Prelude to Moondance

Sariyah returned to school, in decent health, the next Monday. In the corridors, Marly Bordeaux stopped her and began apologizing for what she did. It seemed that she didn't feel quite herself at the beginning of the match and her magic had never been so strong before.

When Sariyah mentioned this to her friends during Defense Against the Dark Arts, James was immediately on alert.

"Foul play," he said decisively. "It was obvious. There was about a 1 in 2000 chance that Sirius and I would have went against each other, and it happened. Someone tampered with that hat."

"Well, who else could it be? Malfoy and Snape. They're the only ones that would want to do something like that," growled Sirius, turning around in his desk to glare at Snape. Snape was trying to converse with a Slytherin girl a year younger and was failing miserably.

"Now now, don't jump to conclusions, you two," Lily said in a calming tone. "There was still a chance..."

"But a chance that I would have been put against Malfoy?" squeaked Peter. "I don't think so."

Remus hurried into the Defense classroom and sat down beside Peter. He was panting, out of breath, and he tugged out a copy of "The Daily Prophet" and slammed it down in front of them.

"Look at this," he breathed. " 'The sudden searching of tombs in the Egyptian area has come to an abrupt halt. Townspeople in the small village of Arhaya have reported that the figures at night, dressed in black, skirting around the tombs of the Ancient Egyptian Wizards, were nowhere to be seen. The figures have apparantly found what they were looking for, as no report of them has been made as of late.' You know what this means, right?"

"You think they found something?" asked Sariyah warily.

"Not only did they find something," Sirius said, narrowing his eyes in concentration, "we know who 'they' are."

"Who?" asked Peter, completely confused.

"Death Eaters. Who else is going to wander around at night wearing all black?" answered Sirius.

"They obviously know about the book. But there's no way that they would know that Sariyah would be the only one the book would work on," stated Lily firmly, eyeing the worried look on Sariyah's face.

"Yes they would!" hissed Sirius loudly. A few of the class members turned at the loudness of his voice. "Her father," Sirius continued in a low whisper, bending his head down a little. "Your dad knows that the book would work on you and your mother. He could easily give away their locations--"

"Sirius I cannot believe you're saying that!" snapped Sariyah irately. "He would never do that, never. He's my father, Sirius, not everyone's family is like yours."

There was a short silence, and Sirius looked like he had been slapped in the face.

Sariyah immediately felt bad for what she had just said. "Sirius, I didn't mean--"

"Of course you didn't," he said in a cold tone. "I can't help how my family turned out Sariyah, but all I'm trying to do is make you more safe. Throwing out comments like that isn't helping me."

"I don't need you to keep me safe, Sirius," Sariyah growled, eyes narrowing.

"Okay, okay, that's really enough now," Lily mediated.

"Yeah it is enough," Sariyah murmured, her eyes still narrowed in anger. She grabbed her bookbag and stormed out of the classroom, knocking over a chair along the way, every member of the room looking at her as she left.

"Great job, Sirius," mumbled James.

"How was I to know that she didn't want to be kept safe?" asked Sirius, roudning on Lily now.

"Sirius, she doesn't want to be protected or taken care of by someone else. She just...she just needs to figure things out by herself right now. Just leave her be," Lily said, sighing.

Sariyah rushed as fast as she could out of the Defense classroom, tears stinging her eyes and threatening to fall. This was the last thing she needed, weakness to show through.

She ran headfirst into an oncoming group of students, all of them Slytherins.

"Watch it, Khan," menaced Lucious Malfoy, flanked on either side by Snape and Avery. Severus Snape was surprised to see Sariyah, look up at him, almost pleadingly, tears in her green eyes. The compassion he felt when seeing her was reminiscent of that compassion he had before his deep involvement in the Dark Arts. He watched her stumble away, helplessly, and in his mind, he knew why.

"Bollocks," he grumbled. "I forgot my book in the dormitory. I'm just going to run and get it." He broke off from the clan of Slytherins and headed back the way that Sariyah was headed--up numerous stairs to the tallest tower, where no Astronomy class was being held today due to ominous storm clouds that threatened the late afternoon sky.

Sirius hesitantly approached the birch door of the Astronomy Tower, wondering what he would say to her. He questioned his logic in following her, wondering why he had even decided to do it. He pulled the door open quietly, and stepped out onto the parapet.

He heard heavy breathing and followed the sound until he saw Sariyah, slumped against the wall, staring out towards the lake. The warm April breeze swept over the grounds, pulling her wavy hair out of place and strewing it everywhere.

"I didn't think you would follow me, Severus," she said in a calm voice. It showed no signs of breaking or that she had been crying, nor did her face when she turned it towards him. "I didn't think you would care."

"I don't care most of the time," he retorted. "But I've never seen you cry, so I thought that this could be a good opportunity."

"I'm not crying. I've never cried, and I never will," she answered defiantly, turning her head back towards the lake.

"So, why were you crying?" he asked, knowing exactly what buttons to push. "I think I know why. Your...friends. They're finding things out about the Dark Lord that they never thought would happen. I suppose you've deciphered why the Death Eaters are in Egypt."

"I have."

"And?" he pressed, moving closer to her. "You were on the right side some years ago, Sariyah. I think the Sorting Hat couldn't figure out what to do with you. Clever enough for Ravenclaw, brave enough for Gryffindor, loyal enough for Hufflepuff...but they put you in the wrong house. You have the cunning and sharpness of a Slytherin."

"I'm not a pureblood, that's why I'm not in Slytherin," she shot back, her eyes glaring.

"Not all of the students in Slytherin are purebloods Sariyah. Avery, for instance, and his brother? Their parents are Muggles, and the younger sister is adopted, non-magical. We've talked about this before, Sariyah," Severus said.

"What does that all matter, Severus? So maybe I am in the wrong house. One thing I'm not going to do is go over to the other side," Sariyah said. "I've seen what they do to people, Severus, and I can't believe you would partake in that."

"That isn't what they do. That's what the more aggressive members of the dark side do. There's more to it than mercy killings, Sariyah, there are calculations and potions and the magic that's applied behind all of it...it's magic that only brilliant wizards can do. I know you say you're not interested Sariyah, but I think there's a small part of you that wants to know what your dad does," Severus finished.

"You don't know what he does. You don't know my dad," Sariyah muttered.

"I don't know your dad. But what he does, I do know. I'm not going to tell you now, someone might be listening," Severus said, his black eyes darting around the tower. "Listen. Next Hogsmeade weekend, meet me in front of the Quillery. We're going to have a meeting--"

"What, to talk about how you're going to meet up with your Dark Lord and destroy the world? I don't think so Severus," growled Sariyah.

"I'm telling you, that's not what it's all about Sariyah! Just listen to someone for once, okay? There's an art behind it. I'm going to go now. Think about it," he said, turning around and leaving the parapet.

"I'm not going to think about it," muttered Sariyah. Naturally, once the idea had been implanted in her head, the wheels began turning...