• Serena Black •

„Things come apart so easily
when they were held together by lies."

Violence in the House of Black?
Sirius Black, a deeply misunderstood man in the wizarding world. Or is he not? He has refused questions about his current condition and his relationship with his godson Harry Potter in an extremely rude and downright psychotic manner. What is Azkaban doing to the psyche of its inmates? Innocent or not. Should someone like that, isolated from the outside world for twelve years, even walk among us without an examination? Even his daughter Serena was not allowed to say a word and was aggressively dragged away from our journalist. Even Harry Potter, who is a contestant and lives in the same household, refused to testify. What is going on in the household consisting of a werewolf and an acquitted mass murderer and to what extent is this affecting the relationship of the two young lovers? Our journalist suspects nothing good, but Rita Skeeter wouldn't be Rita Skeeter if she didn't poke holes in every reputation, no matter how spotless it may seem.

Serena had only skimmed the article. The scraps of words she had picked up, however, had been enough for her to angrily hand the paper to Nate. "How can she say such nonsense?"

Frowning, the Ravenclaw accepted the Prophet and began to read the article again himself as he tried to reassure her. "No one believes what is written in the Daily Prophet."

"Oh really?" she replied with a bitter expression. "Then why have I been called on it at least five times today alone? Ernie Macmillan even offered me to spend the holidays with him."

Nate shrugged his shoulders, a little overwhelmed, and even started to laugh a little at the latter sentence, while he handed the gossip sheet to Hailey. However, she didn't seem to be really responsive at the moment, so he sighed and placed it on the library table in front of her. This was in the back of the room, behind the shelf with books on fortune-telling, so that Serena could hide from the gaze of her classmates for a while.

After they had decreased significantly with the start of the new school year, it now felt like time travel back to her third year, when everyone had still believed that her father was a crazy mass murderer. And now he was accused of committing domestic violence. Really quite great.

"Hailey?" asked Serena in wonder, nudging her shoulder lightly to bring her back to the world of the living. The Hufflepuff startled, unease drawing back into her previously vacant fawn eyes. "Oh yeah, that's really not right, what that Skrewer writes."

Her two friends cast furtive glances at each other. "Are you okay?"

Hailey bit her lips and Serena didn't suspect anything good as tears slowly formed in her eyes and ran down her cheeks a little later. She pressed her palm to her mouth to muffle the sobs she could no longer hold back.

"What is it..."

"C-cormac, he's g-going to the b-ball with someone else." She buried her head in her arms, trembling, while Serena looked at her, confused. "But you're his girlfriend..."

"Was his girlfriend," Hailey sniffled, wiping her wet face uselessly as the next batch of salty tears were already welling up from the corners of her eyes. "I asked him earlier if he was looking forward to the ball and.... And then he said he was going with that Hanna girl from Ravenclaw. I broke up with him then, of course."

"But he can't just ask someone else!" Serena said angrily, giving Nate a warning look, the corners of whose mouth had begun to twitch menacingly and this was definitely not the right way to comfort her best friend.

Hailey merely shrugged and stared into space as she breathed, "Apparently so."

"Hailey, I'm sorry," she whispered, swallowing an 'I told you so'. "You'll find someone better for the ball."

"And who? It's only a week away!" howled Hailey in exasperation, wrinkling her nose up with a loud noise. "Even you won't be there."

"Why don't you go with Nate," Serena suggested, at which point his strange mouth acrobatics abruptly stopped. "Sorry, I'm going home too."

"Oh, come on," Serena whined, slapping both palms together pleadingly. All the while she knew that Nate could be more stubborn than her and probably wouldn't be so easily swayed. In fact, he crossed his arms in front of his chest, unimpressed. "Then you stay."

Hailey had kept glancing hopefully back and forth between her two friends during their little argument, and a guilty conscience immediately began to settle in Serena.

"Please, Serena!" she begged, "You'd even have a date. You could go with Hall!"

"Oh, I bet you'll change her mind that way!" laughed Nate, seeming thoroughly amused by Serena's disgusted expression.

"I'd rather go with Crabbe or Goyle," she replied dryly. "They don't talk as much, if they can string sentences together at all."

"I think that could be done," Nate grunted, his shoulders bouncing up and down as he chuckled silently to himself. Serena rolled her eyes. "Besides, what would be the point of staying for you and then going with someone else?"

"Well, I'd know you'd be there and we could buy a dress together and get ready...," Hailey babbled on, grinning promisingly. Her sadness seemed to have evaporated and the old familiar gleam had now returned to her eyes. "Besides, it would do you some good too."

She snorted contemptuously. „Herpes?"

"No," Hailey sighed in annoyance, looking down with a conspiratorial look. "You could find out what the deal is with your father and his mother."

