Chapter 1

Serenity lay in her four-poster bed, the satin sheets and the weird magical harp beginning to lull her into sleep. She resisted the want for sleep, hoping to catch any of the strange family coming into her room while they thought she was sleeping. But she knew that something was wrong with this family. Something told her they were very different from the people she had known for her entire life. And, who were these "No-Maj's" they were talking about?

But she also resisted sleep out of fear. Fear for the dreams to come back, the ones that had haunted her since she woke in the bed.

Soon, sleep got the better of her, though, and she drifted off into a sleep filled with nightmares.

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Serenity was sleeping in her room when sounds of a struggle woke her. A thump sounded from downstairs, and she quickly got out of bed, slipping on her robe and slippers. She stepped out of her room, stopping. All of her mother's pictures were on the floor, the glass from the frames scattered across the hallway. Vases from the tables were smashed, and a few of the tables were nothing but splinters. Her young brother's door had a hole in it, and, looking through the hole, the furniture too was destroyed. But there was no sign of young Toby. Tiptoeing downstairs, she peered around the hallway corner, and saw something of her worst fears: her mother on the ground, her body lax, while her father struggled to get away from people in long, black robes. Toby was on the antique armchair, a man in one of the robes holding a stick-like thing to his throat. She turned back around the corner, her eyes watering. Who were these people? Why were they hurting her family? Even at age eight, she knew she had to stop the intruders. How, she couldn't even guess. Her family never kept weapons where she or Toby could find them. And these people, who had the sticks, were harming her family with them. What were those sticks? How could her family be hurt from them?

All of a sudden, a scream echoed through the house.

"Where is she?!"

Serenity jumped, having not heard a scream like that before. She could hear her father stuttering, trying to say he didn't know who they wanted. Who did these people want? Then, a thought came. 'What if these people want me? If they do, then I should hide.. But, what about Mom and Dad? And Toby? What would happen to them, if I hide?'

She kept arguing with herself in her mind, but soon came to a decision. She wouldn't hide, she would stay there, and if the need arose, she would show herself. She watched from her corner, seeing a man hitting her father with lights from his stick. Her mother had begun to move, weakly, trying to get up and get to her husband. Toby was struggling, trying to get away from the man who kept him in the armchair. Then, the man blocking Toby muttered something, and Toby froze, unable to move at all. One woman, who was watching as her friends dealt with Serenity's family, looked around.

"Keep the three in here. I'm going to search the house for her. I know she's in here," she said, in a raspy voice, as she moved towards the hall.

Serenity gasped, and tried to figure out what to do. The old woman was getting closer; Serenity could hear her footsteps, and she knew that if she ran, the woman would know where she was, but if she stayed where she was, then the woman would find her as soon as she entered the hall.

Serenity decided that it would be better for her to run; she could escape through the window in her room, the one that was always open. Quickly, but also quietly, she ran up the stairs, going into her room. She threw a quick glance around the room, saying goodbye to everything she owned, before she sat on the windowsill, pulling herself through the open window. Footsteps behind her told her the woman was close; she had to get to the ground. She looked for a way down, and found a tree branch that looked like it could support her. She grabbed hold of it, swinging a leg over the side, and was pulling herself closer to the trunk of the tree when the woman put her head outside the window, and found Serenity. Serenity stifled a scream, trying to get to the trunk faster, but to no avail. The woman pulled herself out of the window, pointing her stick at Serenity.

"Don't you make me do this, young lady," she growled, forcing Serenity to stop.

"D-do what?" She asked, before returning to her escape.

"This," the woman said, before muttering something similar to what Toby's captor had muttered.

Serenity froze, unable to do anything, and the woman muttered another sentence or word, and Serenity found herself at the feet of the woman. The woman picked her up, smiling.

"We found you. I'm so glad we found you," she said, her voice now filled with care and joy, nothing like it had been only a minute before. The woman hugged Serenity to her, and then she took her downstairs, where her parents were, still guarded by the men with sticks.

"I found her. She was trying to get down a tree, but I stopped her, before she could hurt herself," the woman said, hugging Serenity with care. Serenity's father glared at the woman.

"Put my daughter down, you piece of filth!"

He lunged for the woman, but was unable to, as one of the men, quick with his words, was able to freeze him, just like Toby and Serenity had been.

"She was never your daughter from the start, filthy No-Maj. She belonged to someone else, but you took her from her true family, when they came here. You are the real kidnapper. Not us. You are the ones who should be punished for the kidnapping of little Serenity. You never even truly cared for her, anyway. But we will. We will care for her, in place of you. Come on, boys. Let's get home," the woman lectured, before holding onto Serenity tightly, the world dissolving around them, as Serenity's parents cried out from a fire that reached their room as Serenity was taken.

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Serenity woke, the memory still vivid in her mind. Tears rolled down her cheeks, as she thought how frightened little Toby must have been with that man in front of him. And her mother; was her mother alright? Her father, she hoped, recovered from the freeze he encountered from one of those men. She could remember how excited she had been that morning, to know that she was eight.

But now, all the excitement, the fun she had as a girl with her family, she could never experience. Not with this new family. She slid out of her bed, moving to her desk, where all her letters she had made for her parents and for her brother were sitting. She read through them, laughing at all the cute things she had written as an eight-year-old.

Soon, yelling could be heard from downstairs, and she looked up. The yelling was muffled, but she could still hear some of it.

"Why can't we send her to Ilvermorny? She belongs there!"

"Because it's dangerous there. Especially right now!"

"I don't care! Don't you remember the last child we took in? How she, too, was a witch yet she didn't get any training? We lost her, Rhea."

"I know. It's just- I don't want to lose Serri. Sending her to Ilvermorny means she will be gone for a year each time."

"Rhea, please. She needs her training. She can't be kept here for too long."

The voices were beginning to get louder, and Serenity knew that they were coming closer. They were probably going to take her out again. Where, she didn't know. They never told her where they were going, no matter what. Everything was kept a secret from her.

She could hear her mother, Rhea, sigh. "Alright. Fine. I'll take her to town and get her her supplies. Send an owl to the headmistress and tell her that Serri will be attending this year."

Thomas let out a loud breath of relief, which Serenity could hear through the door. "Thank you, Rhea. Little Serri will do well at Ilvermorny."

The doorknob moved, and Serenity tried to look back at her things on her desk, trying to look innocent. She'd heard most of their conversation, and while she didn't understand some of it, she understood most. They wanted to send her away to some school or something.

The door opened, and Thomas and Rhea stepped in.

"Serri," Thomas began, "I think it's time we had a talk."

Serenity looked up, giving a slight nod. Rhea moved over to Serenity's bed, sitting down. Thomas sat in one of the chairs. Serenity remained where she was, looking at each of her new parents. She had a feeling she knew what they were going to say, and she didn't want it.