Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Fifty-Two: Expectations

It only took a week for Thorfinn Gaunt to start collecting his debt.

He entered the small room the Saturday after he'd taken Sebastian from Azkaban, finding him sat at the desk, nose in a book, as he'd often found him in the summers when Ominis had brought him home, and Thorfinn had begun devising his plan. Sebastian shot him a glare as Thorfinn stepped into the room and turned towards me.

I had taken to sitting in the chair behind the door, always hoping to keep myself tucked just enough out of sight that Thorfinn may leave and return later. It never worked, but I kept hoping. Sebastian hadn't yet found a way out of an Unbreakable Vow, and I was stuck between death and servitude. All I had left was hope.

A chill crept up my spine as his cold grey eyes settled onto me, making me shiver. I didn't like the sound of what he was asking me to do, and knew from the look on his face that he was here to take me.

He'd explained his terms not long after we'd returned from Azkaban with Sebastian, pulling me from the room by my arm, and demanding to speak, which had enraged a still wandless Sebastian. He'd launched himself at Thorfinn, and I'd shouted to stop him, found myself watching has Thorfinn had laughed coldly, throwing Sebastian off of him with a flick of his wand.

There was no hesitation in what he'd done next.

"Crucio!"

He'd crumbled instantly, screaming and thrashing in pain as I tumbled forward to him. I tried to place my hands on him, to stop him from thrashing and hitting his head on the cold marble floor, but it was useless. Thorfinn kept at it, his eyes cold, and despite the glaring red bind of the vow on his exposed hand, he didn't even flinch.

"Stop it! Stop it, you're supposed to keep him safe!" I shouted, my voice cracking as Sebastian's screams ripped through the air, far louder than they'd been when I'd cast on him. I knew personally the level of pain that Thorfinn was casting on him, and my heart broke in half as I'd watched, helpless.

I knew that feeling of power, knew just how intoxicated it made me, and knew I'd wanted to feel it again. But watching Sebastian crumble and scream to a wand that wasn't mine, that truly wished him ill, broke something inside of me. Anger and black coldness welled inside my chest, spilling from my split heart and drowned out everything else.

The coldness of the magic in my veins reared and burst forth, faster than it had ever done. I'd sobbed, eyes still on Sebastian as it's blood red tendrils had broken free of my hand and forced Thorfinn Gaunt to break the spell, wrapping tightly around his throat and squeezing the air from his lungs.

Sebastian's screams stopped, replaced by ragged breathing as he caught his breath, hands clutched as his ribs, and I'd gone to touch him again, when the wind left my lungs, stolen by something clenching my windpipe. Confused hands clawed at my throat as I attempted to pull of an invisible pressure, when the burning sensation started on my arm. The scars of the Unbreakable Vow burned red, and I knew it was because of my magic. The more my magic tried to kill Thorfinn, the faster the Vow would kill me.

Sebastian had sat up, pulling me into his body as I felt hot tears prick my eyes and my vision blurred. His body was solid ground, a tether I'd desperately needed as the air was squeezed from my lungs and my world spun.

It was his touch that calmed me.

He was alive- solidly, completely alive and unharmed. He was safe, calling out to me, trying to calm me through my panic as the blackness grew at the corners of my vision. I clung to his robes and wept as I felt him, forcing myself to focus on the fact that he was here, he was alive and he was safe.

As if it was listening to my thoughts, the magic released Thorfinn, and in an instant, air flooded my lungs, and the scar twined around my wrist no longer burned white-hot as the bound man took in a ragged breath. Slowly my magic retreated from Thorfinn and back into my veins, painfully full.