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• Serena Black •

„A drop of ink
may make a million think."

Wrapped up in warm clothing, Serena stood at King's Cross station. As she did so, she had stood on tiptoe to look out for her mother. This time the Hogwarts Express had not been searched, but the icy snowflakes liquefying on her warm skin made her think back to the cold of the Dementors.

"Serena!"

Katherine Parker's cry of joy was impossible to miss; Serena could hear her several yards away, despite the loud din around her at the King's Cross station tracks.

"Hey, Mum." She let her mother hug her tightly, beaming with joy, before she let go of her and looked at her instead, worriedly, "I was so worried when I got the news that," she faltered for an abrupt moment and lowered her voice, "That.... Sirius has broken into Hogwarts."

That was the first time she had spoken his name aloud in front of Serena, no, that she had spoken of him at all. Surprised, the dark haired girl looked at her and finally murmured, "No harm done, the portrait stopped him."

"The portrait?! You're trying to tell me that my daughter's safety depended on a portrait?" she remarked in horror, staring at her with such widened eyes that Serena feared for a moment they might fall out of her skull. Immediately she regretted what she had said, for least of all did she want to risk a scene at the crowded station, "There was no one in the tower at the time," she lied, trying to calm her upset mother down.

"And if it had been you?" By now her mother's face had turned an unhealthy shade of red and her eyes were sparking. Serena looked at the curious faces of her classmates who had turned to look at her, "Mum, can we please go."

"Serena..."

"Mum, please."

Slowly but surely her mother's complexion returned to normal and the red marks faded, much to her relief, "All right, I'll stop already. To celebrate, I thought we could go to your favourite restaurant, what do you think?"

Serena nodded in agreement and exhaled in relief. After all, she had hoped to escape it all by going home. So it didn't suit her very well that her mother was now also haunting her with this very topic. Fortunately, she seemed to have left it alone and never mentioned her former partner again until they drove home in the early evening.

A wave of happiness rolled over Serena when she finally entered her room. It was always strange to return after so long, everything felt strange and familiar at the same time. She would probably never get used to this most peculiar feeling of contrariness.

Exhausted, the Gryffindor threw herself onto her bed and enjoyed the peace and quiet, for at Hogwarts she had hardly any privacy and often enough felt like an animal at the zoo. She wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but her mattress seemed much softer than usual. The springs nestled against her back as if they had adapted to her body after all these years and the duvet felt as heavy as if it was filled with stones. Faster than she could help it, her tired dark eyes had also fallen shut.

A knock brought Serena back from her dream world. It was still pitch black outside her window, giving her a vague estimate of how long she had been asleep; namely, hardly at all.

There was another knock.

"Yes?" asked Serena in a hoarse and sleepy voice. She rubbed her tired eyes with one hand and blinked into the bright light her mother had turned on, "Were you asleep?"

"Yes, and I'd like to be again."

Her mother seemed reluctant to respond to this statement, for she had already pushed her way through the door and into the glow of her overhead lamp, "May I come in? I want to show you something."

"Fine by me," Serena mumbled half awake, she was barely receptive in this state and sat up in a daze. It took a little while for her eyes to adjust to the light, but when they finally did, she could hardly believe her eyes. Her mother was dragging a huge cardboard box into the room with her and hoisting it onto her bed. Serena stared at the box and just wanted to go back to sleep, "Mum, what the hell? Do you want me to move out?"

"Of course not, Serena," the woman returned with a snort and began to explain what the box, under which a deep indentation had opened up in the mattress, giving her a rough estimate of how heavy it was, was all about, "It's... your father's stuff. H-he probably didn't give it a thought when he.... left."

All at once Serena was wide awake and she sat up in alarm. This could only be a dream. A sudden reality check on her hands proved her wrong. Her mother never talked about her former partner and certainly not twice in one day! The Gryffindor couldn't even say why, but she began to feel increasingly uncomfortable about the previously taboo subject. She just didn't know how to react, which is why she quietly asked again, "What?"

