Prelude to Moondance

    The sorting ceremony ending with a bang...literally. The new first years in Slytherin were given quite the shock as firecrackers went off directly behind them, set off by two of Gryffindor's finest students and troublemakers. James and Sirius were thrown many a dirty look by the older Slytherin students as they quietly snuck back to their table to join their friends and fellow students.

    James took the empty seat beside Lily, and Sirius sat on Remus’s other side. Beside Remus was Sariyah, and beside her was their close friend, Frank Longbottom, who was a year younger.

    “This is the last Sorting Ceremony we’re ever going to be at, guys,” Sariyah said. “Isn’t that sad?”

    “Sad? Sar, this should be fun and happy, not sad. This is why we set off those fireworks, so you wouldn’t be sad,” Sirius asserted, grinning all the while.

    Sariyah knitted her eyebrows. “You know you’re just making the Slytherins more mad then they usually are at us,” she said.

    “We live to greaten the divide between BRAVE GRYFFINDOR and FOUL SLYTHERIN!!!” shouted James with glee, looking over their heads to see if anyone had noticed his absurd yelling.

    Sariyah gave James an impatient look and Remus only shook his head and continued his picking apart of a large piece of chicken.

    “So I’ve been hearing things,” Frank Longbottom said in a low undertone, leaning forward. “My dad works at the Ministry, and apparently there’s something about to go down...they’re waiting for something.”

    “What is it?” asked Sirius, leaning in.

    “Well, You-Know-Who has been around here, really close, you know,” Frank replied, looking around cautiously to make sure no one else was listening. “But they don’t know what he’s going to do, exactly...they think maybe he’s gathering up some sort of forces.”

    “Forces? You mean like an army?” asked Remus intently in his soft voice.

    “Yeah, something like that,” said Frank. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but they’re being called Death Eaters.”

    Sariyah shuddered. “What a fitting name,” she muttered.

    "Your mom knows about this, right Sariyah?" asked Lily.

    "She would never tell me anything...I mean, I barely see her as it is," Sariyah answered. "I don't even know what she does, I just get periodic letters."    

    “But they’re near here? Where?” asked Peter Pettigrew, who was looking positively frightened.

    “Well, they don’t know where, otherwise they would have gotten him, wouldn’t they? But this whole gathering an army thing is a little alarming, isn’t it? I mean, can you imagine how many people in this school would be ready to up and join Voldemort?” James asked, peering cautiously at the Slytherin table.

    “Really, James, they’re not that horrible...none of them would kill anyone else...would they?” asked Lily.

    “That is a frightening prospect,” added Remus. “But he’s not doing it yet, is he? I mean he has to find loyal people that would surrender their lives to him.”

    “So many people would give up what they have for power, Remus,” Sariyah said. “It’s quite a world we live in.”

    The seven sat in silence for a moment, pondering similar thoughts. A voice broke through their thought processes.

    “This year’s going to be different, Potter,” said a drawling, sneering voice from behind James.

    Sariyah looked past James to see who was talking, and she was not surprised to see a tall young man with long white-blonde hair. The silver color on his green and silver patterned scarf reflected off of his narrowed gray eyes. He was accompanied by another male student with long, greasy black hair and a large hook nose.

    “Sod off, Malfoy,” growled Frank. “You too, Snape.”

    “I wasn’t speaking to you, Longbottom,” growled the young man. “Potter, you, Black and I have some business to deal with.”

    “I haven’t got any business with you, Malfoy, you git,” growled Sirius, his hands clenching the table, looking like a dog bracing to attack.

    “The only business we’ll be dealing with is your team’s loss of dignity on the Quidditch pitch,” James added. He was smart enough not to pick fights in the middle of the hall, but Malfoy was not.

    “Oh, really? We’ll see about that,” he snarled. He pulled out his wand and just as he was about to perform a malicious spell, the wand flew out of his hands and into Sariyah’s.

    “That’s not happening here, Lucius,” Sariyah said calmly, fingering Malfoy’s wand in her honey-colored hand, and giving him an even stare. Severus Snape had been watching her the entire time, as opposed to backing up his friend.

    “You-you didn’t even say anything,” Malfoy sputtered, utterly confused. “No wand, no words...he was right...you’re aren't completely-" He didn’t finish his sentence.

    Sariyah stood up furiously in a swirl of black robes, anger blazing in her green eyes. “Petrificus Totalus!” she shouted, pointing Malfoy’s wand at him. Not only was he placed in a full-body bind, but he was thrown across two rows of tables, landing in a pile of mashed potatoes at the Slytherin table.

    Sariyah was breathing very heavily and her cheeks were a deep red color, apparently not aware of the damage she had inflicted on the Slytherin, nor on the thousand faces now staring at her.

    “Here, Severus,” she said, thrusting Malfoy’s wand at Snape. “Give that back to him when he’s not in the hall, otherwise I’m going to give both of you detentions.” Severus caught the wand and looked at her one last time before turning and hurrying to Malfoy.

    Sariyah sat down on the bench, still breathing quite heavily.

    Remus put his hand gently on her shoulder. “Are you okay?” he asked, his gray eyes trying to make contact with hers. Sirius felt a wave of suspicion pass over him again, like in the train.

    “Fine,” she mumbled. She picked up her fork and began finishing her dinner.

    “Just wait, Khan!” Malfoy shouted from across the hall, face bright red, furiously rubbing mashed potatoes off of his black robes. “You’ll get what’s coming to you!” Sirius felt anger rising in him and was about to get up, but Remus quickly stopped him.

    “It’s not worth it, Sirius,” he said, pulling him back down to the table.

    Shortly, the small witch who had led them to the Head Boy and Girl cabins on the train walked by.

    “Ms. Khan, I am going to assume that the action you have just taken was for some reasonable purpose?” asked the witch, staring at Sariyah sternly.

    “It won’t happen again, Professor Nygrene,” Sariyah mumbled, not making eye contact.

    “Malfoy taunted her, Professor, it wasn’t her fault,” Sirius jumped to her defense.

    “This better not happen again, Ms. Khan, otherwise it may mean that badge,” said Professor Nygrene. Sariyah nodded, looking down at the table and her cold food.

    The witch sauntered away, back towards the teacher’s table.

    “She’s such a prat, that woman,” growled Sirius.

    “I shouldn’t have done that...I shouldn’t have overreacted,” Sariyah sighed.

    “It’s okay, we all lose our temper from time to time, Sar,” James said reassuringly. “Only I’ve never seen you lose it.”

    “Well it’s not going to happen again,” Sariyah replied. She finished her dinner, got up from the table and left for the dormitories.

    They watched her leave, and so did the rest of the school...and so did the wise elder man sitting at the head table. He watched her as she exited the hall, and turned his head back to a box of candy that had materialized out of thin air. He popped a lemon drop into his mouth and smiled thoughtfully.