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It's Saturday, and Sage has quite possibly ruined her life. Like, she hadn't been trying to keep it a secret or anything, but she didn't particularly want it to get out. Ripley and Stevie know, obviously, but mostly everybody else doesn't. She thinks maybe Hermione has suspected it. But it's not meant to be broadcasted across the castle like it currently is.
It all started in Defence Against the Dark Arts on Thursday. It was the middle of October, and Professor Lupin left their class like the deserting bastard he is, and legendary-international-substitute-professor Arielle Laurent came to cover him. It was the first time he'd ever had Sage in one of his classes, but people didn't seem to be able to connect two people with the same last name. It was probably because Sage and Ari looked completely different, what with Arielle and his burnished gold skin, the lines under his eyes full of stories; Sage with her dark locks of hair, hazel eyes, fresh faced as a child of the universe.
It wasn't until had Sage slipped up (tired from the night before)(she'd stayed up to try and teach her bird to fetch jam tarts from the kitchens), when she was unsure on a question and raised her hand and called, "Dad?" that people put two and two together.
"That your dad, Sage?" Parvati had asked her after class.
"Yeah."
"You don't look anything like him," Lavender had added.
"Funny, that."
"I think he's lovely," Hermione had butted in.
"Trust me, he is."
So Arielle Laurent as Sage's dad hadn't raised any flags. Maybe she had a lighter skinned mother. Maybe she was adopted. Who knows. Nobody needed to know anything more of her home life, apart from her having a little bit of his accent in her weird mish-mash of Chicago, London, Paris, and Guatemala.
But then, Lupin returned, and Sage didn't realise that her dad had left so suddenly.
It was the end of the day on a Friday. She hadn't thought anybody would be in the classroom, because why would they be? It was an afternoon and the sun is out in late October, which meant kids should be out enjoying the start of the weekend and one of the last days with decent weather they'll get until the new year.
So, by theory, Sage bursting into Lupin's class and shouting, "Dad, you're not going to fucking believe this!" should have been a safe bet.
How was she supposed to know there was an OWL-level study class going on? She couldn't possibly have known that a group of fifteen year olds would be gathered in the classroom with the teacher.
So she waltzed into the classroom wearing a bright yellow raincoat, a pair of sparkly purple oxfords, and a large carrion bird perched on her shoulder. And everybody stared. And Remus gave her a look that had teary eyes and a quivering bottom lip. "Miss Laurent," he said slowly, "I believe you're looking for somebody that isn't me."
