Heron

The rest of the week went by quickly and every class felt virtually the same for Orion. He had now taken his reading to the outside where no one disturbed him. This proved to be an excellent choice, as he could enjoy the scenery and the fresh air while reading. On Sunday, he decided to go read by the lake. While students weren’t allowed to go too far from the castle, to get to the lake Orion only had to cross the long wooden bridge and go down a short path. The water was calm with only the occasional September gust causing slight ripples on the surface. He sat on the grass and for a few minutes admired the spectacular view. Just as he was opening his bag to take a book out, he heard a few steps on the path behind him. Despite his best efforts the whole week, people continued to disturb him, and even more annoying was the person who was approaching.

“I didn’t expect you to be here, I thought the library was more your style, or maybe the Ravenclaw balcony. I thought you liked it there.” began Dorian.

Orion stood up.

“What do you think, by the way? Of Harry Potter becoming a seeker even though first-years aren’t allowed to be on the team, that is.”

“It’s not my problem.” Orion really didn’t see why this would intrigue him.

“What if it was?” Dorian turned to face the boy. “I don’t only have good relationships with the students, you see. I talked to Madam Hooch, and she said your broom went into your hand without you even ordering it to. Even the team captain struggles with some of those old brooms.”

“I’m not interested in Quidditch.” this was the last thing Orion would want to participate in. The whole school would have to watch him play, plus there would be practice he would have to go to and if they ended up winning....it would all be too much hassle and attention.

“I don’t want to have to force you” Dorian looked quite serious, “but, you see, I really want to win the House Cup and winning the Quidditch one gives us a much greater chance to succeed. I know you are trying to avoid people, even if I don’t yet know why. So....” he looked at Orion “I’ll convince Professor Flitwick to make an exception just like McGonagall did for Potter. I want you to go to the tryouts this Friday.”

“I refuse.”

“I wasn’t finished. If you don’t go, I’ll tell everyone that you are special, that you are this year’s most gifted child, that you are the one they should go to for help. I’ll make the whole school always look for you.”

Orion looked at Dorian with almost the intent to kill.

“Just go to the tryouts." the prefect invited again, going away before anything else could happen.

Once left alone, Orion was angry. He was furious that someone would want to go and mess with his life. He let out a spell that even he could barely hear, and an immense amount of water burst in the middle of the lake as if a bomb was detonated at the bottom of it. The sound of water droplets falling back into the lake calmed him down, even if only by a small amount. He had no choice but to do what Dorian had asked him to do. He would just have to either perform poorly or decline the position. As he crossed the bridge back to the castle, he overheard two girls discussing the sudden explosion in the water, saying it was probably the rumored monster that lived at the bottom.

-------

Silas and Caspian were sitting next to each other in the common room. They still hadn’t gotten over the fact that a first-year made the team and were staring at the ceiling. Terry, who wasn’t the biggest fan of the sport, was sitting close to them doing his latest Potions homework.

“Guys, I know you want to prove yourself on the Quidditch pitch, but you can’t forget your assignments. I don’t want to get blamed for losing us house points.”

“Mhm.” the two boys said together.

“Could you at least-” at that point Orion walked into the room, “Orion, I need your help, these two still haven’t gotten over th-”.

Orion quickly ignored him, even quicker than usual, and just went downstairs into their bedroom. This somehow managed to get a reaction out of Silas and Caspian who now looked confused.

“You think something happened?” said Caspian in a worried voice.

“I doubt it, he’s always like that.” returned Silas, leaning back onto the sofa.

“I don’t think so.” Terry was also wearing a slightly nervous expression. “He usually at least listens to us.”

“You think we should speak with him?” Caspian asked the two.

After a moment of silence and realization that even if they did, he wouldn’t answer, the trio sighed “No.” That didn’t stop them from staring at him before they went to bed. Terry was glad that the two had finally managed to stop counting the stars on the Ravenclaw ceiling.

