Disclaimer: This story is based on characters created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
AN:
Orion's attitude during the demonstration with the Mayan Stone isn't because he's naïve or wants to protect all possible 'innocents'. Even though he's a dark wizard through and through and has seen many 'horrible' things during Death Eater meetings along the years, he still doesn't like mindless torture. No matter how much he changed through the years under the influence of Voldemort and dark wizards, Orion still has some of his scruples and principles. He kills and tortures when he feels it's required, but not just for the fun or for the enjoyment of it. That, and his worry for Snape, were the reasons why he attempted to intercede and why what happened was so distasteful to him. But as you saw, in the end, he did accept the Mayan Stone as a tool to be used. He can be ruthless when required.
About his reaction to the marriage contract, what Morticia wants and to Sirius having slept with the witch, it wasn't because such things were unheard of to him or because he was taking a moral high ground or due to naiveté or anything like that, but because he wanted to protect his father. Evidently, if Sirius had shagged any other witch except Morticia, Orion wouldn't have said a word about it. But he saw it as part of Morticia's plan to use his father, so of course he wasn't happy about it.
As for Orion's future-seeing abilities, it's not a power like Arian's in the way that he can use it. They come as visions in his dreams, something unconscious and uncontrollable. Arian, on the other hand, can clearly direct his post-cognitry ability however he likes. But we have to keep in mind that he's already the Vindico Lumen, so his control over his powers must have much to do with it. Thus, it can be inferred that many things will change for Orion, regarding his powers, if and once he becomes the VA.
As for knowing about past lives, you must remember that no one does. Orion was an exception during the week after his confrontation with the Dementor, because Cadmus Peverell did something to him, unlocked something in Orion's soul, which made him start having memories about some of his past lives. But it only went on during one week, since Vulcan Vagnarok used his Necromantic powers to built a 'block' in Orion's mind to halt the influx of memories.
Certainly, if Orion destroyed this block, then he would start remembering again and about all the other past lives he didn't have time to remember during that week. But he doesn't want this to happen since it was confusing and painful enough when it happened during a week, imagine what it would be if it happened endlessly. He fears losing his own current identity under the onslaught of memories of all his past lives, so he isn't taking the easy way out of destroying the block just to know who he was in his first live.
Arian does know about all his own past lives and is certainly affected by it. Orion once remarked that the light wizard seemed to be somewhat unstable sometimes, due to it. But Orion doesn't know why or how Arian remembers his soul's past lives. Such things are not supposed to happen. And of course, in Arian's case, it would not be due to a Dementor doing what Cadmus did to Orion.
A super quick new chapter, cookies for me, yay! *grins*
And it's finally now that we'll start seeing Orion in action and thus what he can do after Gellert's lessons and his increased powers.
This chapter will begin covering the gap that was left in the previous one, and then continue from there on, as was mentioned in last chappie's AN.
A reviewer of a couple of chapters back was right about one of Arian's past lives. Cheers for you!
Hope you like it, enjoy it, and review to let me know how you think it's going so far! *winks*
Chapter 40
Orion had been portkeyed to Voldemort's side to receive his coming of age present. Such 'gift' had been –he should have known- to have bestowed upon himself the Dark Lord's good graces and charms. Meaning, to be shagged into the mattress.
Not that he had complained in the end. He had vastly enjoyed himself. Though, he would make certain that he would spend that night with Lezander and Draco, for the three of them to also celebrate his birthday in that way as well. After all, it could be the last night of peace they would have for a while, given that the attacks were going to take place the following day.
At present, on the morning of his birthday, he was chuckling under his breath, splayed on Voldemort's bed, only wearing a towel around his waist after he had taken a bath, lying on his stomach and with his feet up in the air, as he turned the pages of the Daily Prophet.
Orion shot the wizard a glance as he sniggered. Voldemort was by his side, leaning against the bed's headboard, eyeing him with crimson eyes which held veiled curiosity.
"Rita Skeeter has finally published her book," said Orion as a mode of explanation, gesturing at the article in the Daily Prophet. He shot the wizard a wide, devilish grin. "Its contents have caused quite an uproar among the light wizarding community. Scrimgeour is proclaiming that Dumbledore's intimate association with Grindelwald is a mere falsehood concocted by an attention-seeking journalist, while the rest of light wizards don't truly know what to think of their supposedly deceased and still hailed Albus Dumbledore."
Voldemort simply scoffed snidely, now looking utterly uninterested in the matter.
"It will work to our benefit, you know?" said Orion cheerfully, as he jumped out of the bed and summoned his clothes with a flick of his wrist. "When Dumbledore finally decides to appear in public and let everyone know that he still lives, light wizards will have lost some faith in him."
"Where do you think you're going?" hissed Voldemort impassively, observing how Orion finished dressing as he buckled his daggers-carrying belt.
"Why, Tom, you didn't truly think that I was going to spend my whole birth day with you, did you?" Orion shot him a superior smirk as he fixed his hair to some modicum of order. "I have people to see and places to go, Tommy boy."
"Such as?" hissed Voldemort sharply, gazing at him with suspicious, narrowed crimson eyes.
Orion's smirk widened. "I'm marking my Elite today."
"You have no mark," hissed Voldemort dismissively, relaxedly leaning back.
"Oh, but I do, and it's very cool," quipped Orion, shooting the wizard a poignant smile over his shoulder, as he tucked his wands under his sleeves, into their wand-holsters. "I call it the Black mark. Not that you'll ever see it. It has this nifty, wonderful property that only allows it to be seen by myself and those who have it. You might start thinking of modifying your own brand to make it like that, too."
Voldemort sat up straight on the bed, all mocking snide having cleared from his expression, as he hissed caustically with piercing, narrowed eyes, "Have you already marked someone with it?"
"Not yet," said Orion, the lie smoothly rolling from his lips as he thought about Draco. He shot him a sharp grin. "But I think it's only fair to let you know that I'll be marking my father with it. So expect to be losing a Death Eater."
A thunderous expression spread on Voldemort's darkly handsome face. "You will do no such thing-"
"Gotta go, Tom," interrupted Orion, buttoning the last of his robes' buttons. "You've always known that I would someday free my dad from your clutches. And I don't have the time to stay here and argue about it."
He paused to only shoot him a smug smirk. "I'm first dropping into Berlin, you see. I have an inheritance to claim, now that I'm finally seventeen." He loftily waved a hand at him. "See you tomorrow at the English Ministry of Magic!"
And with that, he dissapparated away before the wizard had a chance to crawl out of bed to stop him. For once, it was Orion who had left the wizard exhausted after their nightplay. Much had to do with the surreptitious bites that Orion had given Voldemort in the midst of cresting, mindless pleasure. He hadn't been able to help himself and the taste of the wizard's powerful dark blood had been just so exquisite, re-energizing and empowering. He had no doubt that Voldemort would figure out the reason for his strange tiredness the moment he took a peek at a mirror. But really, the wizard was simply very temptingly tasty, it was the man's own fault.
Orion gazed up at the painting on the ceiling, a smile on his lips, and then frowning worriedly when he glanced again at who else was depicted in it after he had unveiled it.
"Oh, Luna, what have you gotten yourself into?" he muttered under his breath, as he slowly carded his fingers through his hair.
It was now past noon, though he was very satisfied with everything he had been able to accomplish so far.
As he had told Voldemort, the first thing he had done was to apparate into muggle Berlin. He had only been able to do so because Sirius had once taken him there for a few days, years ago during a summer holiday. During the few holidays they had spent together before Sirius had been captured and sent to Azkaban again, the wizard had taken upon himself to show Orion some of the beauty in the muggle world.
He had to admit now, that he rather liked muggle Berlin. It was quite cosmopolitan nowadays and a sort of capital for culture, especially for youths. It was dynamic but not to the point of having lost its charm. And it was interesting to see, still, the differences between the west and east side of the city.
Though Orion had spent about an hour just walking around and enjoying the sights - as a kind of birthday present to himself- with his clothes transfigured into jeans and T-shirt, he had had to cut short his explorations in order to find the entrance to the wizarding area of the German capital.
He had only once heard from Gellert that the way into it was through a shop called 'Bayern Delikatessen', near where once the Wall had stood. Thankfully, it seemed that the little store which sold Bavarian goods, especially food and drinks like white sausages and beers, was well known around the area. So Orion hadn't lost too much time in finding it.
It had taken one glance at the storekeeper to know that the man was really a wizard. And after giving him a false name and transfiguring his clothes back to his wizarding attire, the old man had led Orion into the back of the store where an archway had materialized from one of the empty shelves.
He had gone through it and soon found himself in the middle of a wizarding commercial area. It was nothing like Diagon Alley of wizarding London. It held many intertwining streets, buoyant with activity, and there was no fear showing in the German wizards' and witches' faces, no looks of wary suspicion or stressed tension.
It was understandable given that they weren't in the middle of a war, since wizarding Germany, as all other European countries, had officially taken a neutral stance in the happenings in England. However, Orion thought that he would have caused quite a havoc if he hadn't glamoured his face into that of a non-descript young wizard.
