• Serena Black •

"The mystery of love
is greater
than the mystery of death."

Serena had to squint her eyes as she stepped out of the door and blinked into the light, which was actually dim but seemed brighter than before after the complete darkness. A soft plop told her that the Slytherin behind her was gone. But now she had to concentrate on her friends, who were in imminent danger, and less on the supposed fate of her other friend. Even if she was no longer sure whether she should even count him as one of them.

Heavy footsteps seemed to be making their way in her direction. Footsteps that certainly didn't seem to come from one of her classmates, because as Serena knew, none of them were wearing high heels. Panic-stricken, she tried to move through the corridors as quietly as possible, but she didn't succeed as silently as she had hoped. Fortunately, it wasn't Bellatrix Lestrange, whose ominous footsteps had already faded away, that she finally found, but someone else.

"Serena!" With a worried face, Hailey ran towards her from the end of the corridor. Her lip was chapped and she had Astoria and Nate in tow, a dark violet blooming around his brown eyes. But Serena was glad that nothing worse had happened to her friends. At least not yet.

"Where are the others?" she asked, throwing her arms around all three of their necks at once when they finally reached her. "We lost them," Astoria replied, looking around with a troubled expression in her green eyes. It had become oppressively quiet in the huge hall. So quiet that they could hear each other's rapid breathing.

"Have you hexed that damn traitor to the moon yet?" Nate gritted his teeth and turned to Serena, who couldn't look him in the eye. Perhaps she should have done just that instead of letting him butter her up again. For she could not deny that his words were still echoing in the back of her mind, demanding attention.

"He probably had no other choice," Tori interjected hesitantly.

"You always have a choice," Hailey remarked dryly and was about to add something else, but her best friend quickly interrupted her. "Can we please find the others?" Serena asked, as she wanted to forget what she had experienced as quickly as possible, but she thought she could still feel the pain in her limbs.

They found their way back through the many dark corridors relatively quickly and yet the time seemed to stretch on indefinitely. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that they were in trouble or that they could die at any time. The one probably blurred with the other, Serena thought as she hurriedly put one foot in front of the other.

Once they arrived in the dark hall, they finally met the others, who looked even more battered than Serena felt. A total of twelve doors could now mean freedom for them, but none of those present seemed particularly comfortable opening even one of them.

"We have to get out of here," Harry said firmly and was just about to open the first of the doors when another one had already done so behind him. "There they are!" shrieked a crazy voice that made their blood run cold.

Almost blindly, the ten teenagers stumbled across the room towards the nearest doorway, but after Serena dared to take a step over the threshold, once again into the deepest blackness, she lost her footing. She wasn't the only one to let out a sharp cry as she waited for the dreaded impact. However, she did not hit the hard stone floor as expected, but rather a somewhat harder and invisible feather bed, which seemed to float about twenty inches above the actual floor.

Serena barely had time to catch her breath as the spell fizzled out a few seconds later and at the same time the students plopped onto the cold stone on their stomachs. Despite the clearly muffled landing, she struggled to catch her breath and let Neville help her to her feet. "Are you all right?" he finally asked her hesitantly, looking at her with concern. "That... That must have been terrible."

Neville's gaze hurt her soul. There was still a look of horror and pure pain in his dark eyes, as if he himself had been tortured. But who would blame him? Serena didn't know what to say, after all, she was fine and had come out of it more unscathed than his parents. "Don't worry," she finally said, forcing herself to smile softly before spinning curiously on the spot and surveying the strange room they had landed in.

It was circular and gloomy despite the illuminated wands. A stone arch stood on a huge stone podium and seemed to greet them with an eerie silence. At least that's how Serena felt, because Harry and Luna had stepped forward with pricked ears. "The voices," Harry said as if mesmerised. "Can you hear what they're saying?"

"Harry, there are no voices," Hermione tried to sound calm, but she managed to keep a slight hint of panic out of her voice. She sounded irritated and seemed to refuse to realise that her friend was not imagining certain things.

A little mesmerised and yet awestruck, Serena looked at the flowing veil, which from a distance resembled a fine silk curtain. She didn't know whether it was it's presence that caused an unpleasant tingling sensation on the back of her neck or something else entirely. The others seemed to be affected by this uneasiness as well, as numerous pairs of eyes flickered restlessly around the room.

"Get behind me," Harry demanded tensely, raising his wand in front of him. Her panting breath filled the air and Serena thought she could hear the blood rushing in her ears. She narrowed her eyes in confusion and tried to guess which side the danger was most likely to come from.

