Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Forty-Nine: Paralyzed

I shrugged the coat on, catching a glimpse of the moving fog covered skulls on it in the mirror. Perhaps a dark omen of what I was sure to become, but I didn't care.

Nothing and no one mattered anymore except Sebastian.

I honestly didn't know if anyone else ever did.

I pulled my hair out of the twist Poppy had put it in, the curls falling wildly. I was sure I looked like a truly mad woman to my best friend, who watched with wide eyes, a small flash of fear on her face as she glanced at Ominis. Rummaging through another set of drawers, I pulled out my black leather fingerless gloves, sliding them on and twirling my wand between my finger tips, relishing the cold fury my wand felt.

"I'll be back in a bit."

It was a lie. I had no intentions on coming back here.

Hogwarts had taken too much from me since I had set foot through those doors just two years ago. Put me through too much to warrant any return.

"Like hell you will," Ominis said, moving to step in front of the doorway of my room of requirement, his arms crossed. "We need to talk, Abbi, you can't just race off to Azkaban-"

"I'm not going to Azkaban, Ominis."

He quirked a brow at me, confusion etched into his features. Whether it was at my flat voice or the words themselves I didn't know.

"What-"

"I'm going to Feldcroft. I need to talk to Anne. Then I'm going to Azkaban."

"No," Poppy breathed. "Abbi, I don't think Anne would have actually done anything. This doesn't at all seem suspicious to you?"

I whipped around to her, fury licking it's way up my body. My eyes were blazing as I rounded on her, hands clenched into furious fists, the green hilt of my wand painful in my grasp. I marched towards her pointing an accusatory finger in her face.

"You don't think she would do it?" I demanded, anger flaring up in my chest, drowning me in its wake, taking any reservations or control I had with it. "You weren't there two years ago, Poppy. Anne wanted to turn him in! You didn't have to look your boyfriend over there in the eyes and beg him to convince her. I was the only one who wanted to keep Sebastian out of Azkaban after everything!"

Poppy flinched away from my raised voice, her face showing the discomfort she felt by my raised tone, but I wasn't sure what she expected. I shot a glare at Ominis, who I was glad to see was looking at the floor in shame. He remembered that day in the Undercroft as vividly as I did. The way he'd called me to meet him, telling me that they intended to turn him over to the Dementors, that Anne had insisted he needed to be punished for what he'd done.

"Anne wouldn't have turned him over now, Abbi," Ominis whispered, his hands swinging at his sides.

"Yes she would," I rounded on him. Poppy dropped my dress hastily, moving to follow me, her eyes wide as the light of the Vivarium made her serpentine neckline sparkle. "She hasn't-"

"Abbi, please, see reason!" Ominis insisted, cutting me off as I halted only inches from him. My breathing was ragged as the surging panic and anger flared in my chest. "Why would Anne do that now? And tonight of all nights? She was happy for you two."

"Did you not hear that Auror?!" I shouted, poking him in the chest with my wand. A small spark ignited, causing a hole to burn into the lapel of his new robes. He didn't flinch away. "He said he's already spoken to Anne! How in Merlin's name would he know Anne and have spoke with her if she hadn't turned him in?"

Ominis was quiet for the longest time yet, and I knew he was having trouble with this section of my reasoning. Beyond painful abandonment, beyond heartbreak and disbelief, this Auror had a letter, had claimed he'd spoken to Anne, and knew what Sebastian had done.