Chapter 7

I don't own Harry Potter. Not even a little bit.

It was three days later that Sarah, Ron and Hermione found themselves facing Orion across a cleared room, with a grinning Lupin and Sirius and a faintly smiling Theia watching from the sidelines. Orion had persuaded an Order member to let him go on a shopping trip to Diagon Alley- either that or just sneaked out- and bought new clothes as well as three 'blank' wands, that did not have the Trace on them but also lacked the ability to personalise themselves to their user. He thought that the Fidelius would neutralise the Trace on their usual wands, but had decided to err on the side of caution. When Sarah asked where Orion had got them he had just given an annoyingly enigmatic smile, though he had revealed how he and Theia had been able to set up two Gringotts accounts and pay for their purchases- they had looted all the accounts they had had in their old world and brought the gold with them in shrunken and lightened trunks. Sarah hefted the wand she was using a little uncomfortably- it didn't feel as easy to use as her own or even Orions, but it would do.

"Remember, no damaging or fatal spells- none of us are great at healing. Orion, I'm talking to you." Theia said, causing Orion to roll his eyes. Sarah, Ron and Hermione raised their wands in preparation, and Orion started to grin.

"Begin." Theia said mildly, and all of them started moving.

"Stupefy!" shouted Sarah, the first one to react. Orion flicked his wand, causing a shimmering shield, the basic Protego Sarah thought, to flicker into existence and absorb the red Stunning spell. Hermione and Ron followed with their own Stunners, but Orion dodged one and conjured a thin ceramic plate to protect himself from the other, causing the plate to shatter and a layer of reddish dust to drift to the ground and stain the air. Sarah and her two friends continued to rain spells upon Orion, whose ability to dodge was noticeably hampered by his limp, although the silver-handed man made good use of his greater abilities, conjuring a large number of ceramic plates to block the spells. Dust formed a shifting screen and thick layer on the ground, until Ron and Hermione slowed their casting speed noticeably. Sarah saw Orion grin again, and threw up a Protego shield on instinct. Orion shouted an incantation, and a strong gust of wind churned the layer of dust into a blinding, choking cloud that blew over his three opponents, followed fast by several Stunning spells. Hermione was fast enough to bring up her own shield, but Ron was hit and collapsed, out of the fight. Sarah turned, desperately casting shield spells, only her reflexes keeping her and Hermione safe, as her only warning being the flicker of red before the spells lanced towards them- Orion had gone back to casting silently.

"Dispel the dust!" Sarah screamed at Hermione, who moved her wand in a motion Sarah vaguely recognised and shouted the incantation,

"Ventus!"

The gust of wind blew the dust away from them, but Orion was nowhere to be seen. He must be using that Disillusionment Charm, Sarah realised, and racked her brain for what she knew about it. A flicker in the air alerted her, and she cast a Stunning spell and shield charm on instinct, but Hermione was the target and a Full-Body Bind curse toppled her. Sarah gritted her teeth, knowing that trying to release her friend would just leave her open to attack. She needed some way to find Orion…and idea came to her.

"Ventus!" she shouted, casting the same spell Hermione had and causing the dust to cover most of the room, including the figure of Orion, now marked by a veil of red scattered across his shoulders and head. Sarah wasted no time in barraging him with Stunning and Disarming spells, but Orion was able to bring up a powerful shield to block them all. Her final spell sailed at him as he dropped the shield, but he simply leaned to one side and let the spell pass as he cast back, aloud for once.

"Langlock! Locomotor Mortis! Auguamenti! Conglacior!"

As the spells hit her Sarah felt her tongue glue itself to the roof of her mouth, and her legs snap together. The last two spells were cast as she fell, the water producing spell aimed at her arms as she hit the ground. The final spell caused the water to freeze, sticking her to the ground and effectively immobilising her. Orion finished by Summoning her wand, before walking across and freeing all three of them to the slow clapping from Sirius and Lupin.

Sarah stood up, shuddering at the wetness of her clothes until Orion dried them with a simple charm and handed her back her wand.

"You were holding back, weren't you?" she asked. Orion pulled a face and shrugged.

"A bit. To be honest, I'm not great when forced to be…non damaging, so not as much as you'd think." He admitted. Sarah nodded slowly.

