Author's note:

Dear readers,

another update for you to enjoy. I hope, that you still like reading my story, thank you for your support and encourage you to leave me some feedback with constructive critic. Special thanks to IAriannei for adding this story to your alert list. It really put a smile on my face.

Best wishes,

Vani12

Chapter 13 – Midday confessions, Part I

Café "Rose Garden", Muggle London, January 2000

Sage breathed in the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and tea, fresh-baked cakes, biscuits, and muffins and admired the artfully decorated homemade cupcakes and cakes as he stepped into the "Rose Garden". It was his favorite Muggle café in London because its cakes and tea tasted absolutely delicious and its atmosphere was always bright, friendly and calm thanks to its beige color scheme, huge window, and well-mannered customers. With a wildly beating heart, Sage searched the face of Ginny in the crowded space. At first, he couldn't spot her vibrant wavy dark red hair, so that his closely hidden insecurities resurfaced, his heart missed a beat and he felt a sharp pain manifest itself in his chest. Naturally, it seemed like his ambitious dream of a romance or at least close friendship with Ginny burst into thousand pieces before he even had the chance to confess his feelings to her. Sage was so devastated, that he initially wanted to turn around and leave the café with a sad expression and sloping shoulders. It really seemed like romance wasn't something for him.

But as he looked frantically around for a familiar redhead for the second time, he made her out sitting at a cozy table for two and looking lost in her thoughts, because she gazed with a fixed stare in her lovely amber eyes at some point in the distance. Sage admired her beauty discreetly for some minutes. She really did look lovely, like a freshly blossomed English rose, in her forest green, curve-hugging, and knee-length sheath skirt, her cream, form-fitted and low-necked silk blouse and her modest, high-heeled forest green ankle boots. Her pink jewelry sparkled in the rare sunbeams that grazed the café's window and her natural makeup radiated a unique glow of feminine beauty. If he hadn't been attracted by her like a bear by honey before, he would have surely fallen for her in this moment. Sage tried to calm his frantically beating heart, keep his cool and announce his presence silently to Ginny.

He wanted to surprise and impress her so that she would be more open to his advances by looking his best and radiating an aura of mystery, intrigue, and confidence. Nonetheless, he was overjoyed that Ginny hadn't stood him up or left the cafè due to his tardiness, because – in his opinion – it indicated her interest in him and gave him hope to conquer her. He knew, that he logically couldn't conquer any woman because all women were strong, independent and intelligent self-made modern females with their own mindsets, feelings, dreams, body rights and opinions, who couldn't be conquered like a ship or castle as if they were an unanimated object. He would never disrespect the rights, wishes, and feelings of any women by doing anything to her without her explicit – verbally and non-verbally expressed – consent, so that he would have to await her reaction to his confession to see, if she could possibly return his feelings and wished to explore their connection in a romantic way. Regardless of what her reaction would be, Sage vowed to respect her decision nonetheless and be a good friend to her. If she didn't want to date him, he wouldn't be angry at her, refuse to see her in the future and cancel their planned working clothesline, because Sage was beyond this petty drama and wouldn't destroy her chances of becoming a famed fashion designer by sabotaging her career due to his hurt feelings.

He knew from hurtful experiences, that you couldn't compel love, feelings of attraction or sympathy. If you couldn't woo your crush by being yourself, looking your best and being there for her, you needed to face the hard truth head-on: your feelings were unrequited and you couldn't change anything about it. Everything you tried to evoke with a disguised personality or some childish tricks, could never last because it was all based on lies. Therefore, you needed to accept and respect the wishes of beloved under any circumstances, even if your heart bled and you felt miserable by only being a good friend to her.

Therefore, Sage hated the art of love potion brewing or the invention of love charms/spells, although love potions were a required topic in the Potions curriculum at Hogwarts and almost every schoolgirl dreamed of gaining her crush's love – if need be – by administering a love potion to him/her and joke shops like the "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes" legally sold a mild variation for a laugh to their oftentimes underaged, mischievous customers and love spells legally circulated around on Valentines Day or Christmas to initiate kisses between star-crossed lovers or shy silent admirers, because they deprived one of one's free will and consent. Consequently, they not only violated the concepts of mutual consent and personal rights in matters of the heart but also created a fake romance based on lies, deceit and criminal energy, that could never develop into a healthy relationship based on love, trust, respect, and honesty. Hence, any romance generated via magical means only ended in tragedy and heartbreak: failed marriages, violent spouses, unhappy lives, unloved children and destroyed dreams.

