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Numen Pumilum	By : AuctorRubra Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 15661 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all the characters and places of Potterverse belong to the brilliant J.K. Rowling. Everything else is mine so keep your hands
off of it unless you want me to sic Severus on you!

________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 17: The Wisdom of Elves

September 8^th

Severus was busily working in his
potions lab and thinking about his young charges, specifically Eris. He was happy to see the girl relaxing a bit,
or at least trying to, even if it did involve Lupin and Black plying her and
her twin with alcohol. It had been
tempting to follow after the pair of ex-Marauders after they had him whip up a
hangover relief. Still, he understood
that Eris needed to learn to interact with them on her own (although he had doubts
about inebriation being a necessity), so he left them alone. Though he was
curious about what the four of them were up to Friday night, he wasn�t sure
that he really wanted to know. Eris and
Harry hadn�t been able to even glance at him since without blushing or
giggling. Knowing Black, figuring out
what they�d done would only upset him.
It was better to be ignorant this time around.

He stirred the gently simmering
potion and smiled. He was working on
three large batches of potion. One cauldron
was of Eris� special invisibility brew, another was the counter agent, and the
third was the potion that would allow the Order members to see through the
invisibility potion. He felt genuinely
honored that Eris would entrust an unpublished, personal creation. The first two were just variations on old
formulas, but the third was something completely new. There were charms to help the caster see
through invisibility, but they were imprecise and unpredictable. What surprised him the most was the simplicity
the girl had managed. Fifth years could
brew something this simple. It was the
ingenious combination of ingredients that probably had caused it to remain
undiscovered for so long.

As he set
his ladle aside he let his thoughts drift to the night he witnessed Eris�
little songbird moment with Black. The
child was determined to back away from her now confirmed potential mate
(Draco�s statement only confirmed what he had already been sensing). Severus really didn�t care what anyone else
thought (and he included the elves in that sentiment) and he was all for his
lovely charge avoiding Black if she could find another suitable candidate. Still, she hadn�t pointed out anyone during
the term�s first week and he hadn�t sensed anything during his excursions as a
ferret. According to Tahdei,
the twins would find their greatest strength through being bonded to their
mates. Supposedly, an elf found a great
deal of inner peace through their connection with their mate and Severus had to
admit that such a thing would be beneficial to both the Potters, but mostly
Eris.

There were moments when Severus
looked into Eris� eyes, so like Lily�s, and wished that he was meant for
her. The range of emotions he went
through in the girl�s presence was often disconcerting. He knew that the fierce protectiveness and
loyalty were due to their connection as mentor and charge, though they�d begun
from the moment he�d met her. The attraction
was where the problem began. Part of him
genuinely wanted her for who she really was, the brilliant mind, magical
strength, and deadly skill, but another part of him could only see Lily. He knew that mentor-mated pair triads were
common and easily accepted amongst the Numina Pumilum, but he also knew that it could be detrimental to
Eris if he allowed her close only for her to truly realize how deeply he had
cared for her mother and still did. Her
mate would be another matter. If she did
end up with Black, Severus could not see the other wizard being keen on his
presence in the relationship. As much as
it was Eris� decision, she would not be able to stand making her mate unhappy.

Severus sighed and ran a hand down
his face. He should never have let the
girl get so physically close to him to begin with. The kisses they had shared were innocuous
enough and she had definitely needed an example of proper affection, but now he
feared that she was rejecting her potentials in favor of holding out for
him. That would never do. He closed his eyes and pictured her smiling face. He wanted her to be like that all the
time. He wanted to crush Lucius Malfoy�s throat in his bare hands to make sure Eris never
had a reason to lose her smile. He
wanted Eris to be his�but he didn�t dare hope that he could be so close to her
without causing her more harm.

_____________________________________________________________________

Harry found himself standing in a
clearing in the Forbidden Forest
with a good portion of the rag tag band he seemed to have gathered for
himself. Snape was busy with some
potions and Blaise and Greg were meeting with a few Slytherins that they
thought were still neutral and might be swayed by the tale of what had happened
Crabbe. So Tahdei decided to drag him and Eris out to train. Apparently, being in the forest was quite
safe when they had the elves with them.

