=.=
WALK THE LINE
Harry x OC
'for those that don't feel wanted.'
Chapter 7: It's not the same without you here
Song Choice: Ambience of Hogwarts
Maggie scuttled through the Sallow's home, hurrying to the den to find Atlas. In her hands was a letter written by Sarah detailing the first three weeks of school with some brutal honesty.
"Atty! Atty!" Maggie called, barging into the den. "I cannot believe- oh. Pardon me."
Atlas was not alone. Beside him were two much older gentlemen. Both looked up from their conversation as Atlas smiled at Maggie.
"Hello Mags, what's got your wand in a twist?" Atlas called. After realizing who the two men were, Maggie focused on Atlas again with a sigh.
"Oh, it's just Sarah and Cerus. Up to no good already. They were flying in the pitch without permission. Sarah took the fall for him though, that surprised me. I expected her to toss him under the bus." Maggie rambled, then paused at seeing their confusion. "Oh, it means to let him take all the blame."
"Who is Sarah?" One of the older gentlemen asked. Atlas smirked.
"That'd be Maggie's adoptive daughter, Grandfather. Sarah Williams." Atlas' Grandfather raised his brows as the other gentleman choked on his tea. There was a laugh from Atlas' grandfather.
"Did I hear correctly? When on Earth did you adopt a child?" he asked in a posh English accent. Maggie smiled.
"Three years ago now, Mr. Alden. You and Mr. Sallow have been away to America the whole time." Maggie smiled despite the fact that Mr. Alden could not see it.
"Merlin, has it been that long?" Mr. Sallow muttered. "Felt like we arrived in America just a few weeks before we left."
Atlas sniggered.
"Happens when you get old, Gramps." Mr. Sallow swatted Atlas across the head lightly.
"Spry enough to knock you a few good ones." The older man muttered.
"So what trouble has this child of yours gotten into?" Mr. Alden asked, idly sipping his tea again. Maggie wilted into a chair.
"Apparently Cerus offered her flying lessons, but seeing as first years aren't meant to ride a broom, they got in trouble for it. Sarah was banned from flying for an entire year on school grounds, and from flying lessons." Mr. Alden frowned, staring at the floor.
"That's rather extreme, isn't it?" He asked, to which Maggie hummed an agreement.
"I have a feeling she isn't having the warmest of welcomes to Hogwarts. She was sorted into Slytherin and many of the housemates are quite rude because of her blood status."
Mr. Alden chuckled, but it was without humor.
"Yes, Slytherin tends to hold that regard for anyone without a magical background." He mumbled.
"Where did you find this girl, Mags?" Mr. Sallow asked, but his eyes betrayed some sort of mischief that Maggie didn't quite notice.
"A muggle orphanage of all places, but there isn't a doubt in my mind the girl has magical parents." Maggie insisted, thinking of the little girl she met. Atlas waved his wand and a cup of tea floated over to Maggie. She muttered thanks as she poured milk and sugar into it.
"Is that why you needed the ring? Because of her magic?" Atlas asked. Maggie shuddered, hesitant to explain.
"That girl..." Maggie shook her head. "I love her. She is a genuinely sweet and loving child... But the things she's done..."
Mr. Alden turned to look at Maggie, and even without his eyesight, his gaze was piercing.
"What 'things'?" He asked. Maggie hesitated again. "It's alright Maggie, not like a couple of old men can do more than gripe and complain. Why- Sebastian took a whole hour just to decide what tea he wanted to have this morning."
"Oh do shut up Ominis. Merlin, I don't know how Cassi stood living with you for nearly a century." Sebastian scoffed into his teacup, then turned to Maggie again. "It's alright Mags, tell us. Can't be something we haven't heard before."
Maggie took a breath, looking at Atlas for support. When he nodded, she relented.
"Sarah has... always done things. When I went to that orphanage... The caretaker did everything in her power to steer me away from Sarah. But there was something so... lost and- broken about her that I- I felt like I had to see her." Maggie remembered the broken little girl who glared at her to try and make her go away.
"She didn't react to the children playing around, she just sat and stared out the window. Apparently, she had been adopted several times. Cute kid, pretty eyes, of course people looked at her. But she would supposedly move things, and levitate objects... Again, I didn't think much of it. I thought she was just a magical girl who was exercising her abilities. And when she came home, I never saw anything to gawk at..."