"That…actually makes sense. What was that last spell you used?"

"Conglacior? It makes water freeze when directed properly. It's pretty much just a guide for the intent, I could probably have done the same by saying 'Freeze' in Parseltongue or even English. Magic, happily, isn't Latin exclusive. It's just that, by the time you can use magic without Latin you generally don't need words at all."

"You learn wordless casting during your sixth year don't you?" Hermione asked. Theia nodded.

"Yes. Unless you're like Orion, who was almost useless at it during most of his Sixth year."

Orion nodded gloomily.

"That's true. Not that I appreciated Theia's method for teaching me wordless magic."

"Oh?" Sarah questioned. Orion frowned.

"A silencing spell on my mouth. Long-lasting and renewed regularly, and I had to get rid of it myself- Theia somehow managed to get all my friends to agree not to help and I wasn't going to ask anyone else, even if I could. Took me almost a week to get rid of it."

"But it was worth it." Theia said serenely, as Sirius, Lupin and Ron laughed in the background. Orion shrugged.

"Well, possibly. I suppose I did learn to cast silently pretty well. Maybe we should try that with Ron." He suggested. Sarah considered it. She definitely wanted to learn to cast spells silently, it seemed like an invaluable skill, but perhaps with a less…extreme method. Ron was still laughing, though…no. Probably not worth it.

"So, if you're supposed to be teaching duelling, what are you teaching?" Sarah asked. Orion smiled.

"Mainly some more…effective spells like blasting spells, also trying to get you three to realise that a chain of three different spells can be better than 'Stupefy Stupefy Stupefy'. Being predictable is the bane of most duellists, and it's what the Death Eaters mostly are. Though I think we'd be best off leaving the more advanced spells until we reach Hogwarts and you can use your proper wands…"

"If you do that we'll have to work around Umbridge and her Decrees." Theia said quietly. Orion shrugged.

"She isn't bright enough to be that much of a problem. We out-thought her more than once in our original Fifth Year, managing now shouldn't be so hard. Especially if we actually use our brains- half of the trouble we got into with her originally was because we were stupid."

"Well, you aren't wrong. The Weasley twins used their heads and they didn't get caught until they wanted to."

"Was one hell of an exit though." Orion said. Theia smiled.

"It was at that. We'll have to see if we can get a Pensieve to show the memory with."

"Maybe. Unless they do the same thing this year. Is that likely, do you think?"

"If Dumbledore is forced out somehow, perhaps. But perhaps we should get back to teaching rather than reminiscing?"

"Hmm? Right, yes. Distraction!" Orion announced brightly. Everyone stared blankly at him, though Sarah suspected that there was amusement in Theia's silvery eyes. Orion was silent for a moment, then jerked his wand. A bright light flashed from the tip, and Sarah flinched, automatically bringing up a Protego shield and hearing two thumps from beside her- Ron and Hermione, probably. Her vision recovered from the flash and she glared at Orion- as she had suspected, Ron and Hermione were lying flat on the floor, Stunned again.

"Good reflexes." He commented idly. "The Death Eaters won't be sporting, and you shouldn't either. There is something to Moody's motto after all."

Sarah sighed and revived Ron and Hermione, who looked somewhat disgruntled at being knocked down twice in short succession, but made no comment on it. Orion seemed to be thinking, and Sarah, thinking about his distraction comment, realised there was something she needed to ask.

"Orion? How are you and Theia going to explain the two of you suddenly appearing at Hogwarts? I don't think you can just tell the truth."

Orion glanced at her and shrugged.

"Partly this ties into what I said about distraction. Theia and I are both using different means-"

"I'm going to tell the truth." Theia said happily. Sarah stared blankly at her, along with almost everyone else in the room.

"Tell the truth?" Hermione eventually managed. Theia nodded.

"I'll just tell everyone that I'm Luna Lovegood from another world." She supplied. Sarah did her best, but all her objections somehow got jammed behind a barrier of incredulity. Eventually Orion took pity on her.

"In a way it works- refuge in audacity. You see, the Lovegoods are all known for being somewhat eccentric, and most people will assume that Theia is a relative of Luna who is just being odd. And if they think she's being truthful, what does it matter? The method we used to move between worlds isn't something anyone could repeat."

