Like Moths to a Flame // Sebastian Sallow [Book One]

Chapter Thirteen: Championship Round & Anne's Response

"Levioso! Accio! Incendio!" Damien yelled from across the room, Leander his unfortunate target.

Sebastian stood in the back of the crowd beside Natty. It was a good turnout for the championship match. He had found a decent spot between heads to watch everything going on without being at the front of the pack. He was still embarrassed by his poor show last week.

Ominis didn't come this year. He said he didn't feel there was a point since Sebastian was out of the tournament. He also wanted to get some rest since he was still recovering from his illness.

Sebastian focused his attention back on the match. Damien had already defeated Charlotte, the rare Hufflepuff member of Crossed Wands. She was sitting on the floor, dazed.

Sebastian wasn't surprised when Damien told Lucan he planned on dueling solo for the final match, but he was still impressed. Competing alone against four of some of the best duelists at the school was quite a challenge.

Leander stumbled back as Damien hit him with three Basic Casts in a row.

Just to mess with Leander, Sebastian called out, "You're better than that!". He grinned to himself as Natty shoved him playfully on the shoulder.

"That was mean-spirited," she said, struggling to hold back her amusement.

"What? He's an arse."

"It would be more effective to root for Damien."

"I don't hear you providing any words of encouragement."

She giggled, cupping her hands to her mouth, and called out, "Go Damien!"

Damien glanced over in her direction as Eric and Nellie both threw Basic Casts his way. Despite the distraction, he blocked them with a well-timed Protego and managed to cast Stupefy at Nellie, knocking her back.

Eric yelled out and tried a poorly aimed Incendio, which Damien didn't even need to block. Meanwhile, Leander was floating in the air, angrily muttering to himself.

Sebastian, not one to be one-upped by a Gryffindor, followed Natty's lead, and when there was a small break between casts, shouted at Damien, "Give 'em what for!"

Damien scanned the crowd, searching for Sebastian, and when they made eye contact, tossed him a winning grin with an unexpected wink. Sebastian blushed.

It took Sebastian a moment to realize Natty had stopped watching the match and was looking at him with a curious expression.

"What?" Sebastian asked, his voice coming out rougher than he intended.

"He didn't wink at me."

"What do you mean?" he said, feigning ignorance.

Natty gave him a sly grin but kept quiet. She shifted her attention back to the duel.

They had missed Eric being pulled out of the match. He was now pacing the back of the room with a fellow Gryffindor gesticulating wildly. Someone was a poor loser.

Leander was still going strong it seemed, but Nellie was on her last legs. She was struggling to keep up with Damien's volleys. He was quite quick with his casts, almost as fast as Sebastian, which was certainly saying something.

Damien pulled Nellie to him and hit her with a forceful Incendio. It would have completely incapacitated her if it was Confringo. Too bad Sebastian and Damien weren't meeting until tomorrow night. Confringo would have come in handy in Crossed Wands. Oh well.

Leander successfully hit Damien from behind a few times as Damien continued to target Nellie. It didn't bother him in the slightest. He hit Nellie one more time with Incendio and she flew back against the wall, out of the match.