=.=
WALK THE LINE
Harry x OC
'for those that don't feel wanted.'
Chapter 2: The Colour
Song Choice: Hold On - Chord Overstreet
The oldest memories that Sarah had were of the orphanage.
Black and white tile, with spotlessly clean hallways on the first floor. The wood was chipped but still cleaned on a regular basis. The entrance way had been replaced recently, no longer matching the old caricature of the rest of the building. The rugs in all the visitation rooms were spotless, cleaned between each visit. Despite the windows being able to open, there were never any residues from the city pollution nor a spot of rain on the wood varnish.
The children all looked well fed and cared for as well. Each child that entered the visitation rooms was clean, well dressed, with a twinkle in their eyes. Girls had their hair braided and their dresses ironed. Boys had cleanly cut hair that was gelled to the side and fresh clothing at each visit. Rosy cheeks and cheeky grins were normally found at Swallow's Orphanage.
That is, as long as you remained on the first floor.
Floors two and three were a completely different story. The second floor was where the kitchens and bathrooms were. While the drains worked and the kitchens functioned, neither had seen a proper cleaning in the last decade. Corners were avoided at all costs by the children, lest the black sludge be something they trod through. The shower heads had broken off and were just spouts left, the sinks sometimes worked but many had buckets to catch the leaks from the cracks in the outdated sinks. Mirrors were smashed, the stoves hadn't been cleaned since last Christmas when a fire broke out. The mess hall, which was more of an open flat with wobbly benches and cracked tables, was not in any better condition. The bowls were made of tin, the cutlery dented, and the cups were metal that had seen better days.
The last floor, the dorm rooms, were on the final floor. Girls to the left of the staircase, boys to the right. Children were grouped by age or bed availability. Each room was crammed tight with three bunks, the third bunk blocked the window of the small room and was cut down to make them fit inside. With six children per room and twelve rooms total, it was obvious that the orphanage was grossly overpacked. Cleanliness was not a priority on these floors.
Many children came in with traumas and baggage unique to themselves. Some opted to sleep on their suitcases on the bed, others would toss their belongings all over the bed and roll around in them. Some would not touch the bed at all, instead hiding in any nook they could find to feel safe.
While baths were allowed and encouraged, the water ran cold quite quickly on all of them, the laundry was done only every other Sunday, regardless of some children only having the clothing on their backs to wear during their stay. Even for the children who wet the bed, no washing would be done until the projected date. Soiled smells littered this floor. One set of 'visiting' garments was placed in the caretakers hold, and it was the only set of clothing properly cared for without rest.
One working charge lived in the orphanage, Miss Hammet, while the cook and several staff members would arrive daily to assist. She wasn't mean by nature, but her time at their struggling facility was showing on her face. Despite being thirty, the woman looked well beyond her years. She no longer cared for the small things. She hated the orphanage, hated what she saw each day, and hated that she didn't care enough to do anything about it anyway. So she encouraged each child in the visitation rooms to smile, look pleasant, for they could finally escape this place if the families liked them enough.
There were few that Miss Hammet did enjoy. The children who were just passing through, with no prior offenses or traumas. She found them easy to get along with and care for.
Sarah Williams was not one of those children.
Miranda Hammet had seen many children come through the doors to Swallow's, but Sarah had been one of the few who had been here longer than she.
Sarah had been dropped off in a basket on the front steps of the orphanage. It wasn't abnormal, many children were left on the front steps or just inside. But the woman who admitted Sarah and filled out her paperwork died not three weeks afterwards in a car crash on her way home from work. It was spooky to the children, who all whispered and gossiped about the death of the previous caretaker. The children obviously loved her, and at the time the orphanage had been in a grander condition. But the lack of funding and effort quickly showed it's colours.
Miranda had never voiced it, but Sarah was also the only child that made her feel genuine fear.
Sarah was... abnormal. There were no two ways around it. Perhaps at one point as a toddler she had seemed pleasant. She was not one of the better-looking children, in fact if it wasn't for the piercing effect of her grey eyes Miranda would've overlooked her in an instant. Still, early on she showed promise, with wide, curious eyes and plump cheeks. Her wavy blonde hair was forever messy, always in her eyes.