Nowadays, his face was well-known and he didn't doubt that German Aurors would be pouncing on him if they suspected he could be in their midst, even if their Ministry was Dark-oriented. He was still considered to be the murderer of Albus Dumbledore, so until countries like Germany sided with the English dark wizards when they saw that Britain fell to their control, he would still be hunted down.
Nevertheless, everything had gone relatively smoothly with the Goblins of Gringott's German branch. He had asked to see one of the goblins in private and only then, in a secluded office, had he cancelled the glamour on his features and stated what his business with them was.
Obviously, he was required to give them a drop of his blood to be tested, to support his claims. And after much grumbling from the goblin, he had been acknowledged as a Grindelwald and thus the last and only heir of the line.
When he had been given the key and taken into the depths of Gringotts to see the vault, Orion's eyebrows had shot upwards in puzzlement due to its contents. The Grindelwald vault contained a fortune much larger than that of the Black's, but apart from mountains of glittering golden galleons, it held nothing else – no magical artifacts, no heirlooms of any kind.
He had realized why when he had gone back to the goblin's office and had been given a report about the Grindelwald fortune and estates – of the latter, there was no longer any.
In 1940, Gellert had sold the Grindelwald estate at the outskirts of Berlin, apparently to have the funds to finance the construction of Nurmengard and also the war he launched. In 1945, just two months before Gellert was 'defeated' by Albus in their legendary duel, the wizard had also sold the rest of the Grindelwald properties – a castle in the Austrian Alps, a smaller one in the midst of Bavarian woods, and one other in Switzerland. This explained the current heaps of galleons in the vault.
It also indicated that Gellert had known what was coming. And it had been a very wise move from his part, the goblin had explained to Orion, since once Gellert had been locked up in Nurmengard, the German Ministry of Magic -having already taken possession of the Tower- had also wanted to get their clutches on all the other Grindelwald estates. They had been very angered when the Goblins had informed them that there was none to be had.
Under German law, the Ministry of Magic had the right to take and sell the properties of Grindelwald to use the funds to reconstruct that which Gellert had destroyed in his war and to compensate the wizarding families of the dead, but they couldn't touch the Grindelwald fortune since it was kept by the Goblins.
It seemed that Gellert had used this loophole, quickly selling all properties he had left and funneling the proceeds into his vault, where it would be untouchable. From the Ministry, that was, because the Goblins had certainly been using it all the while to make investments with it, fattening their pockets and making the 'gold flow', as they said.
It didn't surprise Orion, since the Goblins had done the same with the Black fortune when Sirius had been in Azkaban, the first time. It wasn't out of the belief that a Grindelwald heir would pop up after Gellert had been imprisoned that the Goblins had faithfully kept the vault and fortune secure. Orion knew that he had dashed their hopes by claiming it, since if five centuries went by with no one to claim a vault giving valid proof of descendancy, it would then go to the Goblins.
Now, he had claimed it back, the whole fortune and accumulated interests, as once his own father had done with the Black vaults. But it wasn't the fortune itself, though very grand, which interested Orion. It was the lack of heirlooms in the vault.
He had known, at once, what it meant. Gellert had sold all properties and thus must have retrieved all heirlooms and magical artifacts that the Grindelwald line must have accumulated throughout the centuries. And there was only one place which Gellert had kept as his own, before it was taken by the German Ministry: Nurmengard, once Gellert's headquarters and also prison for his rivals and political enemies.
Orion had twitched on his seat as that realization struck him, knowing that there was much more to Nurmengard than he had ever suspected. When he had broken into it with his Elite, to rescue Gellert before Voldemort made an appearance, he certainly hadn't had the time to explore the Tower with all the guards and manticores milling about.
However, there was no doubt in his mind, now, that the place held many secrets. At least, hidden tunnels and rooms, undoubtedly heavily warded, probably with blood-spells so that only a Grindelwald could find them. And in them, they must be holding anything Gellert had considered valuable or precious to him – heirlooms, magical artifacts, books perhaps, and Merlin knew what else.
The old wizard had certainly never broached the subject with him, but the man had to have known that he would someday claim the Grindelwald inheritance and thus realize that there were secrets to be explored in Nurmengard.
Orion would certainly do so, but not in the immediate future, he surmised. Someday, after the wars, when he had the time for it. Perhaps he wouldn't even need to break in again. Maybe, he would by then be able to present his case in a wizarding court of law to claim back Nurmengard Tower as a Grindelwald property.
Therefore, all in all, he had left Berlin feeling very satisfied, and with a new vault key in his pocket.
After that, he had apparated to Lycaon. He was no fool. Orion had felt it was only proper of him to warn Voldemort that Sirius would no longer be sporting the Dark mark, but he wasn't going to wait for the wizard to do something to prevent it. Thus, he had gone with the intention of finally marking his father with the Black brand, therefore ridding him from the Dark mark, as he had once done to an unconscious Draco.
Orion had done so, and his father had seemed grateful to be released from being a Death Eater, but not before he had witnessed the heavy undercurrents breezing through Lycaon.
Apparently, his father had instantly apparated to Lycaon after Orion had informed him of the current events regarding Remus and Greyback. And Sirius had stayed in the werewolf community during the night and for the following day.
Orion didn't have to ask what his father had been up to during that time, since he could see the evidence of it in Remus' frazzled and exasperated expression. The werewolf Alpha hadn't been too happy with him. But Orion had merely chuckled when Remus had pulled him to a side to express that he didn't appreciate that Orion had sic Sirius on him without giving him time to explain matters to his best friend.
Yet, Orion had felt no remorse. He thought that it was best that his father knew about it sooner rather than later, since Sirius would only be angered all the more if not. And he still found the situation amusing.
He hadn't even felt at all concerned by the signs of the fight that had taken place between Sirius and Greyback. His father was sporting a limp now and had three claw gashes on his cheek. On the other hand, part of Greyback's silvery long hair was scorched, and the man had a black eye and split lip. So it was evident that his father could hold his own.
And to Orion's further amusement, he had seen Greyback growling at his father and possessively pulling Remus close to him every chance he found, snarling and narrowing his yellow eyes at Sirius with promised vindictive retribution.
After he had marked his father, Orion had left them like that, chuckling under his breath as Remus tried to appease his mate and attempted to mollify the situation with his friend – given that Sirius was just as possessive over Remus as Greyback was, no matter the different nature of their feelings for him.
Not long after, Orion had settled matters for the Marking Ceremony that he was going to hold that very same day. For that, he had gone to Calypso's quarters in Zraven Citadel and had dressed up in the attire she had long ago prepared for him for the event. Moreover, an eager and rambling Calypso had made him review her notes regarding how the ceremony had to proceed, since she had planned it in detail for him a while ago.
Lezander had granted her permission to go to Potter Manor and had momentarily lowered the wards to allow her to apparate there, dragging a scowling and complaining Draco, since Calypso was making him help her with the preparations. Though, Cyprian had also gone with them, to make sure that the young witch would return to Zraven Citadel once the Ceremony was over. Calypso had huffed and shot an indignant glare at Lezander for that, but she had nevertheless left the Citadel with much excitement.
Thus, Orion had left such matters in Calypso's capable hands and had at last left Potter Manor, disillusioned and flying over Wiltshire on his Firebolt, to seek the one other person besides his Elite who he planned on marking.
Flying at great speed and thoroughly enjoying the experience, it hadn't taken him long to reach Ottery St. Catchpole and the Burrow. And from there, he had quickly caught sight of the Lovegood's house which was nearby. It was a strange-looking house which rose vertically, a great black cylinder against the afternoon sky, like a giant chess rook on top of a hill.
Once he had ascertained that no one was inside, he had shrunk his Firebolt and broken in, to await Luna. He had indolently inspected the very peculiar, cluttered house, going from the circular kitchen which had made him feel as if he was inside a giant pepper pot, up to the higher levels by taking a wrought-iron spiral staircase.
He had soon reached the girl's bedroom and had at once seen what Luna had painted, with great skill, on her ceiling. It had made him fondly smile, since it depicted Luna and him, with one of his arms around her shoulders, in a friendly way. But then he had suddenly frowned when he had felt the tingling of nearby magic, and he had soon whipped out his wand and cancelled the charm that had been cast at the blank side of the Luna of the painting.
It had unraveled before his eyes: a Loki standing at Luna's other side, with a completely uncharacteristically tender smile on his gaunt face and with his fingers intertwined with Luna's in a holding of hands.
Suddenly, he heard voices coming from below, and Orion quickly cast the charm to conceal the Loki of the ceiling, and then noiselessly and surreptitiously made his way downstairs.
"My father will be back home in two hours. We have until then, if you want to hang around."
"I… I wouldn't mind, if that's alright with you. So… are you liking it so far?"
Orion instantly recognized the voices and he carefully peeked around a corner to see into the living room. He inwardly sighed when he saw Loki and Luna taking a seat on a couch, quite close together and solely focused on each other.
"Oh yes! I'm learning many things," said Luna, happily smiling with a dreamy expression on her face. "Necro Master Vresi thinks I'll soon be prepared to do my first summon – that of my mother's spirit. I've always felt her by my side since she died, so I know it will be like talking to her as if we had never parted."
