A Troubled Time / Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 6

Lucy groaned, the light registered behind her closed eyelids as she stirred awake. The last thing she remembered was having a staring contest with Sebastian, attempting to see who would fall asleep first. Now she was laying her head on her arm that rested against the table. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand as she looked up. The only thing she saw was the top of Sebastian's wavy hair, a bit disheveled from the awkward position they had been sleeping in.

Lucy squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to adjust to the light. She moved her other hand on top of the table, resting her chin on the back of her hand. She mumbled incoherent words as she attempted to wake her other arm that had gone numb and fallen asleep. She moved her shoulder, letting her arm fall beside her. She was hoping the blood in her veins would rush to her hands, waking it up.

She tore her eyes from her hand that laid limp back to Sebastian. Her eyes widened in surprise, seeing his chin propped against his hand, mirroring her. She stared at him as he rested mere inches away from her.

It was silent for a few moments before he spoke, "Well, good morning." his eyes were heavy from just waking up as he looked right at her. He held a small, but smug smile on his face as he watched her.

"Good morning to you too. Looks like we both lost that bet." Lucy felt the natural smile form on her face that always seemed to appear when he was around.

"You just wake up and the first thing you think about is our bet?" Sebastian raised an eyebrow, not moving from his position.

"Actually my first thought was that my arm was asleep. My second thought was 'wow, I'm surprised an ashwinder didn't kill us in our sleep. The whole bet thing was probably my fourth or fifth thought actually." Lucy giggled, finally lifting her chin from her hand, stretching her back from the awkward position.

"Seems like someone was awake before me." Sebastian kept his place, moving a bit closer as he rested on his hand.

"Does that mean I'm getting ten galleons?" Lucy leaned forward slightly in her chair.

"Hold on now." Sebastian finally sat up, moving to prop his elbow on the table, "That wasn't our bet. It was whoever could stay awake until sunrise gets ten galleons, but we both failed."

"I suppose you're right. Since we both failed, next time we get butterbeers, it'll be on me." Lucy said.

"And how exactly is that fair? We both lost, so why would you have to pay?" Sebastian tilted his head slightly.

"Well, I can't have you pay every time." Lucy shook her head, noticing the candles had long vanished.

"Well, my father always treated my mother when they went out to the three broomsticks." Sebastian spoke, confidently. His eyes widened, realizing what he said, "Not that I'm saying this is a date. But it's the uhm, polite thing to do, yeah." Sebastian quickly spoke, breaking eye contact from her.

Lucy laughed, seeing the usually confident Sebastian fumble over his words, "No need to explain yourself, Sebastian. But, where I'm from, it's polite to take turns paying."

Sebastian's cheeks held a slight pinkish color as he stared off to the side into the forbidden forest, "We'll see."

"It's not a 'We'll see,' I am paying next time." Lucy spoke as she rose to her feet, "Either way, we should head back to the castle. I need to see if Professor Fig is back from his trip from the ministry, as well as clean up a bit." Lucy wanted to clean herself up a bit after sleeping at a random table out in the woods.

"If you'd like we could always use the Floo Flame to get back quickly." Sebastian also rose to his feet, carefully stepping out before pushing the chair back in.