• Serena Black •

"Christmas is the day
that holds all time together."

Serena wasn't quite sure whether she had just dreamt the sudden knocking noise in her room or whether it had actually woken her from her sleep.

"Serena?"

The Gryffindor opened her brown eyes and spotted Tonks standing in front of the huge mirror on the wall. Apparently, her cousin had come up with something special for the day. Her hair had taken on the colour of Christmas green and small red Christmas baubles were dangling from her ears, which she had turned into earrings. "What's going on?" Serena asked sleepily.

Tonks pointed to the dark velvet curtain behind which there was a small window. "I think someone wants to give you a present."

Serena stared at her in confusion for a while before she seemed to understand and groped towards the curtain. With a violent tug, she pulled it aside, whereupon she was enveloped in a huge cloud of dust. At the now visible window sat the most magnificent owl she had ever seen.

The barn owl looked at her impatiently as it defied the fierce gusts of snow like a statue. Serena quickly opened the window and paid the owl, who had placed a letter on the windowsill. However, it made no attempt to fly back to where it had come from, but sat silently as if it wanted to watch Serena open the envelope.

The seal on the letter was noble. Serena knew the coat of arms on it quite well by now. She didn't want to put off reading the letter and quickly broke the seal with the raven on it so that she could get the letter out.

Merry Christmas

They were two normal words that anyone would say to each other that day and yet they made Serena smile a little. The owl, however, was still sitting outside her window, watching her. The Gryffindor turned the parchment and actually discovered that there was still something written on the back.

PS: The owl will sit there until she gets an answer.

"What are you smiling about?" Tonks asked cheerfully, while Serena rummaged in her pocket for a piece of parchment to wish Hall a Merry Christmas as well. After all, she didn't want to leave the barn owl out in the cold any longer than necessary.

"The idiot wants a reply to his letter," Serena grumbled, but she couldn't suppress her grin. Now the Slytherin was actually blackmailing her with his pet.

The Christmas tree in the parlour still looked beautiful when Serena entered. If not even more beautiful, as there were numerous presents for all of the residents piled up under the branches. Ginny and Hermione were already sitting in front of their piles, tearing the paper off their presents.

"Serena!" Ginny waggled her eyebrows. "You've got a present here from Maxon!"

"Give it to me!" grinned Serena, reaching out both hands for the small parcel the youngest Weasley handed her. "Did you get him a present too?"

"Yep," she replied and slowly untied the pretty bow from the gift. "I got him a silver watch from Dervish and Banges to remind him of all his appointments."

"Not much of a romantic, are you?"

Serena stuck her tongue out at her. "What did you get Michael?"

But she wasn't going to get an answer to her question from Ginny, who was already staring at the contents of the small parcel with wide, shining eyes. "Oh, how lovely! At least one of you seems to be romantic!"

The small locket in the box was golden and shaped like a heart. Serena gently stroked the cool material and gazed at the cute piece of jewellery.

She immediately wanted to put the locket around her neck and realised at the same moment that she was still wearing Hall's necklace. But she didn't let that stop her and simply added the other piece of jewellery. A compromise, Serena thought. Fortunately, the locket was quite a bit longer, so the two necklaces didn't look stupid together, but actually complemented each other nicely.

Before any of the others had even made an appearance in the parlour, the three girls had happily opened all their presents. Ginny sat a little disappointed in front of a bag of toffee beans from the honey pot and grumbled quietly to herself, "Michael could have come up with something a bit more creative."

"I would have taken the sweets too." Serena grinned and lay down lengthways on one of the old sofas. Her head and legs each dangled over the moth-eaten armrests, her long hair almost touching the dusty floor and both chains dangling in her face. She had put on Mrs Weasley's annual jumper with a big S on it, which this year had turned out to be red.

"Merry Christmas!" Her father had entered the room, beaming. He was also wearing a dark red jumper that Mrs Weasley had knitted herself and Serena was horrified to realise that she was probably doomed to walk around with him in a partner look on this day. He didn't seem to mind and let his grey eyes wander around the room in a good mood. "Had a nice haul?"

The three girls murmured in agreement and Serena could see her father adjusting the gold watch on his wrist in her upside-down vision. "Thanks catnip, just sorry I don't have any appointments to keep at the moment."

"Did you give everyone the same thing?" Ginny asked with amusement.

"Shhhht!" Serena laughed, almost falling off the old armchair. Her father gave her a slightly offended look, to which she merely raised both hands in the air in defence, "I'm just not that creative when it comes to giving presents."

The table that was to be set for the evening was huge. "Sirius must have overdone it," muttered Ron, who had stepped through the door to the huge hall next to Serena. In fact, every single member of the Order had received an invitation to the feast, with the exception of the Potions teacher, who would not be missed at the festive celebration.

Among the first guests to arrive were the two eldest Weasley brothers and Professor McGonagall, whose face had a deep worry line between her blue eyes despite the happy occasion. To everyone's surprise, Bill was accompanied by none other than Fleur Delacour.

Ron turned crimson and hung his overheated head, which had almost turned the colour of his hair, down towards his old pullover. At the same moment, he excused himself for a moment and ran straight up the stairs. Serena could bet that he quickly changed his clothes, even though she was sure from the look the Frenchwoman gave her companion that his train had long since left the station.

"HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE HERE!" The shout from Walburger Black made Serena walk curiously into the entrance hall to see who had so enraged her.

A woman with wavy brown hair with a few snowflakes caught in it stood at the front door and greeted Serena's father warmly. "Thank you for inviting me, Sirius. I haven't been here for ages!" Wide-eyed, she let her gaze wander around the room, finally stopping on Serena. "You must be Serena! I'm Andromeda and this is my husband Ted." She pointed to a tall man behind her before embracing the Gryffindor as well.