Sarah managed to choke down the initial response she had, and conceded that the plan might work. That left Orion, however.

"What about you? Who will you pretend to be?" she asked. Orion smiled, a wide, genuine look, edged with wicked glee. As he stood there his hair lengthened, turned black, his face shifting slightly to become more angular.

"Allow me to introduce myself." He said through his smile, "Arcturus Orion Argent, illegitimate son of Sirius Black, at your service."

The complete silence that followed was broken by a bark of laughter from Sirius. Lupin looked utterly despairing, and Sarah sighed.

"You're insane, you know that?"
"I've long suspected it. However, you have to admit that it's a good cover. It explains why I know you- all I have to say is that I lived with my mother who home-schooled me until she recently died, I've never met my father, and I've spent the summer with your guardians. Mostly true, as well."

"The Ministry might quite like to get their hands on the child of the 'notorious murderer' Sirius Black." Sarah pointed out, and Orion rolled his eyes.

"No doubt, but they have to obey their own rules. Unless they have a concrete reason for doing something to me, I'll be fine."

"I'm fairly sure that those have been last words of a great many people." Sarah commented dryly. Sirius frowned.

"Don't you mean famous last words?"

"No. Because no-one would ever really hear them. Logic, Sirius."

"Wizard, remember. Logic is a myth to them." Orion pointed out. "Which is why my plan will probably work, because they don't have the logic or the common sense to check properly."

Sarah had to admit, Orion had a point there. The two of them might not have the best cover identities, but it would probably be enough. And, she thought, Orion would probably enjoy terrorising the school as the son of Sirius Black as much as Theia would enjoy bamboozling people. It was worrying how much she was looking forward to seeing the reactions of the people at Hogwarts to Orion and Theia, but Sarah put it out of her mind as Orion switched places with Theia and Sarah, Ron and Hermione were duelling again.

Over the next few days Sarah found her time split between practicing Occlumency, learning to duel and helping to clean up the house. Sarah had to admit, neither was as hard as she thought. Cleaning the house was, with the grudging assistance of Kreacher, far less onerous, and duelling was quite enjoyable even if she, Ron and Hermione had barely managed to hold their own against Orion or Theia. The two of them, Sarah noticed, had quite distinct duelling styles. Orion had a style that Sarah suspected had once been similar to her own, fast and agile, but he was hampered by his limp and so resorted to distractions: any duel with Orion in it quickly became an arena of smoke, fog and ceramic dust through which the limping man slipped, launching fast and powerful combinations of spells, while Theia tended to be more unpredictable- Sarah had never dreamed Scourgify could be used quite so effectively, poor Ron- and imaginative. Oddly enough, Hermione had a lot more trouble with either Orion or Theia than Ron or Sarah- the odd combinations used by Theia left Hermione hard-pressed to counter, and while Orion's more orthodox spell repertoire was easier for her to counter, the greater disparity in power levels often led to Orion simply overwhelming Hermione with a barrage of spells. Sarah and Ron, both faster on their feet and more powerful than Hermione, managed better, though Sarah, with her lightning reflexes, was almost always the last one of the trio left standing. Occlumency, however, wasn't going as well. Orion seemed to have little trouble breaking through her memory barrier, but Theia had suggested that it might be more to do with the fact that they were practically the same person, the same mind, that was aiding Orion. They had to confess to being stumped as to what to do, other than to keep practicing and hope. The day that the Hogwarts letters were brought to them found the three of them in the library, searching out new spells that might help them. Hermione, in particular, was working with fervour- she was convinced that Orion was using some spell to see through the clouds of obscuring smoke and dust his duelling style kicked up, but when questioned all he gave was an enigmatic grin. As it happened, it was Orion who strolled through the door and dumped three letters on the table they were sat around.

"McGonagall brought them." He said in explanation. Sarah nodded, pulling hers over to her and opening it. The book list was much as she had expected from this year, but she suspected that she would have to ask Mrs Weasley to buy some of the books in Diagon Alley- Sarah doubted she would be let out there on her own. Sarah was distracted by a yelp of delight from Hermione, as a heavy badge fell from the other girl's letter.

"A Prefect badge!" Hermione beamed. Orion smiled.

