Serana disappeared after completing main storyline

I had gotten to the part in the Dawnguard storyline where you get the priest Dexion to read the Elder Scroll. I had the bug where he attacks you and wont read it so I went back to the main storyline instead. Throughout this all I had Serana following me. She followed me up to the part where you ride that dragon you capture in Whiterun, but once I rode the dragon and landed she was gone. I thought it was normal since you're probably meant to do the end of that quest line alone, but after I had killed Alduin Serana was still missing.

I found a way to fix the Dexion bug but now the next part is telling me to talk to Serana and she is just gone. There is an floating quest arrow pointing over empty space in the Dawnguard castle, as if she was invisible. When I tried to get another follower, it wouldn't let me and told me I already had a follower with me.

I've tried console commands with her ID to move me to her and have her move to me and it just moves that floating quest arrow. I've tried doing the companions quests so that it forcibly replaces my follower with the companions guy, and after I dismissed him I went to Castle Dawnguard and she is still missing!! All that remains of her is the floating quest arrow that floats over quest targets' heads.

How on earth can I get her back??

Bump. I have the same problem.

first and obvious : loading the save before riding the dragon, and then dismissing her (be carefull there is a dismiss bug attached to serana) and then do the whole alduin kill thing.

Second : The command player.placeatme, i've heard it creates an copy of the character instead of "teleporting" the character to you, perhaps it will work.

That's what i would try anyway, please post if it worked or not.

How do you use the placeatme command with a named NPC? I tried doing "player.placeatme 02002b74" and "player.placeatme 02002b74 1" (without the quotes) and they both said it's an invalid object, and that's Serana's ID.

You need the base id.
So it should go like this: player.placeatme 02002B6C.

It created a new Serana but I can't interact with her at all. The quest marker is still floating over empty space.

Does she acts like a statue? ie not moving at all, but still speaking?
If that's the case, select her (in cosole command menu) and click tai. It should say something like ai processing serana turned on.

If not then i would recommend to manually complete the quest via console commands.

That is al i can think off for now, but i will try to think of more.

Edit: first save before manually completing the quest, in case things go wrong.

Thank you for all your help. She walks around but when I try to talk to her it doesn't open up the dialogue screen or let me complete the quest. I tried selecting her and entering tai and it just makes her stand still.

Hmm interesting, i think the foalting marker is still the '"real" Serana then.
Then i would recommend either to kill the floating marker serana (by set essential and kill command)
Or trying to complete quest manually to see if it fixes the invisible serana (set stage command, and then the quest, don't know specific code, you need to see the wiki's)

As to the serana copy, if see is no use to you, select here and type disable. (or do that to floating makrer serana)
Should get rid of her completly.

Edit: no problem, it's fun trying to solve one of many skyrim glitches.

I used "setessential 02002B6C 0" but I'm having trouble using the kill command. I did "prid 02002B74" then "kill" and nothing happens. I tried doing this before and after creating a new serana through placeatme.

When you used the teleport command, it did work with 02002B74?
If so it should work with set essential.
However serana may just be unkilleble, so i would advise the disable command.

And of course setstage, but as a final solution (wait, that sounds wrong) i mean as a last resort.

The teleport command works with 02002B74 but setessential doesn't work with that ID. I tried targeting Serana with her reference ID and disabling her and nothing happens. I think I'm SOL until the next patch

Sorry mate, i have no more things to help you.
I wish you good luck.

But look on the bright sight: you now have a perfect reason to start a new character, and play skyrim once more.

Try 3002b6c = depends I think on the load order and mods - you can always do 'help serana' to get the exact NPC code

if you have not solved it yet try to teleport to the follower instead i did that and now i do not have to look for serana anymore, i did use player.moveto 02002b74 in the console and it worked better then moving her to me . hope it helps for others too .