Finally! I feel pretty bad over this taking so long, but it was just...difficult. Multiple revisions, and I'm not sure I got it right even then. Still, the show goes on. Read, enjoy and, if you would, review.
Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling.
Sarah decided that she was wrong the next morning: things certainly were bad. The Daily Prophet, never a harbinger of light and happiness for her, contained a story that had Hermione spluttering in outrage. Orion, unmoved by Hermione's shock, stole the paper and paraphrased.
"Let's see…Ministry reform…brown-nosing from Percy…pointless blathering…blatant shots at Dumbledore…business as usual. Ah, Umbridge appointed 'Hogwarts High Inquisitor'. Hmm. Basically a Ministry education inspector. No idea where she got the qualifications for that, but it was probably inevitable."
"More trouble for us then?" Sarah surmised. Orion nodded, neatly folding the paper and putting it down in front of Hermione. Hermione began complaining about how it was outrageous that the Ministry had given Umbridge the power to inspect other teachers, giving Orion a chance to stretch his sarcasm muscle.
"Oh, how terrible that the government should want some form of oversight over standards of teaching in the only school in Britain." He deadpanned. Hermione stared at him, and made a clicking noise in her throat. Sarah decided to intervene.
"Orion, be nice. You know that it's the fact that the person with the oversight is Umbridge that she's complaining about."
Orion shrugged-Hermione stayed silent, though Sarah mentally catalogued her expression as frowny face. Orion spoke again.
"To be fair, in most other situations I'd see this as a welcome change. It's just that it's being used as a tool to discredit Dumbledore and bully staff. I wonder how quickly it would be dropped if people knew that it was very similar to the Muggle OFSTED?"
By people, Sarah knew, Orion was referring to the Purebloods behind Fudge- people like Lucius Malfoy.
"I'd give it a week or two at most." She commented idly. She might even be being generous in that assessment. Still, the thought amused her in a whimsical way. It also helped curb her anger at the smug look Umbridge wore.
"Well, we had best get to class." Hermione said, standing. "I wonder if Umbridge will be inspecting any of them today?"
"And there's the jinx." Mumbled Sarah, just loud enough for Orion to hear her.
Despite Sarah's misgivings over Hermione tempting fate, Umbridge was not in the History of Magic class that they had first thing, nor in the double Potions they had next. Sarah assumed that the 'P' grade she received on her homework was a product of spite from Snape rather than anything else, and focused on the potions work, using the method Orion preferred of copying down the instructions first. From the look of aggravation Snape wore at the end of the lesson Sarah suspected that she had done more than well in her work. She took a ludicrous degree of satisfaction in that. After a brief lunch, in which Fred and George ran through the OWL grades for some reason and Hermione made a nuisance of herself by harassing everybody over their Potions grade Sarah and Ron headed to Divination, while Orion and Hermione went to Ancient Runes. Sarah harboured a faint jealousy towards them for that, a jealousy that settled into solidity when Umbridge entered the room. Of all the classes to inspect…Sarah almost felt sorry for Trelawney. Poor woman. No one deserved to have Umbridge looking at them with a smile like that. As Sarah might have expected, Trelawney seemed off put, and the lesson dragged torturously by with Umbridge maliciously mocking Trelawney all the while. Sarah was glad to leave the class, but considerably less happy that Defence against the Dark Arts was next.
"Umbridge seems happy." Orion commented in a low voice as they entered the classroom. Sarah scowled.
"She's been tormenting Trelawney. Tried to get a Prophecy out of her- silly cow."
"Which one? Umbridge must have failed her Divination OWL if she thinks Trelawney can prophesise on command. Mad with power." Came the quiet response. Sarah shook her head silently. Umbridge, smiling widely, told them to read Chapter Two of the moronic Defence book. Sarah was glad that she had taken Orion's lead and disguised a different book as her textbook- in her case a book on Ancient Runes, rather than the book of borderline Dark magic Orion was thoughtfully thumbing through. It was aggravating that Umbridge had the gall to call this teaching, but there was nothing that could be done at the moment. And then Hermione just had to put up her hand.
"What is it this time, Miss Granger?" Umbridge eventually asked, her voice containing a definite sneer on the name.
