Witch Hunt (Re-written)

Chapter 8, Cured

    After you scrubbed every inch of your body clean until it nearly bled, you sat down at the table in the side room.
"Do you feel better?" Sebastian asked walking over to sit beside you.
"No, I can still feel my skin crawling."
With a sympathetic smile, he picked up your arm, investigating the little red dots across your skin.
"You gave yourself a rash."
Shrugging you rested back against the couch, trying to think of anything else.
"Oh, did you find out anything new?"
"I wasn't paying much attention, to be honest. My thoughts were on something more important."
Knowing Sebastian, nothing was more important than reading something interesting and a government conspiracy was one thing that was a compelling read.
"What's on your mind?"
"You," he replied in a rush, getting your pulse to race. "I mean, you just danced with the guy who ruined your life. I wanted to hit him. Maybe, knock him out and you smiled at him."
You rubbed your arms as chills ran up them. "It wouldn't have done us any good if he found out we weren't who we claimed to be. Though, I think I'm done with dancing, forever."
He wrapped his arms around you, covering yours with his, pulling you against him. "At least it's over."
"Well, not completely," Ominis replied as he took the book from the table before, the fire making his eyes appear like they were glowing. "We still have to deal with him."
"And find a way to give the cure to Anne."
Sebastian tensed before he pulled back and looked at you. "You made it? That was a complicated potion-"
"Felix made it actually. He asked me to store it in my bag until we see Anne again. It's apparently going to weaken her dramatically when it breaks the curse, but not kill her."
"Didn't that cure say it's to be imbued with magic equal or stronger than the curse itself?"
Smirking, you met his gaze. "Hey, remember me? I have access to ancient magic? I've already charged it, now it just needs to be consumed."
He smiled sadly. His sister was still a bone of contention for him.
"I heard what you said to her."
You sighed, your eyes drifting towards him, but he had already walked into the boy's room. "I'm guessing Ominis told you? Look, I know I said a lot of things to your sister that you probably didn't like and I know she had her brain scrambled by Solomon-"
"I appreciate it."
He was staring into the fire when you looked back.
"The abuse we went through isn't a pardon for my actions though. I did use people to get what I wanted. I'm not proud of it, but I can't pretend it's not there either. You risked your life coming to save me, even after everything I put you through. Then you stand up to my sister- it's more than I ever expected someone to do for me. Ominis and Anne never said a word-"
"To be fair, Ominis came from abuse too. He naturally wouldn't want to put that target on himself after what his parents did. It's his way to survive," you replied as he met your eyes. "I do understand why you wanted to cure Anne and Solomon didn't exactly help by destroying the hope you were trying to give her, by convincing her she was going to die. But you did go too far too. You could have flipendo-ed the goblin you imperio-ed and even knocked Solomon out. Nobody came away from that night looking good."
"Solomon wouldn't have stopped. We know that from those papers and from his journal."
You nodded. "But we didn't know that then, did we?"
"No," he said rubbing his hands together as he leaned forward. "We didn't. You're right."
Seeing how his face twisted into silent agony, you hugged him from the side, giving him a start before he leaned into you.
Deciding from that moment, you were going to find Anne and at least give her the cure, for his sake.

     The next morning, you woke before almost everyone, but Deek and Granny, who were engrossed in a deep conversation.
You headed for the door as sneakily as you could.
"Be careful out there, dearie."
Glancing back, both were staring at your back, so you gave a quick nod and left the room.
You dodged Peeves, who was making a mess of suits of armor, but a screech pulled your gaze up to an owl flying towards you.
It dropped a letter and flew off.
Looking it over there was no address or names on it. You stowed it in your bag for now as you made your way away from the gleeful laughing behind you.
Not stopping until you were in the safety of the Undercroft to open it.

  -Please meet me tonight in the hogshead.
                                            -Anne

This could be a horrible trap or one heck of a coincidence, but you could go without being seen.
With that in mind, you shifted into your animagus form and left the castle grounds to head to Hogsmeade.
It was lovely as ever, but you easily slipped inside the town, blending right in with the other cats, even asking them to keep an eye out for suspicious people and come tell you if they see one.
Anne walked in, hours later, with her hood drawn, appearing like she didn't want to be seen.
Nothing had changed, no one had randomly showed up after her, but you waited until it was very early in the morning and she had given up and began to head back home.
You moved to follow after her. It was a fairly simple task, being she wasn't walking that fast anyway.
And once she entered a dark house, you jumped into the broken window's sill and watched her sigh as she sat down.
"Did something happen? Were they hurt?"
You glanced around, not seeing or hearing another soul inside, before you jumped down onto the floor, effectively giving her a start, but she just smiled.
"Hello little kitty, are you hungry?"
She stood up and grabbed something from the kitchen, before bringing a plate back and set it down on the floor.
It was bits of raw fish, but you weren't about to touch that without it being cooked, so instead you meowed and jumped up on the table as she sat in the chair.
"I don't know that to do. I was hoping she'd be willing to talk. Maybe even explain things better, but I guess she wants nothing to do with me." She gasped suddenly, her hand flying over her mouth as fear stole away everything else. "Unless she thought I was leading her into a trap or maybe she was taken on her way. Oh no, poor Sebastian and Ominis."
The door opened suddenly, getting you to whirl while hissing, only to see Felix walking in.
"Ah, good evening. I'm Felix Williams, I'm sure you've heard of me."
She pulled her wand from her pocket, which he easily disarmed.
"Now, now, I'm not here to hurt you."
Anne sighed, her wand was now behind Felix's feet. "Did something happen to them?"
"Apart from two very worried boys, your brother being a hot head and us having to knock him out, everything's fine. I've found who I was looking for." His eyes fell to you. "Rude of you to leave without telling anyone. You gave everyone a good fright, my mother excluded of course."
Anne looked at him, then you and back. "You're talking to a cat?"
Felix chuckled as he picked up Anne's wand and floated it back to her. "Hardly," He squatted down, so you tried to bat at his wand. "Very adorable, now change back. She's not going to tell anyone. Come on."
"Is the cat an animagus?" Anne asked, as you focused on trying to get Felix's wand, to which he poked you in the side with it. "And how do you know I won't tell?"
"A gut feeling. You wanted to talk right? You want to see your brother. Well, what good would you do by turning in his friends? Why else would you be hanging around in this, ehm, charming little place?"
"I just wanted to talk to my brother before- I didn't get the chance to."
You shifted back, earning a sharp scream from her. "From your death or his?"
She glared at first, before it faltered completely.
"I know you don't like me-"
You sighed as you sat on the chair beside hers. "No, I don't mind you. I just got a bit emotional last time and said things that were cruel, even if they did hold some truth. I let my own guilt slip into my anger and... well it never ends good."
"You get that from your father's side," Felix teased, drawing your eyes.
"Do you think Sebastian will talk to me?"
Smiling you patted her hand. "I know there's nothing more he'd want more, but first, I need you to drink this."
You pulled the cure out of your bag. Her nose crinkled at the smell.
"What is this?"
You just gave her a chuckle. "It's nothing poisonous, I promise. But, if you want me to trust you, you'll need to trust me."
She nodded before she took the the vial and drained it without a second thought.
Felix looked at you and gave a nod, before Anne let out a painful scream.
You could see darkness seeping out of her chest as Felix held his wand out to it, drawing it into a ball, before setting it into a spoon. He immediately kicked it under the floor boards, before Anne passed out, falling against you.
"Shall we then?"
You nodded, so he moved over and picked her up.