A breath of air made more than just her flinch. Raising her wand, the Gryffindor tried to recognise something in the darkness and slowly began to wonder whether she had imagined the noises. But then they came. They swept over her like an ominous black cloud or, more likely, a whole storm. Serena poked around randomly in the dark fog, hurling curses and spells that were immediately swallowed up by the darkness.

Faster than she could realise what had happened, the cloud had disappeared again and Serena could see Harry crouched on the floor, curled up over the small crystal ball. Where she had been standing just a few seconds before. Now she found herself on the other side of the veil, right next to Hermione, who was whimpering as she tried to free her brown locks from Rabastan Leitrange's grip, and Elijah Hall, who now had his wand pointed at a wriggling Nate in front of him.

She had probably done quite well herself, as she wasn't even touched by her attacker and she still had her wand in her hand. The Gryffindor dared to look behind her and saw two turquoise-blue eyes that were so similar to Edmund's. Damien was just holding her provisionally by her collar, but he too had his wand pointed at her head, just like the other Death Eaters did with her friends. Serena might have been able to simply free herself from this grip, but the threat was clear. One false move and her friends would pay the price.

The soft and hollow sound of Lucius Malfoy's footsteps echoing towards Harry with a confident smile made her turn her attention back to the front. "Did you actually believe... were you really naïve enough to think that children stood a chance against us?"

He glanced disparagingly at the students while Harry pulled himself to his feet, still clutching the glass sphere protectively. "Give me the prophecy or watch your friends go to their deaths."

Silence fell over those present and with bated breath everyone seemed to be waiting for their decision. The Death Eaters' wands were pointed at the hostages, ready to carry out the order, and Serena was sure that none of them would bat an eyelid. The only reason that could possibly stop them was that they would lose their leverage over Harry.

"Do you need time to think, Potter?" snarled Mr Malfoy, but Serena knew that her friend had already made up his mind. He would bow to them. But before he could put his decision into action and give the Death Eater what they asked for, he had turned away again. For a terrifying moment, she thought Mr Malfoy would immediately put his plan into action and order Antonin Dolohow, whom she could recognise without a doubt thanks to the mugshots, to be the first to dispatch Hailey, who was wriggling in his grip.

However, he merely walked past her without a word and the fact that he turned his back on Harry, who was still armed, showed how hopeless their situation was.

"Who taught you to fight?" a voice suddenly whispered in Serena's ear, making her flinch. She had completely forgotten that someone was still standing behind her and holding her. She pressed her lips together defiantly and gave Damien Hall no answer. He didn't even seem to have been waiting for one anyway and just kept talking after a few seconds. "Was that your father?"

She still said nothing and stared straight ahead, trying to block out the far too close voice and its slight tickle on her skin. She felt him tighten his grip a little and pull her body towards him, "Well, I learnt it from my father, so I would suggest that you don't do anything like that again."

Serena hadn't intended to get into a situation where she had to push Damien Hall into a shelf full of prophecies again. The threat had clearly got through to her, even if it filled her with a hint of satisfaction that he had to say it at all. In this case, he was probably more like his younger brother than either of them would admit, as neither seemed to like being overpowered by a girl. What made her suspicious in this case, however, was the slight amusement in the older boy's voice, which should have little place in this situation.

"Don't give it to him!" Neville suddenly screamed, seeming to have been seized by a courage few would have given him credit for. However, he was promptly silenced by Bellatrix Lestrange, who held him in a headlock and looked like she wanted to murder.

"I've given you plenty of time, Potter," Lucius Malfoy snarled impatiently, reaching his hand out eagerly for the crystal ball. "Give me the prophecy and we can all get out of here now."

The triumphant grin he wore on his face began to make Serena feel nauseous. Harry had given in and not responded to Neville's call, but had done what he had decided to do long ago. However, this victorious expression did not adorn the blond's face for long and the Gryffindor had to crane her head to see past the veil and realise what had spoiled his mood.

"Get away from my godson."

White clouds of smoke began to move in the air like snakes and before Serena could react, Kingsley Shacklebolt was standing next to her with his wand raised. His shock spell had done its job before he began duelling the next Death Eater.

For a few seconds, she stood rooted to the spot on the huge stone podium, staring at the scene unfolding around her. The air was filled with crackling magic. She unloaded on the magically creating shields, striking the large archway every so often. Spells were shouted and screams filled the room. Serena looked around somewhat helplessly, not quite sure whether to jump into the fray or take cover.

