Rakkaus

A child sat in a dark coat closet, back against the wall and chest heaving. Tears streamed down her face as her head laid on her knees, arms wrapped around her legs. She cried so silently that nobody would notice unless they saw her shoulders shaking. Though, there was nobody around; that’s why she chose this place. Sage Potter shared her smiles and laughs freely, but tears were for her and her alone.

Suddenly the door to the closet swung open and she sat up quickly, hitting her head on the wall. She grimaced and rubbed at the spot, squinting at the figure haloed in light from the hallway.

“Sorry, I was just looking for the bathroom,” The figure hesitated. “Are you okay?” It was Remus, one of her brother’s friends who were staying the last week of summer break at her house.

“Down the hall a little bit, to the left.” She said, looking down and letting her curls cover her face. There was a shuffling noise and out of her peripheral, she saw Remus sit cross-legged against the opposite wall.

“What’s wrong?” He asked again. She glanced at his face, studying the large scrape across his cheek. Remus said he got it by tripping over his front step at home, a product of his clumsiness like the rest of the scars that marred his skin. Sage thought it strange; for a boy who claims to be so clumsy, he was surprisingly graceful. He didn’t even trip over the bit of loose carpet in James’ doorway, which seemed to grab everyone’s foot. Remus stared back before speaking softly again, “Sage?”

Sage let out a huff. “I’m nervous about Hogwarts,” She admitted, looking at her knees again. “What if I don’t make friends? What if I fail all my classes? What if they put me in stinking Slytherin?”

Remus snorted, looking amused. “One, you’re the friendliest person I’ve ever met. It took you two hours to start a conversation, a real conversation, with Peter. It took us two weeks before he said anything other than ‘good morning’ or ‘good night’. You won’t have any trouble making friends. Even if it’s difficult at first, you have us,” Remus gave her a wink that brought a small smile to her face. “Two, you’re smart. If you work hard, you won’t have any trouble in your classes. They start off with easy stuff anyway. Three, well, it would be awful in Slytherin but points one and two mean you’ll be just fine anywhere. Anyway, you’re too much like James to be in Slytherin.” Her small smile slowly spread into a grin. “We’re going to the creek. Wanna see how long it takes before someone falls in?”

“A galleon says it’s Sirius.” She said, smirking. Remus stood up and offered her a hand.

“You’re on.”

---

The last week of summer break flew by in a whirl of games, pranks, and laughter. Once Sage proved to the three visitors that she could keep up with the boys, they welcomed her enthusiastically into whatever antics they cooked up. Soon, it was the First of September and they would be arriving at the Hogwarts castle just after nightfall.

The journey to King’s Cross was relatively uneventful, as all five children were anxious to leave Mrs. Potter’s watchful eye. Since her conversation with Remus, Sage did her best to keep her worries in the back of her mind. Staring at the huge scarlet train, those worries came creeping up her spine and settled just under the base of her neck. Her mother, sensing the tension radiating from her youngest child, kneaded the tight muscles with one skilled hand.

“You’ll be great, darling,” Euphemia reassured as Sage turned her attention to her mother. “Just, don’t get into too much trouble, yeah?”

“Don’t worry, Mum,” James said. “I’ll be with her every step of the way.”

Euphemia chuckled, “Aye, that’s what I’m afraid of.” She swept her son into a hug before turning back to Sage. “Have fun, love. Hogwarts is the most fantastic place.” She embraced Sage with a kiss on the cheek and a wink. Sage nodded, uncharacteristically silent with nerves, and hugged each of her parents in turn.

Sirius threw his arm around Sage’s shoulder and urged her forward. “C’mon Sagey, let’s find a compartment before they’re all full.” Sage turned to glare at the boy before shoving him off.

“Don’t call me Sagey.” She grumbled for the hundredth time that week. Sirius barked out a laugh and bounded forward with his trunk, the other four in tow. The children wrestled their trunks on board and managed to find an empty compartment toward the middle of the train. James extracted a deck of cards from his trunk and began dealing a game of Exploding Snap.

“Wanna play, Sage?” James asked as he dealt the other three boys in.

Sage shrugged, “No thanks, not in the mood.” She stared out the window, watching the students rush forth with the blow of the final whistle. Soon, the train began moving and she heaved a huge sigh of nerves.

“Oy,” Sage looked from the window to Peter, who was sitting across from her and holding out a book. “My mum gave me this last year. If you want a distraction, it’s a good story.”

“Thanks,” Sage said, taking the book. She ran a hand over the worn cover. “The Fellowship of the Ring?”

Peter shrugged, “It’s a muggle book. My mum bought it when she was young. It’s good, you should try it.”

“Thanks, Pete. That’s very kind of you.” Sage said, looking up at him with a brilliant smile. Peter’s cheeks flushed pink as he nodded and rejoined the card game. Sage leaned back and opened the book, still smiling.

“When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton…”