The betrayal of a friend

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• Serena Black •

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• Serena Black •

„Sometimes the person
you'd take a bullet for
is standing behind the trigger."

The wind tugged at Serena's curls as she marched through the thick grass, which bent in the breeze like the subjects of a king. The hole between the roots on the trunk of the willow was still open, but its branches were already trembling menacingly, as if she were about to break the spell. Head first, she climbed into the gap, slid down a slide of earth and landed at the bottom of a very low tunnel. Hunched low, she walked along the narrow, dark tunnel, following Professor Lupin's soft panting.

The secret passage seemed never-ending and Serena had to be careful to keep enough distance between herself and her godfather so that he would not notice her. But his lead seemed large enough. The stinging in her sides hurt and gradually she could no longer hear Lupin's footsteps and loud breathing. She fell further and further behind and made a silent promise to herself to exercise more in the future.

As the tunnel rose, she could see a faint spot of light falling through a small opening. Serena paused and struggled for breath before pulling herself up through the opening. With only cold earth piling up into a dead end in front of her, this was the only way the teacher could have gone. Unless he had simply vanished into thin air.

The room she was in now was trashed and dusty, the wallpaper peeling off the walls, the whole floor covered in stains and all the furniture broken as if someone had smashed it. The only source of light were the narrow cracks between the boards at the windows, through which the last light of the day fell.

Serena winced as it creaked above her head. Something had clearly moved on the upper floor. As quietly as the thick soles of her boots would allow, she crept out into the hallway and up the rotten stairs. A thick layer of dust lay on every level surface, only on the steps something heavy that had been dragged upstairs had left a bright, shiny streak. Serena felt her heart stumble, yet her legs continued as if they belonged to someone else. Someone far braver than she was. As if this person didn't care at all what, or rather who, she would meet up there.

She was not sure whether this reassured her or frightened her. She was now so close to her destination that she could hear a muffled voice. It was one that had become more familiar to her in recent months than any other. It clearly belonged to Professor Lupin. "Where is he, Sirius?"

Then there was silence again. It was so quiet that Serena could hear her own heartbeat, which was disturbingly fast. The number of questions haunting her mind grew. Where was who? Harry? A sickening taste spread across her tongue. Had they arrived too late?

"But then..." murmured Lupin, and the rest of the conversation was swallowed up in the distance. Slowly, Serena crept closer to the door where his voice came from. "Unless it was him... if you swapped... without telling me?" The voice grew louder with each of her steps.

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