In the Shadow of Power - Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 24

Alayna stood motionless, staring at the empty desks in the classroom. Anywhere but at Sebastian. He had since lifted his head to look at her, but did not make the first move.

"What do you want, Sallow?" Alayna eventually asked.

"Come on, don't be like that, Alayna." Sebastian continued to speak quietly. The tone of his voice alone made her want to cave immediately, but she wasn't going to forgive him so easily. "I understand why you've been avoiding me. What happened in the Scriptorium..."

"What about it?" She finally turned to look at him and had to shove down the urge to console him. He looked genuinely depressed. In fact, exactly what she had worried might happen to him if something happened to Anne.

"I...I wasn't sure how to apologize. We had to use that curse and even though we had to it has still been devouring me." Sebastian rubbed at his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. "When I cast it and you...fell to the ground screaming." His face went pale. Had she screamed at the time? She couldn't even remember. It had all just been pain. Sudden realization crossed Alayna's mind as she thought about what Sebastian was saying.

"Like Anne..." Alayna realized. She had sounded like Anne did when she was in pain, but this time it had been Sebastian's fault.

"It was so much worse than that, Alayna. I've never heard someone cry in pain like that. I didn't know what to do." Sebastian took a deep breath before continuing. "I should have apologized, checked to see if you were okay, but I was just panicking. The only thing I could focus on was finding something to help Anne and getting out of there." Alayna glanced towards the ground again. She had to understand where he was coming from. If it had been her in his shoes, she would have been distraught too.

"So I'm apologizing now. And...how are you?" Sebastian asked.

"I'm...alright. Ominis helped a bit." Alayna rubbed at her arm, suddenly very aware of how close they were. Sebastian was only a few inches taller than her, but he felt towering with his hand pressed against the wall near her head. "It's...probably going to take me some time to process all of it." If she was being honest, it could take years to process that kind of pain.

"Right...I'm just glad you're okay. And can we please stop avoiding each other? I miss you." Alayna's eyes shot up to meet Sebastian's trying to figure out his meaning. Was there something more to what he said? Her own cheeks were heated, but it was so hard to tell how Sebastian felt when he would flirt with pretty much anything.

"Yeah, we can. I missed you too." She glanced away again which only lead to her being surprised when Sebastian hugged her. They'd hugged before but she had been the one to initiate it and because she had been feeling sorry for him. This was a different kind of hug, not that she was complaining as she wrapped her arms around him in return. It felt so nice to get a hug when she was so far from home. She missed the hugs from her family and the days they spent together.

"Have you found anything useful yet in Salazar Slytherin's spellbook?" Alayna asked as Sebastian pulled away.

"Not yet, there's a lot to look through in that book. The guy really knew a lot about magic. I've been trying to see if there's anything about ancient magic in there for you too."

"Oh, thanks. I didn't even think about that." Salazar Slytherin had lived hundreds of years before the Keepers and it sounded like ancient magic had once been more prevalent in the wizarding world. Not to mention he sounded like the type of guy to be a little obsessed with power and being able to control ancient magic would have been right up his alley.

"But, like I said, so far nothing," Sebastian sighed. "I promise I'll let you know as soon as I find something useful."

"Of course, take your time." She had seen how thick that book was and had to imagine it was full of very dense material. "If only we could get you to pay this much attention to your studies."