Nadiera made her way around Diagon Alley for the rest of the day. First to Gringott's Bank. The goblins, naturally, had never seen coins like hers. They were amused by the motif of a woman holding a flame--it was the first time in a while that they had seen currency depicting someone doing magic. Therefore, they gave her many gold galleons, silver sickles, and bronze knuts in exchange for her Tar Valon marks. She carried it with her in her small knapsack, though Lupin and Padfoot seemed to think this was a bad idea.
"Aren't you worried that someone might try to rob you?" Lupin fretted as they all crossed the street to Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
Nadiera frowned and answered, "Just let someone try to rob me! I don't seem to recall bonding you as my Warder!" Lupin frowned more deeply, and Padfoot barked in protest. "I will go in here while you two do whatever it was that you needed to do. I will meet you by the place with the brooms in the windows in an hour, " she instructed Lupin. He nodded and took Padfoot with him.
Nadiera's shopping in Madame Malkin's was successful. Not only did she get her dress mended (with a quick wave of the wand), she also purchased several new robes. She was glad that Madame Malkin didn't ask how she had torn the neckline of her dress like that.
After meeting Lupin and Padfoot in front of the broom store, which was really called Quality Qudditch Supplies, they had a bit of lunch. "What is Quidditch? Why do they sell brooms and uniforms there? Is it a game played with brooms?" she asked in confusion.
"Why, Quidditch is played while flying on brooms. Don't people where you come from fly on brooms?" Lupin asked.
"Fly on a broom? You mean straddle a sweeping broom and just take off? Light, no!" Nadiera laughed. Suddenly, she had an image in her mind of Aes Sedai flying out of the White Tower windows on brooms. She laughed harder; the very idea was absurd. No one has been able to fly in any manner since the Age of Legends.
"Sometime, we'll have to show you how it's done." Lupin smiled. "Harry's excellent at it; he could teach you how to do it better than anyone I know, though Sirius is also a very good broom flyer. However, these days he prefers alternate means of flying," Lupin added.
After lunch, the three of them explored a bit more of Diagon Alley, and then, it was time to return to Hogwart's. Oddly enough, it was Lupin who insisted on this.
"Hogwart's is a safe place for you, and I am certain that Albus Dumbledore wouldn't mind in the least if you were to stay there," Lupin argued.
"I don't want to impose myself on him," Nadiera told Lupin. Truth be told, if any of her fellow Red Ajah sisters had been in this situation, with all of these men who could channel surrounding them, she didn't know if they would have handled it as well. She was having a difficult enough time with it.
But in the end, Nadiera was sent back to Hogwart's via Floo Powder, and she emerged from the fire place in the Great Hall of Hogwart's vowing that she was going to find some other means of getting around besides that bloody Floo Powder!
Severus Snape was in the Hall when she arrived, and hurried away rather than helped her up. She didn't care; she liked him almost as little as he liked her. No doubt, the idea of having a woman under the roof of Hogwart's who had the ability to cut people off from the One Power made him very uneasy. He still didn't know that it took more than a dozen Aes Sedai linked to gentle a man or still a woman. Well, she sniffed, she wasn't about to tell him anything to give him peace of mind.
She returned to the dormitory she'd slept in the night before. She began unpacking the robes she'd purchased, and smiled at the choices she'd made. She never used to worry much about dressing herself up; she never was interested in attracting a man certainly. But now, her new clothes seemed to be more becoming to her than her previous wardrobe. Why had she chosen these robes? Why did she keep asking herself, as she bought them, how would Sirius like her dressed in this?
Sirius Black was disrupting her peace of mind already, and she'd only known him one day! Most Aes Sedai didn't bother trying to attract men to them; most men could not handle the idea of being married to a woman who, for all intents and purposes, was more powerful than they were. And she was glad too, because she had no use for men, or had any real interest in them except to see if they could channel. Now, she was panting after this Sirius Black like the worst of the Green Ajah would! They loved men, unlike the sensible Red Ajah!
But, she couldn't stay too angry at him; all she had to do was recall his handsome face (the few times he'd shown it!) and her anger melted away. She sighed and turned around.
