chance?" she asked carefully, as they drew closer to Privet Drive. Orion glanced at her.

"In a manner, yes, although I certainly don't approve of most of his family- particularly the ones who are Death eaters."

"So you're with Dumbledore?" Sarah asked, curious now. Orion shrugged, and made a noise that Sarah could only think of as 'meh'.

"I'm more of a loose cannon. It's certainly less working with Dumbledore and the Ministry and more working against Voldemort." He said. Sarah frowned.

"Is that a real difference?"

"Small but significant." Theia interrupted, her voice oddly calm and vaguely familiar to Sarah, just like Orion's. Sarah tried to figure out what they meant, but decided it was best left for another time. Orion sighed.

"Maybe it's easier to say that I'm not allied with Dumbledore exactly, but I am opposed to Voldemort. 'The enemy of my enemy', right? In any case, we're pretty much at your home now. Hopefully we aren't greeted by spell-happy Dumbledore supporters."

"Is that likely?" Sarah asked, raising an eyebrow sceptically. Orion shrugged.

"Always possible." He said cheerfully, pushing open the door and strolling into the living room, where Vernon and petunia gaped in stunned silence.

"Hello!" Orion said, far too cheerfully. Sarah hastily smothered a snicker.

"As you can see, I have returned your wayward son and maltreated niece to you- uh, Theia, would you-"

"Hmm? Oh, right." Theia muttered, rapping an invisible figure and causing the charm Orion had applied to fall away, revealing the levitating and frozen bodies of Dudley and Mrs Figg. Petunia and Vernon both yelped and jumped, and Sarah had the distinct sense that Orion had rolled his eyes.

"Ennervate." He pronounced clearly, following it with a wave of his wand and a casual 'Finite' that caused both Dudley and Mrs Figg to fall to the ground, whereupon Dudley vomited before curling into a sobbing ball and Mrs Figg directed a look of shock and horror towards the two dark robed figures.

"Oh. Yes, should have expected that. Oh well, he still has his soul, a little mental scarring might be good for him." Orion said cheerfully, causing Sarah to outright snort in laughter. She shouldn't be laughing, she knew, but it was just too funny to see the horror and rage warring on Vernon's face as Petunia fell to her knees next to Dudley and sobbed. Unfortunately, Vernon's rage won out, and he lunged at Orion with a roar of anger. The scarfed man moved faster than Sarah could believe, casting some spell Sarah didn't know-

"No!" Sarah shouted, suddenly realising where they were.

"If you cast spells here, I'll be-"

"You won't be expelled." Theia interrupted calmly.

"If the Ministry could track all spells cast around you you'd be getting an owl for the Ennervate I used earlier. The Trace is on wands, the only other way to activate it would be to do it on purpose, and that would take something like a knowledgeable House-Elf."

That roused Sarah's suspicions- the man seemed far too knowledgeable. Still, whatever he had done was remarkably effective- Vernon was now being dangled in the air by one ankle, going increasingly purple.

"You Freak!" the man screamed. "What have you done to Dudley? And your Freak friends use that freakishness on me, you were never welcome here and-"

"No!" barked Orion, but too late.

"-And you never will be!"

"Ah, sod." Muttered Orion, as the whole house seemed to shudder. Theia flicked her wand twice, causing Vernon to fall to the carpet and ropes to spring up around him- all without an incantation, Sarah noticed.

"Well, so much for the Blood Wards. I didn't want that to happen. Mrs Figg, would you be a dear and alert Dumbledore and his Order before the inevitable happens and Death Eaters or Ministry stooges arrive?" Orion said, while Theia hummed softly and tucked her wand back into her robes. Mrs Figg nodded hastily and scurried out of the house as Orion looked to Sarah.

"Sarah, could you go and pack up what you need? Theia, go with her, please. I'll stay here and explain to these morons."

Sarah nodded and set off briskly, Theia following in silence.

"What was that?" questioned Sarah. Theia seemed to sigh.

"The wards that are on this house are actually bastardised from the original blood protection your mother placed upon you. Whoever did it made a lot of changes, mostly clumsy, that caused the wards to protect this house as well, so long as you could consider it home and you lived here for a few weeks each year. Unfortunately, obviously Vernon's phrasing fulfilled the 'Consider it home' portion of that so this house is no longer protected."

"So does that mean the wards are only protecting me now?" Sarah asked as she hurried into her bedroom and began searching for her meagre possessions. Theia shrugged.

