Serena's large brown eyes slowly fluttered open, and the hazy world gradually focused to reveal her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was that everything was white, or worse, magnolia, and a strong smell of disinfectant invaded her nostrils. She groaned. It must be the medical rooms at Beauxbatons, although it seemed strangely unfamiliar.

Bright sunlight filtered through a large window, hurting her eyes. She closed them, and wondered drowsily whether she had fallen off her brown while playing Quidditch, and how long she had been here. "I hope Nadine comes and rescues me soon before Madame Pasteur mollycoddles me to death," she thought, and allowed a small smile to form on her lips as the image of the friendly nurse's dumpy round face and sparkling eyes appeared in her mind.

She tried to sit up, and suddenly her eyes flew open, and she was wide awake as a spasm of pain shot through her leg, causing her to gasp and slump back down on the bed, breathing hard. Memories came flooding back. The dark forest, her father, Voldemort, the wolf…

Her father! She couldn't stay at Beauxbatons - that would be the first place he would look for her. She started to sit up again, trying to ignore the pain in her leg, when she heard footsteps outside, and unfamiliar voices.

"Severus, you're sure there's nothing you can do? She's just a girl-" said a woman's voice with a Scottish accent.

"Quite sure Minerva." Answered a male. "This is a burden she will have to carry for the rest of her life."

"She can't be more than 16…" the woman trailed off.

A different man said mournfully "It's my fault. I should have made sure Remus had taken his potion, it was right there for him, right there, I didn't even remind him…"

"Now now Sirius, it can't do any good to reflect on what we should have done, when there are things to do in the present," said a somewhat more cheerful, older wizard. "We may as well go in, something tells me she has already woken up."

Serena jumped at this, then wriggled under the covers, wondering what on earth could have happened to her, and why the voices were speaking English in France, although luckily, she had lived in England until she was 10, and was fluent in both languages.

The door to the room creaked open, and 3 wizards and a witch entered. The old wizard smiled. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Serena Silvan"

Hogwarts? Yes of course, they hosted the Triwizard Tournament a few months ago, the tournament that heralded the return of Voldemort…but why was she here? She looked around at the faces staring at her. The old wizard had a white beard almost to his knees, and there was a twinkle in his wrinkled but intent eyes. The witch named Minerva was looking extremely worried, and one of the wizards stood a little apart from the other, and he wore a frown on his face as his black hair hung in greasy strands from his head. The other wizard stepped forward, his face young, but careworn, and he had a haggard look about him, as if he was suffering from a lack of sleep. Serena could see pain and guilt in his eyes as he spoke.

"Allow me to explain," he began softly. "My name is Sirius Black-"

Serena gasped and backed away. This man was a murderer – and they let him into a school?!

"No, please, I'm not – you don't understand…" he sighed. "Just hear me out, OK?"

Serena nodded dumbly. It wasn't like a convicted criminal was going to allow her to do anything else. He took a deep breath.

"My friend, Remus Lupin is a, uh, a werewolf. It is he that has bitten you."

Serena's eyes widened, but she remained silent.

"He was meant to take a potion to prevent him from changing on the full moon, but for some reason or other, he did not. I followed him into the forest, meaning to catch and restrain him, but I was too late to prevent him from attacking you…" He fell silent for a moment, before speaking again. "All I could do was to stun Remus temporarily, and Apparate us all here to Hogwarts, and Professor Dumbledore," he motioned to the older wizard. Serena was still dubious, but something in the man's voice and an honesty in his eyes made her soften towards him.

"Unfortunately, being bitten by a werewolf is no small matter," said the greasy haired man. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you also are now a werewolf."

Serena was thunderstruck. A werewolf? They were creatures you learned about in Defence against the Dark Arts, not something that posed a real threat… It was some time before she realised that the wizard had stopped talking and the elderly witch had caught her in a tight hug. Serena automatically relaxed into the embrace, the way she used to with her mother…Tears stung her eyes, and she tried to fight them back, determined to be strong, but a large drop escaped and trickled down her cheek. It caught the sunlight as it fell from her chin to the pillow, landing with a barely audible plip.