Maggie looked to the fire across from her, watched the flames dance as she remembered everything that Sarah had told her in her time at muggle school.
"She made a friend, and little by little, she began to open up. But... Sarah is fiercely protective. And by fiercely- I do believe she would do anything to help those she loved and wouldn't even bat an eye about it. On her first day of school, she apparated a boy into a nearby tree. She said she just wanted him to go away, that he was bullying her friend. A few months later, she transfigured the same boy to squeal like a pig and even got a tail on him. Said it suited him because he stole her friend's candy."
Sebastian chuckled.
"That's my girl." He said proudly, but Maggie gave him an imploring look.
"I thought that- I thought all of this was happening because she didn't know what she was doing. Maybe she thought it was coincidence? But no, Sarah knew what was happening. Barely looked curious when I showed her magic was real. Even after I told her about magic though, it kept happening. Though I did see she was trying to rein it in a bit. But then... Then it got worse. I noticed, whenever Sarah was angry, things started to happen."
"What sort of things, Maggie?" Mr. Alden asked, listening intently. She took a breath.
"Last year, she found out Harry- her friend- is cousins with this boy she's attacked before. And that they live together. To say that the treatment of Harry is... high quality would be a lie. And Sarah... Sarah was so angry one day that she... She managed to control the boy and almost forced him into traffic. If not for Harry snapping her out of it, she might've killed him."
"When you say control, do you mean-"
"I think she used the Imperius Curse." Maggie felt something deep drop in her chest. "A nine-year-old, who has never even heard of it- and she simply willed him to- to... Without a wand..."
Atlas frowned, watching the two older men digest this. However, what he wasn't expecting was for his grandfather to look over at Mr. Alden and smirk.
"She sounds just like an old friend of ours." Sebastian said cheekily. Ominis huffed, sitting taller in his chair before addressing Maggie.
"Magenta, you have our word. This doesn't leave this room. And for what it's worth, I do believe you when you say Sarah is a good person. Doubt you'd give up your freedom for just any child." he said calmly. Maggie smiled, though it was saddened.
"Please don't misunderstand. I love Sarah. Truly. But- sometimes I see what she can do and-" She couldn't finish, couldn't admit it. Sebastian didn't bat an eye.
"Well, considering you could barely conjure any magic as a child I imagine this is quite overwhelming." The man said, remembering when Atlas brought the muggleborn witch home for the holidays. The girl was never adept at magic to begin with and had to work hard for it.
Maggie gave him a thankful smile, to which Sebastian returned a cheeky one.
"However, I do say this Sarah sounds... enigmatic. Ominis, we shall be staying for the holidays now." Ominis snorted.
"I suppose you think you're the one making all the choices now."
The two old men were bickering with each other as Maggie glanced between them. She eyed Atlas, who still gave her a fond smile, though she missed how it vanished once she looked away.
Their lack of reaction quelled some of the nerves Maggie had. She wouldn't admit to it but- sometimes Maggie feared what others would do in reaction to Sarah's abilities. But this lot of men had taken it without hardly a bat of an eye. It brought her comfort, as Sebastian was right- Maggie was wholly out of her depths with this. Though it would likely get easier, since Sarah was finally in school to learn how to control her magic.
And silently, she hoped that the worst of it was behind them.
"I wish you had seen it, that beast was bloody terrifying." Harry said quickly, shifting his weight back and forth as he spoke.
Harry had just finished telling Sarah about the third-floor corridor- which he'd seen last week when he accidentally ran to in an attempt to avoid Filch and his bloody cat, Mrs. Norris.
What bothered Sarah though, was that he hadn't told her about it for an entire week. Sure, their schedules didn't line up, but that didn't mean he couldn't come and find her anytime. She was, after all, a creature of habit. He knew where to find her. Quidditch had taken up a lot of his time though, and apparently it took up his time to find Sarah. Bitterly, she noticed he still spoke with the others, however.
A sick sense of abandonment reared inside of her then for the tenth time in the past week. She felt a panic course through her veins- it was finally happening. Harry was moving on from her. She knew part of her was overreacting, and that she should be happy for Harry finally being able to enjoy himself, but that huge part of her kept screaming inside her head that hecouldn't abandon her, she wouldn't let him.
