THE LEAKY CAULDRON

"You look like shit, Sagey baby." Rowan said honestly between sips of wine, eyeing her friend from across the booth.

Sage glowered. "You try raising a moody fifteen year old. Also, you try being a former Death Eater and having the Dark Lord return after fourteen years. You wouldn't be sleeping much, either." She said in response.

Maia raised her glass, nodding understandingly. "Seriously!" She exclaimed. "Jessie's twelve now, and she has entered the I hate my parents stage of adolescence. Called Remus a...what did she say? Oh! That's right, she called him a maggot. Can you believe that?"

The three women laughed, and Sage's laughter soon dissolved, a sad expression taking over her face.

"D'you ever think about what we were doing twenty years ago?" She asked contemplatively. "I mean, we were all fifteen, about to be sixteen. Going shopping in Diagon Alley for the upcoming term. I was still fooling around with Nott, and Maia, you hadn't even met Remus yet."

Rowan furrowed her eyebrows and sighed. "Do you think we were happier then? Back when we were all in shitty relationships and had no idea how the world worked?" She punctuated her question with a chug of her drink, the remnants of her glass sliding down her throat.

"Not happier." Maia said quickly, almost too quickly. "Sure, we hadn't lost anyone yet, except for Sage. But we weren't happier. We were just a lot more ignorant."

Sage choked on a snort. "Merlin, ladies. We came out for drinks to celebrate Char's birthday, not to get all gloomy. I know—it's strange for me to be the positive one here, but god, can't we just try and not get depressing?"

Both Maia and Rowan turned to look at her as if she'd grown a second head. Both women tried to formulate a response, say anything in return, but they were left completely speechless.

Finally, after a good several moments, Maia said, "Alright then, Little Miss Sunshine. Since we're suddenly being rays of absolute positivity, how about we talk about the things that make us happy?"

"Unless this bottle of moscato counts, I'd think you lot are talking about your husbands." Rowan rolled her eyes. "And in case you haven't noticed, I'm fresh out of those."

Sage gave her dear friend a pointed, teasing look. "It's not like you couldn't get any man you wanted, Ro. You're stunning, and hilarious, and kinder than I ever could be. Honestly, get back out there! Get yourself a husband. The whole married thing isn't as bad as you think it is." She said without an ounce of hesitation, reaching over to grab Rowan's free hand.

Sighing, Rowan signaled for the barkeep to get her a refill. "I dunno. You're still with your boyfriends from Hogwarts. I'm just a bit scared Evan was it for me, y'know? I know it's been sixteen years, and he's long gone, and I got a tattoo on my body because I loved him enough to do that." She paused and took a hearty sip of her wine. "You two are happy, married with kids. I just think sometimes that that whole lifestyle's not for me.

"I'm more than fine with being the fun auntie that spoils your kids and loves them just as much as you do, but I just want to try for more, y'know?" She finished, oddly emotional with the thought of never finding who she was meant to be with.

A mischevous glint passed over Sage's eyes. "Y'know, there's a fine, fine man that I work with. His name's Kingsley, he's about six foot two, bald—not a dealbreaker once you hear him talk. Deep voice, very eloquent and polite, total panty-dropper—and he's been single for the fourteen years that I've known him." She said earnestly, not a hint of humor in her voice. "I could set you up with him, if you'd like. He's a few years older than us, a Gryffindor—that might honestly be more of a dealbreaker than the baldness—but he's very, very kind."

"You'd do that for me? Really? Set me up with an Auror from your office?" Rowan asked, eyes wide.

Sage chuckled. "He's saved my life a dozen times over the years. If anyone is worth my dear Rowan Isidore Silvers, it's him. But if he breaks your heart, I could murder him and get away with it. I've done it before, and for you, I'll do it again."

Maia swiveled around to face her. "I'm sorry, what? You've murdered someone and gotten away with it?" She asked incredulously.

The only person Sage Fontaine-Black had told about what she'd done to Lawson had been Sirius, and the people that had heard through the simple collateral damage of being in the room when she admitted to it.

"Yeah, er...y'know the man that killed Charlotte and Marlene?" She began, not quite ashamed but definitely embarrassed. "That was me. Hung his body up outside the Lestrange's house for all the Death Eaters to see. Wasn't my finest moment, but I'm not sorry."

Rowan choked on her wine, coughing until it spewed out of her nose. "That was you? Sagey, you murdered the twat that killed our friends? Sage! You're a legend. A vigilante. An icon. A goddess. Literally Bellona. Merlin." She rambled.

Maia just looked shell-shocked. "A murderer, a mother, and an alcoholic walk into a bar..." She said, clearly dumbfounded.

"It was during the war. We were all killing people." Sage made a weak attempt at justifying her actions, although she didn't feel the need to explain to two of her best friends why she did what she did. If anyone would understand the necessity of what she did, it would be them.

Rowan raised her eyebrows, smirking slightly. "Don't make excuses. You did what you needed to do. I've got half a mind to give you an Order of Merlin, first class."