"The things he left here, I didn't know what to do with them and I didn't want to look at them anymore. That's why I packed them all up in this box." She stared at the box, lost in thought, and rose as if to escape the subject as she had years before, "You can have them if you want. Do what you want with it."

Still completely gobsmacked, Serena stared at the large box, unable to move. Did she really want to know what was inside? Hesitantly, under her mother's watchful gaze, she finally lifted the lid and peered inside. She didn't get to see much though, in fact the only thing she saw was leather. The fact that it had not yet started to crumble told her that it must be real leather and not one that had been chemically produced for fashion purposes. Looking closer, Serena noticed that it was a jacket. Her eyebrows drew together in wonder, "He left his jacket here?"

"He had a second one," her mother replied and the hint of a smile now played around her lips, whether due to her question or the memory was not entirely clear, "He would never have left his other one here. But he was in a hurry that day... so most of it just stayed here."

Her voice broke off as Serena's gaze still rested on the brown leather. Curiosity had gripped her now, but to find out what was under the jacket, she would have to touch it. It was a strange feeling that came over her when her hands touched the cool material. A strange, unfamiliar and yet not unpleasant feeling.

What remained now were a few photographs and a shallow stone bowl with strange engravings along the rim; runes and symbols that Serena could not decipher. Her mother seemed to have noticed her glance and said, "Oh, I don't know what that is."

But Serena knew exactly what it was, she had read a lot about it but never seen one; a
Pensieve. A magical object that could be used to store and look at memories. She imagined it like recording her favourite show or erasing an unwanted moment. Both would be helpful in many ways.

"I'd better leave you to it," the blonde woman murmured suddenly, rising with a sad smile, "I'm not ready to look at the pictures again."

Serena nodded but didn't catch her disappearance from the room, too engrossed in the contents of the box. It took a while before she could tear her gaze away from the wondrous symbols of the Pensieve and instead focused her attention on the pictures. As they did not move, the Gryffindor assumed that they must have been taken with a Muggle camera. One of the pictures she knew, it was the first and for a long time the only picture she had ever seen of her father. He must have been around 20 years old when the picture was taken and was standing in a meadow, probably a garden, laughing at something that was happening next to the camera.

The next photo was probably taken on the same day, but the young man was no longer the only person in this one. Next to him was someone of the same age. With his dishevelled black hair and glasses, he looked very much like Harry, and from what Serena now knew, this person could only be James Potter. Her stomach tightened . They looked so happy, so carefree. How could all this have come to such an end?

She hurriedly put the picture aside and looked at the next one. James Potter and her father caught her eye again, but there were also two other boys. The four of them had their arms over each other's shoulders. A boy with sandy hair smiled shyly at the camera, while the other unknown seemed to feel visibly out of place. At least it seemed so in contrast to his broadly grinning friends. Serena remembered Madam Rosmerta's words about a dumpy boy who had never quite belonged; that had to be Peter Pettigrew.

Serena looked at the last photo. The picture must have been taken by her father, because he was no longer visible. Instead, she recognised Peter, who looked like he was running away from a black dog. She was startled, for this one looked exactly like the one she had met at the great lake. Perhaps the pictures had been taken at Hogwarts and the dog was older than it looked? Could dogs reach such an age?

The boy with the sand-coloured hair had his face contorted, as if he didn't quite know whether to find the situation funny or wanting to help his friend. James Potter, meanwhile, had opened his mouth wide to shout something or merely laugh, something Serena would never know.

Sighing, she placed the mementos on her bedspread. The four boys looked happy and carefree, unaware that one of them was to destroy everything in the near future. It cost Peter and James their lives. But what had happened to the other boy?

Serena's gaze wandered back to the Pensieve. It was a serious breach of privacy to invade another person's thoughts. But perhaps this would give her the answers she was looking for.

Determined, she reached for the heavy box and lifted it onto her desk, which groaned under the weight. Small vials remained in the box in some kind of holder and Serena deciphered the words on one of them; Prongs' Wedding Gift - In Case You Forget How Beautiful Life Was Before Marriage. The term Prongs seemed familiar to her but she couldn't figure out why at first.

