Sarah had managed to hold her tears back to make it out of the great hall but the moment she did she burst into tears.

"Sarah?" Nova's voice came from behind her. She had seen Sarah run from the Gryffindor table and knew it wasn't like her to run away from a fight. Plus she had been there this morning when Sarah had woken up to discover her red hair had changed into tendrils - it was the first time she'd seen Sarah cry since she was a child way back when she had first arrived at the academy.

Sarah ignored Nova and began to walk away. She caught her thoughts and frowned. Sarah remembered arriving at the academy, she remembered crying so much, but Professor Rumm - the professor who had tormented her - had soon beaten that out of her during so many of their training sessions.

"Cease your sniveling! Pity and weakness are synonymous. Remorse is forbidden. Compunction is forbidden."

His words, even now, stung as all she could feel was pity, weakness, remorse and guilt.

Nova felt Sarah's thoughts and she increased her speed, practically jumping in front of her to stop her. Nova looked into her damp eyes and put her arms around her to hug her. "Don't think like that and don't let that pig get to you either," she told her.

"I got what I deserved," Sarah cried into Nova's shoulder. "I always get exactly what I deserve."

Nova stroked her back. "Don't speak like that." No one deserved what they'd been through; used as weapons, mentally tortured, spells cast upon them constantly.

Sarah thought about her parents. Tychus had teased her that they'd sent her away because they didn't want her. If only they had. That may have been easier to cope with than their deaths on her conscience.

Nova read her thoughts and frowned. "That was an accident. You know it was."

"The other things weren't," she thought back to the terrible things she did at the academy.

"No!" Nova bluntly told her, pulling back from the hug and taking Sarah's face in her hands. "Professor Rumm forced you, he brainwashed you and cursed you, the spells he performed on you..." she trailed off not wanting to think about it. Nova's own experiences were bad enough, but she knew what they'd done to Sarah were tenfold.

"I should have been stronger," Sarah explained. If only she could have resisted, held onto her mind and not let him force her to kill for him.

"No one could be that strong," Nova added kindly, knowing it to be true. "You are the strongest woman I know," she promised her, "but now, we're free, you don't have to be strong. You can be you finally."

"I turned him into a pig," she said softly, referring back to Jim, "that's why he did this." She tugged at one of her tendrils. "I'm me and I turn someone into an animal," Sarah knew she was a horrible person.

Nova laughed gently, "yeah, that was you." She forced a smile. "You were so young when they took you," she stated, "you never really got taught how to handle things." She looked at her sympathetically. "He thought of you like a piece of meat, he disrespected you, and you stood up for yourself. You didn't hurt him. Anyway, that spell seemed appropriate," Nova smiled.

Sarah laughed before letting her tears return. "I'll never get away from it all," she stated faintly. "I wish I wasn't me," she breathed.

"That's crap," Nova laughed. "You are a great person and a great friend," she hugged her again and held her tight.

Sarah ignored her words, knowing they weren't true.

Nova pulled back and looked at her disbelieving friend. "I wouldn't have gotten through the last few months without you," she said honestly. Nova had been traumatized and devastated at the academy's demise but Sarah had helped her realize that it was a terrible and dark place and they were both lucky to be free.

Sarah forced a smile but accepted her friend's words. She wouldn't have gotten through this without Nova, either.

"Let's get you to professor Snape," Nova smiled hopefully. "I'm sure he'll be able to fix your hair."

Sarah nodded before leaning in to hug Nova again.

Jim walked out of the Great Hall and spotted the redhead crying in the blonde's arms.

Nova glared at him as she hugged Sarah as if to send him away.

"I'm sorry," Jim said as he took a few steps towards them. "I..."

"Let's get out of here," Nova said to Sarah and led her towards one of the corridors.

Jim stood and watched them leave. Part of him wished he could take back what he had done, and the other part of him wished he could silence the part of him who wanted to take it back and enjoy her pain. Jim wasn't a mean person, but he had done a mean thing to someone who had upset him. He wanted to make himself feel less guilty by thinking terrible thoughts about Sarah, but he couldn't justify his actions for hurting someone.

She was a bitch. A smart bitch. A beautiful smart bitch. A beautiful smart bitch who had done nothing but not get on with him. Well, and turn him into a pig. No, she did deserve it. She certainly deserved it.

Jim sighed. No, she didn't deserve it. He stared at the now empty corridor Sarah and Nova had departed down and he felt bad. His daddy certainly wouldn't be proud of what he'd done and Jim himself certainly wasn't either. He needed to find a way to make things better.