"They probably just don't get along and the book thing has been cleared up," Serena replied with a dismissive hand gesture, while Hailey merely raised an eyebrow. "You weren't so sure about that at the beginning of the year."

"Yeah... I... I don't know. Okay?" she brought out. For her, however, that was still no reason to ditch her mother and go to a ball with Edmund Hall instead.

"Figure it out."

"Hailey, no!" groaned Serena indignantly, crossing both arms on the table. "I'm not going to the Yule Ball with that horny Horklump!"

"So you're going to the Yule Ball?" Hailey looked at her hopefully and Serena was almost sorry she couldn't grant her best friend's wish. "I... I... No, I didn't say that." The Gryffindor paused and looked helpfully at Nate, who was now staring thoughtfully at the table. "You know, there's something to that," he admitted surprisingly, looking up. "Hailey might be right for once."

"What do you mean?", Serena probed, narrowing her eyes suspiciously into slits as she waited for an answer.

"If you're looking for answers, Hall might be the only one..."

"No," she interrupted him curtly, hardly able to believe it. As far as she was concerned, the matter had been settled long ago. "Absolutely not."

Hailey, however, began to cheer and grinned audaciously at her. "Exactly! All you have to do is seduce him a little. I bet he'll tell you everything you want to know then."

"If he knows anything at all."

"He does," Nate remarked. while the Hufflepuff still seemed to be beside herself that someone shared her opinion. Serena gave him a scowl, but her best friend continued unperturbed, "Didn't you see the look on his face on the train that time?"

"Oh, he always looks so stupid," Serena remarked snidely, wishing her friends would refrain from pressuring her into a date with him. It only made her want it even less.

"He knows something," Nate repeated himself seriously.

"I don't care," Serena bitched at him in response, a little harsher than intended. She knew they didn't mean any harm, but Hall had been a rather touchy subject for her ever since the incident in the entrance hall. Even if he knew something that Serena strongly doubted, that was still no reason to spend an entire evening with him.

Hailey and Nate gave each other another weird look, which made Serena even angrier and made her sigh. "Shouldn't we get going?" she asked, trying to catch a glimpse of Hailey's gold wristwatch, but its owner started to whine. "But I don't want to! I'm sure it's just some boring meeting about some school thing."

"Who knows, maybe it's about the ball," Serena grinned meaningfully, glad for the change of subject. After all, it had never happened before that the individual houses had been asked to have a meeting by their house teachers. Hailey's face brightened abruptly. "Then what are we waiting for?"

"I don't have to go," Nate remarked with a grin and stretched in his chair, yawning profusely. "Only for fourth years and older."

"All the more reason for it to be about the ball," Serena said, addressing Hailey as she rose and wiggled her eyebrows. Her best friend now stood up as well and shouldered her bag. There was a hidden smile on her lips now. "Alright!"

"Please reconsider. You can't miss an event like this," Hailey murmured to Serena as they left the library. Then she grinned. "And you can't leave me alone!"

"I have to go this way," Serena sidestepped her request and pointed down the hallway that would take her to the Transfiguration classroom. In fact, she was beginning to doubt her decision a little. The Triwizard Tournament and its accompanying Yule Ball were a once-in-a-lifetime thing. On the other hand, however, she was reluctant to refuse her mother...

"We get to go to Hogsmeade this weekend," Hailey brought her out of her thoughts. Serena, who had already turned into hallway, turned to her once more and looked into her pleading face. "At least come with me to pick out a dress."

"Sure." She smiled and then continued on her way. No voices wafted towards her from the classroom yet. When Serena entered, all she could see was a handful of sixth years whispering in one of the back corners.

At first she thought she had been mistaken about the room, for it bore little resemblance to McGonagall's classroom. It seemed a lot bigger because all the desks had been moved to the walls and the chairs were completely missing, revealing a large open space in the middle.

Sighing, Serena sat down on one of the tables by the window and cradled her head thoughtfully in her hands. She hadn't thought Hailey and Nate could confuse her like that. Her decision to go home had been as firm as her decision never to look at Edmund Hall again. But both had now shaken her violently. Not that she would admit that out loud in front of them...

She would actually love to go to the Yule Ball and her best friend was right; maybe there would never be another event like that at Hogwarts. Did she really want to miss it? Did she really want to let Hailey down now that she really needed her?

On the other hand, she also felt guilty towards her mother; after all, it was understandable that she wanted Serena to come home after what had happened in the hospital wing. After all, she had already left early in the summer and now it was too late to cancel anyway. Or was it?

"How are things on this oh-so-wonderful day?" it suddenly warbled directly into Serena's ear to her left, causing her to startle as the twins suddenly settled down beside her.

"What's the matter with you?" she grinned in amusement at Fred's euphoria. He looked as if instead of pumpkin juice, he had accidentally drunk a love potion for breakfast. He was beaming up to both ears, his freckled cheeks were flushed and his gaze went dreamily into space.

