Orion falls from the heavens

Voldemort looked down at the stump that had been his wand hand, cold fury in his eyes. Nothing had gone the way it was supposed to have. True, his creation had caused some terror, but his forces had been defeated in battle. He lost his hand in a duel with a pretender to his heritage.

Worse, he knew that his servants were starting to talk among themselves. They didn't know the scope of the Mark on their arms. It let him summon them, it even let him hurt them with just a touch of his wand. But it also let him know when they gathered without his permission.

Just such a meeting was occurring now. Concentrating on the Marks, he could hear the conversations. Orion Black is making a move to replace me...He suppressed a snarl and apparated wandlessly to the Avery home.

He could hear the conversation through the door. "If Fawkes is the real Lord Slytherin, then we should work to bring him to our side." Voldemort knew the oily voice of Thurston Avery well, he was one of his politicians in the Wizengamot.

"He'll never join us," argued Orion Black, "It would be better if the House Slytherin remained headless. Our families have filled that vacuum admirably. The Dark Lord, while powerful was bested. We must work together to remove Harry Fawkes from discussion among our allied Houses."

"And you would be the one to start that Black? Would you be the maypole we would gather around?" Avery pressed, "The Dark Lord is more powerful than you."

"Perhaps, but he has been rather grievously injured. We wish the strongest of us to rule over the weaker, correct? I'd maintain that as the Dark Lord has been humbled in battle, we need, at the very least, a new figurehead to act in his place." Orion argued.

Then the door flew open as Voldemort used a wandless banishing charm to open them, "Such lack of faith Orion. You seem to think that your Lord is unable to continue his work without a proper period of rest." Voldemort smiled then, "Perhaps you are right. Perhaps a period of recuperation will renew me."

From his robes, Voldemort removed a locket. "This is the Locket of Salazar Slytherin, I have placed an enchantment on it that will serve to allow you to act as the figurehead for our circle." He handed it to Orion, who seemed reluctant to take it but, seemingly of its own volition he took it.

"Put it on," Voldemort said quietly. Orion's hands trembled as he slid the necklace over his head. "Open" Voldemort hissed, watching the locket click open and a black vapor billow forth. The vapor flowed upwards, going into the nostrils and mouth of the now frozen wizard.

Voldemort took a deep breath before drawing a silver dagger from his robes and plunging it into his chest. He collapsed at the same moment as Orion before the stunned Thurston Avery.

After a moment, Orion stood back up. His eyes glowed red and when he spoke, it was with the voice of Voldemort, "See, Avery, what happens to someone with ideas beyond their station." The features of the former Heir of House Black began to melt away, revealing a rejuvenated Voldemort standing there, "Dispose of that and then prepare your home. We will host a meeting and purge those who think they are more capable."

That was when Harry woke up with a gasp in his bed at the Hogwarts Infirmary. He hadn't had a vision like this since coming back to the past. His gasp of surprise startled his newest guest.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Minerva said, jumping from her seat and moving to his side. She put a hand on his forehead as if checking for a fever.

"I had a...vision I suppose. Voldemort put a locket around the neck of Orion Black, he commanded it to open and when it did this black vapor began to pour out. The vapor went up the nose of Orion Black, then Voldemort stabbed himself. When they collapsed, Voldemort was in the body of Orion." Harry explained, sitting back on his pillows, "It was like he shoved his soul into the man." He drew in a deep breath then turned, looking at the dark sky behind the windows of the Infirmary, "What time is it?"

Minerva drew her wand and cast a tempus charm, "A little after midnight. I wanted to see you before I went to my quarters. I must have dozed off in the chair..." She smiled softly, her face reddening slightly, "Your students miss you. The Lady Slytherin is much less forgiving than her husband." She said, "I overheard my seventh-year students complaining about one of her precision drills."

Harry nodded, "I'll be with them as soon as I can hold my wand without feeling faint." He frowned thinking about the vision, "Do you know of anything like that? The locket I mean? Something like that, an artifact that can move souls has to be in a book somewhere right?"

She thought for a moment, "This would be a conversation best had with Albus. He would have a better idea than I would." She stood, "I suppose I should go now. Please try to get some rest, alright?" When he nodded, she leaned in and kissed him softly before walking out.

She made it roughly halfway to her quarters before the fact that she'd kissed him filtered through. She had just kissed Harry Fawkes, the man she had done her best to repress her attraction to. Morgana have mercy, I kissed him...and I enjoyed it. She paused in her steps, guilt flooding into her. I kissed my closest friend, a married man, I was at his wedding, hell I was his 'best man'!

She leaned against the wall outside of her classroom. Rubbing her temples, she tried to process what happened. Why did I kiss him? I know I have this attraction to him...but I thought I was better than this. But she wasn't better. She knew this now. She knew she wanted him. She also knew she couldn't have him. Not as a wife, not as a Consort...I don't want just a line-continuation contract either...if I were to have him, it would be to have him completely...

Minerva knew that she couldn't have him completely. Decision made, she would apologize to him in the morning and chalk up what happened to her being tired.

