"I can't believe we lost." Cedric frowned as he laid back in Sage's lap. "I thought for sure i'd beat him, he's only a first year." Cedric groaned as Sage played with his hair. "Now you know not to underestimate him." Sage advised the boy.
"My father will be disappointed." He sighed. "No he won't, your father's proud you made the team." Sage laughed. "Like Amos could ever be disappointed in you." She rolled her eyes.
"Shall we head for dinner, the others are already there." She asked. "I'm not hungry." Cedric shook his head. "But it's the Halloween feast. We have to go." She gently pushed his head off her lap, pulling him off the couch.
"I can't show my face ever again." Cedric argued, but Sage had already dragged him out of the common room. "Harper's there too, he lost as well. You can mope together."
"Don't make me go, Sage." He pouted, but she pressed on. "Fine." He grumbled, and Sage released his hand, but he took it back.
She looked down at their intertwined finger in confusion. Cedric never held her hand in front of others, but it all made sense when they reached the hall, and he let go of her hand once again.
"We did our best." Harper shrugged as they took their seats. "Everyone knows the Gryffindor Quidditch team is top of the food chain." He went on as they ate their meals, though Sage almost had to force feed Cedric.
"If you're going to be this annoying every time you lose, Sage is going to be pissed off 24/7." Jill laughed as Olive scolded her for her language, once again. "Sorry mum." Sage heard Jill say to Olive, who blew her top at the snarky comment.
"TROLL!" Professor Quirrel burst into the hall, interrupting their conversation. "TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" He cried out, before collapsing to the ground. Every student in the hall fell silent, exchanging fearful looks before there was a sudden outburst of panic.
The sound of knives and forks clattering and food falling to plates echoed throughout the hall, along with the screams of terror from the younger students. Sage felt Cedric grab her hand protectively as Dumbledore called for silence, directing the prefects to escort the students back to their dorms.
Cedric pulled Sage over to the Hufflepuff line, his grip tight on her hand as they hurried down to the common room. "I hope Athena's okay." Sage searched the hall for her sister. "She'll be fine." Cedric smiled.
----
"Today you'll b-be learning about the C-Centaurs.." Professor Quirrel stared nervously at the class. "They a-a-actually.. Th-they live in the f-forbidden f-forest.." He stuttered, glancing anxiously towards the nearest window, where there was a clear view of the forest.
"Turn to page twelve." The Professor smiled weakly, and everyone obeyed, eager for the lesson to be over. "Pathetic." Graham Montague rolled his eyes from in front of Sage, whispering to his friends of his dislike towards the Professor. "A nervous wreck and he teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts?" He snickered. "He'd be better off in muggle studies."
"Watch this." Graham pulled a sheet of parchment out of his bag, tapping it with his wand as Sage watched curiously. Her eyes widened in surprise as the parchment began to fold itself up into a centaur, holding a paper horn up to it's mouth.
Graham pointed his wand at it again, muttering 'wingardium leviosa' and the small centaur floated delicately onto Professor Quirrels desk. Suddenly, the centaur blew on the horn as Professor Quirrel screamed and leapt back, laying eyes on the Centaur before collapsing into. rack of potions.
Half the class erupted with laughter as the Professor tried to raise himself from the ground. Sage frowned at the boy, she thought it was a cruel trick to play, so she got up from her seat and dashed to the front where she helped the Professor up off the ground.
