"We've got another letter from Charlie, he faced a Hungarian Horntail, it had these enormous spikes all across the head. It gave him another scar, can't wait to hear everything about it," said Fred, walking through the corridor, Sarah had just met up with him and George after she and Selena got out of Arithmancy.
"Oh, you know it has yellow eyes, with vertical pupils like a cat's, bronze horns and those spikes you mentioned are all the way to its tail, making it a dreadful combatant. It's one of the most vicious and aggressive breeds of dragon," blurted Sarah, looking up to meet Fred, George and Selena's stare.
She pursed her lips, aware she did that thing again when she recited whatever she remembered from what she read, "As you were," she muttered awkwardly, looking opposite to them.
Fred smiled softly, continued on about his brother's letter.
"Hey, beautiful," said Oliver, walking up to them.
"Hey." Sarah smiled from his kiss on her cheek then turned to her friends again to listen.
"News from Charlie, how's he doing?" asked Oliver, Fred summed it up with a simple "Wicked," then continued the story.
"It's brilliant," commented Sarah on what Fred was saying about his brother. "I reckon we'll hear all about it next month, possibly won't hear the end of it during the next decade."
"Right," Fred laughed, "Like that's what Charlie needed, another reason to gloat over his wicked job."
"Bill will probably humble him," said George gleefully, he, Fred and Sarah overly joyful to know they'll see them again, talking about past events, George telling Selena about his brothers and with his twin and Sarah, laughing over some of the times they messed with them.
Oliver, Fred and George headed to Quidditch training, while Sarah and Selena made their way to the library, keeping up with their studies for the upcoming OWLs, only a matter of weeks, now, and Sarah was really stressed. She didn't know what the future looked like, what type of career she wanted to pursue, but for that exact reason, she needed to keep her options open, giving it her all to get as many OWLs as possible, in hopes of getting as many NEWTs as possible next year.
It was a stressful time.
She and Selena met up with Alexander, formed a study group and during the couple hours they spent at the library, they flipped flash cards, performed Charms and Spells they needed to know, recited the theory and wrote down the instructions for some of the Potions they'd revised already.
_
Oliver was in the changing rooms, polishing his knee and elbow protections, his friend Jake walked in, accidentally brought down the shelves with, precisely, the other boxes of polish.
"Shit! I'm sorry," Jake quickly dusted off and flicked his wand, putting it all back into place.
Oliver turned calmly and nodded, "It's fine, don't worry about it." He resumed to the care taking of his own uniform.
"Blimey," wondered Jake, "Sarah's got you pretty high up that cloud, does she? Back in February, you would have hexed me for remotely walking in with the wrong foot into this room."
"Piss off, I wouldn't have," reprimanded Oliver. "But I have to admit, life's kind of brighter, yeah."
"She's really cool, we like her. Is Weasley still lurking around, though?" asked Jake, looking at the brooms hung and the plates with the names next to them, "Is it George or Fred? I never remember."
"It's Fred, and yup," said Oliver a bit displeased, "He's still around."
"Don't mind him, mate, he's got nothing over you," Jake reassured him, walking around with his arms crossed, stopping to stare at Fred's plaque.
Fred had forgotten his house jumper in here earlier, came back for it but stopped when he heard Oliver say his name. He knew what they were talking about. Only the following part of the conversation made him want to hex them both, actually, more like throw punches.
"D'you shag yet?" asked Jake abruptly.
"Mate!" argued Oliver, getting his crampons on the table to clean out the mud from the training earlier, it had rained over the last couple days.
"Sorry, but does that mean...?"
Fred had his back pressed against the wall, strangely angry, and debating over hex and punch.
"No, Jake, we didn't. It's all going real slow, but oh, man... I just know she's worth it," he grinned knowingly and settled down his broom to polish it, too.
Jake leered through the window, "I'm not arguing with you there."
"That's certainly something to look forward to."
And that's when Fred decided to walk in, pretend he hadn't been listening for the last five minutes and grabbed his jumper. Jake walked out then, a bunch of wankers, thought Fred to himself then.
"Sorry?" asked Oliver, turning away from his broom.
Fred must have mumbled it out loud, he looked between the door and Oliver. Jake was gone, but Oliver was awaiting a response. Fred didn't want to give it, he wasn't worth it.
"Nothing, I was just grabbing the jumper. See you, Wood," said Fred, walking towards the door.
"Wait, actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about," he said.
Fred reluctantly turned away from the door and walked back, "What?"
"We're friends, aren't we?" Oliver crossed his arms, leaning against the table they used to polish their equipments, something about how he was standing and how he said it, made Fred wonder if it was a trick question.
"Sure," answered Fred, thinking of the ways this conversation could go wrong.
"And as friends, if I asked a favor of you, would you mind going through with it?"
"What are you talking about?" Fred shrugged.