However, things changed rather quickly as the girl grew.
Miranda wasn't the only adult to find her eyes piercing. Several families had tried to adopt her, and every single one of them sent her back. Originally, Miranda assumed it was just a coincidence, until she heard the stories.
The first woman was a single mother. She looked strict with her own kids but wanted more. She chose Sarah because her hair colour matched their own. Supposedly, the woman smacked Sarah, reprimanding her for something. The woman claimed the same hand was now covered in oozing boils and was crawling up her arm. She was convinced Sarah was diseased, but several checks from the doctor told them she was fine. Sarah ultimately returned after just five days.
The second was a man who- according to Sarah- kept trying to touch her back when she said no. His friends later arrived to find him passed out in their living room with slugs crawling all over his passed-out form. Sarah returned the same day, as the man was sent into the hospital.
Another family was one Miranda was convinced she liked. Sarah remained with them for almost three months. However, the family came to the same conclusion Miranda had.
Sarah was abnormal, and it frightened them.
This family changed Sarah. There others, Sarah showed no change when she came back. She played her part and acted adorably in the visiting room. She had a twinkle in her eyes and smiled despite having lost her baby teeth.
But this family was different. This family, and whatever happened there, changed Sarah. Miranda saw, the other staff saw it. The kids were terrified of her now.
Sarah didn't react to anything or anyone anymore. She didn't smile, didn't go into the visiting room and act the part. She just stopped caring all together. It was the narrowed eyes and dark circles that were ever present on her form now that really drove home the ominous look in her eyes. Sarah often stared at the other children, scaring them away with a single glance.
Sarah also did things.
Miranda remembered the day she opened Sarah's bedroom without knocking. The girl was fixated on something in the corner, and when the caretaker stepped in Miranda heard the lamp drop to the floor. It crashed down, falling at her feet. Sarah didn't react, just shifted her eyes to Miranda. Thinking, wondering. It was the first time Miranda felt a chill run down her spine.
Sarah would do other things, like randomly appearing in rooms, moving objects too large for her, her bunkmates never spoke with her, and Sarah left them alone. But Miranda could see her eyeing up different children as if wondering what she could do to them too.
This was all, of course, through the eyes of an adult.
Sarah felt quite differently about the orphanage to what Miss Hammet did. She'd never known anything else sans the primary school she was forced to attend. While many children came with possessions of their own, Sarah only had two things. One was a set of matching bracelets- one being black beads with a single white bead, and the other being all white beads and a single black one- and the other was the scarf she had been wrapped up into the day she arrived. Miss Hammet had given her a rucksack to put them in, along with any other valuables she might gain along the way. This rucksack was practically empty, as Sarah had never been given anything else that was hers to keep. Every family that ever adopted her requested all gifts be returned when she went back to Swallow's.
Sarah had also learned quite quickly that adults, while supposedly being authority figures, were not there to help her against the other children. She didn't know why Miss Hammet never stepped in to help, but she didn't. Sarah's first memory of bullying was a rather large girl with a pug nose that was bunked in the room next to them. She shoved Sarah down the stairs and took her rucksack without another comment. Sarah had pleaded for help from the staff, but when no help came, she cried in her bed alone that night.
When she saw the same girl do it to another kid, who ended up breaking his arm, and the staff stepped in, Sarah felt wholeheartedly jaded.
She knew she was different from the way Miss Hammet treated her, but she hated it all the same.
Sarah learned that day that, if she wanted something, she was going to have to fight for it. So she stole a fork from the kitchens and stabbed the girl with it in the cheek. The whale flailed and fell over, screeching. She went to tackle Sarah, but the next thing Sarah knew the girl was flailing on the floor, convulsing from the looks of it.
She had something called a seizure, but Sarah didn't understand at the time. The only thing she knew was she had her rucksack back, and Miss Hammet wouldn't even go near her anymore. Nothing ever really changed after that. By the time she turned 8, Sarah wondered if this was all her life would ever be. She resigned herself to this miserable existence, feeling slightly blessed that it was all she would ever know, and thus would never know what she was missing.
That was when she came.
