• Serena Black •

„Maybe all one can do
is hope to end up with the right regrets."

It seemed like a miracle that Serena woke up the next morning without a hangover. She probably owed this good fortune to the vast quantities of coffee she had forced into herself the previous night. However, this did not mean that she had to expect no consequences for her actions.

Apparently Harry Potter was no longer famous enough for them.
A boy like no other, one might think - but also a boy suffering the very ordinary agonies of adolescence. Since the tragic passing of his parents, the fourteen-year-old thought he had finally found solace with one of his two adored ones, Hermione Granger and Serena Black.
But he had no idea that his soul would soon suffer another heavy blow in this life already marked by personal losses.
For both of the girls seem to have a preference for famous and rich wizards, and after Harry's feelings for both of them were more of a friendly nature, they eventually turned their backs on him.
None other than the Bulgarian Seeker and hero of the last Quidditch World Cup, Viktor Krum has apparently let himself be wrapped around Miss Granger's finger and has already invited her to visit him in Bulgaria during the summer holidays.
However, it may not be Miss Granger's dubious natural charms that these two unfortunate boys have fallen for.
"She's basically ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and lively fourth-grader, "but I wouldn't put it past her to concoct a love potion, she's got a lot of brains. I'm sure she can do it with that."
Of course, love potions are forbidden at Hogwarts and no doubt Albus Dumbledore should investigate these claims.
Miss Black also seems to have done some looking around and seduced Edmund Hall, who comes from a rather old and rich family, at the Hogwarts Yule Ball.
"Edmund is just a man" said Daphne Greengrass a beautiful classmate of Mr Hall,
"And Black's had a lot of guys fall for her, but he'd never get involved with her."
In the meantime, all who care about Harry Potter's well-being can only hope that he gives his heart to a more worthy candidate next time.
Rita Kimmkorn

Serena would have liked to sink into the ground because of this article and now tried to avoid her classmates, especially Hall. So she tried to spend her last days of holidays in her dormitory or in the library, entrenched behind some mountains of books with her friends. Anyway, this seemed to have a positive effect on her homework and also on Harry's second task. It seemed that he was required to spend a long time in the black lake and so they helped him find a solution almost every free minute that would allow him to do just that.

Serena screwed up her face as her eyes fell on the open Daily Prophet, wishing Hailey would stop bugging her about it. "I bet you really gave him a run for his money, which was no wonder with that dress," she grinned. The Gryffindor gave her a warning look and hid her bright red head behind an open book.

"Did all that fuss at least help?" asked Nate, who had arrived a few days earlier and was now, of course, enjoying himself immensely.

"Except for the fact that my father has completely escalated and I am now the laughing stock of the school, not really," Serena returned with a sigh, slapping the book on the table sullenly.

"At least I did a little research at home," he began conspiratorially, clearing his throat. "According to my parents, Elijah Hall and his father were among You-Know-Who's closest confidants back then and were treated almost as his equals. They are also said to have had secret agreements with the most powerful wizarding families for decades. What they are about, however, is not known."

"It's not the best image, at least," Hailey muttered with raised eyebrows.

Unfortunately, the holidays were over quicker than Serena would have liked and purposefully getting out of the way was proving more difficult than before. Especially due to the regulated common meal and lesson times. For the first few days of the new term, Serena was still lucky and didn't meet Hall, Zabini or any other Slytherin who would annoy her because of the article. But as everyone knows, all luck did not last forever.

January had advanced and the Gryffindors had a double lesson with the Slytherins scheduled for that weekday morning. It had to come to this at some point.

Listlessly, Serena stirred her cereal at breakfast, pushing the chocolate chips from one side of the bowl to the other. As bored as she looked on the outside, her head was in an agitated state. Feverishly, she tried to think of a plausible excuse for not doing her homework and for which Snape would deduct the least amount of points from her. Harry and Ron also seemed to feel the same way, thinking aloud to themselves. Hermione was the only one who didn't seem to share this concern, although she too was not very fond of the subject at hand, or rather of the teacher.

Fred and George, on the other hand, were whispering boisterously to themselves that morning, but they didn't have to deal with Snape in a few minutes.

The hall gradually emptied and Serena probably had to settle for, "My parchment fell down the chimney." In truth, her mind had been elsewhere.

"Your cereal's already soggy anyway," Hermione merely commented, scraping the last crumbs from her plate. Serena nodded, lost in thought, and continued to push the bits across the milk. Although the meal was probably more like porridge by now. Just as Serena was about to rise to descend into the dungeons with her friends, she noticed the stares. They were fixed on something behind her. She already had a presentiment.

"Are you avoiding me, Black?"

"N-no," she lied stammering, for she had not expected this early morning confrontation. Her heart seemed to have grown wings of shame and the sounds of kissing a few seats away from the twins didn't help either. Serena couldn't look Hall in the eye. She didn't quite know whether she should be grateful to Hermione for dragging Harry, Ron, Fred and George with her to the door, leaving her alone with him.

"I'm sorry about the article," Serena then began carefully, trying to bridge the awkward silence. "I'm sure your parents weren't thrilled."

"Not at all," he replied slowly, running a hand through his fair hair before changing the subject. "Do you have plans next weekend?"

"I-I... I don't know... No...", Serena pressed on helplessly. Frowning, she stared at him, trying to figure out what that question was about. But then the well-worn grin crept onto Hall's face. "Wonderful, me neither. How about accompanying me to Hogsmeade?"

