• Serena Black •

"You think that everyone
has the same good heart as you,
and that will be your downfall."

The infamous knight bus was a bright purple double-decker bus. Although the students were not supposed to be exposed to the danger of Death Eaters, they still had to be careful not to be hit by flying objects on the bus.

Everything had gone haywire at Hogwarts during their absence. Umbridge had written more decrees and dismissed Hagrid and Trelawney from their teaching positions. It certainly wouldn't be long before she was in control of the entire school, if she wasn't already.

The first day of school crept up faster than anyone would have liked and before Serena knew it, she was sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast early that morning. She had barely touched her scrambled eggs when Hermione let out such a shrill scream that everyone around her stared at her in horror. "It's happened again," she breathed in a shaky voice, smoothing out the Daily Prophet.

Serena bent over the front page and froze at the same moment, causing the piece of egg she had spiked to slip off her fork. Ten black and white photos of wizards laughed at her in a gruesome way.

Another mass escape from Azkaban
After Sirius Black had already helped his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange and others out of Azkaban, there has now been another mass escape of nine Death Eaters.

Below the article were pictures of the Death Eaters with their names and the crime for which they had been sent to Azkaban. Serena's gaze lingered on the photo of a witch whose face had caught her eye.

Her long dark shaggy hair had once been shiny and neat, like her own. With a hateful look that made Serena's blood run cold, she looked up at her, a haughty and contemptuous smirk playing around her lips. She had once been blessed with great looks, as numerous pictures in Grimmauld Place had told her, but something, perhaps Azkaban, had robbed her of her beauty almost entirely.

"I don't believe it," Harry growled. "Fudge is blaming Sirius again."

Serena put her fork down and pushed the plate away from her, her appetite gone by now. She had actually hoped that things would clear up soon and her father would be able to leave Grimmauld Place, but now everything was starting all over again. Cautiously, the Gryffindor glanced up at the teacher's desk and, as she had expected, Professor Umbridge's small suspicious eyes were on her with an unclear expression.

"What else is he going to do?" Hermione replied bitterly. "He probably won't admit that Dumbledore warned him about this. That the Azkaban guards would turn to Voldemort."

Ron had started to whimper at the mention of the name, but Hermione continued with a scowl directed at him: "And now his worst followers have broken out. And yet Fudge has been telling us for over half a year that you and Dumbledore are liars, hasn't he?"

Meanwhile, two tables away, many of the Slytherins were wearing arrogant and sometimes gleeful expressions. Serena bet that she wasn't the only one who had family members among those who had fled.

"Ron, they're all looking," Hermione hissed when the redhead still hadn't silenced his snivelling.

"Yeah, and it's no wonder," Ron replied, holding the article right next to Serena's face. "She totally looks like Serena."

Serena glared at the redhead so angrily that she probably really did resemble her great-cousin at that moment. "O... of course if you ignore that crazy expression," Ron quickly interjected and quickly withdrew the Daily Prophet.

"No, I wouldn't leave it like that," someone said, settling down next to her with a quick kiss in greeting. "Serena's much prettier."

Serena gave Ron a self-satisfied look before turning to her friend with a smile, "Sycophant."

Maxon beamed at her with his sea-blue eyes, making Serena wonder how she could ever doubt her feelings for the Frenchman, "I still owe you your birthday present," he said, holding her hand in his the entire time he spoke, "Friday night at the Astronomy Tower?"

The article about the further breakout from Azkaban changed the mood among the students. While the Slytherins were almost haughtily rejoicing as if their favourite team had won the Quidditch Cup, the students who had lost family members to the Death Eaters were struggling to come to terms with the news. The attitude towards Harry had also changed for many and it seemed that the majority of the students finally believed him.

Harry wanted to convince even the last doubters and so, with the help of Hermione and Luna, he recounted his experiences during the last task of the tournament and had revealed all the names of the Death Eaters still on the loose. Not a bad idea in itself, Serena thought, but she was sure that this would have major consequences as soon as the edition was published. Not only would the article be a punch in the gut for the Ministry and Umbridge, but the children of the aforementioned Death Eaters, including Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott and Hall, would be out for revenge.

There was a lot of whispering even before the publication, but hardly anyone dared to speak out loud. Even the teachers were talking quietly in the corridors, as Umbridge was up to no good in the staff room and had her ears pricked for unwanted topics. Nevertheless, she didn't seem to have completely missed the secret conversations and issued the next order, forbidding the teachers to give the students any information that clearly had nothing to do with the lessons.

Life at Hogwarts seemed to be getting darker and darker and now had little in common with the place Serena had called home for several years. The atmosphere in the corridors was so depressed that even the teachers couldn't escape it. The many orders had given Umbridge too many weapons to use against the students and were beginning to cause fear.

But some of them seemed to be motivated by this fear. Neville laboured tirelessly at the DA meetings, working harder than anyone else and barely speaking a word. Revenge had burned itself into his body like a brand.

"Quidditch was the only thing to look forward to this year," grumbled Fred, who had been watching the Gryffindors train with his twin and was now walking next to Serena with his head hanging down. She herself was glad that at least she still had the sport left, even if the team's performance was no longer the same. "I don't even know if I want to watch the game against Hufflepuff," he continued. "If Zacharias Smith beats us, I might well have to kill myself."

"Or kill him," Serena muttered, trudging across the frozen ground that made a hollow sound with every step she took.

George agreed with a dejected nod: "I'd like to chuck it all in."

"You'll be finished in a few months anyway," Serena tried to cheer them up, but even one more day with Umbridge seemed too much. To her surprise, Fred snorted contemptuously and announced, "I don't think we're going to last that long."

It took the Gryffindor a moment to realise the seriousness that echoed in his words. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the concept for our shop is now almost complete and we're pretty sure that this is what we want to spend our lives on," he explained. "And we don't think that a degree will help us with that."

Serena's mouth fell open as she looked helplessly at George, who merely looked at her apologetically, "You want to leave?" she summarised in a hoarse voice, not knowing why she was so shocked or rather so taken aback. She couldn't find the words to express how she was feeling or what she should be thinking. For her, Fred and George were simply people she couldn't imagine Hogwarts without and didn't want to.

"We're just thinking about it," George said carefully, smiling slightly now. "You have to look on the bright side, we can give Umbridge a good thrashing beforehand without any consequences for us. Besides, we'll see each other in the holidays."

Serena was surprised that she managed a small smile, even if it didn't reach her brown eyes. The feeling that had spread through her chest was familiar. One of her best friends from her childhood days at primary school had once told her out of the blue that he was moving away. Serena knew that it was hardly comparable, but the feeling was the same and she had suffered from it for a long time.