• • • • •
Orion pushed past the groups of people and ran towards the direction where she saw Sebastian fall. Her ears were ringing and she wasn't sure if it was from the loud crash of the disco ball or all the terrified screaming she kept hearing in her ear. Part of her wanted to join them, fall to her knees and just scream her lungs out but she knew she had to keep fighting.
The Great Hall began to clear out and she finally spotted Dumbledore, who was using a levicorpus spell to levitate Sebastian's body towards the back entrance.
"Professor!" She called as she rushed towards the pair and lifted both her hands up, she chanted the spell in her head and focused her thoughts of the wand movement of the spell. She didn't think she'd need to her wand for a dance but clearly she was wrong.
She helped the Professor levitate Sebastian's body over the various heads of the alarmed students and into a secret passageway that was hidden behind one of the tapestry's that hung on the wall.
They were both quiet, lost in their worries and thoughts as they quickly walked down the narrow passageway and up it's steep staircase. They made their way to a dead end where a stone statue stood.
The professor mumbled something incoherently to said statue and it moved aside, the wall rumbling as it opened. The pair stepped through the opening and right into the hallway that led to the Headmaster's office.
"Professor this passageway led us to the opposite side of the castle! How are we supposed to save him if the medical wing is all the way across!" Orion began to cry, she hated showing emotion but she couldn't help it. She really liked Sebastian and now he was going to die because of her.
"We can't take him to Madam Pomfrey, I'm afraid she up to her toes dealing with students who were harmed during the attack. We're on our own." Dumbledore mumbled his password to the statue that covered his office door before they both levitated Sebastian into said office.
Orion hovered anxiously over the professor while he worked on removing the shards of glass from Sebastian's body and closing the wounds. The door slammed open and the four Marauders marched in. Dumbledore completely ignored their intrusion and kept working.
"Professor, I sent everyone into their chambers for the night and told them you'd address the situation tomorrow morning. Those inside of the medical wing are going to stay the night there but other than that everyone is alright." James said before his eyes lingered over an unconscious Sebastian.
"Everyone but him, it seems." Sirius mumbled and Orion shushed them.
The four boys gulped and walked over to the distraught girl to keep her company. Remus and Sirius sat together on the couch, holding hands. A gesture that led Orion to believe that Remus had finally fessed up, that and they were both sporting fresh hickeys. Even Peter had a hickey on his neck and James only had swollen lips. So all four boys had gotten some action it seemed. Orion hummed to herself before she felt her stomach churn.
She looked over at where Sebastian laid, on top of the Headmaster's desk and she felt tears well up in her eyes once again.
Orion paced, she hovered and bit her nails. It was a cycle. She'd hover, she'd walk and then she'd sit and bite her nails. This went on for thirty minutes until Sirius grabbed her and sat the anxious girl on his lap, his arms wrapped around her tightly to keep her in place. All four boys sent her looks of pity that numbed Orion until finally, the professor let out a loud sigh.
"What is it? Will he be okay?" She said as she jumped up, pushing past Sirius' embrace and rushing over to the Headmaster's desk.
The professor sent Orion a long hard look that made her fall to her knees.
"No!" She cried and she felt familiar arms wrap around her waist and pull her close.
"I'll get McGonagall." James said quickly before he rushed out of the room with Peter in tow.
"All hope is not lost child, there's one thing that can save him, you can save him." Dumbledore said quietly and Orion looked up.
"What?" Orion asked sharply. "What can I do? It's not like I have healing powers!"
"No," Dumbledore looked over at Remus before glancing back at Orion, "but you can give him healing abilities."
He wanted her to bite Sebastian. He wanted her to use her inner magic to pull out her lycan side and give Sebastian the bite.
"No way! That could kill him!" She rejected and Dumbledore sighed.
"He's already dying young Orion." Orion felt her lip tremble before she stepped forward.
"Healing abilities?" She heard Remus mutter to himself behind her and she placed both hands on Sebastian's pale body.
