Though my chest tightened, the rest of Hogsmeade seemed to slack and fray around the edges. A few children ran wildly around with toy brooms between their legs - their giggles and screams muffled in my ears. The sunshine that nestled between my shoulder and neck felt too hot, too pressing. I wasn't sure why reading the truth struck so deep within me -- perhaps it was the concrete evidence that it had happened at all.
Or perhaps it was the realization that there could be real consequences for what Sebastian had done.
I hadn't given much thought to his act, I'd been much too wrapped up in pain and poisoned thoughts for that. Rookwood was most definitely as terrible as they came, but surely not all would be as lenient with the justice system and forgiveness for murder.
My skin chilled and I was struck with the sudden urge to find him.
To hold him.
To protect him.
I tried to pound down my fear with the notion that surely no evidence could trace back to him, but how could I be entirely positive? I fumbled with the paper, harshly jabbing it back at the shop keeper with a muted 'thanks' and hoping she didn't notice the waver of my hand.
Paying no mind to the concern in her voice as she called out to me, I smiled politely and turned on my heal, grinding my teeth to hold my heart in place.
Following the whispers of instruments and the excited chatter of townsfolk, I walked as briskly as a 'normal' pace would allow, nearly tripping over my toes in my haste. It seemed a silly thing to be this worried so suddenly, but the pounding in my chest, the pain in my gut and the heat at my fingertips demanded acknowledgment.
"One day only!" A bright, taught voice echoed around the final corner. "Play play pay!"
Congregated in a tight arch around a man on a platform and floating, dancing, singing instruments was the happiest bunch of witches and wizards I'd seen in a long while. Their smiles and joyful claps seemed to echo slowly as I searched their faces for any sign of my little family.
I spotted Anne first.
Her features strikingly similar to her brothers and I felt the nip of magic gnashing feverishly beneath my ribs until it registered the false portrayal of him and simmered to a silent, bubbling chill.
Her thick, wind-tossed bangs traced the tops of her brows and framed warm deep eyes that squinted with her smile. Her cheeks were red, a mark from the same smile that bloomed wider. Her nose slanted just so, small and curved at the bottom, also slightly pink from laughter. Her nimble fingers were threaded through blond strands at her hip where Ominis had leaned his head into her side as he sat on a grey stone bench below.
His pale skin flushed from cheek to cheek, blanketing his nose and tipping up under a few of the loosened strands of unkept hair that had slipped down. His thin lips lifted gently at the corners, pointed nose angled not to the sounds of joy ahead of him, but up to Anne as best he could. One of his hands had found its way to hers and had threaded his fingers through gently. Despite his shifted concentration, the tip of his right foot tapped in precise rhythm with the music.
And finally my eyes gripped the disheveled, casual allure of my bright and grinning Sebastian.
His drunken stupor rounded out and fizzling as he danced giddy circles ahead of the crowd with two young toddler boys and gently trying to encourage an even smaller little girl to join them in youthful innocence. Her blonde hair pulled into a high bun, her small body wrapped in a thick shawl and her thin lips pulled tight - though even through the mess of arms and coats, I could see the grin slowly forming there. Parents smiled at his antics and their children's instant draw to his pure heart, having no idea of his inebriation. A few students I recognized from school pointed and laughed, but Sebastian paid them no mind. His hands clapping along to the rhythm as the little girl finally gave in and danced in wobbly glee.
My heart gasped in relief and my palms heated in one final magic crack though the warmth didn't fade. I drank in his easy smile and freckled, reddened cheeks. His tousled hair hanging limply over his eyes and I could have sworn the sound of his laughter alone carried over the crowd and music.
My chest ached as I watched in wonder of how truly alive Sebastian looked.
Under the guise of alcohol glazed thoughts, nothing was important and everything was possible. An ephemeral peace I wished he might never loose even in sobriety.
Yet, despite the solace of seeing him safe and carefree, my insides tore at my lungs. Sucking in any breath became unbearable as the curse latched its greedy talons around my happiness. I grasped at my chest, feeling the tips of my fingers burning in familiar warmth but having no strength to pull them away. Chills leapt down my spine as I stood frozen in my pain.
