Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter FIFTY THREE - Snog

My smile crushed my cheeks and I tucked the letter to my chest, my heart doing little flips.

Carefully, I rolled the balls of my feet down to the cold floor. Sliding open the top drawer of my nightstand, I gently placed the letters and envelops next to where Sebastian's first letter was nestled among my socks and tights.

I made a mental note to write back to Anne later this evening.

The morning light was warm against my cheek as I closed the drawer and pulled out a fresh uniform for the day. The owl ruffled its feathers and hooted gently at me as I passed towards the bathrooms. I paused near it's perch and eyed it carefully.

It looked cute enough - poofy and wide-eyed but something about the curve of its beak and too innocent expression made me nervous.

It hooted again and this time stuck its neck out toward me gently, turning its head 90 degrees and eyeing my hand.

I squinted back at it.

"Hoo. Brrrrrrr." I imagined the sound it was making now to be almost the same as a cat's purr and I lifted my hand slowly.

Its wide black eyes looked through to my heart and it turned its head again, back and forth, waiting.

Finally I reached the top of its head and just as I went to place my fingertips against the feathers there, the bird's eyes shifted quickly and it spun its head around,

biting my finger.

"Ouch!" I yelped and pulled my hand back quickly, cupping it against my chest.

The owl hooted contently and ruffled itself back against the perch and warmth of the furnace.

I stuck my tongue out at the trickster before walking away to get ready for the day.

Classes couldn't have drug by any slower. It didn't help that the last one of the day happened to be History of Magic. Professor Binns' voice had to have been laced with a sedative as my eyelids felt like bricks. Ominis seemed to be struggling too, hand against his cheek and head lolling forward every so often.

With each bob, his head would shoot back upright, the place where his hand had been on his cheek bright red against the high arch of his cheekbones. A bit of his light hair ruffled out of place and tickled his forehead. Upon feeling it, he tucked the strand back and leaned to his left, tapping a hand against the wood of the table in front of me to grab my attention.

"Atley darling, how much longer remains in this dreadful class." His hushed whisper hissed against our otherwise silent corner of the classroom and another student snickered behind us. Thankfully Professor Binns was groaning monotonously at the other side of the room and hadn't heard. I wondered if Ominis was able to sense ghosts as easily as he could the presence of humans.

"Honestly Ominis, I've been dozing on and off..."

His lips tipped up into a small smirk.

"...and I can't see the clock from here so I'm not sure."

"Drat." He hummed and sat back in his chair. I expected him to slump but his posture remained impeccable.

Feeling a bit self conscious, I straightened my spine.

The sound of shuffling bodies just outside the classroom, stirred the sleeping students and roused the few stragglers who had managed to keep conscious.

"That... will be all.... for today...." Professor Binns floated back up the aisles of tables as everyone began hastily packing up their things.

Ominis lifted his book bag up onto his shoulder and stretched his neck. "I'm not usually one to deny the benefits of academic courses, but surely I could retain more information with a quick read of a text rather than wrestling my exhaustion listening to him."

"You're in a rather cheerful mood." I teased.

"I see Sebastian has permitted you to borrow his charming sense of sarcasm."

"Perhaps he has." I smiled and tapped Ominis' shoulder to offer my arm. He grinned softly and tucked his wand away, folding his hand around my bicep.

"If you should be so kind, I request you let him borrow a bit of your chivalry in return."

"I'll see what I can do."

We met up with Sebastian next to the stone fountain just outside the castle. I had pulled my scarf firmly around my neck and was currently huddling into Ominis' shoulder for warmth. His arm was wrapped tightly around me as the crisp fall air nipped at my ears and nose.

A rather excited Sebastian skipped happily over to us, book bag bouncing against his hip. He wore a small knit hat over his head and a few pieces of his brown hair stuck out every which way below the bottom. His pace slowed as he approached and one eyebrow crooked upwards. His silent smirk danced beautifully over his cheeks as his eyes flicked between my face and Ominis' arm.

"I'm freezing." I felt the need to calm his thoughts as I watched a prickle of jealousy twist behind his lips. "Ominis' is helping warm me up."

"I see that."

"Calm down Sebastian. Merlin, you've kissed her once and now you're so protective you think I'm going to make a move?"

I stilled.

Sebastian eyes went wide and he laughed nervously. "What? No. We didn't- she and I-"

The air was so thick with silence that I could practically feel the unamused look Ominis was giving him. I didn't dare move a muscle although my lack of response had surely killed any minuscule amount of doubt Ominis had. If he even had any.

Sebastian gave in. "Ominis, how do you do that?"

"Aside from how positively giddy the both of you have been the last day or so? I may be blind but I'm surely not oblivious. Sebastian, your breathing shifts when she's near. And Atley, when you're guiding me, I can feel your pulse raise when Sebastian enters the room. Honestly I'm surprised the two of you didn't snog earlier."

"Ew, Ominis." Sebastian was pinching his thumb and forefinger against the bridge of his nose. "You know I hate that word." 

I couldn't help the fit of giggles that bubbled in my chest. Did I really think Ominis wouldn't know? The same Ominis who had been able to sense me in the Undercroft?

My laughs leaked out my lips and Sebastian peaked past his hand, his smile growing at the sound.

Ominis squeezed my shoulder gently and then shifted my weight off him, giving me a light tap in Sebastian's direction.

"Now, I would like to get to our spot and work on Sebastian's patronus some more. So, if you two would be so kind as to keep the snogging to a minimum on the way, I would greatly appreciate it." He turned and raised his wand from his pocket, only to call back over his shoulder. "And Sebastian, be a gentleman and let Atley wear that terrible hat I know you're wearing."

Sebastian huffed and pulled the cap from his head, turning to me and pulling it down over my ears. "There is no way he is actually blind. I refuse to believe it."