you guys seriously have no idea how happy your many reveiws made me. but i shall reply to them at the end so that you may continue the story and read the chapter you all so eagerly asked for.

ONWARD!

Without any further explanation, Sirius was up and getting dressed, throwing darkly shaded clothing on. I was still on the bed, lost in confusion.

"Do you have any dark but comfortable clothes?" Sirius asked me.

"Well, yes, but…" Though this statement confused me even more, I went for my bag and started rummaging through it, pulling out a pair of dark jeans and a dark brown long sleeve shirt. That was about as dark as my wardrobe got at the time.

"Put them on, quickly." He was already dressed and hunched over the tiny desk, scribbling something on the back of the letter he had just received. I started changing, not even bothering with modesty anymore. It didn't feel important in the current situation (whatever that was) and I knew Sirius wouldn't be impolite about it anyway.

As I changed pants, Sirius reopened the window and whistled softly. The owl came back and stood patiently on the ledge, its foot held forward. Sirius tied the note onto its leg and let it fly off again. The window was shut much softer than last time.

When he turned around I was just pulling my clean shirt on. He had a lazy grin on his face when I finally looked up at him.

"What?" I asked, blushing.

"You are so gorgeous, little Puma." His lazy grin grew broader.

"Oh shut up."

He chuckled and let me be. I stepped in front of him as he headed towards the door. "What're you doing?" he asked warily.

"Lift up your shirt," I demanded.

"Rya, this isn't the—"

"I'm not letting you go get beaten up again until I see how you back and ribs are. After last night I'm amazed you even want to go do this." My arms were folded across my chest. He sighed and pulled his shirt completely off. A woman always wins, I thought, grinning.

"I don't want to, but it's my job." I ran my hands across his back. The bandages were long gone already. "I'm keeping people alive by doing this." His voice was somber and his expression dark. I didn't know what to say. He was in the war.

After a few minute's silence and a careful inspection of his various injuries I told him he could put his shirt back on. The potion—whatever it had been—had successfully healed him. I could find no reason for holding him back.

"Come with me?" he asked, as if he hadn't already gotten me dressed to join him. His voice was almost pleading; he wanted to make sure that I wasn't being forced into anything, that I wasn't press-ganged into a war that wasn't mine to fight. His hands held tightly onto my much smaller ones.

I smiled. "To the ends of the earth."

0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0

Once again, Sirius Apparated the two of us to a place completely unknown to me. He had yet to explain anything to me, and I was getting anxious. Something told me that we were about to do something both terrifying and dangerous.

As soon as we reappeared, I forced him to stop moving and look at me.

"Before we go any further, you need to tell me what the hell is going on."

He stared for a moment. He had already forgotten how forceful I could be.

"The owl was a summons," he said quickly.

"To what?"

"Merlin Rya, you should know better than that. I can't talk about it." He tried to break away from me, but I gripped his arms tighter. He was staring at the ground a few feet away from me. "It's the war. You know it's the war. I'm in it. I'm fighting. The owl was telling me that they need me. Another battle is about to start."

"Who are 'they'?" Sirius looked up and over my shoulder. His eyes fixed on something. I turned and followed his gaze.

There, standing in a gateway, was the biggest man I have ever seen in my life. Larger than life, you could say. Quite hairy too. He didn't look too pleased to see me, either.

"Hagrid, this is Rya," Sirius said, trying to sound like his usual confident self and failing. "She's going to help us with today's…duties."

Hagrid eyed me. "You don't look familiar at all." It sounded like he was thinking out loud, trying to decide if he would trust me.

"She didn't go to Hogwarts. She's American." Without me realizing it, Sirius had slipped his hand into mine. He pulled me forward with him. "She's good, Hagrid. She won't turn dark on us."

"Well, how do you know?" Hagrid's voice wavered, as if he was looking for a reason to not let me in.

"I want Voldemort six feet under," I said, answering with a venom I didn't know I had. "Does that make me on your side?"

"Rya, he's just being cautious," Sirius said, almost chiding me.

"I know." Hagrid could still hear our conversation; I didn't mind. "I'm being honest. I want to help. Whatever it is…" My throat choked up a bit. I swallowed hard and kept talking. "Whatever it is, I'll be there."

Hagrid nodded. "I don't know 'ow you found 'er, Sirius, but she's as strong-willed as they come." I smiled slightly, blushing. Sirius squeezed my hand. Hagrid turned and walked through the gate. "This way."

He led us through a dark forest, in many ways like the woods surrounding Lakeland, but in many ways different. I could feel the presence of hundreds of magical creatures surrounding me, but unlike Lakeland, not a single animal showed itself. Wherever they were, they stayed undercover. I was a bit creeped out.