Harry rolled his shoulders and
tried to relax as Tahdei continued to explain exactly
what he wanted him and Eris to accomplish for their training session. They were to attempt working in concert,
though Harry wasn�t quite sure what they were supposed to do in combing water
and fire. Wouldn�t they just cancel each
other out?

�Now, when I give the signal Sirius is going
to release the bludger. I want the two of you to immobilize or
destroy it in any way you can using only your elemental powers.� Tahdei gave them a
stern look. �You will not use
magic. I will keep your wands. Naiya and I will
observe. Remus, Roslyn, Hermione, Ron,
and Draco will be maintaining a force field to keep the bludger
within this clearing. Prepare
yourselves.�

Tahdei
walked outside of the force field and Harry looked over at Eris. His sister gave him a wink and a cheeky
grin. �Don�t worry, Harry. We�ll figure this out. Start off simple.�

Harry smiled broadly, remembering
a very good piece of advice he�d once been given. �Nice and easy does the trick, right?�

�Right.
Let�s connect now before they release it,� Eris said and he soon felt
her opening herself to him and pouring her essence into his mind. She was tapping into his magical core as he�d
felt her do several times now. He
quickly reciprocated. Though he�d yet to
actually use her elemental powers, he was able to utilize Eris� superb control
as though it was his own. It was as if
her presence forced his powers to obey his every whim.

When
Sirius released the bludger, the first thing Harry
tried was throwing a large fireball at it.
It connected, but had little effect other than causing the enchanted
ball to swerve in a new direction. Harry
turned to Eris, who had a fierce look of concentration on her face. His sister spread her arms wide and he
watched as she simply began to pull water out of the air. It swirled in globes over her upturned
palms. Both globes swelled to the size
of watermelons Hagrid would have been proud of and then
seemed to begin to harden. After a
moment Harry realized that his sister had managed to freeze the water. A second later Eris launched the ice balls at
the bludger, but the Quidditch
ball barely slowed as it smashed through them.

Harry moved so that his back was
pressed against Eris� so that they were standing back-to-back. �Eris, do you have any ideas?�

�I want you to get in its path,� Eris
said. �Use a steady blast of fire to
hold it in place. I�ll blast it with
water then and you can back off. As soon
as you pull away the flame and I�ll freeze the bloody thing. We�ll find out if a bludger
can fly frozen.�

�Sounds good,� Harry said and pulled away from
his sister as the bludger came around for another
swipe at them. Once the nasty, little
ball targeted him, Harry turned and blasted it with every ounce of force he
could instill in the flames. The bludger was flung away from him and held in place against
the force field.

Eris laughed. �That�s not exactly what I had in mind, but
it�ll work.�

Harry smiled as Eris flung her
hands out, sending a powerful jet of water at the bludger
to replace his flame. He pulled back his
fire and crossed his fingers as Eris held the jet of water steady with one hand
and summoned up a wind worthy of the arctic with the other. A moment later the bludger
was frozen and Harry held his breath as it fell out of the sky. It sat on the ground motionless for a moment,
but just as Harry was about to congratulate Eris on a well played maneuver, the
damned thing began to shake. Within a
few seconds the ice shattered and the bludger was
airborne again.

Harry growled. �Damn, what else is there to try?�

Eris gave him a stern look. �We haven�t even begun to exhaust our options. We just need to get a little more creative.�

Harry sighed, keeping a close eye
on the riled up bludger. �What if I tried to give you all the control again, like�well like that other time.�

�Are you sure about this,� Eris asked. Despite the situation, Harry found the
distrustful look his sister was giving the bludger
amusing. He knew that she wasn�t that
interested in Quidditch (or at least claimed not to
be), but he had plans to convert her.

�Just try it,� Harry said firmly. �If it doesn�t work you could always let me
infest your mind for a bit and maybe I�ll have an epiphany.�

Eris nodded and without another
word he felt her siphoning away his power like she had that night in the
clearing when she faced off with the Death Eaters. This time though he could tell that Eris�
mind was clear and that her intent was well focused. She was digging deep into his core. There was a strange sensation flowing through
him. The next thing that Harry knew,
what looked like a stream of small rocks was flying after the bludger�and Eris was yelling at him.

