After a while, Garreth lifted his head and looked at me in confusion. His mouth was smeared with Sebastian's blood, which continued to run from his nose. Ominis stood there and started laughing out loud.
"Caelie, pass me my bag," Garreth called out to me while still sitting on Sebastian's stomach to steady him. I handed it to him. He placed it on Sebastian's chest, took a vial and emptied it into Sebastian's mouth.
Garreth paused, set the bag down beside him and looked at Sebastian again. He seemed to be examining him with his gaze. "When did you realize it?" Garreth asked quietly.
"Just before the night at the Three Broomsticks. And then when you were in France. I missed you both so much. And there I had so much time to think. And I kept thinking about Caelie. And you too. More than me should. As I stood in the shower and thought of Caelie, I thought of you and I felt how much the thought of you turned me on. Had started writing a letter for you too, but I couldn't. And I was so insecure and thought if you were gone I wouldn't be so confused anymore." Sebastian answered in a whisper.
"Do I have to worry that one day you will attack me?" Garreth asked while staring at Sebastian. "No," he replied.
"How do you feel about me?" Garreth asked further. "I don't know exactly. I love that we understand each other without words, or you teach me how to cook. I love to listen to your stupid jokes, or just to watch you when you sleep. Or your eyes light up when you're happy, or when we play our instruments together. And then just yesterday, this feeling, it was really indescribable.", Sebastian answered smiling and looked deep into Garreth's eyes, while both faces became more and more red, "Well yes, I think I've fallen in love with you."
"Why did you tell me that you don't mind if we got engaged?" Garreth asked, slowly calming down. "I don't mind. I just wish I wasn't there as a third wheel. It hurts to see the two people I most desire planning their future lives together while I'm always a little left out.", Sebastian answered while a tear ran down his cheek and he lowered his gaze.
Garreth slid off his stomach, revealing that Sebastian's cock was fully erect. Ashamed, Sebastian quickly sat down to cover the bulge.
"If you don't trust me anymore, we can also make an unbreakable vow that I will not hurt or kill you against your will.", Sebastian said quietly, "But please, believe me that I don't want to hurt you. You two are just too important to me for that. Please stay in my life, even if I'm a complete idiot."
"It's okay, I know that you told the truth. Even the best liar can't beat my Veritaserum. I hope that you understand this action.", Garreth said and Sebastian nodded.
Ominis stood there and clapped, "Sweet performance. Really stunning. Suddenly coming out to save your own ass from Weasley's fury. Really remarkable, really. There's a lot of actors to learn from you, but you know you're known for picking up girls at Hogwarts and not boys, yes?"Sebastian wiped the blood from his nose once more as Garreth stood up and went to his bag. He pulled small assorted vials from his pocket.
"I'm not gay all of a sudden, Ominis. Garreth is an exception. Everything about him is just kind of beautiful," said Sebastian quietly and blushed brightly.
"Drink this, then you'll feel better.", Garreth started and handed Sebastian a vial while he rubbed some essence of dittany ointment on Sebastian's nose and bloody lip with his thumb. He looked into his eyes. "Have you ever felt something like that for a boy?" I asked and approached the two. Sebastian shook his head, "No, never."
"Ominis, now to you. I understand you. You see a friend walking in the wrong direction. But maybe he's not walking in the wrong direction, maybe it's not your friend that's the problem, it's your perspective," said Gareth softly. Ominis was now back on the floor and had calmed down.
A couple of minutes of silence passed. "Is the Veritaserum still working?" Ominis asked. Gareth nodded. "Then I have a question, Sebastian, what are you really hoping to find out from your research?"
"I finally want to be powerful enough to help Anne and protect you all. I only have one real goal in life, and that is to be happy with the people I care about.", Sebastian answered and looked straight to Ominis.
"And how are we supposed to make sure you don't stray deeper into dark magic?" Ominis asked further. "You can't do. I will continue until Anne gets well or she really doesn't want to see me anymore. I can't rest until then. Even if I were expelled from school here and now, I would continue to do research." said Sebastian.
Ominis nodded. "So we don't have a chance to get you to stop?" he asked quietly. "Only if you kill me.", Sebastian answered.
I observed the situation, unable to speak. My heart was racing like crazy.