"Sarah."
_
"Reducto Curse," read Selena from the card.
Sarah closed her eyes and started listing every information she could remember about the theory, opened them to find Selena nodding and giving her a thumbs up.
"Shit!" they heard next to them, people shushed and Sarah turned to see where the loud exclamation came from, it was Jake, holding a letter in a hand, a pile of books in the other.
"What's wrong?" asked Sarah quietly.
"I was down at the Quidditch field to give this to Wood, I got caught up with something else and I forgot, I need to go find Anne, could you-" he handed her the letter.
"Yes, of course, shoo, we all know what happens when you and Anne get into a fight," said Sarah, referring to the Valentine's Day party, and the couple incidents over the course of the last couple months that left Jake and Anne throwing hexes at each other and crying in their dorms.
Sarah took the letter, saw a blue seal on it, vaguely remembering hearing the word 'Puddlemere' before. This had something to do with Quidditch. She hurried to the Quidditch field, down to the changing rooms where Oliver often lingered to tidy everything up, but she heard him arguing. She was about to step inside when she realized the voice that said, "What?" was Fred's.
This wasn't good.
"Come on, mate, I don't think it's too much to ask. Just, stay away from my girlfriend, all right?"
Sarah frowned then, angry that Oliver would resort this type of action, asking Fred to stay away from her was completely out of line.
"Well, your girlfriend happens to be my best friend, and I think she can choose for herself who gets to be a part of her life. Certainly doesn't need you making any choice for her."
"Best friend. Oh, you're friendly all right," spat Oliver contemptibly.
"What is the matter with you?" Fred threw his hands up in desperation, "Why can't you just go about your life? You're dating her, what more could you want?"
"I want you to stop being around all the time, because I'm onto you, mate," Oliver frowned threateningly and pointed towards him.
Fred laughed, actually laughed, "That's never gonna happen, and need I remind you, you wouldn't even have lasted if it weren't for me."
"That's off the point," cautioned Oliver.
Sarah was lost, also intruding, but she couldn't back away, now. She wanted to know what that was about, exactly why this conversation made her heart speed up.
"It's actually well on it. You claim fancying her for years but you had no idea who she is. You came to me."
Sarah put a hand over her mouth, muffling a gasp because she remembered what Oliver told her about the market. Fred was the one to tell him about it. But it was just a suggestion, a coincidence he knew about it and mentioned it in a conversation. Did Oliver go to him specifically? Did Fred randomly know? Her mind was spiraling.
Oliver didn't say anything to that, but Fred was angry now, "Silent now, huh? Let me refresh your memory. The market, Newt Scamander, the lily, the Muggle music, do I need to go on?"
"All right, all right, you've made your point," hurried Oliver, making him stop talking. "Just stay away. You helped, you did your part, just stay away, all right?"
"Because you certainly have her best interests at heart. Not like you're having lurid discussions or anything," stated Fred.
Sarah's mind went back to what Fred told her months ago, and now she felt like a complete idiot for thinking anything else. But that couldn't be right, Oliver had to care, too, he had to.
"Listening in on my conversations, too, man you're more gone than I thought."
"Wood, mate, just stop it. You literally have everything, I don't know what you're doing here, what you want, but you just need to stop it," said Fred firmly, and Sarah thought he was making his way towards the door, but she heard a pained grunt and groaning and that's when she stepped inside.
"Oliver!" Sarah shouted. He was pinning Fred against the wall, fistful of his collar and a dark gaze, that could drill holes into one's soul but Fred couldn't care less about what Oliver was thinking.
"You knew she was there, huh?" gritted Oliver, clutching tighter on Fred's collar.
"I didn't. Just good fortune. For her. Not for you," Fred breathed out cheekily.
Sarah saw Oliver was about to punch him again, and she didn't think for a second, she got out her wand, "Impedimenta!" Oliver flew backwards, hitting the supply of back up brooms, all falling over him, Fred dropped on the ground, got up gripping to the brick wall.
She ran to Fred, "Weasley, are you okay?" she took a hold of his face, analyzing it carefully. It made Fred's breath hitch, strangely. "I'm great. Hey! We should do it again sometime!" shouted Fred cheerfully at Oliver.
Sarah clicked her tongue irascibly, and Fred grinned. "You're not bleeding. But go see Madam Pomfrey, you might have dislocated your jaw."
She gently pushed him towards the door, then went to help Oliver up, pushing the brooms away from him. "What is wrong with you? He's my friend! He's your friend!"
"He's a nosy prat," spat Oliver, getting up stiffly from the ground. "Hey, I'm sorry-" he reached for her hand once he was up and she backed away.
"No."
"What?"
"No," she repeated, "You know how much Fred and George mean to me. How could you just tell him to stay away from me? And then punch him when he told you he won't? You had no right-"
"Sarah-" he stepped forward.
