=.=

WALK THE LINE

Harry x OC

'for those that don't feel wanted.'


Chapter 8: Christmas

Song Choice: Hogwarts Ambience


Getting revenge on Malfoy, and whoever was messing with Sarah's belongings, turned out to take a rather long time. It also took some precise care and planning.

However, Cerus was adamant that Draco and the mystery rat would get their just desserts. Which was why they were currently writing out plots in the Undercroft.

"Step one, we'll need the recipe for a polyjuice potion. Only problem is that it's in the restricted section of the library." Cerus said, gesturing to the big, circled number 1 on the chalk board. Sarah shrugged.

"I can get it." she said confidently.

In the three days that they had been planning this grand revenge, Sarah had also been practising different spells. One such spell was the disillusionment charm. She felt like a little chameleon sneaking around. So much so that she had spooked Cerus while practising. It didn't make her truly invisible, but it certainly made her harder to spot.

Getting into the restricted section was a cakewalk once she entered the library. Avoiding the prefects had been half the struggle, but most of them were barely awake in their final walks along the corridor. Twice Sarah planted herself against the wall and held her breath, but not once had anyone suspected her. The library was dead silent as she entered, making it all the more easy to open the gate for the restricted section.

Finding the correct book- however- was not as simple.

As soon as she entered, however, Filch had entered the library. By some grace of Merlin Mrs. Norris didn't sense Sarah. She was extremely grateful for the foresight of shutting the door to the restricted section before entering. It took Sarah well over an hour to find it, and at least twice her disillusionment charm had failed, and she was forced to hide while using it again.

When she finally found 'Most Pontente Potions' Sarah was completely alone in the library and easily slipped back out.

"Step two, we'll need a little bit of help from the Weasley boys." Cerus explained, slapping the number 2 on the board. Sarah raised a brow.

"Why them?"

Cerus laughed.

"Above anyone else in this school, those two get in more trouble than every Sallow in the family combined." Cerus grinned. "Think you can negotiate?"

"I'll try."

This task turned out to be easier than she expected, all thanks to Harry. When she approached him for advice on how to talk to the twins, he told her to follow him to quidditch practice.

Once there, he called them over with a grin.

"Hello Harry," they called in unison before looking to Sarah. "Hello Williams-" "-to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Hello," Sarah started, her expression pinched. She wasn't sure how to approach this, but with an encouraging nod from Harry, she spat it out. "I need help getting someone back for bullying."

"Oh? You have our interest darling-" "What is it that you fancy?"

Sarah wasn't entirely sure what to say to that, so she looked to Harry.

"Malfoy tattled about Sarah riding a broom, it got her banned from flying at all for the entire year." Harry said bitterly. Sarah didn't correct him, since she hadn't mentioned to anyone but Cerus that her things were being torn up. Fred and George grinned.

"Oh well if it's for that prat that we've got a few ideas, Williams." Fred said.

"Come meet us after practice and we can give you a few of our own thoughts." George added. Sarah nodded firmly.

"Thank you." She said, though her voice was quite stiff. Harry thought it was hilarious as he tried to hide a laugh. Sarah elbowed him in the ribs while the twins chattered back and forth under their breaths some ideas for a prank.

"Step three will be my job. I'll gather the ingredients for the potion. It shouldn't be too terrible to get them, I know a secret passage or two to leave the castle, not to mention I could always just take my broom out for a ride and accidentally wander off."

"Step four is brewing the potion, but again, I can handle most of it, but it needs constant attention, and you'll have to come by every Saturday for a month to check on it. I'll show you what it should look like every day."

"A whole month? What on Earth do you have planned Sallow?" Sarah wondered, still not knowing the whole plan. Cerus smirked.

"You trust me?" He teased. Sarah hesitated for a beat.

"Depends." She said slowly. Cerus chuckled again, making Sarah shiver.

"That's the spirit." He teased, but never elaborated. "Step five. You'll need to come up with something quick to identify your bully next. Something that will leave some evidence to prove it's them for sure. We'll need that."

Sarah smirked.

"I'll have that covered, don't you worry."

When Sarah spoke to the Weasley twins after practice, they admitted to having a few... ideas for some treats.

