[Book 2]
❝ 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭.❞
Serena's fourth year at Hogwarts begins, but with no less drama than the previous year. Although Sirius Black was acquitted of all charges, not...
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• Serena Black •
"A cold wind was blowing from the north, and made the trees rustle like living things."
Serena's heart was beating up to her throat while her back was still pressed against the hard bark of a tree. She didn't understand what was going on as she looked around worriedly. Hall put a finger to his lips and pointed his illuminated wand between the trees. At that moment, a man stumbled out from behind a tall oak tree. The Gryffindor gasped for breath. "Isn't that..."
"Crouch," he confirmed quietly, shining the light directly into the face of the man who looked so alien. The once so finely dressed Ministry Department Head had numerous injuries on his face and looked completely bedraggled. He looked like one of the men her mother would force her to keep at least twenty metres away from.
But his unkemptness was not all that made him appear changed. He seemed to have completely lost his mind as he insistently pounded on a thick tree. "And when you've done that, Weatherby, send an owl to Dumbledore and confirm the number of Durmstrang students attending the tournament. Karkaroff has just informed us that there will be twelve..."
Serena wanted to take a step towards the man who so obviously needed help, but Hall held her back. Instead he took a step forward himself with a confident expression. "Mr Crouch, are you all right?" he asked clearly, though audibly concerned.
The person addressed, however, did not seem to notice him in the slightest, or he simply did not want to. He was still completely caught up in his own perceptions and was possibly not even aware that he was in the middle of a gloomy forest. "Will you so that, Weatherby, do you hear? Do you hear?"
"Completely insane...", Hall finally concluded and turned away as if any efforts would be useless anyway.
"What's wrong with him?" asked Serena in a trembling voice, but the Slytherin didn't seem to be listening to her at all, instead listening to other voices that had suddenly appeared nearby.
"Your Wronski feint, I must say..."
After the brief scraps of words that had wafted over to the two of them thanks to the cool wind, there was silence once more. Serena and Hall exchanged confused glances before another voice answered. "What's wrong?" it asked in a heavy accent, before another uncertain silence fell.
Serena tried to keep as calm as possible, fixating on the small white cloud that formed in front of her face with each exhale. She could only hope that Crouch wouldn't start talking to the trees again or make any other noise that would be discovered by the others.
The next moment, however, everything happened very quickly; a bright light flickered in the thicket and two boys stumbled out from between the trees.
