Chapter 16

Three years later

The birds, who, happily for their own peace of mind and personal comfort, were in blissful ignorance of what was yet to come of cold winds and heavy rainstorms, instead they took pleasure in letting their wings lead them through tree branches and bushes surrounding the main terrace of the castle, where the Duchess was having an early breakfast, awaiting a certain person to join her. Her lips parted as if to embrace gently the tip of her cup of tea, but refused to take a sip for she was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming her way, it was those of a finely dressed young man, whose silky black hair managed to cover one of his eyes. As he reached his mother, he gave her a peck on the cheek and sat in the chair opposite hers.

"Good Morning Mother." He practically whispered.

"Oh Orion must you frighten me always! You never wake up this early! I thought some intruder was coming my way, I almost choked on my tea!" The Duchess exclaimed.

"I believe the correct response would be, Good morning to you too, son." Orion said.

Hestia sighed and said: "I'm sorry son, I've been rather paranoid these past few days, we live in dangerous times, yet there are ones even more frightening yet to come."

"Voldemort does not scare me mother."Orion replied coldly.

Hestia looked even more concerned now that she heard his response on the matter, she sighed again and tried to calm herself, just before saying: "Advanced magic lessons and impressive dueling skills are not necessarily sufficient to save your neck! "He" is still in an incapable state, but that doesn't mean his death eaters aren't trying everything to help him regain his form, you heard about all these incidents in London, both muggle and magical I must add…"

The young Lord rolled his eyes and replied: "I defeated him during my first year, and second, and I could have during my third one but he didn't even bother to show up. You see? I am perfectly capable of handling him!"

Hestia was now outraged, but then again anger doesn't solve problems so she replied calmly: "You let your ego get the better of you! You know that he wasn't in his right form when he appeared during your first two years at Hogwarts! And his death eaters weren't with him…"

"Mother please!" Orion interrupted "Death eaters you say? I remember perfectly that Lucius Malfoy was one of those, and he is still nowhere to be found since that incident 3 years ago! You know why? Because he's a coward, just like his little friends, as well as his master!"

The duchess opened her mouth to talk when a house-elf popped in and said: "Master, It is time for you to go to Hogwarts, the fireplace and floo powder are ready, as well as your luggage."

"Alright then! Farewell mother." He gave her a small kiss on the cheek and went off.

As he stepped out of the fireplace, he found himself in the headmaster's office.

"Hello , welcome back." Dumbledore greeted him.

"It's good to be back, Professor, I trust you had a good summer?" Orion responded politely.

"As good as it can be, I hope yours was better than mine, now go to your common room, your luggage will be transported there by a house-elf." Dumbledore ended as Orion headed for the door.

The Gryffindor common room was filled with people who were ready to go to breakfast. He was first greeted by Hermione who gave him a bone-crushing hug he gladly returned.

"Why didn't you come to the welcoming feast last night? Why did you wait until today to show up?"

"I missed you too Hermione!" He answered sheepishly "Well Father was going on a business trip to France, he's staying there for 2 weeks, he wanted to spend the day with me before he and I both go off. So where's Draco?"

Hermione shrugged "Must have woken up early, he's not at his dormitory."

"And Neville?" Orion asked

"In the great hall, he couldn't wait for you, too hungry he claimed to be, but I suspect he went there for another reason." Hermione answered

"And what would that be?" Orion asked

"To stare at Luna all morning! He's smitten with her." She said while trying not to laugh.

"Alright then let's go, I'm starving." Orion said as he and Hermione exited the common room and headed for the Great Hall.