The other labels were barely legible, so Serena decided on the former. After all, it sounded harmless if it was meant for someone else anyway. However, she was at a loss as to what to do now, after all she had never used a Pensieve before. Hesitantly, she reached for the vial and did the only logical thing that came to her mind; she poured the contents into the wide basin.

The memories swirled around, silvery white and peculiar, and from within the
of the bowl now shone a bright light towards her. The surface rippled like water over which a wind was blowing. Shortly afterwards, small clouds formed that looked like wind that had taken on a tangible form. Serena bent lower over the bowl and tried to make out something in the substance, which had now become as transparent as glass.

She peered into it's opening from above, expecting to see the stone bottom of the bowl, but instead she caught sight of a platform beneath the water-like surface of the mysterious substance. Not just any platform, for she recognised it immediately, and not merely from the fact that she herself had stood on it only a few hours before.

The Gryffindor tried to make out a familiar face in the busy hustle and bustle of the station and leaned forward a little so that the tip of her nose almost touched the strange substance. No sooner had she done so than there was a violent jolt and Serena threw it forward as if she would fall headlong onto the platform. But her head never hit the stone floor. Instead, she kept falling through something icy and black; as if she were walking through a blizzard at night. A blizzard that had turned into a maelstrom and inevitably swept her along. But as quickly as it had swallowed her up, it had spat her out again; right into the middle of King's Cross station, next to the barrier between platforms nine and ten, which she had only looked down on before.

Breathing heavily and quickly, Serena looked around, for this was certainly not how she had imagined the function of a Pensieve to be. It was as if she were part of the action and yet not, for no one seemed to notice her presence. But how could they? This was only a memory and had long since happened. A memory that obviously belonged to the little boy with the black curly hair and grey eyes who was standing right in front of her; it was her father.

Beside him stood a stern-looking woman with such a tight bun that Serena feared her hair would be pulled out at any moment. In her company was another boy, quite a bit shorter and gaunt, who looked around nervously.

A few metres away, a plump blond boy and his father stood directly in front of the passage to platform nine and three quarters. The two of them seemed unaware that the family of three were virtually staring at them. "Dad, can't you come with me?" the blond whined, pulling a tearful face.

Serena swallowed, because she remembered exactly how scary it had been the first time she had had to cross the barrier alone, leaving her mother behind on the other side.

"I've already explained to you Peter, only witches and wizards can go through there.
Just remember what your mother said, you just have to get through the wall and you'll be at the platform," the man tried to encourage him and then pulled him into a tight hug, as if he himself wasn't quite comfortable letting his son go, "Don't forget to send us an owl tonight about which house you're in, I bet you'll get into Hufflepuff like your mother."

Serena saw the black haired woman turn back to her own sons with a sniff in response, "I wouldn't be too pleased about any of my children coming to Hufflepuff," she stated briskly, fixing the older one in particular with a piercing look, "Of course I don't have to worry about that, you're going to Slytherin, Sirius, just like all the Blacks before you and after you too. Right, Regulus?"

The little one nodded hurriedly and Serena couldn't help but stare at him as if only now noticing him. She hadn't even known she had an uncle. But from what she had found out about the Black family, she assumed that he too was probably locked away, if not dead.

The pure-blood family now disappeared behind the wall too, and with them Serena, who then found herself on the other side at the Hogwarts Express. The two children looked around with bright eyes.

"Don't just stand there, get on," their mother said gruffly, interrupting her sons' silent amazement. But she was not to hear any more of this, for she had already turned away, "Aaah Kasia and Ophelia, how happy I am to see you both here!" she exclaimed delightedly, putting a fake smile on her thin lips before strutting towards two blonde ladies.

Serena averted her eyes from her grandmother and instead directed them again at the two boys. The older one wrapped the younger in his arms, "If father gets mad, run and hide."

At first the Gryffindor thought the statement was a joke, but neither of them burst out laughing, "I'll miss you," the smaller one murmured instead.

"I'll miss you too," his brother replied, turning to face the stern woman once more, "Goodbye, Mother."

