Sariyah made a late entrance into the teachers' meeting as she walked out of the green wall of fire that had transported her to the lounge. Most of the professors were already gathered, including Dumbledore and Snape. She tore her gaze from Dumbledore to speak with Professor McGonagall, who was inquiring about her first day.

All of the teachers were buzzing with small talk in little groups around the lounge. Hagrid was trying to convince Professor Sprout to let him plant a rare type of begonia that "sang" when it was watered; the plant was definitely to Hagrid's liking and like everything else he owned, more than slightly dangerous: the plant's song caused temporary deafness. Snape and Dumbledore were deep in conversation. Professor Trelawney was sitting on a chair in a corner of the room, surveying the situation through her sparkly glasses.

"Attention everyone, please, attention," called the Headmaster. The buzz died down and all of the teachers turned to him. "I'm going to try and make this meeting as short as possible. As you all know, we are in quite a situation in the magical community. First things first, I think you will all agree with me when I say that we should escort the students to all of their classes at all times."

There was a general nodding of heads. "Next, we must discuss the Werewolf Law that is going through the Ministry. We all know that the Wolfsbane potion is a very effective treatment for werewolves. We also know that werewolves aren't just monsters. Unfortunately, the magical community chooses to be blind to this, so we must try to fight this until a proven cure is ready by emphasizing the very effective temporary solution. Any suggestions can be directed to Minerva or me. We are quite possibly some of the most tolerant people in the wizarding world, and we must not let discrimination hurt the persons who are also werewolves."

Most of the staff members nodded their head determinedly; only a few weren't in complete agreement with what Dumbledore had said. Sariyah's face showed no emotion, not agreement nor disagreement.

"Why should we defend those monsters, honestly?" asked Professor Trelawney haughtily. "If we kill them all, then we won't ever have to worry about anyone ever being bitten by a werewolf, and it would solve the problem."

Some teachers nodded in agreement. "She's right," said Professor Fletcher, the Ancient Runes teacher. "We don't need them anyway, and-"

"Its people like you, Professors, that make it difficult to try and make the society we live in equal for everyon,." Sariyah said calmly. "We strive to make the wizarding world an equal place, and if we allow for some, we must allow for all."

Professor Fletcher looked at the floor. Professor Trelawney had her mouth curled in an unpleasant frown. Professor Dumbledore looked thoughtfully at Sariyah.

"Thank you, Sariyah. Well, that ought to do it for this meeting; we will have more in the coming weeks. And Sariyah, if you could stay back a while, I would appreciate it." She nodded.

The teachers filed out of the lounge, eventually leaving only Snape, Dumbledore and Sariyah.

"Sariyah, I held you back to inform you that the Order of the Phoenix has been reinstated. We've had dealings for the past year now, let me just begin from the…well…the beginning," started Dumbledore. He launched into the story of the past year, explaining about Sirius being innocent, about the coup at the Ministry of Magic, about the Hogwarts students managing to fend off fully grown Death Eaters, about Voldemort's return, and finally, about the death of Sirius.

"Sirius…didn't give away the secret?" she asked, horrified. "And now, he's gone." A stony look took over her face. Don't cry here, silly girl, said a little voice inside her head. Just listen to what he has to say.

"Yes, it was a very sorrowful time for all of us," Dumbledore said, lowering his head. "May he rest in peace."

Snape's eyes merely flickered to the ground.

"I know you've just been hit by quite a blow, Sariyah," Dumbledore continued, handing her his purple handkerchief. "But I wanted to extend an invitation to you to join the Order. I know you didn't want to join it when it was first formed, but we need a mind like yours. Please consider—"

"Anything you want, sir. For my friends…all of them," she said determinedly.

"Your mother will be proud of you, Sariyah. She was a very valuable asset in the fight against the Dark Lord. She was very brave Sariyah, one of our best..." Dumbledore's voice trailed off..

Sariyah could feel a dull anger stirring inside of her. "He took her from me. That's why I don't know everything about who I am or what I could be. He took her."

Dumbledore only nodded as Sariyah looked away for a second. "Do you ever visit her?"

"Sometimes. It just...its so hard to fathom that she doesn't know who I am when I'm there."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Dumbledore excused himself from the room for a moment, saying that he had to use the restroom.

He came back to the sounds of angry voices arguing with each other. He opened the door to the lounge to see Severus and Sariyah in the midst of a heated argument.

"Sariyah! Severus!" boomed a voice. "Stop arguing."

Sariyah crossed her arms angrily. "Why does he have to be here?" she said, glaring at Snape. "I'm sorry sir, I must sound so childish…"

"When you join the Order, Sariyah, it will be necessary for you to put away any grudges you've held before. We're all on the same side," Dumbledore said.

Sariyah nodded.

Dumbledore smiled slightly. All is nearly well, he thought.

"Someone's coming!" Snape whispered urgently.

Madame Pomfrey rushed past Snape to Dumbledore. "Sir, a student has been attacked by a werewolf!" she gasped. "Harry Potter came to report it - he brought her back from the Forbidden Forest – her arm is broken and she has scratches everywhere, and I can't tell whether she's been bitten or not..."

Dumbledore, Sariyah, and Snape hurried out of the teacher lounge down the hall to the infirmary, where a battered and bruised looking girl was laying on one of the beds, Harry beside her looking incredibly worried.

"Harry, what happened? What were you doing out in the Forbidden Forest? At this time of night?" Dumbledore asked him.

"Is she going to be alright? Malon saved me from the werewolf- did she- is she going to be okay?" His voice was getting higher and more hysterical as he talked.

Dumbledore pulled Harry away from the bed and guided him to another one. "Just lay here, Harry; she's going to be okay." He looked at Sariyah, a trained expert at medical ailments in the wizarding world.

Sariyah was examining Malon and speaking with her. "Malon? Malon, I need you to tell me if you feel a tingling spreading anywhere." Malon shook her head groggily. "No, no tingling - I can't feel my arm. I can't feel my arm," she repeated.

"Okay, your arm is broken...but...it looks like it didn't bite you." She sighed with relief. "You just need some rest and some bone regrowth medicine...you'll be fine." She smiled and patted the girl's head. "You're going to be fine, okay?" She smiled kindly at Malon. Malon managed a weak smile back for a brief second before Madame Pomfrey shoved a large spoon of the Bone Regrowth Serum into her mouth. Malon choked and swallowed the spoonful of what looked like purple sludge.

Sariyah grinned. "Nasty stuff, isn't it?" Malon grimaced and nodded.

"Where's Harry?" she asked.

"He's over there. He's fine." Sariyah looked over at Harry, who was fast asleep after Madame Pomfrey had slipped sleeping draught into his water. Sariyah sat down in a chair near Malon's bed. "I guess I won't be seeing you in class tomorrow," she joked. "We could just bring the party in here!"

Malon grinned tiredly. "That would be cool."

Madame Pomfrey bustled over and told Malon to open her mouth. She quickly shoved another spoon of syrup into her mouth, this time a sleeping potion. Malon drifted off into a deep sleep very quickly.

Sariyah sighed and rubbed her head. She pulled Madame Pomfrey aside and told her that she couldn't be entirely sure if the werewolf had bitten her or not…only time would tell.


A review has been planted in your name –Sophia and Carlyn