"Our little Frederic here has a date," George explained, rolling his eyes in mock annoyance, but there was also a small smile on his lips, as if he were at least as happy as his brother about this circumstance.

Serena stared at him with wide eyes and felt her own grin intensify. "Are you going to tell us who the lucky girl is?"

"Angelina," Fred replied proudly, still looking as if this was the best day of his life. At that moment, along with numerous other Gryffindors, Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the classroom and George promptly waved them over. "How are you guys doing? Have you got girls for the ball yet?"

"Nope," Ron grumbled sullenly, turning to Harry for help. "We should get a move on, you know... ask someone. He's right. We don't want to end up with a pair of trolls."

Hermione snorted and looked indignantly at the redhead. "A pair of... what, excuse me?"

"Well, you know," he replied with a shrug, lowering his voice. "I'd rather go alone than with, say, Eloise Midgeon."

"Oh, I see," Hermione snorted. "In a nutshell, you'll take the best looking girl who wants to go with you, even if she's completely horrible?"

"Um yeah, that sounds about right," Ron said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Serena rolled her eyes as his two brothers nearly slid off the smooth table surface they were sitting on with laughter "Ooooh, our ickle Ronniekins has standards too!"

"Well, with that attitude, I'm sure you'll find someone," Serena returned dryly, not quite knowing what to make of Ron's statement. But as with Hermione, her enthusiasm for it was in check. "Especially since you're brave enough to ask girls to go to the ball with you."

"Of course we're brave enough!" exclaimed Ron indignantly, turning bright red. Seeking help, he nudged Harry in the side. "Right?"

Harry nodded eagerly. Then, presumably to make his point, Ron quite suddenly seemed to have the idea of the year. "You two are girls..."

Serena's eyes narrowed and she stared at him incredulously. "You figured that out all by yourself now?"

"You observed that well, Ronald," Hermione hissed at him too, seeming less than enthusiastic about the offer he made them a moment later. "Why don't you go with us?"

"And he's got style too," George interjected sarcastically, nodding at his brother with feigned appreciation. But even Serena was getting fed up with people trying to tell her who to go to the ball with. Before she could give an answer, though, Hermione beat her to it with an evasive tone. "I can't."

"Oh, now don't be like that," Ron groaned. "We need dates, how are we going to look if we don't have any, everyone else does ..."

"I can't go with you," Hermione repeated, blushing as red as her tie before she blurted out. "Because I already have someone."

Even Serena looked at her in surprise, since she hadn't mentioned anything in a word. However, no one seemed as enraged by the latest information as Ron, who couldn't seem to believe it. "No you don't!"

"Oh, how well you know!" hissed Hermione, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Just because it took you three years, Ron, doesn't mean no one else noticed I'm girl!"

Ron stared at her. Then an amused smile crept onto his lips, which Serena thought was rather brave of him. "It's okay, it's okay, we know you're a girl. Is it alright now? Are you coming with us or not?"

"I told you so!" hissed Hermione angrily, grabbing her bag and storming off to the other side of the room, where she settled down next to Lavender and Parvati. However, she didn't do so without first giving the redhead another scowl and adding, "I'm going with someone else!"

"Fine," he replied gruffly, staring after Hermione for a while longer before turning back. "Fine. Serena, which one of us are you going with?"

The girl addressed noticed that her mouth was still open and hastily closed it again. She hadn't even known that Hermione already had a companion. Why hadn't she told her anything? Still a little perplexed, she murmured hastily, "I can't either."

"Let me guess," Ron growled sullenly. "You already have someone too?"

"No," she remarked smugly, lowering her voice as her head teacher had just entered the room, instantly causing a tense silence among the curious students. "I'm going home."

"Great," Ron grunted a little too loudly, for which he earned a scowl from Professor McGonagall. The latter had by now positioned herself in the cleared area of the classroom and let her gaze roam the rows before raising her authoritative voice. "The Yule Ball has always been a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament."

Almost immediately, several girls began to giggle behind their hands, while the majority of the boys merely groaned in annoyance. Both were commented on by their Transfiguration teacher with an indignant clearing of the throat before she continued in a raised voice: "Since the beginning on Christmas Eve, we and our guests have gathered in the Great Hall for an evening of cultivated manners.

This time it was Fred and George who caused a commotion with a loud snort, as if they couldn't believe what was being asked of them. Once again a warning look was given out by their head teacher, stating quite clearly that she was not being paid enough for this job. "You are presenting our school, so I expect each of you to make an effort to avoid missteps. And I mean that literally, because the Christmas Ball is one thing above all. A dance."

After these words, Fred and George could no longer restrain themselves and partly broke out into indignant and amused bawling, as if they had never heard a stranger idea. The other students also seemed to be affected by this news, because while some of the girls squealed excitedly, the boys' disgruntled groans could probably be heard in the corridors as well.

