Chapter Fourteen
After a week, Sarah and Harry had fallen in with the routine at Hogwarts. They woke up early, had breakfast together, and then went off to their separate endeavours. Harry more often than not found himself with Slytherin, and Sarah continued under Leofrick's careful tutelage.
Despite her initial reservations, she had begun to like Leo. He was kind, warm and very patient, to which she wasn't quite accustomed after having had Snape as her Head of House for years.
Every day Leo encouraged her to be less cautious, and bolder and louder. Sarah, although she tried her best, always felt like a pretender in such a role. It went against her perennially shy nature to draw so much attention to herself.
At night, she would be reading story after story of the bravery of warriors and women alike. Leo had a new book for her every week. She understood what he, and Lord Gryffindor, were trying to do, but privately, she felt that she had spent too much time living as a Slytherin to make any change now.
Harry, on the other hand, was thriving. The visit to Sarah's memories had inspired his determined spirit, and the Founders' assistance brought him new hope. He knew he didn't have much time left in the past. Sarah hadn't told him when they were going to leave, but the Founders had spoken to her privately at great length last week, and he had fallen asleep in the Gryffindor common room waiting for them to finish.
Although he didn't care to know the deadline before their departure, having some idea would still be beneficial. He tried to corner Sarah away from the other students so that he could ask her, but she always had to be somewhere else. Eventually, he let the matter slide, and as the days went on, it went to the back of his mind almost entirely.
In Slytherin, Harry had found an unlikely compatriot. Now, after their daily Occlumency classes, Harry was not ready to rush out. He stayed and they talked about Voldemort, and different strategies that might help in his defeat. Harry admired Slytherin's cunning, and his ability to do what must be done.
"You must kill this Voldemort, you understand that, cub?" Slytherin said. "There will be no prison that can hold him."
"Yeah," Harry said. "I know. And I will kill him. He'll give me no choice."
Slytherin gave him a sharp look. "What if there is a choice? He's unarmed and not attacking you?"
"I'll still kill him," Harry said, with much bravado.
"You say that now, but I'm not so sure," Slytherin murmured.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "Are you saying I don't want him dead?"
Slytherin merely smiled at the fierceness in the boy's eyes. "No, but when the time comes, you might not be ready," Slytherin said simply.
He refused to say anything more on the matter, even when Harry questioned him continuously until they had reached the Great Hall. It was buzzing with students eating their midday meal. Harry stopped speaking when he smelt bacon and fresh bread.
"Go and join your House," Slytherin said, dismissing him, with a nod.
Harry walked over to an empty space by Alistair.
"Hey," he said, leaning over to grab a roll and heaping his plate with dripping bacon.
"Hi Harry," Alistair said. "Sarah not here yet?"
Harry looked around, but couldn't spot her. He shook his head. "Nah, don't think so."
Alistair and Sarah had gotten along quite well when Harry had introduced them. The former was happy to have another friend, and Sarah was content listening to his prattle about magical creatures, uncaring about the younger boy's shyness or awkward nature. Probably because she's pretty much the same, Harry thought.
There was a companionable silence, under which Harry was mulling over Slytherin's words.
"Do you think I can kill someone?" he asked abruptly.
Alistor started a little. "Um – I'm not sure what you mean."
"Do you think I can take a wand, or a sword, and end someone's life?" Harry was watching him carefully.
"Perhaps," Alistor said. "You're not exactly – well- the killing type."
"But if it needed to be done, I could do it," Harry said, his tone daring the other boy to argue.
Alistor was looking very uncomfortable. "I suppose. If your life was in danger, and they were about to kill you."
"No, not just then. If it needed to happen, I could kill someone," Harry said.
"Why are you asking me this?" Alistor had put down his spoon, and was staring at Harry with a mixture of alarm and confusion.
"Because I just want to know," Harry said.
Much to Alistor's obvious relief, Sarah decided to join them then. Her cheeks were flushed and there was a sheen of sweat on her forehead.
"Were you training with Leo?" Alistair asked eagerly. He idolised Leo in a way Harry noticed most of the Slytherins idolised Matteus.
"Yes," Sarah sighed, helping herself to some bacon. "Though why he bothers is beyond me. I'm simply awful."
Harry nudged her. "You need to know how to fight."
Sarah looked away.
She shouldn't put off telling him, she knew that. But today he was so smiley and happy. He was the same yesterday, and the day before. She didn't want to be the one to put the breaks on that.
Dumbledore hadn't specified when he wanted Harry back, but she felt that it would be soon. He had wanted Harry to take full advantage of the knowledge of these witches and wizards. Sarah was starting to get anxious because she wasn't sure whether or not that had happened yet, or when it would happen.
"Hey Sarah, I think Leo's calling for you," Alistair said.
