November 11, 1976 – Serena Pov
"Serena!" I flinched heavily at the voice, I saw Narcissa beside me also freeze and frown quickly, I looked over and saw Lily, I grimaced, it was the first time she had spoken to me in over half a year.
"What do you want Evans?" I asked neutrally as I pulled a cigarette out of my inventory, I'm sure this one is going to give me a headache.
"I... you look nice" Lily said shyly, I looked at her and raised an eyebrow, she made a face "I want to talk" Lily said.
"A little late don't you think Evans?" Narcissa asked coldly, I made a face, I really forget that she is a Black, if necessary she can be just as cold and terrifying as Bellatrix… but more sane, Bellatrix would take out her wand at the slightest discomfort, incredibly, Cia was on Narcissa's shoulder and was glaring at Lily.
"I… I want… can we talk-?" Lily asked again before looking nervously at Narcissa. "…alone?" she asked demurely. I frowned and looked over Lily's shoulder where the marauders happened to be standing looking in our direction along with a group of girls who I immediately recognized as Lily's group of friends, the only ones I recognized were Marlene McKinnon and Alice Longbottom- well, future Longbottom.
"It seems you have quite the entourage behind you, I don't see why Narcissa should leave" I said dryly, Lily turned around and the group of students behind them looked away, I could hear Lily groan before sighing.
"I…it's okay" Lily surrendered looking at me once more, Lily… she was the same as the last time I saw her, she had undoubtedly grown during the months I hadn't seen her properly, but she was still her, I had to suppress the part that was the old Serena to run back under her skirt.
"So? I don't have all day Evans" I grimaced at the abruptness of my words, I had nothing against Lily, but this was stressful, it would have been better if she had never come to talk, besides, what the hell would Lily want with me?
Lily looked down while biting her lip.
"I... wanted to apologize" what?
"What?" I asked stupidly as I stared at her in disbelief, even Narcissa beside me looked shocked.
"I apologize I… the other day Remus… Remus told me, about everything they did to you, about… what happened in the headmaster's office… I… I should have given you a chance to explain last year" My eyes widened, what? Remus did what?
"I swear I didn't know about the Seri enchantments, I didn't know it was so important to share your own creations , I swear it wasn't me" I... I don't understand what's going on.
"…I don't understand," I said simply, she blinked, " why … why now? Why the change?" "What are you playing at? " I asked defensively, Lily looked hurt.
"I... I'm not playing anything" Lily said simply "I just... wanted to fix things"
"Why? What changed? " I asked again, Lily made a face.
"The other day James made a com -"
"James?!" I couldn't help but growl as I interrupted her, apparently Potter didn't waste any time, since when were they so close? Lily stopped and blushed.
"POTTER! When Potter made a comment in the common room about you and Bellatrix Black, Re-Lupin… he defended you in front of everyone and told everything" my eyes widened, the wolf did what ?
I looked over Lily's shoulder once more and my gaze landed on Lupin, he flinched under my gaze and averted his eyes, I clicked my tongue, why would he do something like that? Some kind of debt for the wolfbane? He feels genuinely guilty and finally grew enough balls to go against Potter and Black? He didn't know and he didn't want to know.
"It wasn't necessary on Lupin's part" I growled through my teeth, Lily grimaced.
"So... I'm... I'm sorry, I'm really sorry Seri, do you... do you want to hang out one of these days?" she asked shyly, I shuddered slightly, if it had been the old Serena I would have agreed right then and there, Lily's shy, hopeful look and smile did things for the old Serena, I took a deep drag on my cigarette.
I felt Narcissa firmly pinch my clothes discreetly, I glanced at her as she pressed her lips together, seemingly doing her best not to retort, I sighed before taking another long drag and exhaling the smoke upwards.
"No" I said simply, Lily froze, in fact, I could see the group behind Lily and Narcissa freeze, as if the words were unfamiliar or impossible for me to say, which, in the past they would have been "If that's all, we have to go" I said simply before turning around "come on, Narcissa" I pushed Narcissa who was still standing still in her place.
"y-yes"
"Wait!" I looked over my shoulder at Lily, she looked devastated "I-why not?" she asked anxiously, I paused before sighing.
"6 months, 6 months I've been begging for you to at least listen to me, you never gave me the chance, you never wanted to listen to me, and… now you've changed your mind because someone else told you? Something I've been wanting to tell you for months? " I said, pain dripping into my words, and I wasn't pretending, it hurt, that she wouldn't trust me enough or just listen to me, oh I'm sure the old Serena would have ruined this whole thing, blamed Potter and his friends without taking any blame, but even that would have been better than the absolute silence and treatment Lily gave me, I didn't want that back, no way.
