"Promise me
you'll love me someday."

The parlour at Crystal Cottage had been beautifully decorated, with Serena and Tonks taking on the task. The furniture stood against the walls, revealing an area that was to be used as a dance floor that evening and where the first guests were already milling about.

Serena wore a white Marilyn Monroe dress and her dark hair fell over her shoulders in neat curls. Nate had joined her with a drink in his hand and silently watched the hustle and bustle around the dance floor. "Have you got a date for tonight?"

"Cancelled," she muttered, still trying to convince herself that it was for the best if Edmund didn't come. But she couldn't banish the slight feeling of disappointment from her heart. "And you?"

Her oldest friend nodded and she stared at him with wide eyes. "Just tell me we're finally going to find out who your secret crush is!"

"I think it's about time," he sighed, but he didn't seem particularly comfortable in his own skin and kept glancing over those present as if he wanted to make sure they were all authorised to know his secret.

Serena did the same and kept an eye on the door, where a person she hadn't expected was standing. "Who invited him?"

"Me," Nate finally said, and she stared at him in confusion for a few seconds before she thought she understood the relationship between her best friend and Timothy Barnes, "You mean...?" Words were failing her and she didn't have the faintest idea what to say. How had she not noticed? They had known each other for almost ten years and she had never noticed anything. Maybe she was a bad friend, or maybe she'd just been too preoccupied with herself, which would be the same thing. But what was she supposed to realise? After all, no one carried something like that around with them written out visibly on their forehead. "Why didn't you say something sooner?" she finally asked a little accusingly, burying her head in her hands in embarrassment, "And I've been asking you which girl you'd go out with all this time too."

"I guess I just wasn't ready yet," the Ravenclaw finally admitted with a shrug. "And the right moment just hasn't presented itself until today. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologise," Serena whispered, noticing how Nate became increasingly nervous as Timothy approached him with a shy smile. "I don't think anyone here will even think of judging either of you."

"I know." He smiled and tightened his posture. "That's why we don't want to keep it a secret anymore."

"Go get him, Casanova," she laughed as he walked towards his boyfriend and thought she heard him mumble that he still didn't know what that meant. Slowly, Serena turned away from the couple and turned round, almost bumping into Hailey, who must have been standing behind her. Her expression was expressionless and her bright pink lips trembled. It was a look Serena rarely saw on her and at that moment, it couldn't mean anything good at all. "Hailey?"

"I-I..." she stuttered, still not quite sure what she wanted to say. She swallowed and merely breathed her next words, which Serena almost didn't catch, "Ron broke up with me."

"What?" The Gryffindor couldn't help but glance at the culprit, who was standing next to Harry with a guilty expression and seemed to know exactly what the two girls were talking about. When Serena looked back at Hailey, there were tears in her brown eyes. She immediately took the Hufflepuff in her arms, who sobbed and began to tell her what had happened: "I-I think I've suspected for a long time that he still had feelings for someone else, but I-I didn't want to admit it to myself."

Serena shifted her sad best friend to the side of the action on a cosy armchair and away from Ron's view. "This isn't your fault! No one could have seen this coming, after all, everything seemed normal between you two."

"Exactly," Hailey sniffled and blinked through her tears, which then ran down her cheeks in rivulets. "Even earlier on the train, he didn't realise that he didn't seem to love me anymore. If he ever did that at all."

"I'm so sorry," Serena whispered, not noticing the twins who were standing a few metres away from them, watching the two girls.

"When did our little Ronniekins become such an arsehole," George grinned with amusement, which his brother also confirmed with a laugh and a peck on the side. "Maybe since you've been such a wimp."

"Why would I be a wimp?" he asked in offence, looking at him uncomprehendingly. After all, he had never heard anything like that from his twin or anyone else.

"Well, you've been trying to ask Serena out for over a year now." Fred nodded over to the aforementioned girl, who was still comforting her upset friend.

"It just never was the right time," George tried to defend himself. In fact, something had always come up. Serena had told him that she wasn't going to the yule ball, that she had a boyfriend and he had long since lost the plot with Edmund Hall. "I'm no Maxon Devillier or Edmund Hall either," he then admitted quietly.

"And that's why she'll be happy to have you," he gave back and tried to encourage his brother, "If you help her to comfort her best friend, she'll realise how great you are, Georgie."

He looked doubtfully at Serena, whose best friend had just thrown herself around her neck, crying. It was definitely not the right time to ask her for a dance or something similar.

By now, a small crowd had formed around the two girls. Astoria, Nate and Tim had also joined them and were trying to comfort the upset Hufflepuff. But Serena remembered what her best friend herself had once said: a broken heart usually takes the longest to heal.