Loki looked visibly awkward and uncomfortable as he uneasily gazed back at her. "Necro Master Vresi has indeed taken an interest in you. She once said that you're very strange and peculiar for a girl with the Necromantic ability but that she thinks you'll make a good one."
"Oh… well…" Luna shrugged, playing with her radish earrings. "Everyone thinks I'm a bit odd, you know. Some people at Hogwarts call me 'Loony' Lovegood, actually. "
Loki cleared his throat, his sunken pale cheeks suddenly having a pink tint to them. "I don't think you're odd. But I mentioned Necro Master Vresi because... er, well, you haven't told her or anyone else in the Guild, have you?"
Luna blinked at him. "About us?"
"Yes," said Loki in a low murmur, looking chagrined and distinctly contrite. "Not that I like to keep it a secret, Luna, but you know how it is in the Guild. We're not supposed to fraternize with each other. We're not supposed to feel or want anything like that at all."
He gazed at her awkwardly and added very quietly, "I never expected to... um, like someone the way I like you. After I became full-fledged I didn't feel those sorts of things… you know? Emotions numbed… But it changed when I met you."
Luna smiled at him, patting his knee. "I like you too, Loki."
An expression of mild frustration swept over Loki's face. "I don't think you understand what I'm trying to say-"
"No one can know. Got it," said Luna cheerfully, nodding and making her radish earrings bob up and down.
"It's more than that." Loki shook his head with exasperation, rubbing his jawline. He abruptly took hold of her hands, and bore his black eyes into her prominent bluish ones, as he said a bit flustered, "Besides keeping it a secret from the Guild, I would like for us to be still… um, close… but maybe you'll have a change of heart." He searchingly gazed at her. "You aren't experiencing the full effects of your Necromantic training yet, because it's too early. But the closer you become to being full-fledged, the more you'll change-"
"I don't think I will," said Luna simply, dreamily gazing into vacant air. A sound came from Loki's throat and she glanced back at him, her expression suddenly turning serious as she said with unsuspected certainty, "Not to the point of being like Necro Master Vresi and all the others." She then shrugged unconcernedly. "And you're not like them either-"
"Only when I'm around you," clarified Loki, frowning at himself as if he didn't fully understand the reason for the way he was affected by the girl.
Luna brightly smiled at him. "Then the same will happen to me." She waved a hand dismissively and dreamily gazed at vacant space. "I don't think we should worry. I think we should just have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up. It always does in the end."
"Alright," said Loki quietly, and it was then evident to Orion that the young Necromancer already knew her well enough to decipher the true meaning behind Luna's odd comments.
As they settled into a comfortable and companionable silence, with Loki inching closer to her, Orion decided to make his presence known.
"Hello there," he said nonchalantly, as he stepped into the room.
Instantly, Loki jumped to his feet, turning beet red before he squared his bony shoulders and darkly scowled at him, as he spat, "What are you doing here, Black?"
"Oh, Orion!" cried Luna joyfully, soon reaching him to grasp him in a tight embrace. "I knew you would come to see me soon." She peered up at him with her large, dreamy eyes. "Do you like my home? Let me show you around. You must see the Snargaluff, it's very interesting-"
"I would love to, but I don't have much time," interjected Orion quickly, then glancing at Loki. "I overheard your conversation, admittedly. I know that you two are a-"
"A couple," stated Luna solemnly nodding at him, before her usual dreamy expression returned to her face. "I never expected to truly fancy anyone or for someone to fancy me. Isn't it wonderful?"
Orion uneasily gazed down at her, not truly knowing what to respond to that. "Er, um-"
"Do you have something to say, Black?" bit out Loki, forbiddingly narrowing his all-black eyes at him as he defensively crossed his arms over his chest.
Orion glanced at the young Necromancer, and then sighed as he carded his fingers through his hair. "Not really, no. It's your business."
"Got that right, Black," said Loki sharply, slightly relaxing his stance.
Orion shot him a mildly irritated look before he glanced back at Luna, sincerely smiling. "I'm happy for you, if you are, Luna."
"I am," she said simply, before she frowned as she swatted something invisible away from her head.
Orion eyed her with fond amusement but then glanced at Loki when the young Necromancer clicked his tongue, spearing him with a piercing, narrowed black gaze. "What do you want, Black?"
"Nothing from you, Njord," said Orion coolly. "I came to invite Luna to the Elite's Marking Ceremony." He then looked at the girl. "Actually, I came to ask if you would like to take my mark as well."
"Oh, of course-"
"You're not getting her involved in the war," snarled Loki, instantly having moved to be between Orion and Luna, his stance protective.
Orion shook his head, feeling a frisson of concern for Luna. Merlin, Loki was truly in love with her. They would get in serious trouble with the Guild for that. Yet, it was their own business and he had no right to stick his nose into their affairs, or desire, really – he had enough problems of his own.
He levelly gazed back at Loki, and said calmly, "I won't ask her to fight in battles, Njord. And it's her own decision to make whether she wants my mark or not-"
"As one of your followers?" bit out Loki caustically. " One more to revere you, for you to use, control and manipulate-"
"As a friend," piped in Luna, dreamily gazing at them. "It's all the same to me. Orion is my friend so I'll be his follower." She brightly smiled at Orion, nodding in understanding. "It will be as we once discussed at Hogwarts. I'm going back for my sixth year and you'll need a friend there. So I accept."
"Luna-"
"I know what I'm doing, Loki," said the girl, while she resumed swatting her hands around her head as if invisible nargles were bothering her. "Friends should always stick together and he's my only one. And Orion has always been good to me. I know he greatly cares about me and he has always stood up for me, so I'll also always stand by his side."
Loki shot her a partly frustrated and concerned glance, and partly tender. He then heavily sighed, and muttered quietly, "Fine. I won't influence your decisions. I have no right-"
"Not until we secretly marry someday," said Luna happily.
Loki's gaunt and pale face turned pink, then he immediately rounded on Orion with narrowed eyes, as if expecting some sort of assault or sharp comment.
Orion's eyebrows shot upwards and he quickly held up his palms. "I'm not saying anything, Njord. My lips are sealed."
"Better keep it that way, Black," snapped Loki curtly, a dark and stern scowl on his face.
"Should we get going?" said Luna cheerfully, no longer waving her arms around, apparently having triumphantly vanquished the creatures which had been pestering her.
"Yes, the Elite are already waiting at Potter Manor. I'll apparate us."
"Splendid," said Luna simply, taking hold of the forearm Orion offered to her, while she then waved a hand at Loki, smiling at the boy. "I'll see you tomorrow morning when my dad leaves for work."
Orion merely waited for the young Necromancer to nod and shoot Luna a last tender smile, and then plunged them into an apparition.
"They're calling you 'the pleasure-giver'," said Calypso with wry amusement, precisely in the exact moment in which Orion calmly took a sip of his tea.
His tea came spitting out of his mouth, and Orion spluttered, "What?!"
He scowled down at his drenched robes, and then shot her a dark glare. "You waited just for the precise timing, didn't you?"
"Perhaps," said Calypso, cheekily grinning at him. "You'll never know."
Irritated, Orion flicked his wand, cleaning the tea stains from his robes, and demanded miffed, "What's this rubbish about pleasure-giver?"
"That's what they're calling you," said Calypso loftily, her eyes gleaming. "Honestly, what did you expect when you flooded them with pleasure through the mark right after you branded them?"
"It seemed only fair since being marked is very painful, given that a brand links itself to a person's magical core," interjected Orion flatly, refilling his tea cup with a pot from one of the tables at Potter Manor's large main parlor where the Marking Ceremony had taken place.
He glanced around the room. Calypso had decorated it very handsomely, with drapes displaying Black and Slytherin colors: forest greens, blacks, and silvery grays. Moreover, he himself, with his attire, represented his own bloodlines. The young witch had some time ago modified one of the formal pureblood robes that Narcissa had once bought for him.
It was dark green. "To make your eyes stand out – Slytherin eyes, and they will be remained of that," Calypso had informed him. As if it wasn't enough, the witch had also used a weaving spell to emblazon with silver thread, on the right chest of the robes, the Black, Grindelwald, and Potter crests, in a row.
Besides that, she had also made him wear the crimson sash with the Zraven coat of arms, which he had used for his marital bonding ceremony with Voldemort. "To remind them," she had said, "that you have a whole powerful vampire Clan backing you."
If it had been in her power, she would have made him wear the Slytherin wedding ring, as a representation of his alliance with the Dark Lord. But Orion had returned that to Voldemort, along with the replica of the Gaunt ring, a while ago. And he had put his foot down at Calypso's insistence that he should go to the Guild to ask for the real Gaunt ring, to wear the Resurrection Stone as a display of his Necromancy ability and representation of his Peverell blood.
Nevertheless, he had conducted the ceremony with all-black eyes, imbued in his Necromantic powers, as per Calypso's suggestion. And it had done the trick, since the Elite had been even more in awe of him at that reminder.
Not that they had needed much more to gaze at him with utter fascination and reverence, since he had disclosed everything about Vindico matters just before starting the Marking Ceremony. He had told them about Morgana's spirit, the crossing of bloodlines, how he was a thrice Peverell through his own bloodlines, thus about Grindelwald and about him being Mordred, about the Lady of the Lake, the Hallows, Avalon, what he knew about Arian, and even about the horcruxes and that he was one himself.
