Janna Black and The Cite of the Dead

Black Rust

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After Orion and Janna arrived back from Port Argil  they went to breakfast where Albus was waiting, when  he saw Orion with Janna his face narrowed with jealousy, I should have gone with her to the funeral, I should be the one sitting next to her at that table!

Feeling a look from across the room Orion looked up to see Albus  glaring at him but he quickly coiled away by hiding behind Daily Prophet "Janna..." Orion turned to Janna who was already grabbing bacon onto her plate "Pot'er isnae happy te see me, look at 'is puss, ma'e, all annoyed"

Janna saw Albus hiding behind a Daily Prophet, "he doesn't particularly like ye, either" Janna muttered, Orion brayed like an amused horse and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders when Albus looked up at the commotion, he ducked again when he saw Orion watching him with his wiry hair swaying on his shoulders.

   "Argh, dinnae listen to the mince that zoomer tells ya" Orion took his arm off her shoulder before pulling her hair out from under her collar "he seems te be controlling to me, ma'e"

   "Aren't you just as controllin'?" Janna questioned Orion who pulled a melodramatic face of betrayal.

   "Gads! Miss Black!" Orion mimicked a heart attack "Ma ego! Comparin' me te Pot'er!" Orion neighed as Janna began to eat her breakfast.

Janna then leaned to Orion "I think you need some fresh air, you have something wrong with you" Then Janna thought quickly "we should go to the lake, see if we can find the giant squid is there" Orion nodded happily like a happy toddler.

   "Ya read ma mind, ma'e" Orion ruffled Janna's hair, she laughed, attempting to pull his arm from her chin.

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After breakfast two two raced out the Great Hall seeing who could reach the front steps of Hogwarts first, they nearly ran into Hagrid who was bringing in a large fir tree that must have been twenty feet tall "Watch out yeh two!" The giant warned. Orion suppressed his giggles with Janna as they calmly walked past Hagrid, greeting him cheerily.

Outside the snow had risen considerably since the previous day, Janna looked up at the clouds that let snow filter down into the air, she tugged the cloak Orion had let her keep, they were still wearing their attire from the previous day which bothered neither of them.

The pair walked down the slopes of the castle which was a shiny white that crunched under the foot, Orion insisted on rolling down a slope to the rocky shore of the black lake, Janna laughed as he tumbled down the snowy slope, his hair and clothes catching the snow as he rolled down.

When Janna reached the bottom of the slope Orion was making a snow angel, his hair was full of snow and under his skidding arms and legs was black dirt that was under the snow "Come on Orion, you'll get your clothes soiled with excitement"

Orion sat up laughing "Lovely pun Miss Black!" He leapt up and then hugged her shoulders "Yu've been taught well by Juno!" His hair then loosened onto his shoulder then falling to his shoulder blades. Orion's short attention span was caught by the lake "The squid!" He yelped galloping to the frosted water's edge.

Shortly Janna came to Orion's side, "Do you think those mermaid things are in this part of the water?" She asked, remembering the scary fishy creatures in the ravine.

   "Pfft! Those weren' sirens, which ye do find in this lake..." He pursed his lips "I'm not sure about the merrows comin' this close to cold, open water" Orion pulled out his crooked wand before squatting on the pebbles, his coat covering the frosty rocks like a black carpet, he lifted a small pebble from the frosty water. Orion tilted his wand tip to the pebble in his free palm "piscis" the rock elongated slowly, dull silvery scales formed as glass-like fins took form and flapped at the sides of the body of the flopping fish. Orion grabbed the silvery fish in his fist "this'll work" Orion summoned a line from his wand with the words "Argenties cape" he yanked the fine thread from the wooden tip of his wand before tying the fish at the gills with his line with a strange knot.

   "Will the Squid see the line?" Janna questioned as Orion lowered the fish into the water with his fingers cradling the silver flash that darted away in the murky water with the silver thread still reeling from Orion's wand tip.

   "It'll be a bummer if he didn'" Orion sat on his heel watching the thread shimmer on the water as the fish took a sudden left, as though darting away from something, Janna's eyes caught a pale pink limb lift from the water lifting the water like a blanket of glass with casing it. Out rose a gargantuan, pale pink squid that had shining golden eyes which caught Orion's line in his sight, a tentacle launched itself to the young boy.

   "Orion!" Janna warned his as the squid yanked the line with the tentacle, Orion struggled to hold onto his wand as he suddenly landed on his bum on the rocks, causing them to clatter under his heels that dug into the rocks before him "you have to let go!" Orion was in awe of the stunning creature which his line had caught like a boy admiring a shiny something, his head tilting in all ways to get all the sides of the creature as it pulled the line with two tendrils that had shot out from the beak of the creature, this sight gave Janna a fright as the mouth widened even more, she has not ever  seen anything like it. Janna became more nervous of Orion being pulled in, she kicked her foot down as she stood above him "Orion! It'll pull you in!"

Suddenly Orion was jerked forwards Janna felt a zap in her arm where her wand sat in her pocket, feeling a force pulling her fingers like strings in her tendons—her fingers wrapped  around her wand handle. As though in slow motion Orion was yanked from the pebbles, soon her wand tip aimed at the thread. Watching a black sand rush from her palm into her wand  form into long sharp crystals that branched out like fractals turning the silver thread into a rusted black that shot down into Orion's wand forcing him back onto his back while the thread continued to disintegrate into rotting, black dust which fell into the water leaving the squid with on dust in his tentacles.

Taking in a few breaths Janna felt sick as she fell to her knees, feeling her heart being squeezed by something cold, Orion hurried off his back to catch Janna before she fell into the rippling water, he caught her in his arms her chin falling onto his shoulder. He watched as the squid sink away into the murk of the water but soon he quickly turned to Janna who was shivering, her hand clenching her wand.

   "Janna?" Orion asked, attempting her shake her shoulders. He pulled her left arm to see the wand stuck in her palm with strange black sap that made small crystals at Janna's wrist "Pomfrey should have irn bru, ma'e" Orion lifted his friend off the shore, he pursed his lips wondering what everyone would think if they saw a Death Eater's son with a stunned Janna, he moved on regardless.