After several minutes of silence, Dumbledore finally spoke. "I understand this must be very difficult for you, but we hope to ease your suffering, even if only a little, by inviting you to attend Hogwarts this year. You see, we know much about you, as Professor Snape here is a spy for the Light Side among the Death Eaters, and he told us how your father and the Dark Lord would become threats to your life after your escape. We cannot guarantee that at Hogwarts you will be completely safe from all harm – ("after all, 3 first-years managed to find the Philosophers Stone" he thought inwardly) but at least your studies will not suffer, and we will certainly do our very best to protect you." He paused, before continuing. "Of course we cannot expect an immediate answer. We will leave you to rest, and come back later when you have had time to reflect upon your situation."

At that moment, a podgy witch that reminded Serena strongly of Matron Pasteur bustled into the room.

"Now Albus, I'll not have you harassing my patients while they are trying to recover. Oh, good morning dear, how is your leg?" she asked, smiling at Serena.

"Er-"

"Of course you'll be staying here for a few days, though it could be longer if certain people refuse to leave," She said, glaring at Dumbledore.

"Of course Poppy!" the old wizard chuckled. "We were about to do just that. Come, let us go and visit Remus in the next room. I expect he'll be wanting to know how Serena is." He winked at Serena and left the room, followed by Snape, Sirius, and lastly Minerva, who had finally released Serena from her embrace.

"Hmph," sniffed Madame Pomfrey, before feeding her a mouthful of foul tasting medicine and leaving also.

Serena was left alone with her thoughts. She knew Hogwarts was a safe place, considering the amount of times her father had come home in a tantrum after another failed operation to break into the school. Also, she had nowhere else to go – Beauxbatons and her home were out of the question, and she couldn't stay with Nadine and risk her life. She didn't really have a choice, she concluded, before merciful sleep took her.

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It felt good to be back at the Burrow. Harry could sleep in for as long as he wanted, there was as much food as he could eat, he could practice Quidditch without being seen by Muggles; but most of all, he was around people who cared for him. Mrs Weasley in particular seemed to spend all her time checking whether Harry was OK, and watched all his Quidditch practices fearfully, as if Voldemort himself was going to swoop down out of the sky and pluck Harry from his broom. There were no more nightmares, and Harry almost forgot his troubles as Ron beat him yet again at wizard chess, or he helped Ginny with her homework, or he polished his beloved Firebolt.

For his birthday, Mrs Weasley took everyone for ice cream at Florean Fortescue's in Diagon Alley as a special treat. Hermione met them there, and Harry felt truly happy for the first time in months, as he laughed and joked with his friends. Ron gave him the Quidditch Annual, Hermione a bumper pack of sugar quills ("They might persuade you to study for our OWL's"), Mrs Weasley yet another knitted jumper, and Fred and George a big box of their new sweets manufactured with Harry's Triwizard winnings.

"It's Super Sticky Bubblegum," grinned George.

"Yeah, blows huge bubbles, but if you might have a bit of trouble getting it off your face after it pops!" laughed Fred.

Harry laughed as well, and dug into his ice cream. The sun was shining, he couldn't think of a better way to celebrate his birthday, and soon he would be back at Hogwarts. Even his OWL's seemed a long way off, despite insistent reminders from Hermione. Yes, things definitely seemed to be looking up…

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"Please Master, this was totally unexpected-"

"Silence! Your daughter has wronged me, and you shall suffer the consequences."

"No Master, spare me! I have always been faithful. I will vow to find the brat and kill her before your face if you will be merciful to me."

"Yes, you have been faithful, though of course you could never measure up to Malfoy or Snape," the Dark Lord pondered. "I will accept your offer. But merciful? I am not merciful. Only the weak are merciful."

In an underground lair in the South of France, a man's screams of agony echoed through dark tunnels. Leonard Silvan was under the Cruciatus curse.