A Tale of Sallow

Chapter One: Bewitched

Spotify: Witchlove by Nico Yaryan

I remember vividly of my first day at Hogwarts. I awoken to the sound of birds chirping and sunlight shining through the blue curtains laced with golden trims. It was a beautiful morning, temporarily making me forget about the horrible series of events that took place the previous day. I was positive it is very uncommon for students on their way to school to witness their first death and narrowly escapes their own and then continue to go on an adventure with the professor that was put in charge of them. It was a lot to process and frankly speaking, a bit more dangerous than I could handle. But I was ready to start my day to exercise my mind with the lessons planned out for the day. I was a Ravenclaw after all. And I thought to myself, I'm a student now. The most worry I should be having should be on how to ace my exams. I wish I could have told my old self how wrong she was. Naive and a little bit optimistic, I was totally unaware of the eventful year ahead. But one thing I knew for sure that day, everything changed when I met him.

Call it fate or coincidence, my first class for the day was Defence against the dark arts. At first I paid no attention to the chaos that was ensuing in the class. I rolled my eyes thinking, "well, boys being boys".  I hadn't make friends at the time and was just trying to keep up with the class when all of the sudden, Professor Hecat announced that the best way to learn is by practice. She called me out in front the class to have a friendly match with a boy with chestnut hair and cheeks splattered with tiny little dots of freckles. I did not like getting attention, although it really was unavoidable being known as the new fifth year. But if I'm being seen, I always liked to do my best. So I gave all I've got to make sure I defeated the boy with no personal vendetta against him. Much to my surprise, the boy took his defeat with dignity and introduced himself as Sebastian Sallow. He said, "you give as good as you get." And I smiled to myself, thinking what a strange boy he was. He was confident and yet not egoistic. And I knew then and there, I was bewitched.

The rest of the year was full of adventures with the new friends I made. I was grateful to have a good friend like Natty who made sure I was well taken care of throughout the school year, supporting me in every way possible. I was happy to have met Poppy, who is a joy in herself and her love for the beasts amazes me to no end. As a fellow beast lover, I have upmost respect for her going against her own family for her beliefs. The broom trials with Imelda challenged me and I was looking forward to quidditch matches the next year if Professor Black would allow. Potions class with Garreth Weasley was always fun, considering how his explosions never ceased to infuriate Professor Sharp but always had the class laughing. Not forgetting Amit, who is really the only person I would consider equal in terms of intellect. His obsessions with astronomy inspired me to take an interest too, although the events that unfolded in the later parts of the year did not give me the time to pursue it.

But the late night adventures with Sebastian... those were the ones I looked forward to the most. I wasn't sure when it started, really. This feeling... this feeling of wanting to know him more. I wasn't sure if it was since our first trip to Hogsmeade or if it was our little library misadventure. Perhaps it was when he let me in on his secret special place, the undercroft, that only his sister and his best friend Ominis knows about. Or maybe it was when he introduced me to his sister, Anne, making me feel like he really wanted me in his life. Before I knew it, his owls were the only ones that really got me going. I was willing to do everything for this boy. Hell, I even took Crucio for him because that's how much I adored him. But everything good must come to an end. I don't know when things got so wrong. How did I fail to see that the dark magic was consuming him? I blamed myself partly for encouraging him, thinking I was supportive. The decision to whether turn him in or not was the most difficult decision I've ever had to make in my life. It was questioning my own morality but Sebastian was, and has always been, my loyal friend. Romantic feelings aside, I wasn't sure I was ready to throw away my friendship with him. I couldn't send him to Azkaban where he might go down a path even darker. I decided then that Hogwarts was good for him. We would be good for him. So I convinced Ominis and made sure Sebastian was not convicted for his uncle's murder. Sebastian thanked me and told me that he was grateful for our friendship. And that time in the undercroft was the last time I really spoke to him.

Between protecting the ancient magic from Ranrok and Professor Fig's death, I could not have paid attention to Sebastian and the aftermath. I had my own demons to deal with, mourning the loss of my father figure. But I still saw him around in Hogwarts, at his favourite bench eating snacks and occasionally smiling at me. I assumed all was well with him (as well as he can be, considering the turns of events) and I entrusted that task to Ominis. After the whole ordeal, Ravenclaw was announced the winner of the house cup, thanks to my heroism. Everyone cheered for me and my house but my eyes only went to the Slytherin table, hoping to see a certain chestnut-haired boy. But he was nowhere. And my heart sank. I pulled Ominis away after the celebration and asked where Sebastian was.

"Oh, Lilian. I'm surprised he didn't tell you. He went down to Feldcroft early. He had to pack some things before going to a foster home assigned by the Ministry of Magic. After all, he is an underaged student without a legal guardian. I would try to ask my family to take him in but I'm not sure they would be a good influence on him at this moment," he said.

I couldn't believe it. Sebastian did not tell me any of this. I guess it made sense that the ministry would have assigned him a foster home. He was a minor after all. I was a little hurt that he did not indulge with me these details. I did send him an owl after, however, asking him how he was and if the new place was treating him well. There was no reply. It frustrated me to no end that he would ignore my owl. So I decided to do what any teenage girl with an ego would do. Ignored him back and enjoyed the rest of my summer break.