In Pain's Shadow //Hogwarts Legacy//

A mother's love

The great hall. The one place in Hogwarts where everyone got together; whether they liked it or not. The great hall was one of if not the most important place in Hogwarts. It was where the sorting ceremony took place, where everyone gathered for meals, holiday celebrations, announcements, and the last place they would gather before the school year ended. If you had said you'd never been in the great hall you would be perceived as a liar. Well, you would be a liar! Because everyone goes there. It was just as important as any of the classrooms within the school.

Aya would never forget the horror she felt the first time she entered the great hall. Professor Black, the strict and disliked headmaster of the school, led her past the other students. The anxious girl stood out when following the man. Professor Black had a certain sense of pride about him that everyone hated. He was a shrewd man who didn't seem to have a care in the world for his students. He held his head high, hands behind his back as he walked; Aya meekly following behind.

To be entering the school in your fifth year was practically unheard of. Yet here she was. Her body trembling as students eyed her, their whispers filling the air. One student, however, didn't seem to be paying her any mind. A boy with dark hair and freckles. His attention was focused on the book he read as he shoveled his dinner down. A girl sitting next to him elbowed him in the side, causing him to look up. There, his eyes locked onto Aya's. Like a spell being lifted, Aya was no longer afraid. Instead her attention had been turned to this strange boy who eyed her with curiosity. He, like the other students, seemed to be questioning what a girl his age was doing heading toward the sorting hat.

Aya treaded forward until she was seated in front of the crowd. Students between the ages of 11 to 18 all watched her with great interest. The hat was gently placed upon her head where it began to speak to her. She was fortunate the others couldn't hear what the hat was telling her as it recited her detour that had led to her being late. She had never felt so sick, so anxious as the hat read through her mind. It embarrassingly laughed at her nervousness, causing her face to turn bright red. Before Aya could say anything the hat blurted out "Slytherin" causing the students at the table decorated in green to jump to their feet and cheer. Aya took a shaky breath as she took her seat at the table, listening to the praises from her fellow housemates who were happy to have her there. Only one person didn't speak to her. The boy who she had made eye contact with as she had first entered the hall simply stared at her, grinning softly.

She never would've known that she and said boy would become such close friends within a day of meeting each other. But she couldn't deny that she had fallen under whatever spell Sebastian Sallow had put on her in order to keep her close. Now, the two of them entered the great hall together, which had become a usual occurrence. Neither of them had eaten anything that morning and were practically starving. They both sat next to each other at the Slytherin table, nearly sighing in relief as plates of food appeared before them.

"And where have the two of you been?" Called a familiar voice. Ominis Gaunt. A fellow fifth year who just so happened to be Sebastian's best friend. "It isn't uncommon for you to be late risers on weekends but it is nearly the afternoon! Have you been up to something?"

Aya chuckled inwardly. Ominis was a very protective person who always made sure that everyone he cared for was okay. To an outsider, he was a complete ass. Snarky comments, usually keeping to his own circle of friends, you name it. Once you got to know him though, he was a giant sweetheart. The mother of the group.

"Studying." Shrugged Sebastian. He never necessarily lied to Ominis, but he was cautious about what he said around his best friend. Ominis wasn't very trustworthy of Sebastian's ways; he worried that Sebastian's search for a cure for Anne would lead him down a dark path. Despite being a Gaunt, Ominis was the complete opposite of his family. He wanted to live a normal, evil free, life.