Serenity | 1

FOURTEEN

"A Sweet Treat"

Hallowe'en 1965

Serenity was dressed in her best dress she'd brought from home. It bounced around her knees in a blur of blues which accentuated the hazel in her eyes. She'd enchanted her hair to remain in a twisted updo and she had made a mental note to bring hair supplies back after Christmas. Her heart was pounding against her chest as she twisted the small invitation between her fingers, despite her feet carrying her where she was invited, her mind wandered as it usually did.

Ever since her father had revealed who her mother was she couldn't think straight. She had been lied to her entire life, a whole other family that shared her blood lived so near and yet she would have never known them. What if she'd never met Lakita? Would her father have kept the fact that she had a sister- no, a twin sister- from her?

Of course, he would have.

As she flashed the invitation to the fifth year standing to attention outside of Slughorn's office, he looked her over quizzically before pushing the door open and allowing her entry.

The sight she stepped into was unusual, to say the least. Other than in the great hall, she had never seen the four houses as integrated as they were here. Sat around a large circular table were an assortment of students from various years and houses. A fourth-year Ravenclaw girl with wild black hair was giggling and whispering with a sixth year Gryffindor girl wearing a suit that was one size too small for her. Three Slytherin boys sat beside each other in a coat-and-tails.

The two identical boys sat beside the Gryffindor girls were obviously Logan and Lucas Senate, the legilimen twins who were now Serenity's half brothers. She sighed, casting her gaze away from them as quickly as she could. The Senates had done nothing to her and, yet, she found herself avoiding them. The dorm had fallen awkward when it was only herself and Lakita.

Desperate for a distraction from the twins, who had now turned their attention to her, she drifted to the only empty chair between Professor Slughorn and a second-year Slytherin. He had yet to look in her direction as he kept those eery blue eyes of his on the other two Slytherins on the other end of the table. A small smirk played at the corner of his lips as he listened to their banter, the slight movement of his head forcing a single strand of his gelled platinum hair tall forward.

"Miss Rier! What a pleasure to see you're finally here." Serenity grins and accepts the goblet of pumpkin juice from him.

"Thank you for having me. I got a bit lost on my way, I'll admit." She smiled awkwardly into her goblet as she drank, Slughorn's gaze on her never faltering. When the goblet was finally back on the table he cleared his throat and turned back to the room.

"Everyone! I'd like you to meet Serenity Rier, I'm sure you all know about her family." Serenity offers a small wave as she now had eight pairs of eyes on her.

"You're the one that healed Arthur Weasley?" The Gryffindor girl was leaning on the table, watching the first year intensely.

"Well, uh, I actually just stopped the pain. He'll still scar, unfortunately." The Gryffindor girl shrugged.

"You still did it without a wand, though. That's what you do, right? Wandless magic?" Looking down at her hands in her lap, Serenity nods. "That's amazing."

"Prove it." A silky voice from beside her silenced the room. The Slytherin boy she'd sat beside was now looking down at her around a loose strand of hair that tickled the contour of his chin. "I don't know this Arthur Weasley, prove you can use wandless magic." Sitting straighter at the challenge, Serenity maintains eye contact with him and lifts an eyebrow curiously before glancing back at the room.

Everyone was watching her expectantly. Resting her wand in the centre of the table and folding her hands in view of everyone, she holds her breath as a breeze begins to circle the table. They were suddenly finding their hair being messed up and the goblets rattling as the wind continued to circle the edge of the table. Serenity snaps her eyes up at the Slytherin boy beside her, he seemed unimpressed.

She opened her fisted hands out and laid them palm-up on the table. The wind broke off and hit the eight other diners in the face before blowing out the lamps around the room and plunging them into darkness. A few shocked yells were heard, yet more greeted them when the palms of Serenity's hands began to glow. A white light spread from the centre of her palms and reached out like a tendril of spider silk to the diners. Everyone sat around the table was tangled up in the silk-like light.

The Ravenclaw girl raised her hand and watched as the light danced and weaved around her fingers, her giggle made the others raise their own hands curiously. Serenity reached out to hold her wand, the light tried to escape the gap between the wand and her hand but only a reddish glow made its way to the surface.

"What's the spell?" Serenity whispered into the dimly lit room. "Lumos?" The tip of her wand lit up yet there was still a clear ring of light around where her hand met the wand. "Nox?" As the wand light extinguished, she released the wand to reveal the remaining light. Lowering her head to blow on the light gently, she watches it leave her hand in a small ball. "Incendio?" With that final word, the light exploded with a bright flash.

While the diners recovered and blinked away their light spots, they now noticed that all of the lamps in the room were freshly lit. Turning to the boy beside her, Serenity smirks knowingly and raises a cocky eyebrow.

"How's that for proof?" He only smirks and holds out his hand.

"Lucius Malfoy." Taking his hand, she transforms her smirk to a kind smile.

"The pleasure's all yours, Lucius."