• Serena Black •

„We don't know
what we've been missing
until it arrives."

Moonlight fell through the window into the grim room, covering the girl sitting at her desk in its silver glow. In relief, she folded the letter she had been working on and put it into an addressed envelope. Just in time she had managed to finish the Happy Birthday letter to her friend Harry and finally handed it over to Hedwig, who was impatiently hooting at her.

"Stay still," Serena muttered, trying once more to tie the envelope around the majestic owl's leg. Sighing, she tried to hold the enormous bird still with one hand and tied the knot with the other. The Gryffindor skilfully ignored her reproachful gaze. After all, she was used to putting up with the looks her best friend Nate shoots at her now and then.

Hedwig must have waited at her window for hours, as the poor animal didn't look too happy when Serena came home after being on vacation for two weeks and noticed the restless snow-white owl pecking at the window glass.

Finally, she attached the envelope properly and wiped down a fluff of damp feathers off her hands on her jeans. For a moment, Serena stood at the window watching Hedwig disappearing into the darkness. The cool air flowed into the room and went through her long dark hair, disheveling her curls.

Water poured in small streams along the sides of the streets and along the footpaths. Drops had gathered on the windows of countless houses, which ran down the windows in streams. Only a few minutes ago, the storm had begun. Innocently, the rain poured down from the clouds like buckets, and obscured the night to which the day had inclined unavoidably.

Sighing, the dark-haired girl closed her window and was again covered by the stuffy air like bars of a cage. Serena had found a total of four letters sitting on her windowsill; one from Hogwarts and one each from her friends Ron, Hermione and her best friend Hailey.

She resisted the urge to yawn loudly. In fact, she hadn't slept for a second on the plane from Miami to London. And then there was also the jet lag, which seemed to catch up to her slowly since it would have been pretty early in the morning in Florida. Ignoring the tiredness, she had just managed to send the gift to Harry, which she fortunately had already packed before her Departure. The reply to her other friends, however, would have to wait for the next day, as Serena could barely keep her eyes open.

Eventually, she opened the letter from Hogwarts, which was the only one she hadn't read yet, and flew over the familiar words that seemed to be the same every year - every year until now, that is."

Dear Miss Black,
please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock.
Third-years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade at certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign.
A list of books for next year is enclosed.

Yours Sincerely,
Professor M. McGonagall

Serena had already gotten used to the fact that in the wizarding world, everyone only knew her by the last name Black. In fact, her actual last name was Parker. But since her mother was a muggle, and she had inherited the magical blood from her father, it had probably been customary for her to automatically also adopt his last name.

She did not know her father, nor did she know much about him, as her mother did not like to talk about him. "The past should not be excavated," is what she liked to say and so her daughter had learned not to ask questions about this chapter of her life, which already seemed to be closed, anyway.

Her father had been gone, before Serena was even born. To protect her, as in the wizarding world had raged a war at that time. But even by the time it had found an end, he never returned nor responded to any letter.

Serena tried to come up with excuses for why he never got in touch with them, but after all, she wasn't even sure if she should protect him at all. On the other hand, he probably never knew her mother had been pregnant at the time and maybe he hadn't ever received any of her letters? The young girl didn't know much about the wizarding war, but that it was a dark time. Maybe her father was one of the wizards who were killed in battle?

However, she knew that a book or a teacher might be able to answer her questions about her father's whereabouts. But did she really want to know? If she knew, she wouldn't be able to hide behind her excuses anymore. Maybe she was in fact the happiest with an illusion.

Serena remembered how there always had been kids asking her if she missed her father. She had always replied with, "No, I don't know him."

How could you miss something you never even had?

Katherine Parker had made herself comfortable in front of the TV and sat halfway asleep on the bright couch. She almost jumped when her daughter suddenly stood in front of her. Taking a deep breath, the mother looked at her with tired brown eyes, in which so often a storm had struck. She hadn't been quite happy with her life for a long time now. As a single mother with relatively low incomes, she had ensured that her child had lacked nothing. At least that is what she thought, because Serena had never had what was given to every child from birth on.

