Confident | Fred Weasley

Chapter 13 | Property

Now a month till Christmas, Sarah was worried. She would be turning 17 soon, which meant in the Wizarding community, she would be an adult. This meant she would get booted off the Foster Care system, causing herself to get kicked out of the Carter's household to make space for kids that needed a proper roof over their heads.

Sarah needed somewhere to live.

She either found somewhere to live, slept on the streets or went back to her old house when she was little. The last time she'd seen that mansion was when she was around 7. She moved in with the Carters when she was five, but she spent another few years going back and forth to collect her and her mother's stuff.

Sarah wasn't sentimental, but decided to keep all her mother's show and red carpet dresses considering she was planning to be a singer too. She didn't want to jump into the music industry empty handed.

This was one of the reasons she brought all her belongings to Hogwarts this year. Her blue suitcase had an undetectable extension charm on it, which was fortunately licenced by the ministry. Currently, the blue suitcase resided under her bed.

On the morning of November 25th, a day after the tournament and Gryffindor Party, Sarah flicked through the Daily Prophet to the housing page. She had no idea how to do bills and taxes properly, but she'd rather do guess work than end up in her old house.

"House shopping, are we?" Fred asked, sitting opposite her at the Gryffindor table. George sat beside her.

"Oh, yeah. I need somewhere to live," Sarah replied, scanning the properties listed.

"What? Don't tell me Natalie and Craig have kicked you out!?" Alicia appeared, alongside Angelina and Patricia.

"No, but they will when I turn 17," Sarah replied.

"That's the second of January. Shouldn't you have started house shopping earlier?" Angelina asked.

"Probably, but I've got till the summer to find somewhere to live, or I'm going to have to go live at my mum's old place,"

"That's terrible!" George gasped.

"I'm luckier than most," Sarah replied with a smile. She glanced at the paper once more, her face contorting into shock.

"A million galleons!? Is that normal?" Sarah asked the group. They all shrugged their shoulders, much to her dismay.

"I think you should go to Professor McGonagall about this. She must know what to do," Patricia told Sarah, who sighed.

"You're right. If anyone understands the property market, it's probably her," Sarah replied, as she stood up to head to her first lesson of the day.
 
 
 

Her first lesson was Charms, which meant Fred and George were persistent on her sitting next to them. They wanted to teach Sarah the ways of charms, but she wasn't as excited as them.

"Guys, seriously -" Sarah tried to reason with them as they went through alohomora for the third time.

The whole class had locks that they were open on their desks and at the current moment, Sarah hadn't unlocked hers nonverbally once. The twins had done it multiple times, but Sarah didn't feel too much pressure. By this time, Professor Flitwick and most of her friends were over, trying to assist her.

"Hang on, Hang on! When you wave your wand, what are you thinking of?" Alicia asked, her hands on her hips.

"Uh - the spell, over and over again," Sarah replied, twisting her wand between her fingers.

"That's it! You also need to think of the effect of the spell," Alicia urged.

Sarah tried it. The whole group watched as the lock twitched ever so slightly.