Serena smiled contentedly, her fingers running down Kingsley's exposed torso down to the waistband of his jeans and then back up again, over his toned stomach and up to his neck, tracing the line of his jaw and lingering on his lips. He shut his eyes and leaned deeper into the sofa, sighing.
Serena, who was sitting on his lap, watched him closely before planting a gentle kiss on his jaw.
"Aren't you supposed to be marking papers?" Kingsley murmured. "End of March, the NEWTs will soon be upon you…"
"I am," she whispered breathlessly, kissing the tender skin behind his earlobe, "I'm grading your body."
"And?"
"It exceeds expectations," she teased.
"Exceeds- you cheeky – right I think it's time I did some marking!" In a flash he lifted her t shirt way above her head and threw it to the floor. His eyes twinkled as his large hands ran down the straps of her bra, lingering on the fabric that enclosed her breasts.
"Troll!" he concluded, earning the blow of a cushion from Serena.
He laughed loudly, wrestling it away from her with ease and kissing her deeply. "Outstanding," he murmured against her lips. "But I think we should run through your physical exam one more time…"
She sighed as he kissed his way down her chest, and she arched her back, her neck tilted up to the ceiling, her eyes slipping out of focus until-
There was a flash of orange fire.
Serena's breath caught in her throat, her body prickled with danger and her mind panicked, she felt as though her gut had been wrenched from her as the orange flame lit up the room, she tumbled from Kingsley's gasp, landing on the floor hard and springing to her feet, horror seeping over her.
"Serena! Serena, it's ok! It's not fire! It's not you! Babe, look at it, look it's not you!" Kingsley shook her by the shoulders until she understood what he had said and she looked at the orange shape that now took the form of a phoenix.
"It is time." The words were spoken in Albus' voice and the flash of his patronus disappeared.
"Oh my god," she said faintly, collapsing into Kingsley's chest. He held her tight and kissed her head, 'it's ok, you didn't lose control, ok? You're safe. You won't ever hurt us."
She took several deep breaths and pulled back out of his arms, her mind now turning to the fight ahead of them.
"It's happening," Kingsley said, looking at her with a fierce expression on his face. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply. "You be careful, cover your back and keep your eyes open."
She smiled and gave him a quick kiss and then they both burst into action. Serena grabbed her t shirt and Kingsley pulled a jumper and robes on, and they both ran out of the door, their wands drawn.
Within seconds they were racing down the castle steps together, joined by Remus who was running up from Hagrid's hut.
"Why tonight, dammit," he puffed, "It's a bloody full moon."
"What about us! We have tickets to see the Wyrd Sisters!" Serena laughed, giving his back a quick pat as they ran as quickly as they could down to the village.
As they got closer, they could hear screams and see flashes of red and green light shooting out of the main street. Serena quickened her pace, but Kingsley tugged at her arm and held her back for an instant, letting Remus head off alone. He cupped her face again, his breath blowing against her lips, his cloak blowing in the wind behind him.
"Be careful," he said firmly, and she could feel his worry resonating through his skin.
"I love you," she said firmly, "You concentrate on keeping yourself safe."
"I love you too, Serena." He kissed her quickly and then turned and was gone in a swirl of his cloak, running into the screams and flashes of green light beyond.
…
Chapter Twenty Four
Serena sprinted behind the tiny shops and houses, pausing to catch her breath in an alleyway adjoining the main street where the fighting was happening. She could hear shouts and occasional screams and the constant swish of spells as wands duelled.
She kept her back to the wall and looked carefully around the corner, her wand clutched tightly in her sweaty hand. The main street was a war zone. Bins had been overturned and windows broken, she counted at least ten Death Eaters- more than they had anticipated, all wearing black cloaks and shining silver masks. She spotted Remus, Sirius and Dawlish battling Death Eaters and whirling around in swishes of cloaks. Pomona was ushering an elderly couple of out view at the far end of the street.
She ducked quickly as a sudden burst of light hit the wall above her head, almost singing her hair. She swore and scrambled back, breathing heavily.
"Come on Serena," she muttered to herself before launching her body out of the alley and shooting a curse at the tall man who had tried to kill her. She kept her back to the shop fronts and focussed all of her concentration on the cloaked figure who took up the duel.
She jumped out of the way of a nasty combination of cruciatus and avada kedavra and drove back at him with a mix of curses and hexes, bringing the wind around her violently to protect herself against the onslaught of spells he sent at her. He seemed taken aback by her magic and she advanced, gaining on him, hitting him with curse after curse, ducking, jumping, crouching and even doing a forward roll to avoid a stunner that shot out from behind another duelling couple.
