The Raven and the Snake (Sebastian Sallow x Ravenclaw MC)

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The familiar pops and cracks of apparition sounded throughout the quiet field as Professor Fig and the Aurors returned, though those were the only noises being made upon their arrival, as not one of them said a word.

Sebastian didn't make any sort of indication that he'd even noticed their return as he stood motionlessly amidst the carnage he'd wrought, his grip on his wand strong enough to make his knuckles white, due to both his anger and his restraint. Because he would have liked nothing more than to continue. To keep firing off spell after spell, so that he wouldn't have to think.

There may have been no more goblin targets for him to unleash that wrath on anymore, but the Aurors and Professor Fig would have satisfied Sebastian just as much in that moment—if not even more, because this was their fault, and they hadn't listened.

So Sebastian only continued to grip his wand tighter as their footsteps neared closer, because even in his current state which seemed to be fogged and muddied by his rage and his vitriol, he was at least aware that giving into those desires would only result in either his expulsion, or a trip to Azkaban.

In fact, Sebastian didn't need to worry about Azkaban at all. Because despite the dead goblins littered and strewn about his feet—some whole, and some in pieces—Sebastian hadn't used the Killing Curse even once; a fact that was rather obvious to any who even took a passing glance at the bodies around him. Though he hadn't refrained from using it due to any sort of fear of Azkaban, or that Madam Blake and the other Aurors would have realized upon their return.

No. Sebastian simply hadn't cast the Killing Curse because he'd wanted the goblins to truly suffer.

He'd wanted to hear their screams as he boiled and burned them alive with Confringo, or sliced them in half with Diffindo, or lifted them and then shattered them to the ground after casting Glacius. Sebastian may have even laughed, if he wasn't still so consumed by his rage; because apparently polite Wizarding society preferred the gore and torture he'd inflicted, rather than if he'd simply put the goblins painlessly out of their misery by using the Killing Curse instead.

So Sebastian had absolutely nothing to hide and felt absolutely no shame as Fig and the rest of them surveyed the area and his 'self-defense' handiwork in a somewhat disturbed silence—though Madame Blake was eventually the first one to break it.

"What happened here?" she finally asked, her question both a demand and an accusation.

Sebastian, for his part, most likely would have been angry at any of the words out of any of their mouths in that moment. But her question—combined with the way in which she'd voiced it—did her no favours as he also finally broke his silence and acknowledged their existence.

"What happened here? What do you think happened?" Sebastian snapped as he spun to face them all. "Clora was taken! And if not for me, there'd have been no witnesses, because apparently nobody other than myself thought the situation dire enough to actually accompany her on such a dangerous plan!"

"I can see that she's been taken," Madam Blake's voice was even and diplomatic, as if to contrast and cool Sebastian's. "Give me specifics. How? And why is Lodgok dead, too?"

Sebastian shook his head and barked a sharp, humourless laugh. Blake hadn't accused him of murdering Lodgok directly, but it was nonetheless clear in her tone, and the way she looked at him.

"Lodgok is dead because Ranrok realized he was a traitor—something that you should have accounted for in all of your wisdom, seeing as the entire plan hinged on Ranrok trusting him," Sebastian hissed, his voice raising higher and higher with every word as he continued to white-knuckle his wand. "How is it that out of a group of Aurors and a professor, I was somehow the only one against letting Clora do this? That not one intelligent thought managed to form between you all? It's your fault she was taken, thanks to your lack of care and sheer stupidity!"

Madame Blake flared her nostrils and worked her jaw, clearly reigning in her own emotions before responding. "Lodgok being outed as a traitor or not, there was always going to be risks involved with Clora's plan. Risks that she knew—"

"Risks that she shouldn't have taken, or even been allowed to take!" Sebastian countered harshly, his voice nearly a snarl. "Clora would have lowered herself into a damned volcano if she thought it might help the current situation, but you're the ones who should have known better, and should have stopped her from doing so! Instead, you practically handed her the blasted rope, and now she's gone because of you—all of you."

There wasn't a single thing any of them could have said or done to ease Sebastian's ire in that moment—short of miraculously producing Clora out of thin air, that is—which was perhaps why nothing but silence followed his outburst.

Though even their silence fuelled Sebastian's rage as he shook his head sharply and spun on his heel to pace, angrily kicking bodies or parts of them out of the way as he fumed.

"Sebastian," Professor Fig finally spoke up then. "Sebastian, my boy—"

"Don't," Sebastian snapped as he came to an immediate stop. "Whatever you're thinking of saying to calm me down—don't. Don't even try."

Despite his clear anger and frustration with the lot of them, though, part of Sebastian knew it wasn't completely their fault. Not fully, at least. Because he knew Clora, and so he knew that if the threats to the student body and the professors continued the way they'd been, it would have only been a matter of time before she found a way to carry out her plan regardless, with or without Auror and professor supervision and blessing. The only difference was, at least now they'd known about it.

But it was easier to blame somebody. And so Sebastian not only blamed the Aurors, but himself, as well.

The image of Clora bound in their room at the Three Broomsticks just the night before kept popping into Sebastian's thoughts, as if to tease him and mock him and show him what he'd only just had within his grasp, and how he'd let it go. How he should have just kept Clora there, tied her to the bed, cast a Silencio and Quietus, and then been done with it.

Clora certainly wouldn't have been very happy about it, of course. But Sebastian would have preferred to have an angry Clora than no Clora at all.

Thinking of that, and of all the things that Sebastian could have done to prevent the current outcome and keep Clora safe, made his anger at the Aurors and Fig ebb away more and more by the moment. Though it didn't vanish, as that anger only redirected itself squarely at himself instead.

"...I understand all too well that there's not a thing I might say or do to ease your mind," Professor Fig continued with a knowing look in his eyes as he approached Sebastian calmly. "But perhaps the Map Chamber could."

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