The following morning went exactly the same as it had a week ago. Orion had woken up early, this time however, he went out at six, which was the time students were allowed to be out of bed. He was also one of the first people at breakfast and was definitely the first to leave the Grand Hall after. With the Undercroft no longer being available, he headed straight for the seventh floor to see if he could get into the Room of Requirement before Herbology started. In Atticus’s journal he said that the room would reveal itself after walking in front of a painting of a man teaching trolls to be ballerinas and thinking of what you need very hard. So, Orion did just that and after his third passing in front of the painting and one of the trolls smacking their teacher with a large club, a door appeared. Orion was hoping that once he opened it, the room would be the way it was described in the book, but unfortunately for him, instead it featured a single table with a single chair and a large bookshelf on each wall. While not quite what he had hoped for, at least it would make a great place to have some solitude thought the boy. He didn’t have much time to read, though, so after what felt like 20 minutes he headed for the greenhouses. He was once again early but this time Hermione Granger had gotten there before him. She looked quite tired, as if she hadn’t slept well and/or much. When she noticed him, her expression immediately changed to one of great pride, before switching to one of slight concern. Orion sensed that she wanted to ask him something, but thankfully for him a few other students showed up.

“Oh goodness, what's the occasion for this pleasant early turnout?” exclaimed Professor Sprout.

“We wanted to finish up the report from last week. Our plants didn’t seem well, so we were hoping that the treatment you suggested has worked.”

Throughout the rest of the free time before class started and throughout the class itself, Hermione would cast Orion menacing looks.

“I think she also likes you.” whispered Silas, while they were plucking leaves off of the plant they were studying.

“You think so?” Caspian couldn’t help but join in.

“That’s not why she’s looking.” said Orion calmly, purely focused on the pot in front of him.

The two boys didn’t know what he meant by that, so they just continued working on the task Professor Sprout had set. Luckily, for the rest of the classes before lunch Orion always stood behind the bushy-haired girl, so he didn’t have to deal with her gazes. During lunch, when Orion made way for the Room of Requirement instead of the Grand Hall, he felt a hand grab his left robe sleeve.

“I have to speak with you.” she said taking a few looks around, then locking eyes with Orion.

“What?” he said, staring at her hand that was holding his uniform. Hermione released it and took him to the library.

Once there, she took him to the spot he liked to sit in, the one where he handed her the book on Frostbound Bestiary. Coincidentally, she took out the same book and placed it on the table.

“Where did you get it?” she asked directly which made Orion regret ever speaking to her.

“I thought we had a deal.” he asked with a slight sigh.

“This isn’t about that. Here,” she began, taking out a small piece of parchment, “I found this inside the book.”

Orion picked the page up.

It’s hard to put into words the mess I’ve created, the turmoil that's taken over my life. What happened with Uncle Solomon—it's like a nightmare I can’t wake up from. I’ve been carrying this weight, this unbearable regret, since that night.

I remember the clash of emotions, a whirlwind of anger, hurt, and betrayal swirling inside me. Words flew like daggers, cutting deeper than I ever meant. But I couldn’t stop. Uncle’s own harsh words fueled my anger until it spiraled out of control. And in that moment, I made a choice I’ll always regret.

Anne saw it all, the fallout, the horror I caused. The bond we shared shattered into a million pieces. She’s gone, shut me out completely. The silence between us—it’s deafening.

Being left alone with this guilt, it’s suffocating. I feel like I've lost more than I can bear. I wish I could turn to someone, but I’ve pushed everyone away with my own stupidity.

Hawthorne hasn’t reported my wrongdoings to the faculty or the Ministry yet, but I saw the look in his eyes. The disappointment, the disbelief, the shock...I lost everything.

There was more ink on the bottom of the page, but the paper had been cut so it was unreadable. Orion recognized the names Solomon and Anne, respectively they were Sebastian Sallow’s uncle and twin sister; what events this was describing, however, he didn’t.

“I don’t know what this is.” he admitted.

“I find that hard to believe.” she insisted firmly and once again asked “Where did you get the book?”

With Dorian’s intrusion the day before and with the whole week before it, Orion was getting incredibly annoyed at people trying to involve themselves in his private life. So, to Hermione’s shock, the boy’s nonchalant expression finally turned into something else; he tilted his head slightly downwards, maintaining eye contact, and a frighteningly serious face emerged.

“What would you do, if I told you? Would you tell the faculty? How would you explain the origin of the book? Blame it on me? It would be my word against yours. The paper is obviously old, so “Hawthorne” can’t be referring to me. What do you think would happen after you tell them? What do you want to happen?”