She advanced again, watching her footwork, keeping herself covered and eventually, he made a mistake. Her body-binding curse hit him on the right shoulder and he fell to the ground heavily, immobile.
She ducked down, checked she was under cover and levitated the man to the alley where she had been hiding, knocking him out with a stupefy for good measure.
As she rushed back to the main street a movement caught her eye and she only just dived out of the way in time. She hastily sent up a protego and slashed her other hand through the air, conjuring a whirl of flames above her head.
The Death Eater, whose arm was just visible, was taking cover around the corner of the building. When she heard his voice her insides chilled. "Now, this is a disappointment," the voice hissed. "I'd have thought that with your family lines, Miss Lake, you would be sympathetic to our… cause."
Serena's heart was pounding in her chest but she shot a slicing hex at his sleeve and as he grunted with pain and drew back she leapt after him, shooting curse after curse and backing them both into the main street once more.
"Mr. Malfoy," she cried, sending a roar of flames to him which he doused with a fountain of water. "I'm afraid I don't support your cause."
Malfoy sent wave of purple light which only served to anger her even further. "Dark magic? Really?" she growled, but a flash of light from behind her grazed her arm and she grunted, spinning in a whirl and rolling down out of sight behind a row of benches. She spotted the second masked wizard who, luckily, had bad aim and sprung up again, sending her strongest curses at Malfoy and using the wind to destabilise the other man. He was on his knees in a heartbeat, no spell he used had any effect on her magic and she managed to hit him with a stunner before he could disapparate.
Lucius Malfoy roared with rage and advanced quicker now, hitting her with dark spell after dark spell. Just as she hit him with an immobilising hex his streak of red grazed her elbow and she felt to her knees with a suppressed scream. The small cut on her elbow started to expand, opening wider and wider, blood seeped down her fingers, but she shut her eyes and willed the injury away. She used all the power of her telempath skills and as the pain subsided, so did her wound. When she opened her eyes, panting heavily, her arm was healed but covered in sticky, bright red blood. Malfoy had apparated away.
Sirius ran past her and gave her a clap on the back, encouraging her to get back up and follow him further up the street. They jumped on two Death Eaters as Serena saw Rolanda Hooch hitting the door of The Hog's Head with a loud thump, her head slumped down to her chest.
"We need to protect Hooch," she shouted to Sirius, whilst throwing attacking spells at her opposition, this time using their position at the end of the street to her advantage. Using her powers there was a large crack and a great cavern began opening up behind the unsuspecting Death Eaters. With Sirius' help, they started pushing the two dark wizards towards the hole. She heard a sound advancing behind her, ducked and slammed herself against a shop front, but it was Kingsley, who took up duelling her wizard immediately.
"Can you get to her?" he shouted, without looking at her.
As Kingsley and Sirius covered her, she ducked down and ran towards Rolanda, covering her with her body and placing a hand on her arm. She was unconscious, but alive. She watched as the two Death Eaters mis-stepped and, just before falling into the cavern she had created, disapparated out of sight. She grabbed Rolanda tightly and apparated them both to the other side of the street, where Filius took charge and levitated the witch up to the castle.
She apparated back to the spot where she had been, but Kingsley was gone. The Death Eaters, too, were disappearing, and more ministry aurors had appeared on the scene. Within seconds, the masked wizards seem to release they were outnumbered and they disapparated simultaneously with loud cracks. Serena ran up the street, covering herself carefully. She found Sirius slumped against the wall of The Three Broomsticks, grimacing. She crawled carefully over to him and took his hand, closing her eyes tight.
"What-"
"Argh!" she groaned as she felt the sharp throb of his broken arm and took it from him, making it disappear as quickly as it had come. She caught her breath and wiped sweat away from her face, checking that there were no longer any threats around them.
"What in merlin's name-"
"Benefits of being a telempath," she smiled, and she helped him to his feet. "We should get back to the castle and see what's happening, the aurors have it under control."
Sirius nodded in agreement and they jogged back up the street, checking side streets carefully. Serena saw Tonks talking to the other aurors and Dawlish was guarding a shop door. She could see several children peering through the broken glass window curiously.
"Have you seen Kingsley?" she asked him, looking around and not seeing her man anywhere.
"He went up to check the hills, he said." Sirius replied. "God, what a sport fighting Death Eaters is!"
"Did you get any?"
"Got a few slicing hexes on at least two of them!"
"Excellent!" She laughed and they hurried up the drive, hoping for good news from the others.