Serena, on the other hand, did not make a face and sat silently in her seat. She didn't know whether to be happy or sad about missing a dance. "Silence!", Professor McGonagall finally hushed the classroom and continued with a stern face. "The House of Gryffindor has been held in the highest regard throughout the wizarding world for nearly a thousand years, and you will not sully its name in a single evening by behaving like a babbling bumbling band of baboons."

Serena had to dodge backwards a little when George suddenly leaned across her once, almost lying on her lap, only to whisper something to his brother that she could clearly understand: "Try saying that three times in quick succession."

"Babblingbumblingbandofbaboons."

"Babblingbumblingbandofbaboons..."

"Shhh!", Serena tried to silence them both, grinning, because she actually wanted to hear what McGonagall had to say. Fred, however, merely raised one of his red eyebrows challengingly. "Only because you can't."

"Sure I can," she retorted indignantly, collecting herself for a moment. "Babbli..."

"Shut up!" someone hissed a few rows away and got three scowls in response. Serena turned back to Professor McGonagall and saw, to her horror, that she was staring right in her direction. For a brief moment she thought they were going to get in trouble for the little disturbance, but then she realised that the stare wasn't at her at all.

"Mr Weasley," she said, striding towards Ron who was frozen in his seat and blushing to the roots of his hair. "Come to me, please."

Harry and the twins began to stifle a laugh behind held hands as McGonagall pulled the redhead towards her by the cloak and stood in front of him in a dancing posture. Ron, meanwhile, looked around in embarrassment.

"Put your right hand on my waist."

"W-w-where?" he stammered, and Serena couldn't help laughing now either. She guessed that was the punishment for his less than tactful behaviour from the beginning of the meeting. Meanwhile, his two brothers were already doubled over with laughter and tears stood in their brown eyes. They would certainly never let him forget this.

"My waist," his homeroom teacher repeated impatiently and unceremoniously grabbed his arm to guide it to her hip herself. George let out a lewd whistle that finally caused Serena's dams to burst as well, nearly causing her to slide off the tabletop with her body quivering with laughter.

"And one... Two... Three," Professor McGonagall led the dance along with Ron and some rather old fashioned sounding music began to play. "Come together, everyone, please."

She didn't have to say this request twice. Almost at the same moment, the majority of the girls rose, their eyes roaming the room searching for a suitable partner. The boys, however, were still sitting listlessly in their seats and seemed to want to vanish into thin air. The circle was finally broken by Neville, who shyly asked Hermione for a dance.

Serena rose to her feet as well. Her eyes, however, were still unconsciously roaming the curious student-teacher pair in the middle of the room, which was why she could hardly remain serious. There was still an amused grin on her lips when George suddenly held out his hand to her. "Would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to," she replied, reaching a little hesitantly for his long fingers, which closed around her short ones. George then pulled her onto the dance floor to join Fred and Angelina. Awkwardly, Serena looked up at the twin who towered over her by almost two heads and suddenly she didn't find Ron's displeasure so funny. Gently, George pulled her close and she put her left hand on his shoulder as she concentrated on trying to copy McGonagall's dance steps. She avoided looking her dance partner in the eye. She didn't know herself why she was suddenly so embarrassed. Perhaps it was because of her past crush on George?

Silently, they moved to the beat of the music for a few minutes. Every now and then, Serena bumped her back against another student or accidentally stepped on George's foot, but she surprisingly enjoyed dancing.

"How do you think it is for the Slytherins?" asked George suddenly, seeming to stifle a grin as Serena looked up at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

He raised an eyebrow in amusement, "Snape as a dance teacher?"

"Oh." Serena laughed and then screwed up her face at the thought of a dance lesson with her hate teacher. "The poor girl he chooses for that."

"Yeah, I mean, imagine that..." George lowered his voice meaningfully. "His hand on your waist.... And how it wanders slowly down...."

"GEORGE!" she shrieked, laughing brightly as she tried to banish the image from her mind forever. "No!"

He began to chuckle softly to himself and Serena merely rolled her eyes. A shiver still ran down her spine when George changed the subject. "It's a shame you won't be able to step on anyone's foot at the ball."

Outraged, she opened her mouth. "I'm better than you!"

The song ended at that moment and for a brief moment Serena thought that the practice lesson had already come to an end, but then Professor McGonagall clapped her hands. "The girls will stay where they are and the boys will move on a partner."

George gave her another apologetic look before continuing on to Angelina and instead Harry slid into Serena's field of vision.

The dance lesson dragged on longer than Serena would have expected. Only after several partner changes and songs later was she finally able to fall into her bed, completely exhausted. Contrary to expectations, she had enjoyed it incredibly much and the uncomfortable feeling of missing something was spreading inside her.

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Do you want Serena to go to the ball? Who would you want her to go with? 😏