Friends uniting (Sabrina)

Katherine wanted something to eat and knew her little man would like food as well. Being only 11 months old and a baby that liked to get into everything was exhilarating for him. Katherine arrived and because it was still morning barely anyone was there. Katherine sat her son down in her lap and let him play with the napkin he saw fascinating. The young girl ordered herself some breakfast and a coffee and waited while her food cooked.

Katherine gave her son Dean his sippy cup and watched as he drank it happily to his heart content. She heard the door open and close and she turned around and was shocked at who came in. "Sabrina is that you?" Katherine couldn't forget her old friend from Hogwarts, they were so close but after graduating they went their separate ways, but here are the girls again. Together, fate had plans in store for those to.

It has been awhile since Sabrina visited Hogsmeade. In fact, the last time she visited Hogsmeade was a week after her graduation, when she decided to say goodbye to her home for seven years before moving to Paris. Since then, Sabrina never really lingered in the UK, and she especially avoided the wizarding areas in Scotland. Memories came too easily to her, and she wanted to keep moving forward, to keep pushing herself into becoming the best she can be.

Lately, however, she had been feeling stuck in a limbo, and it was due to that feeling that Alexander urged her to get a teaching job in Hogwarts. Why she had even said yes to that challenge, Sabrina didn't know, but all she knew was that she could either grow from the experience, or just grow to regret it. Being a Slytherin Prefect was one thing—teenagers trusted fellow teenagers, and she had a good enough reputation that made her House mates respect her.

Adults, however, had a more difficult time earning children's respect. The huge age gap made it difficult for adults to empathise with children, and most children couldn't really see from the adults' perspective as well. Sabrina sighed, imagining the mostly empty Hogsmeade streets full of teenagers ready to experience the world. Shaking her head at herself, she entered the Three Broomsticks to get a quick drink before apparating back to London.

A familiar voice cut through her thoughts as she entered the pub. Confused and surprised, she turned to see Katherine, her best friend from Hogwarts, calling out to her. 'Kat? Quelle surprise!' She ran towards her friend, not realising that she had momentarily forgotten to speak in English. 'It's been so long, you're even more gorgeous now! You're—is that...' Her voice trailed off as she looked at the baby Katherine was holding, unable to accept the reality of one of her Hogwarts closest friends feeding a baby. 'We need to catch up,' she said as she leaned in to hug Kat while looking at the baby in confusion. 'I mean, wow. You have a baby. Wow.'

Her old friend came over and gave her a hug and continued to look at her son in confusion. She nodded to her friend. "Long story short, I got drunk a little and now little Dean exists" Katherine hated her night of drinking, it was the day her mother died and she wanted to blow off some steam and then she was shopping for baby clothes. "I regret getting drunk, but never my little man" Dean giggled when she tickled his stomach. "So how have you been?I remember hearing you're a model now?"

She loved reading about her friends success, it made her happy knowing that their life is amazing as they were when they were in school. "How's life treating you?" Katherine always thought of others before herself, she always had and always will, it was in the blonde nature to do so. Dean was staring Sabrina down.

As she took the seat across Kat, Sabrina couldn't help but feel a weird sense of deja vu. They had come to the Three Broomsticks countless times as best friends, and now here they were, all grown up and (supposedly) more confident and mature. Kat even had a baby. A baby. Sabrina smiled politely at Dean. 'Hi, Dean, welcome to this mad world,' she laughed awkwardly. 'He really looks like you. And Merlin, yes, I'm so sorry I never kept in touch. I'm on hiatus right now, though. What about you? What have you been up to?'

The baby was staring at her with his big googly eyes, like babies usually did. Not knowing what to do, Sabrina focused on Kat, hoping that the baby would soon get bored and stare at someone else. Looking at Kat made Sabrina feel bad about not contacting her friend. Since moving to Paris, Sabrina had been so focused on her modelling career, and though she sometimes thought about her Hogwarts friends, she often forgot to send them owls since her job always demanded her attention. 'I'm good, right now at least. You'd never guess what I decided to do during my hiatus. I want to hear your story first, though.'

She could tell just from the looks on Sabrina's face when she sat down and continued to stare at Dean that she was uncomfortable. Katherine vaguely remembered when they were in Hogwarts and how Sabrina never really knew how to act around children. "It is mad isn't it?" Katherine was just hoping and praying that he never went dark in his later ages. It would be awful if he did and turned his back on Katherine. When she was pregnant with Dean that was her worse fear, that he would grow up and turn on Kat. "Yes he does, but the eyes are his father's, so is his nose" Katherine sighed, she knew that Dean would grow up hating that she never told the father about him but she didn't know the guy and didn't want him to do anything terrible to their sweet and innocent child.

"Its okay, everyone has their own reasons and I have been good. Had this little one and just got a teaching position at Hogwarts as the Herbology Professor. So excited to actually be teaching the position my mother did before she died" Katherine knew it was a legacy thing. She had lost her mother as a baby and never really knew her, just stories of her. When her friend said she wanted to hear Katherine's story, she smiled a little and sighed. Never in her life would a smile not be on her face. "Well, it was my mother's death day and you know how I always get sad when that day comes around, so I went to a bar, got drunk and met this guy. I remember it all but I was just too upset to stop it and now Dean is here and I refuse to tell the father that he exists" Katherine explained to Sabrina.

Though the baby made her feel uncomfortable, she could empathise with Dean in a way. Sabrina never got to meet her father, and to this day, she had yet to set foot in South Korea, where she probably had half-siblings and cousins who didn't even know about her existence.

