Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Fourty-One: Power Couple

His hand was tight around mine as we raced through the grounds of the castle, grinning madly, laughs escaping our delighted lips as we did. Students from other houses stated after us, pointing fingers and jaws falling open.

It wasn't an odd sight to see me with Sebastian Sallow these days. I didn't assume that the students in our year were staring in open mouthed shock because of that. No, the odd sight was to see Sebastian Sallow smiling from ear to ear as he ran across the castle grounds. He hadn't been this care free since before I'd known him, and I felt my heart soar at the idea that I was bringing him this much happiness.

That was the beauty of Sebastian.

If he felt comfortable with you, if he felt seen and safe, he wouldn't reserve the best parts of himself. He'd let them out of their locked box to glimpse the light of day, and he would bask in its glory.

He'd been misunderstood and shamed for so long, by everyone that held him close, by those who claimed to love him, causing him to lock this joyous side of himself away. This side of him that relished in the Dark Arts, that shone brighter than the rest of the starts in the galaxy combined because he was smiling and he was accepted.

He darted ahead of me, pushing the doors open and pulling me into the castle, a giggle escaping my lips as he led us off towards the Map Chamber entrance. Rushing down spiral staircases, our boots echoed through abandoned corridors, our eyes met with increasingly decaying stone.

His laughter was music to my ears, a gift that I simply couldn't get enough of as it bounced off the walls.

I hoped he'd always laugh with me.

My smile didn't fade until we were standing above the entrance, one final staircase separating us from the portraits of the Keepers I still had the desire to burn to the ground. Sebastian was three steps down before he noticed I wasn't following him anymore. My hands were shaking, my head tilted to the side as I pondered my options and flicked my finger against the emerald green hilt on my new wand.

"What is it?"

"Trying to decide what to do with the Keeper's portraits."

He furrowed his brows, "I'm not following. You don't need to explain to them-"

"No, I'm trying to decide if I want to burn them to the ground or force them to tell me about Slytherin."

He grinned at me toothily, his dazzling smile still making my heart skip a beat even as I was contemplating the ruin of the last source of ancient magic knowledge at my finger tips.

"They all have second portraits," I continued as he watched my fingers wrap tightly around my wand. "We'd need to stop them from moving out of them and warning anybody that we're here."

Sebastian joined me again, lacing his fingers through my free hand and pressed the tip of his own wand to my nose before waving it around casually between us. The dark glint in his eye told me he'd had an idea.

"Perhaps we could... persuade them."

I glanced at his wand, then the wicked grin that was split over his face. His eyes were almost entirely black, his freckled face no longer pinched like it had been earlier today. I grinned back, my heart racing as I raised my wand to meet his. The air seemed to fizzle and crack between them, green sparks emitting from the tips, creating a cascade of fireworks.

"You haven't cast it since that day," I whispered, remembering the day so long ago when we both cast the unforgivable. I still harbored feelings of guilt about Ominis, but that still didn't change that I wanted to use it again.

He smiled, "No better time to use it, don't you agree?"

He pulled me forward, both of us rushing down to the bottom of the spiral staircase, our feet halting one final time outside of the midnight blue doors. Hurriedly, I cast a disillusionment charm over the both of us, whispering instructions to him as I did so.