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Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown aren't, and have never been, best mates with Sage Laurent. They've always thought she was a bit weird, but it's okay. Sage has always thought they were a bit weird, too. She also thinks she's a bit weird herself, so there's that.
So, sitting with them at the Start of Term Feast isn't the best fun she's ever had, but it sure beats sitting with all the little kids.
"Nice summer, Sage?" Lavender asks politely, giving Sage a smile when she sits down with them.
"Yeah, I road-tripped around America with my dad," she answers. "You?"
"Nothing much," says Parvati. "Me and Padma mostly perved on boys at the lido."
"Sounds like fun," Sage says, then the conversation is over. She smiles at Neville Longbottom, who grins back at her, and she high-fives Dean Thomas as he walks past, because he's Dean Thomas and they have the common struggle of being secretly in love with one of their closest friends.
Ron Weasley is the next Gryffindor to join the table, and he sits next to Sage. Lavender sits up a little straighter, but they both ignore her.
"Y'right, Weasley?" Sage greets with a smile. He nods. "Nice summer?"
"Oh, it was wicked," he replies. "We all went to Egypt to visit my brother- he's a curse breaker. Did you see us in the paper?"
Sage decides to pretend she had, so she says, "Oh, yeah! I didn't know if that was your lot or not. But then again, how many massive British ginger families are there that visit Egypt?"
He laughs, and then turns to look into the crowd of students. Sage can only assume he's searching for his younger sister and, to be honest, she doesn't blame him. She'd keep a watchful eye over any sibling she had if what happened to Ginny happened to them. Poor thing was only in her first year, and she's being controlled by Voldemort? It's hardcore and, Sage has to admit, a pretty cool story to tell at parties. Hello, I'm Ginny Weasley and I was possessed by the Dark Lord when I was eleven. Nice to meet you-
Her daze is broken when she sees Stevie waving manically at her from the Slytherin table, doing some sort of charades Sage hasn't ever played before. Sage mimes cranking a camera, and Stevie gives her an exasperated look. The Gryffindor girl beams.
"Teachers' table," Stevie manages to mouth to her, so Sage frowns and scans her eyes across the top of the room. After the palaver with last year's DADA professor, she isn't sure that her dream of Brooke Shields as a teacher is so fantastical. But then she sees it.
It's the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
He's sitting at the teachers' table.
She knows him.
Why does she know him?
Oh, right.
He's present in all of her dad's school photos, along with Harry Potter's dad, and the man she's most afraid of in the world.
Ripley Koh and Stevie Marks are waiting for her at the Ravenclaw table, because they find that sitting together at breakfast doesn't cause as much of a fuss as it does at dinner time. It's still too early in the morning for most of the students to be down at breakfast, but Ripley got a new broomstick from her stepdad for her birthday (because he's still trying to win over her respect, bless) (poor thing's probably spent his life savings trying to get Ripley to like him) (she likes him mostly, but she also likes getting presents) (so she pretends to hate him) and she's dying to take it out for a spin. Stevie has her freckled forehead pressed against the table, because Stevies aren't a particularly morning-oriented species. Sage falls onto the bench opposite them.
"Right, so I owled my dad. He said that Professor R.J. Lupin and him haven't spoken since the last war, and that I definitely shouldn't let him know that I know who he is," she says, a deep scowl on her face. "I'm angry and confused."
"Brilliant," Stevie's voice is muffled because her face is squashed against the table. "Fantastic. Just what we need at this god-forsaken hour. An angry Sage."
"I'll be angry with you, Sage-In-A-Rage," Ripley grins. She's pleased with herself for making such a good rhyme. "You're lucky. Everything rhymes with Sage. You could get tonnes of romantic sonnets written about you."
"I didn't last year," Sage snickers. "Remember Lockhart's stupid singing love letter thingy?"
"I remember Harry Potter's one," Stevie's suddenly wide awake, looking at Sage with manic, mischievous eyes. "It was the funniest thing I've ever heard. His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad-"
"-His hair is as dark as a blackboard-" Sage and Ripley chorus in reply.
The three of them carry on together, "I wish he was mine, he's really divine-"
Then Ginny Weasley walks past, her entire face burning red, and Sage reaches out to grab her wrist.
"Oh, we're not being horrible, Ginny," Sage says apologetically. Ginny shrugs. "No, really, we're not."
Ginny sighs. "The hero who conquered the Dark Lord," she finishes softly with a grin. The three girls begin to laugh, and Ginny walks away quite pleased with herself.
"She's a legend," Stevie cackles. "Absolute legend. I hope she gets everything she ever wants in life. She deserves it."
