Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Hogsmead Highstreet

"Let's see... we saved the whole village from a rampaging troll, didn't we?" He smirked at me and I laughed.

It seemed a lifetime ago, that troll and battling side by side with Sebastian.

Before Fig.

Before Ranrok.

Before Rookwood.

Before Solomon.

"It seems wild to think that was the last time we were here together," I whisper, hoping his ability to pick up on my unspoken words stayed true now. "I don't think I ever told you, I actually own a shop around the corner."

"You have a shop?" He asked, incredulously, his eyebrows raised, giving my hand a gentle squeeze.

"And why is that so surprising?" I was looking at him in my usual teasing manor, watching with hungry eyes as his entire freckled face was lit up, the smirk plastered across his lips.

He opened his mouth to respond, but stopped short. I blinked at him, confusion flooding through me. My magic stirred within me, nerves bringing my attention to it, but I found it was easy to shove aside as I watched him. His eyes narrowed, tilted his head to the side and froze on the spot as though he had been paralyzed. His eyes darted around the high street, searching over the quiet main road.

"Sebastian, what-"

He jerked into action suddenly, wand drawn, flinging us down a dark alleyway two streets away from the Hogs Head. He slammed my body into the brick wall of the alley, perhaps rougher than initially intended. My head smacked the brick, pain shooting through the back of my skull.

"Ouch! Hey-"

His hand was over my mouth then, silencing me in an instant. "Would you be quiet?" He hissed at me, his eyes still scanning the high street we had just abandoned. I had to force myself to ignore the insatiable scent of him, leather, cinnamon and mint swirling around me.

I was about to force his hand from my mouth when I heard the voices.

"You heard him, we've got to keep watch on the castle," the first voice was smooth and calm, belonging to a man unknown to me.

"Big waste of time if you ask me," the second voice said. This one I had heard before; in the Hogs Head with Poppy.

"Yeah well, he didn't ask you, did he?"

Sebastian, who was glaring at the street still, flicked his wand once and instantly I felt the familiar cold chill drip down my spine as he cast a disillusionment charm over us. He kept his body pressed to mine as I stared wide eyed up at him.

"What bloody evidence do we even have that the damn bird is there in the first place? The girl?"

"Well, she was the one spotted leaving the cave two years ago," the first man said, his voice full of annoyance now.

If it was possible to freeze in place more, I would have become a statue. I could feel my magic pulse through me once, as if it could sense the danger I was in, before Sebastian looked at me, his eyes just as wide as mine.

"I still don't see why we can't just burst in, take her, and demand she tell us where the damn bird is."

"She's never alone, in case you haven't noticed," the man I didn't know hissed. His voice was definitely angry, though it was clear he was attempting to keep his composure. "Right now, we just watch. We do nothing else."