"Bye," she replied merely half-heartedly, turning away to turn her attention back to the two women as her son made his way alone to the Hogwarts Express. Most of the compartments were still empty, as most of the students were still standing on the platform, sensibly saying goodbye to their families. The boy finally sat down right by the window and looked with sad eyes at the emotional goings on outside the train. Before Serena could stare at him any further the door was pulled open and a younger version of James Potter entered without hesitation, "May I sit here?"

His former, or more likely future, friend shrugged indifferently, "If you want."

"I'm James Potter," he introduced himself with his chest puffed out, seeming to expect something like applause for that remark. However, his counterpart shook his outstretched hand without making a face, "Sirius."

"Nice to meet you," James replied with a wry smile on his thin lips and then began heaving his suitcase onto the overhead rack.

"Need a hand?" he asked quietly, but had already stood up without waiting for an answer and was grabbing the other side of the suitcase. Together, the two first-years managed to lift it up and almost hoist it onto the shelf. But James seemed to lose his grip and the luggage fell crashing to the floor, vibrating the floor of the entire compartment. But that was not to be the end of it; the suitcase popped open and its contents spilled onto the benches.

While the owner was turning bright red behind his glasses, the other boy began to laugh, his laughter was so infectious that Serena almost joined in. It wasn't long before James finally couldn't help but grin too. Together they then began to pick up the criss-crossed clothes and gathered them into a messy pile in the suitcase.

"I guess this is yours," her father muttered, holding out a small package to the bespectacled boy, which must also have been flung from his suitcase.

James tore at the ribbon of the small gift, from which a letter sailed to the floor. He didn't seem to mind in the least, as he was all the more focused on the rest of the contents, which turned out to be a biscuit tin, "My mum makes the best chocolate biscuits!" he declared, his face beaming, "Would you like one?"

But instead of accepting the offer, the addressed boy bent down and picked up the lovingly crafted envelope from the dusty floor of the compartment, "Here, this fell out."

With a shrug of his shoulders, James took the letter from him before throwing it almost carelessly into his suitcase to stuff the next biscuit into his mouth.

"Don't you even want to know what's in it?"

Harry's father shrugged and mumbled something unintelligible, several biscuit crumbs falling out of his mouth, "Shureyoudontwantone?

"Excuse me?"

"Are you sure you don't want one?" James repeated, holding out the tin again, half of which was already missing. Sirius, whose face had previously been saddened by the thought of the letter, now took it gratefully and steered the topic in a new direction, "Do you like Qudditch?"

"I love Quidditch!" he exclaimed enthusiastically in response, sticking his chest out, "I'll make it into the house team next year for sure!"

Suddenly the compartment door opened and Serena automatically took a few steps to the side, in doing so she would hardly be an obstacle to the incoming students of a time long past. The two first years were a girl with long red hair and another boy with dark hair that hung in his pale face like a black greasy curtain, "Do you mind if we sit down?" the redhead asked with a friendly smile.

James shook his head and stared at her as if he had never seen a girl before. Clearing his throat, he introduced himself and his new friend, "I'm James and this is Sirius."

"Hi," the introduced greeted them both with a cursory wave.

"I'm Lily Evans," the girl replied, sitting down next to him on the red bench seat, while the other boy settled down next to James with an almost emotionless expression on his face, as if he himself was nowhere near as pleased to meet him as his redheaded friend, "Severus Snape."

Serena's jaw dropped automatically and at first she thought she had misheard. As if kicked by a hippogriff, she stared at the boy. This was supposed to be Snape? Something in her mind would not and could not believe that her hated teacher had once been as young, yet living proof sat in front of her.

"Do you know anything about choosing houses?" asked Snape to the group and now that she knew who he was, she also noticed the oily undertone in his then young voice.

The other two boys shook their heads before Lily spoke up, "What would be your preference?" she asked gently, seeming to want to move the conversation forward.

James then raised an imaginary sword, "Gryffindor, because that's where bravery and courage rule! I don't see how anyone would want to come to Slytherin, I think I'd chuck, do you?"