At the sudden barrage of questions and facts, Hermione was stunned and could not respond. Orion took this opportunity to stand up and leave.

“I found it in a room in the castle. I suggest you just let it go. And stop talking to me.” he said with his still incredibly serious tone as he walked past the girl.

Throughout the rest of the day, Hermione did not look at Orion a single time. Unfortunately for him, this only managed to spark an interest in Silas.

“Hey, what’s going on between you two?” he asked curiously during Astronomy.

Orion kept pretending to be paying attention to what the teacher was saying, in hopes that Silas would stop bothering him.

“Don’t tell me you said something mean to her. I mean, she can be annoying at times, but I think you two are quite similar in that reg-,” he almost let out.

“Mr. Nightingale, please remain quiet and pay attention.” interrupted Professor Sinistra, to which Silas went slightly red.

Orion spent the whole week mostly stuck in the Room of Requirement. He managed to finish almost all of the books he’d gotten from the Undercroft, including his grandfather’s journal. To his disappointment the journal’s last entry was around the start of the second term of his seventh year, but he expected something similar, seeing as the book was left in the castle. He had managed to calm down and his two-to-three-word responses managed to convince Silas that everything was normal. Everything was going fine, he just had to decline the position on Friday and hopefully he could return to spending his time the way he planned to, Orion thought.

Finally, the day of the tryouts came. After classes had finished a significant number of students made their way to the Quidditch pitch. The pitch was oval-shaped, looked to be around five hundred feet long and two hundred feet wide. There were several towers with seats on them, three for every house, decorated in their specific themes. The field had six tall metal posts, three on both sides along its length. At the top of the posts were metal rings; one large enough for a person leaning on a broom to pass through and two slightly smaller ones. The schedule for the tryouts was Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and lastly Hufflepuff. Students who weren’t taking part were told to either wait on the stands or where the teams usually had pre-game meetings. The ones who were being tested were taken onto the pitch and were given brooms.

While he was watching Slytherin’s students, Orion quickly concluded that their team was specifically looking for more brutish players. It seemed that their plan was to play rough and to force their way through the other teams. Gryffindors on the other hand, looked much more like a teamplay orientated bunch. While they were giving a broom to what looked to be a fourth-year, the Slytherin team, who had decided to stay and watch the rest of the houses pick their new additions, didn’t stop heckling and insulting every player who was on the grass. Gryffindors didn’t take too long, though, since they had already acquired a new seeker in Harry Potter, their captain was the keeper, their beaters were a pair of red-haired twins and one of their chasers seemed already experienced enough.

Orion almost forgot to get down for his own tryout.

“Alright, hello, everyone.” began a tall blonde student, “Firstly, I want to thank you all for coming, my name is Ingrid Adler. I am a sixth-year and am this team’s captain and beater. Now - “

“STUPID RAVENS HAVE NO CLUE, YOU’LL BE CRYING WHEN WE BEAT YOU.” chanted the Slytherins.

“We’re eagles, actually.” Orion heard a few students whisper.

“I’ll need you to get used to that. You’ll be hearing a lot worse during real matches. So, those of you who don’t think they can handle it, I don’t think this is for you.”

“On the other hand, you’ll be hearing a lot of cheering as well.” joined another older student.

“This is Cian Murphy; he is our most experienced player as a seventh-year. He is this team’s seeker.” introduced Ingrid. “I want you to know that we’ll be testing him as well today, we don’t want anyone keeping us down.” she joked. “Very well, first things first, I need to know what position each of you wants to play.”

She then went around and asked everyone individually.

“And you?” she turned to Orion.

“I don’t really care.” he replied, wishing this would be enough for her to send him on his way.

“Ah, you must be the boy Dorian told me about. He warned me that you might show disinterest in every position, so how about we give you a try with every position.” Orion’s plan backfired. “Since you’ll be trying out everything, how about you go last so you can see what you have to do?”

The first to go were people already on the team; the seekers had to pass through several rings, that the captain conjured, while also chasing an enchanted snitch. The snitch would change its path, just like a regular one and whoever was going after it had to adjust their path. Most people had to pass through ten to fifteen of the twenty rings. Beaters had to juggle a bludger with Ingrid and make sure it passed through yet another set of conjured rings. Keepers had a more boring task of simply guarding the three posts and upon catching the quaffle, send it back to a chaser in the distance. Those who were trying for chasers had to try to score and also catch incredibly difficult passes while also dodging bludgers.