It had been full disclosure of everything related to himself and the Vindico issue. And it had been, funnily enough, Luna who had first spoken, calmly gazing at the Elite as if she didn't understand why everyone was so speechless, clearly easily comprehending and accepting what Orion had told them, as if it were a quirky and interesting tale, "It makes sense to me."
Then the girl had simply gone back to dreamily stare into space, starting to vehemently swat nonexistent things with her hands.
Her words had seemed to shake everyone out of their stupor and countless questions had been fired, not only at him and Calypso – who they realized had known about everything all along- but also at Titania, since she had revealed to them that she was an Aux Atrum.
Viktor hadn't looked very happy at knowing that his girlfriend had been keeping things from him. But he had been the only one who didn't look pleased, since everyone else, Kara and Evander included, had appeared to be both flummoxed but also fervently excited, gazing at him wide-eyed, breathlessly murmuring "Mordred" ardently and feverishly devoutly, as if it was both a plea and a hailing exaltation.
When they murmured it, a tingling sensation had crawled down Orion's spine, the small hairs of the back of his neck rising, as the tone in which they said it echoed and resounded in his mind, so like in the vision when he saw and heard fighters chanting "Vindico" zealously.
Yet, he had asked them not to call him "Vindico" or "Mordred" in public, only when they were together and alone, if they must. But he knew they would anyway, the moment it was safe for them to do so, when it could be disclosed to dark wizarding kind. He knew, because he saw it constantly in his vision-dreams. And the realization had struck him that it was right then and there where it started. Those wheels had been put in motion.
Despite that, Orion hadn't been worried about having revealed everything to them, since during the Ceremony when he had marked each one and they had magically pledged their loyalty to him, he had also cast a parsel mind web on them, so that they could never, unwittingly or not, spill any of his secrets unless given permission.
With some amusement, Orion had thought to himself that he had quite a network of people under such spell, since his father, Severus, and Remus were also included. And so were now Draco, Titania, and Calypso.
He had never planned on marking neither of the girls, and he hadn't, since he wanted Titania to keep her Aux mark and remain as his 'liaison' with that group until he became the VA and thus rightfully had them as his followers as well. But Titania had lined up when the last of the Elite had been marked, telling him that it was only right that he cast the spell on her as well. And Calypso had followed right behind, and it had made Orion feel an immense and deep surge of appreciation and fondest for her, since he had never asked her for something like it.
Then, of course, he had swiftly cast it on Draco, taking him by surprise before the boy could do anything to prevent it. Needless to say that the young pureblood hadn't been at all happy with him. Throughout the whole Ceremony, Draco had been the only one standing by his side as the Elite came and knelt in front of Orion with their left arms exposed, to be marked and pledge their loyalty. And the young wizard had vastly enjoyed his exalted and unique position, with an arrogant expression on his face and a smug smirk.
Draco's place beside Orion had been Calypso's idea, since Draco had been the first to be marked, and she had conspiratorially whispered to him, "And by the rate he's going, I think it very likely that you can have him as one of your right-hands in the future, Orion. My father told me that he has the makings of it in him."
At present, everyone was enjoying the refreshments that Daisy had brought in, excitedly chatting and still shooting Orion glances, with wide smiles, gleaming eyes, and with very satisfied, content, and reverently fascinated expressions on their faces.
Luna was the only one who had already left since she had wanted to get back to her home before her father got there.
The girl had dreamily gazed at the silver mark on her branded left arm, as she distractedly twirled a lock of her long blonde hair with a finger. "It's very pretty. I enjoyed myself, Orion. Thanks for including me." She had then peered at him with a very grave and serious expression on her face. "But you should do something about the nargles in your manor. It's infested, you know?"
It had earned her a fond smile and a tight embrace from him, before she had left.
Orion pulled out of his musings and glanced at Calypso, who was still eyeing him with amusement.
He huffed, squared his shoulders, and said pointedly, "I gave them pleasure because I wanted it to be remembered as a good experience, not a painful one, since following your suggestions I used Sylvanna to bite them as a representation of my Slytherin blood and parseltongue ability, and since I bit them myself as well, as an indication that I'm the Zraven Rege's bonded lifemate and thus have their support. You thought the whole idea of taking some of their blood was very representative of me being their 'master' and how it linked me and all of them together."
Orion paused to shoot her a wry glance and then rolled his eyes. "If I had allowed you to plan for more, I have no doubt that you would have somehow brought the werewolves into it. Perhaps bringing in Connolly or some other werewolf to claw them, as a sign of their alliance to me. Thank Merlin you didn't find an easy way to bring them into it."
"Oh, relax, I won't taunt you again about it," said Calypso, who still looked very smug and satisfied with how the ceremony had proceeded. It was her triumph as well, since she had been the mastermind behind it.
Suddenly, her cheerfully expression vanished to be replaced by a dark one, as she hissed under her breath, "I saw Artemisa with you, I heard what she said. She didn't even wait a second to pounce on you after the marking was over. She did just as I told you she would."
"Did she?" said Orion coolly, calmly taking a sip of his tea.
She shot him the darkest of glares before her whole countenance changed.
"Ohhhh, Lord Blaaaack, one who is Mordred himself needs a proper spouse by his side who does him credit, his very own Queen," simpered Calypso with a mocking, mellifluous whimper, dramatically fluttering her eyelashes at him while she puffed out her lips in an imitation of Artemisa's naturally lush, pouty ones, making noisy, slurping kissing sounds. "I could be that for you, if you give me the chance. It's no wonder that you've never fancied witches given that you've only ever been close to Calypso Rosier. And which hot-blooded and impressive wizard like yourself would feel attraction towards such a plain and unfeminine girl like her? I, on the other hand, can make you experience things that will make you change your mind about witches. Think about it, Lord Blaaack."
The moment she evidently thought she had made her point with her role-playing and verbatim recitation of some of Artemisa's words, her expression turned thunderous with fury, and she hissed out under her breath, "That bint, that little twit, that trollop! I did warn you."
And with a huff at Orion's dignified silence, she whirled around, her robes flapping in the air, and stomped across the room until she reached an unsuspecting Draco, snapping something or other at him and apparently initiating a round of bickers between them to blow off some steam.
Remaining alone, Orion merely shook his head and impassively took another sip of his tea. Those two girls would simply never get along.
It was true that Artemisa had precisely done what Calypso had foretold, but it had hardly surprised him. He knew that Artemisa was a Jezabel Zabini in the making. He had simply found the girl's advances very amusing.
Suddenly, he felt a tingle of magic washing over him, and the next thing he knew, he was feeling as if a warm hand was sliding up his thigh under his pants, while an incorporeal husky voice breathed into his ear, "I'm going to fuck you hard tonight. I'm going to make you scream your lungs out."
Orion almost spewed out his tea again, before he composed himself out of his startlement. In the next second, recognizing the voice, his narrowed gaze scanned the Elite and instantly zeroed in on Draco.
Calypso was still ranting at the boy about something or other, apparently about Artemisa and being purposely overheard, since that young witch was shooting Calypso poisonous glares while she chatted with Alexios, Wenceslas and Hector from the Elite.
Draco, for his part, was obviously ignoring Calypso, since he was smirking at Orion, giving him a mock toast with his goblet of wine and twirling his wand in his other hand, as the young pureblood's lips started to silently move again.
"You looked so fucking good during the ceremony, Potter. I had to restrain myself to not bend you over and shag you right then and there. Tonight I will make the entire Citadel know what I'm doing to you. I'll make you scream my name and shout your moans as you beg me for more," kept whispering Draco's voice breathily into his ear, adding more obscene suggestions, making Orion turn pink while his body seemed to burn and grow hot, as the ghostly hands now crept along the inside of his thighs, about to reach the crucial part of his anatomy.
He gritted his teeth and glared at the smug pureblood across the room, and then muttered under his breath, "Right. He's asking for it."
Leaving his cup of tea behind, Orion struggled to move forward with as much dignity as he could muster, and in a few seconds he had given his swift farewells to the Elite and shot a pointed glanced at Cyprian.
The Zraven Commander, who had spent the whole ceremony inconspicuously standing by a corner, like a sentinel on guard, had caught his drift and instantly took hold of a startled Calypso, who only had time to yelp in surprise before the vampire took her away.
In those same seconds, Orion grabbed Draco's arm, shot him a devilish smirk as he whispered, "We will see who will fuck the other raw, Drakey," and instantly apparated them into his bedroom in Zraven Citadel.
They were enveloped by the large bubble of invisibility which Orion had instantly cast over them the moment they had all apparated near the Burrow. He and his Elite -except Draco and Calypso who had stayed in Zraven Citadel, the latter moodily grumbling under her breath about the unfairness of it all- had merely waited for two seconds before Bellatrix and her team of Death Eaters had arrived.
Orion had wasted no time in casting the parsel-invisibility spell on the whole group, knowing that Moody with his magical eye could see through regular disillusionment charms. And so could Arian, since if Orion himself was now able to see through such charm then there was no doubt that the Vindico Lumen could as well.
