• Serena Black •

„All endings are also beginnings.
We just don't know it at the time."

"Honestly, I didn't think you were coming," Hall greeted her, handing Serena the black rose that matched her dress and surname amazingly well, as if he had known about her colour choice. "I wouldn't put it past you."

The Gryffindor forced a weak smile and accepted the rose. "Thank you. And honestly, I was thinking the same thing about before," she replied. A little nervously, she fiddled with one of the thorns with her gloved hand, glad that the Slytherin wasn't wearing such a dorky ceremonial cloak as Ron was. In fact, he looked quite handsome in his light blue robes. Underneath, he wore an ivory waistcoat with silver stitching, which was also found in his cape-like cloak. The colour of his bow tie did not seem to have been left to chance either and was of the same blue as that of his long jacket and suit trousers.

Serena almost had to laugh out loud when she noticed how fascinated his gaze wandered down her body, almost as if he wanted to memorise every little detail. "Be careful that your eyes don't fall out of your head," she teased.

"My sincere apologies, Miss Black, but with such a breathtaking sight, I just can't help myself," he grinned and added breathlessly, "You look like a queen."

Serena couldn't help her cheeks turning pink. Though of course she didn't give a damn about his slimy replies and was glad when he held out his arm to her so their awkward small talk came to an end. "Shall we go in then?"

Only now did she notice that they were by now the only ones still standing around in the entrance hall and that muffled dance music was already emanating from inside the Great Hall. Anyway, that way they would be able to sneak through the double doors unnoticed, as everyone was already busy dancing. Or so Serena thought.

The moment Hall pulled open the heavy double door, Serena could feel the many eyes on her. Questioning and judging, as if they had never seen anything stranger in their lives, they whispered something into their partner's or their friends' ear behind held hands. The Gryffindor accompanied by a Slytherin could well imagine what they were probably saying. They know nothing, the Gryffindor thought impassively, but a voice in the back of her mind contradicted that perhaps they knew more than she did. There had been many girls before her who had fallen for the blond. Even though she never in her life thought of becoming one of them. On the contrary. She was the one who expected advantages from this evening.

Serena only perceived the crowd as a dim whole, individual faces were impossible for her to recognise. If Hall hadn't touched her lightly on the arm to tell her to enter the hall, she probably wouldn't have moved an inch. She took a deep breath before she was led past the contorted faces of the Slytherins and the perplexed expressions of her own housemates to the edge of the dance floor.

The dance of the champions seemed to be over already and the teachers were now trying to get the distracted students to dance. When Serena felt a hand on her hip, completely off guard, she reflexively slapped it away. "Um, what are you doing?"

"Um, dancing?", Hall mimicked her with an innocent look and pulled her unbidden a little further onto the dance floor for another go. Reluctantly, Serena looked at him. However, she admired the Slytherin a little for the fact that the still staring students didn't seem to bother him at all. On the contrary. He even seemed to enjoy it.

Let them look.

Smugly, she took his hand and placed her other on his shoulder. The song that had been playing was calm and festive at the same time, so it was easy to follow the beat. Only now did Serena begin to take in the Great Hall and could not help but marvel with her mouth open. Around her, hundreds of candles floated, bathing the room in a dim light, while the starry sky above them glittered more magnificently than ever. Unlike usual, it was snowing down from the enchanted ceiling that evening, but before the frozen water could get caught in the students' hair, it magically fizzled out at the level of the glittering icicles.

All around the dance floor, instead of the four house tables, dozens of small tables had been set up with light blue tablecloths draped on them and snowy Christmas trees stood all around the sides. The decoration of the whole hall looked coherent and was so beautiful that Serena completely forgot about her dance partner.

It was only when the spot on her hip where Hall's hand had been resting suddenly turned cold that she noticed it had slipped ominously far down. Outraged, Serena drew in her breath sharply and before it could move down any further, she stepped on the Slytherin's foot with her stockinged shoes. "Behave yourself, Hall!" she hissed, her eyes narrowed.

"S-sorry Black, I'm sorry," he gasped painfully, but not without grinning slightly.

For a few more seconds the dark-haired girl let him fidget before she withdrew her foot and stared stubbornly past his shoulder. He was making it really hard for her to be nice to him. Fortunately, the last shaky sounds of the instruments soon died away and the teachers instructed the students to sit down at the small round tables.

Relieved, Serena lowered her hand from Hall's shoulder and released her other from his grip. Professor McGonagall came up to them in a hurry and assigned them a table at the far end of the hall near Harry with his escort and Hermione and Krum. After all, she had numerous other students to attend to. Serena didn't get more than a tight-lipped look from her tutor. So if it surprised her to see her with Hall, she didn't show it.

Inwardly, however, Serena began to groan, as she hadn't expected to have to eat dinner alone with Hall either and hadn't the faintest idea what she was supposed to talk to him about now. To make matters worse, at that moment the lights in the hall were dimmed and the candle in the middle of the table was magically lit.