“Ok, second to last, your name is...” Adler turned to a student.

“Cho Chang.” answered the student. She was a girl of Asian descent with long shiny black hair. She was a second-year but was significantly shorter than Orion.

“You wanted to try for seeker, yes?”

“Yes.” unlike half of the people before her, she was not nervous at all.

“Well, you know what you have to do.” said the captain releasing the snitch from her hand.

The short girl quickly jumped off the ground with the broom, making it look like she was riding a professional one and not the same old twig that the people before her used. Just as she got past the eighth ring, she caught the tiny golden ball.

“Impressive. Very impressive.” exclaimed Ingrid. “We might have ourselves a fantastic seeker. Well, we already have you, Murph,” she turned towards the seventh-year who was pretending to be insulted, “but a reserve like you would be a dangerous trick to have up our sleeves.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” replied Cian.

“And, finally, it’s your turn.” the captain turned towards Orion. “Let’s start with the keeper position.”

Orion ascended to the three rings and from the height noticed that Dorian was in the stands, keeping a close eye on him. The first couple throws were easy to defend, and Orion made sure not to pass the quaffle too accurately back to the chasers. The next ones, however, had much more power and speed to them, so he even let one go past him, but unfortunately for him, it didn’t go through the ring either.

“Can’t score against an inexperienced keeper, eh?” laughed one of the chasers to the person who missed.

“He’s better than he looks.”

In that moment, Ingrid, who Orion noticed had a quick word with the house prefect, came up to him.

“Listen, Dorian and I can both see you aren’t giving it your all and I don’t want to see that. If you have a position you want to play, and being a keeper is boring for you, just say which one we should jump to. He also said to tell you to “keep the deal”. I’m sure you at least know what that means.”

“Seeker.” said Orion.

“What?”

“Let me try for seeker.”

“Sure.” she smiled brightly and shouted to the two chasers “BOYS, YOU CAN STOP NOW, HE SAID HE’LL TRY FOR SEEKER.”

When he got back to the ground, where the seeker test started, he also noticed that Draco Malfoy was with the Slytherin group.

“Remember, all out.” said Ingrid, releasing the snitch.

Before it even passed the third ring, Orion had already caught it. All in all, it took him less than five seconds to get to it. He handed it back to the captain, whose jaw had dropped to the ground.

“I don’t want to play on the team.” he said coldly, leaving the broom on the ground and exiting the pitch.

Behind him he could hear all the students whispering and discussing what had just happened. Dorian quickly came to have a word in private.

“Looks like our team has a new seeker.”

“I told her I won’t be playing.”

“What?!” Dorian suddenly stopped. “No, that was not part of-”

“Our deal was that I would “just come to the tryouts”, you never said I had to be on the team.”

“I think we both know I meant that.” Dorian was getting angry.

“Next time give me a written contract.” Orion said and turned to walk away.

“I hope you know what this means, I will-” Dorian said in a loud voice which caused Orion to stop.

Fury. Despite being a more than competent student, Dorian was petrified. There was red in the otherwise pale eyes that were piercing through him now. Orion was holding his wand and just as a dark color was beginning to emerge from the tip of it, Madam Hooch came to Dorian’s rescue.

“Quite the impressive flight!” she said to the first year. “My instincts about you were spot on. Now,-” she saw the prefect and the condition he was in, “what's causing all this tension between you two, Mr. Vale?”

“I-it’s nothing, Professor, I was – I was just surprised to hear Orion here didn’t want to be on the team.” he regained his composure and was acting the same way he had the first day Orion met him.

“Oh, really? Pray tell, why not? You strike me as a fine flier, Mr. Hawthorne. Ravenclaw would surely have a shot with someone of your skill.” she once again turned to the younger student.

“I don’t like Quidditch.” Dorian wasn’t the only one who had calmed down.

“Then why did you bother coming?” she said obviously confused.

Orion gave Dorian a death stare. “Someone insisted. Now, if you would excuse me, I have to go the library.” he bowed politely and turned away.

