Aftermath /// Sebastian Sallow

chapter seventeen

"Excuse me? I do not!" I hissed, mad to be removed from the debate.

"Well, you are going to!" Amelia admitted, "And you're going to say yes, so don't worry about it."

I barely had time to process the causal gossip as Amelia and Sebastian began arguing back and forth. 

"It doesn't matter," Sebastian dismissed, "There is no way that Amelia can get a date before I walk over to the Hufflepuff table and ask Adelaide!"

"So it's a bet?" I asked attempting to finalize the conditions once more. 

There was a lull between the three of us, but I could feel the tension in the air. 

Suddenly the bench I had been sharing with Sebastian squeaked against the floor as he made his first move. A silent acceptance of the bet. I took my wand out holding it under the table to make a map of their movements. It almost wasn't needed as I could hear Sebastian's heavy steps moving across the hall in search of Adelaide.

Amelia however remained peacefully still in front of me. Making zero enough to move from the table. The words of a promised date sparked in my mind once more. 

Was Sebastian so stupid that he hadn't considered me? I felt insulted in so many ways. 

"I refuse to be a pity date for the sake of your bet with Sebastian." I hissed.

"Pity date?" Amelia mocked, "I would have been honored to be accompanied by you, Ominis. But sadly no, you have a date already, remember?" Her tone was obnoxiously over-affective as if she was expecting my refusal. 

I sighed, "I don't appreciate being lied to."

"Shh, my date is coming this way, one moment," Amelia said more playfully tapping my foot under the table. 

Using my wand I looked for familiar footsteps near the table. There was someone walking towards us, but I didn't recognize who they belonged to. Whoever it was, they were alone. The steps were clear and focused, coming between the Slytherin table and the Ravenclaw table. They did not seem to have an intention of stopping. 

"Hi Amit," Amelia announced, likely for my benefit, "Did you ever end up getting approval from Black?" The steps stopped suddenly, abandoning their original plan, and bringing their focus to the table. 

Amit Thakkar, a fellow Ravenclaw and Amelia's partner for Muggle Studies. They had been spending more time with each other as of late, but I haven't considered a relationship between them. I turned my head down towards my plate, to pretend that I wasn't paying attention to their conversation. But I was undoubtedly curious if Amelia could succeed in this plan. 

"Oh hello. No, Black denied my proposal and claimed some vague rule." Amit said. There was a slight sadness in his voice. 

"I'm sorry to hear that," Amelia sounded sincere. Clearly, the two had been talking much more than I realized. "Well, I was hoping that perhaps you may want to accompany me to the ball in that case. As friends, of course, I mean no harm!" 

Despite not being able to see it, I knew that Amelia would be playfully tugging on Amit's arm. Whenever she made a request of anyone for something that she desired, she always made an effort to touch them as if it made it more difficult to deny her.  

"As friends? That would be great exactly, I'd love to!" Amit rang back cheerfully, his voice almost cracking with relief. The sadness was still in his voice however, clearly their date was one of need and not desire. 

"That's great, we can talk more about it later!" Amelia quickly said goodbye to Amit as he proceeded to make his exit. 

I sat there in silence waiting for Amelia's explanation that I knew she would present one. Sebastian's footsteps were nowhere to be found yet, but he had already lost the bet just as it began. Only a minute or two had passed.