"b-but-" Lily tried to say, she looked like she was about to shed tears, I grimaced, it wasn't something I wanted to see, I took Cia over Narcissa's shoulder.
"See you later Narcissa" I started walking quickly.
" W -wait, Serena!" I ignored Narcissa's scream and as soon as I turned a hallway, I hit Aria twice. Aria immediately covered me and made me invisible, just in time to escape from Narcissa.
---
I ignored the door that had opened as I listened to the piano, the first chords of Jeff Williams' Cold filled the room and I began to sing, really, Performance Talent was terrifying, I still hadn't been able to practice much with the instruments, but singing was something I was practicing regularly, and together with Korosensei's tutorials, I had improved quite a bit in about two weeks.
I let the song wash over me as I sang, it was a beautiful song, a sad song, it seemed appropriate to sing when I arrived.
Once I finished with Cold , I decided on Forever Fall , also by Jeff Williams, sue me.
"You didn't know you were singing Snape," I snorted and turned to look at Bellatrix who had her arms crossed as she leaned against the wall near the door.
"Black, what do you want?" I sighed tiredly.
"Believe it or not, I'm looking for you," she said as she approached.
"Not again, I'm not in the mood" I groaned audibly but still began to decant my metal minds and placed Cia, who was on my shoulder, inside my clothes, in case Bellatrix attacked me again as usual.
"Weird coming from you since you take every opportunity to get on top of me," she huffed, I rolled my eyes, "but it's not that, Cissy wanted to find you when she heard what happened, I didn't think you'd be here crying over Evans," I grimaced.
"I wasn't crying for Lily," I replied and she rolled her eyes.
" Yeah because the sad songs you were singing had nothing to do with her" Bellatrix drawled sarcastically, I stopped stiffly as I thought of the lyrics to Cold and Forever I fell and wanted to moan loudly.
Today had been a pretty normal day except for one thing, Lily spoke to me for the first time in months, it was... weird, I won't lie.
Much to my surprise, she had wanted to apologize, I didn't really understand what was going on, apparently that fool Lupin hadn't been able to keep his mouth shut and had been talking to Lily about everything they had done to me.
Apparently he was also defending me, which I didn't think was possible from any marauder, apparently the creation of the wolfbane potion or what happened in the director's office had affected him more than I thought.
and I thought that they hadn't really changed at all, after all, none of the lurkers had been reprimanded in any notable way after that night, they hadn't gotten any detentions, no loss of points, no consequences, as I had really expected.
Maybe they got some kind of secret punishment, but I didn't really care, I had already gotten what I wanted from them, the cloak and to be left alone, after that I just ignored them.
Back to Lily, I really didn't know what to think at that moment, I was really surprised that she was talking to me again and it had really, really affected me more than I thought it would, I had decided not to want anything to do with her, but apparently I couldn't help but still have feelings for her.
That's why I came to the music room, it was the closest room with instruments that I could find, so the only place with instruments was the music room, I had to let off some steam somehow and... after doing so I came to a conclusion.
I really didn't want anything to do with Lily, any feelings I had were mostly gone, I would always have feelings for her, I have Severus' memories and Serena's, both of their feelings, and they both felt strongly about Lily, but I... I didn't want anything to do with her, someone who would throw me away at the first mistake, I couldn't trust her, I had enough respect for myself not to crawl back to her.
"You know what, honestly, a coincidence" I said to Bellatrix with a shrug, I wasn't thinking about wanting to sing, I just did it, Bellatrix stared at me before nodding.
"I hope so, you'd lose all the respect you've gained from me if you crawled back to that mudblood," Bellatrix snorted, I rolled my eyes.
"Is the insult necessary?" I slurred as I asked, she smiled widely.
"No, I just wanted to see if you'd explode like usual, you really seem to be done with her, I'm impressed by you Snape" I snorted audibly.
"If that's all, you can go, I still want to keep singing," I said as I chased her away with my hands.
"No thanks, I think I want to stay" she ignored me and walked over to one of the chairs, I grumbled but really let her stay without putting up a fight for it.
I wasn't in the mood for any songs from any musicals, but I was always in the mood for Jeff Williams, and even though the music room was more packed with instruments than what I had gotten in the Room of Requirement I still couldn't really properly replicate the electric guitars and other electric instruments, so I pulled out my phone and started playing an instrumental version of I'm The One to sing along to.
