Serena Black || 𝑨𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂

To take a cup too much

• Serena Black •

" Truth is like alcohol
hard to swallow
and best served cold."

Serena would have liked to cancel her acceptance to the sixth years' party. Her mood hadn't been particularly good over the last few weeks anyway and, thanks to Umbridge, it had now hit rock bottom. But maybe a little distraction with her friends would do her good and make her forget her worries for a moment. Perhaps that was exactly what she needed.

Sighing, she trotted after her friends who, unlike her, could hardly wait to finally get to the empty classroom where the whole spectacle was to take place. On the other hand, she could have remembered a thousand things she would rather have done. This included simply lying down in her four-poster bed and staring up at the ceiling. If she did it long enough, she might even be able to see stars, like in the Ravenclaw dormitories. However, in order not to spoil the others' mood, she forced herself to smile now and again, but it didn't reach her eyes.

The corridor in the basement lay quietly and inconspicuously before them, but the four of them knew better and indeed, a short time later, the door to one of the rooms was pushed open. Serena didn't know the room and assumed that it was one of the former classrooms. From the outside, no one would have expected a loud party to be raging just a few metres away. But that was probably the point.

Blaise Zabini waved a bottle of firewhiskey in front of her and waved her in happily, "Come in, ladies."

He left Hailey and Serena grinning stupidly before blocking the way in front of Nate and Ron. "Nope, password first."

"Don't be ridiculous, Zabini." Serena rolled her eyes and pushed the drunk Slytherin aside. He staggered for a moment and then disappeared into the dancing crowd. To say he was drunk was probably the understatement of the century. His eyes were glazed over and he had apparently long forgotten what had happened or that he had apparently been the bouncer.

The year above her had indeed done a great job and the party was already in full swing. Serena had been prepared for many things, but not for what now lay ahead of her. She had already witnessed the Gryffindor parties at the Quidditch Cup or other celebrations, or the one time at the lake that had been hosted by the Slytherins and Ravenclaws. Food had been pilfered from the kitchen and the odd bottle of alcohol while hymns and songs were belted out.

The sixth years' party, on the other hand, seemed to be in a completely different league. At the head of the room was a long table, teeming with high-proof alcohol, and there seemed to be quite a few people on the dance floor who had already had a taste.

Not even half an hour had passed when Serena found herself sitting on an improvised couch between Katie Bell and an older Hufflepuff. She seemed to be the only one who was getting increasingly bored. Hailey and Ron had tucked themselves away in one of the corners and seemed to prefer to keep to themselves. Nate and Timothy Barnes were also involved in a conversation that Serena had no idea what it was about.