Chapter Five

Dumbledore arrived at ten past three in an elaborate set of cobalt robes, after asking Sirius for a quiet word later, he ushered Anton into the sitting room and shut the door behind him to avoid interruption.

'Anton,' he began with 'I'm sure you know why I'm here.'

'Joining the Order,' Anton perching on the arm of a chair while Dumbledore seated himself on the opposite chair.

'That is one of the things I wished to discuss,' Dumbledore agreed 'but I also wanted to talk about where you went after you left the hospital.'

Anton looked down at his feet for a moment, he'd been expecting that question to arise.

'I wanted to make sure one of the murderers wasn't hurting anyone else?' he said eventually, making sure the strongest of his mind shields were in place.

'And were they?' Dumbledore said softly watching Anton closely with his twinkling blue eyes.

'They were dead,' Anton admitted 'at least a week before I found their remains.'

'So you didn't kill the Death Eater,' Dumbledore said carefully.

'No,' Anton said quickly realising what Dumbledore was suggesting 'it looked like he'd been hit with a heavy object of some sort.'

Dumbledore nodded 'I also wanted to ask you how long you've had the gift of elemental fire magic?'

'You realised?' Anton said shocked, elemental magic was very rare and it was even rarer for it to be recognised.

'Oh yes,' Dumbledore said a small smile breaking through 'I recognised you used a lot of fire, but you didn't just harness it, you created it, which can only mean one thing- an elemental, though usually the powers are given to four people not just one.'

'Fire, Wind, Earth and Wind,' Anton said sadly 'gifted to four people, four friends who were united against one force.'

'What happened to them?' Dumbledore asked gently realising this was a sore topic for the man.

'Earth fell first,' Anton said thinking of her green and brown hair, her features like Anton's were adjusted 'they put her body in plain sight, we tried to get her back but it was a trap.' he wavered off.

'And then what?' Dumbledore asked.

'There was no way out, Wind burst a hole in a wall,' Anton's memory's flickered to Ron bursting the wall away his silver hair glinting in the moonlight 'they got Water, it was only later we discovered what happened to her' this time another face came flooding into his mind, her long blondy blue hair surrounding her laughing face engulfed by darkness.

'And Wind?' Dumbledore said finally.

'My brother,' Anton said 'I told you about him, a simple Avada Kedavra was all they could be bothered to spare him.'

'I'm sorry,' Dumbledore said realising the horrible truth to Anton's life 'I'm sorry to bring it all back to you.'

'I don't mind,' Anton said lying slightly 'it's better to remember than forget completely. So what was that you were saying about joining?'

'Would you like to?' Dumbledore said inquisitively.

'Most definitely,' Anton said honestly 'I can't think of anything that would bring me more satisfaction.'

'Well then,' Dumbledore twinkled 'I personally invite you Anton Sasha Lukyen to join the Order of the Phoenix in the battle against Voldemort.'

'So I get to go on the secret missions,' Anton said smiling 'and sit in on the secret meetings.'

'I assure you Anton,' Dumbledore said laughing 'they're not half as exciting as they sound.'

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

That night was the first meeting that Anton attended under the guise of an innocent light wizard. Most of the Order was there, there were also a few people missing that were yet to join the organization that Anton knew more of in the future. The younger members of the Weasley family were being kept in another room, much to their obvious disgust and Fred and George's muttered curses.

The meeting was held in the basement of Sirius's house, Anton descended the steps with curiosity, he had never seen the room in all its glory having only seen the decimated remains. Chairs were set out in a semi-circle in rows of about five by ten, the other half of the circle was taken up by a small platform behind which the emblem of the Order hung- a glittering phoenix. The walls were taken up by large pieces of paper with diagrams and writing scrawled all over them.

Most of the chairs were already taken and a low murmuring filled the air, quite a few waved and smiled at Anton along with greeting him as a full member, he also knew a lot them from when they were guarding him at the Hospital. Anton dropped into a seat at the back next to Sirius and Lupin, Sirius was getting rid of some of his boredom by annoying Snape with talking loudly about greasy hair products.

