As always, standard disclaimer.
Sarah got up early the next day, glad that it was the weekend. She walked down to the Common Room and found Orion already up, sitting at a table and tapping the end of a quill on the wood in a slow rhythm as he thought.
"Do you even sleep?" Sarah asked. Orion half smiled and shrugged.
"Of course. Just not much…habit, I guess. Besides, I have things to do."
"Letters to write? Who to?"
"Bones. Advising her to look at the trial records for Sirius. Hopefully it'll have some kind of effect."
"You think it will?" Sarah asked, sceptical. Orion shrugged.
"We can but hope." He said. Sarah nodded and looked around the room, pausing as her gaze fell upon a small pile of paper with what looked like a woolly bladder hidden underneath it.
"What the hell is that? Isn't that one of Hermione's hats?" she said. Orion froze, his face settling into an expression of resignation.
"Oh, damn. I forgot to Vanish them last night." He said. Sarah raised an eyebrow.
"Does it matter? For that matter, why don't you just tell Hermione why it isn't working?"
"Ah. Well. You see, I haven't just told Hermione about it for a variety of reasons. It's partly nostalgia for the good old days of naïveté, partly because it provides excellent Vanishing practice, but mostly because Hermione is, well, neurotic about it. I mean, she's basically ignoring every wish of the elves and all the notions of the Wizarding World. It's a great idea, but she's too…partisan. Too partisan about it, that's the word. Too radical."
"Still don't see why you don't just tell her." Sarah said. Orion carefully folded the parchment he had been writing on into an envelope and sealed it with a tap of his wand.
"Can I borrow Hedwig?" he asked. Sarah nodded, and followed him out of the Common Room. The castle was chilly, and Sarah cast a minor warming charm on herself as she walked along. As they walked Orion cleared his throat.
"Expanding upon what I said about Hermione," he said carefully, "It might be possible that I would tell her about the results of her little campaign to free the Elves, and she would desist. However, in this regard she has the unfortunate characteristics of a fanatic: that is, she utterly believes she is right and that anyone who disagrees is wrong. As you saw with Ron, when Ron told her that the Elves don't want to be freed she insisted that they have been brainwashed."
"They might well have been. But we don't have to stop her, as such, just…re-direct her. Make her see that trying to randomly free Elves is not only useless but also insulting."
Orion paused for a fraction of a step.
"That might be the key, convincing her that she is insulting the intelligence of the Elves by trying to trick them. For all her good intentions Hermione is committing the same mistake she hates: thinking that the Elves are less than human and so stupid enough to be tricked into being freed." He mused. Sarah shrugged.
"Think it'll work?"
"Maybe. Plan B is that we knock her out, tie her up and show her that Dobby is taking all the hats anyway and she's offending all the other Elves."
"That isn't a great plan."
"I prefer to wing things."
"And we've all seen how well that works out. Have you considered that maybe making plans sometimes would be a good idea?"
"Oh, excuse me, little Miss 'We'll fetch Lockheart, he'll help us get into the Chamber of Secrets'" Orion said. Sarah flushed at that reminder, and conceded that he had a point. Orion grinned, amused. The two of them took a diversion advised by Nearly-Headless Nick to avoid Peeves, and reached the Owlery. Sarah called Hedwig down, and helped Orion tie the note to the owl's leg. Sarah noticed a slight sadness in Orion's eyes, and wondered what had happened to Hedwig in his world. She would have to ask him, she decided. Just as the snowy white owl flapped away from the tower the caretaker, Filch, hobbled in, all malevolence and sour expression. Orion looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"What?" he asked, innocently. Filch seemed to quiver with indignation.
"I," he said, with a flat-footed step towards Orion and Sarah, "Have received a tip-off that you are intending to place a massive order for Dungbombs!"
Sarah stared at the caretaker in silent disbelief, while Orion's lip curled, seemingly of its own accord.
"Who told you that I was ordering Dungbombs?" Sarah eventually asked. Filch gave a self-satisfied hiss.
"I have my sources." He said. "Now, hand over whatever you're sending."
Sarah felt her own lips twist in derision.
"I've already sent it. Besides that, this is a school, not a prison, and you have no right to inspect any of my mail, especially on the word of a source who is obviously an idiot." She said coldly. Filch seemed to swell in indignation, and Orion cut in.
"Besides that, why would Sarah or I send an owl order for Dungbombs when there is a Hogsmeade trip in a few weeks and we can buy plenty then?" he demanded. Filch glared at the two of them, then stalked off towards the door, pausing to make a threat towards them.
