The life of Serenity

Chapter 5

The nightmares start off the same. I can practically feel the evil leaking out of the rooms. A room I've never seen before, but had felt in passing. The sheet coming off to reveal a wooden cabinet with mist leaking from the inside....then nothing.

Sweat dripped from my forehead as I sat up in the guest bedroom of Headquarters. My heart pounding in my chest, my lungs trying to desperately get air into them, as I panted. My hair was normally a wild, frizzy, mess in the morning, but I knew it looked worse than ever before.

"Serenity, breakfast is ready." A voice called from the other side of the door.

My head snapped towards the voice, but I still couldn't manage my breathing to seem somewhat normal. Or enough to pass it on allergies or something like that.

Clearing my throat, I called out to the person on the other side. "I'll be down in a minute."

Stumbling out of bed, I pulled out sweatpants and a tshirt, brushed my hair and pulled it into a messy bun, before heading downstairs. I passed Kreature on my way down, and he bowed low to me, mumbling something about Slytherin and Hogwarts, before returning to his cleaning. It was strange, Kreature was only nice to me. No matter how much I tried to get him to be nice to everyone else, he still muttered mudblood and blood trainers under his breath when passing them. And he only bowed mockingly to Sirius, instead of the low, respectful bow I received. This was not the first time a house elf has had that type of reaction towards me.

Upon entering the kitchen, I was greeted with the Weasleys, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, and Tonks sitting around the table talking excitedly about the upcoming school year. Mad eye stood in the corner watching everyone else. His magic eye whirled towards me and gave a rough nod as I took a seat next to Fred. Fred and I have gotten closer in the last few years. He just seemed to pop up whenever I needed a sounding board. I felt bad for always using him to rant and rave to, but I try to make up for it by letting him use me as his test dummy for their products.

"Are you alright?" Fred whispered, as I grabbed a single piece of toast and folded it in half to eat around the crust.

"Fine." I whispered back, taking a bite and turning towards my werewolf Professor. "How are you Remus?"

"I'm fine, Serenity. It's good to see you again. How is everything going for you? I heard your parents weren't too keen on sending you back after last year." Silence fell over the room, as they whipped their heads towards me. I hadn't told anyone about that bit yet.

"My dad got orders to head back to America for the last two years of his career. They wanted me to stay and move with them, and when they heard about last year with the tournament, he was especially against me coming back."

"What changed his mind?" Hermione asked, knowing how forceful my dad can be when it comes to safety.

"Dumbledore and Sirius." I said with a small smile. "Dumbledore came over and talked to my dad about something, and Sirius offered to be my guardian until school was finished."

"Wow, cousin, I didn't think you had it in you." Tonks teased him gently.

Sirius scoffed. "Oh please, Tonks. I was an amazing roll model for you at that age." He countered.

"Yes, being in Azkaban was roll model material." She shot back.

"I was innocent. I still am, I just haven't been cleared yet." He grumbled, stabbing a piece of sausage with his fork aggressively.

"And you will be cleared, Sirius. I'm sure everyone is working on it." Hermione cut in, trying to diffuse the growing tension around the room at the mention of Sirius incarceration.