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Sage wakes up in a hospital cot. Her dad is on one side, her hand is locked in his grip. The sun's staring to stain the sky through the curtains surrounding her bed.
"What's going on?" She asks groggily, scrubbing a fist over her eyes. "Wh- where's Harry? Where's Hermione? I- where's Professor Lupin?"
Arielle sighs. "He's gone in the woods somewhere. Dumbledore thinks it's too dangerous to find him right now, considering he hasn't fully changed in almost a year. Load of bull, but whatever. Hermione, Harry and Ron are asleep. They had a long night, by the sounds of it. I got here just after midnight. You should've seen Snape's face- oh, uh-"
Sage's heart falls. Her dad never falters. "What? What is it? Don't just stop mid-sentence like that, you'll make me have a panic attack-"
"Lupin got fired," Ari says. Sage's heart drops down into her stomach.
"No he didn't."
"Sage, it's the only thing Dumbledore could do-"
"Yeah, I'd like to see anybody make him do what he doesn't want to do. Isn't he meant to be the most powerful guy out there?"
"There's already rumours circulating about his 'illness', and we can't do anything to stop Snape from spreading even more than he already has."
"Snape's been spreading rumours?" Sage asks. Her voice is cold and harsh. Arielle blinks.
He can't say anything more than, "Yeah."
Sage sniffs and looks up at him with glassy eyes. He nods and shifts her over on her bed so he can sit beside her. She puts her head on his shoulder, then starts to cry.
"Everything was going so well," she mumbles. "We were going to be all happy-families. We've got each other, I've got Stevie and Ripley, Flick could have reunited with Sirius and it all would have been lovely-"
"Sirius and Flick? Never."
Sage frowns. "Why not?
"She hates his guts."
"But-"
"She would never," says Arielle, and it's final.
Stevie and Ripley find her when she's released at lunchtime. She doesn't talk to Harry, Hermione, or Ron. There's nothing to be said. She knows that Sirius escaped, and she knows that Professor Lupin got back to the castle safely. So, Stevie and Ripley.
"Good God, Sophia," Stevie gasps when she sees the girl with her bruised eye socket and her grazed knees and shins. There's a knot of teenager as the three girls hug tightly. Sage almost starts crying again.
"We saw your dad earlier. He looks rough," Ripley says grimly.
"He came straight from Brazil, which has a big time difference," Sage answers. She folds her arms. "He was awake for ages, waiting for me to wake up in the infirmary. But he's just left to go rest at home."
