Serenity Silverwing & The Hogwarts Five

Chapter Ten

U.S.A. vs. France

Last Seen: Our dear grouping made the trek to Diagon Alley, Diana got her wand and a slight amount of history was revealed around the wands of Serenity and Diana. Not to mention the run-in with Nocta Malfoy. Why is she nice to Serenity when her brother's so nasty? And the infamous Liz made her appearance. Looks like it's gonna be crowded at The Burrow for the next couple of days... OH! PoV Change. Omniscient third person.

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"Seraye. Seraye. Get up." Diana urges her sister in the early hours of the morning before the Quidditch World Cup.

Remotely, Serenity feels Diana shoving her in efforts to wake her up. Fortunately for Diana and unfortunately for Serenity, Diana succeeded.

"Go 'way." Serenity groans and rolls over.

"Serenity Sylvia Shaman Silverwing, get up now. We need to get going!" Diana orders. Serenity rolls over again and glares at her sister for using her full name.

"I'm... up." Serenity growls. "Go 'way."

Diana leaves, shutting the door not so quietly. Serenity winces and groans.

Reluctantly, Serenity drags herself up from her cot in the attic and walks slowly to her trunk. Opening the latter, she pulls out a small, out-dated, pale green sundress. It was only small and outdated because she hadn't needed to buy any new muggle clothing for three years.

Putting on her dress and moccasins, Serenity trudges sleepily down the stairs to the kitchen. Everyone; precluding Percy, Charlie or Bill; was already there and eating a light breakfast.

Serenity sits heavily onto one of the stools gathered around the table in the kitchen. With a great yawn, she says, "Three years is too long to go without shopping for muggle clothes."

Hermione, one of the few people awake at the table, nearly chokes on her orange juice. Fred and George, who had seen how the dress was snug and a bit too short on Serenity, weren't quite sure whether they minded or not.

"Where are Percy, Charlie and Bill?" Diana asks, brightly.

"They're having a bit of a lie-in. They know how to apparate, you know." Molly answers.

Serenity knew all too well because for the few days that Percy still stayed at the Burrow and had his Apparition license, he'd apparate down from his room for meals and across not too sizable distances just to prove he could. Highly annoying to anyone and Serenity strongly suspected that even Molly's patience had been tested with her third born's over-zealous use of Apparition.

"You're disgusting." Liz and Serenity chorus with almost identical glares at Diana.

"Tut-tut. Woke up on the wrong side of the cot, did you?" Diana retorts smiling broadly.

"Anyone can when you wake up at four in the ruddy morning." Ron growls, not realizing that he was agreeing with anyone. Serenity did realize what Ron's statement meant and she blinks, rubs her eyes, and shakes her head.

"I didn't just hear what I thought I heard, did I?" Serenity asks Liz.

"If you didn't hear Ron agreeing with you, that's right." Liz answers.

Ron pales as he suddenly realizes that the two resident Slytherins were right. Fred and George quietly snigger into their hands as Harry and Hermione look at Ron in mock astonishment, and Marcus and Diana duck underneath the scrubbed wooden table.

In silence, the early-risers ate the rest of their small breakfast. Diana´s cheery attitude faded only slightly when she looked at the Weasleys´ outfits.

Okay, Marcus looked fine in the white tee shirt and blue drawstring shorts but she had loaned them to him as they were about the same size and he hadn´t anything muggley to wear. Fred and George didn´t look horrid but then Serenity had had a hand in their almost normal, if almost exactly alike, ensembles. Diana had had to salvage what Molly had chosen for Ron (originally a blood red sweatshirt and green denim pants, now a navy turtleneck and stonewashed jeans) as Serenity had conveniently chosen that time to excuse herself to get her `rescue supplies´. Unfortunately, Diana couldn´t do anything about Arthur´s atrocity of an outfit; an acrid orange dress shirt under a night blue golf sweater vest and faded blue jeans secured by a sturdy leather belt. Diana made a slight wince when she remembered that Arthur was right across the table in that awful outfit.

"Time to go!" Arthur states cheerfully as Molly starts clearing the table of the dishes.

"Allons-y!" Diana exclaims happily in French and dashes to get her jacket.

"What did -" Marcus starts but Serenity answers before he could finish.

"Elle a dit `let´s go´ en français."

Serenity then dashes after her sister before anyone could ask her what she had said.

"That little..." Ron mumbles in a growl.

"What do you have against her, Ron?" Harry asks quietly as Hermione, Ron and himself head up the stairs as well.

"She´s a Slytherin." Ron answers shortly.

"But Dumbledore did put her in Gryffindor in the end." Harry points out.