"I've already read Chapter 2. Actually, I've read the whole book." Hermione replied calmly. Umbridge blinked in surprise, but recovered almost immediately.
"Well then, you can tell me what Slinkhard says about counter-jinxes in Chapter Fifteen." She said, with a slight smugness to her tone. Sarah wanted to laugh. As though Hermione would not have memorised the words.
"He says that there is no such thing as counter jinxes- that they are simply the name people give to their jinxes to make them sound more respectable."
Sarah raised an eyebrow- Umbridge was actually looking impressed. Mentally Sarah begged Hermione to end there, and to quit while she was ahead. But of course, things never went that well. Hermione opened her mouth again, so Sarah kicked her. Not hard, but enough to draw her attention and give her the slightest shake of the head. Hermione frowned slightly, but closed her mouth and looked at Umbridge. The toad-woman was now looking at Sarah with a distinctly hungry expression, and Sarah was glad that she didn't know what Umbridge was thinking.
"Something to add, Miss Potter?" the teacher asked, her voice poisonously mild. Sarah was unimpressed- Voldemort did a terrifying civil tone much more effectively.
"Not at all, Professor." Sarah replied blandly. Umbridge looked disappointed, but turned away.
"Miss Granger, when I tell you to read the second Chapter, I expect to be obeyed, regardless of whether you have read it before or not. I would have expected you to know as such, but as your teachers over the past years have been deplorable- indeed, only Professor Quirrel would have passed a Ministry inspection-"
Sarah bit her lip and clenched her jaw shut. Umbridge was obviously looking to get a rise out of her. The teacher continued to babble on, but Sarah was now devoting her attention to the rest of the class- the Gryffindor boys at least were looking annoyed. Sarah doubted Neville would say anything, and Ron had Hermione to keep him in check, so it was down to Seamus or Dean. Or Orion, of course, but that was highly unlikely.
"Quirrel was an idiot! He couldn't say three words without breaking down!" Dean protested. Umbridge gave him a deceptively sweet look.
"Are you insinuating that Professor Quirrel was not qualified to teach, despite being hired by Headmaster Dumbledore?"
Sarah felt her eyes widen. The bitch! She was trying to use Quirrel being inept against Dumbledore! For a brief, treacherous moment, Sarah wondered if she should just stay quiet and out of trouble, but a reflexive shard of loyalty to Dumbledore compelled her to act. She cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the Professor.
"I would say that Professor Quirrel must have been very competent when he was hired. It was only after his summer trip to Albania that he returned a nervous man. The rumours I heard were that he had a rather unpleasant Vampire encounter there."
Oh, how the lies twisted in her throat. The things she did to keep the peace, Sarah thought dourly. She just hoped that none of her classmates decided to blurt out the rumours that she had been involved with Quirrel disappearing. The last thing she needed was to look more like a psychopath. Umbridge gave her a look that Sarah classed as aggravated, the narrow smile and slightly twitching eyes giving the teacher a reptilian look. Or would it be amphibian, since Umbridge looked like a toad? No matter.
"If you wish to speak then raise your hand, Miss Potter. Fifteen points from Gryffindor."
Sarah knew that she shouldn't take the bait. She knew it. But the woman really did annoy her, to the point that it was a struggle not to respond with childish quips. That was the point that her control failed.
"That's ridiculous! That many points for speaking without- you haven't taken points from anyone else!"
Umbridge maintained her smile, but it had an ugly edge to it.
"Nobody else has told lies, Miss Potter. I heard a lot about what happened to Professor Quirrel, and how you were involved. Violent even at so young…no wonder you were the only person to make it to the Triwizard Cup and back alive."
The insinuation was clear, and Sarah snapped.
"You bitch! Quirrel was working for Voldemort! He died because-"
Sarah was cut off by a Silencing spell that hit her from the side, and she snapped her head to the caster. Orion. His expression was one she recognised, flatly blank, with the underlying message: don't make things worse. The smirk that Umbridge wore turned Sarah's stomach.
"And I think that will be detention, Miss Potter. And you, Mr Argent. We do not cast spells in this class."
