The Sallow Saga (Volume 3) A Hogwarts Legacy Fanfiction

Chapter 2. How to arrange a Wizard's Games

No sooner had the words escaped his lips, Sebastian stopped the quill from its transcribing and waved his wand over himself. His ludicrous outfit transformed into more relaxed comfortable woven jumper and tweed trousers. He folded his arms with a humoured expression and watched the energy of excitement bursting from Cassy.

They'd been living together just shy of a year, and every day living with her was never dull. There'd been laughter, there'd been tears, they disagreed on a number of matters; however, they'd both grown to handle any such arguments cautiously. Sebastian mused on his connection with Cassy and recognised that out of his group of friends around him at the Gilded Perch, no one had ever fully understood him the way that Cassy had, from the first moment they met all those years back in Hogwarts. Something gnawed at the back of his mind when he considered this last point – had Cassy known they would be in each other's company again, when she encouraged Ominis to inform Professor Black of his crimes? It was rare that a stint in Azkaban was cut short, and for the murder of his uncle Solomon, Sebastian had been condemned with a life sentence. Anyone who was anyone in the wizarding world, knew that. It was a thought that intruded into his mind once in a blue moon, never pleasant.

Sebastian's smile waned as he started to lose himself inside his own thoughts. The hubbub of the discussion around the hall drifted into a muffled background murmur. Sebastian felt his mind drifting. There were times he could almost see tendrils extending from his mind, reaching around. Feeling. Searching. It was one of the more unsettling aspects of being a legilimens, Sebastian couldn't help but see an uncanny resemblance between the tendrils and the scabbed and scarred reaching hands of a dementor. He had to admit, it was an intrusive act, to read someone's mind without their knowing about it, but it had helped him out as an auror, more times than he'd care to admit. The hardest part was locating the evidence to back up the thoughts he'd witnessed.

The reaching vines of Sebastian's mind cautiously, gently, delicately inched closer to Cassy. He'd never admit it, but as much as she appeared as her old, normal self; Sebastian knew something about her had changed. Ever since that time in Aranshire, when ancient magic had taken over her whole being, Cassy's thought processes hadn't been the same. It was like a shield was wrapped around her that he could no sooner penetrate than fly to the moon. She experienced night terrors, worse than any he had suffered on his own after his release from Azkaban; she'd wake up sobbing, sweating, gasping; shrouded and glowing in the ethereal hue of ancient magic. No sooner would she wake up in such a state, she'd be back to sleeping soundly, waking up several hours later, seemingly oblivious to the events in the night.

He chewed at the inside of his cheek as once again, his attempt to penetrate her mind was thwarted by the shield of ancient magic. It was as though it had formed an invisible barrier around her, protecting her from everything around her – including him. Clearly it wasn't doing a good enough job! Night terrors and omitting such traumas from her memory so that she couldn't recall them in the morning. Cassy's demeanour was bubbly, infectious, joyous even – she barely seemed to question anything anymore. Many of their arguments at home stemmed from her being so reckless with her broomstick flying, the company she would sometimes engage with; sometimes even her own practise spell casting – all the while she would argue with an unsettling smile on her face and an assurance that he was the one being too overly protective, and it was all in his mind. Sebastian sighed and returned to the room, sooner or later he would get to the bottom of what was going on with the woman he loved!

"What do you think Sebastian?" Cassy grinned, bouncing over to him, excited as ever.
Sebastian blinked hastily, completely lost in terms of where they were with the planning. How long had he been out for?
"Hm?" He asked, rubbing the heaviness from his eyes. He looked up at her eager face and noticed a flicker of concern shade her features before it passed in just the blink of an eye.
"The sporting events we've decided on?" She raised her brows, shaking her head; "were you not paying attention?"
Garreth joined them and looked hard at Sebastian, "not going to lie Seb' – you look shattered." He offered a comforting smile, "do I dare ask what's keeping you up in the night?"
Sebastian shook his head, "no, you daren't." He glanced subtly over at Cassy who looked puzzled.
"He's been sleeping fine Garreth," she mused, "any time I wake up in the night, he's softly snoring away – it's quite sweet really."
"You wake up in the night?" Sebastian tested her.
"On occasion," she shrugged, "just like anyone really...". She nonchalantly dismissed the questioning, but even the ancient magic couldn't hide the tone of uncertainty that played its tune in Cassy's speech. Sebastian quietly breathed out in relief, so there was a chance she knew; why deny it to him though?