Prelude to Moondance

A pair of dark eyes peeked with caution outside the portrait hole. They darted left and right, and, finally satisfied, a head emerged.

"Sirius, it's only 11, I really don't think there's going to be anyone down here right now," Sariyah mumbled from behind him, her voice muffled in the portrait hole.

"You always have to make sure though," observed Sirius. "That's how James and I don't get into trouble."

"You get in trouble about every other week," stated Sariyah, her eyebrows raised.

Sirius slunk out of the portrait hole, the Fat Lady giving him a dirty look. Sariyah slipped out next, and the Fat Lady looked very reproving.

"I hope you know it's after hours," she growled in a menacing tone.

"I'm sorry," Sariyah answered. "We're hungry." She and Sirius set out, treading softly on the cold stone grounds of Hogwarts. They tiptoed down many flights of stairs, finally reaching the main hall.

A breeze was wafting in from the large oak front doors, which were standing a bit ajar. The two Gryffindors could see some stars twinkling outside.

"Look! There's Orion," Sariyah whispered, pointing at a constellation that was clearly visible through the open doors.

Sirius had in an instant become alert when he saw the doors. "Sariyah, I think we should hide somewhere. Somebody left those doors open on purpose...and whoever went out is definitely going to come back in."

They scuttled towards a suit of armor directly beside the doors and squeezed in behind it.

"I wonder who would be up this late?" asked Sirius, his sharp eyes peering around in the dark. "Lumos," he murmured. A glow erupted from the end of his wand, casting a trail of light around them.

"Why would they leave the doors open, too? I wonder if there's someone out--"

She was silenced as Sirius clamped a hand around her mouth. He put the light out in his wand, as he heard voices nearing the door, coming from outside on the grounds. Two black-cloaked figures skulked in quietly, shutting the doors behind them. They pulled off their hoods to reveal a dark haired and a brown-haired boy.

Sirius's grip on Sariyah's mouth loosened. She looked at him, confused, and he let his hand drop. A look of scorn crossed his face; his eyes were now glaring into the darkness. He fearlessly strode out from behind the suit of armor, pulling out of Sariyah's grasp as she tried to hold him back and walked, in plain view, towards the two boys.

They were shocked to see someone else materialize out of the darkness. Sirius grabbed the black-haired boy by the scruff of his white collar and pulled the young boy's face close to his own.

"Out a little late, aren't we?" he growled in a deep voice.

"Sirius--what--let go of me!" yelled the frightened boy. He could not have been a day older than fourteen or fifteen; his voice had not even matured yet and was beginning to show signs of squeaking.

"Oh no, you little idiot. Don't think you're going to get away with lurking around like the demon you are at night. What were you doing?" Sirius questioned, antipathy burning in his dark eyes.

"Why would you care, dear brother?" said the boy, his voice shaking, but much quieter now. "I'll tell you what I'm not doing, hanging around with foul mudbloods like your friends."

Sirius hurled the boy away from him so that he hit the other boy standing nearby, both of them landing in a crumpled heap. "Don't you ever say that, you little git," he barked furiously.

"Sirius," Sariyah said sharply, peering through the darkness, now fully visible from behind the armor, "what are you doing?"

The brown haired boy laughed. "Now you take the Head Girl everywhere you go, Black? Please, don't give me a detention," he whimpered in a mocking tone.

Sirius said nothing for a moment, and then slowly pulled his wand out again. Pointing it at the pair on the ground, he growled "Silencio".

"Would you please explain what in the name of Merlin is going on?" Sariyah asked, taking Sirius's arm and turning him to face her.

"The first prat is my brother, Regulus. I don't know what he would be doing down here or outside so late," Sirius explained, pointing at the black haired boy with his wand, waving it in a threatening manner. "The other must be one of his friends from his house."

Regulus and his friend made frantic motions, but no sound escaped from their mouths. They began moving slowly towards the stairs, but not before Sariyah had her own wand out and pointed at them.

"Look," explained Sariyah, as quietly as she could, her wand aimed at the boys, "I can't take points away or give them detention or anything, because we're out here too."

"I know," Sirius answered, not taking his eyes off of his kin. "Get up," he growled at the two boys, who did as they were told. "If you don't get back to Slytherin tower within four minutes, I will curse you so much that all eight of your future heads won't fit on one hospital bed."

The boys scrambled up and sped out of the Great Hall entrance.

Sariyah looked perplexedly at Sirius. "I didn't know you had a brother," she said in a quiet voice, knowing that there had to be a reason why he hadn't told her.

"I don't consider him my brother," answered Sirius in a frosty voice. "I just as well don't have a family."

Sariyah did not press the subject further. She and Sirius made their way softly down the stone stairs that led to the kitchens, going past the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room without realizing it, and stopping at a picture of a large bowl of fruit. Sirius reached up and tickled the pear, which started giggling incessantly, and eventually revealed a doorknob.

They entered the kitchen, received leftover dinner from the gracious and eager-to-serve house elves, thanked them, and left for Gryffindor tower. As they came up the stone stairs to the Great Hall, they noticed that again the doors were open.

"Didn't they shut the doors when they came in?" asked Sariyah, stopping in her tracks.

"Yes," said Sirius. He searched around in the dark, finally finding a broom closet nearby. He and Sariyah jammed themselves into it with great difficulty as fast as they could, as they were now laden with covered glass dishes. "Something is going on here...and we're about to find out what."

Three cloaked figures slid in through the door, this time, not closing it. Their voices drifted across the hall to the broom closet, where, unbeknownst to them, two pairs of eyes were staring out.

"Everything's ready, then?" asked the first hooded figure.

