Nadiera was pleased with her progress. With Narcissa as a definite possibility, along with her other women, she could feel that there was a chance this idea of hers could work. She hoped that other girls that would be arriving at Hogwarts would be equally as successful prospects as these women were. While in thought, she walked one of the many hallways of Hogwart's, and barely noticed Severus Snape until she was almost upon him.
"Oh!" she gasped. "I was not concentrating!" she explained.
"Obviously..." Snape sniffed, and prepared to leave her company.
"Wait! Have you seen Sirius anywhere?" she asked him. To her surprise, Snape's face grew very anxious and angry at the same time. He glanced all around him nervously, then angrily dragged her by her arm into one of the many classrooms in the hallway.
"Unhand me!" she demanded.
"Foolish wench!" Snape snarled. "What do you think you're about, asking after Sirius Black like it was nothing at all? Don't you know that no one is supposed to acknowledge that he comes around here at all?"
Nadiera pulled her arm from Snape's grasp, which thankfully had loosened a bit. "I don't know what he's doing running around like a dog all the time! I realize some people here don't know about his ability to change into a dog..."
"That's beside the point! Very few people around here are aware that Sirius Black is even in Great Britain at all, let alone anywhere near Hogwart's! If anyone knew that I knew of his whereabouts and never reported it, I would be ruined, probably imprisoned! And they would do the same to you as well!"
"Why would they do that? Dumbledore knows he comes here!" Nadiera pointed out.
"True, and it is only out of respect for Dumbledore's wishes that I keep my silence, but there is so much risk!" Snape hissed. Then his face looked as though something had just occurred to him. "Or, could it be that you don't know about the infamous Sirius Black?"
Nadiera's stomach sunk to her feet. "Know what?"
Snape's face brightened, and to her it looked like he had just heard that Winternight was coming early this year. "He's a wanted man. You see, many years ago, he was sent to Azkaban for murdering thirteen people with a single curse. Twelve Muggles that were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and one of his so-called friends, named Peter Pettigrew. He was a shit-poor excuse for a wizard, but be that as it may. His mother wailed with such grief, you would think the fellow had been destined to become the next King of the Wizards if he hadn't been so brave as to face down his more powerful friend who had turned to the Dark Side," he revealed.
Nadiera shook her head. "No! He'd never become a Darkfriend! Not Sirius Black!" she cried. "You don't believe that, do you? Tell me that you're not that stupid!"
Snape laughed humorlessly and sneered. "It doesn't really matter what I believe. Everyone else in the world believes that he is guilty. He was sent to prison, and escaped. He was supposed to be in there for life. It was believed that he was the right-hand man of the Dark Lord."
"Oh, you mean Voldemort?" Nadiera sniffed. "Sirius Black was never a Darkfriend and never a follower of this Voldemort!" she proclaimed.
Snape winced. "We do not say the Dark Lord's name. That's why you will hear many people call him 'You-Know-Who,' or 'He-who-must-not-be-named,'" he explained to her like she was a little folish girl that was sadly lacking in teaching. Nadiera nodded; in her world, most people refused to say the name "Shai'tan," their name for the Dark One. They felt that by "naming the Dark One" they would bring bad luck onto themselves.
"I still say you are mistaken!" she countered.
"About Black being a Death-Eater? I would believe it of him as much as I would believe it of Dumbledore. But as far as being a murderer, well, let's just say if Black had a strong enough argument with Peter Pettigrew, and one thing led to another, I believe he could have killed those people. He didn't plan it, naturally. But thirteen people are dead, Miss Godesin. That cannot be ignored. I would use every precaution around him. And, if you were to be the one to have Black recaptured by the Ministry of Magic, I would not be one to cry about it!"
Snape left Nadiera there, in the Charms classroom, and her mind was reeling. She began to sob; she knew Sirius had been hiding something very important from her. What if she had done something that had inadvertantly led to his capture? Her heart ached at the thought of Sirius being in a dungeon. Thirteen people? Even an Aes Sedai that knew how to kill witht he One Power could not kill so many at one time. She sobbed all the way back to her room, ignoring anyone who passed by her.
