I am garbage at posting, I'm so sorry. Honestly, I have up to Chapter 20 written; I just have no concept of time anymore (product of working from home). So imagine my surprise when I realized I haven't posted since September! September!
I'm going to try to post every two weeks. I think that gives me enough time to write at least one more chapter before I post again so I'm always ahead. That being said, if I haven't posted by November 2nd, feel free to send a PM and be as rude as you see fit! I still get the PM notifications to my email so I should see that I have one. And as always, please let me know how I'm doing :)
Sage eyed the doors to the Great Hall with unexpected trepidation. It was a strange feeling; she hadn't felt this nervous in the castle since just before her Sorting. It was easy to pretend that nothing had changed when she was at Potter Manor. The past couple of days felt just like summer holidays, even with Mrs. Potter's fretting over Sirius. But now, here in the castle, that bubble of safety popped. Here, she, Sage, would have to face her friends and the rumors that were bound to have spread through the castle. Not to mention, she'd have to make sure James and the other Marauders wouldn't kill any Slytherins in retaliation.
James threw her a sidelong glance as she let out a shaky breath.
"What's wrong?" He asked. "Worried about seeing Gideon?"
"No, what? What is it with you and Sirius hammering on about Gideon?" She asked squeakily.
"Isn't he your boyfriend?" James asked with a grin. Sage rolled her eyes, smacked James in the back of his head, and pushed the doors open. Ignoring James' protests, Sage walked along the edge of the room to the Gryffindor dining table. She noticed the stares and whispers emanating from the students as she made her way across the room and felt a desire to slump her shoulders.
"Ignore it. Head high," she muttered to herself, straightening her spine and keeping her eyes on her destination. She heard James' swift footsteps gaining on her and the two siblings finished their trek side by side. Surprisingly, Sage spotted Kylie, Marlene, and Alice sitting next to Remus and Peter and felt a thrill of excitement at the lack of space between Kylie and Remus.
"Hello, there," Sage grinned, flopping down on the bench beside Marlene. Marlene let out a shriek and threw her arms around Sage's neck in a hug as James sat down beside her. "Air, Mar, need to breathe," Sage gasped but Marlene's arms tightened.
"I'm so glad you're okay!" Marlene cried, releasing Sage so abruptly that she fell back against James. "How's Sirius?"
"Bored out of his damn mind," James grumbled, shoving Sage back into a sitting position. "But physically fine."
"He has his bike to distract him until he gets cleared to come back," Sage said fairly, grabbing the nearest plate and shoveling food onto it.
"You gave it to him already?" Peter asked. It seemed as if everyone was determined to keep the conversation light but Sage could see the questions in each pair of eyes.
"Well, Mum and Dad felt it was the best way to keep him from blowing the house up without James there to occupy him," Sage replied through a mouthful of eggs and kippers.
"So, what did we miss?" James asked, helping himself to fried potatoes.
"Nothing much," Kylie said. "The Halloween feast was excellent, as usual. The other Gryffindors are bummed about missing the last Sirius Black Birthday Bash," she rolled her eyes as Sage snorted, thinking of the raucous celebration the Marauders threw for each of their birthdays. "Of course, the entire school has been talking about what happened. And oh look, Gideon is coming."
"Wha?" Sage barely time to register the words before she heard someone call her name. She turned to see Gideon looking down on her with a solemn look on his face. "Err, hi, Gideon."
"Hello," He gave a quick smile around the table, eyes flitting away from Sage for only a moment. "Can we talk privately?"
"Er, sure," Sage said, noting his rigid stance as she swung her legs over the bench. Gideon led her out of the Great Hall and into a nearly deserted corridor before whirling on her with such frightening determination Sage resisted the urge to pull her wand.
"Why were you with Black that late?" He spat.
"Excuse me?" Sage replied coolly.
"Why were you on the seventh floor with Black that night?" He repeated. "Prudence Clearwater said she saw you two sneaking up to the Astronomy Tower. And that's exactly where Black takes his flavor of the week." Sage rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Prudence Clearwater is a liar, we didn't go to the Astronomy Tower," she said dismissively. "We were studying."