"If I catch even one whiff of a Dungbomb…"
He stalked off down the stairs, his scrawny cat following him with a threatening look directed at Orion, who returned it with interest. Sarah looked at Orion, who was shaking his head.
"Don't know why Dumbledore keeps him around. The House-Elves do most of the cleaning, and all Filch does is slope around frightening First-Years and trying to make himself feel important." He groused. Sarah shrugged, and led the way down the stairs.
"Dumbledore probably finds him amusing." She commented. Orion clicked his tongue.
"Probably. Speaking of Dumbledore…I wonder if he's cleared the…trinket…from the Room of Requirement?"
He was speaking of the Diadem Horcrux, Sarah thought.
"Why, do you have an idea?" she asked. Orion hummed softly, almost absently pulling his wand and putting up his preferred Muffliato privacy spell around them.
"Maybe. The soul fragment in the Diadem may be large enough to allow us to carry out the exorcism on you. Wouldn't hurt to check, would it?"
Sarah considered that it very well could hurt, but she hardly had anything better to do, so she followed Orion through the deserted corridors to the Seventh floor. The castle was quiet, given that it was still early and a weekend, and they found the Room easily enough. Orion led the way into the magnificent chaos that was the Room of Hidden Things, and paused just inside the doorway to take in all the madness. Orion grinned at her.
"Impressive, isn't it?" he asked. Sarah nodded dumbly. Orion rolled his eyes and limped off into the Room to search for the Diadem.
"This place is actually really useful for if you need something. Anything, really. A lot of it isn't much good, but still…" he called back, trailing off. Sarah frowned.
"So it isn't really useful?" she said. The noises of Orion sifting through the mess paused.
"Well, yes, I suppose. Okay, this Room is really useful on a few exceedingly rare occasions and also good if you need to hide something in here. I hid a Potions Book here filled with annotations and spells in here in my Sixth Year."
"A Potions Book?" Sarah questioned, walking into the precariously balanced stacks of, well, junk. She could hear Orion sorting through items somewhere, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Yeah. It belonged to Snape, and I'd just used a spell from it on Draco Malfoy…unfortunately it happened to be a Dark magic spell Snape came up with. Or maybe not Dark magic. Offensive magic? Is there a difference? Horrible anyway. Many many cuts."
"Sounds like there's a story there."
"In all fairness Malfoy was most of the way through an Unforgivable incantation…aha! Found it!"
Orion emerged from the mess looking somewhat dishevelled, what looked like a silver tiara clasped in his gloved left hand.
"That's it? It doesn't look very…evil." Sarah said. Orion blew a stray strand of black hair away from his eyes, smiling.
"Appearances can be deceptive. In this case it is very evil. I think. A standard detection spell should do the trick."
Sarah sighed at his questioning look and cast the requisite spell. Standard, he said. The spell Orion had taught her was actually a rather advanced curse breaker's spell, though Sarah hadn't mentioned that she knew that to Orion. As the spell was cast the diadem began to glow a sickly purple, with black veins passing through it. Orion sighed.
"Well, it's certainly a Horcrux. Are you feeling anything from it?"
Sarah shook her head, and Orion waved his wand in a complex movement, muttering under his breath.
"Anything?"
"Nope."
"Damn. Looks like the soul piece in the Diadem isn't enough. Well, worth a try. You can head down to breakfast if you like, I'll take this up to Dumbledore." Orion said. Sarah nodded and left Orion, walking down to the Great Hall and finding Ron and Hermione already there.
"Morning." She said quietly, joining them at the table and snagging a plate of bacon and eggs. Ron nodded at her over a stack of toast, and Hermione gave her a muffled greeting as she retrieved her paper from the morning owl.
"Anything good in there?" Sarah asked, more to start a conversation than in the belief that the Prophet would have anything interesting to say. Hermione scanned the front page and shook her head.
"Doesn't look like it…just some guff about the bass player in the Weird Sisters getting married."
Sarah shrugged and devoted herself to more bacon and eggs, while Hermione opened the paper and began to read properly. Ron scanned the skies with a thoughtful look, muttering about Quidditch practice.
"Wait," Hermione said suddenly, sounding worried, "Oh no…Sirius!"
Sarah snapped her head to Hermione so fast her neck clicked.
"What?" she questioned in an urgent, hushed voice. Hermione hastily scanned the paper.