"Could you please sign this for me? It's for Hogwarts," Serena muttered, stretching out the letter containing the permission for Hogsmeade. The Gryffindor had already heard a lot about the village and was happy to finally be able to explore it herself with her friends.

Her mother read through the form and finally signed it with a smile, "An actual wizarding village that sounds exciting!" She exclaimed, but Serena wasn't even listening anymore.

Her attention had been brought to the newscast on the TV. "The police warns the population. Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A separate emergency number has been set up and any reference to Black should be reported immediately."

Katherine Parker was now fully awake. Her tanned face turned as white as a piece of paper, while she stared at the picture of the criminal. Dark matted hair bordered the man's pale collapsed face. Everything about him seemed bleak, except for the stinging grey eyes.

Serena recognized this man immediately, so many times she had imagined him and also dreamed of him. But the resemblance to the photo she had seen before was only minor, almost not noticeable at first glance. "Mum?" She asked carefully, almost losing her voice and not knowing what to say or do.

Again the newsreader appeared in the picture of the TV. „The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries announces today that... "

"Mum?" Once again she tried to get the attention of her mother and increased the volume of her voice, perhaps she had just spoken too quietly at the first attempt. Serena needed confirmation that she was wrong. That the man from the news was not the man of her photos.

"Yes?" finally her mother had answered and Serena took a deep breath to gather courage, "Was that...?"

She nodded briefly, and Serena didn't know what to say. She was sure her mother wouldn't want to talk about it and she probably wouldn't know what had happened either. A sudden knock on the door left mother and daughter both terrified, and the teacup which her mother had previously held tightly clasped, fell to the ground.

Whoever knocked on their door so late at evening could apparently not have chosen a better moment. Serena's heart pounded like mad as she watched her mother slowly rise. With a hand gesture, the woman ordered her to stay behind while she walked to the front door. Nervously, the girl watched as she looked through the spyhole before opening the door.

All the tension seemed to have fallen from her mother and Serena sighed with relief. She didn't know the two men standing at the door. "Good evening Mrs. Parker, my name is Kingsley Shacklebolt, and that is my colleague William Bredshire. We are responsible for the Sirius Black case, are we allowed to step in?"

"Of course," she muttered, letting the two wizards into their home. The dark-skinned man with an absurd hat briefly looked around, before his gaze hit Serena. "You must be Serena, right? Why don't we talk a little bit while William takes a look around with your mother?"

The girl glanced quickly at her mother before agreeing and sitting down with the man at the dark-wooded living room table. Even though she had nothing to hide, she could not resist the urge to nervously fiddle around with her hands on her lap.

Meanwhile, Shacklebolt had pulled a clipboard out of his cape and gave her a friendly, yet professional smile. "When was the last time you saw your father?"

Already the first question caused her throat to lump. "I have never seen him," she answered quietly and felt her voice break. Clearing her throat, Serena looked up from her hands and saw a brief look of surprise flash in his dark eyes. Saying nothing, he wrote down something before asking the next question,
"When was the last time you were in contact with him?"

Serena sighed, almost rolling her eyes. "Never."

The wizard stopped noting something and laid the clipboard aside. "Does he even know about you?" he asked with his deep voice, which somehow had a calming effect on Serena. She shrugged her shoulders. "I think you should rather ask my mother these questions," she said and was glad that the blonde woman just entered the room again. Her eyes fluttered uneasily between Serena and the spontaneous visitors and she didn't look too happy.

"I think we're done here," said the other man, nodding in Shacklebolt's direction. Serena went to bed immediately, trying to escape the situation she found herself in. Through the closed door of her room, she heard the two men politely say goodbye and finally left their home.

Her thoughts, however, circled restlessly around in her head like ravens flying over pumpkin patches. Their charcoal-black wings widely spread out, letting no space for another thought. It still seemed as surreal to her as a dream.

The hope that the world would look different the next morning and that it was all only a misunderstanding, finally led Serena to fall asleep. But one thought remained, as she slipped into a dreamless sleep.

Her father was a murderer.

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I hope my english doesn't suck too much, but if you find some mistakes I would really appreciate it if you could just leave a short comment! 💞