"They're just some ideas we've played around with. We don't entirely know what they'll do yet-" "-but we do have a few that can make it obvious you ate something you shouldn't've." Fred held up a basket of tasty looking treats. Sarah grabbed one to look at it, then smirked.

"Boys," She looked at them both. "Consider this an investment."

Both boys looked at each other and grinned. Sarah handed Fred a bag of galleons and they handed her the basket of sickening treats.

The next step was easy enough, as Sarah added the sweets to her bags of snacks and pretended to be eating them, though she only ate around the sickening ones until there weren't any of the old candies left. She ate them anywhere and everywhere so that someone would see her. By the end of the weekend, she had a horrible stomachache from all the treats, but reminded herself it would be worth it.

Turned out that it only took three days before someone broke into her trunk and stole her things. Her sweets bag was significantly lighter than she remembered it being.

Practically skipping, Sarah made her way to the common room and nestled onto the couch next to Cerus, who was speaking to a few friends. He noticed her upbeat behaviour and raised a brow. Before she could explain, however, a shrill scream of "WILLIAMS!" came from the girl's side.

Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode came shrieking out of the dorms. Sarah crossed her legs, sitting tall with one arm splayed over the back of the couch as she watched the girls.

Evidently, the Weasley boys weren't joking when they said the treats would be interesting.

The two girls' skin had turned bright yellow, and every time they shouted a plume of feathers came flying from their mouths. Millicent had eaten more treats, it seemed like, since her skin was also covered in oozing scratches as she desperately dragged her fingernails over any parts of her she could reach.

Sarah felt satisfaction in watching the two girls. So much so that she couldn't stop the half smirk that slipped onto her face.

"Seems someone is singing like a canary, girls. Whatever did happen to you both?" she asked, looking down her nose. Pansy made to shout, but Cerus, who had sat in utter shock, finally barked out a laugh. He wasn't the only one, as several other Slytherins found the prank to be quite hilarious. What was funnier, was when Pansy turned to Draco for help, but the boy only scowled and shuffled away after seeing Millicent's scratching. Pansy shrieked again, a large tuft of feathers spewing out of her mouth and causing her to cough, which resulted in more feathers falling to the stone floor.

Sarah settled back into the couch, letting out a satisfied sigh. Cerus smirked at her.

"Devious."

"They had it coming."

Sarah later learned both girls tried to tell McGonagall that Sarah had done this to them, but when Sarah was rather forthcoming that she had never handed them anything, they eventually backed down in their threats, lest they admit to wrecking her things again. When she later told the twins, they seemed to take it as a sign that sweets with pranks built into them was the right way to go. Sarah was honestly excited to see what they would come up with next.

The grand scheme to Sarah's plan, however, took an entire month to complete. Cerus was able to snatch some of Draco's hair from his robes one evening, then he added it to the brewed potion.

"So now I just drink it?" Sarah asked, staring at the disgusting slop. She gulped once, nervous. Cerus laughed.

"I think I'd like to do this part. Always wanted to, anyways." Sarah raised a brow as Cerus dipped a cup into the cauldron. He stared at the liquid, grimaced, and clinked his glass on the side of the cauldron.

"Cheers." He downed the entire cup as quickly as possible, then groaned. "Fucking hell."

Cerus ran away from Sarah and hid behind a few barrels as he wretched. The blonde stayed where she was, surprised. She waited, thinking something had gone wrong, when none other than Malfoy came from behind the barrels.

"Williams." He spat. Sarah stared for a moment, frowning. When Malfoy gave a familiar cheeky grin, she realized the potion had worked. She narrowed her eyes.

"Sallow."

Cerus looked down at his new form and hissed.

"Merlin this boy is small. He's half my size." He muttered, feeling how loose his robes were. He pulled out his wand and transfigured them to become a few sizes smaller. "There, how do I look?"

"Utterly intolerable." She decided. It was unnerving to watch Malfoy smirk at her like that, but it didn't last long as he waltzed towards the exit.

"Only one job to do now. All I must do is find that blasted poltergeist." Cerus looked back at her as the iron gate opened. "Best to stay out of sight. See you in the morning, mate."

Sarah, being unable to do anything else, cleaned up the rest of the polyjuice potion and went back to the common room.