At present, thus hidden from anyone's sight, they had reached a row of low bushes, right in front of the Burrow and the shimmering layers of wards which encompassed it.
Thirty minutes before, Orion had made his rounds of spell-casting with everyone who would be 'connected' to him.
He hadn't needed to pay Voldemort a visit, since it had been previously agreed that they would be communicating through their mind-link. But he had quickly dropped by Lycaon just to cast the spell on Remus, the same he had used with his Elite when they had broken into Nurmengard – that which allowed them to speak, no matter the distance between them, as if their voices were breathing into each other's ears.
He had done the same to Lezander before leaving the Citadel, and then to his Elite when he had apparated into Potter Manor in order to take them to the Burrow. The only modification Orion had made to the spell was to require that one touched his throat briefly to communicate through it. Otherwise, it would have ended in a jumble of voices as each gave their own orders as they launched their respective attacks.
Moreover, the Elite were all wearing Potion Master's belts with its many loops cinching around several vials of healing potions, which Calypso had been brewing for them for the past few days. And the Elite, as well as the Death Eaters and Orion, had cast on themselves the spell that Voldemort and Orion had a short while ago found in Malfoy Manor – that which created a sort of filter in one's nose, blocking all scents, and thus perfect to counteract and nullify Arian's Veela thrall, since they had discovered in the book that it was through an imperceptible scent, that Veelas could blast off and regulate, that it affected people.
Orion glanced at Bellatrix and her crew again, with a slight frown on his face. He didn't know who he had exactly expected Voldemort to send with her, but he hadn't expected either for all of them to be so young. With the exception of Thorfinn Rowle and Antoine Avery, the rest were wizards who had recently graduated from Hogwarts, some about two years ago, at the very most. He recognized Adrian Pucey, Max Montague and Marcus Flint, and some others who had been in Slytherin House added to some of Ravenclaw.
There was no doubt that it will do them good to have some hands-on battle experience, since Orion knew that the only action they had seen so far was that of past raids into muggle towns and some very few wizarding ones. And those were easy compared to what they were about to embark themselves on.
He supposed that it was a way for Voldemort to test their mettle. And in the end he could only be glad that Romulus Rosier hadn't been sent with the older and experienced Death Eaters.
He had the inkling that Voldemort knew, as well as he did, that it would only end in disaster if Romulus was pitched against Alastor Moody in these attacks. The vendetta that Romulus and Calypso carried against the former Auror was a very serious one, which would undoubtedly make them forego everything else to just kill Moody as brutally, gruesomely, and painfully as possible.
Orion checked that everything on him was in place: Phoenix wand in the holster under his sleeve which was strapped around his left forearm, his Death and Life wand in his right wand-holster, and his new twin daggers in their scabbards looped on his belt.
Then he flicked his right wrist and grabbed his Death and Life wand as it came shooting out of its holster. In the next second, he gazed at the celebration taking place but a few feet away from them.
Bill and Fleur had just pronounced their wedding vows and loud cheers rose at once. Everyone was there, almost all Order members except Kingsley Shacklebot, he noticed. Ron Weasley was with a teary Hermione, who seemed to be affected by the joyful event, though Orion knew better. She was fearing what was to come and crying because she could do nothing to alert anyone or prevent it in any other way.
Ron was patting her awkwardly, and then widely smiling as he glanced at the newly wedded couple. The twins were goofing around, seemingly spiking the punch and mischievously grinning at each other, Molly Weasley was dabbing a handkerchief on her eyes, sobbing with sheer happiness while Arthur looked proud as he embraced his wife and watched his oldest son spinning Fleur on the dancefloor, who was then snatched by Charlie who gave his older brother a grin as he went through the motions of taking the first dance with the bride.
Sirius looked by all appearances to be enjoying the celebration, taking a beautiful witch in his arms, apparently Fleur's mother given their likeness, and gallantly and very skillfully dancing with her. All the other guests were either dancing or just sitting at the side tables, drinking, eating and merrily chatting.
Orion's lips wryly twisted when he suddenly caught sight of Arian. Admittedly, the light wizard was looking quite spectacular, drawing the gazes of many witches as he danced with Fleur's little sister, laughing and dazzlingly smiling as he twirled the girl around.
Nevertheless, Orion's emerald eyes simply sparkled, because it was just perfect. He had not been wrong. It was the perfect occasion to attack and render them all useless while the Ministries were taken.
Bellatrix reached his side with two steps, and hissed out impatiently, "What are you waiting for-"
"Hush," snapped Orion curtly, without peeling his gaze away from the celebration. "You were told to follow my lead and all my orders. You wouldn't want to incur in your Lord's wrath by disobeying him, would you, Aunt?"
He didn't see the expression on her face but it had to be a furious one. Nevertheless, the witch clamped her mouth shut and remained silent.
Orion swiftly cast a tempus charm and the golden numbers glittered before him, making him ascertain that it was about to happen in five minutes, and he started his work.
There was a primer to the most powerful ward which had been cast around the Burrow – a word that if said by someone from the inside, would bring down the ward. It had been done so because that very same ward which blocked the path of entry to anyone who hadn't been invited to the wedding, also prevented apparitions, flights and portkeyings into and out of the place. And it was for the latter, primarily, that the keyword had been created, in case the guests had to suddenly flee if the Burrow was attacked.
It was this ward which he had to break, with help from the inside, since all the other less powerful wards would be taken down by the Elite and Death Eaters jointly. They knew the ward-breaking spells to cast given that he had informed them of the particulars during the meeting in Malfoy Manor.
In a second, he cast the spell which allowed him to see the composition of wards. He had used that same spell the time he, Calypso and Lezander had gone to the English Department of Mysteries. When Orion had to break down some of the Ministry's wards to allow Calypso to portkey away with an unconscious and just-pulled-out-of-the-Veil Lezander, when they thought the vampire had been dying.
The difference, now, was that it all seemed so much easier to him. His powerful magic simply fluidly rolled out of his wand. Only to his eyes, the Burrow was now covered by the violet chains of runes and arithmetic equations which were behind the composition of the ward, like glittering columns of swirling symbols.
It didn't take him long to find the sections which linked that ward to the others, and he started waving his wand, subtlety breaking and modifying those chains. Then he proceeded to deactivate the alarm spell interwoven with it, so that when the ward was brought down, there would be no indication of it. Finally, he nullified the part that would trigger a notification in the main caster's mind – Moody, he knew from what he had gleaned from Hermione's mind – if and when the primer was said.
He finished his work with great satisfaction, and then, at precisely the time he had instructed her to act, down to the very second, he saw Hermione calmly approaching a table near the wards to grab a glass of water, her mouth slightly parting open and a word breathing out from her lips.
Earlier in the day, the moment he had awoken, Orion had immediately plunged into her mind through the mind-possession curse. He had ordered her to approach the wards at a specific time and to inconspicuously whisper the primer.
And now she had done so, only the pinched expression on her face giving any indication that she wasn't acting out of free-will, but no one noticed such an imperceptible sign. And who would suspect a muggleborn, after all?
As he had also instructed her to do, once done, Hermione went back into the midst of the celebration with glass of water in hand. No alarms sounded, nothing visibly happened as the ward came crushing down only before his eyes, and Moody was certainly none the wiser.
He cancelled the spell that allowed him to see the magical formulas of wards, and then cast his very own undetectable ward around the place – preventing apparations, flooings, flights, portkeyings or just walks out from anyone who didn't have the Black or Dark mark.
It had taken him just a few hours during the morning to modify such powerful ward to include the mark aspect of it. It was not something altogether new, since the Death Eaters often used such for their Dark marks. Admittedly not as powerful as his, but the basics were there, so it had only taken him a bit of tweaking of the original arithmetic and rune equations to create a new spell for the modified ward.
Now, only the other easier wards to break remained.
"It's done," breathed out Orion, then frowning when he gazed at the unsuspecting wedding guests.
"Where is Arian, Titania? He was there but a minute ago. Have any of you seen where he's gone?" Orion glanced to his side when he expected an immediate response and got none. "Tita?"
For an instant, his frown deepened when he saw that Titania was staring at him with wide eyes, a frozen expression on her face, her mouth parted open as if she had been about to cry out something.
In the next second, he was gripping his wand, his senses heightened and his posture tense, alert and on guard, as he saw that the Elite and Death Eaters all looked the same, as if they had been frozen where they stood, some with alarmed expressions on their faces, others with utterly calm ones, evidently not having seen or detected anything amiss when struck, while Orion himself had been concentrated and absorbed in his ward work.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are. I cannot see you, but I can feel you, Orion. How could I not, hmmm? I'll let your pets go if you come out and join me in the merry-making."
Orion gritted his teeth, that voice and tone was unmistakable. He saw him then, seemingly having come out of the blue, with his back turned to him, still inside the wards of the Burrow, as if he was observing the dancing couples.
From behind, Arian's bronze hair with golden streaks caught and reflected the sunrays, making the wizard look as if he had a halo of blazing light about him.
Orion glanced at his frozen Elite and the Death Eaters, and then just gripped his wand tightly, aiming at the light wizard's back when he took a step out of the invisibility bubble.