"Arcturus Orion is more knowledgeable in Blood Magic than I am, we will have to ask him- once we are safe. I hope Dumbledore gets here soon, I'd rather not be fighting Death eaters in a Muggle area." Theia said gloomily, before swishing her wand and causing all the possessions in the room to neatly pack themselves in the trunk before she shrank it with a brief wand tap.

"Let your owl go free, and put on your Invisibility Cloak. Stay hidden as well." Theia advised before striding back down the stairs, to where Orion was glaring at the Dursleys.

"Listen up, idiots." The man was saying. "You've spent fifteen, fourteen years under the protection of a charm linked to Sarah's blood. The walrus just broke that, so now you're fair game to every enemy Sarah has who mistakenly thinks you have her affection- you don't care about them, right?"

Sarah shook her head, and Orion nodded.

"As I said, you are now fair game, so you might want to get out of the country. Maybe to a place like North Korea, or Zimbabwe, nice and out of the way, understand? Your son will be fine, once he gets a helping of chocolate- not that he bloody needs to eat more chocolate- but you should leave the country, unless you enjoy being horribly tortured. Some people like things like that, I don't judge."

Despite the rather dire warning that Orion was issuing, Sarah had to smile at what he was saying. It was nice to be around someone who wasn't grim or annoyingly optimistic in the face of danger- Dumbledore in particular made it into the second category. A series of sharp cracks split the air, and Orion sighed.

"So much for subtlety on behalf of Dumbledore's minions. Apparating into the middle of an inhabited neighbourhood, at night as well, bloody idiots-"

Orion's grumbling was cut off as someone burst through the door and there was a shout of 'Stupefy!'. Theia moved in front of Sarah and held out her wand, a bark of 'Protego!' bringing a translucent shield into place before them, blocking the red beam of light.

"Wait, wait, bloody hold fire!" Orion barked, holding up his hands to cover his face. Apparently confused by the request everyone froze, allowing Sarah to look around the slight form of Theia to see Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody pointing a wand at Orion and Theia, backed by Remus Lupin and a slim, pink haired girl Sarah didn't recognise.

"I don't talk to Death Eaters." Moody snarled, causing Orion to growl in anger from behind his own shimmering shield.

"Why do people keep thinking I'm a Death Eater? I wear a scarf, not a mask. I know more spells than the Unforgiveables and my family tree actually forks, I'm practically the opposite of a Death Eater. Hell, I saved your bloody Girl Saviour from Dementor and I haven't killed the Dursleys or the Squib, what more do you want?"

Moody didn't even blink, but Lupin and the girl lowered their wands somewhat.

"He has a point." The girl admitted. "I mean, a DE would have killed the family, taken the girl and run. Although I don't see the girl anywhere-"

"She's under an invisibility cloak, behind the masked girl." Moody grunted, as Dumbledore entered in a sweep of vibrantly coloured and nausea inducing robes.

"Oh God man, at least try to blend in." Orion muttered as Dumbledore fixed him with a narrow glare.

"Who are you?" demanded the Headmaster. Orion sighed, and offered a half bow.

"Arcturus Orion Argent, at your service. Call me Orion, Arcturus sounds stupid."

"And you?" Dumbledore questioned, looking at Theia, who tilted her head.

"Theia Sable, Headmaster." She replied calmly.

"Why are you here?" continued the inquisition. Orion answered that one.

"Why, to help of course. You'll forgive me if I don't show my face, I'm a little recognisable." He said, with humour in his voice. Dumbledore remained uncompromising.

"Show us your left forearms." He demanded, and Sarah realised that she should have checked for the main identifying mark of a Death Eater. Orion seemed to flinch as Theia calmly rolled up her sleeve to show a slender, pale, unmarked forearm. Orion seemed reluctant to do so, but the wands of Dumbledore and Moody were steady on him and so he slowly pushed up his sleeve to reveal shining silver in place of flesh.

"Wormtail!" blurted Sarah, stumbling away, and Lupin immediately raised his wand again, rage crossing his face.

"What? No, Sarah, think! Wormtail only lost his hand, remember? And it was his right hand!"

The quick words stayed the spells as Sarah stared at him and Dumbledore glared in silence.

"Show you face." He demanded. Orion seemed to shift slightly.

"Not to everyone, Headmaster. I know you can look into minds, look into mine. That should prove I'm not a Death Eater. Besides, the wards, before they fell, would have kept out anyone with ill intent." He said. Dumbledore stared into the shadowed eyes of the dark robed man for a long moment, then nodded.

