Heart of Stone: HPHM Year 6

Love Potion

The next morning, Sarah awoke with her plan already forming. Tossing off her covers, she quietly got herself ready for another journey to Hogsmeade. She glanced over at Rowan, who slept with her mouth agape. Sarah's instinct was to go to the village alone, but she reminded herself of her promise to patch things up.

"Rowan...Rowan," she said softly, not wanting to wake the others. Rowan didn't stir. Sarah walked over to her bed and gave her arm a gentle nudge. "Rowan? Want to come to the village with me?"

Still, Rowan didn't move. Sarah couldn't decide if she was in a deep sleep or if she was ignoring her because she was still angry. Either way, Sarah thought it best to leave her alone.

She thought about asking Barnaby to accompany her, but it would take ages to find him. And she was a bit embarrassed of her shaggy haircut.

Dark clouds loomed overhead; rain seemed eminent. She wrapped her scarf tightly as she hurried along the path, not wanting to be caught in an icy storm.

The first thing she did upon arrival to the village was visit the hair salon across the street from Honeydukes. The wizard who guided her to a chair, a bald man with a long, thin mustache, nearly fainted at the sight of her lopsided bob, but was very kind and chatty as he worked on it. He managed to get it nearly back to its original length, cut away the dead ends, condition and style it for only a few galleons.

She walked out of the shop with her hair soft and smelling of roses, and set out in look for Penny. She eventually found he walking down the street, arm in arm with Talbott.

"Hullo, you two!" she said brightly.

"Hi," said Penny. "Feeling better?"

"Loads," said Sarah.

"Your hair looks amazing. Is that why you came to Hogsmeade?"

"Thanks," said Sarah, stroking her locks. "Actually, I was mostly looking for you. What are you two doing?"

"Shopping," said Talbott with a shudder.

Penny smiled at him. "I have some things I need to get, but I didn't want to come alone after what you said about..." she lowered her voice, "the assassin."

"And you forced Talbott of all people to come with you?" asked Sarah, amused.

"I feel safe with you," she said looking fondly up at him. "Plus, we haven't had time to go on a proper date in ages."

"This is a date?" he asked.

"Oh, stop complaining. I'll take you to get some Butterbeer afterwards." She turned back to Sarah. "Why were you looking for me?"

Sarah waved the idea away. "I just wanted to ask you about something, but I don't want to disturb your date." She grinned up at Talbott, who rolled his eyes.

"You're too kind," he said.

"Well, let's meet up after," said Penny. "I've been wanting to talk to you, too. Let's say, Three Broomsticks? After lunch?"

"Sure."

With nothing better to do, Sarah decided to browse the shops. She bought a box of peppermint toads and munched on them happily as she visited her favorite shops. When it finally began to sprinkle, she ran to the pub and sat a booth to wait for Penny. Roughly an hour passed when Penny arrived shaking out her umbrella, her arms ladled with bags.

Sarah ordered butterbeers while Penny got situated in the booth.

"Talbott didn't want to join?" Sarah asked.

"No, he said he needed rest to recover from all the shopping," she said, shaking her head in amusement.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"