Sirius was standing in her doorway, and he had a piece of parchment in his hand, and a scowl on his face. "You had a run-in with Voldemort this morning. I can't believe you never said anything!" he growled.
"Who told you that?" Nadiera stammered.
"I have a letter from my godson. He saw what you had done to Voldemort." Sirius unrolled the parchment and began reading the letter.
Dear Sirius,
I came home from Hogwart's last night, only to get an invitation from Ron to go visiting to his house for the remainder of the summer. I got in there really late, so I slept in this morning. I had a really strange dream. I saw Voldemort all tangled in those threads that Nadiera uses. Then, I saw Wormtail untangling him, and all the while, Voldemort was telling Wormtail that he'd be trying to get revenge on her for what she did.
Sirius, I'm worried for her. I think Voldemort was very angry about her using a different kind of magic on him. Please warn her about him. I feel responsible for her being here in the first place. I don't want anything bad to happen to her.
Nadiera stood there, trapped, but angry nonetheless. "Harry does not have to feel responsible for me. Men! They refuse to acknowledge that a woman can take care of herself!"
"That is hardly the point! You very deliberately omitted the fact that you and Voldemort had an encounter this morning! Why would you do that?" Sirius demanded.
"I took care of him. There was no need to--"
"No need? He could have killed you! He kills witches and wizards sooner than he breathes sometimes!" Sirius yelled.
"He...he didn't kill me, obviously. Let's just leave it alone, Sirius."
"Let me warn you of something, Miss Aes Sedai. You may think that you are immune to him, but no one, except perhaps Dumbledore, is immune to him. I found that out the hard way."
"Is that why you hide your true self from the world? Because you are afraid of him? He is a beast, yes, but he is not invulnerable. I tied him in weaves of Air and Spirit," she told him.
Sirius snorted and said, "Yeah, and Wormtail untied it, I read. He's fine, now, and very upset with you. You must stay here at Hogwart's to keep yourself safe now."
Nadiera smiled tightly, and answered, "I go where I please, when I please. I can watch out for myself; I have been for all these years. Besides, there are ways to deal with Voldemort."
Sirius frowned, transformed into Padfoot, and trotted out. Nadiera huffed and put her new robes into a trunk. The Red Ajah take care of themselves, she thought furiously. They have no need for men, even if they are handsome. She turned around again to face the door, and this time, she had a new visitor.
"Professor Dumbledore told me that we have a new guest here at Hogwart's. I have been away for the summer holiday," the woman explained. Nadiera eyed her; she was tall, had her black hair in a tight bun at the back of her head, and wore small, rectangular glasses over her blue eyes. "I am Minerva McGonagall, Professor of Transfiguration," she added crisply.
"Oh, good! I've been wanting to meet you!" Nadiera smiled as she shook Minerva's hand.
"Really?" Minerva asked.
"Yes; Harry told me about you, and I have so many questions I want to ask you..." Nadiera answered. Minerva appeared a bit flattered; ususally, anytime she taught a class, it was to young people who had a questionable interest in what she taught, at best.
That night, Nadiera and Minerva had dinner in that small dining room, accompanied only by Padfoot, who sat in a corner staring at Nadiera the whole time. Basically, she grilled Minerva about everything she could, ranging from how she did magic to which girls in her classes were the brightest and had the most potential. If Minerva managed to get a bite of food in her mouth, it was immediately followed by another round of questions. Did she teach the boys in any different manner than the girls? Why did she use a wand to do magic? How much experience did she have in Healing?
By the time dinner was over, Nadiera had managed to convince Minerva to giving channeling the One Power a try. Minerva had admitted that she was indeed quite curious about how Nadiera's channeling differed from waving a wand and casting a spell.
Nadiera took Minerva back to her dormitory room, and Padfoot followed, which annoyed Nadiera. "Is this dog always underfoot?" Nadiera asked Minerva.
