Valerie looked peaceful when she slept. Darya had sat on the edge of her bed for an hour now, looking at her. The sight was the only thing that solaced her.

"It was Hell here yesterday," her aunt said. "She would not stop crying after you left. Poor girl was so full of remorse."

"What did you do to make her calm down?" Darya asked her softly.

"Codium fragile — stag seaweed. Put it under her pillow; makes her sleep and dream of things she loves. She probably won't wake up for a few more hours."

"Good."

"Where did you go, anyway? I didn't even hear you when you came through the door."

Darya avoided her gaze. She looked anywhere but into her aunt's eyes. Suddenly, the carpet was interesting. So was the photograph on the wall. It was of one of the first Sirens. What was her name again? The one with bright red hair. Was it Ligeia? Thelxiepeia?

"Dumbledore was here," Lana said quietly. "He wanted to speak to you. He wants you to help in the hospital wing at Hogwarts this year."

Immediately, Darya got up from the bed, nervously wiping her hands on her dress. She was going back to Hogwarts. She was going to help the students who fell ill again.

"Did he leave anything? A letter? Any information?"

"You are going to speak to Poppy whenever you can. She will give you all the information you need. She's working at the Willard Foster hospital this summer... I thought I would Apparate you there now if you wanted."

Darya had gotten sick of Apparating, but still let Lana Apparate her to the hospital after breakfast. She put on a rather thick cardigan over her dress so one could not see her arms and the mark she had been given the day before. But just to make sure, she said the spell Regulus had thought her to make the mark disappear for a short while before walking closer to the building.

The Willard Foster hospital was newer and smaller than St. Mungo's. They had fewer patients, and treated mostly minor injuries, such as bones that had been messed up by magic, and hexes that had gone wrong and left you either flying in the air or with bruises on your bottom.

Most of the healers working there worked somewhere else. Poppy, for instance, worked at Hogwarts. And Isolde, one of the Swan's closest friends, worked part-time at St. Mungo's and spent the weekend healing at Willard Foster's, though she was getting old and Darya doubted that she would continue her work for long.

Entering the hospital, the Swan walked into a room where everything could be described as chaotic: five children were running in circles, yelling; two older men in wheelchairs were having a passionate discussion which they made sure everyone in the room could hear; a woman was trying to catch her arm, which had peeled itself from her body and was now floating mid-air, though no blood could be seen; three doctors were trying to get control of the situation and calm everyone. Darya tried to keep her head clear. She walked to one of them and asked if they needed help.

They knew her face, for the Swans had become the most well-known healers in the Wizarding World because of their powers. She needed no introduction. They recalled that she knew her sport well, but let her pass. This was their hospital and their patients — not hers.

Darya asked the doctor that was looking less overwrought where she could find Poppy. He shook his head, wondering who Poppy was. When Darya said Pomfrey instead, he pointed her toward a door in the hallway behind him.

Before walking into the room, Darya rolled up her sleeve. She wanted to see clean skin, but she could still see her Dark Mark. She wished Regulus had given her a spell which made no one see her mark — not even herself. Looking at it made her whole body shake. She told herself that Pomfrey would not be able to see it, closed her eyes shut, and knocked on the door.

"I don't have time!" Pomfrey's light voice echoed down the hall. "I told you! Leave, Johnson—"

"It's Darya, Poppy," Darya answered, opening the door slightly. "It's just me."

"Oh, Darya! Come in, then!"

Poppy ran to open the door further so she could see her face. Darya smiled wide. At Hogwarts, she had spent every afternoon with Poppy, healing students. They had grown quite close.

"Swan?" a voice inside of the room asked. Darya looked past Poppy to see who it belonged to.

"Black."

"It's been a while," he said, smiling.

She had not seen him in so long, but it was easy to recognize him and the stunning Black beauty. He looked like his brother. "Are you alright?" she asked, glancing at him. He looked healthy. Why was he in the hospital?

"If I were treating him, I would not have let you walk into the room," Poppy said with a serious tone.

"Then why are you here, Sirius?"

Just as he parted his lips, the door next to him shot up. The figure standing there spoke his answer. Busy putting on his jumper, he grinned Darya's way, already walking toward her. "I thought I heard your voice."

When he came closer, she understood why they were there — the both of them: There were new wounds all over Remus' neck and face. The moon had been at its fullest yesterday. Sirius had probably been with him the whole time, and followed him to the hosital, like they had done when they had still been in school.

Remus would make new wounds and lose hope, and Sirius would bring him to Poppy and Darya, who both had worked in the hospital wing at Hogwarts when they had attended the school. Darya had lost count of how many nights she had stayed up to help him heal, both on his body and inside his mind. So when he stood in front of her now, she reached a hand up to his face. Softly, he let his hand take grip around her wrist to stop her, and shook his head.

"You know I can heal these wounds," she whispered, "before they become scars."

He didn't answer her, but said, "I remember the first time you healed me. You told me the wounds and scars made me who I am."

Darya dared to laugh gently. "Remus. I was 12."

"And I was 13. And still thought about it every hour of every day."

