As days passed, Serria found herself growing closer to Seamus and Dean. And although, she often spoke with Hermione, Parvati and another first-year, Lavender, because she shared a dormitory room with them, she wasn't exactly close to them. Due to this, she was constantly updated about the feats of her famous twin brother, Harry.

'He's got a Nimbus Two Thousand,' Seamus exclaimed. It was Halloween morning, as the three of them sat in the great hall for breakfast. 'That is the most advance broomstick on the market.'

'Is it really?' Dean looked. 'But who would have bought him one? No offense, but Harry is an orphan...'

'Ron tipped me off,' he grinned. 'It was Professor McGonagall, apparently.'

'Blimey,' Dean murmured. 'He's really lucky.'

Serria couldn't help but internally agree with Dean. Her brother was lucky. He was lucky to be oblivious to the truth. He was lucky to be unlike herself.

'What do we have first?' she heard herself asking.

'Charms,' Dean responded. 'And we're late.'

'Merlin's beard,' Seamus said, standing up. 'We are, aren't we?'

They arrived at charms ten minutes later, where Professor Flitwick announced that they were going to learn to make objects fly.

'Wicked,' Serria muttered. It was a spell she had read on a great deal and she was looking forward to putting it in practise. Professor Flitwick put them in pairs and to her relief, he was paired with Dean.

'Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!' squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. 'Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too -- never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest.'

Serria found herself saying the incantation several times, trying to levitate the feather. And after a few attempts, the feather rose from the table by about five inches and hovered there for almost half a minute before flopping back down onto the table top.

'Good work, Miss Evans,' Mr Flitwick praised. 'Keep practising and help Mr Thomas.'

'Oh god,' Dean whispered. 'How did you-'

'Why don't you try?'

'Wingardium Leviosa,' he said, twisting his wrist in a circular motion and then flicking it upwards. Much to his dismay, the feather lay there, immobile.

'Your swish needs to be more defined,' Serria explained. 'Here, let me show you.' She eased her grip on her wand and concentrated on the feather before her. 'Wingardium Leviosa.'

Her wrist swirled in a perfect circle and almost instantaneously angled upwards with a gracious flick. The feather, as if bound to her wand, floated off the table and rose far higher than before- way above her head. This time she kept her attention on her grip on her wand and she began to count how long she held the spell in place. She found that it wasn't exactly difficult, as the more she concentrated on the feather, the less significant the world around her became. One minute; two minutes; five... Soon she found herself losing count.

The strange smell of singeing hair filled the room, breaking her trance. The feather fell back onto the table and Serria turned to see her brother and Seamus' feather set alight. Quick as a flash, Harry grabbed his hat and put it out before it spread. Seamus gave him an apologetic smile and placed his wand back down.

On the next table, Ron wasn't having much more luck, either.

'Wingardium Leviosa!' he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.

'You're saying it wrong,' Serria heard Hermione snap. 'It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long.'

'You do it, then, if you're so clever,' Ron snarled.

Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, and said, 'Wingardium Leviosa!'

Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.

'Oh, well done!' cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. 'Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!'

Serria smiled at that. Hermione was truly, very gifted. She reminded herself to congratulate her on it afterwards. She spent the remainder of the lesson helping Dean in levitating the feather and sure enough, by the end of the hour, he was able to make the feather rise by several inches.

When they were dismissed, she was proud of the progress Dean had made as well as eager to practise the incantation in her dorm room, afterwards. As she caught up with Seamus, she heard Ron speak with Harry.

'It's no wonder no one can stand her,' Ron said, 'She's a nightmare, honestly.'

Just as Serria contemplated whether or not to intervene and point out that people could stand her, she spotted Hermione rushing past them, tears pouring down her face.

'I think she heard you,' Harry said, sounding uncomfortable.

'So?' Ron snapped, nevertheless looking slightly guilty. 'She must've noticed she's got no friends.'

For the rest of the day, Hermione was nowhere to be seen. Even though, she wasn't very close to Hermione, it worried Serria that her friend was missing.

As she made her way to the Halloween Feast with Seamus, later that day, she found that Hermione was still missing. In the mass of people, she spotted Lavender and hastily made her way towards her, closely followed by Seamus.

'Hey, Lavender,' she called. 'Have you seen Hermione?'

'Of course, I have,' Lavender said. 'Haven't you?'