"'The Ministry of Magic has received a tip-off from a reliable source that Sirius Black, notorious mass murderer and…blah blah blah…is currently hiding in London!'" Hermione read, sounding anguished. Sarah ground her teeth.
"Lucius Malfoy, probably." She muttered. Ron looked at her in question. Sarah sighed.
"'Reliable Source' has to be someone with connections in the Ministry. And Padfoot was in his dog form, so it must have been someone who is a Death Eater and was told about Padfoot by Wormtail. And who fits those two things and would have been at the platform?"
"Malfoy." Ron growled. Sarah nodded glumly. Hermione was looking nervous.
"Well, that's it. He won't be able to leave the house again…"
"As opposed to before, when Dumbledore gave him free rein? Hermione, the Ministry doesn't know that Sirius is an Animagus. Malfoy must have left out that little tidbit…would probably raise too many questions, even amongst the idiots at the Ministry…"
Hermione was frowning, looking like she was preparing to argue, but Sarah didn't bite, instead scanning down the page until another article caught her eye.
"'Sturgis Podmore arrested'…that name sounds familiar."
Ron frowned.
"He's that bloke who looks like his head's been thatched, isn't he? A member of the Ord-"
"Ron!" Hermione hissed, and Ron looked guilty at almost talking about the Order in public. Not that there was really anyone nearby to hear him, thought Sarah. She kept reading.
"Caught trying to force his way through a top-security door at one in the morning…naughty naughty…" she mused. "Six months in Azkaban…bit careless of him."
"Why would he be trying to get through a door at one in the morning? And why wouldn't he speak in his own defence?" Hermione wondered.
"Maybe he was doing something for the Order." Ron suggested.
"He was supposed to see us off, wasn't he? Moody was annoyed about it, so I doubt he was doing something for the Order." Sarah said.
"Maybe they didn't expect him to get caught." Hermione said. Sarah forbore to comment that nobody expected to get caught in criminal acts. If you expected to get caught, surely you wouldn't commit the act?
"It could be a frame up!" Ron said excitedly. Sarah turned a sceptical eye on him, but he was undeterred- though he did drop his voice from a near-shout to a whisper at the threatening expression Hermione now wore.
"The Ministry suspects he's one of Dumbledore's lot so, I dunno, they lure him to the Ministry, and he wasn't trying to get through a door at all! Maybe they've just made something up to get him!" the redhead said excitedly. Sarah was solidly sceptical, not just because that explanation attributed a higher degree of competence to the Ministry than they generally demonstrated, but also because of a feeling that there was some part of the puzzle that was missing. Sarah would have to ask Orion, she resolved. Speaking of whom…
"Where's Orion? He was just going to talk to Dumbledore, it shouldn't have taken him that long." She commented. Ron and Hermione looked around, and Sarah focused on the Ravenclaw table, where Luna sat alone.
"Theia isn't here either." She noted. Ron shrugged.
"They're probably off doing something reckless." He suggested. Sarah considered, then shrugged.
"Probably." She agreed. It would fit with how Orion and Theia usually acted. Hermione was now talking about homework, but Sarah didn't really have the heart to tell her that Orion had already helped her and Ron do most of it. And they had all weekend to do the rest, and she hadn't been on her Firebolt for a week…
"It isn't as though the OWLs are soon, after all." Ron said, as they walked towards the Quidditch pitch. "And Hermione worries too much about homework."
Sarah murmured in a neutral fashion, but it seemed to be enough for Ron, who continued talking.
"Do you think she meant it, when she said we weren't copying off her anymore?"
"I think she did, yes." Interrupted the familiar voice of Orion, waiting at the door. Sarah raised an eyebrow at him.
"How did you get here?" she asked. Orion shrugged.
"Hermione told me you wanted to talk to me and that you were going to the Quidditch pitch, so I hurried down here to cut you off. What did you want to ask me about?"
"Two things, actually. Firstly…where have you been?"
Orion winced as he held up his right land.
"Apparently some of the Ravenclaws haven't got the message yet, and Theia wanted to see if she could convert those Monster Books of Monsters into a guard dog. Guard book? Whatever. Anyway…she insisted she need a test subject that wasn't her."
Ron guffawed.
"Do you always get used as a test subject?"
"Practically always, yes. What was the second thing, Sarah?"
"What is hidden in the Ministry that the Order doesn't want people to know about?" Sarah asked flatly. Orion blinked, once, his only reaction. Sarah waited patiently as Orion chewed his lip, thinking.
