In the Shadows - Sebastian Sallow x reader (English)

Chapter 1

"I won't let her suffer. Avada Kedavra!" A flash of green blinded me and I snap out of my nightmare. I looked around confused. I was lying on a bench on the Hogwarts Express en route to Hogsmeade, ready to start my next school year.

"Y/N, are you alright? You seem to have had a pretty bad dream. You kept saying no and started crying. We tried to wake you up, but it took a while." Poppy crouched in front of me. A hand rested on my shoulder and a worried look graced her soft face.

"Yes, I'm fine." I wiped the tears from my face. "Just one of those nightmares about fighting Ranrok", I lied. "I have that more often." Such and these of Sebastian, how he loses control and kills his uncle. Nobody knew about the incident in the catacomb and won't know about it for Merlin's sake. Ominis and I agreed not to hand Sebastian over and the blond Slytherin was also able to persuade Anne not to let her twin brother rot in Azkaban. Anne then disappeared from Feldcroft, leaving only a note telling Sebastian not to look for her.

"You had to go through a lot last year. I really hope that this year will be less stressful. For all of us." Natty sat across from me. I sat up again, Poppy taking a seat next to me again. We've undoubtedly had enough excitement to last a decade. Fighting black magicians, uncovering intrigues and conspiracies, and then the fight against Harlow, where Natty's protective instinct kicked in and she intercepted the Cruciatus curse meant for me.

"And funnier", Cressida piped up. "Maybe someone finally got the stick out of Black's ass and we're presented with a normal Hogwarts year again."

"CRESSIDA!" Poppy seemed appalled at our friend's choice of words. We burst out laughing together.

"I'll never get that picture out of my head", Natty giggled.

"Who put the stick up his ass in the first place?" I wondered jokingly. "Yuck! Y/N stop! I don't want to hear about Black's weird fetishes," Poppy squeaked. I just laughed harder.

With a stomach ache and tears in my eyes again, this time from laughing, I felt a look on me. I turned to the door of our little compartment and when I saw who was there staring at me my heart gave a mighty jump. There he stood, taller and stronger than he had been before summer vacation, deep shadows under hazel eyes, hair even messier than usual.

"Sebastian!" I got up and walked over to him in the hallway, closing the compartment door behind me.

"Hey Y/N." Merlin, how I wish I could hug him right here, right now and never let go. "Nice to see you." A gentle smile crept onto his face, making his freckles dance. How I missed that smile, that face, that boy - now a man.

We only kept meagre in touch through owl mail over the summer. He continued to search for a cure for Anne and for his sister herself, and I spent the summer with my friends to take my mind off the past school year. So I visited Poppy at her grandmother's and the two of us kicked some asses at a few poaching camps now and then. I also showed my friends around the muggle world a bit, which was more fun than expected. Cressida was so fascinated by everything and succumbed to complete sensory overload. Poppy must have felt like she was in heaven around the zoo. She would have liked to take every animal with her. At the tigers' cage, we had to stop her from climbing into the enclosure and petting the "big striped cats". Natty, on the other hand, was impressed by the delicacies and immediately stocked up on a year's supply of sweets.

"Nice to see you too. But what are you doing here on the train? Feldcroft is really close to Hogwarts!?" I enjoyed every second I got to look at him. He had been major eye candy for the past year, but now?! Damn Y/N! Leave these thoughts. You two are just friends after all. Unfortunately. How many times have I caught myself imagining kissing him. How often have I felt the urge to actually do this when he was standing in front of me. How many times have I just wanted to touch him. How many times have I secretly inhaled his scent as if it were a drug I could not live without. Too often.

"I've been touring every library I could find in London over the last week. And I think I'm on to something there. I was able to borrow a few books."

I raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You could borrow books on black magic? Simply that way? Also as a student? Have I missed something?"

Sebastian's eyes went a shade darker and a mischievous grin crept on his face. "Let's put it this way: the library doesn't know that I borrowed the books."

"SEBASTIAN," I whisper-yelled. "You are kidding me!"

"Why are you so surprised? You know I like to bend the rules."

I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest. "Yes, and please remind me again why I still stand by you."

"Because you're having too much fun with me. Or maybe it's my irresistible charm or my good looks," he joked with a wink.

I rolled my eyes, "Stop it, I'll have to vomit." He might be right, I wasn't sure, but his looks were definitely a huge bonus point for him.

"If that isn't my favorite heroine!" Sebastian's expression darkened at the sight of Garreth Weasley. The redhead strutted towards us and put his arm around my shoulders. "How are you doing? Am I crazy, or have you gotten even prettier over the summer?" Now the urge to vomit was real. Not that I couldn't stand Garreth, quite the contrary: we were good friends. But I was embarrassed by his constant attempts to flirt. And he flirted with every girl in our year who wasn't in the trees by three.

"Hi Garreth. Nice to see you didn't kill yourself with your experiments over the summer," I teased.

"Please excuse me. I was actually on my way to get some chocolate frogs for Ominis and me. See you in the great hall", Sebastian said his farewell to us. Garreth babbled something about his latest potions experiments, but I wasn't listening. I preferred to watch the Slytherin until he was out of sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been a long time since my last attempts at FF. Please excuse me for being a little rusty. I honestly never thought I'd write again, but the Sebastian quest line inspired me tremendously.

Please let me know your opinion.

By the way, I also created a Spotify playlist that goes with a few of my ideas that are yet to come:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5lhCWRct5xF2JQx2Z1Osfa?si=7d0971ef2742475e

See you guys soon :)