So she would do it first.
Sarah frowned at him.
"Have somewhere you need to be?" she asked, noticing how antsy he was acting. Harry hesitated, making her frown deepen.
"What? No, I just- well I suppose. I'm heading with Ron to Charms soon so-"
"Then I would hate to keep you." she said dismissively. Harry froze, frowning at her.
"Sar- wait no that's not- It's not like that." He insisted, noticing the mask rising over her face.
"Hmm, I think it is. Carry on, Harry, would hate to keep you from your adoring fans." She mocked, noticing Ron standing across the hallway. He frowned at her, so she narrowed her eyes back at him.
"Sarah, that's not fair. I never got angry at you for making friends." Harry defended, and he was right. Sarah knew she didn't have the right to be angry at him, but she was, and she didn't care if she was being unreasonable.
'He's going to leave me anyway.'
Sarah scoffed.
"Tell me, Harry, do you really think they would've given a damn about you if you weren't famous?" She snapped, and immediately knew she had gone too far. But Sarah refused to back down even at the hurt look in Harry's eyes.
"What is with you? Why are you so angry with me today?" Harry couldn't make heads nor tails of the behaviour, but Sarah was unyielding to him.
"Don't worry about it, Potter. Enjoy your fanbase. I'm sure they'll make up for my absence." She snapped, turning on her heel and marching away.
"Sarah!" Harry tried to reach for her shoulder, but she shook him off.
And Sarah knew, she was a bloody idiot. The moment she had stormed out of the hall and into the crisp autumn air Sarah knew she had royally fucked up.
'It wasn't fair though', she tried to assure herself. It wasn't fair that Harry had all this attention, that he got to break rules and still got the long stick, meanwhile Sarah was being cut short and forgotten.
Flashes of the orphanage came through her mind, and she panicked. Her heart rate quickened, and she bolted down to the boathouse where she knew she'd be alone.
"Stupid girl." She scolded herself. Sarah refused to cry, but her chest ached, and she hissed through clenched teeth.
When she returned to the Slytherin common room, she found a rather nasty surprise.
Someone had trashed her belongings and tossed them about with some sort of potion dripping on them. Her roommates giggled to themselves. This had been something she thought the Slytherin's would be above, but evidently bullying happened in any form. The only problem was Sarah didn't know who had done it, so she decided not to react and simply cleaned up the mess.
Cerus knew something was wrong but wasn't about to pry in on their very tentative friendship. Sarah had insisted nothing was amiss, and that he better get onto the team, or she would be livid with him.
It felt odd that, both in the blink of an eye and yet somehow impossibly slow, Halloween had come and gone. Now Sarah watched Hermione, Ron, and Harry all together. At meals, to study, anytime she saw one she saw all of them.
Of course, Sarah had done everything to avoid talking to Harry since their fight.
She knew she was in the wrong, she knew she was the one that had to apologize, but she couldn't. Not for this. The idea of apologizing, laying her heart out there, only for him to still choose his new friends just- it made Sarah feel like a fool for ever laying her heart on the line before.
No, if this was it, she was keeping her head held high and never apologizing for it.
So, Sarah moved on, in her own way.
Harry, however, was just losing it.
He didn't know what to do honestly, and trying to get Sarah alone was practically impossible. She even jumped into a fourth-year charms class to get away from him. He had to hand it to her, when she wanted something, she didn't let anything get in her away. Especially when it came to avoiding him.
Of the few times they had fought over small things growing up, Harry knew Sarah was never going to be the one to apologize. Sure, she had said sorry, but never for a mistake she had made. She had said sorry for not telling him about his parents, but she was sorry she couldn't tell him, not that it was her fault he didn't know.
But when it came to actual mistakes? She was far too prideful for it and would rather run away from her problems. It never bothered him before, as they had the same classes in muggle school, so Harry would slowly work away at any hesitance Sarah had until they got back to normalcy.
But now Sarah and him felt like they were on opposite sides of the globe. It was frustrating, because he didn't understand why this was happening. What changed?
To top it all off, he didn't exactly have hours to spend chasing after her to begin with. Their schedules didn't align, other than one double potions on Fridays, and it was damn near impossible to find her most days. He knew she would actively skip meals at home, never being much of an eater to begin with, but he hadn't seen Sarah in the Great Hall for weeks now.