Meanwhile, the two Ravenclaws' hands were intertwined, which Hailey dismissed with wide eyes and for a moment she seemed to forget that she was supposed to be sad. "You're gay, Novak?" she finally chirped, her teary eyes darting from one to the other. "You're both gay."

"And you're as always a bright spark, Price," Nate remarked with a grin, seeming to make the Hufflepuff smile for a few seconds before she broke into renewed sobs and trembling.

Serena watched as George squatted down next to Hailey as if from nowhere and spoke to her, probably not noticing the hint of jealousy she gave him. She didn't even know where it had come from; after all, it had been years since she had once had an incredible crush on him. It had been her first or second year and she probably hadn't even known what love actually meant. But did she know it now, years later?

"Serena..." the redhead finally began and before she could give him her attention, Hailey had abruptly interrupted him by pointing at something behind her, "Serena, look!"

She turned round and couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Edmund Hall standing at the frame of her living room door. She hadn't expected him to actually turn up, after all, he had cancelled in a way. "Go on," Astoria hissed in her ear, but Serena shook her head and looked at her best friend, who was still sitting on the far too big armchair like a heap of misery. Even she gave her an expectant look now, "It's okay."

"But..."

"We'll take care of our wet blanket here," Nate tried to convince her and when Hailey nodded encouragingly, she gave in with a sigh.

Serena took one last look back at her best friend. Would she sit there like that if her heart was broken?

But after all, what would life be without a little risk?

She slowly walked towards the Slytherin, who also hesitantly walked towards her. A smile formed on her cherry-red lips before she noticed Edmund's turquoise eyes flickering restlessly around the room. The expression unsettled her, but she tried to keep her smile intact, "You came," she breathed.

"You invited me," he replied and gave her his usual grin, which didn't even begin to reach his eyes. His tense posture also told Serena that something must have happened. Anxiety began to spread inside her and she too let her gaze wander anxiously around the room, as if something might jump out at her at any moment. "Is everything all right?"

"You don't have to worry," Edmund said, running his fingers through his light hair, while Serena still gave him a sceptical look, which he shrugged off with a twist of his eyes. "You said yourself that we should keep each other out of our affairs."

She nodded and sighed as the blond held out his hand to her. "Do you want to dance?"

Sirius, meanwhile, had his arms crossed at the other end of the room, watching as the youngest member of the Halls led Serena onto the dance floor. "Who let him into my house?"

Sitting next to him at the table was Tonks, who merely commented on his question with a laugh, "Oh, let them."

"The last time they were left, he turned Serena over to a bunch of Death Eaters and had his father torture her," he remarked angrily, "Harry told me everything."

Tonks was silent and didn't quite seem to know what to say in response. She sipped her drink, lost in thought, and was the only one sitting at the long table that had been pushed up against the wall.

"Where's Remus anyway?" he finally asked, letting his gaze wander round the room. "I haven't seen him in hours."

"Oh, you know, he's turning up again," his great-cousin replied hypocritically and Sirius knew immediately that there was more to it than that. She had never been a particularly good liar.

He watched for a while as his daughter danced with the uninvited guest before deciding to take action. "I'm going to kick him out now."

"Sirius..." Remus had suddenly appeared on his right, just as he was about to leave. The werewolf's timing was truly brilliant on some days.

"Oh good, you're here, Moony. Just in time to witness how..." He was abruptly interrupted by a warm hand wrapped around his clenched left fist, stopping him from charging forward for the moment. Confused, he turned round and his anger almost immediately turned to pure bewilderment. "Kathy."

"How about dancing?" his daughter's mum suggested with a smile and, without waiting for an answer, unclenched his fist to pull him onto the dance floor. Sirius actually forgot the reason for his anger for a moment and couldn't help but stare at his ex-girlfriend, still completely baffled, "How did you get here?"

"Remus invited me and picked me up," she replied and he couldn't believe that his friend hadn't told him anything. "It's been a long time since we danced together," he whispered and thought he could see melancholy in his dance partner's brown eyes. "It was at their wedding."

The memory that overcame them both silenced them for a while. "You were quite drunk," Katherine then said quietly and had to stifle a giggle, which Sirius refused to let be said over him without protest. "What a load of rubbish. I was tipsy at best."

"After the ceremony, you cried for the entire celebration because you thought your days as marauders were over forever."

"They were over," he objected. "He had a wife and expected a child, after all."

"Because that's so bad." Frowning, she shook her head and started laughing again. "Besides, you theoretically had a child before him."

"I wish we'd known back then," he sighed, fixing his gaze back on Serena, who was still dancing with the blond boy.

"Would it have changed anything?" asked Katherine, gently pushing his face back in her direction so that he had to avert his gaze and focus it on her instead. Sirius couldn't answer her question either. Deep down, he wished he could say that it had actually made a difference. He wasn't sure if his younger self wouldn't have left them all the more. To protect them both. "I don't know," he finally admitted, looking her firmly in the eye. "But there will be another war."

