Daughter of the Dark

Disclaimer: I only own Serena and the plot

Chapter Eight

The next day, everyone was talking about Serena. Everyone in the whole school had heard that she had been in a fight by the time that she and the others went to breakfast. Everyone in the Great Hall, except the teachers, were staring at Serena, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Serena couldn't believe how fast everyone had found out.She sat down at the table between Harry and Ron. Not long after they all sat down, the mail came. Hermione got a Daily Prophet and paid the owl that brought it. As Hermione read her paper, McGonagall passed out schedules to all the Gryffindors. Ron was the first of the friends to get one. He groaned as he read it. When the others got their schedules, they all groaned except for Ginny who was in 5th year and had a different schedule than the 6th years.

"I don't believe it! We have double Potions, double Defense Against the Dark Arts, Divination, and double Transfiguration all in the same day!" said Ron, disgusted.

"Figures. I just have to have Snape's class on my first day. Damn it!" said Serena, pissed off.

"Well at least you don't have Divination!" said Ron. "I can't stand that Trelawney woman! She's such a fraud!"

"At least I had enough sense to give it up early on!" said Hermione.

"You guys do realize that we have a new professor today don't you?" Serena asked.

"Yeah, we've noticed," said Harry.

"That ought to be interesting," said Hermione.

"More like boring as hell," said Ron.

"Well, we won't know that until after we have Defense now will we?" said Harry. "We don't even know who the teacher is."

"Harry's right," agreed Serena.

"Yeah, he is," said Ron.

"Well, we'd better hurry and get to Potions," said Hermione as she finished eating and got up to return to Gryffindor tower. "Anyone else coming with me?"

"I will," said Serena as she got up and followed Hermione out of the Great Hall. "I'll see you all later."

Serena was relieved to be out of the Great Hall and away from the stares and whispers of all the other students. She didn't like being the center of attention—she never had and never would. She was quite used to being alone, so becoming friends with the trio had been very hard. She kind of missed her old life but not too much. She especially did not miss hanging around Snape or anyone else that had been sent to watch her. She just missed being alone a lot, for that was what she was used to. And it is hard to break your old habits, as she was just starting to learn. Old habits really do die hard.

Snape was extra mean that day for some reason. The minute the four of them walked into class, he split them up. Hermione was stuck with Neville Longbottom, Ron with some bloke named Crabbe, Harry with another bloke named Goyle, and Serena was stuck with Malfoy. Snape then began telling them about their miserable O.W.L.S. and reminding them that N.E.W.T.S. would be coming up next year before they finally got down to the potion making. 16 years of living with Snape had made Serena an excellent potion maker. But Snape was going to be very hard on her and she knew it.

The studentswere making a N.E.W.T. level potion, which was a very difficult and fiddly potion even for Serena. And the trouble that Serena incurred whilst brewing the potion was escalated by the presence of one Draco Malfoy. From the moment that she sat down, he had been annoying her. She was doing all that she could to keep herself from reaching for her wand and cursing him into tiny pieces or even beating the shit out of him muggle-style.

"So are you really friends with the bloody trio or is it all an act?" Malfoy asked.

"So did your parents drop you on the head a lot when you were little or were you just born stupid?" Serena retorted.

"Oh, harsh words from such a pretty face. Is there anything I can do to change that?" Malfoy said, sincerely.

"Yeah, get out of my face you damn ferret!" Serena snapped at him.

"Why, that's the first time that someone outside of the trio has called me a ferret. Why is that?"

"For your info, I heard all about your masquerade as a bouncing white ferret in fourth year. News travels fast."

"Probably from Weasley no doubt."

"Don't you dare talk about my friends behind their backs and in front of me."

"Why not?" asked Malfoy with a shrug.

"Because they are people and they have feelings just as much as anyone else. And they are my friends and no one speaks ill of my friends and gets away with it. So I'd watch what comes out of your mouth, ferret, or you might find yourself regretting it very much later on."

"Why you little—"

"Less talking over here, Malfoy and Black and more working," spat Snape as he swept past. He wore a look of pure malice and shot it at Serena. And at the word 'Black' he spat it out like it was a foul and dirty name. His face still had a mark from her dagger and was bandaged.

"Sorry… Snape," Serena spat back at him, smirking.

"Detention, Miss Black."

"Whatever." She waved him off and went back to work on the potion and glaring at Malfoy. She rolled her eyes every time Snape passed and shot evil glances at him. Malfoy remained quiet for the rest of the class and then when it came time to hand their potion in, he handled it. But as she was cleaning the cauldron, Malfoy dropped their potion and it shattered into a thousand tiny pieces on the floor. Malfoy shot Serena the traditional Malfoy smirk as she glared at him and cursed under her breath.

"I believe that counts as a zero for you Miss Black and another detention," said Snape.

Serena cursed out loud. Snape turned back around to face her, as did half the class. As if two detentions weren't enough, Snape then added a third. She was shocked. What had gotten into Snape? Sure, he was to pretend that he didn't know her and that she was another Gryffindor but that still gave him no call to be as mean to her as he usually was to Harry. Was he under orders from her mother?

When class ended, she stormed away from the dungeons. She hadn't even been there a whole day and she already had three detentions and they were all from one teacher in one class. Damn Snape. She ran along to the Great Hall to eat lunch, beating all of her friends. All of them except for Harry, who was waiting for her.

Sitting down next to him, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I came here for lunch but I also came to talk to you."

"What about?"

"Why did Snape get so steamed at you during Potions?"

"What do you care? He wasn't bothering you for once!" Serena snapped, still pissed off at Snape.

"Well, I care because I am your friend – or at least I want to be your friend," said Harry, a little shocked at her open hostility.

"People like me don't have friends."

"Says who?" challenged Harry.

"Everyone. Purebloods don't have friends – let alone the person who their family is trying to kill."

"So you are worried then?" Harry said, understanding.

"Excuse me?"

"You're worried about becoming friends with me because of Voldemort."

"I—" Serena began but stopped speaking as Hermione and Ron joined them. She couldn't tell Harry in front of his friends.

The truth was that Serena felt weird. She felt like she might actually be in love with Harry Potter. But wouldn't that have to be completely unheard of? The daughter of the two most evil people alive falling in love with the son of two of the most openly good people? That would be completely against everything that she had been taught. Purebloods weren't supposed to fall in love with half-bloods. It was unheard of, not too mention that her parents wanted him dead. More importantly, it was forbidden. And if they did fall in love, than no one could ever find out. No one except for their closest friends. If her parents ever found out, they would not hesitate to kill both her and Harry. She would have to be very careful if she really was in love.

Author's Notes:

And so, the first major hint at romance is here and more Harry! Chapter nine is coming soon! There will only be fifteen chapters in the story and then I will write a sequel. So this story should be ending by early June and then I'll take a short break before posting the sequel.

Reviewers!

TGAAP PO - Sorry that there wasn't any Harry & Serena in the last chapter. I'm glad you are still alive though.