That didn't make her bed any less empty though. As she climbed into it, it felt far too big. Normally her bed was the proper size, but today with the memory of kissing Harry fresh, her bed felt as if it was the size of the room itself. She stared at the ceiling, counting the stones usually worked to help her fall asleep.

She counted them all, ten times before her eyes began to feel heavy.

Why did she have to fall for someone like Harry? He was the first man she'd really paid attention to since, well, since the day she had stopped responding to the letters of her handsome farm boy back home. He was a muggle, she was a witch. She knew from watching her parents that a relationship of that kind was too difficult to make work easily.

Finding out that he married had hurt Minerva more than she had expected. She hadn't wanted him to wait forever. But the knowledge that he was married and had found someone else to love should make her happy for him, but she felt empty.

She fell into an uneasy sleep.

Scene Break

The next afternoon Harry had two visitors. Sirius, along with Lily, had come to see him. Seeing his future godfather holding the hand of his mother had Harry concerned, but for the first time, the fact that he was from a different timeline gave him comfort. There was never supposed to be a Harry Potter in this timeline, so maybe in this reality, Sirius and Lily got together...

It was still somewhat uncomfortable though.

"Everyone in Gryffindor is talking about your fight in Hogsmeade!" Sirius exclaimed, "When McGonagall came back with the students they all ran to their Houses."

"Not just in Gryffindor, Severus said that nearly every Slytherin sent an owl home." Lily amended as Sirius nodded.

"Remus' Hufflepuff sent one out too, I'm surprised you haven't seen any letters yet..." Sirius said to him, "Cissy is keeping your mail for you, isn't she? Or is it Professor Bellatrix?" He teased the older wizard.

"Actually it's your mother. Ever since she brought Regulus to live with us, she's been handling all of my 'business mail'." Harry explained. Regulus Black had been the 'lost' Black, basically ignored by his parents, luckily being out of Grimmauld Place and surrounded by Bellatrix and Andromeda managed to blunt some of Walburga's influence.

Harry decided against telling Sirius about the vision regarding the death of Orion. "So," He said to Sirius, "I understand that once I am up and running again, you and James Potter have a detention with me. Would you like to tell me about it now?"

"It was my fault Professor Fawkes," Lily said, "Po- James threw a fit that I hugged Sirius after Sirius was nice enough to try and cheer me up. I nearly slapped him when he acted like he could claim me like the last packet of crisps." She looked over at Sirius, "I should have slapped him."

"Lily, while seeing James get smacked would have been hilarious on many levels, I wouldn't want to see you get in trouble. James isn't an awful guy, he just needs to mature." Sirius said to her, squeezing her hand, "I wasn't much better...if he'd come downstairs before I did, he would have done the same thing."

"Yes. But you wouldn't have been ready to throw a punch if he'd hugged me." Lily pointed out, "You also wouldn't have caused a scene in the Great Hall because he had the audacity to have breakfast with me while we discussed potions." She smiled at him.

Harry was saved from a further contemplation of his mother and godfather being a couple when Bellatrix appeared at the door with Albus. "Sirius, Miss Evans, I think the Headmaster is here to speak with me," Harry said as Bellatrix went to his side.

Albus stood at the door until Sirius and Lily left the room, "Minerva spoke to me. This vision you had is rather troubling. I have taken the liberty of writing to our mutual friend in the Department of Mysteries. They will, no doubt, wish to speak with you soon."

"What could it be?" Harry asked, "How did that vapor turn Orion Black into Tom Riddle?"

"I have a theory, one that I dearly wish to be false...do you remember ever hearing the word 'Horcrux' in your previous timeline?" Albus asked. When Harry shook his head, Albus sighed, "A Horcrux is a dark method for extending one's life. Potentially forever. The vision you had, seemed to show Voldemort using one to possess the body of Orion Black."

"So what do we do?" Harry asked him, "I take it that it won't be as easy as finding them and setting them on fire."

Albus pursed his lips in thought, "Fiendfyre perhaps, or basilisk venom. Something potent enough to destroy anything it comes in contact with. The problem is finding them. Going through your memories, I looked at the diary Lucius Malfoy gave Ginny Weasley. I believe that may have been a Horcrux."

Bellatrix sat on the edge of the bed. Harry got the message and shifted so that she could sit beside him, "I'll go to Grimmauld Place and check the Black Library for books on Horcruxes. I doubt there'll be anything, from the way the Headmaster here is looking so worried, this is probably a very hidden type of magic." She said, taking Harry's hand.

"Indeed it is. Very little information exists on the ritual to make a Horcrux, save that it is one of the darkest things a person can do. It requires the theft of a valued item, the murder of an innocent, and the rending of one's soul." Albus explained, "The more times a soul is split, the more fragmented the person. He becomes harder to destroy, and as he becomes more insane from the lack of a true soul, he becomes more dangerous."

"So, he used up one of his fragments?" Harry asked, sliding a little closer to Bellatrix, "That means the locket is worthless to him now?" He hoped that was the case. If it could be reused that means it would be even harder to defeat Voldemort.

"I am unsure," Albus said, "More research will be needed. Over the Yule Break, I will do just that. By the time you and Narcissa Fawkes arrive back at the school, I should have some answers."