"Ah, you Ravenclaws! Wouldn't hurt to trade those books for a bit of time on the pitch now, would it?" the woman with hawk eyes turned to Dorian.

“For some of us it just might.” he chuckled but his eyes were following Orion.

“What happened? He said he doesn’t want to play.” Ingrid came rushing.

“I guess he doesn’t.” Dorian shrugged “Cho was also great; she’ll be excellent next year, make sure to train her properly and she might become better than Murph.”

-----------

There were several students sitting around the Central Hall Fountain, discussing how they were planning to spend the weekend. Amongst them were Caspian and Silas who were speaking with Ronald Weasley. Once close enough, Orion overheard them talking about Draco Malfoy and how they found him to be incredibly arrogant, snobbish, pretentious, entitled, cunning and most of all how much of a coward he was. That seemed to be the thing that brought them together. When Caspian saw Orion, he couldn’t help but be intrigued by his behavior. Although he had relaxed, his eyes still held some bloodthirst in them.

“Are you alright?” he stood up and approached his classmate.

“Yes.” the other boy returned, opening the door to the library.

“Where were you? Did something happen?” Caspian continued to investigate.

Orion let out a deep sigh and as he entered the large room, turned to face the curious child.

“Stop. I said I’m fine.” he said coldly, wanting to quickly dismantle this conversation and return to his other plans.

Caspian opened his mouth to retort with something, but let the matter go. The two other boys who were sitting with him a moment ago came through the door now as well.

“Something wrong?” Silas asked first.

“These past few days Orion has been in a weirdly bitter mood. Especially just now. I think he may have had a fight with someone.”

“You think it was something to do with that Granger girl?” Silas wondered.

“Hermione?!” chimed in the ginger boy.

“Yeah, you know anything about them?”

"Let's be real, Hermione's always finding something to argue about. If she's not bickering with someone, I'd be surprised. Seems like she's got a problem with everyone who doesn't do things her way." said the Gryffindor.

“Could you talk to her? We’ve been trying to talk with Orion for the past two weeks, but he’s...well, he’s not particularly open, so to speak.” said Caspian.

“Why me? Honestly, if you want to talk to Hermione, go ask her yourselves. I've got better things to do than sort out her messes for her.” the Weasley boy seemed to be incredibly against talking with the girl.

“For one, you are in the same house.” argued Silas, but Ron was having none of it, so he left the two of them alone, saying he had homework to do. He was obviously not going to go do homework, but it was a fitting excuse.

“You want to look for her?” Silas who had nothing better to do suggested.

“No. If we end up bumping into her, I might consider asking her, but I don’t think she has anything to do with this.”

“Why? Remember in Herbology when he said she wasn’t looking at him for the same reason we thought she was? Maybe she does know something.”

“That was on Monday. And he was also angry on Sunday. I think it’s something else.”

“Whatever.” sighed Silas. “Let’s go see if Terry finally managed to learn that spell we learned in Charms.” he suggested.

“Sure.” Caspian’s curiosity was not gone yet, but he decided that it would probably be best to not investigate further since Orion seemed to be incredibly against that.

While they were leaving, Orion who was on the second floor of the library was looking through some shelves when suddenly upon his finger touching a book’s spine, he felt a slight jolt run through his body. His finger slid up to the head of the spine and pulled the book out. The cover read Echoes of Eternity: Chronicles of Ancient Scripts by E. A. Callister. The boy had read other books by the author, who was obsessed with learning what magic was like centuries and even millennia ago. The book resembled his other works with every page describing symbols and hieroglyphs that were found on ancient structures and texts. Every few pages there were detailed images of some runes, some were circled around by a faint white outline. It was the same enchantment as the books Atticus had written. Orion didn’t recognize the symbols that were pointed out, so he quickly sat down and began copying them onto a piece of parchment. The descriptions E. A. Callister had provided on those specific symbols were very vague compared to the others. At best, he stated that they might have had a connection to either a place or ritual. Once Orion was finished with transferring everything his paper looked like a jumbled mess. No two symbols seemed to share an origin together and were all too intricate for him to decipher. The only familiar one was a symbol that resembled the flamelike shape that his grandfather had encountered in his fifth year. Even then, this one was surrounded by other swirls and shapes that made it quite distinct from the one he had read about. He spent the next three hours trying to make sense of it all and find a connection but ultimately had to leave on Mrs. Pince’s orders. Not having to wake up early for the weekend, Orion spent his time in the common room continuing to research what might have been something important. He was so immersed in this that only when Penelope Clearwater, the other Ravenclaw prefect, told him it was time to go to bed, he realized how late it had gotten.

