Serenity Silverwing & The Hogwarts Five

Chapter Twelve

Old Faces

Last Seen: New powers terrify the Weasley household. Somebody better get Serenity under thumb quickly before Ron winds up in a crater! Are we having fun yet? Enjoy!!! Don't forget to R! E! V! I! E! W! (What's that spell?) REVIEW!!! Tah now!

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Tradrin Casus Fatespirit set the letter from Lauren down on his desk, a worried look firmly in place.

Something was not kosher with his adoptive niece. The girl had used three times the power that left even his old friend exhausted and with a headache to make a migraine jealous and she'd only been slightly tired with a small headache.

Lauren had asked him to re-evaluate her. She'd been no more powerful when he'd left on his regretfully unsuccessful mission in early May.

He folds the letter idly, thinking deeply. It was late enough in the evening that Serenity should be eating dinner now. He'd go tomorrow, as soon as the morning's tedium was dealt with.

* * * * *

Tradrin, once in Hogsmeade, apparates to the Weasley's doorstep and knocks on the door. Molly almost immediately flings the door open, smiling warmly.

"Hello Tradrin. She's in the attic." Molly says brightly, leaving the door open.

Tradrin wastes little time in heading up the stairs to the attic, pausing only to greet Diana, who was in the living room playing chess with Marcus.

Tradrin ascends the stairs quickly. When he got to the attic landing, he was shocked to find that he needn't even open the door to sense Serenity's powerful aura. Being able to re-evaluate her from outside was an unexpected surprise.

Finished, Tradrin knocks on the door.

"Come in!" Serenity calls in an almost singsong voice.

Tradrin opens the door to see Serenity on her bed with her guitar and one of her music books out. She lightly strums a chord then sets her guitar carefully to one side.

"So... Lauren sent you to figure me out?" Serenity asks resignedly. "Might as well get it over with." She adds with a sigh.

"Already done. I must say, you're powerful enough I could do it from outside." Tradrin answers, quietly closing the door.

"I assume you've heard of what happened after you left? With the Slytherins?" Serenity states more than ask, stretching out from hunching over her instrument.

"I did." Tradrin answers noncommittally. Serenity, mid-stretch, relaxes to a slouch, scowling.

"Then you've also heard of the 'fun' I had afterwards." Serenity says, flipping her music book closed with a nonchalant air.

"Yes." Tradrin responds, continuing with his observant poise.

"For goodness sake, Tradrin, can't you give more than a two word response!?" Serenity asks harshly, standing and tossing the music book into a nearby box. Tradrin shifts his weight from foot to foot and Serenity stares at him with piercing blue-green eyes. Abruptly, she blinks and stares at him in something akin to shock.

"You know... You know who derailed the train." Serenity accuses. Tradrin's wince went almost unnoticed.

"You knew about the derailment too. You left to try to stop it." Serenity ventures further. "And you... you couldn't even keep them off the train."

"Serenity Silverwing Shaman, don't you dare say I didn't try!" Tradrin says sternly, voice shaking with hidden grief.

"I'm not saying you didn't try." Serenity says with a false laugh. "I'm saying you didn't try hard enough."

"I can't change what is to happen, no matter how much I may want to. I've told you that enough times." Tradrin replies hotly.

"You also said that the future isn't set in stone!" Serenity argues back. "You said that something drastic could change the course of events. What you did wasn't drastic enough to save them!"

"I guess we know why you're in Slytherin then. 'Use any means to achieve their ends' didn't the Hat say?" Tradrin spits back. Serenity takes a step back as though slapped.

"Yes... Maybe I do use any means to have what I want happen." Serenity whispers to herself. "Get out." She says, staring flames at Tradrin.

"What?" Tradrin asks, taken aback by Serenity's sudden change of mood.

"You finished what you came here to do. Get out!" Serenity says, louder this time. Still shocked by the mood shift, Tradrin quickly left the room.

As the door clicked closed, Serenity sinks onto her bed, sobs ceaselessly wracking her frame as she curls into a ball.

* * * * *

Lauren Dyane Blacksun rereads Tradrin's reply letter, trying to cope with what he had written. Lauren didn't want to believe that it had come down to Serenity and Diana.

She would've preferred it if one of her daughters, maybe Katelin, had been chosen by the higher powers for this, and not both of her precious little sisters' little ones. She could understand one to an extent, as the Vrai-Lunez line had only two prospects for continuation but for both?

"Mommy?" Rigel peeks into his mothers study to find her on the verge of tears. "Mommy, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing Rigel. I'm just worried about your cousins." Lauren says, stretching the truth. Rigel pads softly to his mother and crawls onto her lap, giving her a much-needed hug.

"Both of them? I'd be worried only about Sere. She'll kill herself before she breaks down in front of Di." Rigel says, the bluntness of childhood ruining any consoling effect his words might've held.

"I know, Rigel..." Lauren says, holding her youngest and only son tightly in a hug. "I know."