The question was directed at Serena's father, who looked to the ground, "My whole family went to Slytherin." He finally admitted.

"Honestly?" his new friend groaned, disappointment obviously written all over his young face, "And I thought you were alright."

"Maybe I am breaking tradition after all," he replied with the hint of a smirk, which Snape commented on with a soft, yet snide sound. James glared at the future teacher, "You got a problem with that?"

"No," he said sanctimoniously, but with a sneer on his thin lips that Serena knew all too well, "But if you'd rather have strength than brains... ."

"Where would you like to go, when you obviously have neither?" her father interjected, causing the corners of Serena's mouth to twitch. She began to toy with the idea of saying those very words to her unpopular teacher, just to see how he would react. But he probably didn't even remember that those words had already been thrown at him once. James roared with laughter. Lily straightened up and looked from one to the other with a flushed face before grabbing her friend by the sleeve. As she did so, she pulled a face as if she herself had just been deeply insulted, "Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Come on, Severus..." The two jokers mimicked her haughty tone and James tried to trip Snape up as he walked past him. However, it remained with the attempt and a scowl that promised years of enmity. "See you, Snivellus!" his friend called after him, and before the compartment door slammed shut, he added loudly, "What an imbecile."

"What do you expect from someone who wants to be in Slytherin?" asked James scornfully, but seemed to remember what his compartment mate had said earlier, "Oh, sorry."

He merely shrugged, though, "I don't want to be in Slytherin."

"Maybe you won't, then we can both be Gryffindors," James tried to cheer him up.

"Maybe."

The scene dissolved into a mist, which condensed into liquid ink, creating new shapes and outlines. Serena was now in a vast and dark room. The two boys from the Hogwarts Express crept around the numerous sterile beds; it was the hospital wing. If the Gryffindor had to guess, these two were probably a little older than her now. Tensely she followed their movements before they stopped at one of the beds and a soft croaking voice ripped through the silence, "What are you doing here? I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will be back in a minute, you should get out of here."

James waved it off, "As long as you're quiet, she should stay away an hour."

"We want to show you something," his friend whispered, lighting his wand, the light of which illuminated his striking face. His lively grey eyes, shining with mischievousness, had long since bore little resemblance to those of the sad little boy or the vacant ones that had gazed back at her from all those mugshots.

Serena now realised that the person in the bed was the boy from the photo with the sand-coloured hair. His questioning look spoke volumes that he hadn't the faintest idea what the night disturbance was about. This intensified when the boy wearing glasses pulled a rat out of his pocket. The boy stared at the rat and then back at James, "I have no idea what you're trying to tell me."

Serena's father cleared his throat with an amused smirk on his lips and the anticipation of what was to come was written all over his face, "You've probably noticed that James, Peter and I have been working on something... over the past few months."

"Oh, so you're finally going to let me in on your secret?" the dark blond asked mockingly, rolling his amber eyes.

James sighed, "Sorry, but we wanted it to be a surprise." He folded his arms over the white duvet and looked like a petulant child as he squatted in the bed, "So what's the surprise supposed to be and why are you showing it to me in the middle of the night?"

"If anyone finds out what we've done we'll be in big trouble," James explained to him expertly, using his index finger to push up the glasses that had almost slipped down to the tip of his nose earlier.

"Oh, it's going to be so great..." his best friend muttered with a wide conspiratorial grin on his face.

"What did you do?" There was a note of fear in the boy's voice, as if he was no longer sure he actually wanted to know what was going on. Like a parent who got a nasty letter from a teacher about their child, knowing he had done something wrong.

James pointed to something. Serena tensely followed his outstretched finger and looked straight into the grey eyes of a big black dog. No, the big black dog. He looked exactly like the one she had met at the lake! By now she no longer understood anything.

"Where did the dog come from?" the boy asked confusedly, taking the question out of Serena's mouth. His bespectacled friend just grinned, "Go on Sirius!"

The dog suddenly became a boy and Serena froze. No! Her father was an animagus! A bloody dog animagus who had been on the grounds of Hogwarts the whole bloody time! All air seemed to escape from her lungs, so much was the shock in her bones.