"Sorry that i hit you," Garreth said and began gently cleaning the blood from Sebastian's face. "It's fine, I wouldn't have reacted differently if I were you.", Sebastian replied with a charming smile, "Besides, you owe me something now. If you hit me, I can hit you too."
"By Merlin's beard, Sebastian, please be quiet. That's really disgusting.", Ominis yelled and put his hand to his face in embarrassment.
"How is Anne?" Sebastian asked and sat down next to Ominis. Ominis removed his hand from his face. "She's really worried about you. She wants you to just enjoy your life and not give up just to maybe heal her," Ominis answered. "I'm sorry. I don't want to worry anyone, but I need to find a cure.", Sebastian said quietly.
"Sebastian, take off your shirt," Garreth said, sitting down next to him with a small bowl of water and his wand. Sebastian smiled mischievously as he saw Ominis head turn bright red.
I sat down with the three. I was still shocked and just kept watching.
Garreth began rinsing the blood off Sebastian's shirt collar, "Ominis, I'm sorry I used the Imperius Curse on you. It was the only chance to escape from the catacomb without hurting yourself. In hindsight it was the right decision, otherwise Anne would be dead by now.", he spoke slowly while Ominis nodded understandingly.
"And we don't live with my parents. Caelie told you about her godmother's house. That's where we live. There are three of us. Sebastian isn't a parasite. He's one of us.", Garreth added and conjured up a broad, loving look on Sebastian's face Smile.
"Caelie, is everything okay?" Sebastian asked uncertainly and took my hand. He looked at me. His warm brown eyes studied me intently. I nodded, "Yeah, I'm just surprised."
Sebastian smiled pityingly at me, "I'm sorry," he said. "You don't have to be sorry," I said, regaining my composure and smiling, "It's wonderful. I love watching you guys.""Please take this conversation elsewhere, I really, really don't want to know," Ominis said, embarrassed.
"Ominis, what are you going to do now?" I asked. "Nothing. I have no choice. I will continue to monitor what is happening and intervene if there is no other choice. Let's just hope it isn't too late by then. I don't want to lose my oldest friend. Even if I wouldn't care about Sebastian, I don't want Anne to suffer any more." He said softly.
Sebastian lay down on the ground and placed his head on Garreth's lap. I moved over to Garreth and petted Sebastian's head.
"Where are you going in the summer, Ominis?" asked Sebastian. "At Anne, i guess. You have each other and she only has Solomon. Besides, I don't want to hear you. It's bad enough that you were heard the night after your birthday," he replied. "We were heard? Merlin, you can't imagine how hard I tried to be quiet," Garreth said, "but guys, we should get to our common rooms."
We all got up, Garreth and I grabbed our bags and went to the portrait. We had made an appointment with Sebastian for later.
We entered the common room and headed to our dormitories to unpack our bags. I looked around and snorted. Nothing had changed. Apparently Natty and Nellie hadn't returned yet and Cressida's bed remained empty. Whenever I saw it, it reminded me of the pain that bitch put my Garreth through.
I calmly cleared out all my things and took my soaps into the bathroom when I heard the door creaking. I went back to see if either Nellie or Natty was back. However, the room was empty. I went to my bed. A note lay on it.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If I don't have him, you shouldn't have him either," it said. I started to panic. Garreth.
Garreth was in great peril. I ran to the boys dorms. Garreth wasn't in his room. Leander and Lawrence were chatting happily. "Have you seen Garreth?" I asked, panicking. "Yes, he just put his suitcase down and wanted to see if Jennie and Hector are already there." Lawrence answered. "Shit, shit, shit." I started screaming.
"What's going on?" Leander asked confused. "Cressida's here!"
Leander turned pale and began to look for Garreth. We ran the boys' dormitories and he wasn't there.
"Maybe he's just with his aunt?" asked Lawrence. "I'll go find him." I yelled, running out of the common room.
I went to the faculty tower, Prof. Weasley wasn't there. I kept running and followed the stairs down. Had he perhaps gone to the dungeons? I was standing in front of the Slytherin common room and of course couldn't enter it. So I screamed. I cried out for Sebastian, for Garreth, for Ominis. I screamed, never in my life have I screamed like that.
It took a while before someone came out the door. I just ran into the Slytherin common room, past the other Slytherin students towards the boys' dorms. Ominis and Sebastian were just sitting on their beds when I came running into the room.
"What's going on?" Ominis asked confused. "Cressida.", I tried to take a breath, "Cressida is in the castle and wants to get Garreth."