Dumbledore had seemed to close his wounds but not heal them, Sebastian was a ghostly white and his lips seemed to be turning blue. Orion felt Sirius' hand on her shoulder, in silemt support before she let her wolf surface.
She hadn't shifted in months, ever since she'd accidentally transferred part of her wolf magic to her coffee table she had no longer been forced to shift by the full moon. That's why she hadn't even bothered with going to the shack every month anymore. She was afraid if she let her wolf take over the reigns of her body that she'd lose control and hurt everyone in the room but she was determined to help Sebastian.
She could now feel her lycan side in the back of her mind, watching but letting her stay in control as Orion felt her fangs extend. She could see in the reflection of the shiny desk surface that her eyes began to glow a deep blue and she heard Remus gasp. Orion gulped before she pulled Sebastian's hand to her mouth and bit on his wrist.
Immediately Sebastian woke up and sat up, screaming. In pain. In agony. Orion bit down harder, the metallic taste of blood filling her taste buds and she gagged. Sirius stepped forward and pushed his body back down and the office doors bursted open.
"What is she doing?!" Orion could McGonagall's voice scream from behind her.
"Petrificus Totallus!" Sirius pointed his wand at Sebastian who fell back down. The screaming stopped.
Orion finally stopped biting down on Sebastian's wrist before she let go and ran towards the nearest waste basket. She leaned over it and emptied all contents inside of her stomach before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She looked away and back at Sebastian's body, his bloody arm hanging off the desk and the bile rushed up once more.
She gagged and threw up, Sirius rushing over and holding her hand as she threw up over and over again. When she was done she began to cry into his chest, his hand rubbing her back in an attempt to comfort her.
"He should be alright but I think we should have him taken to Madam Pomfrey just in case." Dumbledore told McGonagall in a hushed whisper, that Orion overheard thanks to her hearing.
"The girl too." McGonagall said. "I'm quite worried for her, you promised you wouldn't push her over the edge, she's just a child Albus."
"A child with great potential, you heard what Trelawney predicted." Dumbledore whispered back.
"That looney bin?" McGonagall said abruptly. "She's nuts, she says all types of ridiculous things all the time"
Orion felt a sudden excruciating headache surface and another presence in her mind, like when she summoned her wolf moments ago but just as the feeling came, it left.
"You have a letter for me, Orion?" Dumbledore asked calmly and Orion nodded, annoyed. He'd used legilimency on her to read her mind or check the contents of it more so.
Orion got up and staggered towards Dumbledore, Sirius helping her walk towards him and she handed him the letter.
Dumbledore took the letter and skimmed through it's contents, McGonagall reading it over his shoulder. She tutted and rolled her eyes.
"Hogwarts is way safer than Hogsmeade. We can't send her there!" She said and Dumbledore frowned.
"They're trying to kill her Minerva, you were right I can't keep pushing her and letting her stay would be pushing her into danger." He replied calmly.
"No! You're not sending her away!" Sirius said and Remus nodded, coming to his side.
"Yeah, We'll protect her." Remus said, casting a worried glance over at Orion.
Orion gulped and fixed her posture.
"I'm fine professor and if there really is someone after me, after the order then I think it'd be wiser for me to stay. Going away would only put my family in danger and staying here I'd be under Hogwarts' protection, and I could aid in finding the nasty Slytherin behind this. I bet it's Regulus." Orion said bitterly and she felt Sirius go stiff beside her.
"That is a heavy accusation miss Rosier." McGonagall said and Orion frowned.
"It's him, I'm sure of it. I just need proof and I'll be dammed if I don't find it." She said before stalking out of the room.
She heard McGonagall calling after her but she ignored her and walked hurriedly towards the Griffindor tower, all she wanted to do was take a hot shower and sleep the exhaustion away. Then she'd go and visit Bash in the morning and beg for his forgiveness for turning him.
Orion walked a few feet past a corridor when another excruciating headache hit her but it was different than the others. She clutched her head in pain before she heard a cold low voice not too far away.
