In the Shadow of Power - Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 4

"I'm glad you chose me to go with you to Hogsmeade. I was actually going to invite you myself until I got Professor Weasley's owl," Sebastian said as they walked the road to Hogsmeade.

"Well then, I'm extra glad that I said I wanted to go with you." Alayna was surprised to hear that he had been planning on asking her to go to the village. Apparently, she had made quite the impression that morning.

"You'll love it, there's so many amazing shops. I'm a fan of Zonko's myself."

"What's Zonko's?"

"A sort of everything shop for all sorts of fun little items. A lot of prank and trick stuff." She got the feeling that he liked the prank stuff most of all by the mischievous smile on his face. She wondered if that was another trait of Slytherins, being mischievous.

"Sounds interesting. I might not have time to go today though, there's a lot of things I need to get."

"Another time then. Must suck that you lost all your luggage."

"Having Hogsmeade so close by is nice though, I'll be able to replace everything. My home is so isolated that it could be difficult to get things we needed." The path they took wound past fields and over streams that all flowed down into the lake.

"Where are you from?"

"Damerel. It's in another valley further north."

"Never heard of it, so I guess you must be isolated," Sebastian laughed. They passed by a short path that led to a rather ominous archway with lots of warning signs. Past it was a forest with huge looming trees. "That's the Forbidden Forest. Full of all sorts of nasty creatures. It's off limits to students, but I think the professors should trust our ability to defend ourselves a bit more. Especially given your show today."

"It was nothing really and I bet you held back to be nice." After hearing that Sebastian was one of Professor Hecat's best students, she found it hard to believe that he hadn't been holding back against the new student to be kind.

"Me? Hold back? I'm offended that you would think so, I would never do you a disservice like that." Sebastian smiled, clearly not actually offended she thought he'd held back. "Truly, you're a very good duelist. I might have underestimated you." They stepped to the side of the path as a cart approached them. Alayna was startled to see the thestrals pulling it. In all of the chaos after the dragon attack, she had forgotten about what happened to George. Her mind had blocked it out. But she had seen death now and could see the nearly skeleton horses pulling the cart as it passed.

"I always thought having thestrals pull carriages to be a bit grim," Sebastian commented not even looking at the cart.

"You can see them too?" Alayna turned her attention away from the thestrals and stepped faster to walk beside him on the path again.

"Unfortunately, yes." He didn't offer any other information about the circumstances surrounding how he had witnessed death and Alayna didn't ask. She didn't really want to talk about George either. On that somber note, they both fell silent as they began walking up the switchback path leading to the village.

"We're almost there," Sebastian said as they neared the top. They crossed one more bridge and then they were walking into the village of Hogsmeade. Alayna had spent some time walking around London while she was there with Professor Fig and seen how busy the city could be. Hogsmeade seemed nearly as busy with the number of residents and students walking about. Shops and homes lined the streets so that there was something new to see everywhere Alayna looked.

"Welcome to Hogsmeade," Sebastian said, stopping once they had entered the town. "You have a list of things to get I assume? There's something I need to get for my sister, so we can split up and meet in the town square once you're done."