• Serena Black •

"Sometimes what you're looking for
comes when you're not looking at all."

On any other day, Serena would have turned around at seven o'clock in the morning at least five more times. But not on the morning of the first of September. She was fully awake by the second her alarm clock went off and excitedly collected her clothes, which she would wear until she changed them for her school uniform.

Her stomach ached a little by the thought of how her classmates or even her friends would react to her. However, Serena quickly banished this thought from her mind, as finally returning to Hogwarts weighed much more than the queasy feeling in her gut.

When the Gryffindor stood at the front door with packed things, she noticed that her mother was probably more excited than she was. Making sure her daughter had forgotten nothing, she held another one of her famous lectures. "Serena, please promise me you'll be taking care of yourself!"

"Of course, Mum." Serena had said these three words in a continuous loop over the last ten minutes now. She hugged her mother one last time, with the hug being firmer than the years before. It almost seemed to her as if her mother was afraid not to see her again. But Serena had already gotten used to this over-anxious behavior, pushing the cause to the fact that she was an only child. Just as she was about to set off, however, she was stopped again.

Her mother had put her hands on her daughter's shoulders, looking at her urgently. "You're a Parker, no matter whose blood flows in your veins or what you're told," she said emphatically, letting Serena fight a thick clump in her throat. The dark-haired girl nodded and forced herself to smile slightly, but in the next moment, the blonde woman had switched back to her worried-mother-status anyway. "Serena, seriously be careful! I'm worried and after what's happened in the last two years, I've got enough reasons!" Katherine Parker explained to her daughter with a serious face.

"Mum, Hogwarts is certainly the safest place in the world, I will not run into any murderer's arms!" Serena laughed before realizing what she had just said. Her mother's facial features froze, but before she could respond or even drag Serena back into the house, the Gryffindor was already out of the door. "Bye!"

Nathan Novak towered over Serena by almost two heads, even though he was a year younger. The tanned boy with hair in the color of honey was trying to squeeze a light blue suitcase into the trunk of a car. Serena had to suppress a laugh when the boy started to debate with his mother why they couldn't travel to the station like normal wizards.

It was indeed quite unusual for a pure-blooded family to live in a muggle neighborhood and also to adapt to their way of life. Serena had learned this faster than the educational material at Hogwarts. With her suitcase in one hand and a cat carrier in the other, she began to make her way over the street to the Novak's driveway.

"Hey, Serena!" The Ravenclaw greeted loudly when he spotted her, lurking out of the trunk, into which he had almost completely crawled. Apparently it was a new tactic to accommodate the suitcase.

"Nathan, help the poor girl!" Mr. Nowak yelled, coming down the stairs to the driveway before starting the engine of the car, in which his petite wife already had taken a seat in the front. "Good morning, Serena!"

It took them a while to stow Nate's and Serena's suitcases plus pets in the car without using magic. The ride to King's Sross station, however, was quicker than Serena could have complained about the squeezed seat in the back seat. They had been too busy talking about her best friend's vacation with his family in Poland, that a different topic had have no room anyway. The Gryffindor was relieved that there was not said a thing about her father.

The two friends had already said goodbye to the Novaks at the parking lot and were now pushing their way through the crowds comprising of both magical folk and Muggles. Some of them getting to work while others were preparing to send their children off for the upcoming term.

Serena couldn't help but to glance around nervously, as the unpleasant feeling of being observed at each of her steps sent a shiver over her pale skin.

"Serena?"

The girl knew what was to come. Nate knew her better than anyone, and he was the only one Serena had ever spoken to about her father. When she was younger and when it became too much for her, she had wondered why her father didn't want her. But even if those days were long gone, the Ravenclaw would certainly not forget it. "How are you doing with... you know?" he asked her cautiously, "I mean it must have been a shock to you. It was for all of us. After all, not many people knew."

"I don't even know him," Serena replied after a brief period of silence, staring to the ground, as they made their way to the barrier that would bring them to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, "It just feels so unreal. Suddenly, I'm supposed to have a father...I don't know how to deal with that."

"I don't think anyone knows," Nate muttered, smiling encouraging at her. Luckily, he dropped the subject for that moment, proving once again how well he knew her. He only broke the silence when they arrived at the barrier between track nine and ten, "Ladies First."

When Serena arrived at the track nine-quarters, her cheeks were slightly reddened, as she had run through the wall. With shining eyes, she looked at the platform. The Hogwarts Express was already standing by and emitted steam out of its chimney. Nate, who had appeared behind her, casually rolled his suitcase behind her and nodded expectantly in the direction of the scarlet red locomotive. "Should we look for a compartment?"

"I promised Hailey that I would wait for her," she said, looking for her best friend in the crowds. However, she only noticed the numerous pairs of eyes that were already lying on her and quickly turned away when she answered the gaze. Frustrated, she repressed a moan contrary to Nate. The Ravenclaw didn't seem to be fond of the idea to spend the train ride with Hailey. "Is that really necessary?"

