In the Shadow of Darkness | Sebastian Sallow

Sebastian

The next morning, all of the other girls were finishing up packing for the Christmas break. Cressida kept avoiding my gaze, for which I was thankful, and kept to herself. Natty was so excited to visit her mother's family in Uganda that she could not possibly be quiet, which helped to make me forget about that bit of awkwardness. We all dined together at the Gryffindor table for breakfast before I saw them all off to the carriages to catch the Hogwarts Express.

Poppy joined us at the castle entrance, and both she and Natty hugged me goodbye, promising to write of their holiday adventures. I watched as their carriage headed off to Hogsmeade, the bittersweet feeling of not having family to spend the holidays with momentarily settling in my heart.

Ominis tapped me on the shoulder. "Promise me you'll keep Sebastian out of trouble while I'm gone," he insisted as I turned to face him.

"I thought you were staying for the holidays?"

He rolled his eyes. "Mother and Father insisted I join the family. I suspect an engagement will be announced for Corvinus, and they want everyone there for the happy occasion." His voice dripped with sarcasm as he mentioned his eldest brother's name.

"How positively thrilling," I replied dryly.

He smiled, but there was no humor in it. "I don't know which I look forward to more: my father's temper or my brothers reminding me how much of a mistake I am."

I reached for his hands, his own pain becoming my own with the touch. "You are no mistake, Ominis," I assured him, my voice laced with emotion.

He dropped my hands, his arms threading around my waist tightly. The gesture surprised me, but I returned it warmly. Here stood a boy—a man—whose own family would never value him for himself, not just because of his disability but also because of his beliefs. I wished so much that I could change everything for him. We stood like that, his body relaxing with each passing second, until the next round of carriages arrived. As we pulled away, a few other students were watching us curiously, but none of them said anything.

"Write me about Anne," he implored as he stepped toward the carriages.

"I promise."

He smiled again, better than previously, but it still didn't reach his clouded eyes. Without another word, he stepped up into a carriage with a few other students. The door closed, and I watched it leave until it was out of sight.

For the second year in a row, it amazed me how quiet the castle became as the students emptied out of it for those last two weeks of December. Being able to walk the corridors with my own thoughts was actually quite nice. Specifically, I thought of Anne. Though she'd remained the same for the past several weeks of giving her phoenix tears, she'd also seen no improvement. I knew we were living—quite literally, in Anne's case—on borrowed time, and I had been reading the book on Ancient Magic almost every night before bed with not much in the way of new information. Sebastian and I had already made plans to spend the next two weeks working together to see if there was anything more we could learn.

Speaking of Sebastian, I thought, it was time to head to Hogsmeade. I donned a fur-lined cloak for the fairly short walk, my heart light in anticipation. The Highlands were covered with snow, especially in high country. Though the Black Lake had not frozen over since I'd first come to Hogwarts, it had ice along its banks. This year certainly felt much colder than the last. I thought back to the beginning of this school year, and how Hogsmeade had been bothered by beasts and beings of all kinds. It had been quiet there, of late. Perhaps whatever entity was causing the chaos had focused attentions elsewhere after the troll incident in October. We had heard of nothing but a few unicorn and thestral sightings since, and those may have merely been coincidences.