It had come to a head when he won his first game of Quidditch. The first person he thought to talk to was Sarah. He looked for her and saw her standing off to the side on the pitch. When he tried to run to her his team picked him up and cheered. Wood was over the moon as the Weasley twins hoisted Harry onto their shoulders and marched him off the pitch. Harry glanced over to see Sarah walking up to Cerus, who was smirking down at her.
He realized then that he felt lonely without her there. Of course, he missed her, but he had always thought that she'd come around. But every day she felt further and further away from him.
Even later that day in Hagrid's hut, Harry was still thinking about how Sarah never came to talk to him and was instead speaking to Cerus Sallow. Possibly talking him up after their loss. He didn't know why but it made his blood boil.
"Harry?" Hermione asked, noticing how distracted he seemed. Harry blinked, brought back to the present. He looked at her, but Hermione silently watched him.
Hagrid mumbled about Harry being tired and sent them on their way, no doubt trying to avoid talking about Fluffy anymore. On their walk back to the castle, Harry was still thinking about a way to get Sarah to talk to him. To his surprise, Hermione asked about her.
"You know... I haven't seen you and Sarah speaking lately." Hermione started treading carefully. Harry frowned, but Ron rolled his eyes.
"Been a blessing, I swear! Girl has the nastiest looking face I've ever seen! Plus, half the stuff I've heard-" Hermione elbowed Ron, who yelped. "What was that for?!"
But that comment seemed to slide everything into place. It all sort of clicked then to Harry.
He stopped walking, his two friends pausing after a few steps.
"Harry?" Hermione asked. He looked up at them, his face stiff. He looked at Ron.
"What things?" he asked, noticing how comfortable Ron was with his opinions.
"That she just breaks the rules all the time. Heard she and Sallow were out on the quidditch pitch flying around at the crack of dawn. Heard she tried to put the blame on him."
So that was why Sarah was banned? Because she was flying on a broom as a first year?
"That's not fair." Harry said. Ron shrugged.
"I mean, she got what was coming to her right? I don't even know how she got a broom." Ron said carelessly.
"Oh right, of course. Every first year caught flying on a broom has been punished for what they did." He snapped back. Ron hesitated, noticing Harry's ire. The red headed boy frowned.
"What is it with you and that girl? I mean- she's bloody rude, and she's not even that nice to you either. You both get in a row anytime you talk-"
"Because I was defending you." Harry cut Ron off. "I tried to convince her you're not half bad. But all you do is talk badly about her. You don't even know her."
Ron's ears turned red.
"I know she's got a terrible personality!" He defended, thinking about the train ride to Hogwarts. Harry laughed at that.
"Sarah is the only reason my life hasn't been completely miserable," Harry said, glaring at Ron. "She has done nothing but defend me."
And look how Harry repaid her for it. He'd all but left her behind. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought.
"Either you get along with her, or-or-" Harry scoffed, storming past them. "I wish that hat had put me in Slytherin."
Hermione gasped at that. Ron's face was completely red now.
"Well best of luck to you then!" He shouted at Harry's back.
Sarah had thought studying in the library later into the evening was the better option for the day.
Cerus, who had made the team as a beater, was miserable that they lost to Gryffindor. Sarah couldn't entirely ease that disappointment, and cheekily told him next year she'd be on the team and give them a fighting chance.
However, Sarah hadn't even watched Cerus play the entire time. Her focus had been on Harry, specifically, on his jinxed broom. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but she felt her ring burn and took it off. She imagined Harry being lifted onto his broom. And as if tossed up by a gust of wind, Harry was vaulted back onto the bucking broomstick.
"Stop it." She muttered, and felt a migraine press into her skull as the broom slowed its movements but never stopped. Sarah grunted, narrowing her eyes.
"Enough." she said under her breath, feeling some blood roll from her nose. The broom stopped moving immediately, and Harry got his control back. Sarah slipped her ring back on, covering her nose. The screams from the Slytherin stand had been loud enough to drown out her words, but Sarah noticed Draco glaring at her suspiciously. Sarah glared back, covering her nosebleed.
