=.=
WALK THE LINE
Harry x OC
'for those that don't feel wanted.'
Chapter 10: Turning Point
Song Choices: Hogwarts Ambience
"Did you say Dumbledore was there?" Sarah asked, kicking a rock.
The beach behind Hagrid's hut was silent except for the duo chatting. Sarah stared out to the open water with a frown while Harry sat on a lone boulder. The boy nodded despite Sarah's back being to him.
"I know you said you'd look out for me, but- well, he's Dumbledore." As he said this, Sarah slammed a rock into the water, making him jolt.
"Hm, yes," she turned, her brows furrowed. "Can't help but feel safe with a man who hires lunatics."
"Sarah-"
"No Harry, I wouldn't trust Dumbledore's judgment. Someone in this school went after you, a teacher most likely. Which means he was hired by Dumbledore ." Sarah said bluntly, holding none of her opinions back for Harry in the process. For once, Harry was at a loss for words. In a way, she was correct. As the silence dragged on, it spoke volumes, Sarah crossed her arms, a frown tugging at her lips.
"Well, at least he had the decency to try and protect you." She said like an afterthought. Confusion pulled at his features as her own chin rose higher. "Why else come a watch? He never showed up to any of the other matches as far as I'm aware, so why did he appear at yours?"
"Good point. I suppose I was just so relieved it slipped my mind." Harry admitted. His thoughts still clouded from the events last week. An entire week he had sat on these thoughts, unable to find a moment alone with his closest friend. Despite how long it had been, Sarah and Harry had both agreed it would be a better idea to wait to have this discussion, rather than risk others walking in on them. Harry was booked solid between homework and quidditch practice, only seeing his friends in Gryffindor because they shared the same common room and most classes.
Sarah had landed herself in even more detention following the skirmish with Draco and his minions. It made their current time together dwindle down to quick glances in the halls and sitting together in the few classes they shared. Ron ranted for hours about how he had to work with the Slytherins to clean hallways and scrub desks. They were in groups of 2; he had been lucky to end up with Sarah rather than Malfoy. But Ron moaned and groaned about dealing with the girl. What was most maddening to the red head was the silence. Sarah knew it too, and opted to never speak, if only to spite the Weasley.
Sarah looked at the lake once more. Her arms remained crossed over her chest, though a thoughtful look crossed her features.
"Tell me again what you heard from Snape's encounter with Quirrell?" She requested. Harry repeated what he saw, adamant that this was hard evidence for Snape being the perpetrator. Sarah frowned, staring out to the water, but her eyes were far away.
"Hocus pocus..." She murmured.
"What about it?" Harry asked. She remained silent, calm, unmoving. Harry watched her for a moment longer until she turned to look at him. Her eyes were filled with confusion, annoyance.
"I know your little trio hate Snape. Merlin, half the castle does but..." She trailed off, thinking. The trance seemed fitting for Snape, in fact it seemed rather perfect. Too perfect. Sarah wondered why Dumbledore would come to the match in the first place. Clearly for Harry's sake, to protect him. Which would mean that he didn't yet know who was the one to jinx Harry's broom, right? But if it was Snape, surely someone else in the box had seen Snape? Surely one of the teachers noticed it? Unless Dumbledore didn't suspect Snape either? What if Snape wasn't jinxing the broom? What if...
"Got a lot of thoughts in there Sar? Want to let them out?" Harry joked, thinking she looked like a kettle with steam coming out her ears. Her eyes snapped to his; sharp, bright, filled with thoughts.
"What if Snape wasn't trying to jinx the broom?" She asked, surprising Harry. He frowned.
"But Hermione-"
"Yes yes, she caught him chanting. I get it. But- countering jinxes, they also require absolute fixation. When I was trying to help you, I was staring at you, not blinking. What if Snape was trying the same?" Despite the push in her words, Harry grew silent. He began to think about it, mull it over. He decidedly didn't like the idea of Snape trying to rescue him for a plethora of reasons. One of those being that it just seemed so unlikely. Yet as he locked eyes with Sarah's bright grey, he hesitated in shooting the idea down.
"Okay," he began, trying to feel out what she was saying. "Then who jinxed my broom?"
Sarah swallowed, looking to the lake again. Her side profile glowed in the rising sun, giving her skin a sun kissed appearance as her hair shone golden.