She paused for a few seconds and let her hand fall to her side. She realized how close her Dark Mark had been to his face without him knowing about it.

The first time she had witnessed how cruel the full moon was to him, was when she was in her first year, and he in his second. Darya's older sisters had worked in the hospital wing at Hogwarts for as long as she could remember. They had told her stories from their years at the school and about people they had met and gotten to know better through working in the hospital wing. People from all houses. Professors. And at times, parents visiting the school to root for their children playing Quidditch matches, and who unfortunately got hurt by a flying ball or two. You never really realize how scary a Snitch is before it is zooming toward your forehead.

She had started working in the hospital wing two short months after the Sorting Hat had placed her in Slytherin. She worked with her sisters during the daytime. December had consisted of her healing minor injuries with them. Then, in January, Darya had entered a period where she could not sleep because of her nightmares. She would dream of people abusing her Siren powers. To distract herself, she would go to the hospital wing, where she could control the powers herself. Use them for good. And at night, none of her sisters were there — just her, patients, and Pomfrey, who seemed to never sleep but only treat hurt students.

One night, Pomfrey had brought Remus to the hospital wing. Darya didn't know who he was. He was tall, pale, and had blemishes and scars on his cheeks and nose. His pants and jumper had holes everywhere, and he looked like he'd much rather be anywhere else but in the hospital wing. He looked sick. She concluded that he was sick.

Poppy didn't tell her what was wrong with him that night. She locked him inside a room and asked her to go back to her Common Room. She thought it was odd, and told her sisters about it in the morning. They sat and listened to her, mouths open. Weeks later, she had learned that they had known what was wrong with him all along.

Darya had always loved full moons; that was when her powers grew. After the February full moon that year, she hated the full moon. Poppy had, once again, brought Remus to the hospital wing and asked Darya to go back to her Common Room. But Darya refused to.

There was a closet in the hospital wing. Poppy used to stack her medicines in there. On that day, she had only a few flasks with medicine left. Darya had managed to creep inside the closet, place the flasks on her lap, and sit there without making a sound. She was determined to find out what was wrong with Remus, and why Poppy wouldn't tell her about his sickness. But Remus and Poppy had talked for a while, and Darya was too tired to stay up. She fell asleep inside the closet.

In the morning, she woke, disappointed in herself for falling asleep. She peeked through a hole in the closet door to see if the coast was clear — if she was alone, she could go out of the closet and back to the Common Room. He was sitting on a bed, wearing almost no clothes, so she saw his back and chest. There were blood and gashes everywhere. The white hospital blankets were covered in crimson. He was crying and shaking so badly that Poppy was doing at attempt at holding him down.

Gasping, Darya fell forward, landing on the floor face-first. Never before had she seen Poppy more aghast. Poppy asked if she had seen anything during the night. Darya answered no. Remus had stopped crying, but he was still shaking. Darya looked at him and asked if he was alright. Then, she and Poppy spent the next hour healing his wounds.

When they had finished drying the blood, Remus looked at Darya. She could still remember how unsure she had felt when he had grabbed both of her hands and asked her to look at him. He asked if she knew what he was. She shook her head. A monster, he told her.

Poppy had walked to get something, and they were alone. Darya had looked into Remus' eyes, and told him that she was a monster, as well. She had fangs and claws. And a tail.

He said that he had claws, too, and asked if she hurt herself with her claws. She nodded and showed him a couple of her small scars. She told him how she could heal scars and make them disappear, and that she did it to her own scars sometimes, to heal the pain. He asked if she could heal his. She had shaken her head, and told him that scars made them who they were. His wounds made him him.

After that, Remus had asked Pomfrey if Darya could help her heal him after every full moon, and Poppy had told her the truth about him.

"Alright. I'll let Poppy heal you with normal witchcraft, then. No Siren stuff. Just promise the injuries don't hurt."

Remus pursed his lips, and looked at Sirius and Poppy. "Just a rough full moon."

"Which is why I don't have time to chit-chat," Poppy said, "I assume you are here to talk about the work in the hospital wing, Darya?"

"Correct."

"Well, I must say that I was pleased to hear that you wanted to continue the work at Hogwarts. I am sure that we will-"

"You got a job at Hogwarts?" Sirius said, interrupting Pomfrey.

"Like your brother," Darya answered. "I look forward to working with him."

Sirius didn't look like Sirius anymore. He looked small, and the proud look on his face had disappeared at the mention of his brother. "Regulus?" he said quietly.

"Yes, Regulus. Of course, Regulus. Unless you have another brother that I don't know of that also-"

"I'm sure you will do great, Darya," Remus said, cutting her off. She looked at him and smiled.

"We start on September 1st," Poppy began, "and I expect you to be prepared for work in the morning. I know that you are used to taking the train and working in the hospital wing at night, but from now on, you will be working from breakfast to dinnertime. Which means you will arrive at Hogwarts before the students on September 1st. Are you writing this down?"

Darya jumped. She had gotten lost in thought. "No..."

"Well, you better. I expect you to be..." And her words continued coming. They flew past Darya's ears. She had become much more interested in knowing why Sirius had crumpled at the mention of his brother. "So, understood?"