Sebastian took his wand, grabbed Ominis by the wrist and ran after me.
We ran to the undercroft. He wasn't there either. I thought about where else he might be.
Suddenly I saw something. I saw darkness and only the glow of my wand. I held my chest, it was bleeding profusely. I rummaged in my pocket for something, but I couldn't see anything. It was too dark and my eyes just kept losing focus. I felt my head getting heavy again and again and falling backwards. I didn't have any strength anymore. I was dying.
"The statue of the one-eyed witch, of course!" I burst out. I grabbed Sebastian by the wrist and ran up the grand stairs. Please Caelie, you must be on time. Garreth must not die. Not my Garreth.
"Ominis, please go to the hospital wing and take Madam Blainey to the statue. Garreth is badly injured." I yelled and went upstairs with Sebastian. "How do you know that?" Sebastian asked. "I saw it." I shouted and kept running.
I stopped in front of the statue, pulled out my wand and said "Dissendium". The statue moved, revealing the way behind it.
"Lumos," I yelled and ran down the dark corridor. At the end of the aisle I saw him lying. Around him was a puddle of his blood. He didn't look at me. Was he dead? Were we late? I put my ear over his mouth. He was still breathing but was unconscious.
I begged. "No, Garreth, you don't die. Do you hear? We're here. Sebastian and I are saving you. Please hold on." Tears ran down my cheeks as Sebastian and I carried Garreth's almost lifeless body out of the secret passage.
Outside, Madam Blainey ran up, ripped open Garreth's shirt and started heal his wounds while still in the hallway. Sebastian helped her with this. I cried while stroking Garreth's face. It was only in the light that the extent of the injuries became apparent. His torso was cut all over, but a wound on his chest was particularly deep and bleeding profusely.
Professor Weasley ran over and knelt down next to Garreth. "Caelie, what happened?" she asked me as she checked on Garreth's condition. "Cressida is back in the castle. She wants to get Garreth so we both can't have him." I kept crying.
"Gary!" I heard Jennie shriek. She, Hector, and Kay came running. "Fetch Professor Garlick and Professor Sharp, please, we need every healing and blood-increasing effect. Hurry!" Professor Weasley instructed.
More teachers came to us. Despite Professor Weasley also crying, she instructed everyone perfectly. She knew anyone who had skills that could help right now.
I didn't move from Garreth's side. I sat by his head and laid it on my legs. Sebastian wept too. Still, he tried as best he could to cast healing spell after healing spell. I hated myself so much in that moment that I didn't tell Gwen I didn't understand.
"What happens now?!", I asked in a panic as several adult healers appeared next to us and put Garreth on a gurney. "Caelie, Gary needs to be taken to St. Mungo's Hospital. He needs to be put into a coma. He's lost far too much blood," said Prof. Weasley.
"Take my blood!" Sebastian and I chorused. The healers took the gurney and disappeared. I wanted to run after him but Professor Weasley held me. "Professor, I have to go to Garreth, please let me go.". Professor Weasley shook his head.
"Sebastian, please take care of Caelie. Take her to the Slytherin common room. It's too dangerous here as long as Ms. Blume is loose.", she said and went to the other teachers. She instructed her to find Cressida and lock up the castle.
Sebastian was taking me into the dungeon when he suddenly stopped. "I think I know where Cressida is," he said, looking at me. "I'm sure she's aware that Garreth isn't dead and I bet she's either waiting for you or rummaging through his stuff."
"So we're going to Gryffindor tower after all?" I asked skeptically. Sebastian shrugged and nodded at the same time. He turned around and we headed upstairs.
"Wait, I have an idea.", Sebastian said and took out a small bottle and drank it. Not a minute later, Sebastian was standing in front of me in Garreth's form.
"A little bit of fooling around and no one will question it when I go in," said Sebastian, pulling my Gryffindor tie from his robe pocket. He smiled at me, "It's my lucky charm now."
"Doesn't seem to have brought any luck though. We've only been at Hogwarts a few hours and you've had your face smashed pretty badly, Cressida has gone completely insane and Garreth is way too close to death. I think you should throw that tie away. " I said gruffly. Sebastian grabbed my chin and pulled it towards him to kiss me.
I looked into Garreth's beautiful forest green eyes. I felt myself beginning to cry again. My Garreth.