Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Twenty-Nine: An Announcement from the Headmaster

Fall air whipped around Poppy and I as we walked across the grounds away from our Care of Magical Creatures lesson Monday afternoon. I pulled my cloak and scarf tighter around me, regretting leaving my gloves in the dungeon common room I called home. Poppy on the other hand, more used to how quickly the weather turned than I was, was pulling her gloves on.

"Professor Howin should have a full bucket of Bowtruckles next lesson by the sounds of it. It'll be nice to see them again."

I smiled warmly at her. "It definitely will be. I hardly remember the lesson on them from fifth year."

"Yeah, well, you were a little busy hiding a dragon egg at the time," she laughed.

Poppy always had this effect on me, giving me the ability to simply relax. The dreams didn't matter, the poachers didn't matter, and certainly those damned wisps didn't matter. I was grateful that even amongst the chaos of the rest of my life, I had this one beacon of light in my Hufflepuff companion.

"Speaking of magical creatures," I lowered my voice to a whisper as we approached the large oak double doors. "After dinner tonight, go drop your things in your common room and meet us outside the Room of Requirement. We still have to talk about those poachers."

"I have an update from Gran on that too," Poppy said, her eyes widening. "We know it's the same group from outside Paris. But she's worried that my parents are involved."

"What? Oh, Poppy-"

She waved a hand cutting me off. "If they are involved, so be it. Even more reason to stop them. It drives me mental, their refusal to back out of poaching."

Our boots were clicking across the marble flooring as we walked towards the Great Hall, our voices still low. Poppy had only told me of her family history after a whole year of active disruption of Poacher rings, and I couldn't help but wonder what we would tell Sebastian and Ominis.

"Have you told Ominis?"

A deep blush rose up, coloring Poppy's cheeks scarlet. I raised my eyebrows at her, a small smirk pulling at the corners of my lips. "No, I haven't. I've told him that I know what it's like to have family you want nothing to do with, and he hasn't pried."

"You two seem to be awfully close lately. Ominis Gaunt doesn't follow just anyone around, you know," I said slyly, moving up the steps  in the crowd of students.

"Neither does Sebastian Sallow," Poppy quipped back. And now it was my turn to blush.

"Poppy, it's not like that," I whispered fiercely, ignoring the heat rising through my body. "We tried that already. We're just friends."

She let out a soft snort. "Right. And I'm a Kneazle."

I glared at her, though I was unable to keep the smile from my face entirely. "Poppy, this isn't about Sebastian and I. This is supposed to be you telling me about you and Ominis."

"I'll spill the beans when you do."

"Don't hold your breath, Sweeting. She doesn't share anywhere near the things she should," the sharp voice of Arcturus Black cut in from behind us just before we entered the hall.

Clenching my teeth, I turned slowly on my heel to look at my fellow Chaser. He was standing directly behind us, arms crossed and a nasty smile donning his features. He looked smug.

"Excuse me, what are you on about, Black?"

He sneered as he spoke next, "Let's count. Not telling anyone what actually happened to Fig, having a surprising amount of knowledge about Unforgivable Curses for someone who didn't even know she was a witch until two years ago, not even looking at Sallow for an entire year and now you're inseparable again, always sneaking off together. Shall I keep going?"