Later that evening, Nadiera sat on her bed, depressed. She had to know the truth. And she was not going to obtain it from Severus Snape, certainly. Why hadn't Dumbledore told her anything? Or Lupin? Most likely because they felt it was Sirius Black's responsibility to tell her.
She was furious at him, and that was what depressed her. For once, unbelievably, she was actually finding herself liking a man's company. Light, she was even beginning to trust the man! Well, there was one thing that Nadiera could do to find out some more information.
She would do what Harry Potter seems to be able to do; she would enter the World of Dreams and explore for answers. She turned herself into bed with determination. Nadiera could enter to World of Dreams fairly easily, and was suddenly surprised that she hadn't thought of doing it before now.
A few moments after closing her eyes, Nadiera found herself in a light sleep state. This was when entrance to the World of Dreams was easiest. She pictured herself in Hogwart's Great Hall. It was empty, and the ceiling roiled with black clouds. There would be a storm soon. Nadiera leaped up in the air, and found herself floating instantly high above the clouds.
Below her were thousands of tiny points of light. Each one was someone's dream. Nadiera drifted aimlessly for a few moments. She looked at all the different lights. One belonged to Dumbledore. Another to Minerva. So many, of course, were completely unfamiliar. Others were blocked. There was one point that she could have sworn was her friend Liandrin's. But why would Liandrin shield her dreams? Nadiera thought the better of trying to contact Liandrin anyway. If she appeared in her dream, there might someday be a lot of awkward questions aked. Nadiera never told anybody that she could do this trick.
At last, she came across Sirius Black's dream. It seemed to pull at her, beckoning her to come and see what he was dreaming about. This could only mean one thing, Nadiera figured. It could only mean that he was dreaming of her.
She tried to pull away. After all, if someone was trying to pull you into his dream, then that meant if you get sucked in, that you have no real free will in another's dream. The dream will go according to his subconscius, his rules. She would be unable to leave until he stopped dreming of her, or awakened. But, then again, if she fell into his dream, then she might know what is going on in his mind. This information might prove valuable to her. She consoled herself with this reasoning as she allowed herself to sink down, down, down...
Nadiera found herself face to face with Sirius. "Nadiera," he smiled. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you," he sighed sadly.
"Tell me what?" she asked, even though she already knew what he was talking about.
"The Dementors. They will suck my very soul away if I am captured by them. I don't want you to be in danger," he warned her.
"Tell me that you are innocent, and I will believe it. Just tell me the truth," she sobbed. Imagine, she, an Aes Sedai, sobbing like a girl! But she couldn't help it. Not only was this his dream, but in reality, she had been sobbing earlier anyway.
"It wasn't me, Nadiera! I didn't betray my best freind. I let him down, terribly, yes, but it wasn't me! I had no pact with Voldemort!" he cried.
"I know. Even Severus knows that you made no pact with him," Nadiera assured Sirius.
"It wasn't me! It was Wormtail. I told Wormtail the Secret. He betrayed my friend, our friend! And then, he publicly accused me of the crime. He cast a spell, and," Sirius shook his head helplessly.
"Wormtail! He did this crime? How did you get blamed?" she demanded.
"They couldn't find him. He changes to a rat. He hid, for years. I was sent to prison, for years. I escaped there, but I can't clear my name. I don't know what to do."
Nadiera held him close; even in the dream state, it felt good. "Wormtail," she sighed. "It all goes back to Wormtail. He is a follower of Voldemort."
"I don't want to talk about Peter anymore. You shouldn't be here."
"I want to be here, with you. I miss you. I like seeing you as a human being, not a dog crawling the earth. Don't hide from me," she told him. She looked into his eyes, and drew his face even closer to hers.
"No," he said, drawing back. "I won't do it! I can't do it, not until I am free."
Abruptly, the dark starry air around them vanished, and so did Sirius. Nadiera could have howled in agony. She floated back to Hogwart's Great Hall, and then, awakened.
"I must now not only have Voldemort gentled, but this Wormtail as well," she vowed, then turned over in her bed and returned to a fitful sleep.