"Help Us"

September 1971, 6 months later

Serenity was lying upside down on the couch in the Hufflepuff common room. Her fingers tapped against her stomach, and she waved her feet around in the air. The room was nearly empty. A few of her fellow seventh years were sat in the corner, studying at a round table and two fifth years were curled up in the circular windowsill mumbling to themselves.

To put it simply, she was bored. Lakita was in her care of magical creatures class and Filch had caught her trying to sneak into the Slytherin common room with Juliet. After their short-lived argument with the caretaker, she had half expected Juliet to join her on a walk around the school, perhaps to an emptier hallway but, instead, Narcissa had tugged her into their common room. Now alone, she had shuffled her way around the dungeons back to the Hufflepuff common room.

Huffing once more and looking away from the dim fireplace, she reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out the most recent letter she had received from Lucius. Hugging it close to her chest, she closed her eyes. It's her final year at Hogwarts and Lucius had graduated a few months ago along with Vaughn and Andromeda. In the letter, he had mentioned the rumours surrounding Andromeda running away with a muggle-born wizard. Andromeda had told her a few days before she sat her N.E.W.Ts about Ted Tonks- he was Ravenclaw and definitely not the sort of wizard her family would approve of and, upon seeing him, she vaguely remembered him from her first morning where she had healed Arthur Weasley.

Serenity was happy for Andromeda, despite the way Lucius seemed to portray her as a villain. For years now, the two of them felt more comfortable and supportive of each other than they did with their own sisters and cousins because, the fact was, they were each the outcast in their own family.

The paper under her fingers rustled and, with a longing sigh for her friends, she opened her eyes... and screamed.

Erin's upside down smile shocked her into falling sideways and sitting upright. Scowling, Serenity looked around, finding Dexter sitting on the couch opposite with an amused grin. Twisting her prefect badge on her robes, she looks between her cousins, which caused her loose ponytail to swing around wildly.

"Uh, hi." Taking a seat beside Dexter, who waves, Erin grips the seat cushion and watches Serenity expectantly. The three of them say very little. Dexter fidgets in his seat, Erin pursed her lips and glanced around the room, and Serenity slumped down while staring at the two.

"What do you want?" Erin and Dexter looked at each other, hesitation passed between them. Crossing her arms, Serenity raised an eyebrow at them. "Well?"

"We need your help." Erin blurted out. She was sat on the edge of her seat, pressing her hands together. "Great Grandfather and Dara have gone, insane?" She looks back at Dexter. "Yeah, it's crazy. When Merritt came home with Uncle Chris, Auntie Dara went absolutely crazy and practically kicked them both out of the house." Serenity's eyebrows lowered at that as Dexter drew in on himself.

"Great Grandfather threatened to kick me and mum out at dinner when she defended them." He picked his feet up on the couch and peered over at Serenity, watching her eyes darken.

"They're treating us like we're guests, 'Ren, and there's nothing we can do about it. Grandma told mum and I that she can't talk them down anymore. She's lost control, and we all know that Great Grandfather is more powerful than all of us combined... we're scared, 'Ren, please help us." Crossing her arms, Serenity rests her head back and grits her teeth.

A moment passes before any of them moves. Serenity considered for a moment before pushing herself to her feet.

"No."

"What? But-" Before Erin could say anything more, Serenity was out of the room and marching towards the Great Hall.

For the remainder of the hour, Serenity paced the length of the hall. Food was already beginning to appear around her as the elves in the kitchen prepared lunch. She chewed on her nails, lost in her own mind despite the few students slowly making their way to the benches in order to get early pickings. Every now and then she glanced around the room before turning and pacing the other direction.

This happened until the hall was active, with students from all years joining with their friends and settling down for some lunch.

Serenity looked up for the fifth time and finally saw who she wanted to see. Darting across the hall, she pushed her way around students and ran towards the entrance where Merritt was entering the room beside Phillip. As soon as she reached the two of them, Serenity took hold of Merritt's arm and dragged her back out of the hall. Protesting, Merritt began to struggle before realising that Serenity was there. She shut her mouth and allowed herself to be pulled away.

Once they were out of the way of the students, in a corridor with a single classroom at the end, Serenity pulled Merritt into a hug. She squeezed tightly, crushing her little sister close. It took a moment for Merritt to register what was happening, but when she found her senses she hugged Serenity back and buried her face into the crook of her neck.

Pulling away, they found that each of them were crying with a large smile on their face.

"Why are you here?" Serenity wiped the tears from Merritt's cheeks and moved her to sit on the bench in the alcove of the wall.

"Erin just told me what happened with Dara." Blushing, Merritt looks down at her hands. "Merritt, tell me what happened."

"Well, Dad wouldn't tell me where we were going. At first, he apparated us to the leaky cauldron, and we stayed there for a week or so. But, one day at breakfast, he got an owl and that morning we were going somewhere else.

"He said it was a surprise, that I would understand as soon as we arrived. We went to a nice little cottage way out in the middle of nowhere and, when Dad called out, I felt so, scared? I don't know, after everything that has happened I've been on high alert. But the woman that greeted us was so ugly." She pauses, acknowledging Serenity raising her eyebrows at her. "At first. When you look closer you can tell that she used to be beautiful before she gained those scars- it was also quite obvious that dad knew her when she was beautiful as well.

"Would you believe me if I said he cried when he saw her? He really did, 'Ren. The moment she stepped into the room she grinned at him, and he just burst into tears and started apologising. And then she started apologising and then the two of them were hugging and crying, and I was so confused. I tried to get their attention the normal way but it didn't matter what I did, so I had to project my voice. You should have seen their faces! It was like neither of them knew I existed up until that moment.

"The woman seemed transfixed by me. She wouldn't stop staring and Dad was really quiet all of a sudden. And neither of them spoke to me for so long, they just stared!" Merritt huffs out a breath, shaking her head at the memory. She turned to face Serenity. "Here's the doozy," she started,  "she seemed to recognise me. I could see it in her eyes, her eyes! I've never understood that kind of stuff until that moment because, I felt I knew her too.

"Dad introduced us, her name is Haley. At first, he introduced her as a friend from Hogwarts and that was it. We stayed there the whole summer, but after a week or so I came across an old photograph from their years here and you'd have to see it to believe me so, here," she pulls a photograph out of her pocket and turns it to show Serenity. Pointing to a brunette girl in the front row of the photograph, holding a broom and bludger club and wearing Ravenclaw colours, Merritt waits for her to say something. With no response, she sighs, "she looks just like me!" Serenity smiles.

"She's so pretty." Merritt shrugs.

"Thank you." Serenity nudges her and the two giggle. Merritt nods and pockets the photograph. "Yeah, she's my mum, 'Ren. It took nearly sixteen years for me to meet my real mum, and she's so cool! Not only was she a beater for the Ravenclaw quidditch team, but she also achieved an Outstanding in Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology in her N.E.W.T.s! She's so smart, 'Ren, and it doesn't even matter that Great Grandfather attacked her when I was born-"

"Wait, he did what?" Merritt quickly shut her mouth as she registered the harshness in Serenity's tone.

"N-nothing, it was ages ago. You know how he is with all the tradition and stuff, there was no way he was going to approve of my mum, she's muggle-born and a Ravenclaw." Serenity shook her head, resting against the wall and breathing heavily. As the day passed it seemed she had all the more incentive to finally give her Great Grandfather a taste of his own medicine, not to mention she no longer had the trace on her.