". . . rip . . . tear . . . kill . . ." Orion felt her heartbeat quicken and a feeling of dread washed over her. She began to walk quickly towards the voice.
Orion could hear Sirius and Remus jogging to catch up with her but it only made her quicken her pace.
"Orion stop!" Remus yelled behind her.
". . . soo hungry . . . for so long . . ."
"ORION!" Sirius yelled as he grabbed her wrist and spun her around.
"SHHH!" She shushed the two boys who were speaking too loudly but the voice stopped. James and Peter appeared seemingly out of no where and rushed towards the trio.
"What going on?" James said and Orion looked at him confused.
"How did you find us?" She asked. They were in an empty corridor on the third level that was rarely used.
"We used the map." Peter said and Orion frowned, not understanding but decided against asking.
"Orion, what are doing?" Remus asked her seriously, returning to the matter at hand.
"Can't you guys hear it?" She asked them and all four boys looked at her like she was bonkers.
"What?" James asked and Orion gulped.
"The voice." She said quietly and she could hear their heartbeats quicken simultaneously.
"I think she's crazy." She heard Peter whisper to Remus. "Should we knock her out and or just run?" She glared at him.
". . . kill . . . time to kill . . ."
"There it is again!" She said abruptly as she shushed the boys.
"You're the only one talking!" Peter said and Orion kicked him in the shin.
"Ow!"
". . . I smell blood. . . . I SMELL BLOOD!" Her stomach lurched -
"Its going to kill someone, come on!" She yelled before running towards the voice. She heard four pairs of footsteps running behind her and a familiar scream tear through a nearby corridor before it went deadly silent.
"No!" Orion yelled, recognizing said scream.
It wasn't until she ran into the empty corridor on the floor that she finally stopped. First James rammed into her and made her stumble forward a few feet, the Sirius rammed into both of them along with Remus and Peter. The whole group, everyone tangled in eachothers limbs and grunting in pain. Orion kicked her leg in an attempt to be free when she heard Sirius yell in pain.
"Ow Orion! You're wearing heels!" He reminded her and she frowned, just then noticing how her feet ached from running in said heels.
She got out from the dog pile of humans and pulled the heels off, discarding them on the floor.
"It's empty." James said as he looked around the deserted corridor.
"Yeah and we didn't hear anything!" Peter said as he glared at Orion for wasting his time.
"Something was here, I swear it! I could have sworn I heard-" she stopped, tears of frustration welling up in her eyes. Maybe peter was right, was she going crazy?
"Heard what!" Peter snapped at her.
"Lyra!" She yelled back and the pair began to argue.
"Stop!" James yelled, "this is ridiculous!"
"No, Orion is right." Remus said suddenly as he looked down the dark corridor, "something or someone was here, I can smell blood." He said.
Orion sniffed the air and froze, Remus was right. The scent of fresh blood wafted through the air.
Sirius pulled out his wand and muttered Lumos, casting a light spell. Everyone mimicked him except for Orion who didn't have a wand and shooting light out of her hands wasn't much of an option at the moment.
"Look!" Sirius said suddenly as he pointed down the corridor.
Something was shining on the wall ahead. They approached slowly, squinting through the darkness and the dim light from their wands. Orion could feel a knot forming itself in her heart.
Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the dim lit wands.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
As they edged nearer, Orion almost slipped - there was a large puddle of water on the floor and she was barefoot.
They inched toward the message, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it.
Then they saw it.
Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.
For a few seconds, no one moved. The Orion screamed.
Right underneath Mrs.Norris was Lyra, who's eyes were as wide as saucers, her glasses cracked at it's frame and her mouth opened in a silent scream.
"No! No!" Orion yelled as she rushed towards her falled friend and laid her down on her lap. She immediately checked for a pulse and felt a regular heart beat.
"MURDERS! MURDERS! MURDER IN THE CORRIDOR!" Peeves the poltergeist shouted at the top of his lungs as he floated over the five teenagers and pointed at Orion.
