Chapter Six,
A friendship to brave all odds
Harry stood, rooted to the spot. His whole system was thrown powerfully into a state of shock and he
wasn't so sure he liked it.
Then the anger started to kick in. He looked at her and noticed how nervous she was after she had said that,
but the bigger part of him didn't care. He didn't care that she was hurting or what she felt. T
he only thing that mattered was the fact that her father was responsible for his parents death.
"No wonder Hermione was so angry. She saw right through you!" snapped Harry. "Right through you and your pathetic scheme to get sympathy. Well guess what? I'm not sorry."
Serena looked down, determined not to cry in front of Harry. "I never expected that of you, Harry." she said quietly. "And, yes, Hermione has reason to be angry at me. You are one of her very best friends, why shouldn't she be mad? I'm sure you mean a lot to her."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh, quit trying to get me to feel sorry for you! You don't deserve it!" he snapped.
Her head snapped up. Forcing herself to remain calm, she said, rather forced, "I was trying to be nice, Harry. You and your friends mean a lot to me."
"Yeah, right! The only reason you're here is to help your father." said Harry, turning to walk away. "He wants to kill me, you know?"
Serena closed her eyes and swallowed. "I knew," she said. "But, just because he does doesn't mean I want to, Harry. I would NEVER even DREAM of hurting you or your friends."
Harry turned around quickly. "Well, you can stop calling us YOUR friends, because I don't think we'll be wanting a friend that has a murderer for a father." he snapped.
"Hold that against my father, not me! You don't see me going around killing everybody I see, do you?" said Serena, eyes
filling with tears, no matter how hard she tried to hold them back. "Harry, your friendship has meant more to me than any-
thing else has and-"
"Stop! Just stop. I don't want to hear this. Not from you." said Harry, turning around. Then he said very quietly. "Hermione hadn't said that. She just said that you were going to be a Sailor Scout, whatever that is. Whatever it was, I was happy that it happened to you and to no body else, because I knew that you could deal with something important. Now I'm not so sure."
Serena stood there feeling empty. "Well I'm glad you showed that faith in me, because I will need it." she said.
Harry was angry. He was only teasing Serena earlier. Now, whenever he saw his used to be friend, her memory would be tainted by the picture of her father killing his parents. Knowing deep down inside that it was not her fault, he felt a little saddened by the whole ordeal, but covered it up with anger. It was easier to be angry than it was to forgive right now.
"You know that I don't ever want to speak to you again, right?" said Harry quietly. In his heart he knew that wasn't true. But he was too busy feeling the emotion of everything to care.
Serena stood there and whispered painfully. "Yes," she said, the tears finally falling. "I just thought you should hear it from me before anybody else told you."
"Thank you," said Harry quietly, walking away down the corridor and to find Ron and Hermione.
"You're welcome, Harry." said Serena quietly as she watched Harry walk away. She went and walked back towards the lake, staring at it but not really seeing it at all.
"What, did you and your boyfriend break up?" asked the vindictive voice of Draco Malfoy.
Serena looked away. "It's none of your business, Malfoy. Now why don't you go insult somebody else because I'm not in the mood." she said quietly.
"I didn't mean to make you more upset," said Malfoy, sitting down next to her.
Serena smiled lightly at the lake. "Aren't you risking your reputation being with a Gryffindor and all?" she asked.
"I was just wondering if I could help," said Malfoy, standing up. "But if you're going to be rude about it then I'll go away."
"No," said Serena quickly. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make YOU upset."
Malfoy sat back down. "So, your the daughter of the infamous murder Sirius Black, eh?" he asked.
"Unfortunatly," said Serena quietly.
"And that's why Potter doesn't want to be your friend any more." said Malfoy. "Dang that Potter. You don't need him. You're better off without him."
Serena laughed lightly. "I guess, but it still hurts." She looked around and sighed. "I had better get going. Lots of homework."
Malfoy nodded. "Alright," he said, standing up.
"Thanks for the company," said Serena, smiling then walked away.
If he wasn't careful, that smile might be the end of him, thought Malfoy, walking back towards his group of Slytherins.
"Why were you talking to Malfoy?" demanded Mina.
They were in front of the common room fire at midnight and Mina was pacing around.