"Sirius," I whispered, "where are we going?"

He grinned. "To the school."

"School? What school?" His grin grew. "Hogwarts?"

"You'd have to ask the secret-keeper to get a straight answer." His eyes focused on Hagrid's back. "But I don't know if he'd tell you or not."

I smiled inwardly. Even on the way to battle Sirius managed to keep the mood light.

Without warning, four people appeared around us, completing a circle that started with Hagrid. I jumped and screamed when they all leapt out, but Sirius just continued smiling and holding my hand.

A man with limp sandy-colored hair and light eyes stepped forward, his wand pointing to us. He gave me one confused look before looking straight at Sirius. He was pale enough to nearly glow, and his left arm was in a sling. "What is the reason we are friends?" he asked Sirius.

"That's easy, Remus. James introduced us the first day of school. He had found you all alone in a corner of the room, and dragged me along to befriend you." Both men smiled. Remus nodded in agreement.

Then his eyes turned to me. I could see their color now that he was closer: a golden brown. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the werewolf from last night.

Before he could question me, I said, "I'm sorry about your arm. I didn't want to hurt you, but..."

The clearing went silent. Sirius was trying to hold in laughter. Remus had a shocked expression on his face. He looked speechless.

A grizzly, war-worn, fraying man limped forward. His hair was matted and greasy, his nose was missing a chunk, and his skin—face, hands, everywhere—was covered in scars. His cane was thick wood, and I got the distinct impression from his footsteps that one foot was not entirely human.

"Who are you?" he asked. His voice was rough, like sandpaper.

"My name is Rya Northen. I'm American. Sirius and I met at the Leaky Cauldron, where I'm staying, a few days ago and, well…" I looked down. I was blushing again.

"We've been together since," Sirius finished. There was no shame in his tone.

"Well then," said the war-worn man. I could hear the smile in his voice. I looked up in time to see him limp away with a crooked grin. Remus had a hand covering his mouth, where undoubtedly a smile hid. Hagrid was chuckling, a sound that came from deep in his chest.

A weathered old man materialized out of the shadows. "Good morning Professor," Sirius said.

"Good morning Sirius." His hair was long and grey, shining in the morning sunlight. His eyes sparkled over half-moon glasses. "Hello Ms. Northen. I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"Among various other things," a woman to my left muttered. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun, and it looked as if it were just starting to grey. "Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress." She held out her hand. I shook it in awe.

"Minerva is also our Head of Gryffindor House and Transfiguration teacher," Dumbledore said, smiling. McGonagall waved it off, dismissing the additional titles she neglected to mention, just as Dumbledore had dismissed his.

Dumbledore stepped towards me. I could see the smile trying to reveal itself on his face. "Ms. Northen, would you care to join the Order? Temporarily, that is. I'm sure you will be returning to the States at some point."

"Um, yes, I'm going home at the end of the week." I looked around to everyone. The grizzled man was watching me, and I noticed one of his eyes was electric blue and shifty, while the other was a murky color and watched me. Remus was smiling warmly at Sirius and I, and I could almost see the look of approval on his face. Hagrid, behind all of his hair (and trust me, there was a lot of it), was smiling too. McGonagall had a face of both anxiety and gratefulness. Dumbledore had finally let his smile go. "What's the Order?"

Dumbledore leaned towards me, as if to tell me a secret. "That, Ms. Northen, is the question of the year." He walked away, and everyone filed out after him.

"Come on, little Puma," Sirius said, tugging me along after them. I began to wonder what exactly I had gotten myself into.

okay, reveiwers! here you go! (and i apologize for any oddities. they come up randomly.)

kerrie: the fact that you used the word swell makes me love you. in a completely platonic way. still.

cylobaby: thanks. i liked that part too.

iloveSkaterBoys: bwahaha...hooking you into my story was all part of my master plan to rule the world. so far it's going very well...

free money!: smexy...haha... gosh darnit anyway moony!

futuristicgreen: i would totally tell you what happened at the end of ch.5 but i can't remember which chapter that was. but at least the rest loaded properly!

missbluemartini: haha, "spiffy"...

nightmareslave: i have no idea what happened in your reveiw but i cracked up after reading it anyway. haha, you should let your insanity have more freedom!

rockstar: yes, fluff does tend to put that stupid smile on one's face, doesn't it? ah well. enjoy the goofy grinning!

thank you everyone!

-IMPORTANT-
because i love you guys, i will tell you that it might be awhile before i update again. i've got like two sentences of the next chapter done and finals next week, so i probably won't get the chance to update. sorry!