Dumbledore swept into the room five minutes later and stood on the platform, almost immediately the entire room fell silent.

'Good evening,' he said smiling 'and welcome to another meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, I would like to take this moment to welcome Anton Lukyen as a member, I'm sure he will be a great asset to our cause!'

There was a burst of clapping and quite a few smiles among the group. When the noise had died down Dumbledore began speaking again.

'As I am sure you all know,' he said gravely 'Severus recently became accepted back into the Death Eaters.'

'Round of applause for the slimy git,' Sirius whispered to Lupin and Anton with a smile.

'Severus has been able to find out that Voldemort,' a few shudders followed the name 'he found out that Voldemort is trying to find a way to get to Harry at the safety of his home.'

'Some home,' Mrs Weasley bristled and a small number of people added their agreements.

'You know that Harry must remain with his aunt and uncle for his own protection,' Dumbledore said tiredly 'anyway back to the issue at hand, I believe it would be best if we organised a round the clock watch.'

'Can't we just bring him here?' Sirius asked in a slightly mournful voice.

'That is not an option,' Dumbledore said firmly 'in order for the protection to work he must stay at his family's home for at least three weeks.'

'I volunteer for first watch,' Lupin said loudly.

'Second!' Mad-Eye shouted.

'A schedule will be sorted,' Dumbledore announced 'another issue is that we must keep our presence a secret, we cannot take the risk of Voldemort spotting our plan.'

'I'm with Dumbledore's suggestion,' Kingsley said and this followed a greater amount of voices issuing their own agreements.

Anton just sat there, he didn't want to take the risk that he would change something to extreme. The next task was to divide the tasks that people would do over the coming week, Anton was passed over for any physical task and was instead assigned to character profiles of current Death Eaters, a assignment he was told to spend only an hour at a time on, few people were told they would be guarding a door at the Department of Mysteries this was including Sirius and Lupin.

When the meeting eventually finished at eight, a whole two and a half hours since it had begun, Mrs Weasley, Sirius and Lupin ordered Anton to go to bed after enduring the horrendous tastes of the potions. Anton decided to go without much fuss even though the rest of the Order were about to have a meal and the teenagers were also awake. Anton darted up the stairs his mind whirling over all the things he had learnt during the evening, including just how it was decided that he was to be left in the dark at the start of the summer after his fourth year.

As he entered his room he pulled off his clothes and dumped them on the floor pulling on his pyjama bottoms he was about to get into bed when a sudden burst of white light engulfed him, Anton flung his arm over his face shielding his eyes from the intensity, when he removed his arm and opened his eyes he found he was in a different place altogether. Anton gazed around in shock, he was in a white square shaped room there were no windows and no door, the floor, ceilings and walls were all a luminous white.

Anton attempted to draw fire into his hands as his anxiety worsened but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't conjure the flame.

'Come on!' he muttered to himself in panic.

'It won't work here,' a soft voice said from behind him.

Anton jumped and span round on one foot and dropped to a defensive position. On the opposite side of the room a woman stood, she had an old fashioned simple blue robe on, her long brown hair hung freely around her face and her feet were bare, not one jewel adorned her body. She watched him closely through deep blue eyes, it was impossible to tell her age, one moment she looked young and fresh and the next she would move slightly and her face would age instantly.

'Who are you?' Anton said nervously eyeing up his captor warily.

'I am Fate,' she said simply walking closer to him, her features were calm and tranquil.

'Why am I here then?' Anton asked cautiously his body relaxing slightly as he realised who she was, or rather what she was.

'You are here because you were sent back and now you have to know the rules,' she replied.

'What rules?' Anton said relaxing his body completely 'and who sent me back?'

'Fate sent you back,' she answered 'we were unhappy with how things turned out, we decided to adjust history.'

'You can do that?' Anton said surprised.

'We can do that,' conceded Fate 'and we did do that.'

'What's the catch?' Anton said suspiciously.

'Catch?' Fate said curiously 'Catch is not something we are familiar with, please rephrase your question.'

