It pissed me off that Mary joined the Order, but so did Emmeline and Dorcas, which made me happier. You remember that girl who Peter was dating? Yeah, she joined to just to be with him. Poor girl doesn't know what she's getting herself into.
Anyway, it was the second day of winter break when we were called in for a meeting. I was staying at Jinxy's house, so we went together. We met at Lily's house. Her parents and sister were out of town, so they'd be out of the picture and her house empty.
As soon as everyone was there and seated (I had attempted to convince Dumbledore to start without Mary, but he said that Frank wasn't their either, so we'd have to start without him as well. I was fine with that.) Dumbledore started speaking. It wasn't his normal light, airy, amused speech; no, these were dead serious, heart wrenching, words that made your skin crawl.
"Today I'm giving you your first missions. Before you set out I want you to know, you decided to join, it wasn't pushed on to you. There isn't a contract. You can leave whenever you please, I'm just hoping you won't leave in the middle of a mission. This is going to be some of the hardest, scariest, most terrifying thing you have done and will do. These wizards have many more years of practice than you do. Let us just hope that Voldemort himself doesn't arrive." Dumbledore finished his morbid speech with those words. I noticed that Sirius and I had locked hands. I looked up at him. I tried to smile, but I knew it didn't worked, so I coughed awkwardly and pushed my glasses up. That caused a light laugh from my boyfriend.
"I'm splitting you into three groups. Each group is going after different different Death Eaters. From what we've heard, there is only one Death Eater at each place you're going."
McGonagal took his place at the front if the room.
"Frank, Remus, Ellie, Mary, and Florence, you four will be together. James, Lily, Peter, Marlene and Matthew, the second group. And finally, Sirius, Alice, Serana, Dorcas, and Emmeline will be a team...." I sort of stopped listening after that. They had done well picking teams. They had put most of the people in relationships together. I guess they thought if Sirius were to die on one of these things, I'd like to be there to kill the bastard who killed him. Well, Alice and Frank weren't together, and Peter and Florence were separated, but I'm pretty sure that's for Peter's saftey.
"River, we're going," Sirius said. I shook my head and stood up. I grabbed his hand again and put a hand on his arm.
"I wasn't paying attention; where are we going?" I whispered. Sirius scoffed.
"Why am I not surprised? We're going not very far from here actually. One of the Death Eaters is stationed at the cabin where you, Lily, Matthew, and Charlie were held captive," he told me. I sighed.
"Like I want to go there again," I grumbled.
"Dumbledore must think it some cruel joke," Sirius said. I sighed again and kissed his cheek.
"I'm going to say good-bye to the others," I said. He nodded. I found Lily and hugged her with all my might.
"Don't forget to come back," I whispered into her hair. Her hands tightened around my shoulders.
"You too." I moved on to Jinxy and embraced her the same way.
"You can always turn into a tiger if things get bad," I told her. I felt her laugh.
"And don't you forget your wolfness," she said. I pulled away and kissed her forehead. After hugged both Marlene and Jackie, Frank came over to me.
"Watch out for her, will you?" He whispered, taking me into his arms
"Will do, Little Brother."
I turned to walk out with Sirius, Alice, Dorcas, and Emmeline, but I turned back.
"Hey James, Remus? Don't let them get themselves killed." With that final farewell, my team and I started on our journey.

We trampled through the forest as quietly as we could, wands drawn. When the building drew into sight, I sucked in a deep breath and glanced over towards Sirius. He was the only one here who really knew what went down in that cabin, and he knew it wasn't pretty. I went in first. I pressed my hand against the blackened wooden door and pushed it open.
"Lumos," I whispered. Dorcas, who was in the back, followed suit, just as we planned. The kitchen was just as beat up as it was when we had run out last winter. Widows were shattered, their glass strewn across the ground.
"Be careful not to step on the glass," I had told my team before we'd arrived. We had agreed that talking was prohibited in case the Death Eater heard us.
