Best Years

Chapter 46

Year 5

Recap: Blaise and Draco spent the summer together. Blaise just had to keep a low profile while meetings with Voldemort took place. Ella was in training with Remus. Zahira spent the summer with her parents in Grimmauld; they moved there due to Dumbledore's orders for Sirius to stay there. Also on Dumbledore's orders, Zahira was not to contact Harry like the rest of his friends. Theo had an uneventful summer but realized his parents kept disappearing consistently. He had an idea why. Serena  spent her summer training with her father. Besides that she wrote her friends and.. mourned.

Serena

"Serena."

I looked up to see Father step out onto the porch of our house. He was in regular pajama attire and his hair was tied back. He had a mug in his hand stretching it towards me. Giving him a small smile, I grabbed the mug and brought it towards my face.

Tea. And... calming draught.

My eyes flickered up at him and he gave me a nod to drink.

"Why do i need to be calm?" I asked taking a sip.

"Because I have news for you," he sighed sitting across from me.

I took another sip and felt my body relax. After a moment I nodded and placed the tea on the stand beside my chair.

"Well what is it?" I asked.

"The Dark Lord wants you to take the mark soon," he said simply.

I stared at him for a moment and even though my mind was racing a million miles an hour my body remained still. I felt tears well up in my eyes but they wouldn't fall.

Fuck I hate this tea.

"How soon? For what? I'm not even of age-"

"I know. He's starting to look at the next generation. After the last war he wants to make sure there's no room for switching sides. Plus... you made quite the impression," he replied.

I clenched down on my jaw and ran a hand through my hair.

"How... how does it work? To get the mark? Does it hurt?"

"Well he puts you through a test. It's not.. it's not good."

"What did you do?"

Father's eyes darted down and his face grew pale. He wiped his face with his arm and sighed deeply.

"I crucioed some muggles for hours," he replied and my breath hitched.

"Did you have to do anything else? I already know I have to sacrifice... people."

"I had to hurt the person I cared for the most. When I realized what I was truly in for-  I had to hurt her. So she can give up on me and save herself. It nearly killed me but that was the last piece of humanity I probably had. After that- I did a lot of cruel and terrible things I'm not proud of. So just- be prepared to sacrifice those you love," dad said and I looked at him sadly.

"Who was she?" I asked

"you won't believe me if I told you."