"No. I'd noticed that. If you wanted to avoid being shown up by students, I suggest you either become properly qualified or don't weasel into a teaching job." Orion said harshly. Umbridge snapped her head to him, a faint flush beginning on her face.
"What?"
Orion smiled cruelly.
"Oh, you think I wouldn't check? You aren't qualified for this job at all, are you? Tell me, did you even pass your OWL examinations? I suppose that gives you a good reason for wanting to pretend that Voldemort hasn't returned- after all, I doubt you could put up even a token effort against his worst Death Eaters. And by that, I mean most incapable."
Umbridge was gradually turning puce, and Sarah was reminded of Uncle Vernon. Maybe Orion would use the same spell on Umbridge that he'd used on Vernon? That would be nice. And then Sarah could use the woman as a piñata. Therapeutic. Sarah paused as she digested the realisation that horribly injuring someone shouldn't be therapeutic, but stored that thought away for later. Orion was staring down Umbridge, and he had half risen in his seat.
"Do it." He almost whispered, his voice low and somehow hungry. "Try it. Curse me. Cast spells at a student, and see if your Minister can save what's left of you."
For a moment Sarah thought that Umbridge might try her luck, but she obviously had some shards of a politician's ability to know restraint left.
"Get out of my classroom." The teacher said coldly, all pleasantry gone. Orion gave her a brief sneer, then tapped Sarah on the arm and nodded to her. Sarah chose to assume that the order applied to her as well, and followed. She caught up to Orion easily, and he made a brief gesture with his wand that cancelled the spell keeping her quiet.
"Where are we going?" she asked. Orion looked grim.
"McGonagall. I…I'm sorry about that, Sarah. I should have done something earlier."
He looked genuinely troubled, and Sarah couldn't help but feel sympathy.
"Not your fault. I should have kept my temper."
Orion gave a brief laugh.
"You did better than I ever did. Although it might have had side effects…"
He turned his face to her, and his grey eyes briefly turned to deep crimson. Sarah automatically reached up to her face, and swore.
"Did anyone-"
"I hit you with a glamour when I Silenced you. It'll hold until we get to McGonagall and you can fix it. At least your hair doesn't change colour."
Sarah growled under her breath, still angry over Umbridge. God only knew what the Ministry would make of her being a Metamorphmagus.
"Why McGonagall?" she asked eventually. Orion shrugged.
"If we went to Dumbledore I might do something I'd regret, given how annoyed I am that he couldn't find any Defence Teacher. Even Snape would be better."
Sarah grunted in acknowledgement as they walked into McGonagall's office. The old Professor looked surprised to see them.
"Miss Potter. Mr Argent. May I ask what you are doing here?"
"Umbridge. She threw us out." Orion explained succinctly. McGonagall raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
Sarah sighed.
"She kept taking shots at me until I started shouting at her. Orion Silenced me. She gave us both detention. Orion started pushing her until she threw us out."
McGonagall gave them both a disapproving look, then sighed.
"Sit down, the pair of you. I assume you are aware of the consequences?"
"More or less. A horrible torturous detention, right Orion?"
Orion nodded slowly, handing Sarah a small hand mirror and letting the glamour he had cast drop. Sarah scowled as she saw her eyes, a deep, striking crimson, though a part of her noted that they matched her hair quite well. It was almost mesmerising. Orion broke her out of her musing with a cough.
"You might want to change back, Sarah."
She started, then nodded and concentrated, until her eyes were back to their normal vivid green.
"Satisfied? I hope you have a plan, Orion, because I'd prefer not to have my hand carved up for no reason."
Orion started to smirk.
"Of course I have a plan, Sarah. A devious, cunning, tricky, sneaky, masterfully deceptive plan. I'm quite proud of it."
"I can tell." Sarah commented dryly. "Did you spend long in a thesaurus waiting for this?"
Orion waved his hand dismissively.
"Spending a lot of time around Hermione and Theia tends to induce verbosity. But on the other hand, there are easier ways to say things. It's just that I expect Professor McGonagall would appreciate having deniability."
"Yes. I think I rather would. Was there a particular reason why you came here?"