That decision was taken from her when she saw Hermione leap off the podium beside her and run towards Tonks, who was gesticulating wildly at the bottom. Serena took one last look at Harry and her father, who were about to duel three Death Eaters at the same time. Clearly they had the thing in the bag, so she joined Tonks in collecting her friends who, unlike Harry, had no thought of fighting as well.

Halfway round the stone platform, they met Remus, who had the other half in tow and was now staring at his goddaughter in amazement. "How did you get here?"

"It's nice to see you again too, Remus," Serena returned with a sarcastic smile, preferring not to talk about how this had come about. But she also knew that she probably owed everyone an explanation.

Her godfather didn't respond to her answer at all, however, instead instructing the youngsters to crouch behind the rocky wall of the platform so that they wouldn't fall victim to a curse. "I just doubt that Katherine drove you here to be part of such a suicide mission," he finally turned back to her.

"You're probably right," she muttered and was sure that her mother would have preferred to lock her in her room wrapped in a thick cotton ball before exposing her to such danger. "There were just wizards from the Ministry there this morning and we... I couldn't stay there... I..." Serena sighed and let her eyes wander over the battlefield again. "I'll explain later, okay?"

Remus, who had been listening to her silently and attentively, nodded briefly. But the worried look on his face revealed that he would rather know right away.

"We didn't learn all this stuff for nothing!" Ron suddenly remarked loudly, clutching his wand resolutely. "We should help!"

"That's out of the question," his former teacher replied sternly, but the redhead had murmured in disagreement, which Remus hadn't even heard. He had already turned away and was instead focussed on Tonks, who was currently fighting a duel with her aunt Bellatrix.

"Don't be silly, Ronald. They're not among the most feared wizards in Britain for nothing," Hermione said, probably the only one who knew all the defence spells as well as Harry and could take on the Death Eaters. However, theory was always different from the actual realisation in such a situation.

The tide had turned in the meantime and the members of the Order now seemed to be struggling to win the battle. On the other side of the room, Serena saw Tonks fall halfway down some of the stone steps and remain motionless on the floor. She gasped in shock and gave Remus a shocked look, but he had already sprinted off to check on his beloved.

"Great. Now what?" Ginny asked, a little outraged that the only one who was focussed on protecting the students was now gone. Even though her concern for Tonks was written all over her ashen face. Serena looked around the rounded room, but hidden behind the massive platform, she couldn't make out any other duels as she couldn't see over the stone wall. Just then, a poisonous green beam whizzed past her, missing Neville by mere inches.

"Harry, round up the others and GET OUT!" it echoed through the vaulted room, making Serena's heart sink. What would happen when they were gone? Did they even have a chance? Was this just damage limitation? She paced nervously and looked into the terrified faces of her friends, who were longing for Harry's arrival so that they could finally escape this nightmare. But Harry didn't come and anyway, Serena would rather not leave without her father, Remus, Tonks and the others without knowing what was going on.

"I'm going to have a look now," she said resolutely, still unable to see anything after stretching and stretching. With trembling knees, she tried to climb the stone to get back onto the platform, but this proved to be more difficult than expected in the excitement. She kept slipping and Nate was no help either, who was just watching her sceptically. "What are you doing?"

"Get Harry," she replied as an excuse not to be promptly dragged down by him again. She knew that Nate wanted nothing more at that moment than to finally disappear. "Can you please help me?"

After a long hesitation and sigh on his part, he finally started to help her onto the battlefield with the help of a leg-up. It probably wasn't the wisest thing to venture into the middle of the line of fire for a better view, but she just couldn't take it anymore. It really didn't look good for them, at least not for most of the Order. The exception was Harry and her father, who had just sent Malfoy Senior into the abyss and were now focusing on Dolohow and Avery.

But then Serena saw her. Bellatrix Lestrange had positioned herself at the edge of the podium like a banshee heralding doom, still wearing the triumphant smile from the battle against her niece. She raised her wand to attack, but she had no opponent. She probably didn't need it either, because someone like her wouldn't be expected to be a fair fighter. The Gryffindor only had to follow her devious gaze a few feet further to see who her target was.

Panicked, she fumbled in the back pocket of her trousers for her wand, which in hindsight was probably not the safest place to keep it. It must have fallen out of her pocket as she climbed up and she didn't have time to retrieve it. She shouted, screamed and shrieked, but no one seemed to hear her amidst the thunderous noise of the clashing curses.

Her next action could probably not be described as clever. It was probably the stupidest thing she had ever done. With all the strength she could muster, she dashed across the platform and threw herself at her second cousin. The heat of the curse tickled her face as it whizzed not even an inch past her towards its target, discharging its powerful energy.