"She was sorted Slytherin. She´ll stay Slytherin. Didn´t you think that Dumbledore putting her in Gryffindor was merely a coincidence? We happened to be in the Hospital Wing at the time and handy to carry her luggage."

"Guys, I hate to quell a sure-to-be-interesting argument, but Dumbledore could have put her in Ravenclaw easily. She has friends in that House." Liz pops into the conversation, literally.

"Then why didn´t he?" Ron asks snappishly.

"I´m not supposed to say." Liz answers with a straight face.

Ron looked about ready to say something but Liz stops him with a sharp look that McGonagall would have given him in similar circumstances.

Abruptly, two blurs, one violet and the other green, come racing down the stairs; the green one slightly ahead of the violet one.

"`Scuse me!" the green blur says, the voice recognizable as Serenity´s, barging through the grouping.

"Coming through!" the violet blur calls, Diana this time, following Serenity by two feet, give or take a few inches.

Not three seconds later, there was a crash that rattled the rickety staircase from two landings down. Liz, Hermione and Harry hurry back down the stairs to see what´d happened (Ron had dismissed the crash as `those two getting what they deserved´ and had continued up the stairs.).

Fred had stopped on his way down to talk with Marcus by the room where he and Charlie were staying when Serenity, going full speed and not looking, crashed head long into the pair. Diana had tried to avoid the pile up but Marcus had fallen atop her when she had unsuccessfully ducked underneath him while he fell back.

All said and done, there was a pile of laughing adolescents and a scowling Charlie standing over the heap when Harry, Hermione, and Liz got down the stairs.

Charlie looks distinctly disgruntled as he pulls Marcus off a hysterically laughing and crying Diana. Liz follows suit and drags an unsteady Serenity to her feet and off Fred. Harry and Hermione quickly follow their examples, Hermione hauling Fred up and Harry supporting Diana while she calmed down.

When she finally regained her senses, she realized who was keeping her from collapsing, blushes slightly and gently removes herself from Harry´s supporting arm.

"Please," Charlie pleads tiredly, "keep it down." Charlie turns around, holding his head, and goes back to bed.

Diana and the others had nodded but Diana´s attention was pulled to her sister. Serenity seemed to be sizing Harry up.

He´s nice... Diana thinks. His hair is a little messy. Tall, about Seraye´s height, but not as featherweight. He´s strong enough to hold me up while I´m in hysterics... Diana´s thoughts taper off as she recalled the warm feeling of security that had warned her of Harry´s proximity.

Diana blushes darker and smiles timidly.

"See ya!" Diana says abruptly and continues down the stairs, slower granted, leaving everyone on the landing baffled.

Down ten steps, a peevish-looking Percy stands in his door, glaring at those that had disrupted his sleep. Diana pauses long enough on that particular landing to give him an apologetic smile.

To everyone on the landing above´s amazement, Percy´s scowl lightened, even smiled at Diana and patted her head, and he went back to bed. Serenity and Liz were blinking and Marcus, Harry and Hermione were in shock. No one had gotten Percy out of a foul mood faster than Diana had just done! And with only a smile? (Authoress´s Note I: What is Diana on and why the hell hasn´t she shared it with anyone but Percy!?)

"Wish she was around to do that to Mum when I was six..." Fred says quietly with an appreciative whistle.

"Why´s that, Fred?" Liz asks. Serenity already thought she knew that it had something to do with his penchant towards prank pulling.

"I gave Ron an acid pop." Fred answers. Serenity snorts in amusement followed by chuckling from Hermione.

"Why does that figure?" Liz and Marcus ask in chorus.

"Not again." Serenity, Hermione and Fred reply together and smother their sniggering as they dart down the stairs.

Liz sighs and follows at a slower pace and, not too far behind her, Marcus follows as well.

Five minutes later, the portkey group was on its way, though distinctly separated into groups. Arthur, Harry, Ron, and Marcus are at point. Ginny and Hermione are just behind the front group with Fred and George slightly behind them. Serenity, Diana and Liz bring up the rear where the main language of conversation is French.

"Qu´est-ce que ton problem avec Ron?" Diana asks her sister, the French flowing fluently and quickly.

"Mon problem? C´est qu´il l´a!" Serenity replies heatedly and just as fast.

"Bien... Ensuite qu´est-ce le?" Diana asks, sounding annoyed and reasonable at the same time.

"C´est parceque je suis Slytherin et il est Gryffindor." Serenity answers, a mimicking tone not even thinly veiled on her voice.

"Mais Fred l´est et il t´aime."

"Vrai, Fred l´est mais c´est lui. Pas Ron." Serenity corrects roughly.