An awkward silence arose between the two, which Serena finally interrupted with a clearing of her throat. Ultimately, she wanted to get whatever she had gotten involved with him over with as soon as possible. Maybe then she could spend the rest of the evening with Hailey? Just to get rid of him, Serena would squeeze the Slytherin like a Bubotuber. "You meant your family is coming today too?"

Almost instantly, the smug grin vanished from her companion's face. Briefly, he seemed confused about the subject she had broached and more than merely unhappy. He nodded slightly to the right. "Yes, they're sitting over there next to the pillar."

Serena turned her head and unobtrusively let her gaze wander over the tables. It wasn't hard to spot a family who, like the Malfoys, all had blonde hair. They had all come. Hall Senior, his wife and their eldest son and they were all already looking over at them. Frowning, Serena turned away again and felt her stomach twist. "I have a feeling they want to talk to you."

"Probably just want to make sure my escort lives up to theirs," he replied, rolling his eyes and looking past his counterpart towards his family for a few seconds longer. Serena bit her lower lip, already suspecting that she probably wouldn't be. Her mouth was already open to ask, but in an instant small menus appeared on the plates and Hall did not look as if he would want to answer any more of her questions in that direction.

Sighing, she turned to the menu and began to study the numerous dishes while she thought about how else she could broach the subject to finally find out what was behind her father's feud with his mother. When Serena had chosen a dish, she put the card aside and looked around the hall, where no waiter was to be seen for miles.

"Aren't you hungry?" the Slytherin at her table asked mockingly, at which Serena had to pull herself together not to give him an annoyed look. "Yes I am, why?"

"And why don't you order then?" he echoed with a grin, and Serena noticed how several of her classmates' plates had already been served the most delightful dishes while she had still been twiddling her thumbs. A lump the size of a snitch formed in her stomach. No, she really didn't belong at a table with one of the most pure-blooded purebloods if she couldn't even order herself something to eat in the wizarding world. Serena jutted her chin. "I'll let you go first. After all, it's not proper to start eating when the other person hasn't even decided yet."

Hall's mocking grin grew, but although he had probably seen through her, he said nothing more about it. Instead, he held the menu in front of his face and announced loud and clear: "Pork cutlets."

Serena couldn't help but stare at the plate, which was suddenly filled, partly in pique and partly in amazement. After all, she really could have come up with something like this herself at Hogwarts. She shamefully avoided looking in the direction of his family.

"What is it now?" Hall asked impatiently, "After all, it's not proper to start eating when the other person hasn't had anything yet and I don't want it to get cold. Or should I order your food for you too?"

Serena tightened her jaw angrily and turned away without giving him another look. Again she picked up the menu and also said clearly, "Salmon fillet."

As she slowly began to poke at her fish, she thought she could hear Hall still laughing softly. Serena tightened her grip on her fork and reminded herself that she should be nice to him. For that reason, she just tried to concentrate on her delicious meal, in which the house elves had once again outdone themselves.

The previously loud chatter of her classmates now became a clinking of glasses and plates. Even Hall shut up for once. Serena took advantage of the moment of pleasant silence and a little later pushed her empty plate aside as she let her gaze wander slowly around the hall. Harry and Parvati sat facing each other in silence, not far from them.

Her twin sister Padma didn't seem to be doing any better, for at the same moment she was scowling as Ron shovelled his food down his throat in a less than moral manner, as if he was trying to beat a world record.

Hailey, meanwhile, had propped her head up in boredom and was also looking around the hall. When their eyes met, she made strange movements that Serena didn't know how to interpret, pointed to Hall one seat away and waggled her eyebrows. Hastily, the Gryffindor averted her gaze to avoid the temptation of an amused grin.

Right next to Hailey sat Hermione with Krum, who definitely seemed to be having the most fun of them all. They were talking animatedly to each other and every now and then one of them laughed.

Serena let her gaze drift a little further and would have liked to hide under her table. At the other end of the hall, her father sat with Remus among all the other teachers and guests. "Oh, shit," was all she managed to say and quickly turned away, although none of them seemed to have noticed her.

Hall too now pushed his empty plate to the centre of the table and eyed her with his turquoise eyes. "What is it?"

"My family's here too," she groaned, and under normal circumstances she would probably have been glad they were there. But presumably they, especially her father, would not be thrilled with her choice of company. "And I don't think they'll be any more excited about you than your family is about me."

He nodded, still staring unabashedly at her, before asking the question that actually she had wanted to ask him all evening. "Why did you decide to go to the ball with me after all?"

Serena's cheeks turned bright pink for the second time that evening. She would have preferred that answer from him, but she could already make out Hailey's warning look from the corner of her eye.

Be nice.

She cleared her throat and swallowed an answer that would have included a thousand different reasons listing why she would have preferred not to. Instead, however, she asked, "Why did you invite me in the first place?"