• Serena Black •
„After all,
friends are the family
you choose."
Over the next few days, the school was talking about nothing but Sirius Black and the attack on the Fat Lady. On the other end, Serena was now being watched with eagle eyes, no matter where she went. She didn't know which one to find worse: pity, fear, or disgust.
The theories about how Sirius Black might have invaded the castle became increasingly abstruse. Serena wanted nothing more than for the whole thing to finally come to an end. That evening had agitated her and she still could not think of anything else. Like a nightmare that tried to haunt her even when she was awake.
At least the speculations of her classmates also made her smile at the situation from time to time. Because there was one theory told by Hannah Abott that her father could turn into a blooming bush. Serena had just shaken her head and commented her statement with a let-me-turn-you-into-a-blooming-bush-look.
Harry, Ron and Hermione's questions about what exactly had happened in the tower, she had repeatedly dodged and had instead said that she had not heard anything. A lie which she was sure that it had made her cheeks glow. But fortunately, the three had finally stopped asking questions.
The painting of the fat lady was taken off the wall and replaced by the portrait of Sir Cadogan and his fat grey pony. But no one was quite satisfied with that. Because the new guardian of the Gryffindor common room constantly challenged them to duels or even made up ridiculously complicated passwords, which he changed at least twice a day.
Sir Cadogan, however, was Serena's least concern. They guarded her and Harry at every moment. Teachers accompanied them through the corridors under some pretexts, and Percy Weasley followed them everywhere like an extremely important bodyguard. Serena did not know whether she was being monitored out of worry for her or because she was actually suspected of helping her father.
To top it all off, Professor McGonagall summoned Serena into her office a few days later with such a sombre expression that she thought someone had died. "Miss Black, I'm really sorry to have to tell you this but we notified your mother..."
Oh Merlin please don't, Serena thought outraged and couldn't help but stare at her teacher with a horrified face. Would she be taken out of school? Wrapped up in cotton wool for the rest of her life?
"Her and I both think that it would not be beneficial if you continue to visit the village on the weekends." Finally, her teacher explained and looked at her with her blue eyes across the glasses.
Serena stared back brazenly, she couldn't be serious! Although this was not as bad as she had imagined, she was still annoyed, "Professor, please you can't do this!" she pleaded quietly and did not want to miss her newly won privilege to visit the village on the weekends.
"I'm very sorry, Miss Black, but that's my last word, besides, I don't think it's good if you train Quidditch in the evening, out on the field, just with the others from the team, that's pretty dangerous, the same goes for Mr. Potter if you were to please align him..."
Serena took a sharp breath. Well, Hogsmeade was one thing, but Quidditch?! "On Saturday we have our first game!" she exclaimed indignantly, "I have to train, professor!"
Professor McGonagall thoughtfully shook her head. Serena knew the teacher cared about the future of the Gryffindor team. She waited with her breath held for her teacher's answer and had crossed her fingers behind her cape.
"Hm ..." McGonagall got up and looked out the window over to the Quidditchfield, "Well ... let the devil get me, I want us to finally win the cup ... Nevertheless, I would be more comfortable if a teacher was there. I will ask Madam Hooch to supervise the training."
The Gryffindor took a serene breath and would have liked to fling her arms around the teacher's his neck at that moment if it weren't for Hogsmeade. But there, too, a solution might be found, because she certainly won't miss the weekend in the village.
The day before their first game, the wind had turned into a howling storm and it was pouring out of buckets. Inside the corridors and in the classrooms, it was so dark that additional torches and lanterns had to be lit.
Serena couldn't think of anything other than the match against the Hufflepuffs the next day. Perhaps she owed this fact to Oliver, who met her and Harry in every break to give them more tips. On the third time in a day, the team captain had talked to her for so long that Serena was terrified to come to defense against the dark arts too late.
The Gryffindor eventually slid to the door of the classroom and took a few seconds to gasp for air before finally opening it. After all, it was just Lupin, "Excuse me for coming too late..."
But it wasn't Professor Lupin who sat at the teacher's desk and looked at her. It was Snape.
Serena stopped at the door in horror and at that moment was petrified. Serena was already expecting the impending disaster and abruptly closed her eyes in prayer that she had only been wrong in the room.
"This lesson started ten minutes ago, Miss Black!" the teacher rebuked her, displaying a complacent expression that Serena didn't like, "Ten points from Gryffindor, and now sit down!"
But she still didn't move from the spot, as she abruptly recalled Harry's words that Snape had brought a strange brew directly to his new teacher's office, "Where's Professor Lupin?"
"He says he feels too sick today to teach." The Master of The Potions answered unmoved and with a sloping smile on his thin lips, "And now you finally sit down or have you started to strike roots?"
"What does he have?"
Snape's black eyes sparked aggressively, "Nothing life-threatening," he said with a glance as if he wished it was, "Another five points from Gryffindor and if I have to make another call, it will be fifty."
Grumbling, Serena took place next to Hailey by the window, while Snape turned to the whole class again, "As I just said before Miss Black interrupted us, Professor Lupin didn't leave any notes about the topings you've been dealing with so far..."