�Heat them up, Harry! Melt them already!� Eris looked to be concentrating very
hard. It took a moment for Harry to
realize what his sister wanted. She was
looking to create a lava flow. �Hurry up, Harry! This isn�t easy you know!�

Harry quickly snapped out of his
daze and focused on super heating the rocks.
Soon the stream of stone had turned into a writing trail of lava. He quickly turned his focus towards knocking
the bludger into the stream. One strong blast of fire held the ball in
place long enough for Eris to coat the bludger in a
thick layer of lava and cool it back to a solid form. If the bludger have
survived the heat of the lava, it wouldn�t be escaping its new stone covering.

Harry whooped and jumped into the
air. �We did it!�

Eris smiled at him. �Yes, well I think that went rather well.�

Tahdei
joined them, laughing as the others took down the force field. �Rather well?
It went much better than that, little one. Considering the force of emotion it
originally took for you to tap into Harry�s fire elemental, I would say that
calling upon his secondary elemental was quite an accomplishment for both of
you.�

Harry frowned. �What do you mean? I didn�t use it, Eris did.�

Tahdei
smiled. �She wouldn�t have been able to
tap into it if you hadn�t already begun to use it on some level. You�ve probably been melting earth at the
center of your fireballs for some time now and it was simply too small a
display for us to realize it.�

�Maybe�but this definitely felt different,� Harry
said quietly. �I don�t know why, but I
feel quite confident that I can call it up again whenever I want. I know how it feels inside of me now. Does that make any sense?�

Harry looked to Eris to find that
she was smiling brightly at him. She
shook her head and said lightly, �It makes plenty of sense.�

_______________________________________________________________________

Eris continued to smile as she
watched her brother begin to head back towards the castle with Ron and
Hermione. She glanced over at Sirius who
was talking quietly with Remus and Ros, but kept
glancing her way. Biting her lip, Eris
offered Sirius a weak smile and turned to follow her brother only to have a
hand on her shoulder stop her. She
turned a bit to see Naiya smiling at her.

�Eris, may I speak with you for a little
while?� the elf asked quietly.

�Of course,� Eris replied.

Naiya motioned
towards a path leading through the wild trees of the Forbidden
Forest. Eris headed down the path at a slow pace with
Naiya moving along gracefully beside her. �There�s something I�ve been keeping from you
that my father insists you have the right to know. I personally believe that the information will
simply be one more thing to bother you.�

Eris frowned, going over bits of
information in her head and trying to decide what Naiya
might want to hide from her. �It�s all
right, Naiya.
I�m sure I�ll be okay with whatever it is�or at least that I will be.�

Naiya
reached out and brushed a few stray hairs from Eris� face and the young witch
wondered if she was asking for trouble.
�I know that. It�s just that we
have been getting along quite well. I
would like us to be able to call each other friends. What I have to tell you may make you
uncomfortable with me. It may make you
angry.�

�I just have one question,� Eris said
firmly. �Is the secret bothering
you? Does it hurt you in some way to
keep it?�

�In many ways,� Naiya
said, looking away. �It�s nothing that
you can change though, little one.�

�Please tell me,� Eris said gently.

�I don�t know if you have any idea how old I
really am,� Naiya began quietly. �Age is very difficult to tell with full
blooded elves. This past summer I
celebrated my two hundred and eleventh year.
I have been unable to find even a single potential mate in all these
years�at least I hadn�t until father and I came here. The problem is that, while I find you to be a
rather appealing prospect, you are destined for another.�

To say
that Eris was shocked was an understatement.
She had to admit that all her books and even her father�s journal had
never given her any idea that a situation like this was possible. �But how�I don�t understand�if I have a
predestined mate then how can I be one of your potentials?�

Naiya
shook her head sadly. �No one knows for
certain why these things happen, little one.
It is rare that such a situation arises and typically nothing negative comes
of it because the �rejected� party simply moves on to another potential.�

Eris frowned and looked off
through the trees. �Could it have
anything to do with my resurrecting Sirius?�

Naiya pursed her
lips. �That is a definite possibility. The magic you called upon to complete that
ceremony is powerful�old. Many who
perform the required spells do not live through the ceremony. It is most often an exchange of souls. The performer of the ceremony offers their
life and spirit up to the afterlife in exchange for the subject who has passed
on. You took an awful risk in performing
the ceremony.�

�I had Harry there to help me and lend me
whatever power I was lacking,� Eris bit out.
She had heard quite enough from both Severus and Tahdei
about how foolishly she had risked herself with the ceremony. If Sirius got wind of it�well, she just knew
that he would be unbearable about it.