The next morning Caspian was surprised to see that everyone else was still in the bedroom when he woke up. All four of them went together to the Grand Hall for breakfast.

“Oop, here comes mail.” said Silas as dozens of owls entered the hall. Two letters dropped in front of Caspian and Terry. “My family said they were going to a wedding, so I probably won’t be receiving anything until next week.” he explained to the two boys who were looking at him.

“Mine is from my brother.” said Caspian while breaking the seal of his. “He says he will be going to Africa to study something in the desert with his colleagues.” he added after quickly reading it.

As Terry was about to finish skimming through what he had received, another bird came in. It was a large sleek raven, blacker than the night. The lateness of it only added to its already dramatic entrance. The letter it was carrying dropped gracefully in front of Orion. The three boys couldn’t help but study every detail of its appearance. On each of the four corners of the envelope were imprinted three hawthorn leaves; the face bore an almost royal insignia with a face of a golden wolf once again surrounded by the same leaves. Once Orion turned it around, they were surprised to see a very similar wax seal to the one of the letters they had received earlier this summer. Although the wax was yellow, there was a large and beautiful ‘H’ stamped on it. Despite all his urges to look, Caspian who was sitting next to Orion didn’t look at what the letter said.

Orion,

Considering you didn't make the team, we are most bitterly disappointed. Remember that while your studies do come first, showing talent in other areas is also in your interest. Under no condition do we allow the family name to be besmirched.

Concerning the festive season, we have received an invitation from a dear friend of ours, so you will have to spend the holidays at school. In the meantime, try to make up for this failure. One last thing, make sure this doesn't happen again.

Orion’s parents were no regular wizards. They had an incredible talent to curse any object so that a spell would be cast on the person who touched it. Orion himself was taught how to do it a year before he came to Hogwarts, so he instantly realized what was about to happen when he read the last sentence. A quick crimson bolt came from the paper and struck him, changing the content of the letter in the meantime.

From the very top of his head down to the tip of his toes Orion felt his body burn. He had felt this many times before. It was his usual punishment. It felt like every hair on his body was being pulled away, taking the skin with it. Every cell of his body was in pain as though trillions of nails that were scorching were hammered into them every millisecond. He could feel the pain in his eyes as if they were continuously cut into finer and finer slices. His head was pulsating, every brain fold being flattened then mashed once more into a new shape. His ears were screaming, he could no longer hear the boys over on the Hufflepuff table laughing. The bone in his nose was being broken then repaired, broken then repaired... His neck was being strangled; air was becoming something he was struggling to obtain. All twenty nails were being torn from their position only to regrow instantly, ready to be plucked again. Bones were shattering inside him, piercing every organ with their sharp ends. Orion could do nothing but clutch his stomach as he tried to suppress this agony, trying not to make a sound. Not even his thoughts were spared; his mind was constantly being shattered, memories merging with one another. His muscles felt like they were being torn apart and tightening at the same time. It felt like an eternity spent in the deepest parts of the most merciless hells, but in reality, it lasted a mere two seconds.

“Are you alright?” Caspian asked in an extremely worried voice.

“I’m fine.” Orion lied through gritted teeth. “I have to go.” he added, standing up and heading for the door. “Incendio.” he muttered and the letter that was still on the table flew into the air in flames.

“Why’d he do that?” flinched Terry.

“Must have been bad news.” guessed Silas.

Having regained his body from the atrocious pain he had just gone through, he made his way for the dungeons rather than the library. Before he could even reach his goal, however, his goal reached him. Guarded by two large boys, Malfoy was walking towards where Orion just was with a grin. Orion quickly grabbed him by the collar, making the now shocked boy stand on his toes.

“Write one more letter and I’ll make sure you won’t be able to lift a finger when I send you to St. Mungo’s.” he whispered with an incredibly menacing tone in Malfoy’s ear.

Before either of the two other Slytherins could make a move and while Malfoy was still panting, Orion had gone around the corner towards the place where he said he would be.