Sallow

9 Potions lock

Sebastian


"She's completely ignoring me Ominis, and I have absolutely no idea why." I paced back and forth in the common room, having just been shunned by who I thought was a good friend. "Maybe this is a good thing, you yourself said you didn't want her as a distraction." I huffed, "I'd still like to be her friend!" I had no idea what had happened between our trip to hogsmeade and monday morning in charms class. We had such a good time, even with the drama! I thought we'd bonded in some way. Maybe I'd come on too strong, I shouldn't have flirted like that, I knew it was going to make her run. But, she had flirted back? At least I thought she had, or maybe I'd completely misread the entire situation. I didn't know anymore. All i knew is she was ignoring me, avoiding me, acting as though I didn't exist. Maybe it was for the better.

I at least deserved a reason, but she hadn't even given me that, and it didn't look as if it were going to happen any time soon. I'll admit, my pride was hurt, I felt hurt, but I still had my mission, and this was not going to stop me. I started to avoid her too. I gave her no attention, looks or even thoughts. Okay, i did still think about her, but no more was she endearing, now she was just another girl in the class who I didn't have anything to do with. It was better this way.

As we had all our classes together, I was to see her in potions. As per the norm now, I avoided her, and her me, and got on with the work. I also needed to focus extra hard today, as I'd be pocketing certain ingredients throughout the class, with the intent of not letting Professor Sharp notice. I'd made some headway with a cure for Anne, having read about a potion in a book from the restricted section. Most of the ingredients were available from the student cupboards in the class, but a few, which I would need to sneak into Professor Sharps storeroom to collect.

I'd planned this down to the very last detail. First, I'd paid Garreth to make a distraction, big enough to occupy Professor Sharp's attention long enough to get down to the storeroom, grab the ingredients and back up. He would never know. Garreth did it, releasing the creaval wings - which were known to crave the warmth of cauldrons - planning to have them dive into a cauldron and create a massive mess - a mess that could not be easily cleaned with magic. It seemed Della was the unlucky victim. Whatever, didn't mean anything to me. Professor Sharp told her something, and she made her way out of the room, presumably to the bathroom. I chose my time, and raced down to the storeroom, the disillusionment charm aiding me. I got to the door, surprised it was unlocked, took off the charm and opened it, coming face-to-face with none other than Della.

"What are you doing here?"

"Me? What about you? I'm covered in goo, and need a cleaning potion. What's your excuse?"

"I - never mind, just move over." I huffed, annoyed at her presence. She took offence to my words and attitude and mirrored it. "You could say please."

"Oh pretty please with a dung bomb on top." My voice dripped with sarcasm, and she rolled her eyes.

So this is what we'd become. Annoyed in each others presence, no more playfulness, no more banter. Just two people wanting to be rid of this situation. I found what I needed, pocketed it and without even looking at her made for the door.

It was locked.

I tried alohamora. No success. I looked back at her, she was still scanning the shelves. "Is this some sort of game?"

She looked back at me, confused. "What?"

"Have you locked the door?" Her eyes turned incredulous and she shook her head, "no." She went back to searching, apparently uninterested. I cast revelio and a red aura appeared around the door, more prominent around the lock. I groaned. Having read many books on locks and charms to undo them, I knew what this was. If any person without permission entered the room, it automatically locked, with a powerful charm, stronger than a basic unlocking spell. She looked at me.

"What is it?"

"It's me. I've triggered the lock."

"Oh well that's great, I just wanted to get cleaned up. And now I'm stuck here." She sighed, obviously frustrated. I went to the corner of the room, and deliberately avoided looking at her. I didn't know how long we'd be in here, and I was surely to get caught when Professor Sharp inevitably came down.
I heard her sigh in frustration again. I couldn't deal with this for long.

"What. What is it?" She glared at my tone but I didn't care. "I can't find the cleaning solution."
I could help, but I didn't want to. "Good luck."

She snapped back towards me. "What is your problem?" She'd obviously noted my sour attitude and annoyance with her. I was shocked, surely she knew. "My attitude?! What about yours? You barely speak to me anymore! A trip to Hogsmeade a few weeks ago, which I thought went well, and then nothing? I'd say what the hell is your problem?" I hadn't realised I'd been walking towards her until we were too close to each other for comfort. Nevertheless, I'd hit the mark. She went from annoyed to sheepish, and started playing with her hair, which had been tied in a plait. "Sebastian I-" I cut her off.

"You know what, I don't even need to know. You've made your idea on us perfectly clear, and whatever reason doesn't matter." I glared down my nose at her, my breath interlacing with hers. She gazed up at at me with wide eyes. I glanced at her lips. Why was I - I could feel my heartbeat increasing as I looked down at her, and refused to let my anger become anything else. I moved back across to the other side of the room and crossed my arms, leaning against the ladder, staring at the floor. She yelled at me. "Fine. I did have a good reason actually but if you don't want to know, then fine." She went back to rummaging around the store and eventually found the bottle. She poured a little over her head, and was instantly clean. She placed it back and stood in her corner opposite from me. A few minutes went by in silence. I was perfectly happy to continue, it seemed she was not. I heard her take a deep breath.

"Sebastian, listen. I enjoyed our trip to Hogsmeade, really, but well, you saw what shit I'm involved in, and I don't want you in danger." I scoffed. "So that's it, you just never speak to me again, to save me from danger?" She nodded shyly, some guilt evident on her face. I thought about how protective I'd felt, how I'd recklessly jumped at every opportunity to save her. Gryffindor behaviour, to be frank. Not something I usually did. I was a bit surprised with myself thinking back on it.

But she had still hurt me. Going completely cold on what I thought was a budding friendship. A surge of anger swelled up again. "That may be your reason but it's not good enough. You didn't think I'd forgive you so easily?" Her eyes hardened too. "No I didn't."

We stood a few more minutes in silence, anger from the both of us steaming the room, when she moved to the door. I didn't see why, Id already tried.

She opened it. I couldn't help myself. "How did y-" it clicked, I didn't have permission, but she did. Obviously. It seemed my frustration had clouded my intelligence. She also looked baffled. "Ugh it's because you have permission, you couldn't have tried 10 minutes ago?"

"Oh because I know how Sharps magic works!" She snapped back at me. Glad to be out of the room, we made our way back up the steps, her just ahead of me. She stomped off back to her common room without another word, and I did the same. I thought about how quickly our friendship had turned sour, but also at how I'd felt being so close to her. I shook it away.

I didn't care anymore.

At least that's what I told myself.