"Because he was the only one to talk to at that time. Harry doesn't ever want to talk to me again, and probably Hermione and Ron won't either." said Serena in a deflated tone. "The whole school probably won't want to talk to me either after they hear about this."
Josh watched his sister carefully. "Isn't it funny what a bit of jealousy can do? It can make or break somebody. At this stage in the game I would say it's breaking somebody." he said.
Mina nodded. "I always knew that mom was right when she said not to be jealous of somebody. How it could turn people against you and make them hate you and you hate them. It's a tricky things, jealousy." she said.
Serena nodded. "I just don't want to think about tomorrow. What kind of rude things will people say?" she said quietly, her eyes filling with cold tears.
Josh moved over to her and kneeled in front of her. "Listen to me," he said, looking up at her. "Whatever anybody
says, don't you listen to them. You didn't ask for all of this, it's not your fault. Besides," he smiled at her. "You have
us"
Serena grinned. "Thank you, you guys."
The next few days were a blur to Serena. She never knew how fast word could travel around the school; now she did.
What was worse was knowing that she was the topic of conversation amongst a bunch of people.
"All finished," said Serena glumly walking up to Professor Lupin's desk. She had, of course, finished with the
essay later in the day when Lupin told her to have it done, but she wasn't in the mood to hand it in until the due date.
Lupin glanced at her. "Very good," he replied, taking it. He smiled. It was worded very articulatly and very
precise. "How long did you work on this?"
"Oh, for about two hours." replied Serena. "It wasn't that hard, really"
Lupin put it on his desk. "That was a very brave thing that you did, telling Harry about yourself. Not many youth
show that kind of courage. It's always hard telling the truth, especially to those who mean the most to you." he said.
"I don't see what difference it made," said Serena.
"It made a whole bunch of difference, Serena. It suggests that you care more about your friend's welfare than your
own. Very many good people I know do not posess that trait." replied Lupin. Then he smiled a little. "In telling Harry you
gave yourself a sense of responsibility that not many thirteen years olds can even comprehend. Plus, you most likely gave
Harry the feeling that you felt you could trust him."
Serena laughed bitterly. "A lot of good that did, didn't it? Now he's not even talking to me"
"Have you tried patching things up between the two of you?" asked Lupin.
Serena shook her head. "I thought it was pretty clear when he told me he never wanted to talk to me again." she said,
but noticing the looking on Lupin's face hurried and added, "But, there is never any harm in trying, so full steam ahead,
I say."
Serena walked up the stairs and noticed that the way to the Gryffindor common room was blocked. Wondering what happened,
she looked around the group of people standing in front of her. She gasped silently as she noticed the Fat Lady's picture
was slashed and the Fat Lady was missing.
Ginny Weasely was walking passed with the headmaster at her heels.
"What happened?" asked Serena quietly to Ginny, who turned and gave her a dark look.
"Everybody suspects Sirius Black," she replied coolly and continued up the stairs.
Dumbledore threw a quick look at Serena. "Do not worry, Ms. Tuskino, we shall get to the bottom of this."
Serena nodded. "Alrighty," she said quietly.
After all the chaos had settled down a little, Dumbledore told the Gryffindors to follow him; they would have to stay
somewhere else tonight.
He led them to the Great Hall and made all the tables stand neatly against the walls and then waved his wand again and a
bunch of fluffy purple sleeping bags appeared.
Before Serena could pick hers out, Professor Dumbledore asked. "Might I have a word?" he asked.
She nodded. Being lectured was going to be better than staying in there and getting all the looks she would possibly get.
Dumbledore led her out of the Great Hall and the two walked in silence. It was awhile before either of them talked.
Serena was looking around at the portraits of previous inhabitants of Hogwarts. They were all snoozing silently in their
frames.
"Professor, I-" began Serena.
"There is no need for apologies, Ms. Tuskino." said Dumbledore. "You did the right thing in telling young Mr. Potter."
Serena scowled. "I get that a lot," she replied. Then she turned to him. "You were headmaster here when he was here,
weren't you? You knew him."
Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, I knew your father." he replied.
"Was he-" began Serena but was cut off by a rather unfriendly voice.
"Headmaster?" asked Professor Snape from behind them.
Dumbledore turned. "Severus," he said. "Did you find anything?"
