Stories from the Vault - Hogwarts Mystery One Shots

Love Potions (Pt. 2)

Charlie, Penny, and Andre met in the library to study a few days later.

"Where's Sarah?" Penny asked.

"With Dylan," said Charlie in disgust. "Where else?"

"I'm kind of glad she's not here," said Andre. "Dylan Bailey is all she ever talks about. It's getting really annoying."

"I'm worried," said Penny. "This isn't like Sarah."

"I'm more worried about Barnaby," said Charlie. "It was brutal, watching her toss him aside like yesterday's edition of the Daily Prophet. I can't believe Sarah would do that."

"That's what I'm saying," said Penny. "Sarah wouldn't do that. For one, she's much too kind-hearted to be so cruel to a friend. For another, she's absolutely smitten with Barnaby."

Andre rolled his eyes, then did a mocking imitation of Sarah's voice. "But Dylan is so tall, and cute, and smart, and isn't it great that he wants to work for the ministry when he graduates--"

"Oh stop it, please. I hear it enough from her," said Charlie.

"Something else must be going on," said Penny. "We need to figure out what. Sarah would do the same if any of us were acting oddly."

"Great," said Charlie, "we'll just get her alone and ask her what's going on. Oh wait, she's following Dylan around like she's on a leash."

"Sarah's the one who is good at this stuff," said Penny. "What would she do?"

"If she couldn't get what she needed from the source," said Andre as he rubbed his chin, "she'd probably ask people close to the source for advice."

"Yeah, but that's us," said Charlie. "And we haven't got a clue what's going on."

"We need to talk to Barnaby," said Penny. "Maybe something happened between them that...chased Sarah away?"

"That's going to be a pleasant conversation," said Charlie. "Come on, I think I know where to find him."

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As Charlie predicted, Barnaby was in the Care of Magical Creatures Reserve. They found him halfway up a Wiggentree, playing with a branch of Bowtruckles.

"Hey Barnaby," Charlie called. "Come down mate, we want to talk to you."

Barnaby worked his way down the tree, one or two of the bowtruckles still clinging to robes. Newt, the friendliest bowtruckle, was resting happily in Barnaby's hair.

"What's up?" Barnaby seemed to be doing alright since the breakup, but his closest friends could see the change in him. That spark of life, the playful energy and wonder in his eyes, had gone.

"Well," Penny began, looking to the others for help. When no help came, she said, "we wanted to ask you about Sarah."

Barnaby said nothing. He just looked down at the ground for a moment and then back at them.

"We wondered if you...did something happen between you two before Dylan came along?"

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"We think something might be bothering Sarah," said Penny. "We were hoping you could help."

"Ask Dylan."

"We don't care about Dylan, we care about you," said Charlie. "Why don't you talk to us? You might feel better."

Barnaby sighed. "Nothing happened," said Barnaby. "I saw her with that Dylan guy at lunch. Before that, the last time I saw Sarah was that morning, when we were all by the fountain."