Serena's mouth hung open a little. Parrish looked between Serena and Amber, frowning, but said nothing.
"What do you mean everything?" Serena whispered her mouth a little dry as her cat Normandy clawed between her legs.
"I mean everything, Serena," said Amber. "Every possession, every cent, every brick to that damn house of his!"
Serena turned away with a slightly bitter look.
"Why would you want it anyways?" she whispered. "It's just a reminder of him."
"I didn't really want it," Amber said. "We already have Mother's money, possessions, and house. What the bloody hell would we do with another house?"
"Then why are you complaining?"
"Because it's the principle of the matter, Serena," Amber continued in her rage. "He left us nothing and we're his own God damned daughters!"
"I'm sure he had his reasons," Parrish said lightly.
"That's bullshit," Amber snapped.
"Amber," Serena bellowed over her sister's voice. "Can you just drop it? It doesn't matter. He left everything to Harry—so what? Harry had nothing but his small fortune from his parents. Its fine…just let it lie. It's not like you wanted it anyways."
Serena stood up abruptly and left the kitchen, running upstairs to her bedroom. She slammed the door and leaned against it, as if holding the door shut would keep out all of her internal demons. Tears welled up in Serena's eyes and she frowned. She hadn't actually cried since the last day of term…and even then it was only for a few moments.
Moving away from the door, she took a seat in the chair near the desk and looked out the window to the darkening sky outside. Her fingers found the small silver ring that hung around her neck on a silver chain. She played with the fourth of her Father's wedding band that had her name engraved on it as tears continued to run slowly down her cheeks.
She didn't understand why it had to happen, why Sirius Black had to die. What was worse, she felt like it was her fault—she had visions of his death for months before it ever happened, and when it came down to it, she should have stopped Harry from going to the Ministry a month ago. If she had stopped Harry, like the visions of Snape's head in the fire was telling her to, then none of this would have happened.
Serena rubbed her head and took a slow breath. She wondered what Harry was up to right now, and the bitter part of her heart was wondering if he was in just as much misery as her, if he was blaming himself for Sirius's death.
There was a knock on the bedroom door and Parrish entered. He held a letter in his hand, and dropped it on the desk next to Serena.
"Your O.W.L.s have arrived," he whispered softly.
"It doesn't matter," Serena said in her own whisper that was so low it was barely audible. "Nothing matters anymore Parrish…I feel so incomplete…"
Parrish looked at her with slightly hurt eyes, but he understood her pain. He had felt the same way when Rebecca, his younger sister, had been murdered by a werewolf. After the death of a loved one it's almost like no one except the deceased can make you feel better. Parrish sat down on the bed, watching Serena.
"You were fine this morning," he whispered rubbing his head.
"I'm never fine, Parrish," Serena said looking out the window. "I can't be fine…I feel cold and incomplete all the time, that's not fine. Just go to your meeting…I want to be alone."
She could hear him stand up from the bed and felt his presences as he moved to her. His hands touched her shoulders and he leaned over, kissing her neck softly with affection, not lust. Serena felt the warmth from his lips and appreciated it, but it didn't remove the cold emptiness from her heart.
"I'm here for you," he whispered in her ear. He stood up straight and headed for the door. He light an oil lamp on the dresser before he left the room, closing the door tightly behind him.
When his fingers left her skin Serena saw a flash of light in front of her eyes and a shiver crawled up her spine. She closed her eyes for only a few moments to watch a short premonition that was locked deep in her subconscious. Once the scene had been played out, she opened her eyes and remained motionless in the chair—looking out the window.
The vision was that of Serena sitting in the very chair she was sitting in then, and someone standing behind her. But from the angle the premonition was set at Serena couldn't tell who was standing behind her. The figure seemed familiar, but before she could place a name to the silhouette the vision was gone and she was looking out the window again.
She frowned. Who knew what her vision had meant…at that moment she didn't really care. She had lost all faith in her visions, and herself last month after what had happened. A whole year of warnings and she still wasn't able to save her Father, not to mention that she didn't follow her instincts, and she couldn't control her Sight in the Department of Mysteries.
She stood up quickly and grabbed the letter Parrish had left on the desk for her. She ripped it open, in hopes of taking her mind off of her Father and what had happened at the Ministry a month ago. She unfolded the letter and looked at the results of her O.W.L. exams.