And yet she also couldn't help but admire Kat, for doing her best to raise Dean on her own. Being a single mother wasn't easy—her own mother would know—and she knew how lonely it can get without someone to raise a child with. Softly, she spoke, looking down at her lap as she thought about how she hadn't been there when Kat needed a friend. 'I'm sorry I wasn't there for you,' she said. 'I wanted to keep in touch, but I just... I don't know. I don't want to make excuses.'

Sitting in the Three Broomsticks, she couldn't help but remember how she and Kat used to talk about their goals and dreams here, and how it was Kat and Alexander who listened to her at the exact same table by the window when she first opened up about how she felt for Raffaele. She had thrown all that away around graduation time, first by breaking up with Raffaele before the graduation party, then by never contacting Kat and Alexander after moving to Paris.

She was an asshole and they all deserved better.

Shyly, she looked back at Kat again with a small smile. 'I'm really proud of you, though,' she said. 'Dean's looking great and healthy, and here you are raising him on your own. You and my maman should talk, compare notes about being a single mother. She'd love to see you again.' Her mother always loved having her Hogwarts friends over, and she was especially fond of Kat for being a ball of sunshine no matter what.

When Sabrina began to feel guilty, Katherine shook her head, she didn't want her best friend to feel guilty about anything. Yes they were still best friends in Katherine's eyes. She reached over the table and grabbed Sabrina's hand. "I don't blame you Brina for not keeping in touch, you're here and safe and that is all that matters to me right now" Katherine said to her best friend. "Besides, we have our entire lives ahead of us and we can always keep in touch now, don't worry about the past or you'll miss the future" Katherine was always forgiving and no matter what no one could change her for who she was deep down inside.

Kat remembered all the good times that her and Sabrina used to have, she even remembers Alexander who was always the ass sometimes, but she never once blamed her bestie for abandoning her when she needed her the most.

"Thank you, that means a lot. When I first got pregnant I was scared to death and didn't know what to do but my father was right. It does come naturally" she looked at her son who was still staring at Sabrina. "I would love to see your mother again, she was always like a mother to me whenever I needed her" Sabrina's mother was great and stepped into the role of Katherine's mother because she didn't have one growing up.

After all this time, Kat was still the same old, forgiving gentle soul, and Sabrina marvelled at how her best friend managed to stay the same despite what she had been through. Sabrina had allowed herself to become embittered by her glamorous life—after too much exposure to the bright lights of cameras and fake smiles, she felt as if life had made her much gloomier than she was before. Sure, she was more confident now, but she felt a weariness she could never shake off, whereas Kat radiated with so much love.

So much for being a successful international model.

'You're right,' she smiled at Kat as she squeezed her friend's hand. 'I hope you know, even after all this time, I consider you to be my best friend. No one's really come close in Paris.' Sabrina wasn't even sure if she could call anyone a friend in Paris—though there were groups of models she hung out with, there was never the same amount of intimacy, and she was too busy to make friends in her university.

She listened quietly as Kat talked about her pregnancy, and how her mother meant a lot to Kat. That made Sabrina smile, even if she was a bit bothered by how Dean wouldn't stop staring at her. Was it the Veela charm working on someone as young as a baby? Or were babies really just like that? She tried to smile at the baby too, but it was a small smile, and an adult would have seen how forced it was. Looking back at Kat, she spoke again. 'If you are free one of these weekends, I'd love to have you over. It could be like back in the day when you would visit during the summer.' Sabrina's eyes twinkled as she remembered those days when she and Kat would talk about everything in her bedroom, with Alexander sometimes sleeping over as well and giving a snarky commentary on everything. 'Where do you live these days?

'And well, you know this about me... I'm terrible with children. Remember how scared I was of Raffaele's siblings?' She chuckled lightly at the memory. 'I know you're a great mum. But if you ever need help, I'd do my best to help you, in any way I can.'

Katherine couldn't help but smile when her best friend told her how no one ever have come close to being like Katherine, which the blonde was happy for because she wanted nothing more then to hear those words from Sabrina. "I'm glad to hear that, I love our friendship and you're always going to be my best friend no matter what Brina" Katherine reassured her. Katherine and Sabrina were always close and no matter what happened they always would be.

"Of course I am free on the weekends, I can bring little Dean here, I know your mother would love to meet him, they would get along because he is such a loveable baby" Dean was the light of her life and would always be the number one man in her life. "Oh I know, here, hold him" Katherine got up and placed Dean on Sabrina's lap.

Katherine Zanderson had put a baby on her lap.

If Kat wasn't her best friend, if she didn't know sweet and loving Kat actually was, she would've gotten upset. First of all, she didn't even know if she was holding the baby properly, and secondly, what was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to just awkwardly hold him still? Would swaying him from side to side make him nauseous? Sabrina had never seen anyone take care of a baby, and as she held Dean while trying to smile at him, she couldn't help but wonder just what on earth Katherine bloody Zanderson was thinking.

'Merde,' she cursed softly as she tried to cradle Dean in her arms, hoping she wasn't hurting the baby or anything. 'Kat, what are you doing? I can't carry babies to save my life.'

Holding baby Dean wasn't so bad. He was adorable, even if the way he stared made Sabrina wonder if she was doing something wrong. Babies could be so unpredictable, and she prepared herself in case Dean burst out crying.

She watched to see if Kat would get up and take baby Dean back. As a sign of friendship, she cradled Dean and held him close to her, but she was seated stiffly, almost as if she were a soldier waiting for orders. With her bloody best friend as the troll general. 'You're enjoying this,' she said as she shook her head. 'I guess I do deserve this, for not contacting you for so long.'