'What's the snag? What's the drawback?' Anton rearticulated.

'It was not possible to send just you back,' she answered 'we sent another as well, to preserve the time balance.'

'Pettigrew right?' Anton said feeling slightly relieved.

'Not the rat,' she stepped closer 'we had to send someone of equal power from the Dark Side.'

'Who?' Anton said fear filling him once more.

'We cannot say,' she replied 'that is for you to discover.'

'That's not fair,' Anton said angrily 'I deserve to know who we are dealing with!'

'No you don't,' she said 'we are under no obligation to reveal who we sent back.'

'Then what else can you tell me?' Anton asked miserably.

'We spoke of rules,' she continued 'these are your rules.'

'And if I break them?' Anton asked.

'You would be unwise to break these rules,' she said evenly.

'you are forbidden from speaking of where you came from, you are forbidden from revealing your true name, you are now only known as Anton Lukyen, you are forbidden from revealing the name of the other time traveller or the names of the people you know in the future, they are known only as the aliases you had in the future. If you attempt to call anyone you knew previously by their original name you will be punished.'

'Anything else?' Anton asked sarcastically.

'You are obliged to fight for the Light Side,' she said unperturbed 'all of this is for the greater good to succeed. There is also no place for you in the already changed future, you must live your life in this time.'

'Is that it?' Anton said this time more seriously.

'That is all for now,' she inclined her head slightly 'if we believe there is anything else we will summon you.'

'I really appreciate that,' Anton said tiredly.

The woman disappeared in a glow of light leaving Anton on his own in the room. He waited for a few minutes in perfect silence waiting for Fate to take him back, time stretched and Anton found it impossible to say just exactly how long he was kept waiting before they eventually sent him back.

Finally the powerful glow re-enveloped Anton and went it dissipated he found himself back in his room at No. 12 Grimmauld Place, Anton noticed immediately the daylight leaking in through his closed curtains grabbing a clock off the bedside table he realised with shock that it was almost nine in the morning, he had been away for over twelve hours and it felt like he had been awake the entire time.

After standing under the freezing spray of his shower for two minutes Anton still felt drained, he toyed briefly with the idea that he should go back to bed but came to the conclusion that it may look suspicious. Instead he pulled on some jeans and a T-shirt and trekked down the stairs in search of food.

Anton got as far as the bottom of the stairs before the exhaustion caught up with him, he half fell half slid to sit on the last step of the stairwell. Resting his head on the banisters he let his eyes droop closed slightly, it wasn't long before the peaceful silence of the house was broken by footsteps approaching. Anton didn't bother opening his eyes as the footsteps suddenly sped up and a murmured curse fell on Anton's tired ears.

A hand dropped on his shoulder and shook him softly, when Anton didn't open his eyes the shaking got progressively harder.

'Anton wake up!' the owner of the hand commanded.

Anton cracked his eyes open a fraction, after realising it was Lupin doing the shaking he promptly shut them again.

'What happened?' Sirius's voice said urgently and more footsteps hurried towards him.

'I don't know,' Lupin replied worriedly 'when I came into the hall he was just sitting here.'

'Is he supposed to be that pale?' Sirius said tensely.

'Somehow I doubt grey is a healthy shade,' Lupin said uneasily 'we should call a Healer.'

'I'm fine,' Anton managed to mumble out 'just tired.'

'Yeh and I'm the Queen of England,' Sirius said disbelievingly 'we should get him some help.'

'Just sleep,' Anton groaned out his head slumping further down the banister.

'We should get him to bed,' Lupin said grabbing one of Anton's arms and beginning to pull him up.

'Then we should call the hospital,' Sirius suggested taking hold of Anton's other arm 'make sure there isn't something that's gone wrong.'

'I'm not broken!' Anton struggled out.

'Of course not,' Lupin said soothingly as they hoisted Anton back up the staircase.

As they made their way to Anton's room he distinctly heard Sirius mutter to Lupin

'I'll call for Healer Rowley.'

Anton was so weary he was unable even to groan audibly, succumbing to the tiredness he was asleep before he was even carried to the top of the stairs.