I was extremely grateful that the Company's phone was running underneath all the magic of the castle.
"Now that was a lot better than the songs from before" Bellatrix praised once I finished, I rolled my eyes.
"Do you really have nothing better to do than listen to me sing?" I asked boredly as I grabbed my phone and searched for another song.
"Not really," she shrugged, "It's my time to bother you, be grateful, I spared you an hour in my busy schedule," she snorted playfully.
"I didn't know you had a schedule for being punished, how responsible of you" I mocked her, she growled.
"Dare to repeat it Snape" Bellatrix hissed and I rolled my eyes.
"I'm not starting anything Black, not in the music room, if any of the instruments break beyond repair, I'm going to be very upset" I glared at her, she grimaced and crossed her arms.
"Party pooper" I rolled my eyes and went back to my phone "what is that, that? There was music coming out of there"
"A music player, I need it to play muggle music, Hogwarts doesn't have the necessary instruments" I explained vaguely, she hummed in response.
"Snape…" she began slowly "… are you sure you don't want to talk about Evans?" she asked again, I turned to look at her and saw her looking away with a… genuinely shy expression, I let out a laugh.
"I never thought I'd see the day when I'd see Bellatrix Black go soft on someone, today is a great day!" I laughed loudly before dodging a stinging curse.
"You tell anyone and I'll kill you Snape!" Bellatrix hissed, blushing slightly.
" aawww , you care about me" I continued to tease her, I could hear her grit her teeth.
"No, I don't care about you, I just want to take away all your knowledge, that's all I want" she growled while crossing her arms, I rolled my eyes.
"Don't worry Black, I'll keep the secret that you're soft a secret" I scoffed and dodged a second stinging curse.
"I'm not soft!" I snorted playfully.
"Still... thanks Black" I smiled honestly at her, she blushed slightly, but nodded.
"Call me by my name, idiot. It's weird that you keep calling me by my last name despite having abused me on many occasions." Now it was my turn to blush.
"I didn't abuse you! You started all the encounters! " I replied embarrassed, she also had a slight blush.
"Well... they don't bother me" I murmured almost inaudibly, but thanks to the fact that I was still decanting my metallic minds I heard her completely.
" Hoo , was that consent to punish you? So you like being punished, who would have thought, the wicked witch of Slytherin, Bellatrix Black likes to be spanked on the bu-"
"I'll kill you Snape, I'll kill you!" Bellatrix blushed as she gripped her wand as she interrupted me, I let out a laugh as Bellatrix gritted her teeth.
"Serena, call me Serena" I said with a smile, she paused before nodding "after all, as my pet you have permission to call me by my name… or Mistress as you prefer" Bellatrix's eyes widened before flashing with fury.
"You!!!!" I laughed as I raised my hands in surrender.
"Just kidding! Just kidding!" I laughed loudly, she kept growling with her wand clenched tightly in her hands, sparks were coming out of it, I took a deep breath to calm down "Or no, call me by my name, or something other than Seri, even in public" I made a face, the last thing I wanted was for her to keep reminding me of Lily "And really Black- no, Bellatrix, tell me if you don't want me to keep doing that, I'll find ways to stop, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable" I stared at her with a serious expression, Bellatrix made a face.
"A little late, aren't you?" she replied mockingly. I grimaced. In my defense, she looked for him.
"Still , really, better late than never." Bellatrix wrinkled her nose before looking away, blushing slightly.
"I enjoy our fights, you're the only one who can face me out of the students" she said arrogantly, I raised an eyebrow in her direction and she looked away "and no... I'm not against our future encounters" she muttered lightly, my eyebrows raised, now, that was a confession I really didn't expect from her.
"I like Bellatrix too" I replied, she clicked her tongue and looked away, I hummed with a smile before clapping my hands "you know what, let's go find a room to have a duel, I'm in the mood" I said as I approached the exit, Bellatrix's head quickly turned in my direction, her eyes shining with excitement.
"Really?" she asked quickly, I nodded and she smirked.
"Of course, you were a very good pet Bellatrix, making sure your Mistress was okay, you need a reward like the good pet you are" I saw her stop before shaking with anger, I didn't stop and I ran out correcting, just in time to evade a bombardment.
"Come here Serena! I'll kill you!! " I laughed out loud as I ran in search of a free room, ignoring the occasional passersby and dodging Bellatrix's curses as she screamed my name. I take back what I said, today was a good day.
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