"Just so someone knew what had happened before the rumour started. If you don't mind Professor, I have a nefarious scheme to prepare for." Orion said brightly. McGonagall gave him a sceptical look, then nodded and waved the two of them out. Orion strolled ahead, humming under his breath, and Sarah started to get worried.
"Uh…Orion? You're starting to worry me." She said cautiously. Orion turned a benevolent smile upon her, complete with Dumbledore-esque twinkling eyes.
"You aren't the one who should be worried, Sarah. Now then…shall we go and plot, since Umbridge was kind enough to give us most of a class period free?"
"And to think I was worried about my sanity." Sarah mumbled as she trailed after her ambiguously sane pseudo-sibling.
"Why are we in the bathroom that houses the Chamber of Secrets entrance?" Sarah asked, looking around. Orion gave her a sceptical look, and she sighed.
"Oh. Of course. You need somewhere private to do something shady."
"You learn well, my young Padawan."
Sarah gave him a confused look, and he tutted to himself.
"Right. Films not out yet. Sorry."
Sarah silently shook her head, then glared at the sink. She had been practising speaking Parseltongue without a snake nearby, but it was difficult.
~Open~
There was a grating, grinding screech, and the sink shifted to reveal a darkly ominous hole. A smell of damp drifted up from it, and Sarah looked at it in disgust.
"How are you going to get down there?" she suddenly asked, realising that the hard landing from the slide would hardly be easy for Orion. He gave her a sceptical look.
"Wizard, remember?"
"Oh. Of course, Arresto momentum, right?"
"Absolutely. Now…ladies first?"
"Shouldn't the gentleman be leaping first into danger?"
"I'm a cripple, not a gentleman."
"You're only a cripple when it suits you!"
"That is…absolutely right. Ok. I'll go first. Although…since when did you lose your taste for adventure, little Miss Boring?"
Orion hopped into the tunnel before Sarah could hit him, and she was left fuming and waiting until his voice drifted up from below.
"It's safe, scaredy-cat! You can come down!"
He seemed positively giddy. Sarah hated to think what he would be like if given coffee and sugar. On the other hand, that might be an opportunity to cause chaos at some point, and Sarah did appreciate a good bit of chaos. She slid down the tunnel, landing at the bottom with impressive grace that was somewhat spoiled by the grime that had coated itself onto her and the fact that Orion was excitedly examining a few scratches on the wall.
"What are you doing?"
Orion looked up.
"Oh. Sorry. I do want to be a tomb raider, remember? Being fascinated by all the things is a big part of that."
"Uh, yeah, but wall scratches? Really, Orion?"
"Oh. Yes. Um, I may have gotten overexcited at the thought of getting revenge on Umbridge. Sorry about that."
"I…right. Forgiven. How are we going to stop anyone from following us? And, more important, how are we going to get out?"
Orion looked worryingly unperturbed.
"I think that the sink entrance should…~close~ when I order it. And as for getting out…there must be a way that doesn't involve a phoenix, or Ginny would never have been able to come down here and back up. I wonder if the shade of Tom Riddle was directing the attacks in Second Year, or whether he just released the Basilisk and hoped it got lucky?"
A faint grinding from above signalled that Orion had been right and that the sink was closing. Sarah would have been annoyed with how smug he looked, but she admitted he had worked the Parseltongue into the English flawlessly.
"Shall we get to exploring, or are you going to stand and look smug all day? Lumos." Sarah said, holding up her wand. Orion grinned, his eyes sparkling in the magically cast white light.
"Let's go. I'm looking forward to looting this place and taunting Voldie about it."
Sarah grinned maliciously as the two of them strode off towards the Chamber. She wondered if she could use the connection between her and Voldemort to send him visions. It would be satisfying. And maybe give him an aneurysm from rage. Orion laughed when she mentioned the thought aloud.
"It would certainly be a novel way of getting rid of him." He commented. They returned to silence for a brief moment, until they reached the imposing doors to the Chamber, clambering over the rubble left by the Lockhart induced cave-in three years earlier.
"I wonder," Sarah said, "You said that Ron got the Chamber to open for him? But he isn't a Parselmouth, and surely imitating it wouldn't be enough?"