When she returned to the common room, her things were a mess again. Fourth time this month. She idled over the thought of telling Snape, but instead thought to ask Cerus for help instead. She wanted to catch the culprit and give them a piece of her mind in her own way.
So, Sarah planned to have more detentions and finished up weeks' worth of homework in the library, fully committed to getting another month of detentions for her revenge.
That was when Harry stormed in.
"I need to speak with you," he said as he grabbed her wrist and practically yanked her out of her chair. Sarah was surprised, and the shock let him pull her along. She thought about arguing but conceded after a few moments and followed him to a secluded corner. She expected him to demand what her problem was, to explain what was going through her head. Hell, she would've expected nothing less-
"I'm sorry." Harry said as he turned to face her.
Sarah stood, stone still, digesting this.
It was certainly not what she was expecting from him.
"W-What?" She stuttered. Merlin, Sarah never stuttered. Perhaps it was the headache still lingering from the match, but Sarah felt almost startled. Her instincts told her to run away from this conversation immediately.
"I'm sorry," Harry repeated. "I'm sorry I picked their side, for not making more time for you- I didn't mean to. It's just- we've always had time. I didn't realize I wasn't making time for you but- when I caught the snitch, my first thought was to show it to you and- and I realized you weren't there and-"
He swallowed his words when he realized he was rambling nervously. Sarah still didn't show any emotion as she stared at him silently.
"Please say something." He begged, nervous at the lack of response. Sarah instead looked to his shoes.
"It's not... entirely your fault." she muttered. "I may have had... overarching opinions of what was acceptable behaviour and may have been under the impression that you and I would spend more time together..."
"Is that your way of saying you're sorry?" Harry asked, though he couldn't help a small smile when he saw her jaw tick.
"Sorry? No, never." she said quickly. "I am simply... clarifying the situation."
Harry felt a knot in his chest loosen just from hearing her voice. He had very clearly missed her, and just speaking to her eased some of that tension. Sarah felt similar and found it bizarre how easily they were 'making up' after something that had been her fault.
"Okay, then, let me clarify for you," he said, jingling his beads up close to her face, "I promised we were always going to be friends, right?"
Sarah nodded, holding up her own wrist with beads on it.
"Well, I am going to keep that promise." he said confidently. Sarah's lip twitched. "It's okay Sar, nobody's going to see you feeling things here."
She jabbed him lightly, then hooked her pinky onto his as a tiny smile slipped onto her lips.
"I-" Sarah paused. "I know I haven't been fair... and I'm not about to hold hands with Weasley or anything but- I'll try to do better."
Harry laughed humorlessly.
"I think that ship may have sailed." Sarah raised a brow. "I told him I'd rather be in Slytherin after what he said about you."
Sarah gave a mock laugh.
"I've never felt so loved." Sarah teased, but then frowned. "So, that's it then? You're not friends?"
Harry shrugged, looking away from her to hide the sadness in his eyes.
"Guess not."
Harry insisted they had to catch up then, and after collecting her things he led her to the Great Hall for supper. He pulled her to the Gryffindor table, and the duo sat at the end and talked nonstop for the next hour, catching up on anything they had missed in the few weeks they weren't talking.
It was then that Sarah admitted to trying to unjinx his broom, even lifting him back onto it. Harry had a feeling it had been her but wondered about what Hermione had said about Snape. Did she somehow cancel out his jinx? Or did Hermione's distraction make Snape lose focus? He didn't tell Sarah, not wanting her to think he was ungrateful for her trying to help him. Merlin, she had still helped him since she lifted him back onto his broom.
But Sarah noticed the way Ron looked at Harry, and how Hermione bit her lip whenever she looked at them. What was worse, was the way Harry looked sadly down at them.
Sarah knew, in her gut, she was not going to be able to get along with the two Gryffindors. She didn't understand how in Merlin's name Harry did, but Sarah also knew that Harry did genuinely like his new friends.
And she felt like a sow for coming between that.
Although, a tiny part of her felt self-righteous that he had kept to her side instead of theirs.
Still, after just one week of Harry and Sarah reconciling, Sarah decided that she couldn't take the misery anymore.
While Harry was at Quidditch practice, she found the two Gryffindors in the library. Hermione was furiously studying while Ron tossed something up in the air and caught it every now and again. He noticed her approach and glared. Sarah was immune to it.