"Would you two stop that?" Liz asks irritably.

"Quoi?" the French-speaking pair ask ignorantly.

"That." Liz answers shortly.

"Fine." Both respond, switching to English.

"Thank you." Liz says.

"So, Dia, have anymore surprises for me?" Serenity asks.

"Oh... One or two... maybe three if we´re not lucky." Diana says with a small chuckle.

At that time, the procession reaches a hill that took all their breath to climb.

When they got to the top, the group fans out to find the portkey. There wasn´t a long search, however, as there was very little litter on the isolated hilltop.

George and Serenity found the ratty shoe that had the word `portkey´ in ink, that Serenity recognized as Black Diamond from Jemz, on the dark sole.

"I wonder where the Diggorys are." Arthur muses quietly. Harry looks up, recognizing the family Arthur was talking about as a Fifth Year Hufflepuff he´d played against the previous year.

"How´d you find it so fast?" Hermione asks.

"Trick from Shamanism; an optional Third Year course." George answers.

"Required for former Artene students." Serenity adds and smothers a grin at Hermione´s look of dismay at missing out on a new type of magic.

"What time does this thing pick us up?" Fred asks to change the topic.

"Seven past five." Arthur answers.

"It´s almost five past now." Diana says, glancing at her own watch.

"Dia, where did you get an analog watch?" Serenity asks, putting her arm around Diana´s shoulders.

"Polly sent it to me for Christmas last year." Diana answers, somewhat leery of her sister´s current mood.

"That little twink! I told her all last year that I wanted a new watch!" Serenity´s friendly mood dissipates as quickly has a rabbit running for cover.

"But you have one." Diana says plaintively.

"That´s had almost everything done to it to destroy!" Serenity answers brashly. "And I thought that electronic devices didn´t work at Hogwarts!"

"They don´t." Hermione says firmly.

Serenity thrusts her left wrist, on which was an old military time digital watch, under Hermione´s nose. Hermione recoils slightly so she could read the time. It read 05H06.13 under the date, 1 Aug 94, the digits glowing slightly so they were visible in the predawn gloom.

"Does it look like it has stopped working at all?" Serenity asks waspishly.

"Actually, all I was able to see was the fact that the portkey´ll activate in less than a minute." Hermione returns smartly as Serenity was forced to put the matter aside.

Within a few seconds, the group of eleven found themselves on a stretch of deserted, foggy moor. Correction: there were two men and a box full of used portkeys on the moor as well.

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill." Says the man nearest the haphazard grouping who was wearing a very tacky tweed suit and holding a watch.

Arthur greeted the other man cheerfully as `Basil´, who was wearing a kilt and a poncho.

"Hello there, Arthur," Basil responds wearily. "Not on duty eh? It´s all right for some... we´ve been here all night.... You´d better get out of the way. We´ve got a big party coming in from the Black Forest at five fifteen. Hang on. I´ll find your campsite... Weasley... Weasley..." He consults his parchment list. "About a quarter mile walk over there, first field you come to. Site manager called Mr. Roberts. Oh! Are any of you S. Silverwing or D. Featheredmoon?"

Serenity and Diana look slightly taken aback but Serenity responds, "We are."

"Got a note for you then. Said they were your cousins." Basil says and hands Serenity the folded piece of parchment.

"Thank you." Serenity says, taking the note from Basil. Serenity throws a look at Diana that said she (Diana) would be explaining a lot in a moment.

"Thank Basil." Arthur says and herds the group in the direction Basil´d indicated.

"You could have told me that Polly, Kate and Rigel were here too!" Serenity mutters at Diana.

"I did tell you. They´re the surprises I said we´d be lucky if we didn´t get. And I wasn´t sure if Rigel would be coming. I `spect that´s what the note´s about."

Serenity unfolds the note and reads it aloud;

"Serenity and Diana,

"Hello! Guess what!

"WE´RE ALL HERE!!!

"We´re camped in the second field if you and your friends want to come. Plenty of room!

"Oh! Don´t come before six A.M. We´ll be sleeping off the time diff. Then again, Polly will be up so you could come but the rest of us wouldn´t recommend it. She raided Tom´s chocolate supply yesterday.

"See you soon! Katelin Blackfrost with Archturus Blacksun, Polari `Polly´ Blacksong and Rigel Blackknight.

"Oh jeez..." Serenity mutters. "We´re doomed."

"Parfait... Not only do we get Rigel but we get a hyperactive Polly too! Is there any end to the suffering?" Diana sighs.

"Wait a minute, Polly Blacksong is your cousin?" George asks incredulously.

