If Serena had thought the rest of the train ride was going to be uneventful, she was wrong. However, the second interruption was much more welcome to her than the first had been. She and Narcissa had been sitting in companionable silence, both reading their respective books (Serena a book on basic runes, and Narcissa a young-adult romance novel) when suddenly a voice spoke up.

"Stop it, Birgir!"

The weird thing is that the voice had come from inside their compartment, despite neither of them having noticed the door open or anyone come in, and sure enough when they both looked up in surprise there was someone else there. It was Janie who had somehow slipped in without being noticed, and he probably would have continued that way for much of the trainride had it not been for his tiny companion. Serena was pretty sure that Janie had not had a pet before, but right now, flying around his head, landing briefly only to take flight almost immediately once more, was the smallest owl that Serena had ever seen. As it buzzed about in the air, it twittered incessantly.

"Can I help? Help? I love you friend! Can I help you?" It cooed, flapping about erratically as Janie half-heartedly tried to bat it out of the air.

Serena couldn't help an amused snigger- Janie's pet being such a guileless and sincere bird was ironic and beautiful.

"Birgir, attack!" Janie ordered, dramatically pointing towards Serena. The miniscule owl turned on a dime and jetted towards the blond girl at surprising speed- and alighted softly on her shoulder, nuzzling her.

"Friend, friend! I help!" He cheered as he did so, Janie deflating in absolute disappointment when he saw his bird fail so miserably in the attack effort.

"He can't steal either," Janie complained, his small frame seeming even smaller as he slouched back into the chair.

"I'm sure he'll turn into a majestic thief under your tutelage," Serena assured, petting the little guy in her shoulder as he preened.

"The majestic-est," Janie agreed, though he was glaring slightly at the small owl.

The rest of the train ride passed unremarkably, and the three shuffled off the train without any further incidents. Despite looking, Serena didn't spot Regulus at all. She did see the four Gryffindor troublemakers, but made sure to hang back until they were all safely in their carriage.

As they approached the carriage, Serena paused a moment to look at the thestrals- or rather, the seemingly empty space which she was sure they occupied. Because she did, she saw Janie stop for just a moment in shock, also looking at the creatures. His eyes squinted for a moment, and then he slowly got into the carriage, staring suspiciously at the thestrals the whole time.

That was weird. Could he see the thestrals now?

In the great hall, Serena caught her first glimpse of Regulus. She wasn't about to go over and say hi to him- he clearly didn't want her to- but she sat facing the slytherin table. She noticed him looking in her general direction at one point, but was unsure if he was looking at her or not. Well, either way, she figured it wouldn't hurt to smile at him just in case he was looking.

He didn't seem to react at all, so after a moment she turned back to the front. Just in time for all the new first years to enter.

As usual, the sorting ceremony began with a song. The sorting hat was placed on its stool, and the sorting sat once again began to serenade its audience. As it had been since Serena had come to school, the song seemed to be something of a warning. She would have to ask Xeno if the songs had always been like this.

"From the start my duty was
To pick a student's house
But as time goes marching on
I find reason to grouse

To split ourselves in times of peace
As we have done before
Is only to set up the stage
For strife in times of war

The house for those brave and bold
Was started by Gryffindor
He wanted to help gather those
Who knew what to fight for

Kind Helga Hufflepuff
Gathered up the loyal
So that when strife came creeping in
For their friendships they would toil

Ravenclaw took sharp of mind
Their wit all next to none
In times of fear to use their brains
To find the best solution

Slytherin valued cunning
And the unfailingly determined
So when on a sea of strife
To the top they would ascend

Each and every hogwarts house
Exists to facilitate
The different types of student
To make all of them first rate

But seperate one house has flaws
And lacks the needed tools
So if divided we all fight
In the end we're only fools"

The sorting went as usual- Serena didn't notice anyone in particular standing out, there weren't any she knew before, or siblings of her friends. There was one "Crouch, Bartimus Jr" that several people seemed to be muttering about- his father was someone important in the ministry apparently, but that was it. It was also interesting that he was sorted into slytherin, and somehow ended up sitting right in between Bellatrix and Regulus. He seemed to fit in rather well to their little group- Serena hoped that he and Regulus could become friends. Reg needed a friend that he could actually claim in front of his parents.

"What about you, Sere?"

"Huh?" Serena asked, turning from her contemplative staring at the Slytherin table to look instead at Matt. She really needed to get better at listening to him, she zoned out of conversations so much she feared he'd get bored with talking to her. He just smiled, despite the fact that she had clearly not been listening to the conversation he had been having next to her.

"We're talking about our electives, which ones are you planning on taking?"

"I'll be taking Runes, Arithmancy, and Care of Magical Creatures."

"You're taking three? Wow! We'll be in Arithmancy together though," he smiled. "My other one is Divination. It seems pretty interesting." Serena nodded- Janus would be in divination. It did seem interesting enough, but Serena had never been very interested in the future- at least not knowing about it beforehand. She thought it was more productive to focus on the present and get around to that when it happened.

"I've heard that care of magical creatures is kind of a blow-off class," Liz smiled, "I'm taking it too, it'll hopefully be all fun and games."

"My mom talked me into taking Ancient Runes," Rachel frowned, "but I don't know how to feel about it yet. At least we'll be in it together."

That night everyone celebrated the return to Hogwarts and welcomed the new first years as well- Serena sat on the book-laden windowsill in the common room, looking out at the castle grounds.

She really had missed this place.