"What about Quirrell?" She asked. Harry frowned again.
"Quirrell?" He repeated, doubtfulness edging into his tone. Sarah nodded.
"He's been there at each game. I saw him at both. He's also who Snape cornered in the forest, and he's new. This is his first year." Sarah said, though even she didn't sound entirely convinced.
"But Snape-" Harry snapped his mouth shut when Sarah stared at him. The light of the rising sun glowed across her face, making her eyes near white.
"Do you trust Dumbledore, or do you not trust him?" She asked, but before he could speak, she continued. "What do you think is more possible, a man working under Dumbledore for years and hiding secrets? Or a man who is starting his first year that Dumbledore misjudged?"
He could understand her logic. It made sense that Sarah would rationalize why Quirrell would be more likely to have something to hide. However, Harry didn't trust Snape, not in the slightest, his skin crawled just thinking of the man.
"I understand, but Quirrell is just so..." He wasn't sure how to describe the man, but Sarah nodded in understanding, turning back to the lake.
"People can lie about who they are, Harry." Sarah said, though it seemed like her thoughts had wandered. Harry stood then, moving to stand next to his best friend as they watched the calm waters.
He'd noticed in the past week that Sarah had spent a considerable amount of time at the Gryffindor table. Her eyes never wandering to Slytherin. Initially he suspected it was due to the points she lost for her house, but it turned into something different when he noticed Cerus Sallow constantly eyeing her from across the room.
Something happened, he thought, noticing the aloofness to Sarah. It reminded him of when they were fighting. While it really wasn't any of his business, as he hardly knew Sallow, he did notice Sarah seemed more reserved.
"You and Sallow alright?" Harry asked. Sarah didn't give any indication or hints as to what she was feeling. Harry pushed a bit more. "Noticed you two haven't been talking."
Sarah glanced at Harry, not saying anything initially. Her eyes softened though, a sigh escaping her lips. Hands falling to her sides, she looked back at the lake.
"I lost my temper with Malfoy, during your game." She began, thoughts travelling back to that day. "I've only felt that kind of ire looking at the Dursleys, but he-"
She snapped her mouth shut, jaw clenching. No, she didn't want to tell Harry, not if she could avoid it. Sarah would make Draco walk off a cliff before admitting any of that out loud. She swallowed once, then continued.
"He made comments about Maggie, nasty ones." She supplemented.
"He's an arse." Harry said stiffly. How dare anyone insult the bubbly witch! He enjoyed Maggie's company and could see the affection the adoptive family had for each other.
Sarah nodded. "After we were given detention, I wanted to break something, blow off some steam so to speak... Cerus followed me. He saw me use wandless magic."
Her eyes drifted down to her ring. The marks around the band were becoming permanent. Small burns and darkened skin, inflamed from abuse. Harry's breath hitched when he saw it. His hands took hers and carefully examined it.
"It doesn't hurt, not as bad as it looks." Sarah said quietly, though Harry didn't seem convinced.
"Sarah, we have to show Madame Pomfrey-"
"No!" Her other hand grasped his. Harry looked up at her, eyes wide. "Harry no, I can't show this to-"
Her grip tightened on his hands. He could feel the hesitation bubbling off of her.
"I can't just- this ring is keeping my magic quieter. It takes a lot more effort to do anything. If I go to Madame Pomfrey she'll demand I take it off-"
"Then you should! Sarah your hand-"
"Imagine what it would be like without it." Sarah said, stopping them both. Harry saw the defeat in her eyes then, the self-loathing. It was something he had never been able to stop her from feeling. Not in all their years together.
"I can't control it, not entirely. It's not like other people, where spells or wand waving is needed. It just happens. I just think and things happen. I- what if I did something unforgivable? What if I hurt someone?" Her skin went pale as she stared at him, voice becoming small. "What if I hurt you?"
His left hand held her damaged one in his open palm while his right gently glided over top it. His eyes drifted to the ring, seeing the dark gem brought a wave of worry over him. Was this ring truly helping, or was it hindering her?
"You won't." He replied confidently. Sarah tried to pull away, her face going blank, but Harry closed his left hand around hers. Their eyes connected. "You won't hurt me, Sar."
"I could." She replied instantly, a certain weakness to her words. He simply held her hand tighter, a shallow smile on his lips.