Naiya
nodded. �You planned well for what you
did, there is no denying that, but there was a chance that resurrecting one who
had been so long amongst the dead would have siphoned all of your own life
away.�

Eris sighed. �Yes, there was that, but I was counting on
the veil preserving his body. I thought
the odds were in my favor.�

�And you were right in the end,� Naiya said with a smile.
�I have had a few small talks with Harry and Draco and I have come to
the conclusion that even if Sirius had never died, therefore removing your need
to resurrect him, he would still have been one of your potentials. If the ceremony had any effect it only
strengthened what was already there.�

Eris cocked her head to the
side. �What did those two tell you that
led you to that conclusion?�

Naiya
smiled. �Well, they explained that Draco
and Sirius are related through the Black bloodlines. It seems that the Black blood is quite
compatible with you and your brother�s. If
Draco had any siblings, or if Sirius� brother was still alive, then Harry would
probably have more potentials�maybe you too.�

Eris frowned at the mention of
Sirius� brother. Sirius had said
something about a brother a few days before and it had tickled her interest
then as well. It was as though there was
something that she should know about this brother. Maybe she would ask Tahdei
about it later. �That would have been
nice. I could do with a few choices.�

Naiya
gave her a sly look. �You make it sound
as though you don�t find Sirius appealing.�

Eris scowled. �He annoys me.�

�You�re attracted to him,� Naiya
said in a no nonsense voice. �You may be
able to fool the others into believing that you are uncertain of or opposed to
him. You could probably even convince my
father, but you cannot fool me.�

�And why�s that,� Eris snapped.

Naiya
placed a hand on her shoulder. �Do you
remember how Ginny changed from being one of Harry�a
potentials? Things like that happen for
a reason, a drastic change of some kind.
Harry, on some level, acknowledged that he would rather be with a wizard
than a witch. Ginny was pointless as a
potential after that. If you tuly found Sirius as objectionable as you try to make out
half the time then he would have been shifted to a potential and you would most
likely be recognizing me as a possible mate.�

Eris kicked the tops off of a
small patch of flowers. �It�s not just a
question of whether or not I want him.
There are other factors holding me back.�

�If I were you,� Naiya
said gently, �I would get close to him�very close. If friendship is all you feel you can give to
begin with then at least offer him that.
Help him to understand why you need to wait.�

Eris looked up at the sky through
the trees. �I seem to be getting that
exact advice a lot lately.�

�Then maybe you should listen,� Naiya said sternly.
�I can�t order you as to how to live your life, but you might consider
the wisdom in taking advice from people who are a century or two older than
you.�

They
stared at each other for a while. Eris
finally sighed and looked up ahead on the path.
She could see Hogwarts up ahead through the leaves. She realized that Naiya
wasn�t going to let her go on her way without some sort of answer. �You�re right of course. I already promised Hermione and Ginny that I
would try harder with him.�

Naiya
stared hard at her for a moment longer then she said, �Well, we better get you
back up to the castle then. Perhaps
Severus can use an extra pair of hands with his task.�

Eris nodded and followed silently
in Naiya�s wake.
All the way something was pulling at the back of her mind, but so many
other things were pressing in on her that she couldn�t quite remember what
might need a special amount of attention.

________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday,
September 10^th

Remus sat in the Defense Against
the Dark Arts class room staring at the front of the room where Roslyn Green
was busily trying to educate her class of Slytherin and Gryffindor seventh
years. Draco, Blaise, Eris, Harry, Ron,
and Hermione were all present and setting a fine example of attentiveness and
participation for the others. Harry and
Draco were sitting together, as were Ron and Hermione and Eris and Blaise. Remus could tell very well by watching the
children how adept they were at the subject.

