The Devil Doesn't Bargain (MatD part 2)

Chapter FIVE - Second Acceptance

Sebastian's grin widened farther than perhaps I'd yet seen it. His brows pulled up at the center and his nose scrunched at the bridge. 

"As if you even have to ask!" He pressed a small kiss to my lips but quickly pulled back and side eyed the headstones through squinted lids. "Sorry mom and dad."

I giggled.

Unwinding his limbs from mine, he stood and stretched, tugging at the collar of the odd shirt. It was painfully obvious now just how awkwardly altered the clothes were. A stretch of slightly off-white fabric ran up either side of the shirt and tucked under his arms. The stitching there also seemed haphazard and a hint away from precision. I wondered if wizards hand-stitched their clothes often - it seemed something there ought to be magic for. The fabric shifted as Sebastian flourished a hand dramatically down to me, dipping his back lower in a graceless bow.

"My lady." He grinned from beneath a few brown locks that had worked their way over his brows. "I do believe we must be off now. We must make haste." His tone of voice shifted to that of a lofty gentleman.

I scoffed but took his hand. "Make... haste?"

"Of course! We haven't any time to waste madame! It is with upmost importance that we get to... uh... to wherever it is we must to sort out your predicament this instant!"

This side of Sebastian - the goofy, childlike, over the top gentleman side - was something I hoped never to lose. It had seemed a distant memory over the last month or so as our world had flipped on its head. I was glad to see it had survived the turn.

As I stood, I felt the muscles within my legs groan and my kneecaps tingle. A quick bought of dizziness swam over my vision and Sebastian almost immediately tugged my body to his, allowing me the security of his arms to hold me upright.

His smile and act dropped instantly as his eyes darted around my face. "Atley, are you alright?"

I tried to wave him off but my wrist felt too heavy and I could only lift my arm a quarter of the way up. "Fine. I'm fine. Just- I think we will need to wait to 'sort out my predicament'. I'm sorry." I smiled weekly, an attempt to swallow down the uncomfortable knot tying itself around my organs.

Sebastian saw straight through me.

He took a deep breath and shook his head slowly, corner of his lip turning upwards but a sadness still behind his eyes I pretended not to see.

He dipped his fingers under my chin, thumb grazing my bottom lip and turning my face up to his. "You have nothing to be sorry for my cabbage." 

Something winked behind his lashes and he whispered over his shoulder. "Hear that one dad?" He winked and turned back to me for only a fraction of a second before turning his whole head back to the stones and whispering loudly. "Don't watch."

A moment later his red cheeks hummed heat to mine, his lips pressed over my own in a passionate but not indecent kiss.

When he pulled back, he kept our noses nearly brushing and faces just close enough to look clearly into each others eyes. The admiration and awe that sat beneath his formed little butterflies within my stomach all over again.

"Merlin Atley. I love you so much."

The statement seemed a bit silly especially in his breathy, quieted voice and I laughed softly but he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and spoke again.

"I mean it."

----

As we walked slowly back up to the Sallow home, Sebastian groaned under his breath. "Which one do you think will be more furious over our absence?"

I quirked a brow.

"Anne or Ominis?" He clarified.

I hoped neither of them would be too upset but decided that probably wasn't the answer Sebastian was searching for.

"Anne?"

"Definitely Anne." He nodded, and rolled his shoulders back as we stepped up to the door. The smell of freshly churned dirt still hung heavy in the air.

Ominis had been the correct answer.

"You two will be the death of me! Why must you insist on disappearing? What insatiably stupid notion did you decide to act on now?"

"I took her to my parent's grave."

"Just as I thou- wait, you what?"

Sebastian took a step forward but Ominis moved back out of reach.

"Let either Anne or I know beforehand next time." He snipped.

Sebastian slapped a hand up to his head in dramatic salute. "Sir, yes sir!"

"Sebastian don't." I tapped my fingers to his forearm.

"Oh c'mon, I'm just having a bit of fun."

"This came while you were out." Anne shuffled into the space from somewhere in the shadows behind me and I jumped, startled at her sudden appearance. 

Sebastian eyed me with a teasing smirk but turned to his sister and took the beige envelope and folded parchment from her hands.

"It's a letter from Professor Weasley. I've been allowed to return to Hogwarts with the three of you." Her eyes puffy and red but her lips turned ever so slightly upwards as she spoke. "As it is nearly the end of term though, I won't be allowed to attend classes with you. I'm to be started on 'catchup' work from where I left off. It ought to be much of the 5th year classes truth be told but... it's a start. Professor Weasley wrote that if I am to pass a proficiency test at the end of the year, I'll be allowed to return to Hogwarts as a 6th year next fall."

Sebastian's eyes traced over the parchment and he hummed. "We need to celebrate."

Ominis groaned.

The word seemed illegal on such a day as a funeral.

Anne sounded vaguely offended. "Celebrate?" 

Sebastian's toothy grin touched his cheeks. "It's not every day a witch gets her second Hogwarts acceptance letter!"