Orion seemed to consider.
"I wouldn't have thought so. But then again…Hogwarts was in danger, and the castle is nigh-sentient. It's possible that the Chamber has more or less leeway depending on the circumstances. After all, Salazar would still have wanted the school protected when he built the Chamber."
"I suppose that's true. Interesting theory. Do you know much about the Founders?"
"A bit, I suppose. Voldemort did quite a lot of research, but remembering things that he knew tends to be a bit…fuzzy. There are some things that he was very interested in- Inferi creation, for example- that I can barely recall the memory of, and there are some things he hardly cared about that are vivid in my mind. Regardless…from what I can tell, of the Founders Ravenclaw was the brain, Gryffindor was the brawn, Hufflepuff was the heart and Slytherin was the craftsman who made it all happen. They sound like an excellent team."
"So…we're in the House of dumb muscle?" Sarah asked doubtfully. Orion gave her an amused look.
"I didn't say Godric was dumb muscle. I said he provided the brawn. There's a subtle difference."
Sarah rolled her eyes and spoke.
~Open~
The doors rolled back, and Sarah braced herself for the smell of rot and decay that she thought would come from the dead Basilisk. Instead the smell was of damp, cold stone, a musty smell that made her nose wrinkle, but nothing else.
"Shouldn't there be a dead Basilisk smell?"
"I…no idea. I thought so too, but…it's just a skeleton. Hmm. I'm not sure how fast things decay, but I don't think it should have been picked so clean so fast. We'll ask Theia later, she'll know."
"Great. Another mystery. Now, any idea what we're looking for?"
"Anything and everything, Sarah. A library. A potions lab. A workshop. I doubt that Slytherin would have built the Chamber just for his snake, and this would be a perfect place for work that leans towards the darker end of magic. Actually, with that in mind we'd best stay together."
"Don't have to tell me twice." Sarah mumbled, falling into step with Orion. Her alternate was holding his wand in his left hand, and his right had shifted slightly on his cane- she suspected that he was prepared to Transfigure it into a blade at a moment's notice. It made sense as an idea to her, at any rate. Orion was scanning the Chamber around him, a nimbus of light being cast around him by several small globes of light that weaved around his body- a variant on the Lumos charm, Sarah presumed.
"Aha!" he exclaimed, kneeling on the floor. Sarah frowned and squinted at him, barely able to see the markings on the floor that he was tracing.
"What is it?"
"It's…hmm. I'd say that it's the written form of Parseltongue. I can't read it- I doubt anyone could- but…Recitare."
As he spoke the spell, Orion pressed his wand against the carvings, and they began to glow. From all around them a hissing voice sounded, intelligible only to them.
~The Pure Blood of those who speak the noble tongue opens the gateway. ~
"Oh, how cryptic." Orion mused, standing back up. Sarah sagged.
"Well, that's that. Neither of us are Pureblood, and no Pureblood we know speaks Parseltongue. We've no way of gaining access."
"I…actually, that might not be true." Orion said carefully. Sarah stared at him.
"What?"
"Well…you know, I've always wondered how the wizarding world defines blood. Me, you, Voldemort, we're all classed as Half-blood, yet our parents were both Magical whereas Voldemort was born of a Muggle and a near-squib. Is the child of two Muggleborn Pureblood or Half-blood or still seen as Muggleborn? Do two Half-Bloods make a three-quarter-blood? Anyway. Voldemort never tried to open this place, he never found the carving, but what he found of Salazar Slytherin would suggest that magic was more important to the man than blood. He despised Muggles and wasn't fond of Muggleborn, but he acknowledged them as Magical. So…"
"You think that we might qualify where Voldemort doesn't. But how do we-"
"Blood, I think. Dripped onto the markings. Old magic, technically Dark, still secure." Orion said calmly, picking up his cane and passing his wand over it. The side furthest away from him turned to razor edged, silvery steel. Sarah grabbed his arm.
"What are you doing? Do you have no sense of self-preservation?"
"Says the girl who practically jumped down the throat of a Basilisk. Step back, Sarah, I'd prefer you didn't get caught if this goes wrong."
Sarah didn't let go.
