After All This Time// Sebastian Sallow x Reader Hogwarts Legacy Fanfiction

Chapter 11

That night, my sleep was plagued with awful nightmares, once again.

I woke up startled, sitting upright to check my surroundings. I looked to be in a tomb- I sat upon the top of a stone coffin, surrounded by bones and bloodied remains. 

Suddenly, two figures stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the candles that sat on the floor around the coffin. 

"It's time you were punished for everything you did," said one of the figures.

They were bony with almost no muscle, their pale flesh handing onto their bones loosely. The skin around their mouths flapped and sagged as they spoke, showering me with the droplets of blood that dripped from their faces like leaky faucets. 

Each figure reached out and grabbed one of my wrists, pinning me down to the coffin. Two more emerged from the shadows, each one grabbing an ankle. No matter how hard I squirmed and fought, I couldn't escape. I even reached inside myself for the ancient magic, but I could sense its presence whatsoever. 

Someone else stepped out from the shadows, but this time it was a person, and someone I recognized. It was Natty.

"This is for them, for your transgressions against them, and the pain you have caused them," said the four figures holding me down in unison.

Natty cast a curse over me, filling my body with electrifying pain. Even as she stepped back into the shadows, the pain didn't subside.

Another person stepped into the light. This one was Poppy.

"This is for them, for your transgressions against them, and the pain you have caused them," spoke the figures once again. 

Poppy stepped forward and reached her hand out. Her face was cold, more solemn than I'd ever seen it. This was not the Poppy I knew. She suddenly put her hands against my face and dug her fingernails into my temples, dragging them all the way down the sides of my face. I cried out in pain, but she didn't even flinch. She stepped back into the shadows.

This cycle continued with Sebastian, Ominis, Professor Fig, and even Imelda.

By the time they were done, the figures no longer needed to hold me down, as I couldn't move anymore. 

Suddenly I was awake and in my dorm again. Both Imelda and Nerida were bent over me with looks of concern on their faces. My body was covered in sweat, and my face was stained in tears. 

"You were screaming, y/n," said Imelda.

"I'm sorry," I told her. I really didn't want to wake them. 

"You don't need to be sorry," spoke Nerida. "We just need to make sure you're okay."

"Do you need me to take you to Nurse Blainey?" asked Imelda. I thought about it, and I probably should. The dreams have been getting worse again. 

I nodded to Imelda, who helped me out of bed. Nerida grabbed my robe and helped me put it on before sending me and Imelda off. 

"You really gave us quite the scare, y/n," Imelda spoke. Her usually intense self was softened and she spoke kindly to me, which I wasn't used to. But it felt nice. "I haven't seen you like that since last year."

"They never really went away, I guess... They're usually not as bad anymore, though," I told her. 

We walked the rest of the way in silence, and she left me with the nurse, who gave her a note so she would get in trouble for being out of bed, and returned back to the dorms. 

"How often have you been getting them, y/n?" Nurse Blainey asked me. 

"It's still pretty much every night," I told her. "It just seems that they've been getting worse recently."

"Have you experienced any triggers recently? Anything that might be bringing up the memories again?"

I thought about it for a second before answering. "Nothing specifically, I think just being back at school in general makes me think about it a lot."

"I know I wouldn't quite understand what you've been through, but have you considered talking about what you've been feeling with one of your peers? Someone who was there with you?"

"I was alone through most of the bad stuff, or with Professor Fig. He's still gone." And Sebastian, but I don't think either of us are ready to revisit the topic of our fifth year escapades just yet. "Do you have anything that can stop the dreams?"

"The only thing I could give you is heavier sleeping medicine. It'll put you out like a light, but you have to be careful to always take the correct dosage. It'll make you extra drowsy in the mornings if you aren't careful."

She handed me a silver compact full of little pills. "One of those before bed each night shoud do the trick. It'll put you out for ten hours at the most, so plan your sleep schedule accordingly. If you want to take one tonight, only take a half." 

With that, she sent me off back to the common room. She wrote me a note like she had for Imelda so I wouldn't get trouble on my way back. 

I wandered the halls, taking the long way back. Even though she'd given me the new medicine, i wasn't eager to get back to sleep. I ran my fingers along the walls as I walked, making sure to take my time. Once I'd gotten closer to the common room, I noticed a shadow out of the corner of my eye. I stopped to listen.

Someone was definitely there. Who else is out of bed at this hour?

I slowly slinked towards the wall and hunkered down into the shadows. I eyes the little outlet next to the stairs where the person had gone. I slowly inched forward.. I didn't like the idea that someone might've been following me, so I was curious to see who it was. As I rounded the corner, I grabbed into the dark and hooked my fingers into the cloak of whoever it was. I pulled their face towards mine, and was surprised to see who it was. 

"I wasn't following you if that's what you're thinking," said Sebastian with a sheepish grin on his face.