"Good boy," said Arian, shooting him a charming smile over his shoulder, still without moving an inch, appearing as if he was observing the celebration and simply standing within the boundaries of it. "You're looking well, I'm pleased to see. Now, I won't kill your companions if you don't fight me. I only want a chat with you. What do you say, hmm? I don't ask for much."
"Fine," spat Orion, his jaw clenching.
Arian shot him another glance over his shoulder. "Then put your wand away and don't block my spells. I gain nothing by hurting you at this stage, n'est-ce pas?"
Orion quickly made up his mind about the best course of action to take, and then calmly obeyed, tucking his wand back into its holster and just expectantly waiting with a sharp grin on his face.
For a moment, Arian looked surprised and then suspicious at Orion's placid acquiescence. But he seemed to put it out of his mind, and simply waved a hand at him, twice.
Orion immediately felt the effects of whatever wandless spells the light wizard had cast. He was moving as if his body was pulled by strings, his feet dragging forward before he took some control over them and simply followed where they wanted to lead.
He crossed the remaining wards as if they weren't there, surely due to Arian, and then he was in the middle of the celebration with couples dancing around him, others chatting here and there, and no one apparently noticing or even seeing him at all.
He saw his father pass him by, spinning a pretty witch as they danced, and then Arian was by his side, shooting him a smile and his cerulean blue eyes gleaming as he took hold of Orion's arm and led him to a somewhat secluded area away from the dancefloor as he cast a muting charm to not be heard by anyone nearby.
"I had an inkling you would do something like this," said Arian, vaguely gesturing at where the Elite and Death Eaters remained invisible to all but Orion, yet still frozen by Arian. "It was fairly easy for me to cast a spell at people who are marked with a magical brand, even if I can't see them."
He shot him a wide smile as his silky hair fluttered in the wind, making him look like a windblown angel being gently swept and rocked by caressing breezes, and he looked the part perfectly, to Orion's immense irritation. "And I knew you'd want to mark your Elite before taking them to battle. I also surmised that something would happen today. You see, Voldemort might have a Seer working for him to obnubilate all his meetings, but what you didn't count on was that I would detect such blocks and their frequencies. You dropped the ball there, hmmm?"
Orion didn't dignify that quip with an answer, and Arian simply smiled at him again, leaning forward to whisper into his ear, "I also know who she is. Mrs. Zabini is a very powerful Seer, I must concede. And she has been able to block me out when our… ah, 'inner eyes' have met. But still, how long do you think she'll keep helping your side? She doesn't want to be Voldemort's minion. She'll do anything to free herself from his clutches and go back to her neutrality. She's a dangerous witch to depend on, my nemesis. I could easily lure her to my side with the promise to leave her alone."
"You don't have an inner eye at all, do you?" said Orion coolly, ignoring what he said about Jezabel Zabini since it wasn't news to him that she cared only about her son and herself. "You're a post-cognitor, not a Seer. I know that."
"Ah, Bathilda Bagshot told you much, I see," said Arian with a satisfied grin. "Just as I had hoped." He then stoically arched an eyebrow at him, his lips quirking upwards. "But did you really need to kill one of my followers?"
"The muggle killed himself, actually," interjected Orion dryly. He shot him a mocking glance, nastily smirking at him. "But he wasn't truly your follower, was he? The Illuminati mark he had didn't sport the Druidic Runes. Having problems controlling your own minions, Arian?"
"Is that what you think?" The light wizard let out a low bout of laughter as he shook his head, before he pierced him with gleaming azure eyes. "I'm allowing them to not be in my direct control because it suits my purposes for the time being. Their 'leader' is someone who is still of some use to me, but let me tell you that I'll dispose of him the moment he's not." Something thunderous raged in his blue eyes. "He will get what he deserves, for my parents' death."
"That's the leader of the Illuminati extremists?" said Orion slowly, fixedly staring at him. "The muggle who Dumbledore took to your parents' home?"
"Illuminati extremists?" Arian seemed to find Orion's title for them very amusing.
"What's his name?" demanded Orion shortly, ignoring the wizard's chuckles.
"As if I would tell you that," said Arian, tutting with his tongue.
Orion pierced him with narrowed eyes, as he surreptitiously slowly flexed his hands by his sides, testing how much he was able to move under the influence of the wizard's spell on him. It seemed to be waning, probably because the light wizard was focusing more on their conversation than on maintaining it at full-force. So it was simply a matter of keep distracting the man with conversation, as engaging as possible.
"So you and him have the same goal? 'Magic for All' by giving muggles magical abilities through gene alteration?"
Arian arched an eyebrow at him. "You have figured that out." He then widely grinned at him. "Well, I've always known you're bright. But on this matter, you're partly incorrect. He's the one pushing that. I don't really care one way or the other as long as the negative consequences can be plucked out." He leaned forward to taunting whisper into his ear, "So you see, you still don't really know what my true plan is, hmmm?"
Orion felt a surge of angered irritation and annoyance swell up in him, but he quickly repressed it, and said coolly, "Let's get to whatever point you want to make. Surely you didn't want a 'chat' with me just to tell me this stuff?"
"You spoil all the fun," said Arian wryly, shooting him a chiding glance as if Orion was a misbehaving animated toy that simply refused to play puppet with him. Abruptly, he flashed him with a wide, pearly-white, dazzlingly smile. "But you're right. I wanted to talk about past lives. I'm getting a bit impatient with you. It's taking you a while to glue the pieces together, n'est-ce pas?"
Orion grinned at him. He could fist his hands now. "Alright. I'll play your game. Who were you Arian?"
"Oh, that's just such an all-encompassing question, is it not?" said Arian loftily. "So many millennia to think about, hmmm? It would take me ages to answer that fully. I think we should start with another question first." His lips quirked upwards as his cerulean blue eyes gleamed. "You must have seen the 'Kraljica Mati' by now, n'est-ce pas? And I know what Vivian must have told you. So tell me, did you believe her?"
Orion blinked at him, momentarily startled by the question. "Of course I do." He frowned at the wizard and his eyes narrowed to slits. "Are you implying that she has lied about something?"
"Oh no, on the contrary, I'm sure she told you as much as she knew." Arian leaned forward, towering over him but not in a threatening manner, as his voice lowered to a playful murmur, "The point is, did you believe what she had to say about Merlin and Morgause – about what they respectively believed their origins to be?"
Orion scoffed, rolling his eyes. "No, I don't believe that."
"I'm disappointed in you, such little faith, Orion, it should shame you," said Arian with dry amusement. He tilted his head to a side, his lips tugging upwards. "But you have never been one to truly believe in 'Gods', have you? Rather preferred to consider yourself above such things, hmmm? Even above Them."
"What on earth are you trying to say?" groused out Orion, while he covertly flexed the muscles of his arms and inched them forward. He let out a snide snort. "That Merlin was truly the result of the Light Source 'implanting his magical seed' in a woman? And that the three sisters were similarly the Dark Source's daughters?"
"That's exactly it," whispered Arian with a bright smile stretching on his lips. "Doesn't Gaia call you her child, when She whispers into your mind, hmmm? Do you think She does it as a form of endearment? She calls you that, and always had, because you are Mordred and as such, Her 'descendant' since you came from the sisters' line. You carry Igraine's blood in you, two-fold."
"I know that," said Orion, just barely able to shake his head. "But you can't expect me to believe that the Sources truly-"
"It happened many times in past ages," interrupted Arian, briefly looking exasperated with him. "Merlin and the three sisters were the last but they certainly weren't the first to be 'produced' by the Sources, in times when They could easily do it, when They were much stronger."
He flashed him with an amused, charming smile, and leaned to murmur into his ear, "Who do you think it was when muggles proclaimed to have seen Zeus himself roaming about and bedding one of them? Who do you think muggles and wizards alike, of those ages, believed Them to be when They were powerful enough to take physical form and directly meddled as They wished to attain some of Their respective differing goals? Isis, Osiris, Anubis, Kali, Vishna, Jupiter, Athena, Mars, Venus, Zeus, Thor, Apollo… I could go on and on. They took many shapes and were called many names."
Orion stared at him with round eyes, his mind spinning as he tried to discern the implications which affected him directly, and he breathed out slowly, "Then… then Merlin and Morgause were right, so… I'm Mordred, and that leaves to you to be who?"
"In Merlin's times, you mean?"
"Obviously," snapped Orion impatiently, with a scowl on his face. "Say I believe you. Then if I'm Gaia's child because as Mordred I was Igraine's grandson and I'm his descendant since I come from all three of his Peverell lines with the addition of some others, then it's only logical that you are Gaius' child. That would mean that you come from Merlin. But he couldn't have children himself. He adopted someone as his heir, and magically passed his bloodline and powers to him. So that must have been you. What was your name?"
"You miss the point that I've been trying to make you see for some time," interjected Arian conversationally. "Bloodlines make us who we are but your soul, and mine, have much to do as well with why we're the Vindicos." He flashed him with a smile as he whispered conspiratorially, "And that wasn't our first lives, I'm glad to say."
Orion merely looked at him with utter impassivity.
"Hmmm, you don't look surprised," remarked Arian, gazing at him with a disappointed look. "I was looking forward to puzzle you with that. Oh, well, I have other things to tell that will do the trick."