I pointed at the glass to remake my point. The four behind me nodded. a few plants were growing out of random places. I headed towards the hallway in which so many horrid memories came flooding back. For a second a stumbled, but Sirius, who was behind me, caught me.
"Serana, I need to talk to," he whispered. I glared at him.
"Not now," I said as quietly as possible.
"It's really important." There was a plea in his voice, but I couldn't back down.
"And so is this." We continued forward. We turned the corner to where the living room was. We heard a popping sound from the bedroom. My eyes flew open.
This is it.
I signaled for the three girls to stay where they were. Sirius and I headed toward the open bedroom door.
"Nox." I held my wand out, ready to stun at a seconds notice. I opened the door. Sirius and I walked inside. No one was there. They must have Apearated away. I turned to Sirius.
"They must have heard you," I hissed. There wasn't an ounce of shame on his face. I frowned.
"Serana, please listen to me. I really need to talk to you." The seriousness in his voice terrified me. I scowled.
"If you're breaking up with me, now isn't the best time." I had meant it as a joke, but he turned his head to the side I felt a stabbing in my chest.
"Oh gosh, you're breaking up with me." I put my hand over my heart and sucked in a deep breath.
"Serana, please listen to me," he said again. Tears filled my eyes.
"What did I do? Did Antonin tell you I cheated on you again, because you know that's not true," I said.
"That's not it. It's not you at all. It's-"
"SERANA!" I spun around, all thoughts of Sirius gone in a second, to run to the aid of Alice. As I faced the door a sharp pain struck just above my pelvis and then there was a pop and a fuzz. I turned again to face Sirius.
"Oh gosh, oh gosh," he breathed. I managed a smile.
"Who knew Death Eaters threw daggers, huh?" With that I fell forward into Sirius' chest.
"Serana!" I looked down to see a silver dagger.
Who knew? Who knew?
I only knew one person who had a silver dagger. And when I looked closer at it, I recognized it as the dagger that almost killed me a few years back.
Who knew Death Eaters threw daggers?
Bellatrix. Bellatrix Black, probably now LeStrange. Bellatrix LeStrange threw daggers. Bellatrix LeStrange was a Death Eater.

I woke up a few days later in a hospital bed...again. I was getting real tired of waking up in hospital beds. The food is terrible, to start, and the sheets and blankets are uncomfortable. The rooms are boring and bland and small.
I attempted to sit up, but a wave of pain washed over my entire person and I groaned. I hated my bloody mark. What kind of sick person puts a bad luck charm on a young child anyway? And why, if it's a bad luck charm, am I not dead yet? All question Id asked Dumbledore later.
I looked around the room and saw a lump in the corner, not sitting on a chair, but laying in a heep on the floor. I knew what that lump was, he was my lump.
"Sirius?" I called. Sirius lifted his head from his arms. His eyes held tears.
"I almost got you killed again," he said. I frowned. Then I remembered, before I got stabbed, Sirius was part way through breaking up with me.
"Sirius, come sit in the chair." I pointed at the chair beside my bed. I wasn't laying all the way down. The Healers had the decency to lift my head some.
Sirius reluctantly sat next to me.
"Have I told you how much I hate these beds?" I needed to lighten the mood. Sirius let out a small laugh then shut it up quickly.
"We need to finish our conversation," he said. I sucked in a painful breath.
"Right. You were breaking up with me," I said, trying not to sound tense.
"Aye." He was silent for a moment.
"I'm doing it because I keep hurting you," he said. That was a shock. I blinked a few times and replayed to words over in my head until it sunk in.
"Sirius-"
"No, Serana! Prongs never once touched Lily when she didn't want to be. Moony never laughed and mocked Jinxy. Wormtail never made Florence cry herself to sleep. Frank never made Alice want to jump off the Astronomy tower...." Sirius' voice cracked and he lowered his head into his hands. I stared at him in horror. Sirius lifted his head again.