Magenta Wilkinson walked into that orphanage that day with only one goal in mind. Sarah happened to be on rotation in the visiting room at the same time. She still took no part in the event, always in the corner and quietly staring out the window. The other kids never spoke to her, not out of fear but rather because she never listened to them. Sarah played with the frayed hems of the scarf that sat in her lap, picking at it absentmindedly.
Perhaps it was this distance that drew Magenta closer to her. Magenta, or Maggie as she fondly asked many to call her, sidled up to Sarah after a brief chat with Miss Hammet. She sat near Sarah, though the little blonde had yet to look at her.
"Hello there, you must be Sarah," Maggie greeted, though Sarah continued to stare out the window. Maggie was undeterred. "I've also heard you've been adopted a few times."
That hit a nerve. Sarah glowered at the woman, waiting for her to feel uncomfortable with Sarah and walk away. She didn't. Instead, Sarah watched as the pudgy, frizzy haired woman just smirked.
"Oooh, that hit a nerve huh? What happened?" She pushed, but Sarah simply returned her face to neutral and looked away. "That bad, huh? Sorry it happened kid."
Maggie received no reaction. She tried asking Sarah more questions: what was her favorite colour? Did she like anything on TV? Did she like dresses or pants? Sarah just stared out the window. Silently, she answered each question in her head. She liked skirts and dresses, she had only ever watched tv in school for classes, and her favourite colour? She thought of the scarf she had been wrapped in the day she arrived.
"Green."
Sarah froze.
Her lips had moved before she even realized that she had voiced this out loud. Maggie's eyes widened as Sarah glanced at her from the corner of her eye. The pudgy woman grinned at her, her brown eyes going gentle. Her smile reached her eyes.
"Yeah, green is lovely. Mine is yellow."
Sarah felt nervous with that look, but whether it showed or not she would never know as she schooled herself to be completely neutral again.
Maggie stood and left her then, and Sarah thought that would be that.
It wasn't.
The next week, Sarah was confused as she rode a train with the woman to her home.
"It's a quiet little suburb, Little Whinging. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Less noise than all the children at Swallow's." Maggie spoke animatedly. Sarah half listened, confused.
When they arrived at her home, Sarah stared at the bright yellow floral wallpaper. Maggie wasn't kidding when she said she liked yellow.
"Oh, here, let's get to your room. I hope you like the colour." She sounded a little nervous as she led Sarah down the hall.
The room to the right was hers, and it had green walls the same shade as her scarf, with silver sheets and a wooden bedframe. A nice little dresser sat on the opposite wall with a mirror and a few essentials.
Sarah stared, reminded of all her previous rooms. This one stood about the same as the rest.
"I know it's not much, but I figured you needed to get comfortable first, alright?" Maggie was patient, but Sarah refused to acknowledge her efforts. Instead, she stared up at her with that piercing gaze, and didn't look away. Maggie stared back, and finally Sarah turned and walked into the room, tossing her empty rucksack on the bed, and stared at it all.
"I'll leave you alone for now," Maggie said, slipping out of the room. "Dinner will be ready in an hour, I hope you're hungry."
She shut the door quietly, leaving Sarah alone. The blonde stared at the green wall, feeling like the whole place was abnormally empty since she could stand in the middle of the room.
Maggie came back some time later, knocking gently on the door. When there was no answer, she opened it to find Sarah curled up on the floor, clutching her rucksack. The sight broke her heart, and so she reached for the blankets on the bed and gently placed them on her. She thought it would be better than to move the girl from where she lay.
As she quietly shut the door, Sarah opened her eyes.
Her fingers twitched, she wanted to break something. She wanted to go back to her misery, because the fear of hope loomed in this house, and Sarah was no longer a fool who believed.
The first week was rough for both of them. Sarah was not used to being allowed out of her room after hours. She was so used to just peeing in a pot in her room that she just went ahead and did it. Maggie was appalled, immediately teaching her that she was permitted to use the bathroom whenever she wanted to. She was also told to bathe every day, which was shocking to Sarah since she was allowed to run the hot water for longer than a few seconds.
It was in that house that Sarah took her first bath. Something she would enjoy for many years to come.