In Sage's books, the use of love potions and love charms/spells should be drastically punished by the mighty Wizengamot, their production methods excluded from the Potions curriculums at any magical school and their sale in any store forbidden, because they compelled the mind of their victims and robbed them of their free will, so that they worked strikingly similar to one of the Unforgivable Curses, the Imperius Curse, that placed its victims completely under the control of its caster. In both cases, the victims suffered from a complete lack of free will, with the result, that their personal rights were violated and they acted out of their mind. Therefore, Sage fought with many other witches and wizards passionately to change the regulations and laws concerning magical means to enchant love, lust or affection.

Sage tried to clear his mind of these sinister, dark topics because he wanted to stay focused on how to woo Ginny and confess his crush on her. He took a deep breath, encouraged himself in his thoughts and walked confidently to her table. It was time to stop dreaming and start acting, risk something because he couldn't win anything without opening up to her about his emotions and thoughts. He didn't want to make the same mistakes again by not telling his beloved about his feelings because he had learned that it was essential in matters of the heart to speak up, risk everything and face one's fears due to the fact that one's beloved was oftentimes blind to one's feelings. Besides that, he had learned the hard way, that bottling everything up, waiting for the supposedly right moment and hiding your emotions wasn't the successful way to find happiness, love, and contentment. Staying silent wasn't gold in this case, but only the sign of surrendering oneself to one's own cowardice, fears, and insecurities.

Thence, Sage stepped into Ginny's view, gazed her in her warm amber eyes and addressed her in his deep, sensual baritone,"Hello, Ginny. I'm so glad that you could join me today and I must apologize for being a bit late, but the London traffic really is a disgrace sometimes. Have you already ordered anything?". He noticed by the widening of Ginny's eyes, her little startle, and her confused expression, that he must have snapped her out of her deep thoughts. At first, he only looked sheepishly at her, but as he noticed her little-embarrassed blush and apologetically look, he decided to stop her self-torturing thought process by taking some pressure off her. It seemed like Ginny also wanted to impress him and was now under the impression, that she had failed miserably at first sight with her plan.

"Ginny, don't torment yourself for zoning out into your own thoughts in public because it really happens like at least four times a day to me. Believe me, I can understand, that sometimes so many different ideas, concerns or hopes can occupy your mind so that you lose yourself in them. For a fact, I promised you to be honest with you, so that I need to confess something to you: I'm not only a little late thanks to the London traffic but also thanks to my stray thoughts. On the whole day, it was really difficult for me to stay focused on my work – I researched in a potions book complex interactions between different ingredients because my experimental potion went wrong and I have no clue why – but I kept being lost in other thoughts. Actually, if I'm totally honest and talk bluntly, my mind was preoccupied with thoughts about you, Ginny.

And I must say, that your glowing beauty really is a sight for my sore eyes. I really can't fathom how I got this lucky to be your date today. So, rest assured, that everyone gets preoccupied with their thoughts sometimes, so it's normal and not a negative personality trait, that would change my positive impression of you and your work as a designer. In the contrary, it makes you even more human and sympathetic, although I thought, that this wasn't even possible because you show me your real self without any pretense and masks. And showing your true self to someone you only met a few days ago, albeit you share a deep connection and might be kindred spirits, is a brave, trustful and beautiful thing to do and really blows my mind because it indicates how much you enjoy and can be yourself in my company. There couldn't be a greater compliment to me," Sage ended his monologue, that should encourage Ginny to show her true self to him and emphasize their mutual understanding. He really hoped that Ginny wasn't only nervous and self-assured to talk to him because of their business relationship, but although due to her wish to impress him like a young woman, who wanted to impress her date thanks to her attraction to him.

Sage registered, that Ginny exchanged a thankful look with him, before she replied, "Sage, I must really thank you for your lunch invitation because I also wanted to meet you as soon as possible and thanks to this desire had difficulties to concentrate on my new designs so that I'm overjoyed about this tea-time break. I also don't rate your lateness as a no-go and offense to my person, because I know how times flies sometimes, as you could clearly witness one moment ago. Also, I'm flattered by your compliments. You should really stop making me blush unless you want that I resemble a beetroot in the near future. But I can only return the compliments, you look really handsome today and I can't believe that you – some rich, socially engaged, handsome and mysterious guy with a big heart – would want to meet me – some broken, self-absorbed and lost in her dreams of being a famous fashion designer chick - listen to my sorrows and encourage me to fulfill my dreams. But I'm grateful for your friendship nonetheless. And perhaps we can even turn it into something more if you are inclined to it. For I feel with every fiber of my heart that I can trust you with my feelings and place my heart into your hands," Ginny answered him directly and shocked Sage with her bluntness.