Sinner // Sebastian Sallow

ONE

Defence Against the Dark Arts; the perfect opportunity for some friendly duels, and the perfect opportunity to learn all the ways wizards may defend themselves from you.

It's your favourite subject of all, the one where you have to pay the most attention. Everything Professor Hecat says may be used against you at any point - especially if someone finds out what you've been up to after school hours.

Meddling in the dark, with powers no Hogwarts student should be touching - hell, no wizard should be touching. One wrong move could see you end up in the depths of Azkaban and expelled as a student. You cannot allow that, not when you're so close to the end of your education.

Besides, you're hoping you've mastered the secrecy of it all. You're sitting in that classroom, seemingly ready to take anything the darkness will throw at you in your wizarding life - and one knows that, instead, you're wrapped in the dark's embrace.

"Now," Professor Hecat's voice smothers the classroom chatter. "Bombarda Maxima is the focus of today's lesson. This charm is the most explosive one of all, so please exercise some caution when casting."

You've already taught yourself this one so, to you, this lesson is a wasted effort. Hecat will never know, all you need to do is deliberately mess with the spell or stutter on your words. Enough to fool even the most intelligent student.

The classroom fills with chatter and excitement. Every student is somewhat familiar with the charm's name, but none have been quite experienced enough to use it. Aside from you, and your classmate Sebastian Sallow.

"Quieten down, please," Hecat smiles softly, bringing their attention back to the front of the classroom. She wields her wand and pulls a stone from the floor and into the air. Smooth and grey, the glow of the wand reflects off the stone's surface. It's pretty for what it is, you think.

"Bombarda Maxima." just those words and a tap of the wand are all it takes, and the stone blows apart in an instant. Pieces fly across the classroom, stopping only when Hecat taps her wand again and halts the movement in an instant.

The gasps across the room fall utterly silent, jaws hanging or eyes staring in awe. You've seen it all before, but copy the girl's expression beside you as a cover-up. Someone's burning holes into your shoulder blades, but you ignore it - your act is perfect.

"I would like you all to be extremely careful when casting this charm, it can be extremely dangerous," Hecat warns, dissipating the pieces of stone into nothing. "You will cast one at a time....starting with Leander Prewett."

Leander appears nervous as he shuffles from his seat and towards the professor. It's laughable, really, but you keep that to yourself. There's not even the excuse of Slytherin blood at your disposal - you're not a Slytherin, after all.

A dark wizard from the Hufflepuff house would make it to the front page of the Daily Prophet, you're sure.

Leander pulls his wand from his cloak as Hecat places another smooth stone into his hand. She smiles, "Move the stone over in that direction, make sure it's far enough from yourself and your classmates."

He does just that, pushing the stone into the air with his wand and sending it into the far corner of the classroom. There's a pause, before a very hesitant bombarda maxima fills the classroom and forces the stone to explode right in front of him. This one is certainly less explosive than the first, but the pieces of stone are vastly numbered to the point they're impossible to count.

"Good first attempt," the professor nods her head once. "Points to Gryffindor."

The student grins, almost skipping when he returns to his seat. The stones dissipate once again at the professor's command, giving more clean space for the next student to give the spell a go - you.

Hecat's eyes land on you before you can anticipate, only drawn to her when she clears her throat and says your name, "Would you like to try next?"

You nod. This charm is nowhere near as exciting as the spells you've learnt to cast, but the goal is to not give anything away. You're an innocent Hufflepuff seventh year, after all, you can't do wrong.

You copy everything Leander previously demonstrated, even lowering your voice to match his uncertainty. But still, when you raise your wand, the explosion that follows your command carries the same force to match the professor.

You look just as surprised as she is.

"Impressive, you must have a natural talent for this charm." she says, composing herself to the best of her ability. "Points to Hufflepuff."

You almost scoff. There's no way you have a natural talent for this charm; you're just not as good as acting as you thought you were. One rule you kept as a dark wizard; learn all the light's tricks before they do.

You can see Sebastian Sallow raising his eyebrows in the back of the classroom. But he doesn't meet your eye, as usual. Since fifth year, your friendship has dwindled into nothing but dust. That companionship you once had has now turned to the occasional shoulder-bump in the halls and a small acknowledgement of one another during classroom activities.

You're not useful to him anymore, so why would he bother with you?

The thoughts once irked you, filling you with the desire to answer that question for yourself. However, a year on and you hardly give it second thought. All you can say is that he's grown faster than you; all broad shoulders, the faint traces of stubble across his chin, and a few extra inches onto his height. Other than that, the Slytherin is the same Slytherin you first duelled with back in fifth year.

You walk back to your seat with your head held high, and don't ever look Sallow's way.

[DISCLAIMER: this author isn't a Harry Potter universe expert. Please look at lore inaccuracies lightly, she is trying her best. This is a work of fanon, after all.]

[but she is researching as she writes. Harry Potter fandom Wiki for the win right?]