Maggie also insisted Sarah eat whatever, whenever she wanted. Sarah took that quite literally. She loved biscuits and sour candy to the point that she would try and hoard it in her room, only for Maggie to compromise and make a 'Sarah only' cupboard where all her treats were stored.
Sarah still tended to stare, which always unnerved people, but not Maggie. Maggie looked her in the eye and would giggle at her, calling her a 'broody little boy'. Sarah would sniff in indignation at those comments. During her last year at Swallow's Sarah had begun to loathe the plaits and braids so badly that she took scissors to her own head. It was choppy, and unflattering, but no one fixed it for her, and so Sarah lived with that hair for the rest of her stay. Maggie offered to fix it, but Sarah ignored her.
It was around this time that Sarah attended her new primary school.
She didn't want to, thinking that last one was so boring that the most entertainment she could've gotten from it was when she floated the professor's wig off her head.
Sarah was aware of her... abnormalities. At the previous homes, she tried to make them known in some capacity. But with Maggie... Sarah hesitated.
St. Grogory's Primary School was a simple looking building in a simple looking town. The first day Maggie walked her to it, since it wasn't very far. She turned Sarah to face her before they made it to class.
"Can you do one thing for me Sarah?" Maggie asked. "Can you try? Just for today? If you can't, just tell them to call me and I'll come pick you up. Alright?"
This surprised Sarah, her brow twitching for a moment before she composed herself. A small nod was all the reply she gave, but Maggie smiled warmly at her nonetheless.
"Good girl, good luck and have fun."
Sarah made it through the morning just fine. She didn't speak at all, and when the professors tried to push for her to answer she remained obstinate. Many of her classmates stared at her, noticing she never spoke at all.
When lunch period came, she evaded the crowds and searched for the furthest corner on the school grounds. There were bushes and an old stump off in the corner behind the school that she sat on and quietly ate lunch. Quietly being the opportune word, as someone came stumbling around the bush.
The boy was small, knobby kneed, and lanky. As he looked at her, he paused, looking rather confused.
"Oh, um, sorry. You're the new student?" He asked. Sarah narrowed her eyes. He scratched the back of his neck, looked at something, then flew downwards into a crouch.
"Sorry-um- this is my hiding spot." He confessed while trying to subtly peak over the bushes. Sarah didn't like the intrusion, so she packed up her stuff and stood. He looked up at her then, saw her face, and opted not to say anything.
Just then, his stomach made the loudest growling noise she'd ever heard.
He stared. Sarah stared. It was dead silence between them. She looked him over, seeing no lunchbox of his own. Sarah was confused by the concept of lunch still, and not used to eating much anyway. She huffed when his stomach gurgled again, the boy apologized, trying to cover it with his hands as if that would help him. Sarah knelt, opened her box, and handed him half her sandwich. He stared at her like she was an alien, but the moment her gaze went from annoyed to pissed off, he yanked the sandwich out of his hand. She stared, huffed, then stood again and walked off.
"Th-Thank you!" The boy called. Sarah didn't acknowledge him though as she walked over to the swings. She thought that it might be quiet, but alas, today was just not her day.
"Oi, Quiet Girl!"
Sarah looked up from her lunch box in front of her. She had been trying to negotiate eating an apple for the past little while, to no avail, when a tank of a boy waddled into her view. He was flanked by two boys that reminded Sarah of rats for some reason. She stared, waiting for him to continue.
"Y'sure that's a gurl Dud? Looks like a toad to me." One of the rats squeaked out while 'Dud' oinked along with him.
"Good point. Reckon she's an it uh?" He joked, trying to goad Sarah. The other rat squeaked now.
"Good one Dudley, good one." He chortled. Sarah ignored them, going back to eating her apple. It was slapped out of her hands then, her lunch box kicked up in the gravel. Sarah stared at her empty hand for a moment before she was abruptly shoved off the swing. Her back hit the ground, her calves resting on the seat of the swing still. She stared for a moment longer before realizing he pushed her. She huffed, sitting up on her elbows to see the three boys laughing at her.
