Serena Black || 𝑪𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒐

𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆

• Prologue •

„You might belong in Gryffindor
where dwell the brave at heart.
Their daring nerve and chivalry
set Gryffindors apart."

"Black, Serena!"

The gazes of those present in the Great Hall turned to the girl as she broke away from the rest of the first graders. Her dark curly hair bounced up and down with each step she took and a slight blush crept onto her porcelain skin at all the attention. Her warm brown eyes, which stood out like chocolate sauce on vanilla ice cream on her otherwise cool appearance, were stubbornly directed forward.

Head held high, she strode between two house tables, to which she might belonged after the ceremony, to the teacher who had called her. The velvet black enchanted ceiling, dotted with stars, shone brightly above her. It was hard for her to imagine that there should be a ceiling at all and that the Great Hall did not simply open up to the sky.

Faster than Serena would have liked, she had already reached the elevation, which she climbed with shaky knees. She tried to take her time sitting down on the chair, for not too infrequently her mother criticised her for being too hasty. The last thing she saw before the hat covered her eyes were the students in front of her, waiting anxiously to see which house she would be assigned to.

Only occasionally were heads put together. Especially at the table of students with the snake emblem. Slytherin. That was the name of the house her best friend Nate had told her about. Most of them didn't like Muggle-borns according to him. Even though Serena's father had been a wizard, she wasn't any different from them in principle.

Serena didn't notice the puzzled looks of the teachers behind her or the disturbed expression on Severus Snape's face. But her appearance and demeanour left none of them in any doubt that the girl was part of the old and tradition-conscious Black family.

"Hmm... Another Black, then," a deep voice whispered in Serena's ear. She swallowed and continued to stare against the dark felt fabric that covered her vision. It still felt warm from her predecessor, but perhaps that was because the pointed hat was truly alive. And this one was about to seal her fate. A little nervously, she placed her hands in her lap and began to knead them before quickly pausing when she remembered that they were not obscured from the view of her new classmates.

"The Blacks share a long tradition in Slytherin, you must know," the talking hat continued, giving a harsh chuckle in response. "But in any dynasty, no matter how old, there are outliers. You're even rather like one of them in one way or another."

Serena felt her heart quicken. Was he talking about her father? No one had ever done that in front of her and she was greedy to know more. "You know my dad?"

"I've known every heart and head that's walked through those gates," he returned a touch too proudly not to be a little offended by her question. "But this is supposed to be about you. I see ambition and you're a little cunning too.... hmm but I don't think Slytherin would be the right choice for you. Let me think... where do I put you? Well, you... You combine opposite qualities in a fabulous way... that makes it extremely difficult..."

"I know I'm rather complicated."

"I have seen much more complicated minds than yours.... Now let me think..." he rebutted her objections. "I see you are brave, yet quick to take flight when something becomes emotionally uncomfortable. Gryffindor could teach you to face these situations. You try to hide your insecurities, which makes you look arrogant to others, although you are not, on the contrary, you have far too high expectations of yourself. Tell me, do you always look like you have swallowed a broomstick like at this moment?"

"I... what?" stammered Serena, confused at first. But she felt the unnatural tightening of her body itself. The urge to sit up straight, to not move her hands too much, to not let on that she was trembling in front of the many pairs of eyes on her. She had clenched her jaw, an annoying habit that her dentist did not like at all. She clenched her hands into fists at the insolence of the hat.

The latter laughed softly. "Very honest you are too, I suppose. You say what you think, but keep quiet about what you feel.... But I certainly don't see a Ravenclaw in you.... Hmmm... Don't you have any wishes at all?"

"I have a choice?" she then asked, suspicious and puzzled at the same time. "Isn't it your job to find the right house for me?" She felt her teeth clench further. Wasn't Ravenclaw the house of intelligence? Had he just called her stupid?

"Well... Your ancestors had precise ideas about the perfect house. I try to accommodate every wish. You, however, seem completely indifferent and that makes it extremely difficult."

Serena sighed, wondering what this hat was even paid for, if it was. "Then I would just like to go to the house I would be happiest in."

"Hmmm... if that's the case..." he murmured, a little dissatisfied with her answer. "I see the urge for getting to the bottom of things.... However, learning is not one of your priorities, you wouldn't be happy in Ravenclaw at all.... Maybe I'll put you in Slytherin after all? But there's no aspiration to power. Not even a little bit. How come?"

"What does power get me?" asked Serena honestly, feeling her stomach tighten. What if she actually got into Slytherin? Would she be able to make friends there when she wasn't pureblood at all?

"You are truly unlike any of the Blacks," the talking hat noted with amusement. "But I see I can't get you excited about Slytherin.... at least a little progress. If that's the case, I think Gryffindor and Hufflepuff would suit you equally well."

Serena hadn't even noticed how she had started kneading her hands in her lap again. Embarrassed, she unknotted them and distractedly smoothed the skirt of her new school uniform. "What house was my dad in?" she finally asked, unconsciously holding her breath.

"Oh, he was a Gryffindor by any stretch of the imagination," he replied. "Most unfortunate that you never seem to have met him."

Serena swallowed and tried to catch a glimpse of the Lion's House from under the hem of her hat. Tensely, the students' eyes were fixed forward, directly on her. Among them was a whole crowd of redheads, next to whom a row of seats was empty. Would she be seated there in a few seconds? Maybe her dad would be proud of her if she got into the same house as him? It felt like an invisible bond she could forge with the man she didn't know.

"I see your mind is made up long ago," the hat murmured, "Well, in that case.... Like father like daughter."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Serena felt herself breathing a sigh of relief. A broad smile accompanied her down the path from the podium and to the front table. Looking down at herself, she spotted the red and gold tie that was no longer grey and the emblem of the lion on her cloak. She had never felt prouder.

"Fred said you were going to be a Slytherin," the tall slender boy with red hair whispered to her as she sat down beside him. Then he smiled and winked at her. "I bet against it."

Serena couldn't help but return his infectious smile. As she did so, she didn't feel the gaze of the boy a few tables away, who was uncrossing his fingers under the table with a bitter expression, as if he had been part of the bet.