Against the dark Hearts

Forgotten chances

The day after the festival in the forbidden forest clearing began with a slight headache. I peeled myself out of my short nightgown and went to the house washrooms where I drew a bath. The water was warm, and I decided to add some lavender petals. I submerged my head under the water and let my thoughts wander. Was I really about to kiss Sebastian yesterday? I remember that we danced by the stream and he leaned towards me. His face was so close that I could feel his breath. He was warm and smelled good, like butterbeer, grass, and a little bit of elderflower because he had been drinking some of the wine. I wondered how he would have tasted and how his lips would have felt if I had had the chance to touch them, to kiss them.

I resurfaced. No, it was Sebastian. Yes, I loved Sebastian, otherwise I would not have overlooked all his mistakes from the past year, but that was just friendship, right? I was not in love with Sebastian Sallow.

I rinsed my hair and started to clean my body from the remaining grass and dirt that I could not remove yesterday due to my fatigue and also my dizziness from the alcohol. It was Saturday, there was no class today, just relaxation. I was not going to start studying so early in the school year. I pulled out the bottles I still had in my bag and stored them in my nightstand to avoid them breaking. I found something comfortable to wear and put it on: a sweater in the colors of my house and a brown skirt that reached to the middle of my calves.

In the Great Hall, Natty was sitting with Poppy. They were eating oatmeal with fruit and drinking tea. I joined them. "Well, well, well, look who's here, the lovebirds," said Natty, pinching me on the side. I knew what she meant, of course, but I had to stop the rumor mill from starting before it got out of control. "There was nothing," I said, looking at her seriously. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Poppy smiling. "Come on, you were gone for so long, and you danced all night before that!" said Natty indignantly. Poppy nodded enthusiastically in agreement. "There was really nothing!" I said emphatically. They still looked at me as if they didn't believe a word I said. I was about to get up and storm off in indignation when the door to the Great Hall opened and three Slytherins walked in. Imelda made a beeline for us, or rather for Poppy, and planted herself next to her. Ominis also came over to us, his wand in hand to navigate, while Sebastian lagged behind and shuffled over here rather uncertainly. I wanted to sink into the ground. Somehow, I hoped that the Room of Requirement could reveal trap doors under the students, but it didn't happen.

Poppy and Natty exchanged a glance that could mean as much as "I told you so," and at that moment, I was glad that looks couldn't kill, otherwise my two friends would have just dropped dead. So I tried to ignore the situation and scooped some scrambled eggs and toast onto my plate. Sebastian sat down next to me, as he always had since we met and became friends. I felt his warmth and my face became warm, my heart rate was once again unable to just stay normal. "Did you sleep well?" Ominis asked now, and Imelda nodded eagerly until she realized Ominis couldn't see her, Poppy looked at her amused, "Well, I slept fantastically," Natty said, "I think I drank the least of everyone at the table," she added, and I said nothing. I knew I had drunk half a bottle of elderflower wine alone. Sebastian and Ominis had shared the other half, with Sebastian constantly tinkering with the firewhiskey, I wondered how he had even managed to get out of bed.

Imelda looked at me, she must have been thinking the same thing as me, "Well, I know Beth drank quite a bit of the wine Grace brought and Sebastian," she paused briefly and looked at her housemate, "tell me, how much firewhiskey did you actually keep down from what you drank?" she asked, and interested, I raised an eyebrow and looked at him from the side. His hair was tousled and he was wearing only a sweater and normal pants, he looked at Imelda seriously, "Maybe you're surprised, Reyes, but I actually kept everything down," I didn't know if I could believe him, but why would Sebastian lie? "At least from what I know," he said, and I furrowed my brow, what else did he know?

"What do you mean?" I asked, and again saw Natty and Poppy exchanging looks, I would deal with the two of them later. Sebastian shrugged and spread some butter on his toast, "Well, after we stopped dancing in the clearing, I don't even remember how I got into bed," he said, almost casually, and I must have looked like he had slapped me because when he looked directly at me, his gaze was full of concern. "Everything okay?" he asked me, and I blinked a few times and then tried to shrug nonchalantly, "Yeah...yeah, everything's fine," I said, and went back to working on my scrambled eggs, I felt sick. I remembered every moment of our almost-kiss, and he had forgotten? Something inside me screamed loudly, I didn't know if I was glad he had forgotten or if I wanted to cry. I just looked down at my plate and poked at my food while the rest of the group talked. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Sebastian looking at me a few times to see how I was doing. I choked down the last piece of scrambled egg on my plate and left the piece of toast, then I got up and said goodbye for the night. The excuse was simple, the wine didn't sit well with me and I should spend Saturday in bed, but when I got to the dormitory, it was suddenly too small. I knew what would help me, so I ran to the astronomy tower and waited for a quiet moment to wish for my room of requirement.

Deek was nowhere to be seen, so I walked through one of the glass portals to the beach, where Highwind had just come down from the sky and landed in front of me. I patted her and asked, "Do you feel like going on a trip?" and climbed onto her back. The space here was limited, but we could go as far as possible and when we wanted to return, we were back within minutes. As we took off and I felt the wind in my lungs, I felt light, it was simply liberating after my morning thoughts.