Where The Sage Shrubs Grow,

Chapter 60

Hallie's POV:

"Ok." I sighed
I had been hanging out Sage all day, mostly asking about how her and Fred started dating. I had finally decided to apologize to Fred for abusing him with a book. Now that their dating it feels necessary. So we headed out and off to find the twins.

"Fred!" I called running over to the twins
I could tell Fred was bracing himself for some type of impact. I stopped in front of him just short of a collision.
"Listen, I am sorry. For hitting you in the head with that book... and everywhere else."
"I couldn't read for a month." Fred complained rubbing his head reliving the trauma
"You couldn't read before that idiot." George rolled his eyes
I heard Sage snort from down the hall where she was watching while me and George burst into laughter.
"Yeah yeah I forgive you." Fred laughed

Sage's POV:
Hallie got whisked away by her little boyfriend not long after her apology, it was fine of course. I still had my boys. We walked around aimlessly for a while, just laughing and talking like we often did.
"I'm going to find Angelina." George stated walking off in some direction
Me and Fred exchanged a discrete grimace. Once we found her, we watched as George happily turned to embrace his new 'girlfriend' while she jumped up and down because of how totally excited she was to see George. It was all so sudden, one night she's sitting on Fred's lap and the next she's George's girlfriend.

I was hoping she was just passing by on her way to somewhere far away but unfortunately she decided to stick around. Of course she decided to start snogging him while me and Fred were standing there, probably in attempts to make someone jealous. It didn't work it just served to make everyone uncomfortable.

Once they finally let go of each others lips Angelina turned to us "Hi Freddie." She cooed
She was hanging onto George's arm like her life depended on it but her eyes were telling a totally different story as she blatantly looked Fred up and down.
"Uh......... hi?" Fred shifted his weight onto his heels and stashed his hands in his pockets. Then she looked at me.
"Hello." She monotoned gritting her teeth
Real ray of sunshine isn't she? Her face read murder but I know mine did too. I wanted to sumo slap her across the courtyard but I wasn't about to upset George like that.

"Come on, let's go have fun Georgie!" She chirped turning in her heel to walk away
George looked so happy with her but she was so obviously toxic.
"We can't just leave them alone-" Fred whispered
I shook my head, so we decided to follow along.
Of course she kept looking back at Fred every ten seconds making sure he was still with us, Fred ended up pulling his hand out of his pocket and reaching out for mine, which I gladly accepted.
"Are you alright love?" He whispered
I simply nodded at him, not exactly a lie, not exactly the truth either.

The WHOLE day I ended up spending with her, the way she would always look for Fred's validation or look at him with needy eyes made me want to vomit. I kept my eye on her all night, I wasn't about to let her get her grubby little hands on Fred. Every time she looked at me her she looked slightly scared, as she should be. I had to remind myself I was doing this for George, he was happy so I should be happy for him.

I think Fred noticed how uncomfortable I was, making the excuse that we were both super tired. I had never been more thankful for him before. Of course Angelina begged us, well Fred to stay just a bit longer but Fred just kindly declined. We ran off to his dorm, not being able to get away from her fast enough.

We ended up hanging out in his dorm, which I kind of preferred over mine. His dorm was much more cozy and overall a better vibe, it also gave me a chance to scope out his jumper options.

I think most couples would have been shagging by now but me and him just sat around playing card games, until he got some bright idea.
"Hey you wanna go somewhere?" He asked
"What?"
"Right now."
"Uhm, sure?" I hesitantly responded

His face practically lit up as he launched himself off the floor. He pulled me to my feet and was dragging me out the door before I could put my shoes on. We took the usual secret passages through the school until we were at the quidditch pitch.
"What are we doing here?" I questioned

I could hear the thunder rolling in the distance and I could see flashes of lightning over the stands. I looked at him as he grabbed ahold of my hand. He lead me to the middle of the field, which felt a whole lot bigger at night. He plopped down on the grass. I sat down next to him and he grabbed ahold of my shoulders pushing me down to lay on my back. He laid down next to me so we were both staring at the sky.

It was almost better than the astronomy tower, the lack of light and the seclusion made the stars brilliantly visible. Fred pointed up at the sky "And that's Saturn right there." His rings reflecting a soft glow of moonlight
"Really?" I sat up on my elbows
Sure enough after locating the other planets and constellations, I was sure he was right.
I turned to look at him "I didn't know you knew astronomy."
I was baffled, stars didn't really seem like his thing.
He shrugged "I guess after seeing my whole world in your eyes, I wanted to know more."
It's always the corny stuff that gets me. My only consolation is that it was too dark to see my reddened face.

I lay back down on the grass to continue stargazing, although clouds had started to overtake the sky. Eventually small droplets of water started falling from the now blackened sky. Though the rain had begun to pour I made no move to get up, I let the sounds of the thunder and rain calm me. This weather always settled something inside me, my heart, my soul, my mind, who knows but I always felt like I belonged. Hallie had never particularly liked thunder storms, sure she loved the rain but thunder and lighting tended to scare her.

"May I have this dance?"
I opened my eyes to see Fred standing over me with his hand extended for me to take. Pulled me to my feet, wrapping his arm around my waist. He took my hand with his free one as we started swaying side to side. There was no music, but we didn't need any. The thunder was our orchestra and the pouring rain were the words.

This was all I needed.

1187 Words
8/17/22