"Congratulations." He said, giving Sarah an amused glance, which she responded to with a raised eyebrow. She was glad for Hermione, of course, but it was hardly a surprise- there wasn't exactly any other competition to someone who might well be the best student in the school- certainly the best in the year. More surprising was the Prefect badge that fell out of Ron's letter, although considering what Sarah knew of the other Gryffindor boys in her year, maybe not so shocking.

"Ah," Orion said, "Just as it was in my own world. Nice that things are so familiar."

Sarah frowned at him.

"You weren't a Prefect?" she asked. Orion looked horrified at the very idea.

"Perish the thought. No, Ron was a Prefect in my world as well. Funny how it all works out, right? Besides, you aren't a Prefect either."

"No, but…well, I'm up against Hermione, bit of a lost cause. But with the Gryffindor boys I would have thought that the Boy-Who-Lived would be a natural choice-no offence, Ron."

"None taken." Ron mumbled absently, apparently still stunned by his badge. Orion smiled crookedly.

"With all the misadventures I've gotten into over the years? Hardly."

"Ron was involved in most of those 'misadventures'." Sarah pointed out.

"Ron isn't having his sanity questioned by the Daily Prophet. Seamus and Dean aren't an option, they lack the character to keep everyone in line, and Neville is a nice guy but has acute self-confidence issues, so he's out. That leaves Ron as the best choice. Also…Dumbledore told me that he didn't want to put more responsibility on me, and I see his point. Fifth year will be stressful enough as it is."

"Who are the other Prefects?" asked Hermione- Ron was still in a stupor.

"I think that it was Cho Chang and Anthony Goldstein for Ravenclaw and Ernie Smith and either Susan Bones or Hannah Abbot for Hufflepuff. I honestly didn't pay much attention. Slytherin got Pansy Parkinson and, of course, Draco Malfoy."

"Draco Malfoy?" Ron screeched, broken from his silent contemplation of his badge. Orion nodded.

"You know, blond, pale, annoying, arrogant-"

"I know who he is! But how could that slimy git become a Prefect?" Ron demanded. Orion rolled his eyes.

"Well, either he was thought to be the best for the job- might well be, actually, given that Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini are far too quiet, and Crabbe and Goyle are, well, Crabbe and Goyle. As if that isn't enough, Lucius Malfoy still has a massive amount of influence even if he is no longer a school governor. Ah, nepotism. Such a wonderful thing."

Ron looked blank, and Sarah sighed.

"Shorter words, Orion, Ron hasn't eaten enough to comprehend. If Malfoy is a Prefect, I suppose we'll just have to be careful around him. Or at least, not give him any easy openings."

"Ron, perhaps you should go and tell your mother and siblings about your badge? You too Hermione." Orion suggested gently, and the two left, Ron in a tearing hurry, Hermione somewhat more sedately. Once they had gone Orion turned a sceptical eye on Sarah.

"Not give Malfoy any easy openings?" he said. Sarah smiled.

"Yes. Perhaps it's time I stopped being quite so…nice? I can always blame it on your bad influence. I mean, Ron has a rather black and white view of right and wrong, and Hermione is a little too straight-laced. But with you to back me up…"

"Ah!" Orion exclaimed, apparently delighted. "You want to torment dear Draco, but you just need someone to help you- someone with the ambiguous morality Gryffindors so lack and despise. Someone like yourself…or me, actually."

"Definitely. Draco is always so confident and arrogant. If we can ruin his confidence and throw him off his throne of superiority…"

"The wolves will take him, leaving our hands clean. Wolves…or should I say snakes?"

"Either is quite as good. We shall have to begin with unsettling him when he first meets you, I think. What do you think?"

Orion's eyes gleamed with amusement.

"I think this year is going to be quite interesting indeed."

That night Sarah spent most of the large meal that Molly Weasley had prepared in celebration of Ron and Hermione becoming Prefects lost in thought. They would return to Hogwarts tomorrow, and she was thinking hard of how things would be different. Fortunately, she was sat with Ron on one side and Alastor Moody on the other. Moody was his usual taciturn self, eyeing Orion with an unreadable expression, while Ron babbled on about his new broomstick that his mother had bought him to celebrate becoming a Prefect. Sarah appreciated having Ron as a friend, but he could be very unobservant sometimes- all she needed to do was smile and nod on occasion and he kept talking. Orion was sat next to Sirius- it was remarkable how alike they looked with the changes to Orions face and hair. Sarah idly wondered when Dumbledore would get around to freeing her of the magic binding her own Metamorphagus abilities- Orion had said that if she still had the block by Christmas he would break it, consequences be damned.

