Chapter 2, Seven years
'A little girl with nothing wrong, is all alone. Eyes wide open, always hoping for the sun. And she'll sing her song, to anyone that comes along...'
'Firs' years! Firs' years, over here!' To Sarah's excitement they were finally there after a whole day of uneventfullness. Now she was in the middle of all the Hogwarts students, trying to get to the giant man who was calling for them.
In the end, she managed to fight her way over to him. She heard a boy say 'That's Hagrid, the gamekeeper.' The boy had sleek, silvery blonde hair and a pale face. He was talking to two very large boys. Sarah decided to move a bit away from them.
Hagrid led them down a steep hill to a lot of boats. On the other side of the big lake they apparently were going to cross was Hogwarts Castle. Sarah thought it looked really impressive, with all it's towers and turrets, a home for noble and talented witches and wizards. She couldn't wait to be a part of them.
'On'y four in each boat!' Hagrid called and pointed at the boats. Two black-haired twins joined Sarah's boat. They were both very pretty girls, and smiled in a cute way as they greeted her and introduced themselves as Padma and Parvati Patil.
'And who are you?'
'Huh?' Parvati and Padma exchanged looks.
'What's your name?'
'Oh, of course,' Sarah felt her face redden 'I'm Sarah Haven.'
'Nice to meet you,' said Parvati, as if she wasn't quite sure about this.
'Nice to meet you too!' Sarah, poor thing, was doing her best.
There went a while in silence, Sarah was desperately searching her brain for something to say.
'So, what houses do you want to go in?' Sarah was very pleased with herself for coming up with this question (Which says something about Sarah's people skills...).
'What houses are there?' Padma asked. Oooh, this was great. Sarah opened her mouth to answer, but Parvati was quicker.
'Gryffindor, Rawenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin.' Damn. There was some more silence.
'Hm...I don't really know...' Padma said at last. Luckily for Sarah they were on the other side now, she had been about to start discussing the recent minister for magic election, which had been a big topic home at the Havens.
The first years followed Hagrid up to a big oak door. Sarah felt the excitement rising inside her. Hagrid knocked on the door, and it was immediately opened.
Professor McGonagall was standing in the doorway. Sarah sent her a feeble smile, McGonagall was a good friend of April and John's.
Professor McGonagall however, didn't see her, and led the first years into a room next to the enormous entrance hall. Sarah could hear a lot of of noise coming from somewhere nearby, probably where all the other students were. She was getting really apprehensive now.
Professor McGonagall started talking, but Sarah wasn't able to listen. Stupid enough, she had never thought about finding out how you were sorted into houses; a piece of nformation that would have been highly useful now. She was gettting increasingly nervous, and feeling a little alone again.
She looked around the room for Parvati and Padma. They were almost standing next to her, so she went over.
'Hi,' she said, a little awkwardly.
'Hello,' said Padma. Two girls standing next to them looked curiously at her. Sarah looked curiously at them too. One of them suddenly grinned.
'I'm Hannah Abbott,' she said. Sarah nodded. Silence. Sarah gave herself a mental kick for doing the same mistake again.
'I'm Sarah Haven. What's your name?' No, she didn't mess up, the question was directed to the girl standing next to Hannah. She looked just as nervous as Sarah felt.
'My name's Lavender Brown.'
'Nice to meet you,' Sarah replied, feeling she was getting better at this by the minute. But then, as if to prove her wrong, she couldn't come up with anything else to say.
Professor McGonagall was back. Sarah was starting to feel seriously nauseos now. They all followed her into a huge hall full of people. Were they going to be sorted in front of everyone?!
Well, the sorting wasn't that bad after all, Sarah could constantate an hour later. She was happily sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating chocolate icecream.
She was sitting with Parvati and Lavender, who had also been sorted into Gryffindor by the Sorting hat. They hadn't said much to each other yet, but Sarah was hoping the three of them would be friends.
Parvati's twin sister Padma had been sorted into Ravenclaw, and Hannah Abbott to Hufflepuff. Sarah hadn't really noticed anyone else of the first years, except for one more person, who was impossible not to have noticed, because everyone had been all excited when his name was called.
A few seats away from her, the skinny, black-haired boy, Harry Potter, was sitting. Sarah noticed him even more strongly now than the first time. There was something a little bit magnetic about him, Sarah couldn't help shooting a glance in his direction now and then. She wasn't alone in doing that, though.
Later, when Sarah was done with many helpings of icecream, Headmaster Dumbledore got up and gave a few messages. Sarah knew him faintly too, he visited the Havens from time to time.
Then, at last, it was time to go to bed. They followed a tall, red-haired prefect up the stairs. After a long and tiring walk, they entered the Gryffindor Common Room. Sarah instantly liked it, the room was large and very home-like.
Parvati, Lavender and a bushy-haired girl Sarah didn't know were climbing the stairs already. Sarah quickly followed.
'My name is Hermione Granger,' said the unknown girl when they had reached their dormitory.