"What makes you think there's anything there?" he asked eventually. Sarah gave him a flat look.
"Sturgis Podmore was trying to get through a top secret door in the Ministry, and I heard the Order talking about a 'weapon' at headquarters." She replied. Orion shrugged.
"Well, I wasn't going to keep it secret forever. What are you doing now?"
"Quidditch practice, me and Ron." Sarah supplied. Orion nodded.
"I'll tell you once you're finished, then. I'll have to go and find Theia…she's better at explaining some things than I am."
Sarah nodded, briefly wondering if she should admit that she hadn't just heard the Order talking about a weapon, but also heard Orion and Theia talking about a Prophecy. Best not to, Sarah decided. Orion might tell her now anyway.
Ron and Sarah spent the next few hours practicing, Ron as Keeper and Sarah as Chaser, trying to score past him. As far as Sarah was concerned Ron was fairly good: he blocked roughly three-quarters of the shots Sarah aimed at him and got better as time went on. On the other hand, Sarah wasn't the best Chaser, but Ron should manage well enough. Sarah landed next to Orion as Ron headed back to the castle, about half an hour before lunch.
"So. You have something to tell me?" Sarah demanded. Orion nodded, Theia standing next to him.
"Yes. I'm just not sure where to start…"
"The beginning is usually a good place." Theia put in quietly.
"Well, there is that. I suppose it begins sixteen or so years ago, when Dumbledore was interviewing candidates for the post of Divination professor."
"Wait, he interviewed and Trelawney was the best option? How awful were the rest?" Sarah demanded. Theia and Orion smiled.
"I didn't say it was Trelawney, Sarah." Orion pointed out. Sarah gave him a cold look, and he shrugged, looking helplessly at Theia.
"There is a reason that Trelawney got the post." Theia said gently. "If you'll let Orion continue?"
"Right, sorry."
"Now. Dumbledore himself is not very fond of Divination, and I believe that he intended to cease the course unless he was rather impressed by the applicant- he never told me if there was more than one. Needless to say he was not very impressed, but before he could tell the woman so…"
"Trelawney gave a prophecy, didn't she?" Sarah asked dully. Orion quirked an eyebrow.
"How did you guess?"
"'The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight…before midnight…the servant…will set out…to rejoin…his master. Trelawney gave that prophecy in my Third year, and later Dumbledore said that it brought the total number of true prophecies she had made up to two."
Orion looked impressed.
"Good memory…yes, Trelawney did indeed make a prophecy during her interview. Quite an interesting one involving the Dark Lord, in fact. A pity that a certain Death Eater happened to be listening."
"A Death Eater? Who?"
"I'll tell you afterwards. However, the Death Eater didn't hear the entirety of the prophecy. From what I understand, he was caught eavesdropping and thrown out of the building about half way into the prophecy. That is the half Voldemort knows, and the half that I can tell you."
"Well?" Sarah demanded. Orion closed his eyes, reciting as though from memory.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies."
"That's it?" Sarah asked. Orion shrugged.
"That's what Voldemort knows. Prophecies are a tricky thing, and not knowing all of it…well, Voldemort has realised that it's a weakness, one that he's trying to correct."
Sarah frowned.
"So, what does this have to do with the Ministry?"
Orion looked at Theia, who answered quietly.
"Prophecies- true Prophecies- have power, Sarah. The Ministry, a few hundred years ago, realised that there might be a great many important warnings and predictions going unknown, simply because there was no one to hear them when they were given. With this in mind, they turned to the Unspeakables of the Department of Mysteries. The Unspeakables created a spell- nobody knows how- that records every prophecy made, and imprints a memory of the prophecy onto an orb of glass. These orbs are then stored-"
"In the Department of Mysteries, where they can be accessed." Sarah finished. "But then, why hasn't Lucius Malfoy or someone gone to get it?"
"The Department of Mysteries is rather hard to access, even for Malfoy. And besides that…there is a rather ingenious spell upon the orbs. They can only be removed from their shelves by one to whom the Prophecy refers. Anybody else is stricken by madness the instant they try to remove the orb."
Sarah frowned.
"But…the Prophecy…it just said 'Dark Lord'. It didn't actually say which Dark Lord, or exactly who the 'one' referred to was, or anything like that."
"Well. Yes. The spell is actually made to allow any who the Prophecy could refer to can remove the orbs. Not as safe but also much less likely to drive people insane."