"You've been my best friend for years now Sar. And I'd like to think I know you well enough to know you're not a bad person." He said easily. A snort escaped her lips despite the neutral expression.
"Bold assumptions, Potter." She said, though the lilt in her voice held a semblance of mirth. Harry smirked in return.
"I like to think I made it into Gryffindor for a reason, Williams." Harry felt her squeeze his hand in return, her eyes softening a bit more. A ghost of a smile slipped onto her lips. It was then that he remembered why they had started this conversation before. "Now tell me what happened."
Sarah hesitated for only a moment, before describing the event to him, sans the Undercroft. Their hands remained intertwined, though lowered as she told her story. Harry listened much like Sarah listened to his story earlier. It seemed strange, how fixated Sarah was on people being afraid of her. He couldn't really see it, as she'd always just been Sarah Williams in his head.
"I think you should talk to Cerus." Harry admitted after she finished her talk. Sarah's hand twitched in his minutely, but she didn't pull away. "I can't see a bloke like him being afraid of your magic Sar."
It was partly what she was afraid of. He'd been hounding her for a while to show this magic, and now that he saw, would he push for more? What if the ring stopped working? Would she lose control? She had to admit, accidentally butchering Malfoy didn't seem like evil, rather it was a gift to wizard kind.
Sarah didn't reply to Harry, instead she stared at the lake and found solstice in the rising sun set behind them, enjoying the crisp morning air.
It was admittedly easy talking to Cerus again. Sarah had forgotten how much she enjoyed his company, and the Undercroft was sorely missed as well. It was peaceful there when she arrived one afternoon after classes. Cerus was practising Confringo , nearly singing his face off with a sloppy wand movement.
"You and fire really don't mix." She said, spooking the older boy. Cerus looked at her, wiping sweat from his brow. The room had grown hot with all the spell work.
As though reading her body language, he grinned at her.
"Come back to the dark side, have you?" He taunted. Sarah frowned. He recognized the behaviour to be similar to their last encounter in the Undercroft. She resembled a startled doe, ready to flee at a moment's notice. It baffled Cerus, how such a powerful witch could be so easily brought down to fight or flight instinct when faced with an uncomfortable situation.
Cerus didn't attempt to approach, knowing he had no method to stop her if she fled once more. He'd simply have to wait for her to return. Sarah, however, was trying to figure out a way to broach the subject. With Harry, she had always just said what was on her mind, but this was foreign. She didn't know Cerus, not really.
"I've been known to dabble." She threw back as she raised her chin. Cerus smirked, then nodded for her to join him. That was that, surprisingly. She had expected questions, an interrogation, something . The only comment Cerus made was a quick and short- " If you ever want to show me, I'd love to see more. " -before he swept her back into their practice.
It was an immense relief, and soon Sarah resumed her regular schedule. Life went on like normal, the world continued to spin. Harry and Sarah continued to spend time whenever they could together, sometimes Sarah watched him fly in practice. Initially Wood had been suspicious, but when even the twins vouched that Sarah was only there to see Harry he seemed to let it slide... for now.
As the end of term approached, the first years found themselves piled in mountains of homework. Except, that is, for Sarah. The blonde had completed assignments well in advance, and now, she had little to nothing to do. So while Cerus scrambled to complete his tasks, Sarah sat with Hermione and Selene, sleeping peacefully to the sound of Hermione's cries of frustration.
The only thing to stir Sarah, in her long bouts of relaxation, were her talks with Harry. She became rather intrigued when she heard of the dragon egg that Hagrid was keeping... in his wooden house. Harry offered to take her to see it, but Sarah reconsidered.
"Considering Malfoy is still prowling around, it's probably best if you leave me out of it. I'd hate to get Hagrid into trouble." She had said, urging Harry to keep an eye on the man. So he left her out of it, until one fateful morning Harry came sprinting down the hall to drag Sarah into a corner. It startled her, he'd rarely done such a thing and Sarah wondered what had him in a panic. His words broke out in a flurry.
"It's Malfoy. He knows about the dragon. I need your help." He paused briefly, waited for Sarah to nod, then continued. "He took Ron's book. There's a letter from his brother in it. We are supposed to bring Norbert- that's the dragon- up to the highest tower tonight for his friends to take it. But Malfoy will ruin it, I know he will. Can you help?"
