Shadow of the Heir

I Can Wait for You at the Bottom; I Can Stay Away if You Want Me to

Note: it's porn guys. it's porn. So, uh, content warning. 

He did not wait for her when they resurfaced from the Pensieve.

Ella knew she should have collected the memories before she went after him. Those were incriminating. But it was far from her biggest worry as he stomped out of the cellar.

"Seb, just wait." She called after him. He walked too quickly, and she struggled to keep up without jogging. "Just let me explain."

He kept walking.

"I didn't mean—"

He opened the chipped, green front door. He didn't hold it open for her, and she nearly slammed right into it.

"Sebastian, please—"

Sebastian still didn't pause as he trudged into the kitchen and toward the hallway. She already knew he was headed for his bedroom, and she already knew she'd get the door slammed in her face. Ella didn't notice Anne or Ominis sitting at the table, sipping tea like this was a show they'd been waiting for.

"Will you stop being such a stubborn damn troll and speak to me?" Ella shouted finally. For a moment, she didn't care if he was hurt. He was hurting her. She was mad.

Why was she mad?

He spun on his heel and leaned down to her eye level. It was almost predatory how he tilted his head and tucked his chin just slightly. It was not attractive, and she was still mad at him. "What do you have to say, Malfoy?"

She had a speech planned. She forgot it. "I didn't mean it; I wasn't actually going to let Anne—"

"I know that. You're a horrible fucking liar."

It caught her off guard. "I was trying to keep you safe."

"I didn't ask for that."

"I didn't ask for you to go do Merlin only knows what to Garreth, either, but I guess things just happen."

His eyes narrowed. "That was different."

"Why? Because it was you?"

"Because he was hurting you!"

"You're hurting me!" She didn't realize they were shouting until then.

"I'm hurting you?" Sebastian laughed under his breath. That same little sinister laugh he'd had in the memory. "You hurt me."

"To keep you safe!" Ella put her hands on her head as he leaned away. She didn't know where all her rage had come from, but it was back in full force. The last thing she'd expected from herself was to stand in his kitchen and scream at him. She was shaking with pent-up anger. "Everything I did was for you!"

"The chances of me going to Azkaban were not high enough to do any of that."

"Mine were!" She paced. Back and forth and back and forth in the kitchen in front of where he'd leaned on the counter. Her throat already hurt. She didn't remember burying so much anger. "Mine were so high! If I hadn't had all the professors on my side screaming 'self-defense' I would be in Azkaban. I killed so many people, Sebastian."

He didn't say anything.

"So damn many. I don't even have a count of it anymore. They had families and lives, and I killed them. And if I'd gone to Azkaban, you would have turned yourself in."

He still didn't say anything. No confirmation or denial. He just stared at her with that pissed-off glare he always gave her.

She continued pacing and making jerky hand movements in her rage. "And I couldn't have that. I couldn't have torn myself apart for you anymore than I did. Everything was for you. We went too far, and it was getting worse, and I couldn't control myself. Ominis couldn't save us both, so I told him to save you—"