"I…see. And Voldemort knows this?"
Orion, once again, looked at Theia.
"I don't think so." She said eventually. "You read about Sturgis Podmore, yes?"
Sarah nodded, and Theia continued.
"Voldemort- or one of his minions, more likely- probably used an Imperius curse to affect Podmore, which suggests that he doesn't know that only he can remove the orb. But he must have learned that the orbs need a particular person to remove them, or he wouldn't have bothered luring Orion to the Ministry…"
"Rookwood." Orion said flatly. Theia looked at him, and he gave a slight shrug. "We know that Voldemort broke a group of Death Eaters out of Azkaban: The Lestranges, Dolohov, Rookwood and Mulciber, I think. Rookwood was an Unspeakable, it would make sense that he could inform Voldie about the orbs. Until then Voldemort doesn't know."
Sarah nodded slowly, thinking it over. Hearing that she was apparently the subject of a Prophecy- and the one destined to bring down Voldemort- was shocking, but she had intended to bring down the Dark Lord anyway.
"How did they get to Podmore?" she wondered aloud. To her surprise, Orion answered.
"Dumbledore has the Order taking shifts protecting the Orb- the corridor, anyway. Malfoy probably got him in passing." He replied. Sarah frowned.
"But why would they need to have guards? If only Voldemort or I can remove the Prophecy, surely guards are useless. I mean, if I've been Imperiused into collecting the orb things have gone to hell anyway, and I'm pretty sure that none of the Order apart from Dumbledore could last more than two minutes against Voldemort himself."
"Cheerful, aren't you? Maybe it's more as a warning. After all, even if the Order guards fail, at least there'll be an indicator that Voldemort passed through." Orion suggested, his tone almost devoid of emotion, apart from a faint distaste. Sarah frowned at the thought.
"Surely Dumbledore wouldn't do that." She protested. Orion merely shrugged in reply. Sarah sighed, recognising his expression as one she often adopted when she wasn't willing to continue on a topic, and changed the subject.
"So, who was the Death Eater who heard the Prophecy?" she asked, distantly aware of a certain tension in her stomach. Whoever it was had been responsible for her parent's deaths to a large degree. She needed to know. Orion looked her in the eyes, obviously wondering if he could lie, but sighed as he saw the determined expression she wore.
"Snape." He offered, in a quiet voice. Sarah almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. Snape? The coincidence was ridiculous. But then again…
"I'm going to kill him." Sarah said in a reasonable tone, still smiling in a way that would have terrified the most hardened Death Eater. Orion and Theia actually looked alarmed, and Theia started reaching for her wand.
"Sarah? Don't do anything rash." Theia said. Sarah ignored her, turning on her heel as a feeling of utter rage began to boil in her. Unfortunately, Orion had predicted her move and grabbed her arm.
"Sarah. Wait!" he snapped. Sarah lurched in his grip, anger starting to break free.
"Wait? Wait? HE'S THE ONE WHO DOOMED MY PARENTS!"
Orion winced at the shout, but didn't let go.
"You think I don't know that?" he snapped. "My parents died because of Snape as well, but murder is not the answer to it! Think, Sarah! The part of the prophecy he heard didn't mention you by name at all! It was Voldemort who interpreted it as being you. It was Voldemort who cast the spell. And I know that Snape begged Voldemort to spare Lily, and went to Dumbledore to try to save her!"
Sarah wrenched her arm away from Orion, venting her frustration with a scream of rage. Once she was done she turned back to Orion and Theia, still angry, but in control again.
"Feeling better?" Orion asked, one eyebrow arching. Sarah took a deep breath and nodded.
"I think so. I don't feel like killing Snape any more, at least."
"Oh good-"
"I do really want to kill Voldemort now, though." Sarah interrupted. Orion considered, then shrugged.
"Reasonable."
"Aren't I just?"
"Are the two of you finished?" Theia interjected, and Sarah shrugged.
"Just about. Don't we have something to do now?"
Orion was still looking a little worried.
"You calmed down very quickly. Are you sure you're ok?"
Sarah smiled in a serene fashion.
"Probably not. I get the feeling that it can't be healthy to bottle up all that rage like I am, but I'm sure once I've found a satisfactory outlet I'll be fine."
"Well that's worrying. But, so long as you don't go on a non-discriminatory rampage, I'm sure I can live with it." Orion said. Theia sighed and shook her head in what looked like despair.
