Prelude to Moondance

The next Friday slid by in a haze of foul wintry weather and low temperatures. The trek back to the castle from the greenhouses was as miserable as ever, the students shoes sloshing on the soggy ground, wet with the cold sleet-like rain that had fallen overnight, their hoods up to keep the cold misty rain out of their eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then, Sar," called Lachlan, a black hood pulled over his head, his turquoise eyes shining.

"Bye, Lucky!" Sariyah called back.

"Lucky?" asked Remus. "Isn't his name Lachlan?"

"Yeah, but that's his nickname. Isn't it cute?" Sariyah chuckled, beaming at Remus.

Remus smiled kindly, knowing that at the least, she was happy."Yes," he murmured under his breath, holding the door open for her and about five others who went into the castle, and watching her, "it's very cute."

"So what all do you have planned for tomorrow, Sariyah?" asked Lily, as the three made their way down the hallway to their last class, Charms.

"I think we were just going to walk around Hogsmeade, maybe get some Butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks...the usual," Sariyah answered, patting down her dark wavy hair, which had become unruly due to the rain.

As they turned the corner to finally reach the Charms classroom, there was an enormous BANG. The door to the Charms classroom had been launched off of its' hinges, and it promptly came flying through the narrow corridor, very much in the manner of a flying carpet, manned by two dark haired young men with familiar gold-and-red ties.

"Duck!!" they shouted, and the seven or eight people who were in the hallway did as they were told. The heavy door came flying over them, and as it veered over Lily, Sariyah and Remus, it slowed to a halt in mid-air.

"Do you see," started the first dark-haired boy, "what happens when you're not here to restrain me, Lily? These kinds of things, I just really can't help myself."

"JAMES POTTER!" Lily shrieked, her face a brilliant red shade, "Get off of that door this instant! You're endangering everyone in this hallway! You about lopped off our heads! It's not funny at all! And you! Sirius! I can't believe this! How old do you two think you two are?"

The color drained from both of their faces, but it wasn't due to Lily's screaming. Just around the corner was a tall wizard in aquamarine robes, his ancient bespectacled eyes staring at the door hovering in mid-air. He raised a hand, and with a flick of a finger, the charm was lifted off of the door and it fell with a resounding thud to the ground, leaving its occupants rubbing their knees in pain.

"Mr. Lupin, if you would," stated Dumbledore, his expression calm, but his eyes twinkling with laughter.

"I--I'm sorry, you two. But that's a detention, for both of you. And I hate to do it, but 20 house points," he paused, and looked at Dumbledore, who raised an eyebrow. "20 house points...each," Remus finished painfully. Dumbledore nodded, and walked away, back to his office, where he was originally going.

"Ahh, it's alright, Lupin," Sirius said, lifting himself up and carefully brushing the dirt off of his robes. "You did what you had to, and so did we!"

"You are planning on reattaching that door, are you not?" asked Sariyah, eyeing the heavy oak door that was now blocking the way of milling Hogwarts students.

"Of course!" said Sirius gleefully. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The door began hovering again in mid-air, and he began walking with it back to the Charms room.

"Got yourself in trouble again, brother?" asked a squeaky, childlike voice. Regulus Black and a group of Slytherins in his year were walking down the same hallway as the Charms classroom. Sirius's eyes narrowed and filled with hate. He directed the door over the group of Slytherins and let it drop an inch, but then caught it, many times.

"Run away, little snakes," he hissed at the group, which contained Slytherin girls as well, shrieking as the door fell closer and closer to their heads.

"Sirius," Sariyah scolded, placing a hand on his arm, "I know you don't like him, but there's no need to get into more trouble for it."

"Really, you should listen more to your Mudblood girlfriend, Sirius," tittered Regulus. Sirius felt a rage overtake him. He looked at James, who at once knew what he was about to do. Sirius threw James his wand, and James did the same, throwing his own wand to Sirius.

A flash of gold light erupted from the wand Sirius held, taking Regulus by surprise and slamming him into the wall of the passage. James was manning the floating door, and he looked shocked as Regulus slid to the floor, nearly knocked unconscious by the blow Sirius had dealt him.

