ON HOLD - Caramel [G.W.]

four.

Sure enough, the redheaded Gryffindor brought the boy in the hospital wing breakfast the next morning. Though Orion was a bit surprised to find his favourite items on the plate seeing as they sat at different tables during meals. He looked up at him with an amused grin as he slowly sat up.

"Don't worry, I'm not psychic or anything. I asked Cedric what you normally eat." he smiled and gently set the tray in his lap. "How're you feeling? Sergeant Pomfrey gonna let you go to lessons?" his features god a bit worried.

Orion couldn't help but crack a smile. "I'm feeling a lot better so I'm hoping she'll let me go." he looked up at him with a coy smile "Plus, how could I miss the opportunity to lose you and Freddie house points in herbology?" his smile turned cheeky as he ate a bite of his food.

Conversations between him and George had always flowed so easily, though he never knew why. They were, by both nature and blood, natural enemies. Orion a dark creature, George a human and a pureblood. Orion a Rosier, a pureblood family famous for their blood prejudices and alliance to you-know-who. George a Weasley, a pureblood family notorious for being "blood traitor muggle lovers." He mulled these things over as he ate, the complicated thoughts causing his brows to furrow and his forehead to crease. These actions didn't go unnoticed by George, who was forever observant of the other boy.

He was fascinated by Orion. The boy had every making to become something terrible, but someone somewhere decided he wouldn't. It killed his death eater father, it brought his dying mother to the decision to bring the newborn to the one man Rosier was friends with that wasn't also a death eater. Though it drew short, it killed his parents' best friends, put his father in jail, and let Fenrir Greyback attack him in the 10 minutes he was left alone by a baby sitter during a full moon when he was 7. It also allowed him to be completely oblivious to the way George had been pining after him for the past two years.

"Why was that new professor in here with you last night?" George frowned a bit and scrunched his nose. "Bloody creepy if you ask me, was staring at you while you were sleeping."

"Oh my god are you serious?" he gasped dramatically and pretended to be horrified. "I can't believe my dad did that!" he smiled widely while he waited for George to register what he'd said.

"Hold on, Professor Lupin is your dad? Oh but what if he doesn't like me an-" they both looked up as Fred burst into the medical wing.

"Guys you missed it!" he shouted gleefully as he hurried over to them. "He was so tired this morning he didn't even check his cup, watch!" Fred giggled gleefully as he crouched next to the bed and they all waited for this "he" to come in.

Orion had to cover his mouth to keep himself from laughing when Percy Weasley came through the doors of the hospital wing. His face were as red as his hair used to be and his hair was this awful shade of green that made it look like someone had thrown up in it. It was only when the twins burst out in peals of laughter, that Orion realized that it wasn't the potion colouring his face but anger.

"Fred, change it back at once!" Percy all but shrieked, stamping his foot like an indignant toddler.

"I.." he panted lightly between laughs as he tried to get the words out. "I don't know how." the older of the two twins sputtered slightly.

"Ac-accio wand." Orion managed between a few soft laughs. However, he didn't account for the way Fred and George were hunched over his bed with laugher and the handle of his wand hit Fred right in the back of the head. They all froze for a second and looked at each other before bursting out in laughter once more.

By the time Orion had gotten over his painful bought of laughter, there were tears in his eyes. He sighed happily and wiped at them and picked up his wand, waving it and muttering the counter spell at Percy's hair to change it back to its usual loud shade or orange.

"You're lucky we're in the same house." he huffed at Fred before turning on his heel and marching out of the hospital wing.

This caused the three boys to break out in another fit of laughter, only for it to worsen when Orion called "Bye bye, Percival." in a high pitched and girly voice. They almost immediately stopped when Madam Pomfrey walked in, she did not like nonsense in her hospital wing and they were not in the mood to be punished.

She shooed the twins off so she could run a few diagnostic spells and change Orion's bandages without prying eyes. He was thankful when she let him go after giving him a pain potion just in case, but was immediately less thankful when he saw the worried looks on Fred and George's faces when he met them at the door.

"I thought you said you scraped yourself on a fence post.. that looks a lot worse than a fence post mate." George frowned down at him, his twin nodding worriedly.

"I.. it's a long story alright? One we don't have time fore, we've got class in a few minutes.." his voice was barely audible and threatened to break. It showed just how scared his was and that fact scared the twins as well. They knew Orion had a lot of secrets, but seeing all the gashes on his torso had them worried beyond letting it go.

"Is someone hurting you? Is it your fa-" Fred was cut off when Orion discreetly pointed his wand at the two and quickly cast obliviate.

"You will not remember having seen my wounds, you will think you waited outside for me and I have just walked out the doors." he explained, his voice scarily calm. He forced himself to smile when the spell kicked in and the twins looked down at him.

"C'mon, don't you have Mcgonagall first? You'll end up in detention if you're late." Fred lightly shoulder checked him as they began walking. They parted ways at the staircases with waves and small smiles and vows to catch each other between class.

As Orion walked across the courtyard to the transfigurations classroom, the weight of what he'd just done bore down on him. He'd just cast a highly illegal spell on his best friends because he couldn't come up with a good enough lie. He'd just continued to lie to his best friends because he was too afraid to face the truth. He had just altered their memories because there would always be this part of him that feared they would turn their backs on him if they knew.

As he sank into his seat and idly watched Professor Mcgonagall wait for the rest of the class to filter in, he knew there was only one person he wished he could talk to. He knew Sirius would've known how to make him feel better. Even though the only memories Orion had of the man were from when he was a toddler, they were some of his fondest. They had always been inseparable, he remembered multiple times hearing Remus scold him for "indulging Orion's mischievous tendencies." His favourite memory of Sirius wasn't even technically a memory, but rather a story he'd been told and a photograph he'd been shown.

James Potter had been over to retrieve his invisibility cloak from the Black-Lupin and now partly Rosier household to find the house in utter chaos. He'd been informed that neither his invisibility cloak nor the baby who had just learned to crawl and climb were anywhere to be found. It was over an hour before they found Orion asleep curled up under a table in the library, only visible from the tiny foot that stuck out from under the cloak. The entire time, the only person truly freaking out, was Sirius. The man had been so frantic that it'd taken him far too long to realize he could change into his animates form to sniff the child out. However, when they found Orion, it was an all around field day of playing with the baby and the invisibility cloak.

There were too many games of peek-a-boo to count and as many nonsense games they could think of. At some point, Lily had shown up because she'd gotten worried about why James was taking so long. This just resulted in even more of the nonsense games in order to show Lily how entertained and happy the baby was. It ended with a photo of James holding up what looked like a floating baby head, standing with Remus and Sirius. They were all laughing and smiling as James gently swayed Orion.

The photograph was now tucked safely in a notebook at the bottom of Orion's trunk. He sometimes brought it out to look at it when he was upset. Though, he never let anyone see it. He knew he should've shown it to Harry long ago, his first year around Christmas when he had nobody to go home to. Orion just couldn't stomach the thought of Harry knowing that he'd had more time with the Potters than Harry had the chance to. And now, he wasn't sure how Harry would react to seeing Sirius and his father in the same picture. Orion also was sure the boy would no longer appreciate his older-brother-like presence knowing that same man was his father.