Calmly, Sarah pulled her legs off the swing and started to get up. As she went to gather her things, they kicked them further away. She paused, reaching the last of her patience. She stood up, glaring at the three boys.
"Hey! Speak you mutt!" One of the rats said, making to grab her shirt. Another hand slapped him away then, as the same small lanky boy stood in front of her. He was a little smaller than her, and rather unimpressive to look at, but Sarah was completely surprised when he protected her. It was a completely unfamiliar feeling.
"Leave her alone!" He yelled, though his voice was a lot more nervous than he probably wanted it to sound like. The three boys laughed at him. Dudley took an imposing step forward.
"Alright, we'll go, let's chat in the boys lockeroom ay? It can't come of course." Dudley nodded towards Sarah and laughed again at his own joke. The boy shivered a bit, but he squared his shoulders more.
Dudley grabbed the boy's arm, about to yank him forward off his feet, when Sarah grabbed his other arm. The boy looked up at Sarah, surprised to feel her strong grip. But Sarah wasn't looking at him. Instead, Sarah was glaring at Dudley so hard that the boy felt him let go and take a step back.
"Get lost." Sarah lowly.
One moment, Dudley stood there, and the next he was gone. His friends panicked, looking for him, until they heard loud wailing coming from the top of the tree next to the school. His screeches were so loud no doubt someone thought he'd been shanked. He was stuck upside down amongst the tightly knit branches though, and slowly losing his trousers as he fell.
The wails continued, getting worse as his friends bolted off to see him, shouting his name all the way.
Sarah looked at the boy, who was staring at her in awe. Not the reaction she had expected to be honest, but perhaps he didn't understand what had happened. Sarah's brow twitched as a grin spilled over his lips.
"That was bloody brilliant!" He said, looking between Dudley and Sarah again. Sarah had been called many things in life, but brilliant was certainly not at the top of the list. She stared for a second, her lip twitching, before she turned away from him with the same neutral expression. He called after her, but she didn't say a word as she walked away to clean up the mess the boys made. Wordlessly, the boy began to help her. Sarah felt a bit suspicious of him, expecting him to take something.
He didn't, instead he brushed everything off to the best of his abilities and then handed them back. She stared at him, confused. He stuck out his hand then.
"I'm Harry, thanks for that back there." He said, eyes shining as he looked up at her. Sarah stared at his hand, unsure whether to take it, but then decided to just do it when Maggie's voice in the back of her head reminded her to 'just try'.
"Sarah," she said softly.
It was then that she noticed his eyes. The dazzling bright green. She stared into them, feeling her hands become clammy and the skin heat up.
'They're beautiful,' she thought. 'How bizarre.'
Y'all.
Ima be so real right now.
Most stories I publsih take MONTHS to gain any views or traction. Bu holy crap, 100 people have already clicked on this! It ahsn't even been two days! AAJKLDSHAOISDIASJ THANK YOU! I was having such a shit day and this made me so happy.
So, to be very very clear, Sarah has a fully fleshed out background. She is her own character with her own story that will make more sense later on, just an FYI. but anyway.
I don't normally write in third person, because I've been told I have a very... different way of writing it. However, this is how I like to write it, jumping POV's in 3rd person is so much more fulfilling. I also love to different views of the orphanage depending who's POV you watch.
I will say, this orphanage, while the name has changed, is based off a real one a friend of mine grew up in. She was telling me a lot of stories of her time there, but she only stayed for 4 months at the time. I know not every orphanage is anywhere near as bad, but I know several that are much much worse.
Anywho, thank you for reading! Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts? If you have any questions feel free to ask, I may or may not answer. Sarah is going to be so much fun because I am very similar in persona to her, so lets see what happens eh? I alwasy see Harry paired with upbeat cheerful characters, but im curious how it pans out with an aloof one.
oh also, I'm not 100% sure how I'll go about this. Maybe i split each HP book into a separate one on here? maybe not? Idk, I'll just keep writing until it feels right to stop. Thoughts?
Also context Sarah has androgynous features, cropped short messy gold blonde hair, is quite tall for her age, and sharp grey eyes that kinda squint all the time. I imagine her as 'not quite suiting her features' yet.
Iland Girl