Serena sat herself down in the Great Hall. She was entering her 3rd year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Today on the first of September she seemed much quieter than usual, this was because she could already tell that this year was going to be one she'd never forget, and for all the wrong reasons. See, Serena was born into the honorable Black family... She never knew her mother and her father... Well, for the past 12 years he'd been locked up in Azkaban, the wizarding prison. That normally seemed alright for her, if she never knew her mother and her father was a supposed murderer then the muggle family that she lived with was the best she had, and she loved them. What was different this year, however, was her father, Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban. This bought all the attention to her, and not in a good way... This news made her scared, scared that he'd come looking for her, scared that she'd be ripped away from the family she loved so dearly... She was terrified... Of her own father.
"Hey. Black." Serena was knocked out of her thoughts by her childish, whining, very distant cousin, Draco Malfoy, and a fellow Slytherin. She slowly glanced up from her hands that were resting on the grand oak table to look at him right in the eye, her's full of disgust. "What?" She snapped back yet her voice seemed barely audible amongst the other student's chatter. "Is it true he's your father? Like you're actually related?" He asked with raised eyebrows and an excited smirk before Serena sneered at him, kicking him from under the table, making the blonde boy wince in pain. "Shove off Malfoy." She snapped as Dumbledore, the Headmaster silenced the students. She smirked a little to herself, satisfied before turning around to face the teacher's table where, in front of it, the Headmaster stood.
"Welcome. To another year at Hogwarts!" Dumbledore bellowed, his voice bouncing off the walls, echoing throughout the Great Hall. "Firstly I'd like to welcome Professor R.J Lupin, who has very kindly offered to take up the post of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Good luck Professor!" He said happily as the Great Hall clapped, including Serena. A man, seated next to Snape stood up with his hands clasped in front of him as he bowed, a small smile on his face. One thing Serena noticed was that his clothing didn't seem as grand and as expensive looking as the rest of the Professors, they seemed pretty standard. Beige and light brown being the dominant colors in his attire.
But then he made eye contact with Serena while he was stood, curiously. She seemed so familiar to him, she looked like a woman he used to know. With the same dark hair and dark eyes that gave the same glint that the woman's once had, that for a split second the clapping and cheering seemed to be drowned out with his thoughts.
Serena felt Professor Lupin's eyes on her. She glanced at him and furrowed her brows, Lupin? She thought to herself. The name seemed familiar like she'd seen in written down somewhere in a book, or once heard it mentioned. She decided to shake it off, thinking that a lot of people must have that name unless anything else came to her, she wasn't too bothered about figuring out how she recognized such a name.
As Lupin, whose first name was Remus, sat back down next to Slytherin's head of house, Professor Snape (someone Remus knew from his own school days) he leaned over curiously, almost whispering into the potion master's ear. "Who's that dark-haired girl sat at the Slytherin table?" He asked, though his voice seemed to break a little, almost out of worry, figuring Snape would recognize students from her own house. Snape glanced over to where Remus was looking with an almost blank expression "That's Serena Black.." He replied as Remus felt his heart drop. That girl's mother. Someone he was very close to. He had known Serena as a child, she was only a newborn baby when he had last seen her. He sighed softly and nodded, still keeping a curious eye on her as he began eating, but only picking at his food. It was only a few more nights until the next full moon so he wasn't feeling too hungry.
Serena began eating too but feeling the constant eye of the professor on her made her feel more and more uncomfortable. Why is he staring at me like that? She asked herself before letting out a heavy sigh, staring back at her plate as she gently pushed it away so that she could lean on her arms. Of course. She thought to herself. Even the teachers are going to go hard on me this year because of my father. How wonderful was that? She truly couldn't wait.
Serena snapped her head back up as she heard Draco's laugh, obviously joking about how Hagrid was going to be taking on Care of Magical Creatures which made Serena roll her eyes and shake her head. "Wait til my father hears that Dumbledore had this stupid oaf teaching classes" He spoke up as his 'friends' laughed along with him. "Is that the only thing you know how to do? Complain and say 'my father will hear about this!'" She said imitating Draco, which earned a few laughs, including one from herself when she noticed that Draco appeared to be getting flustered. "It's getting old Draco. And you do this every bloody day. Well, you're a coward, to put it simply Draco, you always seem to go running to daddy when things don't go the way you want them to just so he can sort it out. Grow up" She snapped at him, finishing with a clearly satisfied smirk on her face as she leaned back in her chair. Draco stared at her in complete and utter disbelief, he didn't think he'd ever heard her talk that much, let alone have the nerve to insult him. It was true, Serena was normally exceptionally quiet, but with everything that was happening, she found herself becoming more and more anxious and, more importantly, angry.
"What's the matter Blondie? Will your father hear about that too?" Serena said chuckling lightly as the rest of the Slytherin table erupted into laughter. They were either team Draco or team Serena, it would constantly switch depending on who was saying what. It wasn't difficult to say that Serena and Draco were the most famous Slytherins and each for the wrong reasons.
Back at the teacher's table, Minerva McGonagall (the Transfigurations Professor) leaned across to Remus with a small smile. "How did you find your journey here professor," She asked kindly, offering him a goblet of pumpkin juice. Lupin managed to smile a little despite his mind being elsewhere as he kept his eyes on Serena, only turning to his fellow and former professor, briefly, taking the drink out her hand "thank you, professor..." He said quietly, still deep in thought and also going back to his former name for the Transfiguration Professor. "Please Remus, you can call me Minerva," The older witch said kindly with a light-hearted laugh as Remus took a sip of pumpkin juice from the golden goblet, that looked funny against his attire. "I had a wonderful journey myself Minerva and I'm pleased to be back" He replied with a kind smile, still gazing at Serena.
Minerva smiled more as he mentioned how nice it felt to be back and she nodded a little. "Yes, I can imagine how wonderful it feels," She said before noticing that his eyes weren't on her, in fact, they were on a particular Slytherin girl, one she knew that Remus knew extremely well, even having not seen her in 12 years. "I can see you've spotted Serena.." She said with a sad sigh and smile to go with it as Remus nodded. "Yes..." He said in thought, only picking at his food now, not even looking down at the plate. "Yes, I did notice her... How much she's grown.." He mumbled, more to himself that time before Minerva looked at him, smiling sadly. "I suppose you plan on getting to know her more..?" She questioned as Remus nodded sadly with a small yet faint smile. "Yes, I am... I failed her so many years ago when I had the chance to raise her and threw it away... So I'm going to repay that..." He mumbled in thought. He wasn't really eating much, just playing around with his food, moving it around the plate with his fork.
"Do you think you're going to tell her the truth?" Minerva asked "about what really happened that night?" Her question clearly surprised the werewolf as he turned to her with wide eyes, nearly spilling his drink over her neat, emerald green robes. He sighed softly and put the goblet down so that that wouldn't happen. "Possibly..I have a feeling that she has a right to know... After all these years.." He said softly. "Yet I feel that if I was to tell her the truth things would change... And maybe not for the better.."