Prelude to Moondance

A steady rain began falling as the students of Hogwarts left the safety of the castle grounds and entered Hogsmeade. The cold rain collected in puddles all around the cobblestone streets of the small village, and those without umbrellas, hats, or coats were forced to stay under the cover of the rickety wood and stone buildings that populated the main street of Hogsmeade

"Butterbeer?" asked Lachlan, setting a large flagon in front of Sariyah. They were sitting in front of the fire at The Three Broomsticks, at a small table, trying to keep warm.

"Thank you," Sariyah replied politely, taking a sip of the Butterbeer. She felt her innards warm up, as the cool drink did what it was advertised to.

"You look marvelous, did I tell you that already?" said Lachlan, staring at Sariyah with a dreamy look in his eye.

"Yes," she laughed. "You did. You look nice too, Lachlan."

"Thank you," he replied, not taking his eyes off of her. "So I've always wondered...are your parents from India, or somewhere else?"

"My father's from India, and my mother is too, but she's not completely Indian. She's a half Egyptian," Sariyah answered.

"You've got quite a blend then," he said, smiling at her. "I'm full Irish. My Mum and Dad are both Irish, but I was raised here."

"I was wondering why you didn't have an accent," Sariyah said. "Your parents do, then?"

"Yeah, it's funny, I don't notice it at all, but everyone else does," he answered.

"Same with me," she said, her eyes twinkling. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Yeah, I have a twin brother, he's in Slytherin. Elliot Avery. Got his head stuck up in all the wrong places, poor bloke," Lachlan said, shaking his head. "He's got something going against folks who aren't purebloods. My parents don't like his views very much. And he somehow ended up in Slytherin...the family has a history of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. And I have a younger sister; she's not even ten yet. And a dog named Charley."

Sariyah smiled at the addition to the brothers and sisters. "I don't have any full brothers or sisters, just half-siblings that I've never met. And I have a cat named Orpheus."

Lachlan burst out laughing, and the conversation continued, the Hufflepuff and the Gryffindor chatting merrily about various topics.

The door the The Three Broomsticks creaked open, and James, Remus, Sirius and Lily plodded in. They sat at a table that was blocked by a few plants, so it was more enclosed than the other tables.

Remus's gray eyes scanned the pub, and landed on Sariyah and Lachlan, about four meters away, oblivious to the four people sitting at the nearby table.

"Anyone interesting, Moony?" asked Sirius, looking in the same direction as Remus. His eyebrows knitted momentarily. "Ah," he uttered, spotting Sariyah and Lachlan.

James turned his head as well, then groaned and turned it back. "Sirius, you like her, don't you?" he queried, looking at Sirius eye to eye.

"I don't," Sirius said, his gaze averted from James. "I just don't want her to get hurt, she's one of my best friends."

"She's a nice girl," Lily urged. "And you are her best friend, Sirius, maybe something will happen, like in those fairy tales."

"Well right now, Lachlan Avery comes before her best friends," stated James, turning around again. He turned his head back quickly, as Sariyah had gotten up and began to leave the pub.

"I'll be back in a second, Lachlan, I can't believe I left my purse at Honeydukes," she said, maneuvering out of the small corner they were in.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help you look for it?" he asked, standing up as well.

"No, no, sit, I'll find it, don't worry," she said, directing him back to his chair. She edged out, and noticed her four best friends at the nearby table.

"Hello," she said, her green eyes filled with happiness. "I'm off to find my purse then." She flashed a smile at Sirius, Remus, James, and Lily, and left the pub.

The Butterbeer they had ordered arrived soon enough, and they swallowed it in great gulps, the coldness inside them seeping away as fast as it had came. It began to get darker and darker outside, and less people entered the pub.

The door of The Three Broomsticks was suddenly rammed open, knocked nearly off of its hinges. A young man, no older than his mid-twenties, pale as a ghost, collapsed in the middle of the floor. The entire pub grew quiet, watching him. His blue eyes were frightened as he gasped a single sentence.