For a while, Serena continued to look at the Slytherin uncomprehendingly. Then, shaking her head, she pulled her bag from the bench and rose. "I don't think so."

Actually, the conversation was over for her now and anyway, she had to slowly make sure that she was on her way to class. After all, Snape was not to be trifled with in such matters. Before Serena could set foot in the entrance hall, however, Hall had blocked her path and was leaning against the doorframe directly in front of her. "Why not?"

"Get out of the way," she demanded, increasingly annoyed, and had actually wanted to resolve the whole thing without being offensive. But the blond was beginning to leave her no choice when he still made no move to let her through. "Not until you tell me why."

"Because I'm certainly not going to do that to myself a second time," Serena hissed, finding it hard to believe that he still didn't seem to understand. Hall had taken a step towards her and was now so close that no snitch would have fit between them. "So that means you won't let me kiss you a second time?"

The Gryffindor felt her cheeks turn pink as she tried to meet his gaze. "You do seem to get it."

"Not even when I bat my beautiful eyes?" he teased her with a triumphant grin. Serena's cheeks were now bubbling. "And you're really wondering why I don't want to go to Hogsmeade with you," she muttered with a snort. Bringing out the harsher guns, she pulled out her wand and demanded, "Let me through."

"If you'll go out with me."

"No!" Her voice was raised now and had taken on a slightly shrill tone that rang even in her ears. The black dots that began to dance before her eyes stemmed from the ever-growing resentment for the Slytherin. They obscured her vision let her merely guess at how smugly Hall was tugging at his hair. "Well, then I don't."

Serena was about to hurl a curse at him before another person announced themselves with a muffled clang at their every step. Professor Moody finally appeared at the door behind Hall. "Shouldn't you be in class?" he grumbled, eyeing them both with his creepy eye.

"Sorry Professor, but I got a bit held up," Serena replied dryly, giving the reason a venomous look.

"Black, is it?" grunted Moody, to which she nodded slowly and his strange eye moved towards the Slytherin. "Is he bothering you?"

Serena gave Hall a sideways glance, who was busy maintaining a haughty attitude, but she knew he wasn't looking for trouble with a teacher. Especially not with Moody. The Gryffindor jutted her chin smugly. "Yes."

"No."

The glass eye shuttled suspiciously back and forth between the two. "I will still have to accompany them both to class."

For Hall's reply, Serena gave him a venomous look, but at least she would be rid of him now. "I have a free period," he said merely, and yet seemed a little afraid that he might face consequences on account of the harassment. At last he stalked off. However, Serena wished at that moment that he had not left her alone, because she began to feel increasingly uncomfortable in the company of the ex-Auror.

"Where do you have class now?" asked Moody grumbling and also clonking slowly out the door, whereupon he ordered her to follow him with a wave of his hand.

"Potions," the Gryffindor muttered and followed the new professor hesitantly.

"That's just as well. Was going to borrow some gillyweed from Professor Snape anyway."

Serena nodded and silently followed him downstairs to the dungeons, reluctantly listening to a lecture on this mysterious herb. "Handy little plant this gillyweed. They say you can breathe under water for about an hour without any trouble with its help."

Although the Gryffindor had only listened with half an ear before, she was now listening closely. Maybe this herb was the solution to Harry's problem? In the last few weeks, they had searched every book for useful spells, but they hadn't thought of a plant at all.

Finally, sooner than Serena would have liked, they reached the classroom, where the teacher's nagging could already be heard loudly. Without knocking, Moody opened the door and pushed Serena into the cold room from where all pairs of eyes were already on her. Snape's lips curled in pleasure as if he couldn't wait to give her a punishment lesson. "I see Miss Black would like to grace us sometime too."

"She was delayed by one of your students, but I've already taken care of that," Moody grumbled. Snape's curled lips turned white and he looked as if the former Auror had just cancelled his birthday. Still, he didn't seem to mind snapping at Serena. "Sit down!"

She didn't need to be told twice and stumbled to her seat next to Hermione while the two teachers disappeared into the ingredients room.

"Are you okay?" whispered Hermione immediately, slipping her the recipe for a confusion elixir they must have been brewing. "We shouldn't have just left, but I thought you..."

"It's all right, Hermione," Serena interrupted her as some of the Slytherins had already pricked up their ears. She lowered her voice and felt herself speaking very quickly with excitement. "But I now know how we can help Harry with the second task. With gillyweed!"

"What?"

"It's supposed to allow you to breathe underwater for a long time, according to Moody, and Snape has it here," she whispered frantically, to which Hermione merely frowned sceptically. "I've never heard of such a thing... But I suppose it's worth a try.... An herb... That might work."

Serena nodded with a conspiratorial smile on her lips. Jittery, she tapped her foot on the stone floor as the teachers returned. It was now or never. She grabbed the recipe for the potion. "Back in a minute," she said. Hypocritically, she went into the chamber and pretended to just gather her ingredients that were on the list.

Hastily, Serena let her eyes wander over the labels of the drawers and finally found some remnants of the herb. Fortunately, it didn't seem so special that it was in Snape's private stash, so she was able to take it inconspicuously.

She stuffed the slippery stuff into her bag and then, heart pounding wildly, gathered the remaining ingredients for the potion. As she made her way back to her seat, Hermione looked at her with wide eyes. "Well?"

She nodded with a wide grin and her friend sighed in relief. Satisfied, Serena turned to her cauldron. Apparently Hall was good for something after all.