"Why are you suddenly being an idiot? There have to be safer ways to test this!"
"Probably. But, well, what's life without a little risk?"
Sarah suddenly realised that Orion had angled his wand to point at her, but before she could react he had hit her with a Body-Bind spell. He caught her before she could topple, and carefully levitated her to lean on the wall, refusing to meet her furious gaze.
"I really am sorry, Sarah. But this needs to be tried and, as my Dumbledore said so long ago, 'Your blood is far more valuable than mine'."
Sarah struggled against the spell he had cast, but Orion was more practiced and, with the Horcrux still leeching from her, more powerful. She had no hope of breaking free, not before the idiot risked death for no real reason. Orion tucked his wand back into his robes, taking his cane in his left hand and pressing the tip of a finger to the blade.
"Blood. A price to be paid." He said, almost idly, and flicked his hand to that three drops of crimson liquid splashed onto the markings on the Chamber floor. The markings lit with bloody light, and Sarah felt her eyes widen as dark red mist began to swirl from them, coalescing into the form of a massive snake. Not as huge as the Basilisk, it still reared more than six feet high, forcing Orion to tilt his head to look up at it.
~So, are you the guardian, or the greeter? ~ Orion hissed. The snake tilted its head, and what almost seemed like laughter issued from its spectral mouth.
~Ah, foolish boy. I had almost forgotten…a Gryffindor, hmm? This should be interesting…"
Without warning, the snake reared up and lunged at Orion, curling its body around him and sinking fangs into his neck. If Sarah could have moved or shouted she would have then, as Orion stiffened on the spot, his mouth opening in silent pain and surprise and his eyes widening in shock. His left hand went limp, cane falling to the ground, while his right closed into a fist with spasmodic, jerky motions. After seemingly an eternity the snake withdrew, leaving Orion standing, swaying slightly.
~Good enough.~ came the whispering, rasping voice, laced with what seemed like disappointment. Sarah saw the snake dissipate into mist, leaving a ruby-coloured mist in the air for a brief moment, but she was distracted by Orion finally crumpling. Not an elegant fall, not first to his knees, but a boneless collapse onto the hard ground. Sarah tried to fight the spell still on her, but it held fast- a cold consolation, as it meant her alternate was still alive. He lay still, not moving even a fraction, and Sarah gave a scream of mental frustration as she fought her bonds. If Orion was alive but in a coma…they could both die down here, their bones left and never to be recovered. All that would be remembered was that Sarah Potter and Orion Argent had vanished one day, if Voldemort let even that much knowledge of them remain.
Sarah could not have said how long she waited, but a small, logical part of her recognised that it couldn't have been more than half an hour before Orion stirred. She felt a vast wave of relief wash through her as he slowly stood, fumbling his wand from his robes with uncertain fingers and breaking the spell that held her. Sarah staggered briefly when she felt the spell leave, but regained her balance quickly and rushed over to Orion, anger bleeding away to worry as she saw him start to fall. She ducked slightly, catching his left arm across her shoulders and supporting him as his legs gave way.
"You were right." Orion mumbled. Sarah squared her shoulders to hold her slightly taller and heavier alternate up.
"What about?" she asked, noticing that his left hand was still limp and his voice was rasping.
"I'm an idiot."
Sarah gave a weak chuckle, pulling the wand from his right hand. She focused, waving the wand and trying a Conjuration, much as she had seen Dumbledore do on a few occasions. The attempt at Conjuring a chair was considerably less impressive than the plush, squashy armchair Dumbledore managed, more like a hard wooden chair, but it was good enough for her to dump Orion onto. He lolled in the chair, looking indescribably tired.
"Are you…stupid question." Sarah said. Orion managed to crack open one eye.
"Am I alright? I…don't think so. Maybe?"
"That's not very descriptive. What did that snake do to you?"
Orion let his head tilt so that his chin was slumped on his chest, muffling his voice, though not enough to make it impossible for Sarah to hear.
"It was…testing. Testing my magic, to see if I was worthy. It was an unpleasant experience."
"Unpleasant?" Sarah muttered, remembering how Orion had gone rigid and the look of utter pain in his eyes. Orion didn't respond to her, instead wearily gazing at his left hand, still unresponsive.