"Of course. Nothing goes wrong when I'm in charge," bragged the second figure, this one a woman's voice.

"How do you know no one saw us?" asked the third figure with a hint of skepticism in his voice.

"Simple. I put a spell on the other dormitory entrances just about fifteen minutes before we started bringing the Slytherins out. The spell seals them so that no one can get out, and it's only temporary. It'll last until five or so," answered the woman.

At that moment, Sirius shot an anxious look at Sariyah in the dim broom closet.

"I'll bet she just used the Colloportus charm," Sariyah whispered, her eyes narrowing.

"How do you know?" Sirius questioned.

"Because that voice is Marlene Bordeaux's, and that's the only one she knows. She's in my Charms class, dumb as a rock," Sariyah muttered, before putting a finger to her lips to silence him. The figures were now climbing stealthily up the marble stairs, no doubt towards their common room, shutting the great oak doors once again behind them.

Sirius made to leave the closet, but Sariyah pulled him back.

"What are you doing?" she hissed at him.

"I'm leaving the closet!" he whispered back.

"There could be someone still out there!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, come on Sariyah, you can't be serious. We're not going to be caught, there's no one out there anymore," whispered Sirius.

"We don't know that, Sirius, stop being so brash," she answered, her eyes peering outside the door of the closet.

"Come on, Sar," Sirius insisted. "Are you a Gryffindor or not?"

Sariyah's eyes narrowed angrily. "What is that supposed to mean?" she snapped irately. She hadn't questioned her placement in Gryffindor House since her first year. The Sorting Hat had deliberated for a full five minutes as to whether she was to be in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. She knew she wanted to be in Gryffindor, and she felt that she had only been lucky to be placed in house of lions. From then on, she had been on pins and needles whenever anyone questioned her fierce loyalty to Gryffindor.

Sirius was taken aback. "It just--I'm sorry," he answered. He placed a comforting hand on her arm. "I didn't mean to upset you."

Sariyah's anger ebbed away as quickly as it had come. "I didn't mean to snap at you, Sirius. I should be the one that's sorry."

"It's all right," he answered. He peered outside again, nodded at Sariyah, and they both exited the closet. The pair climbed the stairs as quietly as they could, finally making it back up to Gryffindor tower.

"I knew it," smiled Sariyah, as they saw that the portrait hole picture was sealed shut with the Colloportus charm, and the Fat Lady was frozen in position, not moving. "Marlene is so predictable."

Sariyah pulled out her own wand and muttered the counter spell to the Colloportus spell, at which point the Fat Lady resumed movement.

"Password?" she asked, looking dazed.

"Hecate," answered Sirius. The portrait swung open and they entered the dormitory, where their friends were sprawled around the common room, each looking either half-asleep or deeply immersed in their work.

Lily was asleep, her head resting against James' shoulder. James was scanning the pages of his Potions text. Peter had his head in his hands, apparently trying to hold his eyelids open so he could finish his essay. Remus's face was flat against a textbook, and he was roused when he heard someone enter the room.

James' head jerked sideways as he shot a look at Sirius and Sariyah. "About time!" he exclaimed. His sudden movement had woken up Lily, who looked around sleepily.

"Wait until we tell you what we saw," said Sirius, carefully placing the plates on the coffee table in front of the fire. They dove into their story about seeing Regulus and other Slytherins entering through the doors of the great hall while eating.

"Maybe they had some sort of a meeting," suggested Remus thoughtfully. "That would explain why there were people coming in and out."

"Actually, come to think of it, I heard Bernice saying something about a dueling club," voiced Lily. "But she said that it was going to be for all of the school, not just Slytherin."

"Well it looks as though the Slytherins are trying to get more practice, then," surmised James. "That's about the only reason I can think of them sneaking out at night in groups like that."

"Can you imagine Elliot Avery trying to throw a spell? I think he'd be sprouting purple hair before he raised his arm, if I were against him," chuckled Sirius, his eyes twinkling. They all laughed at the thought of many of their fellow classmates trying to take each other on in dueling.

"I think Frank would be really good," said Remus. "He'd put up a good challenge."

"But poor Lethe, she can never remember spells," Sariyah said pityingly. "I think I would be awful too."

"Why?" asked James. "You're good at Charms, almost as good as Lily."

"I haven't got the reflexes for dueling. I wouldn't be able to dodge any spells at all, and I'm not fast enough," answered Sariyah, not a trace of hope in her voice.

"You wouldn't necessarily have to dodge spells," countered Remus. "Just put up a Shielding charm or throw a spell before theirs hits you."

Sariyah still looked very unconvinced.

"Well," said James, "I don't think anyone's going to get anything else done tonight. It's almost two." He, Lily, Peter and Sirius packed up their things and began heading upstairs.

Sariyah sighed, still worried about the dueling, and began collecting her things slowly. She was putting her things into her book bag with a despairing look on her face.

"Sariyah...if you're that worried about it," Remus said, noticing the helpless look on her face, "I'll help you. We'll go find some empty place and practice together."

"Really?" she asked, pausing from placing a quill in her bag.

Remus nodded kindly.

"You're wonderful, Remus," Sariyah said, a grin spreading over her face.

Remus coughed a little and blushed at the comment.

"We'll set up a time and everything. Add a little fun into the normal week. Can we start after this weekend?" asked Sariyah.

"Sure," answered Remus. "But I'll pick the dates, shall I? Because, you know, visiting my mom and all, I never know exactly when I'm going to have to go."

Sariyah smiled. "Of course. Thank you so much Remus."

Remus grinned back, and they both made their ways up to their respective dormitories for well-needed sleep.