I do not own Harry Potter or any of its character, all rights and copyright over the characters is for J.K Rowling.
What He Requires
Chapter 1 - Alone
It was cold.
Really cold.
"I wish I had somewhere where I could warm up and hide away from everyone, not like they'd come looking for me anyway" he said bitterly, to nobody in particular. Unbeknownst to him, a door began manifesting itself in the hallway over from him and the room inside would flip his life upside down.
As he continued to walk around he began sulking over his lack of friends. In fact he had next to nobody he would even consider an acquaintance, except for maybe Granger. She was the only one who showed any interest on the same level as him towards their studies, so naturally they would on occasion work together, but never outside of class.
As he neared the end of the hall he noticed a door he had not seen before, it didn't look that big and it wasn't anything very extravagant but it was alluring to the young boy so he reached for the old fashioned knob.
He stepped inside to a room that seemed to have been constructed straight out of one of his dreams, it was perfect to him, the tall glass ceilings with… "Natural sunlight? How in the world could there be natural sunlight in this room?" He knew he was still in the castle, but decided to not dwell too long on it.
Plenty of soft flora dominated the room, not overwhelmingly, but comfortably, filling the space with clean air and a sense of freedom. Open spaces always calmed him, a stark contrast from the constricting places he had been used to, which includes the castle he now went to school in.
"How can anyone feel at home in a stoney castle?" He asked the air, never afraid of voicing his questions despite his otherwise shy disposition.
He dispelled those thoughts from his mind, and returned to the present and took in the room in its entirety.
It was a very, very spacious room, with several fireplaces placed rather randomly around the perimeter, with organically designed couches and chairs making cozy groups around each one. His immediate thoughts of the layout reminded him of a whimsical treehouse he would have wished he could live in as a child, but quickly discovered how unlikely it would be to have.
There were different levels, but no two levels were the same height above each other and railings were not put in place to safeguard large drops, which interestingly enough reflected how he had been living his life up to this point.
On the edge.
There also was no harsh lighting anywhere in the room, which he figured was to further develop the natural environment that had been created.
Despite all this the room felt… Empty? It almost looked like someone had just stopped during the building and decided not to furnish it too heavily.
But no, that was not why he felt so alone, not at all.
Regardless of how magnificent this room was he still was all by himself, like he had always been. He slumped against the wall and curled his knees up into his chest, beginning to sob.
All he had wanted was someone who he could share this room with, share his life with.
He wanted a friend, someone to bring him comfort in a time of despair.
Katie Bell was a second year student at Hogwarts, and was currently quite overwhelmed.
She had just come to the conclusion that a young boy in her house was not receiving the amount of care that he needed, which she was quite troubled by.
All she could do was hope that she was wrong about the raven-haired first year.
Aside from her, she was beginning to seriously worry her friends, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, a quite hilarious looking duo from the outside, but one that would not be separated under any circumstance despite their constant quarreling.
You would have to be blind as a bat to not see that something was distressing Katie, and being quidditch players, the girls had quite commendable eyesight.
After a short time of sitting together, staring at a textbook she was allegedly reading out of, Katie set her book down and rested her head in her hands.
"Hey, what's going on with you lately?" asked Angelina, worried for her friend.
"Yeah, you've been all fidgety and distant the last few days" agreed Alicia
Katie froze, not expecting them to question her so suddenly, it caught her off guard like a bludger to the stomach.
"It's nothing, I'm just kinda occupied with schoolwork and life and stuff" she said, trying to avoid spilling her worries.
"It's week two of the school year, none of our classes are that serious yet and I know that you don't have any papers or tests coming up, so spill" probed Alica, rather eager to get something out of her friend
"It's just… " she paused
"Have either of you noticed anything strange about Harry?" The two girls looked at each other, then looked back and shook their heads
"Nothing aside from his extreme talent for a beginner on a broom, but that isn't what you're getting at is it?" queried Angelina
"I don't want to make any allegations or assumptions or anything, but he seems like he hasn't had an entirely… normal life? Especially for a typical twelve year old boy."
"I suppose, but don't you think that could just be shyness? I know plenty of kids who keep themselves a little restrained and I rarely give them a second glance" stated Alicia, "also I find it hard to believe that 'the Boy who Lived' has had a less fortunate life aside from his most famous accident"
Katie nodded but still, something didn't feel right, her gut was definitely telling her that something was off. She hoped she had been overthinking things though. She knew from her mother that sometimes kids like these just were uncomfortable in a certain environment, and needed time to adjust.
"Yeah, maybe you guys are right but still I can't shake this feeling that not everything is quite 'peaches and cream' " the girls nodded affirmingly
"We'll keep an eye out for him and see in case you're right, which your instincts are usually pretty accurate about" said the girls, but both of them knew that they were deeply hoping that she was wrong, even if it were the first time since they met her.
The girls decided to lay off the heavy topics to alleviate some of the awkward tension that was rapidly filling the air, and returned to doing their individual schoolwork.
Then the floor opened up beneath Katie, and before she had the chance to yell out for help, it closed over her again.
She fell for only a second before she found herself sliding through what seemed to be a long, dark pipe. It felt like forever before she saw some sort of light coming into the tunnel, and was spat out into a very terrarium-esque room.