"A raid--they're here, the Death Eaters, you all must leave quickly...they're using Killing Curses..."

He then fainted. There was a mass clamor in the pub, shrieking from the women, and a large surge to get out and run for their lives. Amid the noise of the crowd inside The Three Broomsticks, outside, sounds could be heard. Screaming, breaking glass, and faint shouts were among the clatter.

Sirius leapt up and began rocketing towards the exit.

"Padfoot--what are you doing?" shouted James, trying to restrain Sirius by grabbing the back of his robes.

Sirius pulled away too quickly, ripping his robes and plunging into the melee of people trying to exit the pub. He plowed through, and wrenched the door open and sprinted outside.

"Where is he going, James? James? What is going to do?" Lily asked quietly, clutching James' black robes.

"He's gone to find Sariyah," James said knowingly, his hazel eyes looking troubled behind his glasses. "Lily, you stay here, we're going to go after him."

"Are you mad? I am not staying here, and wallowing in my misery. If you all are fighting the Death Eaters, then I am too," Lily said defiantly.

"Let's go, then," Remus said, a stony look set on his tired young face. He plunged into the crowd, and they made their way outside as quickly as they could.

***

"SARIYAH!" Sirius called, staring around in the dark. "Lumos!" he cried, and his wand erupted with a bright light. He stared around in shock and disbelief, as crowds of people were swarming everywhere, and in the midst of the crowds, figures wearing black hoods with slits for eyes...Death Eaters. Sirius called for Sariyah again, and looked around frantically.

He saw, then a glint of green, reflected from his wand tip, the pale green of Sariyah's eyes. How he saw it from where he stood was a mystery to him.

"Sirius!" she shouted back. She was only a few people away--he struggled through the crowd pushing against him towards her--when he saw coming from behind her a Death Eater, tall and looming, his wand raised and ready to strike.

"EXPELLIARMUS!!" he roared. A jet of green light exploded from his wand, whooshing by Sariyah and hitting the Death Eater square in the chest. The Death Eater's wand flew from his hand and clattered to the ground, only to be smashed by the hundreds of feet of the crowds. The Death Eater himself flew backwards after another jet of red light hit him.

Sirius whirled around and saw, not too far away, Remus, his wand outstretched, looking extremely angry. He turned back and found Sariyah right in front of him, looking a little shaken up, with cuts and scrapes, but otherwise unharmed.

She wrapped her arms around him, burying her head into his chest.

"Are you alright?" he asked, putting his own arms around her comfortingly, amidst the madness that was occurring around them.

"I'm fine...I just--I don't know what would have happened if you and Remus hadn't been there to throw him off..." she mumbled. She looked up at him, her pale green eyes staring deep into his, her nose tip touching his. Sirius felt goose bumps growing on his arms as she looked inside his eyes.

"Sariyah," gasped Remus, out of breath from running, "are you alright?"

"I'm okay now, Remus, thank you, I don't know what I would do without you two," she said, grasping his arm.

"Let's get out of here," Sirius shouted. "Honeydukes, Remus."

"Honeydukes? What are you talking about, there are Death Eaters swarming everywhere, we can't get chocolate now!" admonished Lily, who had just arrived, panting, with James nearby. "Oh..." she voiced, a sudden comprehension dawning on her.

"Did you see anyone else, Sariyah?" asked Sirius, taking her hand and leading her and the group as normally as possible, keeping low to the ground towards Honeydukes.

"No, I didn't, I think we were supposed to be back by sundown...we were out the latest," Sariyah said, clutching his hand. "Where's Lachlan?" she asked suddenly.

"I saw him make it back to the Hogwarts gates," snarled James. "Didn't even bother coming after you, Sariyah, that's the weak courage of a Hufflepuff."

"Don't listen to James," Lily snapped. "Come on, let's just get out of here--"

Sirius was thrown into Lily, after a vicious kick from a Death Eater, cutting off Lily's words. James grabbed Lily and Remus pulled Sariyah up.

