Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Fourty-Five: Ask and Answer

My first true gift from Sebastian, and it was so far the best thing about my new wand.

He smirked at me, his eyes shifting sideways to take me in. He sucked in his bottom lip as his eyes raked over my body, sprawled over the sofa as I was, as if I was tempting him with another forbidden fruit.

"You know we don't talk about that in here," he whispered to me, but he couldn't keep the smirk from his lips. There was something tantalizing about whispers of dark secrets in the common room, where anyone could hear us.

No one ever seemed to care, if they did.

I shrugged, sitting up, "Suit yourself." I made to move away from him, and found myself pulled promptly into his side. The giggles that erupted from my lips were only enhanced as his fingers danced along my sides, playful and relaxed.

"You aren't going anywhere," he said softly in my ear, placing a ginger kiss just below it, making me shiver. "I said we can't talk about it. I never said I couldn't show you."

Forcing myself to stop giggling, I tucked myself close into his side, opening the small copy of Slytherin's spellbook and gesturing for him to show me what he'd discovered. His fingers traveled across the ink splattered pages, filled with his copious notes, the pages turning slowly as he allowed me to soak in all of the spells, potions and curses the founder had created centuries ago.

The way his fingers moved seemed so delicate, so careful, a trait in him I had only seen reserved for myself and Anne. Usually, anything the cocky Slytherin sitting beside me touched was with rough, eager fingers, possessive and in immediate need of being his. The way he touched me, the way he touched these pages, was as though we were made of glass and he was terrified he'd break either one of us.

I found myself envious of the book before me as his fingers continued to turn the pages.

His fingers stopped moving when he landed on a symbol I recognized.

"Isn't that-"

"The same symbol on the door to the Map Chamber," Sebastian finished, his voice still whispering into my ear. He brought one hand up and stroked my hair as he allowed me to eagerly pull the book from his hands.

My lips moved soundlessly as I read the words scrawled across the page, Slytherin's words, copied in Sebastian's handwriting.

"The time of magic like mine will come again. This heir will be powerful, a force to be reckoned with, they will challenge my ideals of pure blood and prove themselves the rightful heir to my house. To my power. To this world that no mudblood belongs."

My brows furrowed in confusion, glancing from the words on the page to Sebastian, who watched me eagerly.

"Mudblood?" I said, the word rolling off my tongue uncomfortably.

"It means Muggle-born," Sebastian said, a note of irritation in his voice, his eyes falling away from me. "Nasty word for it. Ominis is pure blood. I'm half."

"But both your parents were professors here, I thought?" I said, finger trailing across the page as I read more.

"Mum was Muggle-born, too," he supplied, a little sadly. "I've never understood the pureblood mania."

I turned, wanting to ask Sebastian more, when Ominis's voice called out from behind us, making both of us jump.

"Your friend really tests me at the best of times, Abbi."

"Ominis, you startled me," I said, watching as he walked himself to sit across from us, the familiar red light emitting from the tip of his wand.

"My apologies." He grumbled, sliding down in the chair and sighing.