For the remainder of the week, I try to contact Leah any way I can. But it's like she's gone off the grid. My letters get sent back un-opened and no one in her house has seen her for days. She doesn't show up to any of the lessons we share. What if she went to see Avery? What if he's done something to her?

Professor McGonagall enters the Gryffindor common room one night, requesting that I go straight to Dumbledores office and not to speak to anyone on my way there. What could be so important that I'm not allowed to talk to anyone? Not that I speak to alot of people anyway.

I knock on the office door, and I hear Dumbledores voice telling me to enter. And there sat around Dumbledores desk is James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily, Marlene, Alice and Frank

Dumbledore tells me to sit down in one of the chairs and to not look so worried.
I sit between Marlene and Lily, and Dumbledore starts to speak.

"Now, I know you are wondering why I summoned you here tonight. I want to give you an oppourtunity to do something important. Something that people will remember in the years to come. But I understand if you don't want to do this,"

Dumbledore rises from his seat, and he walks over to Fawkes and strokes his feathers.

"I'm sure you know about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. But others, like myself, know him as Tom Riddle. He was a student here, at Hogwarts. The oppourtunity I would like to present to you is this: I would like you to join The Order, an organisation which I have made personally. You would fight against Tom and his followers. But I cannot guarantee your safety, if you wish to join."

"I'll do it!"
"Me too!"
"Where do I sign?"

Everyone gathers round Dumbledores desk, and I'm the only one left sitting.
"Aria? You're going to join, aren't you?"
I look at Lily, and I don't answer. Signing up would mean fighting against Leah, and even though I don't agree with what she is doing, I don't want to fight her. She's still my sister.

I stand. "I'd like a moment with Dumbledore. Alone."
My friends start to protest, but Dumbledore silences them. Needless to say that they shut the door behind them on the way out.

"Aria, I know what you are going to say. Yes, I know what your sister is doing."
"Then why aren't you stopping her? Maybe if you had said something, she wouldn't be in this mess!"
"This is Leahs choice. And she has chosen the dark side, whereas your chosen side is light. Good verses evil. I can see it."

I sigh. "There's nothing you can do to stop her?"
Dumbledore shakes his head. "Unfourtunetly, no."
"Then where do I sign?"

-x-

The next night, Dumbledore summons my friends and I to his office. There, we meet the rest of The Order. A girl by the name of Dorcas Meadowes, a boy named Caradoc Dearborn and Benjy Fenwick. There are others, but I try to not focus on names. I don't want to become friends with people who will possibly die.

The Order meets almost every night, going over casulties and the possible whereabouts of Tom Riddle. I find these meetings boring, and I usually just sit in the corner with a book.

I'm only paying a little attention, but when someone mentions Leahs name, my ears prick up. "..I'm just saying that if we can convince her to join us, she can lead us to him!"
"..can't risk it..."
"..not trustworthy..."

I slam my book on the table, and storm out of the room. I don't care what Leahs doing or what shes done, she is still my sister. I'm outside of the Gryffindor common room when Sirius catches up with me. "Aria, wait!"

I turn around to see him leaning against the wall. "Do you have to walk so fast? Damn..."
"Look," he says. "I get that you miss Leah, and you want to believe that she can change, but she won't. He's too strong."

"What do you know about it?"
"My brother Regulus is a Death Eater. So, I'd say I know quite alot about it." I hadn't known that Sirius had a brother.

He sits down on the floor and motions for me to join him. "I didn't know you have a brother."
He laughs, and the tone surprises me. I haven't heard him sound so..bitter.
"I hate him. Our parents adored him. When I was placed in Gryffindor, that was the last straw for them. I was never allowed out of my room. So, I ran away. I stay with James. I'm never going back there."

"I'm sorry."
He scoffs. "Forget about it. It's in the past now."
"You know," He says after a moment. "Lily came to speak to me a couple of weeks ago."
My pulse quickens, and it feels as if my heart is in my mouth. "She did?" I manage.

"She told me that you like me." He grins. "Not that you can help it, of course."
"Don't be so full of yourself."
"What are you doing? What are you doing with him when you could be with me?"
I don't know how to answer. With everything going on right now, I haven't really seen Remus that much. It's like we're not even dating anymore.

"I don't know.." I whisper.
"I do," He whispers back. "You like the thought of stability in these uncertain times. But I can give you that, too. And more. Have you noticed how it's always me coming after you when you're upset? How it is never Remus?"
He leans towards me, and I lean away. Tears fill my eyes, and I scramble to stand up.
"Aria!"

I run.

I run towards the forrest, through the bushes and between the trees. When I'm almost certain that Sirius hasn't followed me, I imagine the raven flying above the trees. Soaring between buildings and dipping its beak into the rivers.

With my transformation complete, I fly up towards a nearby branch. And that's when I spot Sirius. And he has definitely spotted me.

Time to face the music.

-
So, Arias secret is out! Tell me what you think! :D