Ordinary Wizarding Level Results:
Pass Grades: Fail Grades:
Outstanding (O)Poor (P)
Exceeds Expectations (E)Dreadful (D)
Acceptable (A)Troll (T)
Serena Surry Belle has achieved:
Astronomy……………………..E
Care of Magical Creatures……..E
Charms………………………...O
Divination……………………...O
Herbology……………………….E
Defense Against the Dark Arts….O
History of Magic……………….A
Potions………………………….O
Transfiguration…………………E
Serena sighed. Yes, they were very good grades, and she achieved eight O.W.L.s. Her grades only took her mind off of her Father for a few minutes. She sat down back in her chair and frowned slightly. At least she could be an Auror…if she ever learned to control her visions. Her eyes wondered out the window again to the dark fields behind the house.
As she looked out the window, she thought she saw a slight movement in the glass. She frowned slightly and squinted her eyes—a reflection was in the glass of a man. She stood up sharply, turning around and pulled out her wand. It was almost like she was seeing a ghost—no one was standing behind her, but she was almost sure that she had seen her Father standing inches from the bed, feet behind her chair…within arms reach of where she was standing now.
Her visions flickered in her memory. She had Seen someone standing behind her only a few moments ago in her subconscious. There was someone in the room.
"Father?" she whispered turning slowly and holding out her wand. She scanned the shadowy room, but saw nothing, no one. She dropped her wand to her side and stood up straight.
Her Father was dead. She was going crazy.
There was a sudden rush around Serena, and someone grabbed her from behind, wrapping their arm around her waist and covering her mouth with their hand. Serena tried to scream, but knew no one would here anyways. There was no one home to hear her, and not a house around for miles. Serena's instincts kicked in—the instinct to survive—and she bit down on the hand of the strong wizard that was holding her. The man yelped and let go of her mouth. She stomped on his foot harshly, and elbowed him in the stomach. Grabbing his arm she swung him around, smashing him into the desk.
Serena released the wizard's hand and picked up her wand that she had dropped to the floor. But before she cast a spell, he grabbed her wrist—there was a horrible popping sound as he bent it back—and caused her to drop her wand. She screamed in pain as her wrist broke. Pulling her arm out of his, her black sleeve got caught by his fingers and it was pulled off, revealing a dark skull and snack on her arm. The man looked at it surprised.
"Joining our cause?" he asked from behind his black mask.
"Go to hell," Serena said backing away from him. He drew his wand and pointed it at Serena.
"Not with out you, my pet," he hissed grabbing onto her upper arm. He pushed his wand against her neck harshly and looked at her like she was a disgusting sight.
Serena didn't give him a chance to curse her. She lifted her knee into his groin and knocked him on the side with the back of her elbow. As he fell to the ground she made a dash for the bedroom door, scooping up her wand as she went.
"AHHH!"
Something had caught her foot and caused her to fall over, knocking the side of the dresser as she fell. The oil lamp spilled across the door frame and flames erupted before Serena. When she looked around she saw the Death Eater holding onto her ankle. She kicked him in the face and knocked off the mask. The wizard cursed loudly as his nose began to bleed, but Serena didn't care. She fought to get her foot out of his grasp.
The fire was spreading across the carpet fast, and catching to the wood of the desk, which had been her Mothers. Serena kicked the Death Eater again and rammed her foot onto the ground crushing his fingers. He yelped again and released her foot out of shock, giving Serena the chance to jump up.
Racing to the door, she grabbed the photo of her parents off of her dresser and jumped through the flames that were blocking the door. She landed harshly on her weak ankle that the Death Eater had been holding and fell against the wall of the hallway to catch her balance.
The Death Eater jumped through the flames a moment later and crashed against Serena, knocking her against the wall at the top of the stairs. He didn't catch his balance and grabbed onto her collar. She screamed as he pulled her down the stairs, and they fell together, knocking each other and landing on each other as they rolled down the steps.
There was a sharp pain in Serena's back when she opened her eyes. She was looking up at the ceiling of the staircase—it was burnt to a crisp and Serena moved quickly, diving out of the way as the beams collapse. She looked at the bottom of the stairs, praying that the beam had landed on the damned Death Eater, but it hadn't. He was crawling at her, his wand clutched in his hand.
Serena jumped up. He was blocking her way out of the house. She looked behind her. She'd have to go out the back. She turned and ran down the hall towards the kitchen and reached the back door. The door knob was locked and she fiddled with the lock to get it open. Before she could unlock the door the Death Eater smashed her against the glass of the door's windows.
"Gotcha," he hissed her ear.
Serena tried to push her body back against his, but he was too strong and had her pinned quite well to the back door. She felt his wand press to the back of her neck.
"You're going to tell me what the prophecy said," he coughed. "Tell me now or you'll die!"