"Bloody Hell, as if the day couldn't be worse." He muttered. Hermione looked up to see Sarah. The blonde scowled at Ron and looked down her nose at Hermione. No one spoke for a few moments, all three eyeing each other up.
"Can we help you?" Hermione asked, looking nervous under Sarah's glare. Sarah sniffed, frowning a bit more.
"C'mon Hermione." Ron said as he stood. "She's just here to laugh at us."
Sarah's eyes narrowed at Ron. The red head felt that freezing cold feeling of being pinned under someone's glare.
"I don't know what Harry sees in you." She said lowly as Ron sunk back into his seat. Hermione frowned, looking between Ron and Sarah.
"Is Harry okay?" She asked, confused why Sarah was here. Sarah looked at her, and her frown lessened slightly.
"He's fine." she said curtly. "But he misses you both."
Ron scoffed.
"Wonder whose fault that is." He was promptly smacked by Hermione. He yelped. Sarah watched them as Hermione scolded Ron under her breath. Hands in her pockets, she huffed once.
"You should talk to him." she said stiffly, before marching away. Hermione thought it was odd, but watched the blonde go.
"The bloody hell was that all about?" Ron grumbled. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Honestly Ron," Hermione looked at the confused boy. "She wants us to talk to Harry."
"Yeah, I got that, but if you haven't noticed he's not exactly speaking with us now is he?" Ron grumbled again. Hermione frowned, watched the blonde leave the library.
"I dunno, maybe we should try." She thought aloud.
Later that evening, Hermione and Ron caught Harry and Sarah entering the Entrance Hall. Both parties stopped to stare at one another, then Sarah whispered something to Harry. The boy looked a bit surprised, but then Hermione noticed Sarah's eyes. The once stone-like expression melted as she looked at Harry. She couldn't call it a smile, but there was a certain... softness when she looked at Harry.
Hermione could tell she truly cared about him. She was more surprised when Harry went over to speak with Ron and Hermione. Sarah left, entering the Great Hall without her friend.
"Hi." Harry said stiffly. Ron scoffed.
"Finally got permission to talk to us?" He taunted. Hermione hit him with her book.
"Honestly Ron!" She sighed, turning to Harry. "Look, Harry, we understand that Sarah means a lot to you. And while we might not- understand why... we can respect that she is your best friend."
When Ron looked away, Hermione nudged him again.
"Honestly!" He grumbled to her, but at Hermione's encouragement he looked to Harry. He pursed his lips.
"Guess she can't be all bad if your friends with her." He mumbled under his breath.
"I suppose the same could be said about you." Harry quipped. Hermione watched the boys mildly insult each other a bit more and muttered 'boys' under her breath before the trio made their way into the Great Hall. With his back to her, Harry couldn't see Sarah. The blonde sat next to Cerus and glanced at the trio as they sat. Hermione could see her though, and locked eyes. To Sarah's surprise, the girl gave a tentative wave and smile. Sarah nodded back to her, not expecting the attention.
"You and Potter talking again?" Cerus asked. Sarah nodded, looking over to him.
"I released him back to where he belongs. With other lions." Sarah teased, making Cerus chuckle.
"Good, then I won't feel bad about whisking you away once more." He whispered in her ear. Sarah tilted her head and quirked a brow. "I still owe you for helping me get on the team. Might as well show you something we might both benefit from."
Although Sarah had no idea what he was talking about, she followed him blindly after supper to the Defence Against the Dark Arts tower. He was quite secretive about where he was taking her, adamant they couldn't be followed. Finally, he slipped to the spot just down the stairs from the DADA classroom and presented her to a massive clock.
Sarah wasn't sure what to make of Cerus' proud face, until he pulled out his wand and tapped it. The clock began to spin backwards before a hidden door opened in the face. Sarah was surprised as he gestured for her to go in.
"Ladies first."
Inside was a passageway and an iron gate. Sarah watched it open slowly before entering a massive open hall.
Items were stored under white sheets, barrels that were old and decrepit were tossed. Broken pieces of some kind of furniture were on the stone floor. Candelabras lit up the four corners of the room and gave an eerie glow to the place as four stone pillars blocked the lights and made the flames dance with shadows.
