Serena Black || 𝑳𝒖𝒎𝒐𝒔

Father and daughter

• Serena Black •

„I want to commit the murder
I was imprisoned for."

A little later they were finally ready to leave. Professor Lupin had splinted Ron's leg so that he could now walk without groaning in pain. With a Mobilcorpus, he had pulled Snape up by his arms, neck and knees, as if by invisible threads, so that he floated upright behind them like a puppet. His head dangled back and forth like that of a puppet.

With a bitter expression, Ron had agreed to chain himself to Peter Pettigrew together with Lupin to make sure he wouldn't try to run away. The redhead seemed to take Scabbers' true form as a personal insult, the way he contorted his face.

Serena opened the door to let the threesome through, when her godfather suddenly paused. "I guess that wasn't the best start to getting to know each other," he sighed, smiling in anguish. Then he tugged his school friend over by the arm. "Serena, this is Sirius. Sirius, this is Serena."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," he said, holding out his hand to the Gryffindor. His grey eyes no longer had that crazy gleam in them, and in general he seemed like a completely different man. Serena grasped it hesitantly, trying to classify this new feeling that was spreading inside her. She did not dwell on the fact that this had not even been their first meeting. The twinkle in her father's eye told her that he would not say a word about it either.

Finally they started to move. Descending the creaking stairs proved difficult in their awkward formation. But not as difficult as entering the tunnel. Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron had to turn sideways to make it. The teacher continued to hold Pettigrew at bay with his wand as Hermione advanced. Sirius, with Harry and Serena in his wake, let Snape float in front of him, his lifeless dangling head banging repeatedly against the tunnel wall. Serena had the feeling that this was purely intentional.

At some point he turned to her. Meanwhile, Snape's head was rubbing against the ceiling. "You wouldn't believe how sorry I am that I couldn't be there. For both of you." His eyes now fell on Harry, who had been walking silently beside Serena. Before she could say anything back, however, her father pulled a crumpled paper out of his pocket and held it out to her.

Hesitantly, she took it. It was a photo of a baby laughing into the camera with brown beady eyes. She knew this picture, it was also framed in her home. It was her mother's favourite picture of her. Then she carefully unfolded the labelled piece of paper. It was completely dirty and so worn that it almost fell apart.

Dear Sirius,
You are probably surprised to hear from me, but believe me, I wouldn't do it if it wasn't important. I have accepted your decision to leave, even though it still breaks my heart with each passing day. It's been months since I've heard from either of you and that worries me more than I'd like to admit. Even though we have not been together for a long time, I hope that you are all well and that the war is not too much on your bones. I don't know if you will ever come back to me, even when the war is finally over. I am not writing this letter to influence your decision about our relationship, only I think you should know. I was pregnant when you left. Two months, to be exact. If I had known then, maybe it would have made a difference. Or maybe not. I don't want to say that I can't do it alone, but it would be nicer with you. If not for me, then please for her. I named her Serena Miya. "Bright Star" because Sirius is the brightest of them all. I thought you'd like that. I also made Remus her godfather, just like you always wanted. Maybe it was stupid of me to do this because I don't know if I'll ever see either of you again, but it gives me hope. It's as if the family she was supposed to have wasn't so far away.
Katherine

"It saved me from going mad in Azkaban." He now looked like the man Serena knew from the pictures and the Pensieve. Full of hope, if rather broken.

"It wasn't your fault," she finally murmured, handing him back the photo and the letter. Serena still didn't know what to make of the fact that her father was innocent. On one hand she was relieved, confident, but on the other hand she didn't know how to deal with it.

By now they had reached the end of the dark tunnel and crawled out of the opening between the roots of the willow, which had once again been frozen by the operation of the knot.
Night had fallen over the lands. The only discernible light emanated from the distant windows of the castle.

Pettigrew was still breathing whistling breaths and occasionally letting out a whimper. Greedily, Serena sucked in the cool evening air, wondering if curfew had begun by now and if they would be greeted by a teacher at any moment.

"I promise I'll make it up to you," her father said, turning back to Harry. "I promise we'll..."

But neither Harry nor Serena knew what exactly he was about to promise them. The bright moonlight had bathed the lands in a silvery glow, reflected in the surface of the lake. Serena stared up at the luminous orb, which was moving past the grey clouds above her in a perfect circle.

Her father had frozen and held out both arms to shield her and Harry from the others. The hovering Snape, meanwhile, had collided with Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron and finally slumped to the ground. Serena continued to peer past her father and could see Lupin now stiffening and staring up at the full moon as if in a trance. His limbs began to tremble violently and his countenance contorted into one of the creatures he usually taught about.

"Oh no!" gasped Hermione, spinning around in a panic. "He didn't take his potion tonight after all! He's dangerous!"

"Run, now," Sirius whispered, turning to the teenagers. "Run, and run fast."

But Harry made a move to sprint directly in the opposite direction, for Ron was still chained to Pettigrew and Lupin. Sirius quickly grabbed him around the chest and threw him back. "Leave it to me. Run!"

While the werewolf reared up and opened its long mouth, Sirius disappeared from Serena's side. He, too, had transformed. The huge, bear-like dog leapt forward with a mighty bound. When the werewolf had freed itself from its restraint, the dog grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him away from Ron, Pettigrew and the others.

They lay there, clawing at each other, tearing at each other's fur with their claws. Pettigrew, meanwhile, had seized the moment and thrown himself on Lupin's wand in the grass. Serena watched the situation with bated breath, not quite knowing which of the ruffians to focus on first. She was completely unable to budge, even though letting the adults fight it out was indeed the smartest decision.

Her gaze remained on Pettigrew, whose face contorted hideously and whose hulking body shrank. Suddenly, movement came back to Serena and she expelled the pent-up air in a loud spell. "Stupor!"

The rat lay motionless in the grass, a little apart from the two scuffling rums. Serena sprinted towards the animal and incomprehensible disgust overcame her as she closed her hand around the rat's dull fur. But that didn't stop her from stuffing it into the pocket of her jacket.

"Colloportus," she murmured. By this spell, nothing would be able to get out of the pocket without magic. Serena breathed a sigh of relief, almost forgetting the dicey situation she was in. She only realised that she was in imminent danger when Hermione cried out. She hadn't even realised that she had come dangerously close to the fighting animals until she could feel a hot breath on the back of her neck, making her fine hairs stand up. Her heart skipped a beat and she dared not to turn around.

A dull pain suddenly spread through her right side and the next moment she felt herself being swept off her feet and slammed against something hard and rough. The back of her head had hit the rock hard and the pain obscured her vision as if a thick fog had rolled in during the last few seconds.

Serena's body felt heavier with each weakening heartbeat as she lay motionless in the cool grass, like a discarded doll. The force with which her torso had hit the rock had robbed her of all breath. She could not even bring a groan from her heavy lips and could not lift a finger. Cold crept into her limbs, everything went dark and then she suddenly felt very light. The darkness enveloped her like a blanket and brought with it a blissful numbness in which no more worries or pain existed.