Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Twenty-Five: In the Shadow of Sin

Just as I stood from the sofa, boots laced up tightly, ready to go pull him from his bed for his daring forget about our plans, his voice echoed from the front of the common room.

"About ready to go?"

I jumped, whirling around excitedly to face him. Of course he'd come, he'd never leave me hanging like that. His dark eyes were still burning as they stared at me, his dark clothes draping him into the shadows as mine were bound to.

"Ready," I whispered, the magic screaming at me as it pulled pushed against my veins. I came to a stop directly in front of him, drinking in his freckled face, curled hair and his plump lips.

He slipped his hand into mine and pulled me up the stairs, neither of us speaking. I was very aware that any time we got up to wrong doing in fifth year, Ominis had appeared out of nowhere, ready to yell at us and I didn't trust that he wouldn't show up now to stop us. I was grateful for the lack of his presence tonight.

Just as we exited the common room and the door clinked shut, I came to a screeching halt, Sebastian lurching at the dead weight I had become.

Ominis.

"Sebastian, we need a Parselmouth."

He looked around to me, confusion flicking across his face. "What?"

"Last time, to get to the door, we needed a Parselmouth, and we don't have Ominis this time."

How could we have been so stupid? That was all together the only reason we'd been successful in finding the Crucio activated door. We'd had Ominis.

He smiled gently at me, stepping close and brushing a strand of hair away from my distressed face. My magic was aching as it pulsed through me, making me regret having agreed to wait until midnight to come tonight. But I didn't want anyone else with us. I only wanted him. My magic and my mind were in agreement on that front.

"We don't need him this time. We can go in through the exit, just here."

He lead me over to the wall we had exited two years ago, the last time we'd entered the Scriptorium, and tucked me into his side. Smirking, with a flick of his wand, the wall opened, revealing the dark stone chamber. My magic pulled against the confines of my skin, screaming at me to enter. I didn't hesitate.

Pulling myself away from Sebastian's arms, I stepped into the room, my foot falls echoed all around me on the dust muffled stone. The only footprints in here were ours from the last time.

Salazar Slytherin's desk was still just as cluttered as the last time we had been here, the pedestal his spell book once sat on empty, the book a pile of ash in the Feldcroft catacomb. I heard the wall close behind me, Sebastian entering the chamber with me, darkness swallowing us whole.

His voice was in my ear moments later.

"You take the lead," he said, his voice filled with excitement.

I wasn't sure what to do. Last time I'd actually interacted with a wisp, I'd been in a terrible emotional state. I'd found the wisp on accident, interacted unintentionally. I'd found this one only because Sebastian had been teaching me the wand movements and could focus on it. Now that we were here, I had no idea where to start.

"I don't know what I'm doing," I whisper back.

Sebastian puts a hand lightly on mine, his fingers dancing along the skin, sending fire shooting up my arm. I was clutching my wand tightly, shaking slightly under his touch. He trailed his hand up my arm and back down again, his voice thick when he spoke next.

"What feels right?"

His hand did not stop its attack of my senses as he waited for my answer. I was very aware of how close he was standing to my back, his hot breath on my skin. With that, it was hard to concentrate on anything else.