"Please, sir, we treated Red Caps, Kappas, and Grindelohs." Hermione gushed unasked, "And we just wanted to go with..."
"Silence," Snape said in a cold-cutting voice, fixing the best of the year with such a cold look that water could have frozen to ice, "I didn't ask for clarification, Miss Granger. I only noticed Professor Lupin's mismanagement."
"He's the best teacher in defense against the dark arts we've ever had!" threw Harry in and the rest of the class muttered in agreement. Snape's dark eyes flashed menacingly as he looked at his students with curled lips, "You're easy to please. Lupin hardly overstrains you. I myself assume that first-graders will be able to cope with Red Caps and Grindelohs. Today we are..."
Tired, Serena placed her head on her right hand and watched the teacher bored as he scrolled through the textbook. Finally, he paused at the last page, knowing very well that they could hardly have dealt with the last chapter yet, "Werewolves."
"Werewolves?" Hailey silently repeated next to her, whispering, "Isn't that the complicated subject we might just cover if there's still time after the exams?"
The Gryffindor shrugged her shoulders, but a wrinkle of concern formed on her forehead. If the subject was really that difficult, she didn't want it to make it spontaneously into her already full studying plan.
"But, Sir." Hermione again reluctantly said, "We shouldn't be covering the werewolves now, we actually just wanted to start with Hinkepanks."
"Miss Granger," Snape said with icy composure, "I assumed I was teaching, not you. And now all of you turn to page three hundred and ninety-four." Again, he looked around when only a few students took out their books, silently agreeing with Hermione's statement, "All of them, I said! Immediately!"
Serena and Hailey exchanged an embittered look before both rolled their eyes at the same time and also finally opened the textbooks with a sigh. Just in time, because her substitute teacher had once again turned to the visibly dissatisfied class, "Who of you can tell me how to distinguish a werewolf from a real wolf?"
Hermione's hand soared upwards, but although this time she hadn't just talked in as before, the teacher simply ignored her, "No one?" he asked about all the abundance and did not pay tribute to the best of the year, instead his beetle eyes wandered on and a tormented smile crept onto his thin lips. Which was no wonder, because he fixed one of his favorite victims, "Miss Black can you please answer my question?"
Inside, the brunette groaned and she wondered how often Potions Master wanted to humiliate her in front of the class with a question to which she had no answer. Angry, she stared back, "You really should decide whether you want students to raise their hands when they want to say something or not. I didn't, so you should know my answer," she said, regretting not a single one of her words.Not even when Snape threw a cold look at her and took five points from Gryffindor.
"Would you like to tell me that Professor Lupin doesn't even tell you the simple difference between..."
"We told you," bursted it out, much to Serena's surprise, from her best friend, "That we weren't covering the werewolves yet, we're still on..."
"Stop", Snape's fuming eyes laid on the Hufflepuff, which normally did not contradict teachers that quickly. Not unasked at least, „Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, I never thought that I would ever come across a third class that doesn't even recognize a werewolf when it faces it. I will explicitly inform Professor Dumbledore of how far you are behind."
"Please, Sir", Hermione made another attempt and still had her hand stretched upwards, "The werewolf is distinguishable from the real wolf by several small features. The snout of the werewolf..."
"This is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger," he replied coolly, "Another five points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all."
Hermione went very red, put down her hand, and stared at the floor with her eyes full of tears. It was a mark of how much the class loathed Snape that they were all glaring at him, because every one of them had called Hermione a know-it-all at least once, and Ron, who told Hermione she was a know-it-all at least twice a week, said loudly, "You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don't want to be told?"
The class knew instantly he'd gone too far. Snape advanced on Ron slowly, and the room held its breath.
"Detention, Weasley," Snape said silkily, his face very close to Ron's. "And if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed."
No one made a sound throughout the rest of the lesson. They sat and made notes on werewolves from the textbook, while Snape prowled up and down the rows of desks, examining the work they had been doing with Professor Lupin. "Very poorly explained...That is incorrect, the kappa is more commonly found in Mongolia....Professor Lupin gave this eight out of ten? I wouldn't have given it three..."
When the bell rang at last, hardly anyone could wait to finally bring as many meters between themselves and Snape as possible. But he held them, "You will each write an essay, to be handed in to me, on the ways you recognize and kill werewolves. I want two rolls of parchment on the subject, and I want them by Monday morning. It is time somebody took this class in hand. Weasley, stay behind, we need to arrange your detention."
At lunch, the redhead finally reappeared. He visibly foamed with anger as he sat next to Hermione at the Table of the Gryffindors, "D'you know what that -" he called Snape something that made Hermione say "Ron!" and let Serena to glance at him congratulatory, „is making me do? I've got to scrub out the bedpans in the hospital wing. Without magic!" He was breathing deeply, his fists clenched. "Why couldn't Black have hidden in Snape's office, eh? He could have finished him off for us!"
The next morning there was a thunderstorm. Serena was already awakened by loud thunder, the howling wind, and the distant groaning of the trees in the Forbidden Forest.