"You know, Mad-Eye," Orion said, sounding amused, "If you keep glaring at me like that I'm going to get nervous enough to pull my wand on the first person to sneeze nearby. I'm not going to try to murder you all."

Moody sniffed.

"You say that, Argent, but I don't trust you."
"You don't trust anyone. If I was going to commit murder rest assured I wouldn't do it around you."

"That isn't the same as saying you wouldn't commit murder." Moody pointed out suspiciously. Orion gave a brilliant smile.

"Of course it isn't. But that's no reason to condemn someone, is it?"

"It's reason to be suspicious. How do we know you aren't a spy sent by Voldemort?"

Orion ignored the winces from a few people who had caught the last part of the conversation.

"Because I've had plenty of chances to hurt Sarah and others and haven't, and I passed a Veritaserum interrogation?"

"Snape could be in on it, and have given you fake Veritaserum." Sarah suggested idly, playing along with what she was starting to consider a fascinating mental exercise. Orion glanced at her and nodded approvingly.

"Now that would be a plan worthy of a Slytherin, wouldn't it? Gain the trust of the Order, have three spies instead of one, and have two people perfectly placed to strike when the time comes? However…I wonder, how many Death Eaters would be willing to give up their ability to walk correctly and their left hand to have the plan work? How would they know that Sarah is a Metamorphagus, and how would they recruit a Metamorphagus to help them? And even then, how would they time the Dementor attack so perfectly? Too many coincidences, wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose that the Metamorphagus thing could be a lie, and Dumbledore could have been Confunded. The Dementor attack might have been staged, and there are several fanatical Death Eaters- the only problem would be finding a Metamorphagus loyal enough to Voldemort." Sarah suggested. Several nearby people were now looking with suspicion at Orion, who was still smiling.

"Well reasoned, I supposed. Relies on a long chain of coincidence and favourable outcomes, but possible. However, the easiest way to prove it all wrong would be to break the binding on your Metamorphagus abilities and prove that hypothesis you came up with wrong."

"Something that, happily, I can provide." Said an amused, elderly voice. Sarah looked across to see that Dumbledore had walked in at some point, and obviously listened to the conversation.

"Headmaster?" Orion questioned, looking curious. Dumbledore smiled.

"I heard your idea…quite interesting, that mental exercise of how to infiltrate the Order. A good thing I came here to break the binding on Sarah, yes? The spell should not take long, I just needed to prepare a potion that will weaken the binding. Drink this, Sarah." The Headmaster said, handing Sarah a goblet filled with a potion that slowly shifted colours.

"A potion that weakens all magical bindings. Interesting." Orion commented. Dumbledore glanced at him.

"You did not use this method?"

"No. I wasn't the one who cast the spell and my knowledge was limited, so I had to resort to brute force overwhelming the binding. It was remarkably painful, I'll say that."

"Ah, yes. A crude method, likely the only one you had available to you. This will work much better- the potion, then a short spell, and her ability will be unbound. Just try to keep it under control, Sarah."

Sarah shrugged as she downed the potion. It was unpleasant- almost no taste, but with a thick, oily texture, and it made her skin tingle. Dumbledore waved his wand in a complex motion, muttering under his breath, and the tingling sensation increased until, abruptly, it stopped. Sarah felt no different.

"Did it work? I don't feel any different." She said. Orion, who now had one eyebrow raised, nodded.

"I'd say it worked. Here-"

From somewhere within his clothes Orion produced a small mirror and passed it across to Sarah. She looked into the mirror and hissed in surprise. Her eyes were now a steely grey, and her hair had gone jet black- she looked almost like Orion or Sirius, just a female version. Orion smiled.

"Flattered as I am that you're imitating me, it is a bit odd. Maybe you should go back to your original appearance?"

"How do I do that?" Sarah hissed, uncomfortably aware of most of the table watching her.