Anton fell immediately into a nightmare world, the darkness overwhelmed him almost instantly and he found himself back in the future. The sky was dark with not even one star to light the permanent night sky, Anton stepped forward through a deserted and ravaged street. Bodies lined the road, some of them were suspended on poles making them sway in the wind. A breath caught in Anton's throat as a figure stepped into view at the end of the street. Her long blonde blue hair glowed out in the dimness and her pale features were visible from the distance that Anton stood at.

He took an involuntary step backwards as she moved further into the street, Anton reached to his back and drew the familiar hilt of his sword, the woman at the end of the street drew her own and raised the silver blade high into the air where it switched to blue. Anton echoed the movement the black of his blade converting to red. Lowering her blade she pointed the cerulean sword at Anton, summoning water she sent a powerful burst at Anton, he felt his eyes widen in shock and his breathing dramatically increased.

Just as the water was an inch from hitting him Anton tore himself out of the dream with a huge intake of oxygen. His eyes flashed open and he sat up straight in his bed with a small shout. At once the unwelcome face of Healer Rowley appeared in front of him waving her wand.

'He is exhausted,' she said ignoring the fact Anton was awake, and awake by less than pleasant means.

'How did that happen?' Sirius said concerned, he came to stand next to Healer Rowley.

'It can mean only that he has not been getting enough sleep,' she replied sharply 'and I did specify that he must get over fifteen hours a day!'

'He was supposed to be' Sirius said irritably 'we sent him to bed at eight last night'

'Well he obviously didn't sleep,' Rowley said 'and now he's paying the price.'

Anton felt a wave of sleep beginning to wash over him once more and he flopped back onto the pillows.

'He was definitely asleep,' Mrs Weasley said entering the room 'I checked on him at eight and he was fast asleep, and then I checked again at eight the next morning and he was still asleep, the sensors on his door indicated he had not gotten up all night.'

'You set a sensor on my door!' Anton said the shock causing him to sit back up.

'After the night you snuck back down we thought it would be for the best while you're still recovering,' Mrs Weasley said apologetically looking down at Anton.

'Gee thanks,' he muttered sarcastically.

'If that's the truth then maybe it we should re-admit him,' the Healer said uneasily.

'No thank you,' Anton said disgustedly 'the only reason I'm so tired is because when I fall asleep I manage to wake myself up again within about half an hour' he half lied.

'And why would that be?' the Healer asked unconvinced.

'When you see the people you love die, it tends to stay in your mind,' said Anton acerbically.

'There is no need to be like that,' Healer Rowley replied 'we have all lost people in this war.'

'I dream of them every night,' Anton said quietly 'when I close my eyes I see them all again, I see what happened to them.'

'Then there is only one thing I can prescribe,' she said less brusquely 'I think a dreamless sleep potion would be for the best.'

'On top of all the other rubbish you're making me drink,' Anton said despairingly as he watched Sirius, Mrs Weasley and Healer Rowley all give each other subtle looks.

'So how much sleep extra is he going to need?' Mrs Weasley asked anxiously.

'Well if he drinks the potion now and if he wakes up in the night,' she said pouring some liquid into a goblet and handing it to Anton 'I would also insist that he drinks this potion every night while his body is recovering, maybe even for longer.'

'Oh this is just fabulous,' Anton said taking the goblet and regarding the contents pensively.

'Drink it,' ordered Rowley.

Anton took a quick swallow of the liquid and handing the goblet back, the sleep he had been suppressing enveloped him and slumping back he closed his eyes and for a rare event he fell into a dreamless sleep free from Voldemort and his servants.

As soon as Anton was dead to the world Sirius pulled the covers back over him and turned to the two women.

'Should someone stay with him?' he asked.

'No that's not necessary,' she shook her head 'though I will insist that he gets checked on every couple of hours.'

'We'll make sure of it,' Mrs Weasley said waiting for the Healer to finish packing up her bag.

As they exited the room a few minutes later they never noticed the droplets of water that clung to the mirror.