A Change of Heart // Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 12

At 6am, Florence awoke to loud booming sounds coming from outside the tent. She quickly woke Sebastian and they both scrambled out of the bed and pulled on their clothes from last night they hadn't bothered to put back on and packed the tent up. They decided to head off on foot, following the smoke trail from a red glowing fire in the distance. As they approached, they noticed it was another goblin camp. They proceeded with caution, being sure to stay out of sight while they tried to see what was happening using the disillusionment charm.

"Oh my god, it's a dragon." Sebastian stated, pointing at a tail that was pointing straight into the air above the rest of the camp.

"I thought they were working with the dragons..." Florence thought aloud.

They decided to watch and see what happened before raiding. Without warning, the dragon took off into the air and flew away. They ran into the encampment seizing the opportunity, successfully removing all the goblins. They bounced off each other as they fought, casting powerful combinations together as they stood back to back, keeping an eye out for each other. With a final Bombarda, she finished off the last two goblins, turning to Sebastian to catch her breath.

"Just like old times, huh?" he said, panting as his chest rose and fell hard.

Florence did a quick sweep of the tents and as she opened a locked chest with a quick cast of Alohomora, she was met with a familiar glow. The prophecy.

"Sebastian! It's here!" she waved him over, he ran to the small open tent quickly, looking at the glowing ball in her hands.

"Well, don't keep me in suspense." He demanded.

Florence smashed the prophecy on the ground as she had done many times before, seeing the familiar mist.

The ones she loved must be sacrificed to save the magic the others seek.

Florence felt all the colour drain from her face.

Before she could debrief about it with Sebastian, men who resembled the Ashwinders from over 6 years ago appeared before them. Sebastian and Florence had successfully tackled many of these in the past. They began to duel and seemed to have the upper hand. Their team work hadn't dwindled after all these years and they bounced off each others spells, performing damaging combinations as they had done just moments before.

Florence heard a large squeal overhead and looked up to see the dragon from earlier. It quickly turned and began to dive back into the camp, screeching with its mouth open wide as it swooped. Florence dove out of the way with a roll, Sebastian attempting the same but he caught wind of its tail as it swooped, getting knocked into the air and hitting the ground hard with a loud thump, his body now lifeless and not moving. She knew he'd been knocked out cold. As Florence turned to go and help him, she felt a blunt object hit the back of her head. Her vision went black.

--

When Florence awoke, she found herself in a small cage, similar to the ones the poachers used to use. Her head was pounding and she felt a lump and dried blood on the back of her skull when she investigated. She was in a dark room, amongst stacks of boxes and other supplies. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she scanned the room frantically but there was no sign of Sebastian anywhere. Her wand was no longer with her. Her breathing because laboured, her throat felt like it was constricting and the air around her became too thick to breathe. She tried every bar on the cage to attempt to open it, running out of ideas. She admitted defeat and laid down, accepting her fate. Feeling she will most likely die, a million thoughts run through her head. She wished she could hug Poppy once more. She wished she could hold Ominis' hand and tell him he will be okay. She wished she told Sebastian how she felt about him.