"As in the First-Year-That-Gave-Percy-Nightmares Polly Blacksong?" Fred asks, continuing where his twin had left off. Diana had to choke back a laugh and Serenity smiles slightly.

"Yes George. I didn´t know about the nightmares though, Fred." Serenity replies, rolling her eyes heavenward.

Diana chokes on her laughter again, covering her mouth with her hand. Her eyes, now a clear summer blue, sparkle with laughter in the early morning dim.

"Oy, Marcus! D´you wanna come with us?" Diana asks, calling to the front of the group. Marcus turns around, falling slightly behind his cousin and uncle, pauses shortly to answer Ron´s query then walks towards the Shaman sisters and Liz.

"What d´you mean?" Marcus asks, falling in line with Diana.

"Just offering. Thought you might want to avoid sharing a tent with seven others." Diana says with a shrug.

"It´s only your uncle and cousin Rigel there, right?" Marcus asks, showing more interest than he realized.

"Those that aren´t girls, yep!" Diana confirms.

Marcus looks torn for an instant and his attitude took and upward turn.

"Uncle Art! I´ll be with Diana´s family!" Marcus yells. "Tell Perce, Char, and Bill I´ll be by later!"

With that, Serenity, Liz, Diana and Marcus peel off from the large group, all the while being glared at by Ron.

* * * * *

It took the foursome almost the entire hour to get to the second field and find the campsite marked by, easily, the strangest marker that any campsite could and would be marked with.

Planted firmly in the ground twenty-some feet from the three tents, the sign had two halves. The half on the left started like any other marker with "Black" written on it. The right half, however, had four `tags´ of varied lengths. From top to bottom, increasing in length, the names read; `sun´, `song´, `frost´, and `knight´.

"You Native Yanks have weird surnames." Marcus mutters, just loud enough to be clearly heard by the three girls.

"Then you don´t want to know what happens when we get married, eh?" Serenity retorts with a small grin. Marcus had a look on his face that clearly meant he´d been caught flatfooted.

"Hold it!" Serenity exclaims suddenly, throwing her arms out to either side to stop the group´s forward procession. Diana also throws an arm out to stop Marcus, whose progress Serenity´d been unable to check. Diana knew that Serenity never stopped walking in a direction without good cause.

"Stay here... I´ll kill Polly." Serenity mutters, and begins hopping in a random pattern across the intervening ground between the marker and the tents.

"Serenity, what are you doing?" Liz asks, staring after the raven-haired girl. Unfortunately, this distracted Serenity just long enough for her to lose her precarious balance and she trips the unseen, yet sensed, trap.

With a shocked squeak, Serenity´s skirt flies up, blown by an upward gust of wind. Diana, thankfully, had quickly covered Marcus´ eyes with her hand. When Serenity had recovered, moving to a spot that wouldn´t blast her with wind, Diana removes her hand and apologizes.

"Follow me." Diana says, taking a cautious step onto the `mine´ field.

Serenity, safely through the trap and coaching Diana and Marcus on where to step, points out to Liz, with a sigh, two familiar and currently half-unwelcome visitors; Draco (the unwelcome half) and Nocta Malfoy (the welcome half). Marcus chose that moment to trigger a jet. Unfortunately for him, this jet was stronger than the others and had him bobbing like a cork in a fountain a good twelve feet in the air. Liz floats quickly up to rescue him.

"Well well... Another addition to the Weasels, have we? And with Disgraces no less." Draco drawls, standing at the edge of the (unbeknownst to him) trap. Serenity uses her hand-language to warn Nocta about the trap.

"Draco, come on. We need to-" Nocta starts, grabbing at Draco´s shirtsleeve as she understood Serenity´s hand signals.

"Stay out of this Nocta." Draco snaps, yanking his arm out of his sister´s reach and turning it into a threatening gesture. Nocta backs away, watching at her brother sadly.

"Draco!" Serenity yells, gaining his immediate attention.

"Go bugger yourself!" Serenity says, gaining admonishing looks from all. (Authoress´s Note I: Looks like I need to up the rating on this thing...Apologies to British readers...) Draco´s face turns very red.

"Why you-" Draco starts, and takes a fatal step onto the trap.

Draco not only triggers the trap but also triggers the strongest air jet in the lot. This jet sent him soaring through the air towards the end of the field nearest the opulent Quidditch stadium.

"I think he´s..." Serenity says, following Draco´s arc through the air.

"He might..." Diana adds, shading her eyes from the early sunlight and also watching Draco.

"He will." Nocta says firmly, leaning backwards slightly to see where her brother would land.

At the end of the field, Draco crashes into a very nice tent, collapsing it around him.

"Wasn´t that the Minister´s tent?" Marcus asks, having been set safely within the safety area around the tents by Liz.