She nodded and furrowed her brow as he continued, "You have to believe me that I only want the best for you. This is Serena's world, too, and it would be unfair to exclude her from it. But this house is probably the safest place for her when she's not at Hogwarts. It's guarded by all the well-trained wizards, especially with Harry still here. Maybe it would be the be... what?"

Katherine had pulled away from him, pure anger glittering in her eyes and she looked like she had just before she had given Snape that fierce punch. "You said something like that to me before you disappeared," she whispered and her next words were just a hiss, "And now you want to take my daughter away from me?"

"Kathy, no! Do you think I'll make that mistake a second time?" He tried to reach for her hands to placate her, but she promptly slapped them away, so he tried to soothe her with his explanatiom, "What I was going to suggest was that you both move in."

"No."

Sirius ran a stressed hand through his hair, "Serena already lives here anyway and I can protect you better this way." She didn't say anything back, so he continued in a lowered voice, "If they don't get Serena, they'll look for leverage and guess what Serena will do? I'll explain everything to you, I promise, but you have to trust me now. Besides, I don't want to know what my crazy cousin will do to you if she gets her hands on you."

"Sirius, I can't just throw my whole life away, I have a job..." she tried to object, but he interrupted her, "I have more than enough money for all three of us! Besides, I'll be working as an Auror again soon. Please think about it," he pleaded softly, watching in relief as the blonde nodded slowly. "I'll think about it."

After Sirius gave her a grateful look, his attention was once again taken up by Serena and her atomic blond appendage, who had come menacingly close, "I think that was enough extra time."

"I've changed my mind," Katherine said at the moment he was about to storm off again, giving him a slightly provocative look. "We'll gladly accept your offer. But only if you stay out of Serena's love life."

Completely horrified, Sirius stared at her. "You can't be serious! If you knew what I know, I'm sure you wouldn't think that way."

"I mean it, Sirius," she replied sternly, her lips drawn into a thin line and determination in her eyes. Actually, he had always kind of liked that sort of thing about her, at least until he was the one to realise it. In his head, he silently ran through his options and quickly came to the conclusion that he could at least control the whole thing a little if Serena lived with him. Otherwise he wouldn't have the faintest idea how often the guy would be in and out of her place. "I'll think about it," he finally growled, already knowing that he couldn't refuse the woman in front of him.

A few dance couples away, Serena hadn't noticed anything of her parents' argument, instead letting her gaze wander around the room unconcerned. "Did you know about this?" she asked with a nod in the direction of Nate and Tim, who had started dancing together again. Hailey seemed to be having fun again and joined Astoria in plundering the small makeshift buffet.

"Did I know?" Edmund laughed, seeming a lot more relaxed now than when he had arrived, "I set them up."

"You helped Nate?" she repeated sceptically. "Just like that? For nothing in return?"

"Well, I happened to know that Tim wasn't entirely averse to your little friend either." He grinned meaningfully. "And who says I didn't get anything in return?"

Serena stared open-mouthed at her best friend as she slowly seemed to realise. He too had put in a good word for the Slytherin surprisingly often over the past few months. Nate seemed to know what was going on inside her and smiled apologetically at her a few dance couples away, which soon turned into a roaring laugh that she couldn't help but join in. "And I always thought Nate was incorruptible," she said with feigned offence and would probably be a lot angrier at the Ravenclaw if she hadn't felt it had been the right thing to do herself at that moment.

Edmund shrugged his shoulders apologetically and remained silent for a while. The Gryffindor, meanwhile, was listening to the song that had just come on the radio, which she identified as Runaway Train by Soul Asylum. The turquoise blue eyes of her counterpart met her again. "You said no lies and I want to be honest with you," he began slowly and it seemed he might find it hard to admit one of his previous lies, but she listened intently and was almost afraid of what he would confess, "I don't know if I can love you."

This confession was no news to Serena, as she had already figured it out, so she accepted it with a smile. "That's okay," she breathed, "because I don't know if I can do that either."

"I think that's fair," he whispered and leaned forwards and kissed her. He had done this many times before, but this kiss felt like it was her first. Serena didn't think about her past or her future. They were together. Here, now, in this second, and she knew that any moment could tear them apart again.

Nothing was forever.

But everything was for eternity.

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This was officially the last chapter of book three and I've changed the perspective a few times, which you've probably noticed. I thought it was a good idea for this chapter 😜

I hope you also enjoyed this part of the series and there will probably be another announcement about the new book here in a few minutes. In any case, I would like to thank you all for your support and your always very kind comments! I would also like to thank my silent readers for making it this far 😉❤️