Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and settings from the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by J. K. Rowling. I do not claim any ownership over them or the world of Harry Potter and will not receive any money or other financial profit for presenting the work on this site. The story I tell here as well as certain original characters are my own invention, and are not purported or believed to be part of J.K. Rowling's story canon.

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Chapter 52

"Before we begin with today's lesson.. I'd like to thank you all for coming today. I appreciate your continued bravery and unbreakable will to fight for peace and equality amongst the wizarding community. There are no words to describe how proud I am of each one of you. Hopefully this will soon all be over," Sage acknowledged in her usually stern manner.

Neville could sense that there was something off about her, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Her gaze was determined, yet tired. He wondered what had been going through her head the past few days. For the sake of keeping their cover, they hadn't spoken too much since the day of his detention with Hagrid.

Neville was worried. Genuinely worried for Sage. After she had told him about her panic attack (quite bluntly at that), he had been discreetly trying to inform himself further on the topic. This, unfortunately, had turned out to be rather difficult, especially since his access to the library was beyond restricted by now.

"She seems oddly sentimental today," Ginny whispered towards Neville, as they both watched Sage prepare for today's lesson.

"It was a traumatic experience. It would be unrealistic to expect her to he back to normal just now," he explained in response, his eyes not once leaving Sage.

"I feel like.. that's just not it.. There must be something else."

"You think so?"

"It's just a feeling.. but it wouldn't hurt to ask, would it?"

"No.. I guess I'll ask her about it later today."

"She seems less tense than usual," Luna now chimed in.

"I don't really think that there is anything near to 'less tense than usual' for Sage," Neville noted somewhat disappointedly.

"Yeah.. She's like a personified pressure washer," Ginny agreed.

"Unless Neville suddenly forgets about personal space again," Luna teased under a giggle.

"Ah yes.. the infamous forgetfulness of our dear Longbottom.. certainly comes in handy at times."

"Would you two just stop to use me as a punchbag all the time?"

"Never!"

Throughout all their chatter and teasing, none of the three noticed the entire meadow staring at them. More importantly, however, none of them noticed Sage slowly making her way across the meadow, after trying to silence them for long enough now.

"May I interrupt your little banter?" she asked, creeping up from behind them.

Neville and Ginny jumped at the sudden sound of her voice so close to her ear, whilst Luna barely looked surprised. Sage chuckled at their startled reactions.

"Oh, did I scare you? Almost as if you hadn't expected me to come here.. when I have clearly been talking to you for the past minute," she asked innocently, obviously annoyed at their interruption of their lesson.

"Excuse us, Miss Selwyn, it won't happen again," Ginny mimed an overly polite first-year.

"Exactly what I wanted to hear," she responded cheerfully.

"Now I see why she came here to teach us.. In the end they are all the same, the lot of them. Got a stick so far up their arse, it threatens to pop out of their throat again.."

"I heard that!"

"I knoooow!"

As Sage walked back towards the top of the meadow, she laughed wholeheartedly, the very same sound echoing along from behind her back.

What would the world be without one Ginny Weasley?

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Author's note: Ahhh!! Thank you so much for your kind review!! I wanted to try something new and put a scene divide in my chapter and I'm soooo glad you liked the twist it proposed!! :-)

I hope you are doing well!! :-)

I'll be back tomorrow with another chapter. If you want to leave me a review, I'd be more than thankful to read it!! :-)