"I think it was..." Liz says, straining to keep a straight face and she lands gently on the ground.

"Sorry, Serenity, Liz! I´d love to stay and chat but I guess I need to rescue my brother. Fine thing, it is, when a little sister has to rescue her brother." Nocta calls from the perimeter and runs in the direction Draco had flown.

"I may need to adjust the strength on that jet..." says a girl from behind the four. They whirl around to find a coppery-skinned girl with brown eyes and auburn hair in a yellow and orange version of Serenity and Diana´s Shamanism School uniform

"Yeah!" Serenity and Marcus chorus, "Stronger!"

The girl laughs. "C´mon. I was about to start breakfast and wake the others up."

"Just don´t ruin anything, Polly. When you left last year, you could burn water." Diana says teasingly, following Polly (the girl) towards the campfire.

* * * * *

"That was the best game I´ve seen yet." Marcus says, looking slightly glazed as, three days later, they walk back to their campsite.

"I wish I´d taken Fred up on his bet..." Serenity sighs, "It´d be so hilarious to see him wandering around school wearing a hat that said `I love Slytherins´ for a week."

"And you doubted that America would win?" Diana asks, looking at her sister skeptically.

"Not with Alexian Speedlight as a Chaser and Hollie Windhunter as Seeker. France put up a good fight though and when Fred offered the bet, France was ahead by seventy points." Serenity responds.

"That was so romantic at the end when Speedlight proposed to Windhunter in the Top Box. That´ll be sure to cause some problems with the America cups..." Diana sighs dramatically.

"Why?" Marcus wakes up from his quasi-sleepwalking state to ask.

"Because Windhunter plays Seeker for the Wichita Witches and Speedlight plays Chaser for the Dakota Shamans. The Shamans and Witches are rival teams." Serenity answers then groans. "Oh man! This is seriously going to ruin the betting with Gavin and Gwen!"

"You gamble? At school? Over Quidditch?" Marcus asks incredulously.

"Oh sure. Lizzy´s our bookie." Serenity says confidently, draping her left arm around the silently floating immortal.

"Hm? What?" Liz asks, stumbling out of her stupor.

"Don´t you take Gwen´s, Gavin´s and my bets on the American teams?" Serenity asks, looking almost drunk from sleep debt.

"Sere, you need to sleep and not pollute these un-Sorted minds with our misadventures." Liz says, dropping to walk on the ground and support Serenity to their tent. "And yes, Marcus, I do book Serenity´s bets against a couple of our Gryffindor buddies."

"Who are Gwen and Gavin?" Diana asks. "I´ve heard a lot about them but still..."

"Guinevere and Gavin Doaraion are Gryffindor Fourth Years this September. I believe they´re staying where Polly and Serenity usually stay."

"And that is?" Marcus asks.

"The Blaize Safe House In The Country." Serenity answers, her drowsiness permeating her speech. "Tom Blaize runs it with his wife and son."

"Seraye, ma cherie, je t´adore mais..." Diana starts, placing a hand on Serenity right shoulder. {Translation: Seraye, my dear, I adore you but..."

"Quoi, ma soeur?" Serenity asks, looking blearily down at Diana. {Trans: What, sis?}

"They´re at it again." Marcus groans.

"Tu pouvais aller dormir.... Maintenant!" Diana says vehemently. {Trans: You need to go to sleep... NOW!}

"Beinsurrr..." Serenity answers as her head lolls against Liz´s shoulder. {Trans: Of courrr...}

"Great... We´re still twenty feet from the campsite." Diana sighs, taking up Serenity´s other arm so Liz didn´t have to take the whole of Serenity´s mass.

"No, Diana, drop behind and see if Polly´ll disable the traps long enough for us to get Serenity across. Marcus and I´ll wait at the edge."

"Got´cha!" Diana says and slips off silently.

Liz got Serenity into her camp bed easily after Polly disabled the jet traps. Polly also crashed promptly after putting the trap back up.

Diana, after fifteen minutes of fruitless efforts to sleep, moves to curl up on Serenity´s bed. Serenity, in her sleep, drapes her arm over Diana. Diana smiles and snuggles under her own sheet-like blanket to sleep.

Liz, not tired just yet, sits out by the fire, watching the blaze crackle. A sudden lurch of her stomach made her look up and towards the nearby wooded area. She sees the vague outline of a man in the trees, watching the site with hawk-like intensity. However, the moment he saw her looking, he vanished so quickly, Liz wondered briefly if she´d been hallucinating.

Quickly, she squashes that idea. All the signs were pointing to the worst year yet, even without the Slytherins.