The hellish noise of her classmates raged around her on the day of the game, trying to drown out the sounds of the weather. But the heavy rain didn't make Serena recognize any of them. As in a dream in which her environment was almost completely hidden, the Gryffindor swung on the broom and when Madam Hooch lifted her silver pipe and sounded a roaring whistle, she pushed herself firmly off the ground. She was accompanied by her heart, which was firmly pounding with excitement, and the cries of the crowd.
Fifteen brooms rose into the lead-grey sky, high and higher.
Serena quickly gained altitude, but her comet kept slithering in the wind. The cold air hit her hard in the face and for a moment she didn't think about scoring goals or how many pairs of eyes were aimed at her. But when the first Bludger passed her and just missed her by a hair, she was abruptly ripped out of her trance.
George then sped past her with the bat in his hand to lead the Bladger back in the direction of the Hufflepuffs and the cheer for the first goal for Gryffindor filled the cold air.
Heavy drops hit Serena in the face and her wet dark hair stuck to her face as she brought the Quaffel into her possession and passed it to Angelina. In just less than five minutes, she was already wet to the skin and half-frozen. Meanwhile, the crowd below had hidden under a sea of capes and shredded umbrellas.
The Gryffindor had lost all sense of time and it became more and more difficult to keep the broom straight. Two more times, a Bladger almost ripped her off the stick, and she often almost collided with another player without knowing if it was a teammate or an opponent.
A few seconds later, Serena again managed to take possession of the Quaffle, diving elegantly under Marc Miller and chasing across the field. GOAL!
The Quaffle was back in the Hufflepuff's posession and Victoria Call swept towards the goals, but a second Badger stopped her. Serena had a clear way, she leaned over her broom to build more speed. BOOOM! A Badger hit her in the back and in shock she dropped the quaffle, which was picked up by Miller. GOAL!
Cheers for Hufflepuff filled the cool air. Serena tried to look out for Harry, but couldn't see neither him nor Diggory in the rain. Meanwhile, Katie managed to score another goal for Gryffindor.
"Everything alright?" Shouted Fred or George to her before he smashed a Badger in the direction of Zacharias Smith. Serena raised her thumb and flew to the attacked Hufflepuff, who had dropped the quaffle in horror and caught it. Goal!
The sky gradually darkened, as if the night had decided to fall in sooner. With the first lightning flash, the whistle from Madam Hooch's whistle sounded across the field. Serena was able to make up the outline of Wood through the heavy rain, gesticulating to the ground. "I asked for time out!" He yelled at his team, "Come down!"
At the edge of the field, the team then crowded under a large umbrella. "What's the point?"
"We have a fifty-point lead." Explained Wood and began to wander up and down on the muddy ground, "But if we don't catch the Snitch soon, we'll play into the night."
"I don't have a chance with this one," Harry quipped, swaying through the air with his wet glasses. It was at that very moment that Hermione appeared by his side, holding the cape over her head, and, for some inexplicable reason, she beamed, "I've got an idea, Harry! Give me your glasses, fast!"
The seeker handed her his handicap, on which Hermione pointed her wand, "Impervius!" she said, returning the glasses to his owner. "Now it's pushing the water off!"
Wood looked at Hermione as if he wanted to kiss her on the spot, "Great!" he shouted at her in a hoarse voice as she climbed the stands again, "Well, folks, let's win this game!"
Although Serena was still dazed in the cold and wet, she whipped through the gusts with fresh confidence, dodging a Bladger. She saw a lightning bolt, which was followed by another thunderbolt on the spot. She hoped that Harry would catch the Snitch soon, otherwise they might all get roasted.
At that moment, another flash of light lit up the sky and Serena saw something that completely captivated her. The contour of the huge, shaggy black dog sat motionless in the top empty row of the seats. The broomstick slipped off Serena's clumsy hands through the deflection and her comet slumped a few feet away. She rubbed her eyelids and looked over the ranks again. The dog had disappeared.
"Harry!" She heard the horrified screams from Wood, "Harry, behind you!"
Serena searched for the Seeker in the rain and just witnessed Cedric Diggory coming across the field. In fact, something golden shimmered between all the colorful umbrellas. Immediately her heart slipped into her uniform, but Harry also seemed to have noticed the glimmer. He raced towards the Snitch at lightning speed.
A ghostly silence descended over the stadium. It was as if someone had suddenly turned off the tone. Astonished, Serena looked around and barely believed her eyes. At least hundreds of dark figures hung with them in the air around the field. Dementors.
The masked faces had all turned to Harry. Frightened, the Gryffindor swarmed the air, she wanted to warn her friend, but it was too late. Gryffindor's Seeker tipped off the broom as if in slow motion and fell through the icy fog. Serena screamed and watched as Dumbledore rushed onto the court with his wand raised. Harry slowed down before hitting the soaked ground.
The headmaster turned to the dementors, whom he scared away with silver lightning. Similar to what Professor Lupin had done in the Hogwarts Express. While Harry laid motionless on the ground and all Gryffindors were stunned by what was happening, Diggory managed to catch the Snitch.
Gryffindor had lost.