The next morning Sarah and Cerus opted to sit at the Gryffindor table and face the Slytherins. Many stared at them, but it was only when Harry and his two friends came down that anything was said.

"What in bloody hell are you two doing here?" Ron asked. Sarah was indifferent as she and Cerus eyed Draco walking into the Great Hall. He looked nervous, his eyes darting everywhere. Sarah gestured to him, taking a sip of her tea slowly. The trio turned to watch as Draco sat, his shoulders sagged in relief. Finally, as he reached for a kettle, it exploded. Hot tea and streams of green and silver sparks shot everywhere. Draco flailed as the kettle burned his hands and laughter erupted.

"Ickle Wittle Malfoy's steaming under the pressure he is!" Peeves cackled, floating above the boy as he scrambled to run away. "Where's he going? Naughty boy leaving without cleaning up he is!"

Much of the hall was silent following that display. Fred and George slid in beside Sarah then, eyes practically glowing.

"Ms. Williams, you simply must tell us-" "-How in Merlin's name did you manage to get Peeves to do your dirty work?"

"You did this?" Hermione stared at Sarah in shock. The blonde looked at Harry and saw his huge grin. She smirked.

"It was Cerus, actually." she said, nudging the boy next to her. Cerus grinned and shrugged.

"I juts told Peeves that Malfoy thought he could do far greater pranks than him is all, might've challenged him to a month of it too."Cerus said while pouring himself another tea. Harry laughed, hearing shrieking of Malfoy in the hallway.

Fred and George looked at him with awe.

"Not bad for a Slytherin I'd say. Right Fred?"

"I'll say George."


Despite the entertainment of watching Draco run fleeing anytime he saw Peeves, the Bloody Baron did eventually put a stop to it a few weeks later. Pansy and Millicent had also returned to normal, and while they glared or said some choice words, neither girl was brave enough to go into Sarah's belongings again. Harry and his friends overheard Sarah describing what sort of effects their sweets had on the two girls, which made her realize she never actually told anyone about the bullying until quite recently. Harry was displeased, to say the least, but considering it was all said and done he only wanted to know more about the girl's reactions.

This made December rather peaceful for Sarah.

But Christmas was fast approaching, and Sarah was muttering about finding presents for everyone this year. Maggie assured her in her letters that it wasn't necessary, and that she needed to enjoy her first year, but still the girl tried her best to hunt through catalogues of both magical and muggle for the perfect gifts.

"I think it'll be nice, being home for a change. While I love the castle, I do miss my own bed." Selene said while finishing up one final assignment. Sarah was lounging next to her, flipping pages of a book while Hermione was skimming large tomes. The three had begun a sort of quiet study group for most of December, and thus far Sarah had to agree it was far better than studying with Cerus in the Undercroft. The boy had the attention span of a nugget whenever studying was involved.

"Are you going home for the holidays Sarah?" Hermione asked, tentatively glancing up. Sarah nodded slowly while Selene grinned.

"Maggie must be thrilled you're finally coming home." Selene teased. It was true, the woman had written eagerly in her letters how much she wanted to see her adoptive child again. Sarah smiled a small and tender smile at the thought of seeing her again.

"Probably planned the entire holiday." Sarah said softly. Hermione raised a brow.

"Who is Maggie?" She asked. Sarah looked over to her, though the softness never left her features.

"My adoptive mum," Sarah said easily. Hermione's eyes widened a bit, but then she briskly nodded. Sarah watched her, observing her behaviour before asking, "your parents are muggles, right? Harry mentioned they were dentists?"

Hermione swallowed and nodded again.

"Yes, they're muggles, both dentists." Hesitantly, she added more. "Is Maggie a witch?"

Sarah felt a bit exposed to the frizzy-haired girl's questions. She had thought Hermione to be insufferable at the start of the year. But if Harry liked her, there had to be a reason, right? Sarah nodded.

"She's muggleborn." Sarah said, going back to her catalogue.

More time passed and finally Christmas break was upon them. Sarah and Harry said their goodbyes to each other, but not before Harry handed her a large box. Sarah stared at it in his arms, and when he handed it to her it felt heavy.

"What in Merlin's name is this?" She asked, barely holding up the box. Harry laughed.