She backed away again to keep him at arm's length. "You had no right."
"I was just jealous, I'm sorry, but I-"
"That there wasn't jealously, that was unhealthy possessiveness, controlling behavior and violence," snapped Sarah, gesturing back to where he'd tackled Fred earlier.
"Things I do not want to be a part of," she continued, and the way she said it, the way she was standing, made pretty clear what she meant by it.
Oliver's face fell apart, "What? N-"
"This came for you," she said distantly, handing him the letter. "I didn't remember immediately, but now I do, Puddlemere United, they got back to you."
He tore the envelope apart, took the letter inside to sweep over it, and looked up, "In Ireland."
"Well, more reason to it, then," reasoned Sarah sternly, and Oliver let his arms fall beside him.
"So, that's it?" he asked, looking at the ground bitterly.
"That's it." She locked eyes with him for a moment and he nodded.
Sarah backed away, "Take care of yourself, Oliver."
"You too," he mumbled, looking down at his letter.
Sarah left him there, turning her heels on this lovely relationship they had, shamefully ended on such a sour note. Only she couldn't think of anything other than making sure Fred was okay, that he wasn't hurt, and when she pushed open the doors to the Infirmary, she saw him sitting on a bed, rubbing his jaw.
She didn't think, she ran to him and threw her arms around his neck, letting out a great breath of relief, Fred barely made out the words, "You're okay."
"I'm okay, McCauley," he took on the same quiet voice as her, found himself smiling again with her in his arms, quickly shifted into a concerned face when she pulled away, "Are you okay?"
"Not right now, but I know it was the right thing to do," she nodded as she talked, well aware of it, but she needed a little time to mourn over it, though. He mattered to her, he wasn't who she thought he was, but she needed a little while.
"What right thing?" asked Fred.
"I broke up with him," she told him, realizing he hadn't been around when it happened, and it sounded strange, after almost four months.
"I'm sorry," said Fred softly, pursing his lips.
"No, you're not, you couldn't stand him," she said, crossing her arms and looking down.
He shook his head, "But it's not about me, McCauley. I know you cared. Four months isn't nothing."
That made her eyes sting, and she started turning her ring again. Fred reached forward and grabbed her arm to make her sit down next to him, put an arm around her, "I'll tell you what. George and I are going to sneak into Honeyduke's and get your favorites, our treat, and George, me, Ginny, Selena, Angie, Ron, Harry and Hermione are all going to sit down for the evening and either talk about happened, or play cards and make you forget, whichever you want."
Sarah chuckled softly, rested her head against his shoulder, "I think I'd rather forget all about it."
Fred nodded deeply, "Done. Oliver who? Wood what?"
She laughed.
Shoved his head to the side, made him push the hair out of his face, but he didn't let go of her, he brought her closer while he smiled, pressed a comforting kiss atop her head.
Sarah closed her eyes under it, couldn't help but feel the comfort he meant through it wrap around her, and she sighed. "I know I cared, but do you think he did?"
And without the slightest hesitation, she heard Fred answer, "If he didn't he's a moron."
Madam Pomfrey thought she'd heard some voices, scurried back from her office to see if there was someone hurt again, she saw Fred's head and she was about to tell him he'd been cleared to go but when she took another step, she saw Sarah leaned against him.
Madam Pomfrey smiled softly, hearing hushes from their voices, and she backed away, keeping that fond smile on her face, because she was reminded of another jokester and forceful academic achiever slowly outgrowing the childish mockery about twenty years ago.
_
That evening, Sarah felt supported. After Fred came back with George from Honeyduke's he didn't leave her side. They played cards, and board games, Ron played Wizard's Chess and didn't let her win, which was a delight. Harry told her he'd boycott Quidditch training until the end of the year, an idea everyone was on board with, although she strongly stated that it wasn't a good idea and they shouldn't. She felt light. She felt better all of a sudden, no rational explanation to it, it simply happened.
Fred didn't need to argue his case when he summoned everyone, when he told them it was for Sarah, they dropped everything and showed up. And she made sure to tell each one just how much that meant to her.
Percy showed up, too, asked her if she wanted him to mess up some of Wood's stuff and she shook her head, smiling fondly. Fred and George almost got along with their older brother that night, at least until Percy sent them all off to bed.
She took a second to look through the window, tugging on her mother's medallion, needing to feel that connection with her again, imagine how it could have been, making sure she didn't forget about her.
"Better go up before Percy comes back," said Fred, walking up beside her.
She nodded, turning her back on her daydream and wishful thinking. "Thank you for tonight, Freddie." Sarah walked to him, reached up and pressed a soft kiss on his cheek, "Good night."
That was the end of the night, the end of this day that had taken a turn for the worst, and now it simply didn't matter anymore. This mattered, though, and she'll make sure she'll cherish it forever.