Infected by Bad Religion
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Trigger Warning: This chapter includes sensitive conduct - please see the comment for a full description of conduct.
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Sebastian's Perceptive
The Undercroft doors crackled upon our arrival. Once Amelia had strapped down the nightmarish book to prevent it from biting, it was easy to sneak back out of the library with it.
My hand still hurt from the bite it sunk into the flesh of my hand. But what hurt more was the cold shoulder I had received from Amelia the whole night.
I instanced on carrying the book back to the Undercroft myself, despite the wound to my hand, letting Amelia guide the way. I was still worried the book might break through the belt and tape and bite again.
Amelia had pulled her long black hair into a ponytail after the fight with the book, her wavy hair bouncing gracefully down her back. But she had barely looked back at me once.
The moment I saw the steel cage in the middle of the Undercroft I rushed towards it, tossing the book inside and quickly shutting the door, trapping the book inside.
"I'm not sure how on you are going to be able to read a word out of that book, but I'll leave that to you!" I joked, taking a seat on one of the nearby boxes.
Amelia looked impatiently at the cage, "A problem for tomorrow I suppose. I should get going now!"
Since we had met in front of the library, it felt like I was suddenly an annoyance to her. But I was too worried to go back to not talk to her. I jumped from the box, grabbing her wrist, "Wait, please don't go yet," I begged.
She stopped, remaining silent. Her body still facing the exit of the Undercroft.
I had gone over the past two days in my head and generally couldn't think of anything that was a clear sign to cause Amelia to be upset with me again. Besides accidentally choking her to prevent Peeves from catching us, however, she had been upset before that. Perhaps I had let my feelings come on too strong.
"Did I do something to upset you?" I asked bluntly, "I'm sorry about what happened with Peeves, but it seems like you've been annoyed with me all night."
She turned to face me once more, but her eyes still avoided me. I could feel her resist my touch, attempting to take her hand back. I didn't want to let her go. A bit of guilt washed over me for being so rough with her earlier. Gapping her when Peeves appeared began as an instinct, but truthfully I didn't want to let go of her. Holding her in my arms had just felt right and I missed the pressure of her body against mine already.
"No, you didn't. It's just-" She was struggling to find the words, "It's nothing, Sebastian. It's not my concern."
"Well it's my concern," I snapped, "I don't want to go back to avoiding each other. If I did something to upset you please tell me so I can apologize for it," I begged.
There was nothing that I wouldn't do for her. Even if it had just been one day of talking like normal people again, I felt better around her. I couldn't go back to her avoiding me.
Only talking to her through the words left in her books. I wanted her to think better of me.
Amelia's brow raised empathically towards the dusty ceiling of the Undercroft. Her lips parted from one another as if the words were on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't say them. A look of frustration washed over her face.

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Aftermath ✧ Sebastian Sallow
FanfictionSixth-year Ravenclaw student, Amelia Blackwood, is haunted by the failures of her past. She thought that using her gift of ancient magic solely to help others would have helped, but after over a year, she still feels incomplete. She hopes to find a...