"Told you, I've got years and years to catch up for." He said with a grin. Sarah huffed, glaring lightly at him.

"And I told you not to bother." Harry shrugged it off as Sarah transfigured the box to become small enough to fit into her bag. She then pulled out a box for Harry. Harry pushed the box back at her though.

"Sar c'mon. I told you the photo was enough." He insisted. Sarah forced the box into his hands anyway and gave a wry smirk.

"Can't let you out-gift me can I, Potter?" She taunted. Sarah's features softened then as she gave a rare soft smile. "Do try to enjoy yourself without me, but not too much of course."

Harry grinned.

"Not too much, but just enough." He assured her. Sarah smirked as he walked her to the front gates where Cerus and Selene were waiting for them. Selene grinned, practically bouncing on her heels while Cerus tried to play off and eagerness he felt. Harry and Sarah said their goodbyes as she ventured with the Sallow's to their home.

The walk was cold, but enjoyable as the three chatted. Cerus was attempting to stay aloof to his sister and Sarah about how much he missed home, but once they arrived Sarah could see the tension in his shoulders lessen. Once through the front door of the Sallow house, Sarah was tackled by her favourite witch.

"Maggie!" Sarah said, wrapping her arms around the short woman. Maggie rocked her back and forth, cradling her head gently as her other arm held onto her fiercely.

"Oh, how I've missed you hun!" Maggie pulled away, fresh tears in her eyes. Sarah felt her own eyes well up and aggressively wiped them away as well. "You have to tell me everything! I don't care if you wrote about it, I want to hear everything that you did in your first semester!"

"Merlin's beard Mags, she just walked in the door." Atlas laughed, having gone to hug his own children. Maggie huffed and squeezed Sarah to her side.

"Oh hush! She only goes away for the first time once!" Maggie defended. Sarah let out a little laugh, smiling as she rested her head against Maggie's shoulder.

Everyone settled into their rooms, with Sarah finding her guest room by memory. She settled in for a time before planning to find Maggie to have a nice chat. She missed her dearly during her time at Hogwarts. Sarah looked everywhere to try and find her, but as she crossed into the den she was surprised to find two unfamiliar old men relaxing by the fire.

Thinking that they hadn't seen her, Sarah attempted to excuse herself, except one of the men called out to her.

"Well, hello there. I don't believe I recognize those footsteps." A posh English accent called out. Sarah hesitated, then entered the den. The man who called out looked well-kept and calm. His milky eyes looked to the floor, unseeing, but his pure white hair was slicked back and face clean-shaven. Sarah stepped closer, and the second man looked up at her.

"Well, you must this Sarah we've been hearing about." This man's voice was much deeper, with brown eyes filled with mischief despite his weather-beaten face. Sarah couldn't tell age spots from freckles on this man, but his unruly salt and pepper coloured hair gave him an almost boyish charm despite the trimmed beard and glasses that sat on his face.

"Yes, my name is Sarah Williams, pleased to meet you both." Sarah said automatically. The blind man chuckled.

"Such a polite girl. How on Earth did Cerus ever befriend you?" He chuckled. "My name is Ominis, Ominis Alden. Pleasure, young Sarah."

Sarah looked from Ominis to the other man, who seemed to be sizing her up as he clasped his hands in front of him and observed her.

"You can call me Sebastian Sallow. I'm Cerus' great grandfather." He said but seemed like he wanted to say something more. Sarah nodded to him.

"Pleasure." She repeated, uncertain what more to say.

"Well, I would hate to keep you. If you're looking for Maggie, she went outside to get something for you." Ominis said, sipping his tea like a dignified man. Sarah nodded politely and excused herself to find Maggie.

Outside, Maggie was fussing with something. Her back to Sarah as she muttered to Atlas.

"Maggie?" Sarah asked. Maggie turned, looking caught. Atlas snickered, looking down at the witch as if she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Well," Maggie started. "Guess I couldn't tuck it away soon enough." She stepped to the side, and Sarah saw what she'd been working on.

It was a broom, and not just any broom. It was a Nimbus 2000. Sarah only knew this because it looked identical to the one Harry had gotten from McGonagall. Her eyes widened as she took in the pretty green bow that was tied to the handle. Sarah stepped closer, eyes widening further.