Gathering herself she looked down to see she landed on some cushions which she was very thankful for, if not still extremely confused…
There were no words that Katie could use to describe the confusion she felt upon looking around the room, had she not just been inside Hogwarts, a place that was mostly commonly built of stone and in some places rather glum?
It took her longer than she would like to admit to realize that obviously a place of such great magic like Hogwarts would be able to create something like this, and to even hide it from most, if not all other students.
She was quickly drawn out of her bewilderment by the faint sound of sobs coming from somewhere in the room, and immediately she assumed that the person who was responsible for the sound was also in some way responsible for her being whisked away from her friends so abruptly.
She decided it was best to investigate, but drew her wand out of her pocket in case something went south. She creeped up the stairs and saw a young boy who was most definitely the cause of the heavy sobs that echoed in the bright room, and lowered her wand.
She recognized the boy, dirty blonde hair slightly above his shoulders and quite curly and unruly, slightly sun-kissed skin that gave the impression he enjoyed spending time outside. His clothes were much too big for her to tell how big he was, which spoke multitudes about his actual size. Katie frowned a little, she internally cursed that she hadn't seen him and been a better housemate.
After a short while, she began to approach him, making sure to walk directly towards him with a gentle demeanor, so as to not scare him. She even let her feet hit the ground a little more solidly than usual to subtly announce her presence. She saw two small and frightened yellow eyes peek out between his arms, and as soon as they appeared they were vanquished.
Katie was taken aback. Not because she was offended, but because this boy had been so scared even despite her efforts to be unthreatening, on top of her already non-threatening stature. She supposed she should introduce herself, to break the ice and give the boy an opportunity to talk if he wanted to.
"Hi, I'm Katie, I'm from second year Gryffindor like you, what's your name?" He could tell she was smiling as she said it, and his heart was telling him to introduce himself, but his mind had other plans.
"She's just gonna leave you, like all the others have" he thought, "There's no point in building a bridge that's already on fire"
"Go away." He sniffled, it wasn't what he wanted to say, but it was what came out. As soon as he said it he regretted it, but he couldn't just take it back now.
"No. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me your name" she persisted
He murmured something incomprehensibly, and then he heard her slide across the floor. "Silly, you have to say it loud enough for me to hear for it to actually count. Besides, you have a nice voice from what I can tell, you should use it."
He blushed at the compliment and lost his train of thought, "T-Thanks, I'm Sage" he stammered. He had never really gotten a compliment before, and he had no idea what to say to it.
"That's a great name!" she said, and despite his obvious lack of experience with anyone, he knew she wasn't lying when she said it. More or less just stating a fact, which made it all the more meaningful to him.
Unbeknownst to the two of them, a small golden bell had just manifested itself in the center of the ceiling.
A few days had passed since Katie had found the mysterious room and the crying boy, and she hadn't seen much of the boy since. Occasionally she'd see him swiftly move through the common room up to his dorm, never taking time to talk to anyone or giving anyone the chance to say a word to him.
After a week of catching a glimpse of him, never seeing him too clearly and being unable to make contact with him, she decided that she needed to follow up with him. To try and give him an opening into some form of community, regardless of whether she would be his first choice or not.
"Hey, Sage!" The girl called out after him, it was evening now, all the classes were over for the day and he had been trying to do his daily routine of sneaking past everyone and getting to his bed before someone tried to bother him. Hearing someone call him out made his back straighten a bit, he could feel some anxiety bubbling up in his chest, and was contemplating making a break for it.
"Maybe she'll just leave me alone if I ignore her this one time" he thought, but his heart was not in it. He knew deep down that he wanted to talk to her, that he wanted to have a friend, but he was too scared of being abandoned to reach out for it.
It turned out that his brief pause from his walk was all the young chaser needed to take a hold of the situation. He felt her tap him on the shoulder and could tell she was waiting excitedly behind him, giving him space but not letting him run away.
"What do you want?" He said sharply, letting his annoyance show in his words, he turned to face her and her eyes widened for a fraction of a second which then turned to curiosity.
"I was just wondering if you wanted to join me over by the fireplace to study?" she suggested "Two of the other girls from the quidditch team would be there but I figured it'd be more fun than sitting alone in your dorm" He could tell she was giving him the choice, and that he was not going to be forced to do anything, but still he hesitated.
"Why?" he muttered before he really noticed he was saying anything at all.
"Cause you looked like you could use some community and this ain't Hufflepuff so you might find it a little harder than it should be" she stated without skipping a beat. He knew he was caught, he could try and try to make excuses or hurl insults but just by looking at the blonde that she wouldn't have backed down, not when it came to something like this.
"Fine." he relented, "But I'm not going to be all talkative with you guys or anything".
"Oh no worries, we tend to do all the talking anyway so it'd be hard for you to get a word in anyway" she joked, and said much faster than she had previously been speaking, which made him smile internally.
"Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought after all" he thought, but again, he restrained himself some, not wanting to step too far into something he may regret.
Let me know your thoughts, constructive criticisms, and if you'd like to see more in the future.
Until next time?