"Sirius," Sariyah muttered, stunned, looking at Regulus, "why? Why did you do that? He's so little, he's only 14, and he's hurt..."

"Sariyah, he called you a Mudblood!" Sirius panted. "Believe me, I wasn't about to let him go for that one. Not this time." Sirius pointed the wand at Regulus. "Get up, scum."

Regulus moaned, and stirred slightly.

"You hurt him!" shouted a black-haired Slytherin girl standing nearby.

"Be quiet," Sirius snapped. He reached forward grabbed Regulus by the collar of his black robes and pulled him to his feet. "If you ever--ever call anyone that again, I will strangle you." Regulus opened his eyes slightly, and, looking at his brother, only nodded. Sirius held him up for a second or so, until he was able to regain his footing, and then pointed at the end of the corridor, and all of the younger Slytherins scampered away like frightened kittens.

Sirius's hand slid through his hair, a habit that he had gained from hanging around James too much. His dark eyes turned to Sariyah, whose face was stony, with no expression.

"Sirius, you act like you're a twelve-year-old sometimes, you don't think of the consequences of your actions! Grow up," Sariyah huffed. She turned and stormed off into the Charms classroom, Lily along with her, giving James a dirty look.

James quickly reattached the door, as Professor Flitwick had just appeared down the hall. He, Sirius, Remus, and Peter sat down in their usual spot. Sirius and James looked especially ashamed, and did not look up during the entire class.

At dinner, Lily and Sariyah sat at the other end of the table, occasionally shooting dirty looks at the boys, who were on the edge nearest to the Head Table.

"God, girls are so touchy," muttered Sirius. "You try to stand up for them, and they don't see it."

"She did see it, Padfoot," stated Remus, his fork in midair. "They know that we want to protect them, it's just sometimes, we tend to get a little...out of hand."

"The flying door though, that was brilliant," piped in Peter. "I've never seen anything that great since Snape and Moony about to duke it out in the Shrieking Sha--" Peter was silenced by an elbow to the ribs from James, as a group of Slytherin seventh-years walked by, eyeing them menacingly.

"Careful, Wormtail," hissed James. "Don't go spilling our secrets to the whole world."

After they finished with dinner, they went to Gryffindor tower, where students were merrily doing lazy activities. Frank and Kaemon Yamamura were discussing the Fireball's sudden rise in talent in the National Quidditch league. Bernice Northing and Lethe Robinson were flipping through a catalogue for Honeydukes, pointing out the various candies and chocolates that they were planning on buying the next day. Some of the younger students were playing chess, or Exploding Snap. Lily and Sariyah were nowhere to be found, and after asking around, they learned that they had decided to retire early.

"They'll get over it," Sirius shrugged. "Won't they?"

"Of course, Padfoot," James said, walking up the stairs beside Sirius. They had decided as well to turn in early, as they had a whole day tomorrow to spend at Hogsmeade.

***

In the dimly lit Slytherin common room, a group had gathered. Made up of mostly older, 6^th and 7^th year students, save for three younger Slytherins, they sat in a tight formation in a dark corner.

Malfoy's gray eyes narrowed menacingly as he grabbed a nearby candle. He threw it down, making the glass base shatter into trillions of pieces. "They think they can just pick on the Slytherins, whenever they want?" he growled, looking around at the group of people. "Monday afternoon, we'll corner all of them, Potter, Black, Evans and Khan. Then we'll teach them what the Slytherins can do."

"You--er...you want to include the girls, then, Lucius?" asked the hesitant voice of Snape.

"Of course, Severus! They're there all the time, and it's not like they don't do anything either, to stop Potter and Black," retorted Elliot Avery, shoving his curly hair out of his face.

"I suppose," Snape answered quietly.

"So it's a plan, then," muttered Lucius. "They'll be coming out of Defense Against the Dark Arts. We'll show them what the Slytherin dueling team is made of."

There was a grunt of assertion from the group. They left, one by one, to their respective common rooms, all eager with anticipation for the coming Monday.