"After I heard about your little escapade, Cerus wrote to tell me how much you enjoyed being on a broom." Maggie explained. "I couldn't wait to get this for you."

Sarah hugged Maggie in a fiercely tight embrace then, her eyes shining.

"Thank you." She said in a watery voice. Maggie smiled, gesturing for her to get closer.

"Give it a try love, I know you want to."

She didn't need to be told twice. Sarah was soaring through the evening sky with a grin in no time. This time she had quickly tied her hair back, but the cold still flushed her cheeks as the wind whipped past her face. Soon two others joined her. Cerus quickly gained on her while Selene followed at a more docile pace.

The trio flew for about an hour, Selene laughing at Sarah and Cerus as they dove around each other and pretended to race without a real destination.


Christmas Eve, Sarah sat curled up in the den with a cup of tea. She had opened all her presents and felt very much like a child again after seeing all the gifts given to her. She especially loved how people reacted to her own gifts. However, nothing was quite as memorable as Harry's gift. The box that it came it was charmed to fit more on the inside than it appeared to; much like many bags the Sallow's owned. When Sarah opened it up, inside was a letter from Harry that was piled on top of numerous items.

'Sarah,

I tried to find the perfect gift, but the more I searched, the more things I found that I wanted to share with you. So instead of one thing, I thought of anything I had ever wanted to buy for you. Please don't get too mad, Ron even helped me order some of it and Hermione did too.

I wanted to give you the first snitch I ever caught. You mentioned being a huge fan of quidditch before, so here it is. This is what they look like. Perhaps we'll race each other for one next year?

This headband is from when we were little. Your hair was so choppy when we met, and it always fell in your eyes. I wanted to give you something to keep it out of your eyes.

You mentioned the Slytherin dorms were frigid this time of year, so I found some jumpers for you to keep warm, and a blanket that is charmed to warm you up quickly in case you catch a cold.

I added a picture frame but didn't have any idea what to put into it. But I thought one day you could fill it with your own happy memories like you did for me.

Lastly, I tried to find every sweet that I know you like, since you aren't much of a sweet tooth, I instead found any sour sweet you might enjoy. Please don't share these with Parkinson and Bullstrode.

Merry Christmas, see you in the new term.

Harry'

Sarah stared at the box, pulling out each thing that she read about, until finally flipping it over and watching as an obnoxiously large stack of sour treats and lollies fell onto the floor. Maggie was laughing as Cerus and Selene stared. Sarah, through glassy eyes, giggled once.

"Merlin's beard." Sebastian huffed as he later sat down near the cozy girl. Sarah looked up to him, feeling joy still bubbling in her chest as the old man tried to get comfortable. Sarah curled up more in her new blanket from Harry and watched Sebastian as he sipped his tea. The old man looked over to her and gave a charming smile.

"You don't mind if I sit with you?" he asked after a second. Sarah shook her head.

"No, I don't mind sir." Sebastian chuckled at her, and Sarah wondered if the voice ran in the family. She decided that Cerus must've looked a lot like his great grandfather. Same unruly hair, mischievous eyes, and so many freckles. Although Sarah rarely saw his mother since she was always away on business, she did see that Cerus got his sharp jawline from his mother's side of the gene pool. Selene, however, looked so much more like her mum except for her nose and chin being like her father's.

Sarah briefly wondered where their grandfather was but chose not to ask any personal questions.

"Just call me Sebastian, unless that's too informal. Just never call me gramps for the love of Merlin." He groaned while trying to adjust himself in his seat. Sarah was tempted to say something but bit her lip instead. Sebastian settled again and looked into the fire in front of them.

"How was Hogwarts?" he asked, building conversation. Sarah nodded while thinking.

"It's nice." she said quietly. He raised a brow, a smirk identical to Cerus' on his lips.

"Just nice? Clearly it's downgraded since my time there. Granted it's been almost a century."

Sarah snorted, thinking he was joking, but taking another glance at him she realized he might not be. Dumbledore was over a century old, and wizards lived over twice the lifespan of muggles. So perhaps it was the truth? He was Cerus and Selene's great-grandfather, after all.

"I am enjoying myself." She said politely. Sebastian sighed, sinking into his chair. It was silent for a moment before he continued.

