endgame // sebastian sallow

23: If Only You Knew

Chapter 23: If Only You Knew

"Souls tied,
intertwined by our pride and guilt."

Noelle's Perspective

"Any plans for the holidays?" Natty's voice echoed down the Great Hall one morning.

"I'm taking the Hogwarts Express back home to London," Cressida murmured, digging her fork into the strawberries. "Duh."

"I'm there with you." Nellie followed along. "After this last quidditch game, you would not see me."

The closer the holiday break got, the fewer students appeared for breakfast. I didn't blame them. Exam studying was getting exhausting and the library felt like daytime past curfew — many slept in now.

My chin rested on my hand lazily. I kept picking on my oatmeal with my fork, pretending as if my eyes weren't watching every single student who surpassed the tables and hoped for some miracle.

Specifically, a Slytherin student.

Sebastian Sallow didn't attend classes for three weeks. Or anywhere at all.

I tried not to keep a record, I really did, but it was impossible now. I couldn't help turning every five seconds between classes, expecting him to be late. Or entering the dining hall every single day, hoping to see familiar brown hairs poke behind Ominis Gaunt.

"Yeah, he left me no choice, but to take the Slytherin Captain role now!" Imelda Reyes complained from afar in Divination class days ago.

As if it bothered her. We all knew this was a dream for the Reyes girl to handle the badge of captain in her quidditch priority.

But I couldn't understand it. I couldn't understand why he was gone or missing — no trace of him for weeks after what happened.

The last time I truly saw him was in that Quidditch game. That moment beneath the stands; the eye contact, the approach — Merlin, I wonder what the circumstances could've been if we did speak.

According to Nurse Blainey, Sebastian Sallow took part in the Hector Malfoy situation at the Forbidden Forest. It confused me, considering I never saw him in the forest. He was playing in the air on the field and that's what I remembered.

I pestered her for more, "Blainey, what do you mean? I was alone with Hector—" and she'll throw in a, "He was there," excuse. She didn't say much after, and neither did Professor Weasley, and it bothered me.

Sebastian knew stuff that I didn't and when I actually wanted to speak to him now, finally, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Elle?"

I stared up, lazily, coming back to the winter break discussion and cleared my throat, shrugging. "Hm? Um, I'm staying."

Did I have a choice? No. I never experienced a true family holiday. I spent most of my life being pushed into different orphanages — becoming indifferent to others for my magic, and when I thought I'd finally spend it with Eleazar Fig again, he dies.

I didn't realize it was a common thing for students to stay at Hogwarts, regardless of having families to go to or not.

I know Ominis was on the stay list — he hated his bloodline. Along with Poppy. Poppy struggle signing her name knowing her grandma was no longer around, but she curved a smile at the idea of both of us celebrating together.