"He is no Death Eater." He said solemnly, and the aura of power seemed to fade from around him. Orion gave an audible sigh of relief.

"Surrender your wands." Dumbledore commanded. Orion and Theia seemed to exchange glances, then shrugged and passed their wands to the old man, who finally relaxed and waved the others to stand back.

"I assume if we were in a safer place you could tell us more about yourselves?" Dumbledore asked, mostly back to his genial self. Orion nodded stiffly, and Dumbledore beamed.

"Excellent!" he said happily, before putting a hand on the arm of Sarah.

"Remus, Nymphadora, you will bring our guests? Alastor, would you explain to the Dursleys what has happened? Take a deep breath, Sarah." The Headmaster said, before the world seemed to condense around her. The feeling was awful, like being squeezed through a narrow tube, which was enough for Sarah to realise that it was some form of magical transport.

"Apparition!" Dumbledore said happily, as Sarah fell onto blessed earth at the end. "A most unpleasant form of travel, but very convenient." The old man continued blithely. Once again, Sarah briefly found herself empathising with Voldemort hating the Headmaster. The other four arrived, all landing with far more grace than Sarah, and the Girl Saviour took the chance to look around at the grimy, unwelcoming area. Dumbledore waved his wand, and the streetlights went out before the old man passed three slips of paper to Orion, Theia and Sarah.

"Read those." The old man said quietly, and Sarah looked at the paper.

The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix are located at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

Sarah looked up, wanting to question, but before she could she saw two houses bulge out as a third sprouted into being between them. While Sarah was staring Dumbledore smiled and ushered them into the grimy house, where Sarah was greeted by a crushing hug from Molly Weasley.

"Oh, dear I was so worried!" exclaimed the Weasley matriarch, in an oddly hushed voice. The place was hardly what Sarah had expected- dark, damp and with a faint, sickly sweet smell of decay about it.

"Don't touch anything." Lupin whispered as he ushered her forwards. Everyone seemed very interested until staying quiet, until the pink haired girl stepped forward, tripped on an umbrella stand that looked suspiciously like a troll leg and went crashing down.

"Oh for the love of-"

Orion's mutter was cut off by an unholy shriek from before them as a pair of moth-eaten curtains flew open, and for an instant Sarah thought she was looking into a vision of Hell itself, before she realised she was seeing a life-size portrait, but one infinitely more unpleasant than any she had seen before. The old woman in the portrait was drooling, her eyes rolling, claw-like hands waving and screaming as though she was being tortured.

"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt, Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, despoiling the house of my ancestors!"

The screeches were cut off by an even louder voice from a door next to the hall.

"Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut UP" roared a man, running out and forcing the curtains closed, silencing the shrieks before turning to the wide eyed Sarah. Panting slightly and managing a slight smile, Sarah's Godfather Sirius turned to her.

"Hello, Sarah," he said with a remarkably even tone, "I see you've met my mother."

"Your mother?" Sarah repeated, incredulous. Sirius nodded.

"Yeah, we're in my parents' house. I've been trying to get the painting down for a month but I think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the portrait-"

"Have you tried fire?" Orion chipped in, causing Sirius to give him a blank look.

"Who are you?"

"Arcturus Orion Argent, call me Orion if you like. Now, I'm supposed to reveal myself to your Order in a grand gesture, so-"

"Uh, right, the kitchen is this way." Sirius said, clearly bemused. Sarah had to smile at the smooth way Orion had diffused the tension- she hoped he was friendly, because he was pretty likeable. They group followed Sirius into a cavernous basement kitchen, were a large group of people were gathered- Sarah recognised the tall, red-headed figure of Ron Weasley and the much shorter, bushy haired from of Hermione Granger. Her best friends, even if they had all but ignored her this summer. Quite calmly, Orion walked into the middle of the kitchen, ignoring the stares of the assembled group, and pushed down his hood to reveal a head of messy black hair, although his scarf still obscured his face. Looking around, and obviously relishing the tension, Orion shrugged briefly, and pulled the silvery scarf away from his features. Utter silence fell.

"James?" Sirius whispered, looking faint.

"Dad?" echoed Sarah, her heart thumping. Orion turned gleaming, all too familiar emerald green eyes on her and smiled, a little sadly.

"Not quite."

Two days, two chapters for my first ever fanfic. Remarkable. Nonetheless, Read and review and feel free to point out mistakes- hopefully my ego can take it.