'No, I haven't actually,' Serria replied. 'Where is she?'

'She's been in the girl's bathroom all day,' she explained. 'Crying.' Serria's heart squeezed at that and at once decided to go and comfort her.

'I'll go and get her then.' Seamus gave her a startled looked.

'But Serria, the feast-'

'I'll be back with Hermione,' Serria said.

She shoved through the ground and left the great hall, slipping through different corridors to reach the girl's bathroom. When she reached it, she opened the door and burst into the bathroom.

'Hermione?' she prompted. 'I know that you're in here!'

'Go away!' an indignant voice called back.

'It's me, Serria,' Serria said. 'Please come out.' The door to one of the cubicles creaked open and Hermione peeked out from behind it.

'Serria?' she asked. 'What are you doing here?'

To say that Hermione looked terrible was an understatement. Her cheeks were tear-stained and her eyes were swollen and rimmed with red. Serria smiled slightly.

'Looking for you, actually,' she said. 'I was worried about you.'

'You were?' Hermione sounded incredulous.

'Of course, I was, Hermione,' Serria said. 'You were missing for the entire day. I couldn't imagine what had gotten Hermione Granger upset enough to skip lessons.'

The grief on her face momentarily vanished and Hermione smiled despite how upset she was.

'It feels better to smile, doesn't it?' Serria said.

'It does,' she answered truthfully, staring at the red-haired girl with amazement. Hermione was always logical and intelligent in class, but when it came to real life, she had no idea how human emotions functioned. It mesmerised her that Serria Evans could cheer her up in mere seconds. 'Thank you.'

'What are friends for?' she asked. 'It doesn't matter what Ron Weasley said, you have friends and you are a great-'

'SERRIA, WATCH OUT!' Hermione screamed, her eyes wide with terror. Out of pure instinct, Serria ducked, sweeping her wand out of her cloak pocket.

It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.

Almost at once, Serria knew precisely what it was. She had read enough on magical beasts and spells to know exactly what to do. The creature in front of her was a troll, a dim-witted but nevertheless harmful beast.

'CONFUNDO!' she yelled, aiming her wand at the troll's head. Serria bit her lip, hoping for her spell to work, as she had only tried this once before on her cat, Sirius.

Either the troll was already too dim for the spell to make any difference or her spell made it more stupid than usual, because it lost its coordination and staggered forward, almost losing its balance. The troll lumbered forward toward Hermione and Serria racked her brain for another spell.

At that moment she spotted Harry and Ron entering the bathroom, making her heart almost stop. What was it with her brother being attracted to danger?

'Confuse it!' Harry said desperately to Ron, and, seizing a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.

The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It turned around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.

'Oy, pea-brain!' yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it.

Serria slipped behind the door and hid behind it. Harry should not see her; she had to avoid him at all costs. But Serria couldn't just abandon them, either.

'Come on, run, run!' Harry yelled at Hermione but she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror.

The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape. Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind.

It made Serria's heart sink. Do something, she urged herself. Something; anything.

The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped -- it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.

Suddenly, Serria realised what she could do. A powerful Impediment Jinx would make the troll fall realistically, as well as not give away her position.

'Wingardium Leviosa!' It was Ron's voice, as he held out his wand in the troll's direction.

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over -- and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head.

Serria intervened, knowing this was her only chance. Summoning all the power in her, she concentrated on the troll.

'Impedimenta,' she murmured.

The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done.

It was Hermione who spoke first.

'Is it -- dead?'

I don't think so," said Harry, I think it's just been knocked out."

He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.

'Urgh -- troll boogers.'

He wiped it on the troll's trousers.

Serria heard footsteps approach and she shrunk back into the corner. What if someone saw her? A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Professor Snape and Quirrell.

Snape bent over the troll and studied it carefully. He was the closest to the doorway, making him the most likely to spot Serria. She could hardly breathe, as he furrowed his eyebrows and glanced in towards the doorway.

His eyes met Serria's and his face filled with realisation. Snape looked back on the pale-looking Quirrell and angry Professor McGonagall, then back at Serria.

'Go,' Snape mouthed.

Serria need not to be told twice. Gripping her wand tightly in her fist, she flounced away towards Gryffindor tower.

Snape stared back at the unconscious mountain troll and subconsciously smiled.

'Just like her mother.'