"I threw you into the Whomping Willow in fourth year, I made you feel so terrible in 5th that you almost stabbed yourself with the same dagger that almost killed you today! You were chasing me into the Forbidden Forest the night you turned into a werewolf. And to top it all off, your mother disowned you because of me. How could you possibly love me after all of that?" Tears pooled from my eyes.
"You can't possibly blame yourself for all that? How can you blame yourself for me being a werewolf? I chased you on my own accord. I was the one who was going to plunge the knife into my chest, not you. I was the one going to jump off the Astronomy tower because I thought Lily and Jinxy hated me. And my mother disowning me? That's on her, not you. When I got stabbed, I wasn't paying attention, I let myself get distracted-"
"By me! You were hurt because I distracted you." Sirius stood from the chair and ran his fingers through his hair. My heart hurt for the boy, but my blood boiled at the same time.
I took a breath.
"Sirius, think this through. You may have hurt me in the past, but you've also saved me! You saved me from the muggles, just last year, didn't you?" My voice, much like his, was starting to break,"Here, just take my hand, we'll talk about this. Just take my hand." I held out my hand. Sirius looked at it and back up at me. There was something in his eyes. He was sorry.
"Sirius." The tears started down my cheeks again, "Take my hand."
"I'm sorry." He turned and walked out of my room. Everything washed over my like a hurricane.
"Sirius!" I shrieked, trying to sit up. "Sirius! Come back!" I was a mess. Tears fell like rain, blood poured from my side (which added to the tears because it hurt so dang much), snot came out of my nose. I was sobbing and screaming like a maniac. Healers came running in, trying to hold me down. Through all the pain, I was still trying to stand up to run after him, at least to sit up.
"Sirius." My screaming stopped and I was simply rolling back and forth on my bed, sobbing.
Finally, the Healers knocked my out, but I'm told that even in my sleep, I was mumbling Sirius' name.

A few days later, again, I was sitting up. I was sitting with my hand pressed against my head, eating the terrible Saint Mungos jello, tears rolling down my cheeks.
"Serana, please, tell us what's wrong," Jinxy pleaded, sitting on the edge of my bed. I didn't look at her.
"Maybe we should call Sirius. He'll know how to help," Marlene said from her place against the wall.
"Sirius left a few days agao," James said. He was sitting in the chair with Lily across his lap.
"River, just tell us." Frank was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wall much like Marlene.
"We can't help you any other way," Charlie, who had gotten there hours previously.
I looked up to her. She was standing in the doorway.
"I don't want your help."
"Guys, why don't you go. Alice, Emme and I would like to talk to her alone," Dorcas said. Though Lily stood up, she still questioned her.
"Why? Do you know something we don't?" She asked as James ushered her from the room.
"Yes." With that Dorcas shut the door.
"We heard what you and Sirius were talking about," Emmeline said
"The night you got stabbed," Alice cleared up. I sighed and lay back down.
"I don't want to talk." Dorcas sat on my bed.
"You don't have to." And I burst into tears. I put my hands over my face.
"He's trying to protect me from himself. But he really needs to be protected from me! You all do. I'm a danger to everyone," I said.
"No, no you're not," Alice joined Dorcas on my bed.
"We're grown witches, Serana, and Sirius Is a grown wizard. We don't need to be protected from you. We're also your friend, so we'll stick by you even if it means getting mauled to death," Emmeline said, taking the final place on my bed.
"We'll leave you be for now, to rest, but you think on that, Serana, you think on that hard," Alice said. She and Dorcas left, but Emme stayed behind.
"You need a hug."
I sat up and clung to her as I cried. She held me tight and stroked my hear and whispered encouraging things on my ear. It was just what I needed.

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YAY!!!!! Another chapter complete! There are only going to be three more! Woah! I'm almost done! Here that strawberrysong5 ? I'm going to finish before school starts! Haha! Love you guys! BTW jacobmatiyevsky I miss you lots already.