"Fabian said he didn't see you in the library at all. Are you going to call my own brother a liar as well?" He stepped towards Sage, who held her ground.
"No, I'm not. He's right, we weren't the library. But that's hardly the only place to study in the whole castle," Sage spat. "And I suggest you back up before I make you back up."
Gideon seemed to notice that he was inches away from her face and stepped back quickly, shaking his head. "Sorry. I just don't like the idea of my girl traipsing along with Black at all hours of the night."
"Your girl?" Sage scoffed. "Your girl? We've been on one date. One!" She held a single finger up, inches from his nose. "I have the right to go anywhere with anyone at any time." Gideon opened his mouth to speak and she stopped him with a wave of her hand. "And if I really am your girl, why are you more worried about some rumors than the fact that I was attacked?"
"I'm sor-" Gideon started.
"You know what? It really doesn't matter. Whatever this is," she motioned between the two of them, "it's over, okay?" Sage turned on her heel and stalked back into the Great Hall without waiting for an answer.
"Didn't go well?" James asked, eyeing her angry face with a bemused expression.
"We've decided to go our separate ways," Sage stated with such finality that nobody dared to ask more questions. The bell rang from deep within the castle and she glared at her half-eaten kippers before shoving them aside. She followed the rush of students out of the Great Hall, the group of girls silently heading to their first class. Finally, as they queued outside of the classroom, Marlene spoke.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not now. Later, maybe," Sage grumbled. She had too many thoughts that she needed to sift through before she could really speak on the subject. First, she needed to get through her classes.
After her first class ended, however, Sage realized this day was cursed. The fight with Gideon had only intensified the attention she was receiving from her classmates. It seemed people were more interested in the fact that she was with Sirius than the fact that he almost died. And apparently, the news of her breakup with Gideon cemented the rumors that she was shagging Sirius.
"What I don't get," Sage started in an undertone as she and Kylie made their way to meet up with Marlene and Alice for lunch, "is that nobody seemed to give a niffler's arse about my love life before. Why now?"
"Well, it's Sirius, isn't it? Famous Marauder and all that." Sage rolled her eyes. "And the fact that you're James' sister is intriguing."
"I've always been James' sister."
"Well yeah, but now you're apparently dating his best friend."
"Oh, heard that too?" Alice asked conversationally as she and Marlene caught up with them at the joining of two corridors.
"It's so stupid," Sage grumbled. "I'm about as likely to date Sirius as Dumbledore is to shave his beard."
"That's what I told Prudence Clearwater in Herbology," Alice agreed. Marlene stayed silent and Sage felt a pang of worry but shrugged it off. Surely, Marlene of all people would know that the rumors were baseless.
The girls entered the Great Hall and made a beeline to where James, Remus, Peter, and Lily sat. Sage noticed that Remus had left enough room between him and Peter for Kylie and stifled a smile as she plopped down next to her brother.
"So I heard you and Sirius were shagging behind that suit of armor on the first floor," James said with a shit-eating grin.
"Unlikely. Can you imagine the racket?" Sage deadpanned.
"That's what I said!" James crowed and Sage rolled her eyes again.
"As fascinating as my sex life is, can we talk about, oh I don't know, anything else?"
"As long as you promise to never reference your sex life again," James said, pulling a face.
"Oy, you brought it up."
"Yeah, well, it wasn't real until you said that."
"It isn't real at all!"
"Moving on!" Remus said loudly, interrupting the bickering. "When's the next Quidditch game?"
"Well, I was able to push back the Ravenclaw game due to Sirius' injury until after the Christmas break. But considering they've already beaten Slytherin, and Slytherin beat Hufflepuff, we need to be in tip-top shape when we play if we want to win the Cup this year." Sage tuned out James' rant as she considered her predicament.
She still wasn't sure how she felt about Sirius. Her feelings hadn't gotten any clearer with time and she felt as confused as ever. But she didn't have the energy to spare on them at the moment. Sage was so, so tired and it was only mid-day. So she stuffed down her feelings and insecurities and resolved to get through the day. Tomorrow had to be better.