'Sarah Haven,' Sarah said and reached out her hand to greet Hermione curteously. What sounded suspiciously like a snort came from Parvati's direction. Hermione took Sarah's hand and said 'pleasured to meet you!' Sarah just nodded, a weird feeling in her tummy.
Even though she was really tired, Sarah couldn't sleep at once. Annoying enough, she couldn't get Parvati's snort of her mind. Weren't they going to be friends after all?
Sarah greatest fear was to end up alone. Her entire life she had had no-one but herself, and she hated it. She simply wasn't strong enough to face Hogwarts by herself too. She felt like a weak and stupid little girl who no-one wanted to know.
Oh, come on, Sarah, one little snort and you're broken. How weak are you?
She really didn't know.
Sarah was standing on a narrow stripe of land, looking at a tall mountain ahead of her. The sea was beating hard against the rock ground she was standing on. Well, she knew she had to go through the passage under the mountain, so she started walking.
It was a long time since she'd been been in Avaliento now, almost a month. Sarah had never understood whether her frequent visits to the island were very bizarre dreams or something more.
Since the age of six she had been taught here, and it had helped her through her waking life.
Sometimes she had even been taught by the Lady herself, Fiovienna, a beautiful, queenly woman. Fiovienna was the thing about Avaliento Sarah wondered most about, because she was so alike Sarah in appearance. They both had long, sun-like, golden hair and very strong, brown eyes. And they were both tall and slender with beautiful faces. But no matter how hard Sarah tried she couldn't find a reasonable explanation for this.
There were other things to wonder about too. Like, was Sarah still lying in her pyjamas in her bed, at the same time as she was dressed in a beautiful white, gown and a blue, hooded, cloak on a sunny island far away?
Now she was out of the mountain passage. The beautiful island almost made her gasp, even though she had seen it hundreds of times before. She was on the top of a hill, and so had a good view.
There were green fields all around her, full of flowers and little rivers. The air smelled sweet and made her want to dance down the hill like an idiot.
Behind Tumi's cabin, which Sarah was heading for, was a large forest.
Tumi was the woman who taught Sarah about herbs and food and those kind of things. One of the things Sarah had learned from Tumi was how to make brownies that healed bruises and wounds.
Sarah happily skipped down the road to Tumi's hut, feeling like a little girl again, without a care in the world.
She loved everything about Avaliento, the way the sun warmed her face, the sounds of the nearby sea, the fresh scent from the numerous flowers, the wild animals she'd never seen except here, all the useful things she learned here and the nice people who taught it to her. In Avaliento she wasn't alone or insecure, she was little Miss Sarah who everyone loved.
'Hello, miss Sarah!' Tumi was sitting outside in the sun, slicing mushrooms. 'How are you?'
'Good,' Sarah smiled 'and you?'
'As well as ever.' Tumi was one of the oldest people in Avaliento, and one of Sarah's favorites.
'Do you know what mushroom this is, miss Sarah?' Sarah took a closer look at it.
'It's an yvonmushroom.'
'An what is it used for?'
'It is used in potions to keep lice of the roses.'
'Very good.'
'Tumi...can I ask you something?' Sarah sat down on the soft grass, helping her slice the mushrooms.
'Of course you can.'
'What is this place?'
'It's the home of the Elves of he Order of the Phoenix.'
'I know that, but... well, how can I be here, when I'm not here?' Tumi sighed.
'I understand you're growing up, miss Sarah.'
There was silence for a while. Sarah was getting sick of 'silences for a while'.
Truth is, I don't really know. I don't know why there are so few of us here, when there used to be so many. I don't know why people who left are suddenly here again. And I don't know how you and...you came to be here, when you are in England at the same time. I'm guessing it has to do with the Lady...or the day when the sea became uncrossable.'
'Uncrossable?'
'One day, long ago, we found out, to our shock, that it was no longer possible to cross the sea into the mainland. It was an odd day.
We were dying out, Voldemort and all his features were killing so many.
We were too few left, the race of the elves was doomed, our power comig to an end. We had to leave the world in someone else's hands now.
When the sea became uncrossable there were only five-six people left of the once so mighty people. All the others had died, and two had left, long ago.' Tumi looked sadly at the glint of the sea in the horizon. 'A few years later the Lady came. And later, a few others.
I don't know what sort of place this is anymore. Maybe it is a memory from long ago, or a piece of land, stuck in the mist of time. maybe all the magic in the world comes from here or maybe it is a meeting place for the living and the dead.'
Sarah shivered.
'Are...are you dead?' The sun on the sky seemed to grow weaker.
'No...atleast I have no memory of dying, or an other life than this. But there are others here who are.' Tumi got up.
'Well, we can't sit here and chat all day. Follow me, we're going into the forest to find bellaherbs. I'm going to teach you a very interesting potion today.'
Tumi started walking towards the forest path.
'And Sarah?' she turned her head to look at me 'don't tell anyone I told you this.'