Darya just nodded. "Absolutely. Thank you, Poppy."

"I just told you that you will have to go back to calling me Madam Pomfrey now, Dar- Miss Swan."

Darya grinned. "Alright, Poppy."

"Darya-"

"I will see you on September 1st. I really can't wait for it."

Poppy laughed quietly. Darya asked if she had any spare flasks of moon water left before she prepared to travel back home - St. Mungo's was running low. While Poppy walked to find her a flask, she asked Remus one last time if he needed any help with healing. He said no, but wished her the best of luck with healing the new students at Hogwarts.

"You know, you are more than welcome to visit me any time, Remus," she answered. "At Hogwarts or St. Mungo's. For healing or just talking."

She waved goodbye to him and Sirius, and put the flask she had gotten from Poppy in her pocket. She stepped out of the room, and tried to find her way back to the first room she had entered.

In the corridor, there was a girl, sobbing quietly to herself. Darya decided to stop and ask her what was wrong so she could try to help her before she left. There were no other nurses or doctors around.

"Why are you crying?" Darya asked gently.

She got to her knees beside the girl as she spoke, "the cast is so heavy."

Darya looked at the girl's arm and cast. "But it will make the hurting stop."

"I am not crying because it is hurting. I am crying because I can no longer play Quidditch with dad, now!"

Deep in the pocket on the front of her dress, Darya found her wand. She pointed it at the young girl's cast, "Look."

Tapping it against the cast twice, they watched the cast turn to a light shade of blue. On top of the blue, appeared small stick figures, moving up and down the cast. The girl giggled loudly as a small Quidditch Field had been drawn on the cast, and the stick figures carried illustrated brooms.

At that point, Darya realized that she knew little about Quidditch, and could not make the drawn figures play a game. But the loud and clear voice of Sirius Black spoke behind her, "Watch the Chaser go! Upward, upward, upward!"

Pulling her wand upward, Darya made one of the figures move up.

"Can you spot the Snitch?" Sirius asked the girl, walking to sit on his knees beside Darya. He looked at the girl, and then down at her cast curiously. "I can't."

When she moved her face closer to the cast to look, Sirius pulled out his own wand. He pointed it at her without her noticing. A small, drawn ball, which Darya assumed to be the 'Snitch', appeared beside one of the figures on the cast.

"I see it!" The girl roared.

Darya moved her wand to make two of the figures chase after the ball Sirius had drawn. "Look at them go!" Sirius roared back. One of the figures reached out for the Snitch, and...

"The game is done!" the girl chuckled. She tried to clap her hands together, but the cast was too heavy, so one of her hands did not meet the other. "How did you do that?"

Sirius got up again. "I heard she's magic," he said, pointing at Darya. "Siren magic, I think it is."

"Mom used to tell me about Sirens." She turned to look at Darya. "Are you a real Siren?"

"I don't know. Why don't you pinch me and find out?"

She pinched her, and Darya groaned, faking awful pain while grimacing.

"Think you got a real one right there," Sirius said.

Someone — Darya assumed that it was the girl's parents — called for Margaret, and the girl suddenly seemed to be in a hurry. She took off and ran down the hallway, into a new room.

"My sister is waiting for me," Darya told Sirius.

"I just want to talk to you for a second." He straightened his back and lowered his voice. This was not the normal, goofy version of Sirius Black. "It's about Regulus. Do you know what he is going to teach?"

She shook her head. "Defense Against the Dark Arts, I guess. He was always good at that. Or Potions, but Slughorn seemed to be pretty healthy and ready to teach more when we left him."

"Darya... I don't know if a teaching job is what he needs... Anyone who knows my brother and is clear in the head would agree. I don't know if you have heard, but he seems to have a fascination for the Dark Arts. You would guess that is why he is so good at DADA."

She stood there in silence, looking at him, debating whether or not to tell him about Regulus becoming a Death Eater. But her knowing about his Dark Mark, would hint that she had her own mark.

"You don't think he would actually hurt someone, do you?" she asked.

"No- I just- Be careful and keep an eye on him, alright? You know how our parents are."

She didn't. She thought back to the dance the Malfoys had held on Midsummer Night, where only Regulus' mom had been present. "Your dad is sick." She stopped to watch his reaction. He finally met her eyes. "But I think your mum is helping Regulus with finding his way."

"Well, Walburga isn't known to be the kindest woman."

Darya watched how he turned more apprehensive when talking about his family. He wouldn't even call Walburga his mum. "Do you have an owl?"

"Not right now," he said, his tone suddenly a bit lighter. "But Remus has one, and we are staying together for a while."

"You are?" She smiled widely. "I'm happy for you." He smiled with her, now. "We can exchange letters. I will send you updates on Regulus, and you can send me updates on Remus after the full moons. And if he needs help with his healing, just let me know and I will be with you in a second."

He nodded quickly. "Sounds good. Thank you."

They parted ways, Sirius going back to Remus and Poppy, Darya going outside to find her way home. When she was sure no one was watching, she whispered the spell that Regulus had taught her. A long day at St. Mungo's was waiting.