Ten Years Later
Sage was standing on her tip toes looking over the dusty window of St Patrick's orphanage. She could've sworn that she'd seen a fiery bird passing through just a moment ago!
It wasn't the first peculiar thing that Sage had seen, but it was quite fascinating! she was used to strange things happening around her whenever she was emotional... things that she couldn't explain, whenever she was angry or scared... it made the other children weary of her, and she could never make friends at all.
She now had to start her cleaning duties before Miss Gaddot would start yelling again. she held her hands to her chest... scratches and burning marks from when Miss Gaddot punished her for sleeping in, were still hurting.. but Sage had to hurry up and get some breakfast before doing her chores.
"Do i have to come upstairs and teach you another lesson?" screamed the horrible woman.
"I'm coming Miss Gaddot' said Sage softly, as she rushed to put on a shabby grey jumper that had obviously been worn by so many people before her. it was too long, and too big, with holes in each sleeve and many colorful patches on the back. she put on a pair of baggy trousers that used to belong to an older girl named Betty, who was lucky enough to get adopted by a rich family from London, and used a blade to cut the legs shorter to be more fitting to her. she looked in the broken mirror before heading downstairs, Sage had a pair of big doe eyes, with a beautiful sage green color and long dark eyelashes. her hair was very long and dark, with delicate waves that she tied together with a piece of fabric in a low ponytail. her face , although a bit scratched , was beautiful and full of light.
breakfast was no more than two half burnt toasts and a glass of warm milk that felt like it was mixed with water... and with that, Sage had already began to dust the great hall and to wipe the dirty staircases when a sudden unexpected knock was heard on the door.
"Get the door you lazy rat!" spat miss Gaddot who was busy putting a fourth helping of sugar into her tea. Sage was surprised to see a very tall man with the longest silvery beard that she'd ever seen. he had white hair twinkling blue eyes behind halfmoon spectacles, and a set of strange purple robes.. Sage's jaw dropped!
"Good morning miss Oakwood!" said the strange man cheerfully
"How do you know my..."
"Aaah well... was hoping you'd help me pick a flavor" he said, pulling out a handful of sweets with different colors, "see in my youth, i was the most unfortunate to come across a vomit flavored one... I've been dreading my luck ever since"
Sage was still amazed by the old man's appearance and strange behavior, but couldn't help but crinkle her nose at the thought of a vomit flavored candy..
"uamm... this one" she said pointing at a green candy bean
without hesitation, the man threw it in his mouth and seemed very pleased with the result, "sweet lime! excellent!... I'm forever in your debt Miss Oakwood... now... shall we get going?" he said offering her an arm
"going where? and... who are you?"
"Ah forgive me for my poor manners... It's Albus Percival Wulfric Brayan Dumbledore, at your service" Sage chuckled at the long name, as the old man continued, "Headmaster of Hogwarts, Order of Merlin and all that but did you know? i have my own chocolate frog card!"
Sage was completely clueless of anything the man was saying, but couldn't help but smile in amusement... a smile that was cut short by a sharp shrieking voice of the middle aged woman coming from behind her, "WHO IS IT?"
"Oh hello Miss Gaddot" said Dumbledore kindly... perhaps we could talk outside for a bit, i'll introduce myself and give the most logical explanation of why i'm here i promise!" and with that, both the surprised woman and Dumbledore were gone for about an hour.
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"i suppose you've got nothing to pack anyways,, so... just get out!' spat Miss Gaddot at Sage who was sitting in the cold hallway.
"Where to? where's he taking me?"
"some fancy boarding school... he seems like a mad rich man who's got nothing better to do with his time than to waste money on random rats like yourself" Sage shivered, "now listen to me... this man had just made a generous donation to this orphanage and promised to keep it going if i agreed to sending you to that school... you'll be back here every summer and i except you to do your best to behave well , i don't want them to be expelling you midterm for one of your usual strange behaviors... i still need that money.. understand?!"
Sage nodded , still terrified of what's going to become of her... why would anyone be offering to pay for her boarding school? and how did that man know her name? and why was he dressed like wizard from a story book?
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"Ah... i was biggening to worry that you might not want to come!" said Dumbledore as he noticed the girl walking slowly towards him.. she was about to say something when she suddenly spotted the same fiery bird, now flying close by and resting on Dumbledore's shoulder
"That's...aa.. i saw that bird earlier!"
"Oh he's a phoenix" said Dumbledore smiling, "his name is Fawkes"
"i thought i was going mad.... no one else could see him... i thought i was just imagining things like always... "
"And i believe you've also been able to do certain things that others couldn't as well?"
Sage's eyes widened
"You're like me Sage, and not just me... there's a lot of us around the world... that's why i'm here to take you... Hogwarts is a place for people like us"
"Hogwarts?"
"you're a witch Sage"