Sarah looked up. Leo was motioning her to come with him. She sighed again, taking a roll of bread with her.
"I thought we were finished," Sarah said as soon as she joined him.
"I want to show you something interesting," Leo said.
Sarah raised an eyebrow. She hoped it wouldn't lead to any physical effort on her part.
"We're going to climb to the top of the Astronomy tower," he continued.
Sarah bit back a groan. "Why?" she asked instead.
"Like I said, to see something interesting," he answered, already striding out of the Great Hall. Sarah followed him dejectedly.
It took what felt like an age to get to the top. Sarah's eyes were trained on every grey stone step her feet passed over. When they finally ran out, she looked up and gasped.
It was beautiful.
And she'd known that before. Hogwarts had always been, even in their time, a sight to behold. But this was different. It was wilder.
There were rolling greens dotted with patches of wild flowers. Daises, buttercups, tulips. Framing this was the grey, stormy sky and the foreboding presence of the Forbidden Forest. Beyond that was the Black Lake, which was glittering like a large jewel in the ground. Wonderful, magical, dark, twisted. All in one place.
"Wow," Sarah said.
"Indeed," Leo agreed. "It's Hogwarts. My home. Your home. Everyone's home."
She turned to look at him. His green eyes were earnest as he stared down at her.
"What's your point?" she asked.
"It's home. It doesn't matter about Houses. This castle is your home."
She mulled over his words. "But it does. England's home, but it still matters where you live, who you're with."
"That's not the same," Leo said.
"It's the same principle," Sarah said, turning back to look at everything again. "I'm no Gryffindor, and you know that. Perhaps I could have been, but I chose differently."
"You could be again, there's nothing stopping you except yourself."
"That's not true," Sarah said, struggling to find the right words. "I feel- I'm just not- it's not true."
"Think about what I've said." Leo put both hands on her shoulders and guided her closer to the huge, arched window. "Everything isn't so divided."
She could feel his breath on the back of her neck, and wasn't sure if that was the reason for her involuntary shiver, or the words he was saying. Leo squeezed her shoulders and left.
Sarah just couldn't agree with him. She felt so out of place, and as each day came and went, that feeling of not belonging remained. It was true, she was more familiar with Gryffindors now, but she was yet to actually feel like one.
In fact, to her displeasure, she'd begun to miss being in Slytherin. At least they had valued privacy and left her alone to do what she liked. She now yearned for the quiet of the Slytherin common room.
Sarah waited a few more minutes until she was certain Leo had finished his descent, and hurried down the staircase as well. Once on the main floor, she headed straight to Slytherin's chambers.
She felt guilty. Leo had shown her a lot of trust and he'd put so much effort into her tutelage, but she didn't want to feel like she was wasting time anymore. With a determined mind, she went to seek out the one person who could put her back to where she belonged.
Sarah knocked softly on Slytherin's door, then a little louder. She could hear voices, but no one told her to come in. Sarah contemplated coming back later, but was afraid she would lose her nerve.
With a deep breath, she pushed open the door, and walked in. Slytherin's chambers were large, and the voices were coming from his study. Sarah hesitantly walked over, poised to knock again, but the words that drifted through froze her fist.
"You had no right to do that Godric!" Slytherin was saying furiously.
"We can't give into blackmail," Gryffindor said. His voice was calm, but tinged with regret.
"What if it was Leo?" Slytherin hissed. "Would you have said 'no' then? "
"Aye," Gryffindor said gravely.
"You don't speak for all of us," Slytherin growled. "They have my son, my only child, and you let them take him!"
"There was nothing I could do! Using magic would have made them angrier. Matteus' life was already in danger!"
"Then why didn't you GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANTED!" Slytherin bellowed the last part so loudly, Sarah retracted her fist quickly and took a step back.
"Watch your tone, old friend," Gryffindor said quietly.
"What did they want?" Hufflepuff asked.
"The children, Harry and Sarah," Gryffindor replied, his voice strained.
"Are you certain?" Ravenclaw asked, very sharply.
"Yes, there was no doubt," Gryffindor said.
"Then you know what this means?" Ravenclaw said.
"Aye, we have a traitor," Gryffindor said grimly. "Find the traitor, and we find Matteus."
"We'll put him in more danger if we let them know we're on their tails," Slytherin said harshly. "We can't- "
A hand clasped over Sarah's mouth, capturing her startled cry. Strong arms dragged her out into hall. She struggled against them, and they let her go. She turned to face her captor.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" they said at the same time.
As promised, the next chapter! Things are starting to move along :) I think you can expect updates on Fridays from now on, so look out for next week's one. I can't make any promises the story will be updated every week though, because I do have exams coming up.
Have a lovely day! xx