Contrary to what she might have expected, Sarah was quite pleased that she had Quidditch practice almost immediately afterwards. It gave her something to do, something else to focus on, and prevented her from sinking into the depths of introspection. Orion wasn't quite so pleased, complaining that he could be doing far more productive things, but his whining was half-hearted and when Sarah asked what he would be doing otherwise he simply shrugged. Sarah didn't know if that meant that he couldn't tell her, or if he wasn't sure what he would be doing himself. In all fairness, she didn't care.
"When are you going to get a proper broom?" she asked, looking at the old Shooting Star Orion was borrowing from the school. Orion looked askance at her.
"The Shooting Star is a perfectly good broom." He protested mildly. Sarah rolled her eyes.
"For sweeping floors, yes. I can walk faster than it can fly, and it's as suited for acrobatics as an elephant."
Orion laughed.
"True. All true. Of course, if I was going to be your backup, I could just borrow your-"
"No."
"But-"
"No."
"Damn. Alright, no Firebolt. No, I was thinking of getting a Nimbus Two Thousand and One."
"Like Malfoy? How can you bear the shame?"
"Just because Malfoy likes it and has one does not diminish the value of the broom. Also, if I use one, I can prove I am better than Malfoy on a level playing field, which makes the disgust at using a broom Malfoy uses go away entirely."
Sarah thought about it, then nodded approvingly.
"I see the logic in that."
"Good."
Apart from Angelina, the Captain, all the team were in the changing room when they entered. Ron was stood in a corner, looking sick and already in his Quidditch robes. Fred and George were grinning at him, and Sarah had the feeling that they had been saying something. She hoped they hadn't taken it too far.
"Ok, everyone," said Angelina, emerging from the Captains office, "Let's get to it; Alicia, Fred, bring the ball crate for us. Oh, and there are a couple of people watching us, but I want you to just ignore them, all right?"
Her tone was off, Sarah thought absently, an attempt at being casual only sounding too casual. Well, that made it fairly clear who the unwanted visitors were. Sure enough, when they left the changing rooms and walked into the bright sunlight of the pitch there was a storm of jeers and taunts from the Slytherin Quidditch team and assorted hangers-on, grouped halfway up one of the stands. Sarah sighed in annoyance.
"What's that Weasley's riding?" Malfoy shouted, his sneering voice loud. "Who would put a flying charm on a mouldy old log like that?"
"Ignore them." Sarah said irritably. "We'll see who's laughing after we play them."
"Exactly the attitude I want!" Angelina said approvingly, soaring around them and slowing to hover in front of the team.
"Ok, everyone, I want to start with some passes to warm up, the whole team, please-"
Parkinson made a rude comment about the braids that Angelina wore her hair in, and Malfoy insulted the old broom that Orion was flying, but the captain and Orion both ignored them. Indeed, Sarah thought that there was a look of sly anticipation deep in Orion's eyes, and wondered what it was for.
The passing was…not great. Most of the team was fine, but Ron had a tendency to drop the ball and have to make hurried dives to retrieve it. Fortunately, Fred and George elected not to say anything, for which Sarah was grateful. Finally, on the third go, Ron managed to catch the Quaffle. Unhappily, he then passed it on so quickly that Katie missed the catch, and the large ball hit her in the face. The Slytherins were howling with laughter, and Sarah sourly hoped that they would injure themselves laughing. It would serve them right. Katie had a bleeding nose, but Fred gave her something from a pocket that he said would stop the bleeding.
"All right." Angelina called. "Fred, George, get your bats and a Bludger. Ron, get up to the goalposts. Sarah, release the Snitch when I say so…Orion, see if you can give Sarah a challenge. Chasers, aim for Ron's goal…obviously."
Sarah, Fred and George flew down towards the ball crate, but they were distracted by yells from the Slytherins. At first Sarah thought it was just the usual jeering, but there was a panic in it that made her look. Sarah looked, stared, and then started to laugh. The Slytherins were running about, flailing and yelling, being swarmed by what looked like books. Furry books. Orion's look of amusement suddenly made sense as the Slytherins fled the Quidditch pitch in disarray, Malfoy yelling an incoherent threat as he went. Sarah, still laughing, waved to Theia and Luna, who she could now see on the stands, before joining Fred and George.
"What was that?" asked one of the Twins. Sarah smiled.
"Apparently Theia wanted to see if those Monster books of Monsters could be made to act like a guard dog. I'd say she managed."