Hermione and Eris were scribbling
out notes with great fervor, but he�d noticed in the first week�s classes that
they were a bit hesitant to demonstrate their skills in the practical portions
of the class. They did very well in the
class overall, but they would never be the best at putting their knowledge to
use. Draco and Harry took very few
notes, but their attention never strayed while Roslyn was demonstrating or
lecturing. Though they didn�t always
raise the hands to answer questions or appear overly confident in their
knowledge, they were consistently the best in the practical portions of the
class. Blaise seemed to have a good
grasp of the class materials, but was more interested in attempting to make
small talk with his classmates. What
Remus found amusing was that Blaise always seemed to end up with a full set of
notes and never failed to answer a question correctly is Roslyn called on
him. Apparently Eris was a very good
desk partner and Blaise was Slytherin to the core, completely willing to take
whatever Eris was willing to pass his way.
Ron�well Ron was doing just fine in the class thus far. According to his records, he almost always
did quite well in DADA, never coming in lower than tenth in the class. Remus knew that part of it was having Harry
and (mostly) Hermione as friends, but the boy retained information quite
well. Once he had mastered a spell, Ron
would cast it with near perfection every time after, no matter how long it took
him to get to the point. The redhead�s
attention tended to wander, he relied to heavily on Hermione�s note taking, and
he blushed scarlet whenever he was called upon.
Remus had long ago decided that Ron�s only problem was a lack of
confidence.

For that
class, Roslyn was discussing the finer points of the differences between spells
that were considered dark. She was
pacing back and forth, occasionally demonstrating some of the lesser dark
spells on a charmed mannequin she�d brought with her from America. Remus thought it was a fascinating (if
somewhat grim in this case) teaching tool.
Roslyn had confided in him that she�d gotten the idea from the way that
some Muggle medics were trained.

�Now, as some of you may have noticed,� Roslyn
said loudly, �many of these spells have gone back and forth between being
considered dark and light several times through the ages. It is often a matter of social perception and
the customs of the time. Take the Blood
Leaching Hex. Does anyone have an idea
as to why this may have once been an acceptable spell, referred to instead as a
charm?�

Remus was not surprised when
Hermione raised her hand, answering quickly when Roslyn nodded in her
direction. �Because there was a time
when people thought that blood letting would cure many ailments.�

�Precisely,� Roslyn said with a smile. �As we know better these days, and there is
know longer a purpose for this�crude method of blood removal, people only see
the dark uses that it could be put to. Now,
there isn�t much grey area with the Blood Leaching Hex, but what about
something like the Obliviate?�

Remus looked around the classroom
and sighed quietly when he saw that very few of the students looked less than
disbelieving that there could be anything wrong with that particular
spell. Thankfully, all of �his� kids at
least looked thoughtful and Eris and Hermione were nodding slightly. He frowned when Theodore Nott was the one who
finally piped up. �What about it? It�s a rather useful spell. It helps to keep our world safe.�

Remus glanced at Eris� back and
saw that she was sitting ramrod straight.
Blaise was scooting closer to her and leaning in to whisper in her
ear. Remus looked at Roslyn who was
frowning. He could tell that she was
restraining herself just as he was. Nott
had no place being back in the school, but there was no way to keep him out
until he did something on the grounds.
Roslyn looked at him then and Remus winked at her, encouraging her to go
on.

�Mr. Nott, you need to think of the evil it
could be put to as well as the good. For
goodness sake! You need to consider the
accidental damage that could be done with it.�
Roslyn paused, giving each of her students a pointed look. �People have relieved themselves of every
single memory they ever had with a single misfire. Someone could do all sorts of horrible things
to you and then simply remove your memory of the events to keep themselves
safe. This is one of many spells that are
closely controlled by our governments, but that doesn�t stop everyone from using
it. Perhaps we should look at
another. What do think of me placing the
Imperius Curse in our discussion?�

Remus watched a ripple of protest
flow through the classroom. Hermione
seemed particularly appalled by the suggestion that the curse could ever be
considered acceptable. �But that�s an
Unforgivable! It is completely dark and illegal!�

Roslyn smiled grimly. �Yes, most people think so, but in many
countries there are limited conditions under which it is allowed. I know of two or three that still allow
parents to keep their children under the Imperius
Curse until they come of age in order to control their behavior and
activities. There are many that allow
the use of the curse to be put into apprentice-master contracts, but it is
monitored closely.�

�That�s horrible,� Neville yelled out. Remus smiled at the boy�s show of indignation.