"What's wrong with you hand?" Sarah asked. Orion sighed, shook his head.
"Do you know how this hand works? No? It's a conjuration. Ordinarily it would vanish after a short while, but it's been tied into my magic. In essence, I'm constantly feeding it, and Wormtail is feeding the one he has. That is what allows it to act as, well, a hand. When the snake 'tested' my magic it was like…like a jolt of electricity. Basically, it disrupted the flow of magic, and so my hand is-"
"Just an inanimate conjuration now?" Sarah finished, her eyebrows raising. Orion nodded slowly.
"Yes. Not the best result, but not the worst. I need to…oh. Maybe I won't."
Orion had tried to stand up, but his legs had almost immediately given way and he slumped back into the uncomfortable chair. Sarah stared.
"Apparently that snake had a similar opinion on blood purity as its creator and his Heirs. That bloody hurts." Orion commented, almost offhandedly.
"Well, at least you seem more awake. I was sure that you weren't going to wake up after being bitten and we'd both die down here." She said, slightly irritably. Orion gave a fractional shrug.
"I have faith that Theia would be able to get in here and rescue you."
Ordinarily, Sarah would have shouted at him for implying that he didn't need rescuing, but there was something about the emphasis that made her think that he didn't mean that. It was almost as though he was saying that it didn't matter if he died, because she had other people to help her. That couldn't be…Sarah kept her mouth shut, resolving to talk to Theia the next chance that she got. Apparently unaware of his lapse, Orion gave her a pleading look.
"Can I have my wand back?"
Sarah blinked at him, surprised. She had forgotten that the wand sitting so comfortably in her hand was Orion's, not her own.
"Oh…yes. Here." She said, handing it over with a certain amount of reluctance that Sarah was sure Orion would have noticed had he not still been so tired. He tilted his left arm carefully, pressing the wand against the wrist, where flesh joined silver, and frowning. Sarah watched with interest. She knew that he wasn't actually casting a spell: rather, he was trying to direct his magic to 'flow' through the construct hand again. At least, that was what she assumed. It said a lot about how Orion felt that his hair actually changed colour when the silver fingers started to slowly move again, resulting in him having dark blond locks that looked disconcertingly like Gilderoy Lockhart. Sarah couldn't help but laugh. Orion gave a tired smile.
"Sometimes being a Metamorph is hard. Shall we investigate Slytherins secret? I think I've recovered just about enough."
Sarah gave him a dubious look, but chose not to argue as he stood. She noticed that he used a spell to retrieve his cane, rather than crouching down for it, and guessed that his exhaustion was more physical than magical. Clearly the snake 'testing' his magic had shaken him rather more than he wanted to admit.
"So, what did the snake do? Did it do anything? It bloody better have." Orion rambled. Sarah ignored him for the moment, casting her gaze around the Chamber until it fell upon a dark- well, darker- square shape along one wall. She waved to attract Orion's attention and walked over there, finding a large, open doorway that led to a dark corridor.
"Well. This is interesting. Think it's trapped?" Orion asked. Sarah tilted an eyebrow at him.
"Why would Slytherin booby-trap a place only he could access?"
"It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you." Orion replied obscurely, before looking at her expectantly. Sarah scowled at him and waved her wand in the complex pattern of a standard detection spell.
"Nothing. But don't you think that Slytherin would have traps that don't show up on that?"
"The Founders were powerful and cunning, but that spell is from the eighteen hundreds. I doubt that Slytherin had come up with any spells and traps that would last a thousand years and not be discovered. Still…"
Orion cast his own, more complex, spell, causing a wave of misty green to float down the corridor, filling the air. Sarah glanced at him, interested, and saw the struggle on his face.
"Magic still isn't working right." He grunted in explanation. "Probably need a few hours to settle again. Bastard snake. Anyway, that was a trap trigger spell. It should have set off any traps it encountered."
"What if there was a trap that would cause a cave in?" Sarah asked. Orion froze, a look of utter alarm crossing his face. Sarah swore.
"You idiot!" she yelled. Orion cringed.