"Did that all right." Mumbled Fred, glancing up to where the books now seemed to be gathered around Theia and Luna. Sarah suspected that Luna was petting one, but decided not to question it. The Twins seemed to think in a similar fashion, for they unloaded the Quidditch balls quietly enough.
"Ron's making a right pig's ear of things, isn't he?" George commented quietly. Sarah shrugged.
"He was fine this morning. He's just nervous." She said. Fred looked gloomy.
"Yeah, well, I hope he hasn't peaked too soon."
They returned to the air, Sarah hovering alongside Orion until Angelina blew her whistle. The moment the shrill noise sounded Sarah released the Snitch, and Fred and George the Bludger. From then on, Sarah paid no mind to what the rest of the team were doing, instead focusing on catching the Snitch. She usually found this relaxing, to a certain extent, only having to pursue the tiny golden ball while avoiding the occasional Bludger. In this case, however, with Orion doing his best to beat her, she found it more exciting. Often Sarah complained that the other Seekers weren't on her level, unable to keep up with her reflexes or her acrobatics, but Orion was quite capable of keeping pace, using a series of progressively dirtier tactics to counteract her far better broom.
"Are you trying to knock me off?" yelled Sarah, as a grinning Orion swerved sharply in front of her. Orion just winked at her, and Sarah was caught between laughing and swearing as she took off again, easily out pacing him. However, she soon found herself brought to a halt by the shrill screech of the Captain's whistle.
"Stop!" Angelina barked. "Ron, you aren't covering your middle post!"
Sarah glanced around to see that Ron was hovering in front of his left hand goal, leaving the other two completely exposed. He started to mumble an apology, but Angelina cut him off.
"Keep shifting around while watching the Chasers! Either stay in centre position until you have to move or circle, but don't just hover in one place! That's how you let in the last three goals!"
"Sorry." Ron mumbled, his face bright red, an incandescent beacon against the sky. Angelina sighed in annoyance, turning on one of the other Chasers.
"Katie! Can't you do something about that nosebleed?"
"It's just getting worse!" Katie protested in a thick voice. From the corner of her eye, Sarah saw the Twins hastily check their pockets before looking at Katie in what seemed like horror, and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Well, let's try again." Angelina said. She appeared calm, but there was a tension in her voice and the way she was sat on her broom that made Sarah glad that the Slytherins weren't here. Any violent meltdown by the Captain should be witnessed by the team only- Sarah mentally Theia and Luna honorary places for chasing off the Slytherins.
They had been flying for barely more than three minutes when the whistle sounded again. Sarah, who had just sighted the Snitch- and had been looking forward to beating Orion- pulled up, feeling distinctly aggrieved.
"What now?" She asked Alicia, who was closest by.
"Katie." Was the curt response.
Sarah turned and saw Angelina, Fred and George flying towards Katie as fast as possible: given that Katie was chalk white and covered in blood, this was probably a prudent course of action. The rest of the team, minus Ron, quickly closed on the stricken Chaser.
"She needs the Hospital Wing." Angelina said flatly. Fred and George looked embarrassed.
"We'll take her." Fred said grimly. "She…er, she might have swallowed a Blood Blisterpod by mistake."
Sarah managed to keep her reproving headshake to herself, but Fred and George looked thoroughly chilled by the look Angelina shot them.
"Well, there's no point continuing with no Beaters and a Chaser gone." Angelina said, her tone making her disgust clear. "Come on, let's go and get changed."
It was a rather dejected group that made its way up to the Gryffindor Tower- Ron was in what looked like a deep depression, Angelina was angry, Orion was subdued and Sarah was lost in a thought that had struck her as she retrieved the Snitch. With that in mind, she halted Orion outside the Tower door, letting Ron and Angelina enter while Sarah asked her question of Orion.
"Before…when I said I was going to kill Snape…why did you and Theia look so alarmed?"
Orion looked back at her, his expression serious.
"Because…that expression. The half-smile. The calm tone. The madness in the eyes…it was something that I understand Lament did quite often. Something I did quite often."
"Lament? But I thought he was…you were…the Horcrux shard!"
The briefest of shrugs.
"Perhaps it merely tipped me over the edge. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"
With that Orion silently entered the Tower, leaving Sarah outside with a troubled heart and unsettled mind.
This one...took a while. Bit of loss of motive, I suppose, but it's still in progress at least. As ever, enjoy. Read and Review!