saige | t.lupin

lonely

It had officially been two weeks of Saige wandering around the castle all alone, and she was just about to go insane. Luckily, the return of her friends was fast approaching and she would finally have some company other than the few other students that had stayed at Hogwarts, but none were good friends of hers. Despite her reassurance that she would be fine in the castle in response to her friends concern for her, Saige absolutely hated the two week breaks. She was fine with staying by herself, however, in her loneliness she couldn't help but dwell on her lack of a loving family that her friends were able to return home to. Her friends always noticed a suppressed sadness about the girl upon their return to school, but chose that it would be best to leave her to her thoughts, knowing that she would be back to normal in a matter of days. 

She had spent the majority of her time in the library, scanning through the shelves in search of a book that she hadn't yet read, or milling about in the common room doing nothing in particular. Truth be told, she hadn't spoken a word to anyone for the entire break, aside from the Hufflepuff beater, also not going home for Christmas, that had hesitantly offered that the two practice together. Surprising both teenagers, she accepted, and they spent several afternoons practicing together. She had completed all her school work, read about every book she could source on merpeople and cleaned the entire dorm spotless, leaving her eventually void of any activities. 

She sat at the Ravenclaw table, wrapped in a hoodie and blue Ravenclaw scarf in a feeble attempt to fend off the cold that managed to seep into the Great Hall. She slowly flicked through a tattered copy of Romeo and Juliet. The book had always fascinated her; the idea that one could love someone so much that they would rather die than be without them. She couldn't help but wonder what that felt like, contemplating if she would ever let such strong emotions grace her heart. Saige was suddenly startled out of her thoughts as someone suddenly settled across the table from her. No other Ravenclaw had stayed for the holidays, her mind raced, maybe it was Eeire wanting to head down to the field and practice? 

"Hi Stirling," Teddy Lupin spoke, facing the girl, smirking at the startled look that briefly flicked across her face.

"Lupin," she replied, surprised at his presence. "What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be back until Monday, and I'm not sure if you've realised, but it's Saturday."

"Haha so funny," he said sarcastically, genuinely laughing softly at the girls antics. "McGonagall wanted to see Harry for tea, so I've just come back early while he's already here."

"Makes sense, I didn't think you had a practical bone in your body."

"Oh how I missed your sass Stirling," Lupin rolled his eyes playfully. 

"I knew you would." 

Teddy suddenly reached out and grabbed the book that Saige was resting her hands on. 

"Romeo and Juliet huh?" he said, inspecting the fragile cover. "My nan has a bookshelf full of Shakespeare, loves the man. I could never understand a bloody thing going on myself."

"Well, you wouldn't," she took her book back and carefully laid it on the table. "It is in fact a novel that requires some level of critical thinking, so are you really that surprised?"

"You're mean," he replied as he once again took the book back. She gave him a flat look in warning. "Why don't you get a new copy? This ones on its last legs?"

"My father gave it to me when I was a little girl," she answered simply, expecting him to accept the answer and drop the subject. She reached to take the book from his hands, but he dodged, pulling the book away from her. 

"Seems important to you, why?" he quizzed, testing how far he could push her.

"He gave it to me on my 11th birthday," she answered, growing annoyed. "Before he found out I was a witch."

Silence blanketed the two as Teddy assessed what his next move would be. He'd discovered that the girls father wasn't too keen on magic, the nasty shock of his wife's hidden world creating a rift in the family. From Saige's little insight into her life, he knew that her family dynamic wasn't the most ideal. He'd actually asked Harry about it over the break, dwelling on Saige's refusal to join him and his family for Christmas. 

Christmas Break

"Hey Harry?" Teddy called out as he helped his godfather set the table. Harry glanced up at him and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Do you know anything about the Stirling family?"

Harry stopped in his actions and thought for a moment. "We had a call about a Gavin Stirling and his wife Cassandra at the ministry not long ago. Why do you ask?"

"Well, there's this girl I go to school with," Harry's eyes shot up to Teddy's at the sentence, a smirk forming on his lips. "It's not like that," Teddy rolled his eyes at the mans assumptions. "She never talks about her family, shows no emotion at all and doesn't go home for the holidays. She mentioned that you might not be too fond of her family, but didn't tell me anything else." 

"Well Teddy," Harry began, picking his words carefully. "The... altercation we dealt with surrounding this family was not pleasant. I suppose this is something that you're going to have to discover on your own. If you want this friend of yours to trust you, then you will have to wait until she wants to tell you."

"Why must you always choose the wise response?" Teddy groaned at Harry's cryptic words. "I just want answers for Merlin's sake, now I'm stuck with your unhelpful riddles too." 

Harry chuckled at the boy. "Well, now we know why you didn't end up in Ravenclaw, you'd be sleeping in the corridors trying to figure out that old owl's riddle."

"Shove off."

-

"Okay," was all Teddy responded, handing her the book back. He thought back to Harry's advice, deciding that if he was going to get Saige to open up to him, he would have to do it slowly and methodically. This would not be an easy task for the straightforward Hufflepuff, he had never had to fight for someone to want to be friends with him. But he decided that he was up for the task, willing to take on anything Stirling throws at him, no matter how hard she pushes him away.