Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Six: Restless Sleep

So what if this was bad? So what if we had fallen to the dark side? I could see us now, my ancient magic, his mastery of the Dark Arts, ruling over everything. In this moment, the only thing that ever mattered was him.

It was always him.

The moment didn't last though. The relic in his hand let out a wail, causing both of us to rip apart and stare at it. His hand fell back to my hip and I felt his fingers dig into my side painfully.

This wasn't right.

I pushed myself away from him, creating a small amount of distance but my hand found his and grabbed tightly, refusing to break all contact. "No, Sebastian, something terrible is going to happen. Please, come with me," I coaxed.

He sighed. "Oh, Abbi, why couldn't you just stay?"

And then his wand was pointed at me again, his hand ripped from mine. My ears rang and I saw his lips move but I couldn't hear the words. I didn't need to. I saw the flash of green light, and the whole world went black.

I sat bolt up right in bed. I was sweaty, my sheets thrown about my bed, the dorm room dark and quiet. The only sound was the slow breathing of my fellow Slytherin seventh year girls. I knew it was still late in the night, as no light broke through the window on our ceiling, the water still black.

It had been a nightmare. Just a nightmare. Forcing myself to take three deep breaths, I tried to ground myself in reality. That wasn't how any of it happened. I needed to focus on the facts.

I needed to walk.

Standing quietly, I wrapped a robe around my body and stuffed my feet into my slippers. The common room would be empty and I could pace to my hearts content there. Leaving the room, I started to run through the facts as they actually happened, closing my dormitory door quietly.

Sebastian had used the Cruciatus Curse on me with my permission. Yes.

We'd been alone. No.

We'd done so to enter Slytherin's Scriptorium, not the catacomb of Inferi in Feldcroft. Yes.

Sebastian had kissed me in the catacomb. No.

Had I wanted him to? Yes.

This fact made me flinch but I kept going, pacing in front of the dying fire now, the room nearly swallowed whole by the darkness of the lake.

Sebastian controlled the Inferi with the relic. Yes.

Sebastian cast the killing curse on me. No.

Sebastian cast the killing curse on someone. Yes.

Those were the facts. That was how it happened. It was just a dream.

I sat on one of the sofas in front of the fire, holding my hands over my eyes as I did so. "It was just a dream," I whispered fiercely. "Just a dream."

A soft rustling sounded from somewhere to my right and I moved my hands from my eyes, looking around the room, trying to focus through the darkness. I grabbed for my wand in my robe pocket. "Lumos," I whispered. I could see around the room a little better and I stood again to find the source of the noise.

He was sitting by the large windows, his pajamas striped green and white silk. His hair was a tousled mess and he was pointedly not looking at the source of light coming from my right hand.

It had been two days since we found out about our lesson plans for Defense Against the Dark Arts and I hadn't spoken to him since the Undercroft with Ominis. He looked like he'd slept about as much as I had.

"Couldn't sleep either?" I asked, coming around to face him. He shifted his gaze to me before shrugging at me.

"Not particularly."

I sat on the chair beside his and set my wand down, leaving it lit so I could see his face. "How, uhm, how's Anne?"

His lips twitched up slightly at the corners, like he was fighting a smile. I'd hoped talking about Anne would be safe territory. "She's okay, I suppose. She hasn't really spoken to me since-" His sentence stopped abruptly and he shook his head. "She's doing better every day from what little I've heard. Seems to have been doing better since Rookwood."

I nodded, closing my eyes and laying my head on the back of the chair. I hadn't felt guilt about what I'd done to Rookwood, especially after finding out he was the one who'd cursed Anne. But taking his life and not feeling guilty for it did leave me worried about myself and what that meant for my own soul.

What if Sebastian wasn't the one more prone to fall to Dark Magic? What if he fell because of me? What if we weren't toxic, but I was the toxic one?

"What woke you up?"

"Bad dream," I muttered, feeling a heat rise to my cheeks.

"Was it about... me?"

I whipped my head up to him, eyes wide and burning with questions. How had he guessed that? Slowly, I nodded at him, the question written all over my face for him to answer.

"Was it at all different than how it all really happened? Um, like, you know- did I..." he sucked in a breath and shook his head, unable to finish the question.

"Yes."

He nodded once, sharply.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, staring at each other wildly, both of our curiosity peaked. We'd had the same dream. Not only was it the same one, but we were both shaken enough by it to wake up and meet here. But how was that even possible?

"How did we have the same dream?" My voice was soft, not a whisper, but not normal either.

He just shrugged again before standing up and handing me my wand from where I'd set it on the table. "Guess we have something else to look into this year."