Sarah processed all his words, then a little smirk lifted the side of her mouth.
"I have an idea."
The plan, Harry didn't need to know.
Getting the book with the letter would be easy enough. Sarah asked Cerus to grab and destroy the letter, and return the book back to her. He didn't really question it, and she promised to help him with two papers that were due in exchange. An easy sacrifice considering she had taken to long naps through the day.
Malfoy, however, was going to be a sweet treat for Sarah to toy with.
She watched the entrance to the astronomy tower, hidden away in a small nook by the window. With the placement of the chairs and table, along with the globe and plants stacked in front of her resting place, nobody would be able to see the girl curled up in wait.
Malfoy skittered by, signalling to Sarah that it was time for her to have some fun. Luckily it took some time to escape her confines, because the next moment McGonagall was storming up after the boy in her nightwear. Sarah hid behind a plant in time to evade being seen, annoyed that the prat had been caught too quickly. She had hoped to hang the rat by his ankles from the bell tower, but alas, it was not to be.
The tell-tale huffing and puffing of someone carrying a heavy object, along with a low growl, passed by her and marched up to the tower. It had to be Harry and his friends pulling the dragon upstairs. Sarah decided to keep watch for the time being, expecting to hear Harry clamber down the wooden steps soon.
However, Sarah was horribly disappointed to see Filch wandering closer to the astronomy tower's staircase. She couldn't let him get up there, lest he find the Gryffindor trio. So Sarah snuck from her little hideaway and got closer behind Filch. She remained quiet, then, as he neared the top, she whispered, "Glisseo" under her breath, and flicked her wand.
The stairs turned into a slide, making the caretaker lose his footing and slide straight back down. Sarah dove behind a plant, using the dim lighting as coverage as Filch ambled to his feet. Sarah watched the man try once more, only to come sliding back down. She felt the corner of her mouth lift as she saw him stomp away. Mrs. Norris wasn't far behind him. He'd be back, no doubt, and so Sarah turned to the staircase, removed her charm, and sprinted up the stairs. Not far up, she crashed directly into Harry before catching them both. Hermione was shortly behind him.
"Is it gone?" She asked, eyes flicking between them. Harry nodded while Hermione looked bewildered. Sarah glanced behind her, then back at the two. "Filch is here. Where's the cloak?"
The Gryffindors froze, realizing their mistake. The three sprinted up the stairs, collecting the cloak and scrambling underneath it as storming footsteps came up the steps. Sarah pulled Harry and Hermione back, a hand going over both their mouths.
"I know they're up here!" Filch's voice boomed. To their horror, McGonagall was shortly behind them, tugging Neville along by the ear. Harry froze, uncertain how they were going to escape as Mrs. Norris looked right at them. Sarah removed her hand from Harry's mouth, using her wand to point away from them.
" Avis. " Her voice was near silent as birds chirped. They fluttered around the astronomy tower, distracting the cat and throwing off the two adults trying to listen for noises. At one point McGonagall stood so close to them that Neville stepped on Hermione's foot. She said nothing though, gripping Sarah's wrist tightly as she stood there, petrified.
Moments passed, finally the two adults left with a stumbling Neville. The trio under the cloak waited for a while, fully expecting a trap to be laid for them as they descended the steps. Filch was nowhere to be seen, but they continued on in silence until arriving at the entrance hall.
"We have to get to your common room." Harry whispered to Sarah. She glanced up the staircase, swallowing. She'd put money on Filch waiting by the Gryffindor painting.
"Don't bother. He's waiting for you, I'm sure of it." She said, pulling herself from the cloak. While she couldn't see them, Sarah looked at the direction she knew they were. "Stay out of sight."
While there was no noise that followed, Sarah was confident they had left her. She made it back to the common room with very little disruption. As she sat on the couch, Sarah got the greatest treat waiting for her when Malfoy stormed in. Seething, he stopped in his tracks when he saw her. Sarah stared, raising her chin as he cursed.
"Filthy mudblood!" He whipped out his wand, but Sarah didn't react. As if realizing that he was all alone, Draco thought better than to charge at her. He spat something under his breath again, but made for his dorms. Sarah let out a tiny smirk, finding immense satisfaction in this evening.