***

"Sariyah! Sariyah get up, silly girl," Lily said, shaking her best friend awake. Sariyah's pale green eyes took a minute to adjust to the brightness of the girl's dormitory, and they slowly began to focus.

"Wha--Lily, what are you doing? It's like...10:30...Hogsmeade's not for another hour," Sariyah mumbled, her mouth muffled by the pillow.

"I know that, Sariyah, but the girls and I have decided that we're going to fix you up a bit for Lachlan," Lily said, beaming at her friend.

"I don't need fixing up, Lily, I'm just going to wear a sweater and my hair in a clip, and that'll be that," Sariyah stated firmly.

"Oh Sariyah, come on," Lily pleaded, "just for once, take your hair out of that clip and try something a little different, please? I mean, I honestly think you're the only girl in our year that doesn't wear that much make-up. I know you have make-up. And I'm going to find it." Lily hopped off of Sariyah's bed and began rummaging through Sariyah's chest of drawers.

"Lily, do you remember how much make-up I wore during the fifth year? I really don't want to repeat that horrendousness...I mean he obviously likes me the way I am, without make-up. So why put it on?" asked Sariyah, squinting at Lily with the one eye that was not plastered to the pillow. "And I like that clip. My hair looks nice in it."

"Sariyah, you need to try different, exciting things!" exclaimed Bernice, who was pulling out hair accessories like a rabbit out of a hat. Bernice was quite good at hair, as her own was perfect, chestnut brown and sleek.

Sariyah looked very doubtful. "I don't want to look like...not me," she said, now sitting up, propped up against her pillows.

"You'll look like you, only your features will be accentuated," Lily explained patiently. "It won't be like 5^th year, I promise...at least you've thrown away that nasty blue eyeliner, that's what made it horrible two years ago. Go wash yourself and get dressed, we'll do the rest."

An hour later, Sariyah looked like herself, but not. She, Lily, Bernice, and Lethe went down to the main hall, Sariyah feeling very self-conscious, and stopped in the lobby of the Great Hall, waiting for their respective friends to join them.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter shuffled their way into the Great Hall as well, and stared around for a bit, trying to find their other friends.

"James!" Lily called to her boyfriend and waved.

James waved back and grinned at Sirius. "See? They're fine now." The four made their way towards the girls, all of them dressed in normal Muggle clothing.

As Sirius neared Sariyah, he was slightly taken aback. She was wearing a blue turtleneck and Muggle slacks, her long, dark brown hair brushed straight and shiny, falling around her shoulders. She had a tan overcoat on, the color offsetting her coffee colored skin. She blushed furiously when her four friends looked at her.

"Hi, " Sirius said, his mouth slightly ajar.

"You look fantastic," James said, poking Sirius in the shoulder.

Sirius snapped his mouth shut and slid his hand through his dark hair, trying to give her his most devilish smile, looking very handsome as he did. "I just wanted to apologize for getting out of hand the other day, I was just so angry, it just--"

"It's okay, Sirius, I know you were just trying to help me," Sariyah said, smiling at her friend. She looked past Sirius to the familiar bob of brown curls making their way through the throng of people. Lachlan Avery emerged, looking extremely attractive in a crisp, button down polo shirt and baggy jeans.

He flashed his brilliant smile, staring down at Sariyah. "You look amazing, Sariyah," he said. He held out his arm to her, which she took. "Shall we?"

"We shall," Sariyah said, laughing. They made their way to the castle doors, both looking very happy.

Sirius looked immediately displeased. "Avery," he growled.

"Oh quit it, Sirius," Lily scolded. "If you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with Sariyah, you should have asked her."

"Who said I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with her?" Sirius retorted, all too quickly.

"She looked very nice," Remus said, his eyes lingering on Sariyah and Lachlan. "She looked like she was glowing."

"I know, she finally let me put make-up on her. She's gorgeous as is, the make-up just brings it out," Lily stated. "And her hair looks fabulous."

"Ah yes, the power of Sleekeazy. And of course, the power of the great Bernice Northing, queen of hair," said Bernice, laughing.

The group began shifting with the crowd towards the outside of the castle, for a long day at Hogsmeade.