"What is this place?" Sarah asked, hearing the echo. She noticed a thick layer of dust lying on every surface and a couple of footprints trekking through it.
"It's called the Undercroft. Been known to the family for a few generations. My great grandfather was friends with a Gaunt. Supposedly that family were the only ones that knew of this place for centuries. Until they all died out, that is." Cerus said as he stepped up next to her.
"It doesn't appear on any maps, the professors don't know about it, and I've never heard of another soul speaking of it. Dad told me last year and I spent the better part of first year in here, practicing."
Sarah looked at Cerus, who was grinning. He waved his wand, and a book came flying into his waiting hand. He smirked at her proudly.
"Only way to get ahead of the rest is to work harder, after all." He handed her the book. She read the cover with a raised brow.
Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts by Galatea Merrythought
Sarah flipped the book open and skimmed through. There were plenty of interesting spells and the wand work required to use them in here.
"You've been using this already, have you?" Sarah teased, impressed to find several dog-eared pages. Cerus chuckled.
"I like to get ahead, much like someone else I know." He teased. Sarah smirked, shutting the book.
"Very nice, Sallow." Sarah said, eyeing the room once more.
"I'd like to think so. Though, this is the third time I've been here this year. Gramps always told me he and his friends hung out here a lot, but it gets boring when you're alone."
"Is that why you showed me?" Sarah asked. Cerus smirked.
"Absolutely not. I showed you because I'm indebted to you. Nothing more. Not like I trust you or anything." Sarah licked her teeth and stared at the room a bit more.
"Well then, consider our quid pro quo completed Sallow." Sarah said, feeling as though she was going to have plenty of fun in here.
"There is... one catch." Cerus said slowly. "This room is meant to stay a family secret. I told you because I know you can keep a secret. But as for any of your... friends... Let's just say they're not invited. Selene can know of course, and I'll show her next week, but no one else. Are we clear?"
Sarah looked up to Cerus. 'Don't tell Harry' hung in the air. She supposed it was only fair, and- it would be nice to have a place where she could privately practice magic and not get caught by a teacher. She nodded then; eyes serious.
"Crystal clear." She confirmed. Cerus smiled then, pleased.
"Lovely, well, why don't we put this book to good use then?" Cerus teased, but Sarah paused, a plan working through her mind.
"Actually, this changes things." She looked at Cerus and- very slowly- a devious smirk slipped onto her lips.
"I've been meaning to ask you. In your opinion... what's the most satisfying way to get some revenge?"
Hey y'all, thanks for reading.
Just a note that I have almsot all the chapters for book one completed, then will probably take a small break to sort out book 2 a bit more. More adult themes will be present in book 2 (blood/violence/implications of psychological torture) so I need to make sure I'm not completely running away with it. Since I have a better feel for the characters too I may go back and streamline some of book 1 as well (IDK yet).
Thank you to the reviewers. FFN is just killing me. i was trying to upload this for two days but FFN was down, and then it wouldn't save any changes. I was convinced I lost all my stories and was freaking out. FYI, will be moving my bigger stories (Like my Naruto fanfic) to AO3 so that if that happens again I hopefully won't lose chapters since I never back them up anywhere else.
I'm also super pissed off because that email notifications thing isn't working no matter what I do, and I can't see if people have read the story since my stats could is still at 0. But only for this story now. I can only tell if people read based on reviews, which I seriously appreciate!
Anywho, I think people should know, this story was started based off of the Hogwarts Legacy game. I recently 100% Gryffindor and Slytherin and need to do the other two houses still, but I always find Ominis and Sebastian to be the real MVP's of the series, so I just adore them and wanted to write about them in some capacity. It all ties together eventually I promise, but yeah, expect some elements from HL to come up in this game. Not anything to do with ancient magic like in the game though. However I would love to explore the magic Lily used on Harry some more because it's never really dissected.
A reminder that Sarah is a morally grey kid, with major abandonment issues, even to the point that I would argue she lies to herself a lot, which we will see in later chapters. But she is not the 'good love interest' type. Rather a 'burn the world down for you' type. Which, honestly is so much fun to write but so tough as well. But anyway, yeah, I think Sarah has some major toxic issues she'll need to work through in the following books.
Cheers
Iland Girl.