"What....How....Ahhh!" In a flash, her father jumped onto the bed and covered the mouth of the shrieking boy, whose eyes were wide open, "Sshht, I won't let you go until you promise not to scream anymore." He nodded and then wiped his lips in disgust, as if assuming that his friend had never washed his hands in his life.

"Look at that rat." James held the rodent directly in his face. With a pained expression, he eyed the animal before it too transformed into a human. It became Peter Pettigrew. And also in the place of James Potter, there was no longer a boy, but a damn stag. Serena believed by now that this memory she was in could only be a dream. Otherwise it would be far too twisted to have actually happened that way.

She just couldn't believe that they were all Animagi! She had no idea how they had done it, but the little she had been able to glean from McGonagall's lessons was that the transformation was quite complicated. Even for experienced wizards.

"AAAHH!"

Her father sighed and jumped onto the bed again, which began to groan suspiciously, "Don't make me put a silencing spell on you! Calm down and we'll explain!"

The boy had stopped screaming but his eyes were still widened. James, in the meantime, had turned back and started,
"Look, when we found out about your little problem, we were scared. Not scared of you, but scared for you and what you have to go through every month! We had to do something to help you!"

"Just for the record, we're talking about your furry problem," his best friend interjected teasingly. The boy in the bed opened his mouth indignantly, "Are you saying I have other problems?"

"Shut up, Sirius," James intervened and began to explain further, "We found out that werewolves are only dangerous to humans, but they're harmless to animals!"

Serena thought she had misheard. Werewolf?! That didn't sound like a small problem to her at all.

"We've spent the last three years finding out all about Animagi and also how to become one and now we've finally done it," Peter squealed, his face lighting up with excitement while the dark blond's remained dark, "You can't come during the full moon!"

"And why not? We've been working towards this for three years, we want to help you!"

"You can't help me!" he growled, "I'm a werewolf, you can't control me, I could seriously hurt you, maybe even kill you! You can't come with me, I'm dangerous, I'm a monster!"

The young Black grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer so that the tips of their noses were almost touching, "Say that again!"

"I AM A MONSTER!" the boy cried with tears in his eyes. At that moment, footsteps sounded in the corridor, approaching the hospital wing. The four reacted immediately, Peter became a rat again, the still nameless one pretended to be asleep and the remaining two threw on the invisible cloak. Not a second too soon, Madam Pomfrey came rushing into the hospital wing looking for the source of the commotion.

As quickly as she had come, however, she disappeared again and the boys gathered around the bed. The dark blond didn't look at any of them, "Why would you do something so stupid and dangerous for a monster like me?"

"Stop saying that," Serena's father growled, "You never were a monster and you never will be!"

He whimpered, "Stop lying to yourself."

"How many times do we have to tell you? You're not even close to being a monster! You're kind, helpful and smart! You just have a little furry problem once a month," James was now trying his luck at cheering him up and his best friend nodded, "Sometimes it seems easier to be a werewolf than a Black," he said sombrely, "There's at least 30 days a month you can hide that you are one."

"Don't speak of things you know nothing about," he retorted dryly, "It was idiotic of you to become Animagi!"

"We were only trying to help you!"

The boy muttered something Serena didn't understand, but James jumped up and pinned him to the bed. "What did I just tell you?" He hissed angrily.

"James, you're hurting me, my wounds haven't quite healed yet." He whimpered in pain, but he was still held down roughly, "Say that again!"

"Let go of me!"

"Not until you say it again out loud so Sirius and Peter can hear you too!"

The boy groaned in pain and finally buckled, "Monsters don't deserve help."

James abruptly tightened his grip for a few seconds before releasing him entirely and giving him one last warning look, "Don't ever say that again!"

"Still, you will not accompany me."

"Come on! We've been working on this for three years, it would be a waste!" Shouted Peter indignantly, "Besides, even if you don't want to, we'll still do it."

Giving in to this argument, he sighed, "Okay, once! But if it doesn't work, you won't be coming along!"

