Where The Sage Shrubs Grow,

Chapter 76

Third Person POV:
The school year had started going horribly wrong. With Professor Umbridge around every corner things had gotten much worse. Starting off with her wall of rules, most of them outrageous.

She had banned all Weasley products, causing the twins too lose most of their sales. Sage and Hallie had tried to comfort them but to little avail. On top of that she was keeping students of the opposite sex away from each other.

Only to add to the issues, she had taken over all the classes, even attempting to ban one of the teachers from the grounds. She wasn't even properly teaching DADA correctly. Saying something along the lines of how it was dangerous to use actual spells when they weren't needed. Everyone knew it was just a sham to pump out brainwashed students who didn't know how to defend themselves.

Hermione had convinced a very reluctant Harry to start his own group. An organization that would actually learn defense that could work against Umbridge, much like the Order of the Phoenix. Hermione had arranged for everyone to meet in a dingy old pub.

"Why are you here?" Hallie snapped
The group of Hallie George, Fred and Sage were heading down and MC had decided to accompany them. After being invited by Sage of course. Hallie wasn't too happy seeing as everyone knew MC had feelings for George.
"I'm sorry, I'll- I'll go." MC stammered

"No, I invited her Hallie. There's no need to be rude. You can come with us, I wouldn't have invited you if it wasn't ok." Sage spoke
In truth Sage hadn't thought the whole situation through. He had missed her friend and had invited her not thinking about how it might make things awkward.

Hallie grabbed onto George's arm as she walked ahead. Obviously annoyed. Fred looked at sage with a 'really you didn't think this through?' look. Sage choosing to ignore him.

"So is this place in Hogsmeade?" Hallie called back to the others
Sage rolled her eyes "No, it's back on platform nine and the quarters. Of course it's in Hogsmeade, why else would we be heading there for this meeting!"
"She's in a mood today." Hallie whispered to George

George couldn't help but think that Hallie had no business talking about being in a mood when she had been acting snippy all morning. He also thought it best to keep his thoughts to himself. For fear he might aggravate his girlfriend further.

"How's practice for the quidditch match going?" MC asked Fred
"It's going quite well actually, it might not be the first game this year but this one is pretty important since we haven't won a single match against Slytherin this year." Fred sighed "Oliver had us running laps every morning."

Sage turned to MC "Yes and it has all the girls running out to see the twins running in a tank top drenched in sweat."
Sage wasn't too happy when she had found out girls were going out early in the mornings to make goo goo eyes at her boyfriend. It also made her feel inferior in that she never got up that early to see quidditch practice.

"Yes, but none quite as lovely as you." Fred smirked
"Oh get on with you." Sage said turning her reddened face away from him
"So listen MC, I'm really sorry. I hadn't thought about how uncomfortable you might be seeing George with his girlfriend." Sage whispered
MC shook her head.

"No it's alright. If I'm being honest I don't think he really knew that I liked him. We were just friends, even when he invited me to the Yule ball." She smiled
Fred and Sage both looking at her sympathetically.

Finally they found Hogs Head, they and walked in. Slightly shocked At Hermione's use of the word "few" when describing how many people were attending. The small pub filled up quickly. None said a word, as the awkward silence spread through the whole room. Even the pub owner had abandoned the atmosphere a while ago.

Sage had been whispering something to Fred when the chatter had gotten more heated. Causing her to stop mid sentence and shut up.
"Why? Because you-know-who is back you tosspot." Ron retorted
"So he says."
"So Dumbledore says." Hermione spoke up
"So Dumbledore says because he says. The point is, where's the proof?"

"If Potter could tell us more about how Cedric Diggory died-"
Oh Jesus. Sage thought
Hallie getting distracted by the way George gripped onto his hat, she wasn't very focused this morning. Sage wishing she could curl up into Fred's coat and get absorbed into him. MC wishing she could do the same with George but knowing she never could. Clementine stuck with a celebrity for a boyfriend looking uncomfortable as the subject of her dead brother came up.

"I'm not going to talk about Cedric. So if that's why you're here then you all might as well clear out."
Harry turned and whispered something to Hermione as half of the students made a move to leave.
"No wait-" Hermione sighed
She was trying to salvage a meeting that had never really been a success to begin with.

"Is it true you can produce a patronus charm?" Lunas quiet voice spoke up
Everything went still. The students had froze, Hermione looked like she had just found the light at the end of the tunnel, Karl was staring daggers into the back of Hallie and George's heads.
"Yes, I've seen it." Hermione spoke
"Blimey Harry, I didn't know you could do that."

"A-and he killed a basilisk with a sword in Dumbledore's office." Neville stammered
"Last year he fought about a hundred dementors at once."
It sounded like he really was a hero.
"Wait. That all sounds great when you put it like that, but the truth is most of that was just luck."
"He's just being modest-" Hermione started

"No Hermione I'm not. Listen facing that stuff in real life, it's not like in school. You make a mistake you can't just try again tomorrow. Out there when you're a second away from being killed, or watching a friend die right before your eyes."

Harry's emotional testimonial convincing everyone to stay, everyone signing a list saying they were joining a the group. Once everyone had dispersed, Clementine, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Fred, George, Hallie, and Sage went off to figure out a better place to work.

1079 Words