It was of course at this moment that Sebastian's eyes landed on mine and a pang of guilt stretched between us. The relaxed innocence of his features snapped frighteningly back into place. His smile fell and even in his wavering step, he brushed past the others, leaving the kids to dance alone. His desperate stride pausing only momentarily to clumsily scoot around the bench Ominis was sat and crush the distance between us.
Sebastian hissed as his hands wound around to cradle me, jerking back from my touch a moment before pulling me to his chest, obscuring the crowd's view of my crumbling bones.
My fear pounded louder than the music, begging the words past my lips - to tell him to let me go, to tell him not to get burnt. Yet, he peppered little kisses to the top of my head, chest still heaving in frantic terror.
"Shit, Atley you're freezing. What- Is it the curse? What can I do? I'm here. I'm here." I could hear the tremble in his voice, for the first time unable to recognize my bought of pain as his sisters curse. I wondered if it was the warped perception of alcohol.
"What is it?" Anne's smooth voice barely audible below the thrum in my ears and the instruments behind us. She and Ominis had taken up either side of Sebastian, huddling around me - shell to fragile muscle.
Managing to squeak out the smallest fragment of noise, I once again pulled at my own chest, fearing the smoldering flesh beneath my fingertips would singe any of them. "B-Back up. Burning." I winced at the effort.
Sebastian's nose immediately tilted down to my hands, raising one of his own to examine them.
Anne pulled the back of hers to my forehead.
The warmth of Ominis' body seemed to inch closer too.
Could these three ever listen?
"Merlin, Sebastian. Her skin is so cold."
Ominis tugged off a jacket I hadn't noticed him wearing before and thrust it in my direction. Anne wrapped it swiftly around my shoulders, nodding somewhere over Sebastian's shoulder.
Confusion outweighed terror.
Cold?
----
By the final bought of freezing heat, my fear had been collectively decided upon as a strained fever. The curse's heavy hand winding up from the inside.
We'd holed up in an alleyway stairwell, backs pressed against a cool stone wall and bodies covered by the branches of a rather large bush. Anne and Ominis were chatting quietly aside us while my head rested in Sebastian's lap, his fingers brushing gently through my hair as he coed over and over.
"You're here. I'm here. We're here."
I could feel the smallest of my hairs, plastered to my forehead in sweat, my fingertips numb and lungs returning in tattered rhythm slowly.
Sebastian traced the edges of my cheeks, only glancing away for moments at a time to check the glinting gold pocket-watch that had been tucked into his pant pocket, no doubt timing the bought of pain.
His attention would always flick back to mine promptly, his once red, drunken eyes hanging heavy over my face - he had sobered up quite quickly.
I was thankful for his gentle hands, the rough pads of his fingers caressing my skin, tethering my body to my soul again. Over and over his hands touched my cheeks, threaded through my hair and flattened out a rather unkempt wrinkle in my clothing. The warmth of his touch slow and reassuring as he ghosted the side of my neck, thumbing over the little silver chain of the necklace there. I relaxed into his chest, listening to the quiet shift of metal as he pulled the necklace from beneath my shirt and twisted the pendant between his fingers.
It was subtle, but there was no mistaking the shift in his breathing.
"How is she?" Ominis hummed, not too far behind my head.
"I think it's passed. She's warming- cooling..." He stumbled over words as if his brain weren't quite there to hold them steady.
"I'm fine." My voice sounded harsh and raspy, something similar to what I imagined it would sound like after having being brutally choked.
"We know-" Ominis started but Sebastian spoke over him simultaneously.
"No you're not."
"Sebastian." Anne chided.
"I can't pretend anymore Anne." Even from below his chin, I could feel the way his eyes lit like fire. "I told you- I won't-"
I raised an aching arm up to wrap my hand around his, his fingers still wound tight around Isidora's pendant.
Sebastian's eyes flitted down to mine, the burn and ache still curling around his irises. "We can't wait anymore. There's too many- This curse-" He clenched his jaw, swallowed, reset. "You were strong enough to take it once."
He raised the silver metal up until I could see the arched center clearly, the chain kissing my neck.
"You can do it again."