Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Twenty-Two: A Warning from Ominis Gaunt

Raising the Quaffle in my hand, I rocketed up and threw it aggressively through the shortest hoop. Arcturus Black caught it and tucked it under his arm as I pulled up on my broom and rocketed off myself so we could fall back in line. His Quaffle soared through the last remaining hoop and he shouted in triumph as we had a successful play from start to finish. He smiled at me but I was already looking away from him.

Imelda blew sharply on her whistle three times, just as Nerida shot in front of us, hand clutching a golden glint- the Snitch had been successfully caught. Imelda smiled, a rare but welcome sight.

"That's practice done," she called out across the pitch. I sighed happily, knowing that for the moment at least I was safe from more rouge Bludgers missed by our Beaters. I followed Imelda's lead, dismounting from my broom near the locker rooms.

We watched our team clamber into the room, each depositing their items into the closet at the entrance. Imelda took care of summoning each of the Bludgers straight into their case before kicking the lid shut.

"If we can keep them flying like that, the Quidditch cup is ours," she said, grinning to me. I smiled back.

"So long as Malfoy keeps his shit together," I agreed.

I followed her into the locker room. Everyone's excited chatter filled the small room, and the idea that we could actually manage to beat the Gryffindor team by a landslide was enough to get me just as riled up at everyone else. Arcturus Black attempted to catch my eye for the umpteenth time today, causing me to roll my eyes and pull off the gloves I wore, opening my locker.

He hadn't said anything since that day in the Great Hall, as far as I was aware. Sebastian at least hadn't heard anything if he had, owning to the fact that Sebastian hadn't been in another fight. Arcturus's attempts to catch my eyes at any meal, in any shared class and of course at practice were starting to grate on my nerves, however.

Any frustration I'd felt at him though, was drowned out immediately as I looked into the open locker. Another stem of flowers met my eyes, with a small rolled up piece of parchment tied to the stem. My heart soared, as it had been a couple of days since our trip to Feldcroft, and Sebastian had been distinctly avoiding me outside of Defense Against the Dark Arts and study sessions.

I'd gone chasing after him into the Restricted Section each time we needed new books, trying to get him to talk to me.

"Sebastian, what is going on?" I'd asked as he rifled through the shelves on Wednesday, pulling down a few more books on the Imperius Curse we had yet to go through. 

He'd looked at me contemptuously.

"I don't know what you're on about."

It was my turn to glower at him, and I would be remiss if I said hadn't relished in the rather fast passing look of displeasure over his face at my expression. "You haven't spoken to me in days, don't be daft."

"I'm talking to you now aren't I?" He'd asked, tossing the books into my arms and not meeting my eye as he swept up another isle of books and away from me.

That had more or less been our conversations since I'd watched him walk into the Slytherin common room on Saturday afternoon. Short and quipped, as though I was missing out on some big joke of his. One minute, he was close to me, close enough to know that there were more freckles on the left side of his face than the right, and the next he was as far away as he could be without being considered rude.

I'd avoided him in turn, convinced that he had decided I wasn't worth his time anymore, especially if I couldn't control myself around wisps of dark magic. By now, it was Friday, and I was about two days away from dragging him by his hair to the Undercroft. But this delicate pink petal flower was the olive branch I'd been waiting for.