The Devil Doesn't Bargain (MatD part 2)

Chapter THIRTY TWO - Kiss me, Pull me, Drown me

He righted himself once more, dusted the shoulders of his shirt and pretended to straighten his tie. "Right then. Let's hear what that brilliant mind of yours has brewed shall we?"

Still a bit giddy from his lips, I blinked once as the thought flitted back to me. "I know how we can get Lucan's revenge without hurting that-"

Sebastian held a finger up. "Don't say anything Ominis wouldn't. There are children present."

There were in fact no children present or any other student for that matter, but somehow that made the interruption that much funnier.

"-witch."

Sebastian smirked.

"What do you need me to do?"

----

The Viaduct Courtyard steps where we had passed the red headed boy earlier was now filled with students, many of them tucked into corners or under arches with books and parchments and stressed brows. One group was taking turns transfiguring a small goblet between them. Another group of hooded students sprinted around the corner, bright blue robes nearly whipping us as they passed, their own giggles wiggling from beneath.

For a moment I allowed myself a bit of jealously, a sliver of envy for a life lived so effervescently mundane before it shifted to a small shard of anger and resentment.  I curled in the thoughts between my fingers, nails digging into my palms.

They don't deserve a lack of jollity just because you can't have it.

I deserve this pain, this life. I did this to myself.

A flicker of my parents spell twisted around my thoughts, "obliviate" churning my stomach.

...not all of it though.

It seemed since we had decided I would try to remove the curse that my mind, the voice inside me, also feared being torn apart. Its thoughts angry and cruel but oftentimes two-sided and confusing. A mess of emotions that hadn't quite been strung in chronological order.

If the curse removal was to work, I not only craved the relief of its ache but also the peace of my thoughts - or at least half of them. There was still the matter of my possible demise lingering just along the shadows.

A shiver traced my spine and I shook off the voice, returning my mind to my eyes and searching the heads for familiar bright scarlet curls.

Garreth was nowhere to be found around the stone arches and so we ventured inside and down to the potions classroom which seemed like a safe bet. And indeed it was.

Sebastian spotted Garreth first sitting at the far end of the room alone aside a gurgling cauldron. His uniform was slightly crooked, a large pile of crinkled parchment spread across the entirety of the table and stained with little splatters of unidentifiable goo. His left cheek was brightly off color in the shape of a nearly perfect circle as if something had been pressed against it for a long period of time.

Sebastian cleared his throat and the poor boy startled, fumbling heavily and dropping his large stirring spoon into the bubbling contents.

"Oh! Hi!"

"Hello Garreth."

"Hello Weasley."

His grin faltered. "You need something."

A sudden jolt of guilt lilted my voice. "I wanted to ask you about a potion you were working on at the beginning of the year-"

"Which one?"

I took a few steps further into the room, feeling Sebastian following close behind. Choosing one of the tables aside Garreth's, I tugged myself up and onto the tabletop, moving a few empty vials to the right as I did. I let my legs dangle partially due to comfort but also because the curse had chosen this exact moment to lock my joints. I feared any further movement and my legs would snap.