Stars in Shadows | Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 11

Y/n's Perspective

One day at breakfast, Andrew let out an annoyed groan. "What magical creature only has five letters in its name?" I glance over at him. He was working on a crossword puzzle in the Daily Prophet.

"Bitch." Duncan cackles to himself.

Andrew doesn't bother looking up from his newspaper. "It's rude to describe yourself like that." I let out a small giggle, pressing my hand to my mouth. Andrew smirks, his eyes still trained on his puzzle.

"It starts with the letter 'P'." Amit hints.

"Penis," Samantha and I say automatically. Without looking at each other we high-five.

Amit looks at us blankly as titters erupt over the Ravenclaw table. Andrew snorts, writing with his quill. "It's 'pixie'. Viscous little things." He neatly folds up his newspaper and puts his quill away.

I see a brown blur suddenly swoop down in front of me, making me gasp. "Woody!" I gently stroked his head. "You're finally back!"

Woody affectionately pecks my finger before holding his leg out to me. I eagerly untied the letter from Woody's leg. After I opened it, Woody flew off. I held my breath with anticipation as I unrolled the parchment.

I recognized my mother's neat cursive writing at once.

Sweetheart,

I'm sorry. I thought it was best that I keep Sebastian's letters away from you during the summer. I hope you can forgive me one day, but they are no longer in my possession. But it's for the best. I know you'll understand eventually. Just know, that everything I do is because I want what's best for you.

I understand if you don't want to write to me for a while. I hope your studies are going well. Just remember, that I love you more than all the all the stars in the universe combined.

- Mum

I reread the letter several times. I felt a mix of different emotions. A part of me wanted to be angry at her. But lately, Sebastian was pissing me the hell off. Every time we met up to check on Onyx, he was sullen. He didn't bother talking to me unless it was about the baby niffler we were raising.

Deep down, I was tired of him. Tired of overanalyzing whatever was going on between us and was exhausted by all the unspoken tension between us.

I thought about everything carefully. Maybe it was for the best that I never got to see the letters Sebastian sent in the summer. It's not like something he wrote in the past would fix our current relationship. I snort in disbelief to myself.

A week ago, I was utterly desperate for my mother to respond back to me. And now? A strange sense of relief filled me. Yes, it was for the best that my mother kept those letters away. I had to think with my head instead of my heart.

"Y/n?" Andrew's voice rouses me from my stupor. I look over to see him and Everett looking at me expectantly. "Ready for quidditch tryouts?'