Unspeakables; Rule One

Chapter Eight: Food is Healing, Food is Comfort, Food is Love

Sebastian Sallow forgot how incredible the cooking was at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His mother used to say that food was love and love was healing, so the only reasonable explanation was that the house elves of Hogwarts had somehow nagged her recipe book before their house burned; this meal was bringing him back to life. Their food was maybe the closest to what he remembered his mother's meals tasting like and every bite smoothed over an old scar in his heart. Maybe the food here truly had her healing power of love, or maybe it had just been that long since his parents had died.

He, himself, was not a good cook, and he often wondered if it was because he didn't know how to put his love into anything he did. Many times over the years, he would attempt to make his twin sister, Anne, her favorite meals because Merlin knows Anne needed the healing. He once saved every summer sickle he earned while harvesting lacewing flies for J.J. Pippin just to purchase the ingredients for scotch eggs. He was so excited to surprise Anne with the breaded delight that he wasn't paying attention to how long the eggs had been in the oil. To say they were a disaster was an understatement; he'd seen potions burn with less fury. From there on, he swore off cooking, determined to heal Anne in a different way. He would go through every different way and exhaust any and all options. However, "every different way" still wasn't working, and Sebastian was getting desperate and angry.  He was failing himself, his sister, and his parents by not being able to get themselves away from his Uncle. The only family he and his twin had left, and the man was awful. With Anne so sick, they couldn't leave his grasp. To leave, he needed to find her a cure, and nothing he has tried to give her works. This left him spending another summer eating the incredibly bland food his awful Uncle Solomon provided and the itch to jump at the man's throat.

The first year's sorting ceremony was a blur; he couldn't take his eyes off of his dinner, and the second his lips touched his fork, the whole awful summer, filled to the brim with failure, had been worth it.

This was his last year sitting at this table, taking his classes, and eating this food.

He enjoyed the warmth and rich flavor of the shepherd's pie in front of him, just wishing the flavor would drown out the conversation at hand between the Slytherin quidditch captain, Imelda Reyes, and his best friend, Ominis Gaunt. Despite Sebastian's unwavering loyalty, he couldn't really remember why he put up with Ominis's constant nagging, especially when it meant he was going to push Sebastian into a corner.

"I despise agreeing with you, Reyes, but you have a point. This is our last year at Hogwarts. You can't give up on the team, Sebastian. You all are already short a player because of Violet McDowell's injury last spring. Don't make this harder for Slytherin." His best friend finished.

The corner was being introduced to Sebastian, and Ominis was going to have them shake hands like proper gentlemen. Pushing is all Ominis did, and at this point, it was a skill. You'd think growing up with a horrendously evil family such as the Gaunts would make the blind blonde boy sitting to his left a respecter of persons. Someone who understood choices, someone who understood that people had the freedom to make choices. But no, Ominis Gaunt liked control, and for things to be in their place, and in his mind, Sebastian's place was next to Imelda Reyes on the quidditch pitch.

He just didn't care.

Quidditch seemed trivial compared to his sister. Even his classes laid to waste when he thought of her.

He didn't care if it was inconvenient to Slytherin's team because, yes, he was a good beater, and Violet was a good keeper, but the team certainly wasn't reliant on them. Violet got injured, her parents threw a fuss, and now she wasn't playing anymore, but she was easily replaceable, and so was he. The team's success was really only reliant on Captain Reyes. They'd survive without him.