Aftermath ✧ Sebastian Sallow

chapter one

Fall of Sixth Year

Amelia's Perceptive

It was a long summer. Not a bad summer, just lonely.

The many faces inside of the Hogwarts Express brought a sense of comfort that I was desperately missing. I thought I'd feel better going back to pretending to be a normal person for the summer break, but instead, I mostly felt alone. Most summer nights were spent next to my window waiting for the next owl to visit and tell me about the people that I missed more than anything.

Not living in the wizarding world and being apart from this new life for months was far more lonely than I expected. I thought it would be easier to go back to pretending to not have magic and live among the rest of the muggle-born again, but it wasn't. There was no one to talk to outside of letters. Letters were my only connection back to this new world. 

My first steps back on the train made me already feel at home again, for the first time since I left.

As the train was pulling out of the final stop before the long ride to Hogwarts I stood outside one of the private sitting carts room hoping to the faces I missed most. Inside the private train booth were already most of the people I spent my summer writing to; Poppy, Natti, Amit, Samantha, Nellie, Arthur, and Garreth. But there were a few people that I wanted to check up with that I hadn't heard from during the summer.

Then one of the people I wanted to hear from most entered our train cart, Ominis Gaunt.

Truly, I didn't know if Ominis Gaunt was my friend. I always considered him a friend of mine. But he was one of the few classmates whom I could never figure out what he was up to, he kept his own secrets tightly held. Our relationship was a rocky start at best although it seems like we were always able to work things out. 

I often felt like an additional source of his stress during our fifth year. I wanted to mend the wrongs that I'd caused for him. But I haven't written to him much because I wasn't sure what to talk to him about anymore. The last time we really spoke was unpleasant at best. Discussing the future of the other friend I missed dearly, Sebastian Sallow. 

After a long conversation, I convinced Ominis that Sebastian needed our help now more than ever and that we couldn't turn him in for his crimes.

After that, it felt like there was a distance in our relationship for the rest of the year. Before leaving Hogwarts, Ominis told me that he was planning on having Sebastian stay with him over the summer because he didn't trust him to be alone after everything he had been through. 

After everything all of us had been through together.

"Ominis, it's great to see you. I've missed you." I said softly extending my arms out slowly to pull Ominis in for a small hug. 

"It's nice to hear from you too, Amelia. How was your summer?" Ominis seems much more gentle and warm than he had last time we spoke. He didn't even seem annoyed that forced him into a hug, perhaps he needed it more than I did.

My eyes scanned behind my tall Slytherin friend, who was growing even taller over the summer, checking the rest of the empty hallway behind him. 

"My summer was okay," I lied, not eager to discuss the months of loneliness that I was attempting to forget, "How was yours? I assumed you spent it with Sebastian? I'm surprised he isn't with you frankly."

"That is surprising," Ominis' tone shifted to the distrusting one that I was most used to. This was the tone that I had expected to hear upon greeting me, but this time his tone was directed at me. "He was just behind me. I suppose he ran off already."