Serena Black || 𝑳𝒖𝒎𝒐𝒔

The aftermath

• Serena Black •

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice,
but there must never be a time
when we fail to protest."

With her chin cupped in her hand, Serena leaned against the cool glass of the window and closed her eyes as the last students trudged in. Transfiguration by Professor McGonagall had been her favourite subject since the very first lesson, so she had settled down at one of the first rows of the classroom.

The first two hours of the new school year had exhausted her already and the only thing that would surpass the idea of a good book in her dormitory would be to hide in bed with a good book and chocolate.

Today's lesson was challenging and really interesting at the same time. Concentrated, Serena tried to take notes on Animagi, but she just couldn't get the Grim out of her head. While she was pretty sure that the pattern of her tea leaves showed just a regular dog, however, she was worried about Harry.

Serena was glad that no one but Hailey knew she had a similar sign. For throughout the hour, Harry was watched by his classmates as if he would drop dead at any moment.

Lost completely in her thoughts, the Gryffindor scrolled through her textbook, but her concentration was eventually torn off. She was suddenly so sleepy and her eyelids were so heavy that she could barely hold them open. On one of the pages she came across, showed an image of something that looked like a hippo. Serena stared at it, thinking that it reminded her a lot of Vincent Crabbe.

A mocking grin crept onto her lips. She tapped her fingertips onto the table surface and tried to keep herself awake for the last ten minutes of transfiguration.

"Miss Black?"

Almost immediately, Serena was torn from her thoughts. Quickly, her hand, which had held her head, plumped on the table, while she looked apologetically up to her house teacher, "Tell me, are you even listening to me?"

"Y-yes... Professor," she stammered, biting her lip. Her teacher then turned to the entire class, "What has happened to you today? Not that it would matter to me, but this is the first of my transformations, where I didn't get applause from the class."

Serena couldn't help but look at Harry in reflex, just as the rest of the class had done. But no one said a word until Hermione finally decided to raise her hand once more, "Please, Professor, we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves and..."

"Ah, of course." Said Professor McGonagall, looking at her with a knowing expression, "There is no need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"

All of them stared at her as if they were strucked by the thunder. Hailey turned to Serena and ordered her without words to raise her hand. Serena shook her head stubbornly, silently formed the word dog with her mouth, and finally turned to Professor McGonagall again.