Sallow

13 I came alone

Sebastian

I sat in the great hall at dinner thinking about my encounter with Della. She'd come up to me and asked for my help. Bloody audacious she was, considering what she'd done. But she'd mentioned it had to do with Ranrok and Rookwood, and whatever else she was involved in, so I'd agreed. I was to meet her by the library tonight, and I couldn't tell whether I was pleased or annoyed with myself for getting involved. "You're not eating." Ominis' usual voice of reason interrupted my thoughts. "I'm not that hungry."

"You'll need it for your little excursion tonight."

"How did you kn-" I stopped mid sentence. Ominis always knew, I really shouldn't be surprised at this point. "Nevermind." We made our way back to the common room, and I sat idle on my bed, waiting for the agreed upon time to come around. After overthinking for hours on whether I should even be doing this at all, I got up and made my way to the viaduct entrance. Della wasn't there yet. From up here on the staircase, I had a very well-placed, strategic view of the library and the prefects, and they couldn't see me. I'd done this a million times, there was no need to stress. Except this time, you're doing it with someone you can't stand. Or maybe the feeling is something else...? I elected to ignore my own mind, and leant on the bannister, waiting for Della to arrive. She entered, and I watched her walk down the stairs. No matter how much I now detested her for the way she treated me, I could not deny how attractive I still found her. I had to consciously tell myself to stop thinking about it so I could focus on getting us in the restricted section without getting caught.

She came right up to me, and we spoke. I pointed out the prefects to her, and where our goal was. She replied sarcastically. Of course she did. I mentioned we couldn't be seen when -

"I can be sneaky." Without warning she turned to go and I almost had a heart-attack. Merlin she was going to get us caught before we had even started. I grabbed her and yanked her back towards me. We were now very close. I ignored it. Teaching her the disillusionment charm, we were ready to go. We made it into the library, when she beelined form some side-shelves.

Her face looked furious. "Damn! You told me the librarian would be gone by now!" Was she really whisper shouting at me right now? The nerve. I had gotten her in here, and she was mad at me? This was ridiculous. "I said usually." I replied, matching her energy. She responded loud. Too loud. Scribner glanced over, no doubt wondering if she'd hallucinated the noise or not. I grabbed Della forcefully and whipped her round out of sight. I didn't care that she was pressed against me. I didn't care that I could feel her heartbeat. Nor the fact that it was increasing the longer I kept her close to my body. Her scent made its way to my nose again. It was a pity I no longer liked her, she smelt really good. I strained my neck to look over my shoulder to see if Scribner was still curious, when Della made another blasted sound! I swear I going to murder this chick. It was high-pitched, and I glared at her while signalling her to be quiet. She bit her lip. Scribner had thankfully moved away.

"You just had to get your panties in a twist and be loud, didnt you." The words were out of mouth before I realised exactly what I'd said. She replied with the same energy. "My panties are perfectly fine, and I could've been louder." We stared at each for a moment. Her words and mine ran through my head. My mind went to the high-pitched sound she'd made, and other scenarios in which she might also make that sound. In which she might make that sound, louder. I wondered what panties she might be wearing, and if they were hard to take off - Where the fuck did that thought come from? Have I lost all my sanity? I felt my cheeks heat slightly, and hoped she hadn't seen. She continued speaking quickly, as if to rush out of whatever awkwardness we'd put ourselves in. "But I wasn't, so it's fine. Anyway, what do we do then?" I shook out of it, and explained the plan. Everything went smoothly, and we even had some friendly moments.

That was, until Peeves emerged. Fucking hell. The poltergeist just had to ruin everything. "Peeves don't you dare." Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Della freeze. She must be worried about getting in trouble. I told her how I had to go stop him, and to my own surprise, I made reference to our Hogsmeade trip - one that I'd tried to forget these recent weeks. I also referred to her as my friend. I shouldn't make that mistake again. She went on, as I went back to catch Peeves and I scolded myself. She'd given me an excuse to ignore her, and focus on Anne. I'd be a fool if I ruined that by going all soft on her and allowing myself to be distracted again. I almost caught Peeves in the main part of the library, when Scribner showed up.

This time, my troubles would be going to the headmaster. That was not good. She said I could avoid it if I ratted out my 'friend.' I thought about it.

"There was nobody else. I came alone."

There was no way I'd throw Della under the bus like that. Whatever she was involved in, It seemed important. She had also offered her support with Anne. Maybe it was stupid to take the fall for her. But I did, and Scribner lead me out of the library and up towards the headmaster's office.

Madam Scribner knocked and waited for the headmaster to respond. He opened the door and looked down his nose at us. Prat. "And why might you be here with a student at this hour?"

"Sneaking into the restricted section again, headmaster. Seems the normal detentions are not working, we may have need for more serious punishments." I looked headmaster Black right in the eyes. He didn't intimidate me. He rose his lip in disgust, and said; "How about a full ban from leaving the Hogwarts grounds, until, lets say, Christmas. Also, a letter to your Uncle. I'm sure he'll love the news." He smiled evilly at me. I couldn't leave the grounds until Christmas? That was around two whole months away. Ugh, just my luck. I mirrored his expression of disgust, and replied. "Fine."

"Is that how you address your superior?"

"Fine, Sir."

He slammed the door in my face without another word. Scribner had the decency to look as though she hadn't quite expected that long of a ban, but didnt say anything. I didn't even look at her before going back to my dorm as quick as i could. Ominis was reading what looked like a written card by the lake windows, and I coughed to announce myself. "So, how was it?"

"I got caught."

"And she not?"

"Well, I covered for her." Ominis got what looked like a contemplative look on his face, but said nothing. "Anyway what've you got?" It looked handwritten - or hand punctured; it was in braille. "Who do you know that can write in braille?" Ominis just looked down, and hid the card. He was hiding a smile. "It's nothing, I'm off to bed, see you tomorrow." And before I could get another word in, he'd gone. I sat and stared at the depths of the lake. Some silvery fish swam by. Maybe I could convince the merpeople to turn me into a fish and I could escape all my problems, swimming meaninglessly around for the rest of my life. But I couldn't leave Anne. I wouldn't. Not when the chance for a cure was still there. I sighed, and made my way to bed.