Orion shot him an irritated glance, and said flatly, "A friend already thought that it was very likely that you weren't referring to those times at all when speaking about our first lives."
"A friend… who could it be…" Arian's handsome face brightened. "Ah, the Rosier chit, hmmm?" His expression abruptly turned grave as he searchingly gazed at him. "You are very close to her, n'est-ce pas?"
"I am," said Orion coolly, frowning when he saw the odd glint in the wizard's cerulean blue eyes. There was pity there, perhaps, or sadness, or maybe compassion. He couldn't quite discern it, or tell at whom it was directed, and it didn't make sense to him either. In the end, he darkly glowered at the wizard and bit out sharply, "Will you just answer my bloody question? Who did Merlin turn into his heir? Who were you?"
"Merlin chose the youngest of the Knights," said Arian impassively, a breeze picking up his hair and making it shine with rich golden hues under the sunlight. "I was Galahad."
"Lancelot's son?" murmured Orion flummoxed, incredulity lacing his voice as he tried to remember about him in the memory that the Kraljica Mati had showed him. Admittedly, then he had been solely focused on Mordred and Arthur Pendragon. He didn't remember much about Galahad, only that he had been young, possibly of Mordred's same age, and handsome as well as noble and good-natured looking. "Why did Merlin choose him – you?"
"Oh, for many reasons," said Arian pleasantly. "Firstly, it wasn't Merlin who initially chose me, but the Light Source itself. I'm sure you know by now about the Scrying Waters in Gaia's Isle in Avalon. There's something similar in Gauis' side too." He his lips wryly quirked upwards. "The Sources are not ones to allow to be outmatched by the other. They are always fighting in their struggle for predominance, to in the end vanquish the other – that's why They ended up producing Vindicos, you see. It came to the point that They could do nothing else but. And it has taken Them many millenia already – you and I are the result, at long last."
Arian paused to shoot him a pointed glance. "That's why I'm so impatient for you to become Gaia's. Since I'm the Vindico Lumen, there isn't much I can 'help' the Light Source with if I don't have you, as the Vindico Atrum, to defeat and vanquish. Which Source survives depends on us in the end."
Orion momentarily gaped at him, his mind a jumble of frenzied and apprehensive thoughts. He had known, of course, that the Vindico business was all about the predominance of one Source over the other, but he hadn't suspected that it went beyond that - to the complete annihilation of the Source who lost. It was a very grave matter, indeed. And he couldn't quite figure out what he wanted to happen. Certainly, he had always wanted dark wizarding kind to be on top, to be in power, and thus, he wanted the Dark Source to become stronger. But to the point of sacrificing all light magic for it? Of utterly destroying the Light Source?
He didn't think he liked the idea. He didn't really know what to think about that. Light wizards were still wizards, he considered them as part of his kind, in the whole. That he didn't want them to be in power didn't mean that he wanted them to cease to exist at some point. Nevertheless, those were matters to seriously ponder about later. It was evident that he needed to keep gleaning as much as he could from Arian, while he kept surreptitiously proceeding with his plan.
Orion stared at the light wizard with pensive frown on his face, now taking in every tidbit of information as if they were drops of water to a parched man. "And secondly?"
"Secondly, I in those times – Galahad– was the Light Source's long ago chosen soul, reborn," said Arian, flashing him with a wide, dazzling smile. "As I told you, much has to do with our souls. And thirdly, Excalibur completely reacted to me, it was that which convinced Merlin." He held up a hand the moment Orion opened his mouth, his lips quirking upwards. "And no, I'm obviously not going to tell you what it is or anything about it. I would be a fool if I did, n'est-ce pas? And that I've never been."
"Fine," groused out Orion, then searchingly gazing at him pensively. "Did you start remembering your past lives then? Is that what, or how, it happened?"
"Not at all," said Arian placidly. "It was later during my life as Galahad that something was triggered. I started remembering due to it, in that life. And it has happened very often, similarly, throughout my other lives."
"How is that possible?" muttered Orion with a deep, perplexed frown on his face. He shot him a piercing glance. "What happened to you as Galahad that made you remember?"
"You should know your history," said Arian, widely grinning at him as he cocked his head to a side, which made him look quite deceptively endearing. "Don't you remember what Galahad is famous for?"
Orion darkly scowled at him. "No. Galahad is stuff of muggle stories, as far as I know. I've never seen him mentioned in any wizarding books. I've never had any reason to have interest in him, so I've never researched into his life."
"You need to expand your horizons," said Arian flatly. "Being ignorant of muggle myths works against you, since even if they are unaware of it nowadays, their ancient accounts hold many partial truths of much consequence." He waved a hand dismissively, and added airily, "I embarked on a quest. After Camelot was destroyed when you killed your father, I and some other Knights took to travelling. It was then that we heard rumors about someone long dead and about something of his. When I found this magical object, I supposed it could be said that it triggered something in me, and I started remembering."
The light wizard paused and flashed him with a bright, pearly-white smile. "You see, I had been its creator, in a past life of ages ago. I'm talking about the Cup of Life, if you still haven't figured that out."
"The Cup of…" Orion trailed off in a mumble, as his mind lurched.
Arian tilted his head to a side and smiled at him expectantly, though as usual, his smile was as sharp as it was charming.
"You mean the Grail, the so-called Holy Grail?" Orion blinked at him, utterly perplexed, his mind spinning. "So you were him, Jesus of Nazareth?"
"Oh no, I was his best friend. A light wizard like him." Arian dazzlingly smiled at him, his cerulean eyes gleaming. "I was Judas."
Orion stared at him, not quite knowing what to make of things. And to think that just the previous day everything had gone so well, and now he found himself in the midst of Bill Weasleys' and Fleur Delacour's wedding celebration, in what was undoubtedly an attack gone awry, given his current situation.
But it wasn't going to remain awry for long. Orion inwardly smirked when he managed to surreptitiously shuffle his feet without Arian noticing. The light wizard's control over him had already vastly diminished. Arian was losing concentration in keeping the wandless spell on him, too focused on their conversation instead. Orion knew he needed only to push it a bit further, though he had to admit that the revelations were both utterly capturing his interest and flummoxing him.
"So if you were Judas," said Orion slowly, "are you saying that I was Jesus?"
Arian choked, and Orion was soon glowering at him with annoyance when he saw that the light wizard was choking on laughter, so hard that his body shook while tears of mirth rolled from his cerulean blue eyes. "You – Jesus?! I've never heard something so ridiculous in my life! You hadn't been reborn in those times, thankfully, since Merlin knows what would have happened if you had. How could it have crossed your mind that you could have been him? You don't have a humble bone in your body and you completely lack the utter selflessness he had!"
"That's rich, coming from you," interjected Orion caustically, his voice laced with dark irritation, "his betrayer."
Arian's countenance instantly changed, becoming grave and thunderous, his laughter abruptly ending, as he said sharply, "I did what was asked of me. It was as much as my sacrifice as his. We were brothers, not in blood but still at heart! Do you think it was easy to send my closest friend, a man with whom I had been practically raised together since infancy, to his death, hmmm? Because he wanted to make that sacrifice, because we both knew it was required in order to attain our goals?"
"Look, I don't really care two straws about that-"
"Oh no, you asked and you're going to understand what it means," interrupted Arian curtly, his cerulean blue eyes looking fiercely stormy. "I told you before that the Sources, in ancient times like those and in previous ones, were powerful and strong to the point of it being easy for Them to take a magical physical form, n'est-ce pas? Gaius needed his tools for what He wanted to be done, so He created his Messiah and He gave me the understanding of what was required to do."
He paused to pin Orion with a pointed and piercing blue gaze. "Who do you think materialized into the 'Holy Spirit' to plant His seed in a young muggle jewess, hmmm? Let me tell you, the Immaculate Conception wasn't all that immaculate. Poor Maria didn't quite know what was happening to her, but given the place and times, she did believe Him to be God. If she had been a Roman instead of a Jew, she would have thought Him to be Jupiter himself."
"You're saying that the Light Source did that?" Orion shook his head, flummoxed. "Why, for what? How is that connected to everything else?"
"In many ways," said Arian curtly, his shoulders still stiff. "Gaius wanted to build where previously Gaia had destroyed, each following Their own aims to make Themselves stronger." He leveled a hard gaze at him. "Who do you think whispered into Nero's and Caligula's minds when they both brought upon the partial destruction of Rome and started plunging the Empire into decadence, in their respective times?"
"Gaia?" breathed out Orion, his mind a swirling mesh of rushing thoughts.
"Precisely," said Arian shortly, with a stern expression on his perfectly chiseled, gorgeously handsome face. "On the other hand, the Light Source wanted to prevent the collapse of the muggle civilization in the times and place of Pontius Pilate. He never wished for the destruction of muggles, as Gaia does. You see, for Gaius, it was all about helping the Roman Empire subsist several centuries longer and to give muggles moral and civil principles and foundations to bring them peace and in which to thrive and thus clear some of the corruption and decadence in which they had fallen into with the Roman Empire. Nevertheless, Gaius left the particulars and details to us. Jesus was His 'child' by all accounts and I was the one who had to survive and see the worse come through, so that muggles wouldn't forget the sacrifice, so that Jesus' teachings would be branded in their minds."