"Concentrate on how you looked, and you should change back. Being a Metamorphagus is instinctual- it doesn't really take training." Tonks, the Order Auror who was a fully-fledged Metamorphagus, unlike the more limited Orion or Sarah, called. Sarah closed her eyes, imagining how she had looked, vivid green eyes and flame red hair. She opened her eyes again as Orion commented,

"Well done."

Looking once more into the mirror, Sarah let out a soft sigh of relief at being back to normal.

"Why do you carry a mirror around?" Hermione asked, looking at Orion. Orion shifted in his seat, frowning.

"Ah, well…"

"He's paranoid that he'll get his transformation wrong, so he keeps a mirror to check. Always." Theia supplied. Orion frowned at the burst of laughter.

"Yes, well, it happens. Has happened. However…Moody, do you accept now that I'm not a spy, assassin or other bad guy?"

Moody frowned at him, then the grim slash of a mouth turned into a slight smile.

"Yeah. But that doesn't mean I trust you."
"Wouldn't expect anything else." Orion replied equably, and the table turned back to talking and eating. Moody looked thoughtfully at Orion, then turned to Sarah.

"Potter," he said, his gruff voice more friendly now, "Got something to show you."

Sarah looked at Moody and raised an eyebrow. The grizzled ex-Auror rummaged around in his coat for a brief while before pulling free a tattered piece of paper that he laid reverently on the table.

"There," Moody breathed, "Original Order of the Phoenix. Found it last night, thought you might be interested in seeing it."

Sarah pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and leaned forwards. The paper was an old, battered Wizarding photo, crammed with tiny figures that peered up at her and Moody.

"That's me." Moody said, needlessly Sarah thought, pointing at his recognisable figure, although the face was a little less battered, the hair a little less grey.

"Albus on my side, Daedalus Diggle on the other… Marlene Mckinnon, she only lived for two weeks after this was taken, they got her whole family… Frank and Alice Longbottom-"

Sarah remembered what had happened to them, what she had seen in Dumbledore's Pensieve the previous year, and her stomach coiled slightly. Moody kept talking- she had missed some of what he said.

"There's Emmeline Vance, don't know if you've met her, and that's Lupin, should recognise him. That's Benjy Fenwick, we never found his body…shift aside, there-"

The picture people at the front shuffled aside, making room to see those at the back.

"There's Edgar Bones, great wizard but they got him and his family, only his sister lived….Sturgis Podmore, looks bloody young there…Caradoc Dearborn, never found his body either…Hagrid, looks the same as he always has…Elphias Doge, think you've met him, I'd forgotten he used to wear that stupid hat…Gideon Prewett, took five Death Eaters to kill him and his brother Fabian, they fought like heroes…budge across, move over…"

Once more the little picture figures shuffled and bunched up, moving to let those at the very back move to the front.

"There's Dumbledore's brother Aberforth, only time I ever met him, strange bloke…that's Dorcas Meadowes, Voldemort killed her personally…Sirius, still with short hair…and…there you go, thought that would interest you!"

Sarah felt her heart give an uncomfortable thump. Her father and mother were beaming up at her, flanking a small watery-eyed man…Wormtail…the one who had ultimately betrayed them. Moody was still looking at her, so she forced herself to respond.

"Interesting…" Sarah said, trying to sort out the emotions she felt. She needed to get away, needed an excuse…

"Oh," she said, mind momentarily blank, "I just remembered, I forgot to pack, uh,"

Fortunately, Sirius distracted Moody, and Sarah was able to slip away as the Auror turned in his seat. She quickly made her way up to the first floor, sitting in the room that she shared with Theia, leaning her head against the cool wall.

How odd that she should feel so strange…she had seen pictures of her parents before, and Wormtail she had met in person, and yet…perhaps it was having it sprung on her like that. And to see them, with all those other, happily smiling faces…Caradoc Dearborn, whose body had never been found…Gideon Prewett, who died like a hero…Frank and Alice Longbottom, tortured into insanity…

"Not very glorious, is it?" asked the smooth baritone voice of Orion. Sarah twitched around in alarm, but relaxed as she saw that he was leaning against the wall next to the door, his eyes filled with empathy.

"Glorious? Not really. All those people…"

"People die in war. Just because this war isn't open doesn't change that fact."

