Where The Sage Shrubs Grow,

Chapter 5

Third Person POV & Time Skip:
    It was the end of the year, Sage and her friend group were standing on the platform preparing to get on Hogwarts express. Her little friend group had grow quite a bit since she arrived at Hogwarts, it felt funny to be standing here with these people after thinking she would be on her own, without Hallie even. But there she was not alone, and the year was over.

    As they all boarded the train they looked for a empty compartment, seeing as if all of them were going to sit together they would have to find a empty one. Eventually they did find one and they all piled in, there was still room for one more person so they got to space out a little bit. Sadly the space didn't last long.

Hallie's POV:
    We had all just gotten settled into our seats, with sage against the window with Fred across from her, me in the middle and Mc on the other side of me with George across from her. It wasn't a really a tight fit though, it was actually pretty comfortable. That extra space didn't last long though, we heard a knock at the compartment door. It was always the compartment door. The stranger opened it and we all looked up to see who it was. My heart skipped a beat, standing there was this- this boy. He had striking cloudy blue eyes that reminded me of winter and a frozen lake. He had thick brown wavy locks of hair and a pair of perfect face framing glasses. He also had black earring studs wich gave him an edge to his otherwise pretty innocent look.

"Would you all mind if I sat with you? All the other compartments are completely full" he explained
All of us looked around at each other for a moment and then collectively nodded. A look of relief passed over his face and I noticed his nails painted in various bright colors. He was practically perfection and I could hardly stand it. If I could get a blanket with his face plastered all over it I would. I could feel my face growing hot and I could tell Sage had noticed it too. He sat down between Fred and George, leaving him sitting across from me. He pulled out a book, and began reading. He's a reader, it doesn't get much better than that. He must've felt me staring at him because he looked up at me and gave me a kind but awkward smile. He thinks im a creep, great. I returned his smile and I took note of his outfit. He was wearing a midnight purple turtleneck and black jeans with a pair of low top cyan blue converse. It was a funky, different style, and I loved it.

I could feel Sage nudge me in the side, I looked over at her and she wiggled her eyebrows at me with a smirk. My face went up in flames and I rolled my eyes. The train ride was full of laughter and chattering. We learned that they boys name was Karl, an amazing name in my opinion. Sage kept asking questions about him, and relating them back to me and my interests. I was both eternally grateful and completely enraged towards her. The twins talked of pranks they were planning on creating over the summer and MC talked of seeing her boyfriend. I don't know how I've come to be apart of such a large friend group, and be comfortable with everyone on top of that but here I am. I wonder if Karl will be our next new addition to the group.

    As we pulled into the station we all crowded against the window to see if we could spot our families waiting for us, except Karl of course. We all filed out of the train in a very disorganized claustrophobic manner playing a game of who can get off the train first. As our little group made it onto the platform, we all exchanged addresses so we could write to each other over the long summer. After we had a few moments of hugs and promises to plan a meet up we all parted our separate ways. Except me and Sage, it always came down to me and sage, it started with us and by the end of the year it ended with us. Once we had each found our chaperones we hugged each other again and parted.

Serenity was working today so my step mom had come to pick me up. We apparated home and I went to my room to unpack my things. As soon as I had finished I pulled out a piece of parchment and some ink and I began writing letters to everyone, I wasn't planning on sending them now but I missed them now so I thought it would be better to write them now when I'm feeling up to it and send them when they letters started arriving. If they arrived that is, I knew sage and MC would write but Fred and George were still up in the air. Once I had finished writing my letters I laid down on my bed and pulled out a book. I petted my cat willow while I read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I could already tell that my summer was going to consist of a lot of reading.

Time Skip
It was the end of summer, freaking finally. I had done nothing all summer, sure I went on the occasional shopping trips with my sister, but she was working everyday all day except saturday. Sage had ended up being too busy all summer going on fancy trips with her brother to meet up, MC lived too far away, and well it didn't feel right hanging out with the twins without sage unless I was interrogating their intentions. That was the extent of my friend group leaving me alone in my room with my cat. Wich was fine I guess, it's not like I enjoy being around people a lot. I guess it would've just been nice if I had gotten to see some of my friends over the summer.

Summer was over though, and now I'm packing my things. I'm ready to get back to school, the forest, the animals, the castle aesthetic, and my friends. Once I had everything packed I got my stuff in the car as fast as possible ready to get out of the house and be free after being cooped up for so long. My sister noticed my mounting excitement and just laughed at me, I didn't care though just as long as she got me out of here. We decided to take a car to the train station this year since Serenity had just saved enough money to buy her own. I personally felt it was a waste of time, seeing as we could apparate and be there in literally under ten seconds, whereas driving would take thirty-five. But she insisted, saying something along the tines of how we need to stop using magic to take the easy way out of things and how she was going to use her car whenever she could after working so hard to pay for it.

Eventually, after what felt like forever we made it to platform nine and three quarters. I said goodbye to Serenity, gave her a hug and was off. I got into the train with an unusual swiftness and found an empty compartment for me to save. There was still quite a while before the train departed but I was ready to see everyone, mainly Sage honestly. It was a good five minutes when MC walked into the compartment, we gave each other a tight embrace, she sat down across from me and we talked about our summers. Eventually everyone was there. I was unusually happy to be surrounded by people, but these people were different. The twins talked of how they tricked their mum into thinking she had gotten them mixed up and how they ran off before she could smack them about their head.

The train began to depart and I looked out the window with a content sigh, watching the rolling hills and green grass pass by. I felt sage slump into me, looking over I saw her fast sleep on my shoulder. Everyone was still half asleep when they had gotten on the train so they all just passed out. I smiled looking around at everyone asleep so peacefully, I started to feel drowsy and as I began drifting off to sleep I thought about how this friend group made me feel more at home and like I belonged than any other friend group made me feel and I hadn't even known them that long, and I thought of how I hoped this friend group would last forever. But mostly, I wondered what this new year would hold in store for us. Before I could ponder the question anymore I drifted off into sleep. Little did I know, not only what this year would store, but what the next seven years would hold in store for everyone.

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