The dog, who had once again taken the dark-haired boy's place, began happily licking the young werewolf's face and wagging his tail merrily. He then smiled slightly as he tried to push the huge animal away.

The hospital wing gradually faded away and Serena now found herself in the boys' dormitory in Gryffindor Tower, which she recognised by the familiar red curtains. The four boys, who judging by their appearance had to be in their sixth or seventh year, were sitting on the dark floor in a shapeless circle.

"Hey Prongs, what did you think of the practical exam today in Care of Magical Creatures?"

Serena frowned when she heard the name Prongs, but abruptly remembered that said Prongs was supposed to be the actual recipient of this memory. Yet she still couldn't place it in her mind, even though she had heard it somewhere before. To her surprise, James finally replied, "Haven't given it much thought, to be honest."

"He was too busy concentrating on other things." Her father began to grin and give his friend a meaningful look, "Like Lily Evans, for example."

Serena remembered the girl from the train who had introduced herself as Lily Evans. Never in her life would she have thought that these two, of all people, would take a liking to each other. Suddenly, however, the scales fell from her eyes. Harry's mother's name had been Lily, as far as she could remember. Lily Potter. So the two of them had actually married!

The three boys laughed and even James grinned broadly, as if he was not in the least embarrassed to have been caught in the act. Peter then held out his short arm. "Hey Moony, pass the chocolate."

"Sorry, I'm out," the sandy-haired boy replied, and still Serena couldn't figure out the strange nicknames. But where had she heard them before? Was it some reference to a book or a movie?

"But I'm hungry!" squealed Peter with a tearful expression in his pale blue eyes which underlined his need. His friends merely laughed, "Hey, Prongs pass me the map and I'll make a quick run to the kitchen."

James did as he was told and pulled a sheet of parchment from his cloak, which he handed to his then best friend almost ceremoniously. Serena peered over his shoulder and the moment she saw what it was, something clicked. Of course, the map! Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs! The marauder's map!

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," her father whispered, surveying the winding corridors and hallways for a split second before making his way to the kitchen. She followed him anxiously, for she had never been there before. The tales of Fred and George alone had made her believe in its existence. After all, it wouldn't have surprised her at Hogwarts if the food really did magically appear and disappear again.

He finally stopped only in the underground part of Hogwarts. More precisely, in front of a painting that showed a bowl of fruit. With one finger, he stroked the pear, which then began to giggle and turn into a doorknob. With a last scrutinising glance over his shoulder, he took hold of it and pulled the portrait open like a door with a jerk.

Serena caught only a glimpse of the vast, high vault, which was as large as the Great Hall above. She could only shake her head; whoever built Hogwarts was definitely off their rocker.

Shimmering copper pots and brass pans were piled everywhere against the stone walls. But her attention was already on a small creature that scurried towards her, "Mr. Black, sir!" At the same moment, six more creatures, who must have been the infamous houseelves, came tripping towards the addressed with a large silver tray loaded with all kinds of sweets, "Anything you wish, Mr. Black!"

"Thank you, Talli," he grinned, already loading his pockets with all the delicacies the creatures enthusiastically offered him. Serena could only shake her head at the situation. She had always assumed that stealing food from the kitchen, as Fred and George did from time to time, was a mastery in itself. But the food was literally thrown at you.

After nothing fit into her father's pockets anymore, he said goodbye and went back to the Gryffindors' tower. There he proudly presented his friends his numerous achievements. They immediately pounced on them. Not much later, they lay on their beds with filled bellies and turned out the light.

The darkness and silence enveloped the rounded room before a voice broke through it,

"Guys?" the young Sirius asked with a voice a few octaves higher. "I think there's a spider here."

"Engorgio!" whispered James.

A horrified scream dissolved the scene and Serena was now standing in a sort of entrance hall, which was merely lit by a chandelier with dim and flickering light. Once again she recognised her father, who seemed to have hardly aged since the last sequence and was engaged in a heated discussion with a woman. It was the woman from the station; his mother. And this one possessed such a loud organ that the Gryffindor would have preferred to cover her ears.

