Consuming Darkness: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 6

-Sebastian-

Ever since the library, Ronnie avoided me as often as she could. I tried to talk to her, but she seemed annoyed at me again, and I was annoyed too. Not at her but myself. I shouldn't have brought up dark magic... I shouldn't have even joked about it. I hated myself for doing that to her. For bringing her along that path with me. I knew that her nightmares were, at least partially, a result of her friendship with me. I cared so much about her and the guilt of her pain was enough to send me spiraling. So I tried to try to stay away from her, I didn't want to hurt her again. I didn't want to be the cause of her suffering and pain. It was almost enough to destroy me.

She also hadn't seemed opposed to the idea of dabbling in dark arts again, and that worried me most of all. I decided to confide in Ominis. He at least knew that Ronnie had learned the unforgivable curses. I had taught them to her, and based on the shift in her personality and demeanor I assumed that she had used them. I cursed myself. I shouldn't have taught those blasted curses to her!

I found Ominis in the Undercroft working on homework. He sat at a table as his wand read the textbook to him. He flicked his wand, and it stopped reading as he turned towards me. "What's wrong?" He greeted. 

"Why did you think something was wrong?"

"You're depressed," he remarked with a wave of his hand.

"I haven't even said anything," I muttered with a laugh. He was so perceptive, it was a little scary.

"So nothing is wrong?"

"No... I need to talk to you about something..." I admitted.

"What is it? I need to get this homework done before class tomorrow," he responded, arching his eyebrow.

"You need to promise not to lose your temper," I said sternly.

"I will promise no such thing, Sebastian! I'm entitled to lose my temper however I want to after all you've put me through!" Ominis remarked, getting heated. I groaned and rubbed my hand on my face as he continued to lecture me. "I swear, Sebastian, if you are even thinking about doing the dark arts again I will report you in a heartbeat! I don't care how much Veronica begs me.

"Merlin's beard, Ominis!" I exclaimed, not hiding my annoyance with his impromptu lecture and automatically assuming that I had been using dark arts. "It's not about me! It's about Ronnie."

Ominis' entire demeanor softened, which sparked a little annoyance in me, but I understood. "What's wrong? She still hates you?" He teased me.

I rolled my eyes. "No. Well... maybe, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it then?"

"Well, if you would stop assuming I'm a horrible person for five seconds then maybe I'd be able to tell you," I laughed.

Ominis just chuckled in response and waited for me to tell him.

"Ronnie has used the unforgivable curses too... when we would fight goblins or poachers, she would use them occasionally to get us out of some close calls... I'm sure she used them more times than I saw... just think about how many battles she had to fight in last year..." I admitted.

Ominis didn't respond for a moment. He was always so introspective, sometimes it was maddening, but most of the time it meant that he was great to come to for advice. I knew Ominis had helped me combat the after-effects of dark magic use. Maybe he could help Ronnie too.

"She's been having nightmares every night," I told him. "Poppy came up and talked to me on the first day of class to ask me to help Ronnie. She said that she would wake up screaming in the middle of the night and that she was quick to bicker, quicker to anger, and after a while she only sought isolation. It's just not like her. Even now I can see she's struggling, and I don't know how to help her," I told him.