�Yes,� Roslyn said in a warning tone and the
entire room fell silent. �Most of us
would think so now, but even England
allowed its use under regulated circumstances as recently as thirty-seven years
ago. It was only the first rise of
Voldemort that finally caused the Imperius Curse to
become completely illegal in the country.
If I may say so, you�re all the better for it.�

Remus saw Harry�s head cock to the
side and then he spoke. �Miss Roslyn, when
did the United States
stop allowing it?�

Roslyn smiled. �Well, let me think a minute. I believe that the wizarding
community (which was rather small at the time) banned the Imperius
Curse in 1690. Before that it was only
used to ensure that indentured servants remained in honest service until their
contracts were fulfilled. You might also
be interested to know that they did not allow the curse to be used on slaves.�

Hermione piped up
immediately. �But why would the slaves be spared? Wouldn�t
they be the most likely to be abused?�

�Very few wizards anywhere in the world ever
owned slaves,� Roslyn said with no small amount of pride. �Of course, that probably wouldn�t be true if
dark wizards outnumbered light. But
enough of all this! We�re not in History
of Magic. What I would like you to do for
the next half hour is write approximately twelve inches discussing any spells,
dark or light, and why you believe that their status is based more on public
perception than their actual effect.
Please begin.�

Remus chuckled softly as most of
the class groaned and slowly pulled out their parchment and quills. Hermione, Eris, Draco, and Blaise immediately
began writing. Harry sat for a while,
tapping his quill against his cheek.
Remus assumed that the boy was contemplating his response. All in all, Remus thought that it would be a
good year for DADA. The only thing that
he couldn�t be certain about was how long Eris and Harry would be able to
remain in the class before they began to venture away from the castle.

________________________________________________________________________

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Eris glared at Regulus. �Why haven�t I remembered yet?! This is taking too long. You said that Harry and I need to find the
locket soon, but I can�t remember what
you�ve told me.�

Regulus sighed. �Eris, you need
to calm down. You are beginning to
remember. Every time someone mentions that
Sirius had a brother you get closer to remembering. All we need is for someone to say my name or
show you a picture�or something. Harry
and the others have already figured out that I was the one to take the true
locket, but he�ll never find the real one without your help. He�s chasing the second decoy I left in Black
Manor.�

Eris frowned. �But you said that
the real locket is in the manor!�

�Yes I did,� Regulus replied
with a smile. �But I left a decoy in a
relatively easy to discover place.�

�Its seems like a your plan
worked then, only the people who found the fake locket were the only ones you
would have wanted to get their hands on the actual thing.� Eris began to pace. �Tell me again what we will have to get past
to reach the locket.�

Regulus nodded. �Once you�ve
entered into the blockaded area of the basement you will have to face off
against the creatures I left to guard the path.�

�And those would be��

Regulus chuckled. �Nothing that you need to know about ahead of time. Don�t take the task lightly, but know that
you, your brother, and your friends will do just fine. Just remember that
getting out may be just as difficult as getting in.�

Eris shook her head as Regulus pulled her into a hug. Leave it to this particular Black to turn
something this important into a training session. Realizing that there was no point in arguing
with the man, she simply let herself be held.
It was a good feeling.

______________________________________________________________________

September 11^th

Sirius was watching intently as Tahdei held a training session with Harry and Eris. Today the elf was working on the twins�
Empathy and Telepathy. Harry had already
taken his turn and was helping his sister practice by focusing on specific
emotions for her to uncover. Sirius was
perfectly willing to admit that he didn�t know much about the twins� elven powers, but it seemed to him that Eris was having a
bit of trouble imposing her normally imposing control over this particular
power. In fact, if anyone asked his
opinion he�d probably tell them that Eris seemed to be fighting rather hard
against the emotions that invaded her mind.