"Shut up you dammed poltergeist!" Sirius yelled at Peeves, who only screamed louder.
Attracted no doubt by his shouts, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the small crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror.
"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked.
And his popping eyes fell on the group.
"You!" he screeched as he pointed at Orion.
"And you! You, you and You!" He pointed accusingly at all five of them."You've all murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll -"
"Argus!" Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by McGonagall who was levitating an unconscious Sebastian with her wand.
Dumbledore swept past the group and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.
"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch.
"What about them?!" Argus asked angrily and Dumbledore shook his head.
"I think the students have been through enough trauma for the night, however I will question them in the morning, off to bed everyone." Dumbledore ordered and Orion pulled Lyra's body closer.
"Minerva?" Dumbledore asked McGonagall a silent question with his eyes as he looked from her towards Lyra.
She nodded.
"Mr.Potter?" She asked and James hummed his response.
"Seeing as you are in fact head boy, I think it is your duty to help me take Ms. Jones to the hospital wing seeing as I'm already occupied with one body." She said referring to Lyra.
"Of course." He said as he walked over to Orion who tightened her grip on Lyra and frowned up at him.
"I'll take good care of her." She glared at him.
"I promise." She let go of Lyra and he used the Levicorpus spell to levitate her.
"Ms. Rosier, I know you've had a rough night, almost dying and all but you need to act like a prefect and escort these gentlemen to the Griffindor tower." McGonagall said before she stalked away with James following quickly behind her.
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Orion straightened up in her seat, her nails digging into the palm of her hands and drawing blood.
"He's lying! We didn't do anything!" Sirius yelled at Filch who had just accused the five teenagers of nursing his cat.
"Mrs.Norris isn't dead Argus." Dumbledore said calmly.
"She's not?" James asked as he sat up in his chair.
"Then why was she all stiff?" Peter asked.
"She's been petrified." Dumbledore explained calmly."But how, I cannot say. . . ."
"Ask her!" shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tearstained face to Orion. "She'd just petrified the girl too!"
"Petri-what?" Peter asked.
"She didn't do bull, you crazy old man!" Sirius yelled at Filch who glared him.
"You're all a group of-of-PETRIFIERS!" He accused.
"You just made that up!" Peter yelled.
"None of them could have done this," said Dumbledore firmly. "It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced -"
"They did it, They did it!" Filch spat, his pouchy face purpling. "You
saw what they wrote on the wall!"
"We never touched Mrs. Norris!" Orion said loudly, uncomfortably
aware of everyone looking at her, it was the first time she'd spoken all morning.
"Rubbish!" snarled Filch. "I suggest, Headmaster, that they're not being entirely truth-ful," he said. "It might be a good idea if they were all deprived of certain privileges until they are ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel Potter should be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team and stripped of his head boy position! Orion should be stripped of her prefect position and the other three should just be given infinate amounts of detention for all I care until they're all ready to be honest!"
All four boys immediately stood from their chairs and yelled in complaint.
"Really, Argus" said Professor McGonagall sharply, "I see no reason to punish these children. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick and neither was the girl. There is no evidence at all that any of these kids have done anything wrong."
"You're just saying that because you're head of Griffindor house! I've heard the rumors that surround this girl! It's obvious she's dangerous and now not one, but TWO students have been attacked directly and my cat gets hurt! I say we expell her for her crimes and the boys for being accomplices!" Filch yelled.
"Innocent until proven guilty, Argus" Dumbledore said firmly.
Filch looked furious.
"My cat has been Petrified!" he shrieked, his eyes popping. "I want to see some punishment!"
"We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore patiently.
"Professer Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris and Ms.Jones. But she's informed me it'll take about a month before they're both up and ready." Dumbledore said before he sent Orion a look of reassurance.
"You may go," Dumbledore dismissed everyone in the room. "Except you, Ms.Rosier. I'd very much like to have a word with you."