"YOU CALL THESE TRAITORS AND MUDBLOODS YOUR FAMILY?" the stern-looking woman screeched, and as her son tried to slip away, she added with a threatening undertone in her voice, "You're not going anywhere! You stay here and you listen to me!"

The person addressed rolled his grey eyes, but actually paused on the stairs whose first step he had climbed. Waiting, he leaned against the wall, annoyed, "Your father and I are disappointed, no we are ashamed, that a child of ours could go astray like that! You have dragged the honour of the Blacks in the mud! You are friends with blood traitors, half-breeds and mudbloods! You should be ashamed of yourself! We have tolerated this for far too long."

"Stop insulting my friends!" he shouted back thunderously, causing the plaster to crackle off the walls and the stones on the chandelier to tremble.

"You are an embarrassment to us all, with your useless fre-"

"Stop it! My friends are better than you will ever be!" Pure anger blazed in his eyes, while his mother's face was contorted with rage. Surely this would not end well.

"Are you insulting me?" the woman asked in an unusually calm tone, in which, however, there was a clear and distinct threat.

Her son snorted audibly loudly, "No, that was a compliment."

"I forbid you to be sarcastic towards me!" she shouted, waving her index finger wildly in his face, "I've had enough of you and your behaviour! We have gracefully accepted that you have come to Gryffindor ab-"

"Truly gracefully, I remember the broken crockery and also the ruined paintings. Not to mention the Howlers to the teachers asking if there was a mistake!"

"Anyway, interacting with vermins is not acceptable!" she yelled back, to which he yelled back, "This family are vermins!"

"You are a disgrace," breathed his mother, deeply shaken, "Look at your brother Regulus, he has sensible views, but you are nothing but an embarrassment to our family."

"Shut up!" roared Serena's father, panting as he fixed the opposite wall with his grey eyes that now appeared dangerously dark, "I've had enough, I'm leaving."

With loud steps he rumbled up the stairs and were drowned out by the woman's shouting alone, "You haven't been cleared to leave yet, boy!"

But he seemed little bothered by this, for he had already opened one of the doors on the first floor and grabbed a huge bag, which to all appearances was already packed, as if he had guessed. The room where he was currently tying his shoes was almost bare in red and gold tones and the walls were covered with numerous Quidditch posters and pictures of his friends.

"I guess that's it," suddenly said a soft voice at the door, which made Serena spin around and put off marvelling at the room for the moment. It seemed to be the younger brother from the station.

"Yep," he replied, to which the younger boy managed a weak smile, which she didn't quite know how to interpret, "You're free."

"Come with me, you don't have to stay here, Reg." He asked him gently, but a pleading expression was in his eyes, as if he didn't want to leave him alone in this house.

"I can't."

His brother nodded as if he understood him. As if he knew the reason why he did not follow suit. Serena didn't know. Her uncle, meanwhile, lowered his gaze, "Where will you go?" he asked in a tone that suggested he already knew the answer.

"To the Potters'," the older sibling replied as a matter of course, taking a step towards him to pat him on the shoulder, "Then I guess it's goodbye for now."

His Adam's apple bounced as he swallowed. At that moment, the entire house was shaken by a loud explosion and one of the Quidditch posters in the red and gold room sailed to the floor.

"She's trying to blow your name off the family tree," the younger one breathed as a smirk spread across the other's lips as he shrugged his shoulders and began to descend the stairs again with his bag and a shouldered broom, "About time."

Before reaching the front door, he turned around one last time, "Goodbye, Mother!"

The goodbye was accompanied by another explosion that rang in Serena's ears, along with the screeching that followed, "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! LIVE IN THE STREET LIKE YOUR RIFFRAFF!"

Head held high, the Blacks' eldest son strutted out of the house and out into the night. A deeply pleased expression graced his face as he took out his wand at the road. A bang followed and out of nowhere a bright purple double decker bus appeared in the sparse residential area, "Hey Mike!"

"Sirius, where can I take you at this late hour?" the conductor asked, leaning out of the sliding door.

"Home."