He paused to shoot him a sharp glance. "And he and I succeeded, n'est-ce pas? It was thanks to what we did then that the Roman Empire endured beyond Constantine's times, who took the new religion and spread it, bringing peace and union to the muggle world." He waved a hand dismissively. "Admittedly, wars between muggles were waged much later due to religion, but that wasn't our fault, but theirs for twisting, corrupting, and using it to justify their own greedy actions."
Orion deeply frowned. "What does the Light Source gain by keeping the muggle world thriving? When they die, they return no magic to Him. They only serve to give the Sources their spirits once their souls go through the Ultimate Transcendence, plunging into the Sources as mere metaphysical matter." He searchingly gazed at him. "Is it Gaius who needs that to become stronger while Gaia doesn't? Or is it Him that simply gets all of it? Or is it the Light Source's aim to keep muggles numerous so that muggleborns keep popping from them?"
"All of that is the crux of the matter, n'est-ce pas?" said Arian pleasantly, eyeing him with pointed condescension. "If you want to find out, then become the Vindico Atrum. You will not understand or ever have a clue until you do."
Orion gritted his teeth and glanced down at his feet, and he instantly looked up at Arian the moment he realized he had moved a step at some point. The light wizard hadn't noticed, not even he himself had until he had seen his footprints in the crushed grass. He felt it now, he could really move.
Yet, Orion decided to wait, just a few more minutes and he would be ready. He plunged his mind into the discussion, to find anything which would distract the light wizard.
"You said, at first, that you had created the Holy Grail," said Orion, shooting him a musing glance. "I take it to mean that you and Jesus did it, jointly." Arian merely nodded at him, and he continued slowly, "I also take it to mean that it was created for some purpose. That perhaps the Light Source told you to. From what I know, legends say that if drunk from it, it grants eternal youth and immortality… and perhaps it does more, maybe it gives more magical power?"
He glanced at the light wizard but Arian didn't twitch, his expression conveyed nothing. Orion frowned at him with deep pensiveness. "Well, besides that, you said that when you were Galahad and found the Grail, you started remembering your past lives – obviously your life as Judas included, so…"
"So?" prompted Arian, his lips tugging upwards as he expectantly gazed at him.
"The Philosopher's Stone…" breathed out Orion, his eyes widening as the realization struck him like a lightning bolt. "You found the Grail again during this life, didn't you? That's how you remember your past lives now, through a magical artifact you had partly created, perhaps for that very same purpose among others. And you found it when you went to the Flamels. Of course! How else could they have created their Philosopher's Stone to expand their lives if they hadn't in their possession the Holy Grail, to study it and make as limited a replica of it as they had the power and knowledge to do so?"
He paused to intensely stare at him, to detect any twitch in his features, any reaction, as he continued with now utter certainty, "The Flamels must have known they couldn't keep the Grail - that someday someone with the intention of becoming the Vindico Lumen would want it and take it from them. So they created their own limited source for immortality. The Flamels had it, possibly no one knew, and perhaps the Illuminati muggle leader who went to your parents' house was looking for the Grail if not for Excalibur as well. And it would make sense for a powerful, wealthy muggle to want the Grail, to drink from it and attain eternal youth."
"I salute you for that magnificent trail of deduction," said Arian, gallantly lowering his chin in a bow, as he peered at him with gleaming cerulean eyes. "All of it is correct."
Orion stared at him piercingly, his breath catching in his throat. "Did you use it?"
"Indeed I have. It would have been very stupid of me if I hadn't, don't you think, hmmm?"
Orion slowly let out an exhalation of breath, gazing at him with his mind spinning almost to the point of incoherent havoc. What did it mean - that Arian was truly immortal now? He didn't know what to make of things... He needed time to think about everything Arian had disclosed to him, to really figure out and see all the implications, consequences, and repercussions.
But more importantly, it was time and he could move – he knew it. He had to act now or the others would be launching their attacks before he had succeeded in his. And that would be catastrophic. He estimated that he only had five minutes left – it wasn't, not even remotely, enough.
"Of course, the crux of the matter is that we had our first lives ages before my time as Judas."
"Ages?" mumbled Orion dismayed, feeling utterly befuddled.
He then frowned, forcing himself to concentrate on what was truly important at the moment, tensing all his muscles in preparation. And then he finally lurched into action.
As he knew he could, he moved so fast that his movements were such flashes of mere blurs that it would have made Cyprian himself be proud of him.
In a fraction of a second, he had flicked his right wrist and grabbed the Death and Life wand that came shooting out and cast a glamour on his face. In the next split second, he had a dagger in his left hand, had pressed the emerald on it and he lunged forward, slashing a long deep gash on Arian's chest.
A cry of shock and pain escaped from Arian's throat as the light wizard reeled backwards, staggering, pressing a hand against the deep wound, while his sliced pale blue robes started to get soaked with the blood that copiously surged.
However, Orion had kept acting just as quickly and already had his arms around the taller wizard, pressing their chests together to hide the wound from all others and slowly moving with him as if they were dancing. Because now, as he had expected, they were visible to the attendants of the wedding celebration.
The poison rushing through Arian's veins immobilized him to some degree, affecting muscles and nervous system. And due to it, as Orion had hoped, the light wizard was no longer able to maintain all the spells he had cast. He lacked the focus for it.
Indeed, Arian eyes were glazed over and he had a slack expression on his gorgeous face. And Orion bashfully smiled up at him as if he was a besotted admirer of the half-Veela, as he glanced over the wizard's shoulder while he kept slowly dancing with him, holding him up. And he saw it, what he had expected: the Elite and Death Eaters were free. They were moving now.
Orion briefly touched his throat and whispered urgently to his Elite, "Bring down the rest of the wards with the help of the Death Eaters and attack as soon as you can."
"Gotcha," came Titania's voice into his ears. "But what about Valenor-"
"I'm handling him. You don't have to worry about him. Just get rid of the wards and get in."
Through the bubble of invisibility, he saw all of them working frenziedly into bringing down the remaining wards, and he quickly estimated how long it would take them to succeed and for them to have everyone there under their control.
Then he quickly touched his throat again, pressing his cheek into Arian's chest, playing his part as he slowly revolved with the wizard on the dance floor. "Remus, Lez, we had a set back. We need twenty more minutes."
"We'll wait for you to tell us when, dragostea mea," came Lezander's calm voice, just before Remus' was added, "Same here in Dublin, cub."
Orion smiled but quickly broke off the communication to lower his Occlumency shields and push his mind's voice into his link with Voldemort, informing him of the same.
The Dark Lord, for his part, merely hissed with displeasure, making a surge of pain flare in Orion's scar. Orion just rolled his eyes and ignored it.
"It's not a lethal poison, Arian," he murmured into the wizard's neck, never stopping in his slow dance with the light wizard, while he now and then shot glances over the man's shoulder to see how his team was progressing in their ward-breaking work. "Relax, and tell me more. Who were we? If it was ages before your time as Judas, we could be speaking about many possible times and civilizations in which we lived. Which was it, Arian?"
The light wizard attempted a glare with unfocused eyes, his mouth slowly flapping open and close, but only a strangled sound issued, and Orion widely grinned at him.
Oh, he would so show his gratitude for the daggers to Draco that night. The poison was brilliant.
He hefted up Arian to keep him standing, given that the light wizard's limp legs weren't of much use, while he took him for a slow spin on the dance floor. He noticed there were guests gazing at them, mostly young witches wondering who was the young wizard pressed so closely and intimately against their charming half-Veela.
Knowing he couldn't possibly be recognized with the glamour he had cast on his features, Orion shot them smiles as continued dancing around with his partner. When he caught sight of Moody, he instantly pressed his face against Arian's chest, as if with enamored affection, whilst he hid his features from the ex-Auror's spinning magical eye, which could see through glamours – he knew well.
"Tell me Arian," whispered Orion, "were we in Egyptian, Roman, Persian, Greek, Assyrian, Mesopotamian or Babylonian times? Which of those? It could be any and there were several more." He looked up at the wizard when they were far away from Moody, piercing Arian with an intense and searching gaze. "Give me a clue."
"Getting… warmer…that's clue… " slowly slurred out Arian, an expression of immense frustration creeping over his handsome face as he languidly shook his head slowly. "You didn't … have to do… this…"
Orion ignored his last words and shot him a calculating look. The effects of the poison would soon be vanishing, it was clear.
"We're done!" suddenly came Titania's triumphant voice into his ear.
Orion didn't waste a single second. He shot them a glance and instantly cancelled the invisibility bubble as Elite and Death Eaters spilled into the celebration, wands blazing with countless beams of spells and curses that shot out from them, as cries and screams rose.
In the next second, he cancelled the glamour on his face and gave Arian a hard push on the chest, making the light wizard fly back several feet.
Orion widely smirked, and in a flash he brandished his wand again and torrents of water shot out like ravaging, spilling rivers which instantly twined around Arian, lifting him up, yelling and startled, up into the skies, in a sphere of violently swirling oceans which immediately drowned him into their very core with their powerful currents.
It had finally started.