Snape shook his head. "No, headmaster. It didn't seem Black was too anxious to linger." he replied.
"I didn't expect that he would linger," said Dumbledore.
Snape's eyes flickered to Serena, but she didn't notice anything. She was too busy looking around at her surroundings.
Dumbledore gave a warning look to Snape, but didn't say anything.
In a minute they started walking again. Snape had left to go check with the other teachers to see if they had found any-
thing new about their current situation.
"You said that you knew him," said Serena quietly. She didn't know why, exactly, but she wanted to find out everything she could about this man who was supposed to be her father.
Dumbledore looked at her, wondering how much to say. "Yes, I was headmaster here when he went to school here." he said,
walking on while talking. "He was quite ambitious. Maybe too much so."
"Was he a good student?" asked Serena, looking at the paintings. They were headed back to the Great Hall.
Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes, he was." he replied, turning to look at her. "It is not always clear why things happen to us, Ms Tuskino. Indeed sometimes we wonder about it. But, something good comes out of every situation. You, being who you are, are sure to get something good out of this. Good night."
Sighing, Serena walked into the Great Hall and picked out a fluffy sleeping bag that was away from everybody, in the far corner of the room.
As she laid down she turned and faced the wall, tears filling her eyes as she thought about the day's events. To every-
body she acted like she didn't care that they were being rude or harsh; she pretended that that didn't bother her any. But,
now that she was alone, that hard exterior gave way to the scared thirteen year old girl that she was, and she didn't like
that feeling very much.
"Hey, lil sis." said Mina, pulling up a sleeping bag. "How are you doing?"
"Bad," said Serena. "Have you seen the looks I've been getting?"
"Yes," said Mina, scowling. "And I'm getting quite sick of it."
"Nobody even came by to tell me to be quite because it was time to go to sleep. I think they think I'll sick my dad on them or something." said Serena, chuckling lightly.
"Don't worry, Sere. Everything will turn out good in the end." said Mina.
"I've been getting that a whole LOT!" said Serena, smiling a little. "I'm getting a little sick of it,"
Serena sighed. Then she heard feet walking towards her. Mina smiled as she saw who it was. "I'm going to go," she said,
getting up.
Serena continued to lay down, facing that person's shoes. "I thought you said you never wanted to speak to me again," she said. She was sick of being nice to everybody, especially when all they were to her was rude.
There was a sigh. "I saw you talking to Malfoy today,"
"Yeah, so? Why does everybody freak out when they hear that? Sheesh, you're all sounding like my mother." said Serena, rolling over so she didn't have to hear any more.
"I just came over here to apologize. At least let me do that much,"
A moment went by and Serena finally rolled over and sat up. "Well, then, let's have it." she said stubbornly. She knew she shouldn't be like that when somebody was about to apologize, but she couldn't help it. What he said earlier hurt her deeply.
There was another sigh. "Today," he started. "After you told me that you were... you know... I was angry because I didn't want to realize that what you said was true; that YOU weren't the one that betrayed my parents; YOU weren't the one that killed all those people with one curse. But, being his daughter, I related all of that to you when I should have just been quite."
Serena sighed. "I don't blame you, Harry. Not in the least. If I had thought somebody had killed my parents and then I found out that they were my best friends parents, I wouldn't be so happy either." she said.
"So we're on speaking terms again, right?" asked Harry, somewhat relieved.
"Yes, we are on speaking terms again." said Serena, smiling.
"So... What did you talk to Malfoy about?" asked Harry.
"Harry!" said Serena, laughing and hitting him with her pillow. "It doesn't matter," she said, but she made a mental note to tell Malfoy how important it was that he listened and talked to her, however uncharactoristic for him to do so. She felt it somewhat nice that he risked his reputation to talk to somebody in pain, who had just lost one of her best friends.
After Harry had gone back over to Hermione and Ron, Serena threw a quick glance towards the Slytherins. Of course they were still up jabbering away. Probably about her. But, she didn't care so much about that any more.
She saw Malfoy look over her way and smiled at him. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all...
Okay, that seemed like a good place to stop. I hope ya'll liked this chapter. It took me FOREVER to write. So, R&R, if you want, if not, thanks for reading and I hope you liked! ;)