"Did they know? All those smiling faces, waving so happily, not knowing what awaited them…"

"It's quite unsettling, isn't it? I had much the same reaction when Moody showed that picture to me. But ultimately…"

"They knew what they were getting into. They knew there were risks…just as we know there are risks." Sarah finished the thought, and Orion nodded slowly. The two of them knew they both understood. It was terrible to think of what had happened to those Order members, but the alternative was to give in, to submit. Sarah knew that her pride would never allow that.

"Feeling better? I thought so." Orion said briskly. Sarah raised an eyebrow, and he grinned.

"Your Metamorph abilities are playing up- your hair went darker red. Hard to notice unless you're looking, but I have a good eye. It's why I prefer darker shades for my hair- it doesn't react even that much."

Sarah hummed thoughtfully and walked across the room, walking through the door. Orion followed quietly, walking softly through the halls until a sobbing noise cut across the silence. The two of them immediately drew their wands, glancing at each other swiftly. Someone was sobbing in the drawing room.

"Hello?" Sarah called. There was no answer but for continued sobbing. Orion took the stairs two at a time, walking swiftly across to the drawing room and pushing open the door, Sarah close behind. Someone was cowering against the wall, hidden by shadows, whole body wracked with sobs. Sprawled in the middle of the room, on dusty carpet lit by moonlight, was the dead body of Ron. Sarah sucked in a quick breath, ice seemed to flood her veins- but Ron was downstairs-

"R-r riddikulus!" croaked the woman on the floor, pointing her shaking wand at Ron's body. Mrs Weasley. There was a crack, and the body turned into Bill, loose-limbed and lifeless. Sarah stepped forward, bumping hard into Orion. They both stumbled forwards, and Orion fell to one knee. There was a crack, a puff of mist, and suddenly the body was replaced by a dark figure. Face shadowed, body hidden by long robes and coat of black. A mane of ebon hair cascaded around the collar of the coat, and his left arm was bare to the elbow…a silver arm, but one that dripped with crimson gore. A chuckle, low and menacing and somehow more terrifying than the high pitched giggle of Voldemort had ever been, as the apparition reached a red stained hand out to a frozen Orion. Somehow, part of Sarah's brain was still acting, and it screamed one word at her: Boggart. On that thought Sarah acted, shoving Orion aside and placing herself firmly in the path of the advancing shade. Another crack, and a Dementor floated there, dark and menacing. A deathly wave of cold washed over the room, but Sarah acted quickly:

"Expecto Patronum!" she yelled, and the shining stag burst from her wand and drove back the Boggart. The Patronus didn't shine as bright as usual, she was using her blank wand, but it was enough to drive the Boggart back into whatever dark crevice it had been hidden in. Sarah slumped, and turned to Orion. He was still kneeling, his eyes blank and his hair gone pure white. Sarah swore inwardly, and shouted for help.

Once again, Sarah found herself sat in the kitchen, unable to sleep, and joined by a dimensional traveller. This time, however, it was Theia who sat opposite her, sipping hot chocolate and looking at Sarah with silver eyes whose dreamy quality almost hid the sharp intelligence behind them. Almost.

"It was him, wasn't it?" Sarah asked. "The Boggart."

Theia nodded slowly.

"Dark Lord Lament, yes. The thing Orion fears most. Or at least, what he feared most at that moment."

"How bad was it? To fear himself so much?" Sarah asked softly. Theia contemplated the question for a moment, then sighed. The rest of the house was asleep, including Orion.

"I can't truly say. When he was Lament he worked alone, and was a mixture of subtlety and brutality. That silver hand came in quite useful sometimes, I think…the extra strength…he's never told me most of it. I think he'd like to forget, and the Ministry never reported his crimes in detail. Despite what he says, I think he's ashamed- perhaps not entirely of what he did, but that he lost control of himself enough to do it."

Sarah nodded silently, remembering the blank look on Orions face and realising that she could have become just as great a monster as the dark figure Orion feared so much. A pulse of gratitude to Theia and Orion swept through her, for coming to this world to help save her from that fate. Sarah made a silent promise that she would not waste the chance she had been gifted.

Chapter 7, at last. Bit of a mishmash of stuff, but the Grimmauld Place section is finally over. Next chapter the Hogwarts express, and meeting other students. That said, enjoy this one. Read and Review!