Shadow of the Key | Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 23: After Hours

"I saw you dancing in a crowded room, you look so happy when I'm not with you."

- The Weeknd

~

WARNING: This chapter mentions sexually explicit content and sexual assault.

Sebastian's POV

He was, in the very sense of the word, a fucking twat.

He had one of the most important people walk into his life, someone who had stayed with him through his worst, and he had taken advantage of her when she was vulnerable.

Angels like her shouldn't be flying next to devils like him.

The day that Amelia was assaulted by Harlow, he didn't even consider her own feelings before he brought her into his room and slept next to her, then dragged her to a fucking party right after and roamed his eager hands on her body.

Of course he wanted to take care of her, but he primarily just wanted to be with her, to hold her, to touch her.

He had to muster every bit of self-restraint he had to resist the urge to kiss her.

They had only ever been friends, but he can't deny the fact that he's had a crush on her since the fifth year. Ever since she had walked into the bloody Sorting Ceremony.

But he bottled those feelings away for those two years.

All those adventures they went on together. Every time they hung out together in the Undercroft. Sneaking late into the Restricted Section with her and staying there until the early morning hours, noses buried in books. Jumping into leaf piles together. Sharing a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks. All those letters shared over the past two summers.

He kept pushing away those inner desires for her to resist tainting one of his most sacred friendships.

And he was doing a damn good job at doing it.

Until recently.

Until he saw all of his letters in her drawer. Until she had nearly died in his arms. Until Harlow and everyone else started coming after her.

He just wanted to protect her from those who wish to harm her. It filled him with pure rage that anyone would want to hurt someone as beautiful and sweet as she is.

He didn't even know how to tell her that one of her memories had potentially been altered.

When he had performed Legilimency on her, specifically when he saw the moment that her ancient magic triggered for the first time, there was a brief moment before the explosion occurred that the memory seemed to skip.

As if something else happened prior to it that someone didn't want her to know about.

He planned to tell her as soon as they were done, but her episode that followed was so heartbreaking, he didn't want to unintentionally trigger it again.

He knew diving into her dreams was invasive, it's nearly impossible to perform it with Legilimency.

But he was also an extremely skilled wizard who had a knack for improving spells.

She was Occluding everything else so well that he knew it was the only way to get a glimpse into what really happened that night.

Then, he accidentally peered into her dream inside the Restricted Section. She had told him she was just hiding from Peeves, but he could've sworn he heard someone else there with her before she was able to Occlude that too.