"I used to cause quite a bit of trouble while there, but never had I gotten detention in the first week of classes." He said, raising a brow at her. Sarah froze, sipping her tea to keep from saying anything. Sebastian chuckled again. "What ever does my Cerus see in a quiet doe like you, hm?"

Sarah felt insulted by these words, her features schooling into a neutral line. Sebastian seemed to be fully aware of what he was doing as he pushed further.

"Oh? Did I hit a nerve?" He laughed once. "Can't make this too easy for an old man. Surely you're better at hiding your feelings than that? Mags joked you could lie through veritaserum."

"Why does it matter?" She found herself saying. "I'm just a little doe."

Sebastian huffed, sitting up in his armchair again.

"I've learned a thing or two over my lifetime. And one of them is that if you always lie to yourself, you'll eventually forget what is the lie and what is the truth." He looked her over, sipping his teacup again. She noticed he used his fingers to hold around the rim like a surly man rather than the delicate form Ominis used with the handle.

"Do you know the difference, Sarah?" he asked, catching her a bit off guard. "You must know what it is you're hiding in order to hide it effectively. But the way I see it, you can't decide what emotions to cover up."

Sarah frowned unconsciously at his words, then silently cursed herself. It was exactly the reaction he had wanted, wasn't it? Sebastian laughed and tipped his cup up to drink the rest of his tea.

"Why does it matter?" Sarah asked again, watching the way Sebastian calmed, looking her in the eye.

"I had a friend like you, once." He admitted slowly, carefully watching her. "He was a bright young wizard, fiercely loyal to a fault. But in truth that was his greatest struggle."

Sarah's frown deepened as he settled himself and placed his teacup on the table beside him.

"Mags told us about what you did to that muggle boy," he admitted, watching her reaction. Ice surged into Sarah's veins then as she realized why they were having this conversation. "My guess is you don't entirely regret it either."

Sarah remained quiet, the silence speaking volumes. Sebastian gave a short smirk, but it vanished.

"He was the same. Willing to do whatever it took to conquer his goals. But because he had no regrets, he never realized the people he hurt to get to these goals. He never realized what he lost along the way."

"What happened to him?" Sarah asked, nervous about the answer. Sebastian chuckled as he smiled fondly. Youth was brought back to his features as his eyes went far away from the room they were in.

"Somebody finally stopped him."

There was a long pause before Sarah spoke.

"I won't hurt them," Sarah said firmly, thinking of the young Sallow siblings. "Cerus and Selene are my friends."

Sebastian watched her, his eyes returning to the present as a frown slipped onto his lips. He nodded once, blinking.

"I don't doubt that you mean it," he tilted his head back against the chair. "But often our intentions get lost in our actions. We Slytherins are, if nothing else, filled with ambition."

As if realizing how late it was, or perhaps feeling he had interrogated her enough, Sebastian helped himself up from the armchair and groaned. His spine cracked as he stood.

"I suppose that's enough for now. I do hope you believe me when I say I meant this positively." He said as he looked down at her. Sarah stared, feeling confused by his words. Sebastian smiled softly, like the one he had in his far away expression not long ago.

"Merry Christmas, Sarah." He said before hobbling off to bed. Sarah sat for a while longer, mulling over his words and intentions. She hoped he told the truth, that there was a positive light to what he had said. And while Sarah didn't completely understand his words, they still struck a chord inside of her.

She would think about this conversation for many years to come.


Hey y'all, thanks for reading.

Thank you all for the reviews of last chapter. This chapter is a bit of a filler, I'll admit. There is only 3 chapters left of book one and then we move on to book 2. I think I will have books 1-3 in part 1, books 4-6 in part 2, and book 7 in part 3. I will have to stop a couple times to re-evaluate since Deathly Hallows has to change so so SO much for my characters to properly fit in them. But anyway, yeah, just some thoughts.

I am ngl, I'm burning out on writing. After book 1 I'm for sure taking a break. The next 3 chapters are going to be large ones though. I also have been getting migraines so it may be a short wait for the last 3 chapters as it is. PLease give me some feedback if you have any thoughts. I never really got into Harry Potter this far as a child but weirdly as an adult it's become my jam.

Cheers

Iland Girl.