Her naps the next day were warranted, but all bliss came to a screeching halt when Hermione sat down for their usual study session with Selene.
"What do you mean you were found?" Sarah asked lowly, baffled by the odds. Hermione was dismayed, but looked anywhere but Sarah as Selene browsed for a book away from them. It would be the only time they got alone.
"Harry was caught. Not me. You were right, Filch was waiting for us, but- well as we tried to sneak around him, Mrs. Norris stepped on the cloak. I remained under it but Harry-" Hermione covered her face, embarrassed. Sarah closed her eyes, questioning whether to laugh or cry at the absurdity.
'That idiot ', Sarah thought, deciding there wasn't much that she could do about it now. She supposed that their time together would be down to nothing now, having no means to save him or help.
"It's horrible! He and Neville each lost fifty points!" Hermione crooned. Sarah ignored it, disinterested in the house cup entirely. She'd never been particularly competitive unless it was with friends of her own.
"It's just points." Sarah dismissed. Selene returned shortly after and their talk concluded. She learned later that day how brutal the Gryffindors could be to each other. Sarah and Cerus were sitting in the transfiguration courtyard when Sarah witnessed Neville trip down the steps. A group of Gryffindors made way around him, continuing on their way. Sarah snorted as Cerus gave a low whistle.
"Brutal." He said, watching as Sarah made her way over to Neville. As she did, a lone Hufflepuff raced through, tripping over Neville's things. A group of Slytherin's laughed, but upon seeing the ire in Sarah's eyes they dispersed.
The blonde offered her hand to Neville, assisting him as she gestured with both left and right hands to collect his things along with the Hufflepuff's. The red head thanked her with a stutter before he continued on his way. Neville, however, looked nervously at her feet.
"Thanks Sarah. You're always helping me. I'm sorry." Cerus rolled his eyes, remembering vividly the last time she had to help the boy and imagining what sort of pep-talk she had in store now.
"Thank you for sticking up for me." She said softly, remembering how he stood up to Malfoy and his lackies. Neville looked up to her, locking eyes with her haunting grey. He tried to smile but felt terrified to.
"I-I-I had to. It was- the right thing." He stammered. Sarah nodded.
"It was quite brave."
Neville went on his way, Cerus cooing at Sarah about her kindness to misfits.
"You are such a sap when it comes to people like him." Cerus muttered, biting his apple. Sarah hummed, walking side by side with the taller boy. She didn't say it, but when she saw young boys on the ground, she thought of Harry and the knobby-kneed child he once was. And when she saw girls, she saw her younger self.
"People like him?" She asked instead. Cerus muttered something, then continued.
"Blokes with no spine. If you keep sticking up for them, they'll never get one." He said, turning the corner. Sarah followed towards the Undercroft for their weekly practice.
"He only needs a spine because he doesn't have anyone to lean on." Sarah said, stepping through the clock. Cerus yammered behind her and she only half listened as she remembered what Hermione told her. All this because of some house points?
"Right, I'm not here to chat about Longbottom. Why don't we try some more spells, yeah?"
And though her eyes were focused on the wand movements Cerus did in front of her, Sarah's mind was on Harry, wondering how he was taking this likely nosedive in his once abundance of fame. Briefly, she felt some flicker of relief, imagining Harry being back to just her once more. But in the next second, she felt sad, never wanting to hurt Harry in the first place.
Such was her dilemma, to let her mind wander, until she could meet with him again.
Hey y'all, thanks for reading.
I had been thinking I wanted to start up this story again for october. I've been neck deep into the Hogwarts Legacy game once more. Oh and for context, I will be using the layout in the legacy game to further plot out the location. I literally bought the game to see what the castle looks like and I'm in love guys. Anyway, yeah, HL layout, Sarah is being Sarah. Bit of a rough re-entry but I liked this chapter. Any guesses on who the Hufflepuff is? He's a canon character, plays a big part in the future.
: Yes! Sarah is absolutely morally grey, and we will see the scales tip back and forth throughout CoS. We will probably have a lot of timeskips since their first year won't be too much more exciting after the final show down, so we will definitely see her go back and forth a lot! Thank you for the review, if you're still reading on FF, but if you've gone to AO3 I understand. I am updating on both sites currently unless one breaks. I've been having issues with both sadly but completely different issues.
Anyway, cheers.
cheers
Iland Girl.