"Get out of here!" shouted Sirius. "Run! I'll hold him off!" The Death Eater hit Sirius again, this time with a fist to his face.

James hesitated, but then grabbed Lily, as Remus did with Sariyah, and they sprinted towards the entrance of Honeydukes.

"STUPEFY!" yelled Sirius. The Death Eater deftly sidestepped the light from Sirius's wand, his eyes glinting with malice from behind the hood.

The Death Eater did an elaborate twirl with his wand and a sound like a gunshot emerged from it, followed by three blue streams of light. Sirius rolled out of the way quickly, and a part of his robes caught some of the spell, the small piece disintegrating before his eyes.

Sirius pulled himself up quickly and yelled "Expelliarmus!" The jet of light hit the Death Eater, and his wand flew out of his hand. He stumbled towards Sirius, growling with anger. Sirius held him off, his muscles much younger than whoever was behind the mask. The Death Eater grabbed Sirius's wand and tried to wrench it towards his face, in an attempt to poke out his eye. Sirius let his clenched left fist connect with the attacker's face, a blow so great that it ripped the hood right off of the Death Eater.

The Death Eater didn't let go of Sirius's wand, and glared at Sirius, finally ripping the wand out of his hands.

Sirius gasped at the eyes that were staring at him...they were exactly the same eyes that were staring at him moments earlier. Large and pale green...

"Sariyah--" he mumbled out loud, stunned as he realized that the eyes that he was staring at were hers.

The Death Eater's breath caught in his throat. He let go of Sirius as soon as he heard the name that was uttered. He stepped backwards, grabbed the hood off of the ground, and threw the wand back at Sirius.

"I am sorry," he said with a thick accent. "You know her...I apologize. You must leave now...please, do not tell her." He pushed Sirius away from him, towards Honeydukes. The man pulled the hood back on and leapt back into the melee, towards the next alleyway, where the rest of the Death Eaters were converging after a successful raid.

Sirius, still goggling from what he had seen, sprinted towards Honeydukes, dodging jets of light. He scrambled down the stairs to the secret passageway down into the castle, and traveled through the tunnel as fast as he could, until ahead of him, he saw the light of a wand.

"Prongs?" he called.

"Padfoot!" James called back.

"Sirius," Sariyah called. "Are you alright?"

"Sariyah," Sirius said, all of them now standing there, huddled together. "I just--" He stopped. Why aren't I telling her? he thought. Because, it would hurt her, and you don't want to do that.

"You just what?" asked Sariyah, perplexed.

"I--nothing. Nothing. Are you all okay?" he asked, glancing around. James' hair was scuffed up, and Remus had a bruise on his face, along with scratches.

"We're fine, Padfoot," said Remus. He peered at Sirius. "You look a little banged up, there's some swelling around your eye."

"Yeah, the Death Eater didn't get much of a chance to use his wand. I gave him a few good hits in the face," Sirius replied. "Let's just get back to Hogwarts."

They traveled the rest of the way down the passage, Remus with his arm around Sariyah's waist and Sirius holding up the back of the line.

They exited out of a statue of a one-eyed witch, to find the caretaker, Argus Filch, waiting for them.

"They're 'ere, Headmaster!" he shouted to Dumbledore, who was only feet away. He, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Evander helped the four out of the one-eyed witch statue.

"Sir, how did you know?" asked James, nursing a newfound cut on his elbow.

"Your friends, Mr. Pettigrew and Mr. Avery, told me straightaway that you were still at Hogsmeade. Mr. Pettigrew instructed us to stand here, he knew that you wouldn't be daft enough to take the regular route back to the castle," said the Headmaster somberly. "You are very lucky to have made it out alive. You had to duel with Death Eaters?"

"A bit, yes," Remus answered. "It was Sirius, mainly, sir. He fought one off by himself."

"Remus, James and Lily helped as well, sir," Sariyah spoke softly. "They were trying to find me."

Dumbledore nodded. "Well then, dear Gryffindors. It's off to bed for you then, as soon as you get your chocolate. I will speak with you more, individually, when the time comes. Goodnight."