Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter TWENTY THREE - That Damned Tie

Sebastian and I ended up eating the entire stack of pancakes together, only a sticky, syrup-y plate and a few berries remained.

Once we had made sure our fingers were no longer covered in syrup, we flipped through the book - laying side by side on our chests over the pillows, book out in front.

The sheer amount of information in it was overwhelming. Yet, nothing was overly enlightening. Even with Professor Fig's detailed translations, everything seemed to be coded and cryptic.

The page that showed Feldcroft was one of the worst to understand but the one we spent the longest on. Sebastian would trace his fingers over the drawings and point things out for me. The little well near his home where Anne and he had spent ages reading near growing up, the hill he explained was the best for sledding in the winter, he even noticed a few of the houses in the drawing were still there.

His fingers tapped mindlessly against his cheek in thought. He was silent for awhile. Just thinking. When he finally turned to me, his face was calm but I could see traces of what appeared as excitement and a hint of nerves twisting around his eyes.

"Barlowe, I've got a proposition for you."

I rolled over onto my side to get a better look at him. "Lay it on me Sallow."

He smirked, swallowed, continued. 

"Professor Weasley has granted me special permission to visit home and my sister on select weekends... would- you maybe want to come with me this coming Sunday? We could- I really want you to meet Anne. And we could take a look around Feldcroft? See if there's anything more we can find-" He tapped the book "in person?"

"I'd love that!" Doubt clogged my throat in an instant. "Do you think Professor Weasley will let me? Or Headmaster Black? Or Professor Fig??"

"Leave that up to me." He wiggled his brow but I still wasn't sure. He read the hesitation. "Really Barlowe? After everything and you still don't trust me?"

"I do trust you."

I snapped my mouth shut realizing my heart had spoken for my brain. Yet, it was true. Sebastian hadn't given me any reason to doubt him. Ever. I had already trusted him with one of my biggest secrets hadn't I? 

Evidently I had been making a face.

He scoffed. "Don't look so surprised darling."

I crinkled my nose.

"What?! Ominis got to try it, I only wanted a turn."

I smacked his shoulder with my napkin and he feigned an injury.

I rolled back over to flip through a few more pages in the book but felt his gaze on the side of my face. I pressed on as a shiver slithered down my spine.

Drawings of little red wisps, hearts and diagrams, there was even a Hogwarts crest with the names of the four founders surrounding it.

Sebastian touched the sketch, brushing his finger accidentally over mine as he did. I'm not sure he even noticed. "Do you think the founders have something to do with all of this?"

"I'm not sure. Perhaps? The translation only speaks to the founders and their own magic. I mean, here-" I crossed my hand over his this time and pointed to the rune of the Slytherin founder. "-it talks about Salazar Slytherin and his 'adept knowledge of a deeper darker magic'. So maybe? It's hard to tell."

He brought his hand back up to his face and pulled on his bottom lip in thought, thumb rubbing over the pink.

"Ominis mentioned something to me recently, about some other secret place here in the castle. Said that his family believed it to be Salazar Slytherin's personal scriptorium."  He was looking at me now but still touching his lip absentmindedly. I tried to ignore the way his eyes wandered my face. "I've been trying to convince him to let me in, to look for something that could possibly help Anne... Only the Gaunts know where it is, but he won't tell me more."