Where The Sage Shrubs Grow,

Chapter 51

Sage's POV:
I took another sip of my coffee, trying to get rid of my hangover.
"So you two have actually kissed?" Hallie pestered "Like you remember and you weren't drunk kissed?"
"Yes." I mumbled "Can we change the subject?"
"No! When did it happen?"
"I don't know, a while ago. I'm sure it didn't mean anything." I rolled my eyes
"Didn't mean anything? Didn't mean anything!" Hallie flailed her arms

Luckily I was saved by everyone joining us at the Hufflepuff table. The twins sat across from me, Fred shooting me a wink. It was kind of strange having two 6'4 ginger Gryffindors sitting at our table but of course I didn't mind. Clementine looked like she was half dead, poor thing who didn't drink. I feel like I've been doing a lot of drinking this year.
"You know I feel like you've been doing a lot of drinking this year." Hallie said mirroring my exact thoughts

-

Me and Fred were walking down the hall, ahead of George and Hallie. We were messing around, bumping each other every so often trying to trip the other, we could also hear George and Hallie giggling behind us.
"You suppose their talking about us?" Fred leaned down and whispered
"After what you said last night, of course they are." I rolled my eyes
Fred laughed leaning back up.
"You've got a point." He smirked
"I can't believe you told everyone!" I squeaked burying my face in my hands
"Everyone else was being boring!" He rolled his eyes

"Ready to put the plan into action?" Fred asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes
"Yep." I grinned
We both turned around and approached George and Hallie. "Wanna pull a prank?" Fred asked
We knew Hallie would most likely say no, as she often did. George of course agreed, he was in on the plan, and according to plan Hallie kindly declined and we headed off. Of course unknown to her we were actually heading to the kitchens to make muffins for Hallie's surprise date.

We snuck down and gathered our ingredients asking the elves politely for access to an oven and kitchen utensils. I was attempting something that I had never before, mushroom shaped muffin with strawberry jam in the middle. I made it very clear that if the twins were to help me they couldn't mess around. I think that since it wasn't for me they made sure to keep serious.

Once we had the muffins made I set the twins on filling them with jam and I covered the tops with pink fondant with white dots, to make them look more like mushrooms. Once we had finished and plated them nicely in a basket we stepped back to admire our work, just in time too. Karl came rushing in, grabbed the basket, quickly thanked us, and rushed out. I know I'll be hearing about this later.

Pretty large time jump

I woke up, finding myself on the floor with a stack of books for pillows. I must have fallen asleep last night while I was studying. I got up, stretching my tense muscles. I found that my neck was sore, I guess hardcover books aren't the best pillow. I walked over to the window, opening the curtains to see freshly fallen snow on the ground. December was already here, with the second task drawing closer each day. Everything seemed to be normal, of course with the exception of Hallie and Karl being an official couple. I didn't really mind though, except when Hallie started spending almost every night with Karl. Being left alone most nights was becoming lonely but at least I had more time to get things done. Of course if I ever got too lonely I would just jump from one friend to another, or we would all hang out together.

Unfortunately today, I was by myself in the library. Up in my windowsill, reading one of my favorite books.
"Erm excuse me?" I heard someone call
They had a thick accent and I knew it wasn't one of my friends. I looked down to find a student from Durmstrang looking up at me, I hopped down and shook his hand politely.
"I was wondering if you knew where this book was?" He handed me a piece of paper with the title of the book I was reading.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, I'm afraid I had the book you were looking for." I awkwardly laughed.
"Oh that's perfectly fine. By the way, my name is Georgi." He smiled
"That's my friend's nickname!" I laughed thinking about George "I'm Sage, pleased to meet you." I said handing him the book he was looking for
"That is a very beautiful name." He complimented "Maybe you could stay and we could talk about this book?" He offered

I was about to decline when I remembered that I had nothing to so I ended up agreeing. We found a smaller table to sit at and we discussed the book in depth. It turns out me and Georgi have a lot in common, he was quite shy but for some reason was just comfortable with me.

We began hanging out a lot more over the next 3 weeks. We exchanged book recommendations and talked about our favorite authors. The twins kept telling me that they didn't like the guy, especially Fred, but I'm pretty sure their just upset I'm spending less time with them. They often came bursting into the library with some excuse for me to leave with them or they would prank Georgi with pranks that most of the time went to far.

Sometimes the twins could act so childish, over nothing. It's not like anyone could replace them.
"You know, I don't think your friends like me all that much." Georgi pointed out, snapping me out of my head
"Yeah, I dont know what their problem is." I shut my book and glared at the twins from across the courtyard
"Maybe they want you to be friends with only them?"
"Well, unfortunately for them, that's not how it works, so they will have to learn to get over it."

"Well, I just wanted to say that I have very much enjoyed our time together, I hope we can stay this way?" He smiled sheepishly taking my hands in his
Heat rushed to my face, I had never been treated so delicately before. I was never quite sure if he was just nice or if he was flirting. But of course just when it felt like I was about to find out, Fred marched his way across the courtyard looking ready to bite Georgi's head off.
"So sorry to interrupt." Fred sneered

"I'm needing to steal Sage for a moment, hope you don't mind." He smiled a smile that looked more like a grimace
Fred grabbed ahold of my hand and dragged me away. At this point I was annoyed, once Fred got over to George I ripped my hand out of his grip.
"What is your problem? You two have been acting like children! Georgi has been nothing but kind and understanding and you two have treated him horribly." I lectured

"He's replacing us!" George cried
"Yeah! You haven't been with us at all." Fred agreed
"That's ridiculous! None could replace you two! You know how lonely I've been without Hallie, I was just trying to make new friends. Besides once this year is over he'll leave and I probably won't see him again."

Both the twins looked down, obviously not wanting to address the fact that they may have overreacted.
I walked closer to them and crouched down so they could look me in the eye "Believe me, none could ever replace you two." I wrapped them in a hug

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