Meanwhile, the guests arrived in quick succession: Hagrid, Daedalus Diggel, Elphias Doge, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Emmeline Vance, Hestia Jones, Neville with his grandmother and even Dumbledore kept them company this Christmas.

There was now a lot of commotion in the otherwise rather quiet and dull Grimmauld Place. Everyone was greeted loudly and the search for a seat at the long table was not without the loud shifting of wooden chairs and the clattering of crockery. It was only when Dumbledore raised his voice that the guests all fell silent and looked at the founder of the Order with expectant faces. "I would like to say a few words before we embark on the feast that Sirius has kindly invited us to in his home."

With a grin, he raised his glass to the host: "I'm delighted that we were all able to come together for this fortunately beautiful occasion. It shows that life can have its wonderful moments in such dark times. And we can only get through these dark times together. United. Even with those who unfortunately cannot celebrate with us today. We will carry them in our hearts and share our happiness in having each other."

Serena had to swallow when she realised that the headmaster wasn't just talking about Arthur, who was still in hospital. For a few seconds there was silence in memory of all those they had lost in these and previous dark times. It was only when the silence was broken by Ginny's hiccups that some allowed themselves to smile again. The redhead held her hand to her mouth apologetically, her cheeks pink. Dumbledore raised his glass again. "To a better future."

"To a better future."

Serena looked up at her father, who had stood up. "I want to say something now, too. Don't worry, not much, because I'm hungry too." He grinned briefly at the group, who let out a short laugh. "Thank you all for coming and celebrating Christmas with us and for leaving my mum a present in the form of a heart attack. So many wizards, unworthy in her eyes, have never entered the house before. Merry Christmas!"

The atmosphere that evening was great and not a word was said about the supposed war they were facing. Instead, they talked about days long gone and also lapsed into a certain kind of melancholy.

The radio played soft music in the background. Relaxed and satiated, Serena leant back and wished it could always be this peaceful. In these moments, it was easy to forget that it wasn't like this outside and that evil was just waiting to strike.

The evening was already well advanced, most of the conversations had died down and most of the guests were on their way home when the music was turned up loud. Fred and George immediately took advantage of this moment to storm onto the dance floor, which didn't actually officially exist.

Shaking her head, Serena watched as the two of them tried to persuade Mrs Weasley and McGonagall to dance. Their mum was beaming from ear to ear as she took her son's hand. McGonagall refused, but an amused smile twitched at the corners of her mouth. "If you don't want it, you've already got it," Fred said with a shrug and held his outstretched hand in front of Tonks' nose with a grin.

Laughing, Tonks grabbed it and finally stood up. "You've got a certain type, haven't you?"

"We just have a weakness for beautiful women", Fred winked as he led the former Hufflepuff to the dance floor they had opened and Serena laughed at the expression on Professor McGonagall's face.

She and Dumbledore were the next to disappear, explaining that they wanted to keep an eye on Umbridge, who was still up to mischief at Hogwarts.

"Aren't you going to tell me something about your boyfriend?" Serena had almost fallen into a food coma and was startled when she realised that her father had leaned over to her. "Erm... well, he's French and he's officially been at Hogwarts since the summer. He's a Ravenclaw and the most obliging boy I know."

"When this is all over, I'd like to meet him," he replied, adding with a slightly more serious expression. "Unless he hurts you, in which case he'll get to know me sooner for once."

Serena rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but grin. "I'm sure he won't."

Her eyes wandered over to Remus, whose attention was only focussed on the dance floor or rather a certain person on it. Her father didn't seem to miss this either and gave his friend a kick under the table and nodded over to the dancing couple. With a red head, the former teacher muttered. "No, I can't."

"You go to Tonks now and ask her for a dance or I'll go to her and tell her you don't dare," Serena said, crossing her arms with a challenging look. Her announcement was to bear fruit, because Remus rose hesitantly from his seat and pointed at father and daughter. "You two shouldn't spend so much time together, you're becoming more and more alike and one Sirius is exhausting enough", he snorted, but a slight smirk played around the corners of his mouth before he actually slurped towards the dance floor.

Serena began to grin. "Remus and Tonks, then?"

"If Remus would finally stop arguing with his furry problem and own up to his feelings, then yes." Her father rolled his eyes and before Serena could say anything in response, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.

Fred had extended his hand to her invitingly and a broad smile adorned his freckled face. "May I ask my lady for a dance?"

"You may." The Gryffindor smiled back and gave her father an apologetic look on the way to the dance floor. As soon as they had danced a single step, Fred tapped his twin, "Hey, let me dance with Mum too."

Somewhat offended, Serena watched as Fred left her after only one minute and was now about to twirl his mum around wildly. Instead, it was now George who held out his hand to her, "Just like old times?"

As she reached for the Weasley's hand, she remembered how she had learnt to dance with him for the Yule Ball. She realised that the ball had been exactly a year ago and how quickly time had flown by. This bitter realisation reminded Serena that she should hold on to moments like these. Because sooner than she could say Flubberworm, they would be over again and who knew how many more of these days they would have.

"What are you thinking about, Rina?" asked George suddenly, who had been watching her with a grin and now put on an offended expression. "I don't dance that badly."

"Considering you didn't step on my feet like you did back then," she laughed and looked at the twin. She had always admired him for the lightness with which he was always able to cheer her and others up. No matter how dark the times were.

It wasn't long before they were all just dancing wildly around the room while 'Won't forget these days' by Fury in the Slaughterhouse blared through the house. Serena sang the lyrics along loudly as she pirouetted under Harry's arm. Even he had a big smile on his face and his green eyes were shining after the days of pulling a face like ten days of rainy weather. As Serena watched her friends and family being happy together, she wished those days would never end.

But they did, and sooner than anyone would have liked.

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