"I really am more tired than I…look, I knew it wouldn't cave in. Slytherin wouldn't risk the internal integrity of Hogwarts, right?"
"Bollocks. You hadn't thought of that! Are you trying to get us killed?"
"Uh…no. Not you, anyway. Risking someone else's life isn't good form."
"Oh for the love of…you have a worse hero complex than I do. Idiot."
"Sorry." Orion said. Sarah gave him a look that held two parts annoyance and one concern. He was still pale, and his eyes seemed duller than normal. That snake had done something, she was sure of it, but they needed to get out of the Chamber. Sarah hoped he held on that long.
"Well…just stay behind me. You don't look in any condition to survive anything." She eventually said, setting off down the corridor. The fact that Orion didn't even give a token protest said far more than she liked. He was following quietly enough, but he was also seemingly unable to walk in a straight line. Which worried her.
"Do I look that bad?" Orion asked from behind. She glanced at him, gave a stiff nod. He was losing control of his Metamorphmagus abilities now, and his expression made her think that it was because he was concentrating on something else. His hair was black as always, but it had shortened to an unruly mess, and his eyes were different colours: one vivid, crimson red, and the other bright green. She really wished that she could contact…wait. She had her two-way mirror.
"Theia!" she hissed, urgent yet quiet. The familiar face came into view on the mirror, one pale eyebrow raised.
"What is it?" she asked, her voice laced with the dreamy quality that had been returning ever since they had gone back to Hogwarts. Sarah pointed the mirror at Orion, and the dreaminess vanished.
"Where are you?"
"The Chamber. Slytherin had another area, we're looking through it. I'm betting there's an easy exit from there."
Theia nodded.
"Get him somewhere open, take his wand and find the exit. Call me when you get there. Be careful."
"Always." Sarah replied tightly, glancing at Orion who had heard and was wordlessly handing over both his wand and the one he had taken from the Voldemort of his world. She took them, and kept walking until the corridor opened up into a room that she guessed was huge, the flickering light of her Lumos not enough to light it up, but enough to discern the massive cupboards along the walls and the benches covered in cauldrons of different sizes. Old, yet still preserved by some magic. Sarah looked at Orion as he limped across to the closest thing that resembles a chair and collapses into it.
"Go. I'll be alright." He said vaguely. Sarah, not needing to be told twice, immediately set off across the room, towards a dark shape on the far wall that she guessed was another corridor. It proved to lead to a cross-road corridor of sorts, which she guessed led to multiple exits. Hoped that it led to multiple exits. Fortunately, her usual adventure specific luck seemed to be in action, and after following the path in the centre she came to a dead end with a tiny carving of a snake on the wall. Sarah didn't hesitate.
~Open~
The words fell easily from her lips, too much worry for her to realise that she had consciously spoken Parseltongue. Sarah pulled out her mirror, Theia appearing on it almost immediately.
"I can see you on the Map. I'll be there in a few minutes." She said. Sarah didn't question how Theia had managed to get access to the Marauders Map, lingering nervously in the corridor until Theia strode up.
"How is he?" asked the dimension traveller as they walked quickly back into the corridor. Sarah paused for a moment after closing the door behind them.
"Uh…not good. His eyes are different colours."
"Oh. Well, not good isn't wrong, then."
They didn't speak another word until they had returned to the area of the Chamber where Sarah had left Orion. He was sitting where Sarah had left him, head cradled in his hands. His hair had grown longer, spilling over his collar.
"Orion?" Theia said cautiously. The laugh that Orion let out was entirely wrong, far too gleeful and dark, with something strained behind it.
"Not quite." He rasped, tilting his face up and looking at Theia with red and green eyes. He move to stand, but Theia was almost as fast on the draw as Orion on his best day, and a Stunning spell hit his chest. Theia, lips pursed, levitated the unconscious body onto the nearest bench. Sarah stared at Orion, remembering the last time she had heard that tone. The Boggart. Lament. She looked at Theia, who was looking oddly guilty.
"Mind telling me why Orion has gone all Dark Lord again?" Sarah asked, with fragile calm. Theia looked down at the ground, seeming unable to meet Sarah's gaze.
"Ah. Yes. There may have been some things we…left out of the story."