Orion nodded and avoided the curious eyes of the boys as they walked out of the Headmaster's office.
Dumbledore casted a quick Muffliato spell, to avoid eavesdropping and turned to look at Orion directly.
She quickly began to explain to him the strange events from last night, excluding the cold voice she'd heard and followed. She told him her thoughts and left no detail out until finally she finished and took a deep breath. Dumbledore remained silent for a second before he nodded to himself.
He grabbed a piece of parchment and scribbled something on it before dropping the quill and walking over to the bookshelf. He flipped through a few pages before he closed the book and put it away.
"For the time being, I suggest you take it easy. Lyra will be alright in a months time and Sebastian will be waking up shortly. Because for the odd reason that you are no longer a full werewolf, when you bit him and transferred the venom he didn't absorb the whole curse, seeing as you no longer inhabit it. So I believe he, like you will not have to shift every not and will be able to call on his lycan side." He said.
"Like an animagus?" Orion asked and Dumbledore shook his head.
"An animagus can shape shift at will but you can't fully change, only call upon the animal inside you and heighten your senses a bit. You will be stronger, faster and naturally more advanced. It may sound like a blessing but you will feel more deeply than a regular wizard. Tread lightly Orion and help Sebastian with all you can, he may not be on the suffering end if the stick but that doesn't mean he's on the happy end either." Dumbledore said.
"But sir, what about the message on the wall? I mean, what does it even mean?" Orion asked and Dumbledore frowned.
"Nothing you need to worry about." He asked and Orion's eyes widened.
"You are dismissed." He said and she nodded, gulping. "Oh and Orion?"
"Yes sir?"
"Try and keep last night's events a secret and be sure to tell that to the boys as well."
She stood up from her chair and when Dumbledore turned his back to scan through another book she peeked at the parchment in his desk.
'Chamber of secrets' and 'Basilisk' were written on the parchment messily and Orion quickly exited. As soon as she closed the office door behind her, all four boys pushed off the wall and stared at her.
"Well?" Sirius asked and Orion bit her lip nervously.
"We need to talk, somewhere we won't be overheard." She said as she looked around the deserted corridor.
James shifted in his feet uneasily, "alright but make it quick, I've got head boy duties." He said and Peter scoffed at him.
"You don't have to go lad, we can just fill you in later." He said.
"Or not at all." Orion said cutting in, "I mean what's the point of you're going to be too busy to help us anyways?"
James frowned at her. "I'll make time." He said. "Now, let's go because I actually want to have breakfast for once."
The group shuffled into an empty classroom and Orion casted the Muffliato spell Dumbledore had used.
She took a deep breath before she filled them in on her conversation with the Headmaster and everything from last night.
"Do you think I should have told him about the voice I heard?" She asked the boys before she sat on top of a desk and sighed.
"No." Sirius said firmly. "I mean he was hiding the chamber thing from us and the basilisk, whatever that is."
"Well whatever that thing is, I don't plan on finding out." Said Peter, he made his way towards the door before he was snatched backwards from the back of his robes by James.
"Whatever that thing is, we're going to stop it." James said, "I'm head boy and it's one of my duties to keep everyone safe and this thing-this creature is endangering students."
"Is it really though?" Remus mumbled to himself.
"Yes!" Orion said loudly, "it is! I mean who's to say it doesn't keep going around and petrifying more students? I heard what it said and it said it was hungry! But as far as I'm concerned no one died last night so it must still be hungry." She said.
"Okay, so we find this thing and we take it down." Sirius said, "but what about the Chamber? What does that have to do with anything?" He asked and Orion bit her lip.
"Well whatever this creature is, maybe that's where it lives?" Remus offered and everyone went silent, deep in thought.
"We'll do our research and then discuss it afterwards." Orion said, "I'll do it seeing as studying has become my second best friend these days."
"Then it's settled." James said, "let's get this son of a bitch."
NOT EDITED
PUBLISHED 1-27-21