• Serena Black •

„When it's us
you make me forget
that I'm not ready for love."

Less than a week later, Serena and her mum were officially home at Crystal Cottage. Not much had changed in the small estate in the south-west of England, except that it perhaps felt a little more like her real home because of the many personal things she had taken with her.

The Weasleys, Hermione and Harry had also arrived a few days earlier, so as usual there was a lot of excitement in the house. Only the twins weren't involved for once, as they spent most of the time in their new shop.

It was early afternoon as Serena stood in the kitchen, buttering her toast and spreading a thin layer of honey on top. The holidays were almost over, but she felt as if they had only just begun. It had been a peaceful few weeks, if the almost daily reports of wizards suddenly disappearing, strange accidents or even deaths were disregarded. Autumn was approaching, as was the inevitable war. It had only been a matter of time anyway.

"When are our OWL results due?" asked someone in the next room. This person could only be Hermione, because no one else would ask such a question during the holidays. A moment later, she entered the kitchen with Harry and Ron, who also didn't seem happy to be reminded of their exams.

"I know I messed up Ancient Runes," she continued to mutter feverishly, and it sounded like she was talking to herself rather than the two boys, who both rolled their eyes. "I must have made at least one serious translation error and the practical part in..."

"Hermione, shut up, you're not the only one who's nervous!" Ron snapped at her. "And when you have your eleven perfect OWL's..."

"Stop it, stop it!" shouted Hermione, holding both hands to her ears. "I definitely failed everywhere!"

Serena, who had been silently listening to the conversation, frowned at her. "What happens if we fail?"

"We discuss with our head teachers what our other options are; I asked McGonagall about it last year. You're usually assigned some kind of tutor to catch up on the material or you repeat the whole year," she replied.

Serena stifled a smile; after all, Hermione was probably the last person who needed to ask. She began to nibble on her toast, obviously feeling Harry's gaze on her. He had often looked at her since the fight at the Ministry as if he couldn't comprehend her decisions in the slightest, as if he thought she was a complete brainiac. Part of her could understand, in a way, if she was looking at it as an outsider. But at least he didn't know what she knew.

Avoiding the look, she quickly began to stuff the soft bread into her mouth and leave the room. At the dining table in the drawing room, she passed Remus, whose nose was buried in the newspaper as he chatted quietly with Mr Weasley from time to time. Serena's godfather looked haggard and bitter, his light brown hair streaked with grey and a huge shadow seemed to hang over his face. "There have been more Dementor attacks," he muttered in a raspy voice. "And they found Igor Karkaroff's body in a cabin in the north. Honestly, I'm surprised he survived a whole year after he left the Death Eaters. Sirius' brother Regulus only made it a few days, as far as I remember."

He faltered when he realised that Serena was still standing at the door, silently listening in. With a faint smile, he tried to soften what he had said, but despite the fact that it didn't reach his tired eyes in the slightest, she returned it with an equally pitiful attempt before hurriedly continuing on her way.

It seemed that Serena wasn't the only one who had brought memories of her childhood back to the house. As she made her way up the stairs with the light-coloured carpet to her room, one of the pictures on the dark chest of drawers immediately caught her eye and stood out from the others. Although she knew it from Grimmauld Place, she had never had time to take a closer look.

She carefully picked up the frail frame. At first glance, the photograph in her pale hands could have been mistaken for a Muggle photo, as the boy depicted on it wasn't moving. He stood there, serious and stiff, dressed in heavy black robes on which his bright Slytherin badge stood out brightly and looked directly into the camera without blinking.

It was only at second glance that the differences to his brother became clearer. His face was much narrower, his lips a little thinner and his dark hair shorter and more carefully styled than her father would ever have worn it.

"He knew it was the wrong thing to do," said a voice behind her, "but unfortunately too late and you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. Serve, for life, or die."

Serena swallowed and found it strange that a person's life could be reduced to so few bitter sentences. Because she had never learnt anything else from her uncle. She carefully put the picture back in its place and turned round before speaking in a strangely hollow voice: "I wanted to meet up with Hailey later. Her parents said they could drive her here. We want to go for a walk or something..."

Her father raised an eyebrow and she could tell he didn't think it was a good idea. "Why doesn't she just come here?"

"Because of Ron," she said quickly, feeling her throat go dry and her hands get sweaty. She felt terrible, because she had never liked lying. But she had thought about the words carefully beforehand and so at that moment they came to her as easily as a truth: "She's still angry because he broke up with her and she can't bear to see him yet."

Not getting an immediate response, Serena decided to play one of her trump cards and added, "Mum let me see Nate last week too."

He seemed a little overwhelmed and unsure of how to respond. It seemed to suit him almost perfectly that her mum was coming over at that exact moment, because he couldn't do anything wrong. "Kathy, Serena wants to go out."

She came closer with a furrowed brow. "Is it safe here?"

"The entire property is covered in protective spells," he replied slowly. "That means that the area here is theoretically safe."

"I think we can do that," Serena intervened again, although her guilty conscience had made it difficult for her to say the words at all.

"Who are you seeing anyway?" her mum wanted to know. Serena could see the question of whether she was seeing a boy in her curious look. "Hailey," she replied quietly. "We could just go for a walk or have a picnic somewhere."

"But please take your mobile phone with you again," her mother asked her and her father also seemed to want to add something: "And you'll be back here before it gets dark."

"Fine!" She grinned happily and was glad that she didn't have to probe any further. It was probably her good fortune that the Crystal Cottage estate was quite spacious and would therefore be ideal for a walk. Otherwise, she certainly wouldn't have been allowed out the door.

Serena hurriedly packed a blanket in her bag, took a good look in the mirror and finally stepped outside the door. The bright sun blinded her for a moment before her eyes adjusted to the brightness. The front garden smelled of flowers, which lifted her spirits even more.

From a distance, she could see her date, who was not Hailey Price, as she had brazenly lied to her parents. Edmund Hall was standing in her place on the other side of the road opposite the driveway and was already looking impatiently towards her, "I thought you'd stood me up."

"And I told you I needed permission first," Serena returned smugly. "I guess I don't even need to ask you if you have one."

He grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "No one will notice that I'm not there anyway," he said and was about to walk the last few metres towards her before the Slytherin seemed to slam into an invisible wall.

Serena stared at him, perplexed, before she began to realise. "The protection spells..."

"Your father really doesn't like me, does he?" Edmund observed with an amused expression, while she merely kicked a stone thoughtfully. "And now what? I'm only allowed to stay on the grounds."

"I actually thought we could go to the lake," he then remarked, causing Serena to look up at him. The lake was on the other side of the village at the edge of the forest and therefore definitely not in the area where she was allowed to be. With a challenging grin, the blond held out his hand to her, which she looked at with mixed feelings. "Doesn't the brave little Gryffindor dare?"

The oppressive feeling in her chest grew. She didn't feel at all comfortable with this, but as long as she was back by dusk, no one would notice. After all, the area around the house was large and she could roam everywhere, so it would hardly be noticeable if she was missing. Serena took a deep breath, it'll be fine, she thought to herself, placed her hand in his and stepped out of the protected area and into the unknown. She felt vulnerable, she was now an easy target, but besides all these rather negative factors, the feeling of freedom outweighed them all.