"What's your problem with Hailey?" Serena asked astonished, as she continued to search for the Hufflepuff at the platform, as she slowly began to push her way through her classmates and their families.

Sighing, he followed her and started to explain his reluctance, "Price just embodies everything I don't stand for."

Serena raised one of her eyebrows in amusement. "And what would that be?"

"She's gullible, naïve and for Merlin's sake too loud."

"Too loud?" she grinned, "I'm also pretty sure that gullible and naïve is the same thing."

"SERENA!" a familiar voice shouted suddenly, making Serena burst into laughter because of Nate's suffering facial expression. Hailey couldn't have chosen a better moment. Actually, it was almost creepy how good her timing had been.

The Gryffindor turned to the girl. She wore her straight brown hair in a high ponytail moving behind her with every step she took to approach her best friend enthusiastically. "How was your summer?" Serena asked, hugging her tightly.

The two of them had met on the Hogwarts Express exactly one year ago and had become friends immediately. Serena had felt miserable at that day as Harry and Ron had not turned up as agreed. At the time, she had thought her new friends simply wanted nothing to do with her anymore. Little did she know that they only had taken a different way to get to Hogwarts.

"Nothing to get excited about," Hailey replied, smiling and shrugging her shoulders. However, the expression from her hazel-brown eyes changed, as she lowered her voice, "It was all over the Muggle news. Your dad is actually Sirius Black? The murderer?"

Serena pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded slowly. "Looks that way, doesn't it?"

Perplexed, Hailey shook her head as if she could hardly believe. Overwhelmed with the situation, she blew out her cheeks, only to let the air escape with a powerful sigh shortly afterwards, "Damn, that's really crazy."

Serena pulled a grimace. "That's not good at all. I mean, what am I supposed to do now?"

"Well, for now we might get into the train, as it's leaving every moment," Nate tossed in, with a smirk on his lips.

Hurriedly they manhandled their suitcases into the locomotive, while the remaining students on the platform also put themselves into motion to get to the train in time. Serena was out of breath and the excitement and stress reddened the pale skin on her cheeks as she tried to transport her luggage through the narrow aisles. The Hogwarts Express tooted while it set into motion with a loud rattling.

Before anyone else got a jump on one of the empty compartments, the three students threw themselves into the first one they came across, as the train seemed to be more crowded than the years before. They spend the long travel time talking about their holidays, the past and the upcoming school year, while deliberately leaving out a specific topic. Much to Serena's relief.

At twelve o'clock, after it had begun to rain gently, a woman with dimples at the corners of her mouth slided the door open and asked, smiling, "Anything from the trolley?"

Serena immediately jumped up and along with Nate and Hailey, who seemed almost as enthusiastic as she did, they bent over the witch's trolley packed with sweets.

Eating the Every Flavor Beans was a lot of fun for the three. Serena got after a bean with the taste of broccoli, also strawberry, toothpaste and tuna. While Nate initially kept himself out of the tasting as a precaution, Hailey got toast, grass and kettle cake before he eventually gave it a try. Already at his first attempt, he was punished with a bean that supposedly tasted like mouldy cheese. On his part, he aborted the game, creasing his face in disgust.

The train traveled further north, and the rain had become stronger by late afternoon. The sky had assumed an impenetrable, shimmering grey, gradually darkening. The landscape that flew past them became increasingly wilder. Forests, winding rivers and dark green hills, blurred in the twilight in front of the windows, as sudden voices in the aisle approached their compartment. Much to Serena's disgust no other than Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle slid their door open with smirking faces.

"Well, well, look who's here," Malfoy said in his usual snarling tone, tearing open the compartment door completely. With his bony finger, he pointed at one by one. "A mud blood, a blood traitor and... Well, if your family would be a little more important, I would call you a blood traitor too, Novak."

Crabbe and Goyle giggled like drunken goblins, standing behind Malfoy like one of those teen fan clubs that couldn't get enough of their idol.

"I don't what you mean, Malfoy," Serena remarked with a false smile on her lips, putting her eyes back on the book she had just tried to read.

"Oh, so you're also stupid." He grinned triumphantly. "I heard about your family reunion this summer, Black."

"Now that a cell in Azkaban has become vacant, you might be more concerned about your own father." Serena said bluntly without looking up from her book. She almost had expected that the pure-blooded boy wouldn't miss the chance to rub the circumstances under her nose.

"Do you hear the blood traitor threatening me?" asked Malfoy amused, turning to his minions. Once again, he wanted to raise his annoying voice when suddenly the lanterns in the corridors and over the luggage nets flared up.

The train slowed down until it stopped dead, giving a slight jolt. Loud slamming and screaming told them that suitcases had fallen out of the luggage nets in the compartments next to them, due to the sudden stop of the Hogwarts Express. Serena looked around startled and noticed small clouds of her breath forming in front of her. Cobwebs of ice now covered the windows, as the lights flared up one last time until completely extinguishing. They suddenly were shrouded in complete darkness.