"We'll both die if we don't get out of the house!" Serena retorted. "In case you didn't notice it's on fire!"
There was a crashing sound as the floor above the living room collapsed on the furniture and memories that had been kept in the room. Serena's bedroom had been directly over the living room—the fire was spreading, and fast. She had to get out of there. Flames caught around the devastated room and began to crawl towards the kitchen.
The Death Eater slammed her against the glass again and it cracked a little.
"What about the prophecy?"
"I don't know a damned thing about it—you'll need to talk to Harry Potter or Albus Dumbledore if you want that kind of information."
"Have a premonition about it," the Death Eater yelled over the roaring flames. "Force a premonition."
"I can't just force them whenever I want to you bastard," she yelled back. "Who the hell are you?"
"You know who I am Serena." His voice had changed to one that she recognized and there was a pounding in her heart—for a moment she was sure her heart had stopped. Her mind raced quickly…but when she had knocked off his mask it wasn't the face of Phinneaus Page.
He pulled her away from the back door and threw her to the ground between the counter and the table. He was jeering over her and Serena watched in horror as his face morphed from that of a brown haired, blue eyed Death Eater, to that of the scarred long face of Phinneaus Page.
"Funny," he said twirling his wand in his fingers. "This is where you Mother begged for her life…rather poetic that you should beg for yours here to…in this very spot."
"I'm not begging for my life," Serena hissed with hatred.
Page grabbed her head by the hair and lifted up onto her knees. He pulled her head back all the way and leaned in close to her, pressing his wand to her neck.
"You know Serena," he said to her as the fire raged feet away from them. "You remind me of a cunning little pussy cat…every time I try to kill you, you seem to escape right through my fingers using another one of your nine lives…frankly I'm sick of it. I think all of your lives are up." He took a long breath and Serena tried to struggle against his grasp, but he pushed his wand harder against her throat and she cringed, freezing on the spot. "I want to hear you beg," he whispered softly in her ear. "Beg darling Serena…beg for your life…"
"Get your sick mouth away from me," Serena snapped pulling her head away. There was a sharp pain in her neck and Page held her firmly in her spot. His wand traced along her neck.
"Such a beautiful neck to waste," he leaned his head down and Serena closed her eyes almost afraid to see what he was doing. She felt his tongue drag across her skin and horrible visions flashed in her mind. She blinked her eyes with fear and pulled her neck away. Her hands groped around her and found the leg of a chair that had been knocked over in their struggle.
"You sick bastard!" she yelled swinging the broken leg of the chair at Page. She knocked him across the face and he fell backwards from the blow.
Jumping up Serena made to run for the hall to the front door, but the whole foyer was on fire and there was no way she was going to get out that way. She turned and saw Page beginning to stand up, shaking his head. His eyes locked with Serena's and he glared at her with hatred and frustration. He marched towards her and Serena looked around frantically for something to defend herself with, completely forgetting about the wand in her back pocket.
A log caught her eye—it was thick and heavy looking and would be perfect to knock Page unconscious with. She grabbed it and swung viciously at her attacker. Page let out a scream of pain and terror as Serena beat him in the stomach with log. She hadn't realized it was on fire until the flames smacked at Page and his robes caught fire. Serena dropped the torch jumped over the burning kitchen table. She dived through the window on the back door, shattering it to pieces and cutting open her arms. She summer salted across the back porch and sprang up, thankful for the yoga exercises she had been doing since school had gotten out.
Serena ran as far as she could away from the fire. She turned back and watched in horror and sorrow as the rest of the top floor of the house collapsed. Serena's eyes were welling up with tears—everything she had ever known had been in that house, personal items, school books, clothes, memories of her Mother…everything.
She began to cough and cry as she laid down in the field behind the house. She was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. Her chest rose and fell quickly with her short breathes—she was hyperventilating. Her hands were shaking, her whole body hurt and for a split second Serena thought she was going to die, which was a ridiculous thought of course.
As Serena's eyelids grew heavy she felt something pounce on her stomach. Her arm raised and she smiled slightly seeing her cat, Normandy on her stomach. She rubbed Normandy's head between the ears and sighed slightly.
"Oh Normandy," she whispered. "What are we going to do?"
Unconsciousness took Serena a few moments after that, and it wasn't until Amber and Parrish returned to the house late that evening that anyone even noticed the smoke in the sky above the scene. There was nothing left to save. They found Serena about an hour after starting the search for her—of course they feared that she had been in the house when it burnt to the ground, but they didn't find any bodies in the rubble and extended their search to the fields around the house, where they found Serena and Normandy.