Tahdei
stood from his seat with a sigh, recapturing Sirius� attention. The elf looked a tad frustrated as he spoke. �You must try to calm yourself as you allow
the emotions in. You�re reading the
emotions well enough, but you are still at risk for them to take you over
because you are not simply allowing the foreign feelings to flow through
you. The more you fight, the more firmly
the emotions will ground themselves within your mind.�

Eris closed her eyes and Sirius
hated the pained expression on her face.
�I�m sorry, Tahdei. I�ve just been distracted lately.�

Sirius decided to step in. �Why�s that?�

Eris frowned at him for a moment
before answering. �I just have this
feeling that there�s something I�m supposed to be doing, but I just can�t
figure out what it is!�

�Do you think she has another power forming, Tahdei?� Harry asked.

�It�s a possibility,� the elf said
quietly. �It could be one of the many
forms of Foresight�or�perhaps�Eris, do you feel like this is something you know
instinctively or did someone give the information to you?�

�It definitely feels like something someone
told me that I�ve mostly forgotten,� Eris said in a dejected tone. �Every now and then someone says something
that seems to strike a chord, but nothing really makes the whole thing click.�

Sirius jumped up from his
seat. �Was it like that day at breakfast
last week?�

Eris looked confused for a moment
and then something seemed to light up in her eyes. �Yes�you mentioned something��

It was
Sirius� turn to frown. �Yeah, I only
said something about my brother��

�That�s it,� Eris said forcefully. �That�s what keeps bugging me. A few other people have mentioned him�but I
can never quite grasp what it is about him that I should know.�

Harry jumped in them. �Does it have something to do with the Horcrux he took?�

�I think so�but its just not coming to me,�
Eris said with a growl of frustration.

Sirius looked at Tahdei and saw that the elf was smiling. �What�s so amusing?�

Tahdei
chuckled. �I believe that the answer is
easily reached.�

�How so,� Eris asked quietly.

�Sirius,� Tahdei
said, �please tell Eris the name of your brother.�

Sirius looked at Eris, whose wide, green eyes
were gazing at him expectantly.
�Well�his name was Regulus, but I really don�t see how he could be
that��

Eris may have been in shock for a
moment while she processed what he had just told her, but within a few seconds
she snapped out of her stupor and practically knocked Sirius off his feet as
she dove at him. Sirius smiled as Eris
pulled him into a hug. �That�s it�I mean
that�s him! Oh goodness, he said that�s
all I needed to remember and he was right!�

Sirius shook his head. �Who are you talking about, Eris?�

�Regulus!� Eris pulled away and began to pace. �He�s been visiting me for weeks, trying to
get me to remember what he was telling me so that I could tell Harry were to
find Slytherin�s locket!�

Harry�s eyes went wide. �You know where it is? This is great! We�ll finally be able to get started. Where is it?�

�Its in Gimmauld Place,� Eris said
confidently.

Sirius frowned. �But I thought that it had disappeared from
the manor. Harry and the others saw it
when they were cleaning�oh�it would have been over two years ago now.�

Eris� smile only
grew, along with Sirius� confusion.
�Ah, but that�s the beauty of it.
They found the second decoy. The
real locket is still in the manor, but it�s well hidden and well guarded. We�re going to need to sit down and plan this
out. I think I need to talk to
Remus. Yes�that�s the thing to do.�

Sirius sat in a baffled silence
along with a gaping Harry and smirking Tahdei as Eris
turned and flounced out of the room. The
elf was the first to break the silence.
�Well, this has always been a useful power, though, as you saw, it can
cause some confusion.�

Sirius turned his stare to the elf
and it evolved into a glare. �What are
you talking about, man?!�

Tahdei
pursed his lips. �Well, I believe that
Eris has been experiencing astral projection.�

With
that, Tahdei followed Eris� example and slipped from
the room. Sirius looked at Harry (who
was still gaping at the space where Eris had stood) and after a moment his
godson returned the stare. With a small
smile, Harry shrugged and left to follow Tahdei and
Eris. Sirius looked around the empty
room, trying to understand exactly what had happened. Somewhere in his mind he recognized that the
rag tag band he was a part of was getting a lucky break, but a bigger part of
him was experiencing an odd sense of jealously.
How in the name of Merlin did his ex-Death Eater, dead, brother get off spending time with the one woman that Sirius
wanted in the whole world? It was as
though some irrational fear was filling him.
He knew that it was impossible for his brother to return to life as he
had, but still some part of him feared that he could wake in the morning and
have competition for Eris that he didn�t exist yet.

He needed a better explanation of
all this.
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