In the Shadow of Darkness | Sebastian Sallow

Summer Ends

I spent most of the summer worrying. Despite writing Mr. Pilliwickle to give him the full story (minus some details that would get me into trouble, as well) and managing to find an owl to send it, I never heard back from him. I did, however, receive plenty of mail from Natty, Poppy, and of course, Ominis.

Though Poppy had planned to visit her during the summer, her Gran had taken ill, making them cancel their yearly trip to London. Natty and her mother we visiting family in Uganda for the summer, so her letters were often filled with detailed descriptions of the surroundings. Ominis, on the other hand, seemed miserable spending the summer with his family. She felt bad, wishing she could invite him to stay for some sort of reprieve. Not that he'd be able to effectively blend in with the Muggles considering his need for a wand to "see" for him, anyway. With no access to the wizarding papers, he was her main source of information about Sebastian—not that there was any.

Though I doubted they would have made it to their intended recipient, I had started writing dozens of letters to Sebastian, but never sent one. I found myself writing too much or being unable to articulate at all. Most of them ended up thrown out. The night before leaving for my sixth year at Hogwarts, unable to sleep, I made one last attempt:

Sebastian,

I have spent these last months worried for your welfare after your last owl. I have heard nothing of you, but Ominis tells me that it's unlikely any of us will ever know what happened to you. I think back on the last year and even with all of the hardship, I wish I could relive everything once more simply so we could spend more time together, even if they were only a few moments. I wish I could have kept you off such a dark path, and I feel I will be guilty of not trying harder for the rest of my life. I can't imagine a Hogwarts without you there.

I miss you terribly and I hope that one day we may meet again, no matter how impossible that may seem. May you one day find peace, somehow, despite the road taken to get there. I will never forget you, or the way you made me feel, as long as I live.

Yours,
Eleanor

Tears were streaming down my face by the time I signed my name. I knew there was too much left unsaid, but I didn't know how to express it. I would have liked to think if I was standing in front of him, it would be different, but I wasn't sure that, even as a Gryffindor, I could have the courage to tell him everything.

I packed the letter away in my trunk, using the opportunity to check that all of my belongings were ready to go for the following day. This time it was especially important that I had everything as I would be seventeen in January, so once my sixth year was over, I had nowhere to go. This was my last night in the only home I'd ever known.

Satisfied everything was packed, I lay in bed quietly, listening to the soft breathing of the other girls. It lulled my busy mind into sleep.