"I believe that he his Professor Dumbledore's dog, but, he seems to come and go..." Minerva answered thoughtfully. Dumbledore had strange pets, and stranger arrangements with people, and Minerva, for the most part, didn't question him. She had faith that he knew what he was doing. But she personally believed the "animal" to be an Animagus; since she was one herself, she could sense the ability in others.
"Ah, I see," Nadiera nodded. Now she understood; Padfoot must be spying for Dumbledore. She would have to remind herself to give him plenty of grief over the danger of his work the next time she could talk to him in human form. Imagine telling her where to go and not to go! She drew a deep breath, and smiled. "Ready to begin?"
"Tell me what I need to do," Minerva said.
"Well, when I was first taught to channel, I was instructed to learn how to get into the correct sort of mindset to channel saidar. In other words, what a woman essentially does is lets the One Power inside her, and then forms the Power into flows. There are five different types of Flows: Fire, Air, Earth, Water and Spirit. An Aes Sedai uses the different Flows like threads, and weaves the Flows together to do whatever she needs to do with the One Power. Right now, I am going to guide you into embracing saidar and channeling one Flow of Fire. Close your eyes, and imagine that you see a rosebud. It can be pink, or red, or white, whatever color, but make certain it has a color. And you can even smell this rosebud..." Nadiera coached Minerva. Minerva meditated on a small red rosebud; it had a light scent, just as if it were about ready to open. "Now, imagine that you are the rosebud. You are the petals, the scent, and you are just about ready to open." Minerva fused her consciousness into the rosebud she'd created in her mind. She liked this meditation; it was relaxing in a way. She heard Nadiera then say, "Now, imagine that you are blooming, just like the rose that you are."
Nadiera watched very intently as Minerva visualized her rose-self blooming. And, she suddenly saw the tell-tale glow of saidar around Minerva. Minerva snapped out of the trance in a bit of shock, while Nadiera clapped her hands and smiled. "Wonderful! You got it on the first try!"
Minerva looked a bit shaken. "It was strange! I felt, suddenly, so much more aware of the world. It was as if I were being bombarded with it!"
"That will pass, and quickly. Soon, you will come to appreciate the feeling of saidar and the enhanced awareness that comes with it. Actually, you'll get to like it so much that you can run into danger of becoming addicted to it. I know of a woman who did that, an Aes Sedai, and she burned the ability to channel right out of herself because she wasn't careful not to draw in more than she could handle. But, I think you are level-headed enough to handle that temptation," Nadiera told Minerva.
After a few more tries of embracing saidar, Minerva was guided through making a small flame in the palm of her hand. Nadiera and Minerva passed the flame back and forth between them before Minerva was instructed to cut the Flow of Fire, and let go of saidar. With a satisfied smile, Nadiera concluded, "I would like to take these lessons farther, if you agree. I had never thought of teaching in the White Tower, but I find that I like teaching others. Especially if they all catch on as quickly as you did!"
"Ah, you've caught the teaching bug! I can tell you, a good student is a joyous thing to have in a class. You should really look into it, Miss Godesin."
Later, Nadiera took out a pen and parchment, and made a list. At the top, she wrote "Minerva McGonagall." She then tapped the feather against her lower lip in thought, and followed by writing, "Narcissa Malfoy." Nadiera was forming a plan, and she wanted to include Narcissa in this plan. She shuddered as she thought of this as-yet-unseen woman. She'd have to be in on her plan. But what if she is too afraid? Well, she'd just have to make it happen, for everyone's sake.
After all, the sooner her plan was implemented, the sooner Sirius Black would be free to be himself. Why his fate should matter to her, she didn't want to go there. She shoved it aside, and remembered duty. With a feeling of determination filling her, she found it hard to fall asleep at first, but finally, she found herself in a dreamless sleep.
Of course, she was unaware that Padfoot was sleeping just outside her door.
Note: If you want to try out reading something of Robert Jordan's, I suggest looking at From the Two Rivers, which is the first half of the first book of the Wheel of Time series. If you think you can handle the entire first book instead, then try The Eye of the World. You'll learn more about Aes Sedai, Warders, and all this other Wheel of Time stuff that you may have gotten confused about. Hey, it's what I'm reading while waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out!