In the Shadow of Azkaban

Volume II: XXV

Sebastian's Point-of-View
Outer Hebrides, Scotland
October 1893

"Iskra. I'm fine. I swear." My voice was hoarser than before, but the headaches ceased. She had told me that I had to lay in bed, or that she would chop off my fingers with her knife. I weighed my options and came to the conclusion I would not put that type of behavior past her.

So, I sat up on the mattress and leaned against the headboard. I knew better than to ignore a woman's request. I did push the meal away that she kept attempting to give me.

She had been trying to force feed me soup, and I moved my chin away to dodge the spoon full of vegetables. I evaded her annoying antics when a loud crash sounded at the end of my bedroom.

Aesop. Thank Merlin.

"Am I interrupting something?" Aesop questioned. His eyes narrowed at me, like daggers. He seemed tenser than normal today. I had wondered if he visited with Kassia.

Iskra spoke up, "No. I was attempting to tend to his injury, but it seems to have subsided by itself." Her tone was lighter than it ever had been. She shook her head in disbelief.

"Sebastian, walk me through what happened." Aesop commanded.

"We arrived to the cottage, and Iskra began preparing food. I think some of the ingredients had a scent that reminded me of something. I'm not quite sure of what, but both my parents' voices entered my conscience. Well, I thought that was who they were; however, it was my voice..." I trailed off thinking back to the vision.

"And?" Sharp gestured for me to continue, so he could understand the diagnosis.

"It was Antoinette's. It appeared she and I were living in a cottage together," I swallowed hard to finish the next few words, "and I think we were intimate together. The vision was too muddled for me to know for sure."

Aesop drew in a sharp inhale. "Fascinating," he muttered to himself. "That is the only memory you came across?" He set his potions kit on the vanity, and I assumed he began picking out vials he believed he would use to cure me of whatever madness was overtaking me.

"Well I have no way of knowing if it was a memory or a vision. I do not remember it occurring, so I assumed I was developing seer potential." I ran my hand through my tousled hair.

"Sebastian. You strike me as a lot of things, but a seer is not one of them. You cannot even make the correct decisions when they are presented right in front of you," Aesop rolled his eyes at me and shook his head. The disapproval seeped from him in that moment.

"These thoughts," he paused, "are just that. Thoughts. If I were you, I would ignore them unless they are directly affecting your work. I can give you a supply of calming draught to help with the migraines that are causing you stress." He handed me a vial of lavender liquid.

I swung it back, and the peppermint taste burned my throat. I would have rather entertained Firewhisky.

"Please let me know immediately if you have any more issues, and I will send over more draught once I return to the Ministry." Aesop eyed me suspiciously and turned to Iskra. "Has training proven to be successful?" His tone was condescending.

"Sebastian is improving, but today was an obvious setback. I will send an owl if anything major were to happen. Thank you for coming on such short notice, Sharp." She peered up at him, and Aesop nodded back at her. His cloak bundled itself up when he disapparated to the Ministry.

Some minutes passed while we sat in silence. Iskra piped up, "Who's Antoinette?"

"My longest friend's fiancée. They are to be wed soon, and I am supposed to attend their wedding. However, with these thoughts tainting my view of her now, I am not so sure I should go." I looked down at my hands. I pressed them against my eyes and drug them down my cheeks to sober myself.

If I had been with Antoinette, I would have to have been drugged and had my memory wiped. But she would never have done that. She was too pure, and Ominis was not one to let that kind of situation occur. I frowned to myself at the uncertainty of my own mind.

Iskra set the food down and made a seat for herself on the bed. Her head was bowed slightly, and she appeared solemn in this lighting. "Sebastian. I know I might not quite understand you just yet, but I can sense you have been through many tragedies. The next task has much more at stake." Her jaw clenched and she moved closer to me.

She gestured for me to lean in as well, and I brought my face almost against hers. She cupped her hands around my ear and whispered so quietly I could barely hear her, "I am only whispering because I do not know what type of watch is over us at this moment. But I will let you in on what your next task will entail."

She took a large breath in while the words spilled out of her, "Aesop told me that your twin, Anneliese, will be brought to the island and used as bait. She is already sentenced for life, so the Ministry does not care if they spare her for a task." Iskra's tone shook enough for me to notice.

Small sighs escaped her before her voice broke. "And the other aurors will not hold back. During my training, they had killed my little sister, Anastasya. She had just turned thirteen. The task is used to prove your loyalty to the Ministry, so please be careful. Do not let her do anything rash."

She pulled away and she wiped the tears from her cheeks. She sniffed to compose herself and turned to the side to avoid my gaze, but I grasped at her chin and pulled her to face me.

My voice was exceptionally quiet, "You are right Iskra. I have been through a lot, and I'll be okay. But I am so, so sorry about your sister. I know what it is like to lose one, too."

I took my palms to her cheeks and ran my thumbs across them. I was fortunate that movement soothed her; I could see her chest rising and falling at a slower rate. Her brown eyes had pooled with tears that traced lines down her face.

"I was wrong about you, Sallow." Iskra spoke while looking directly in my eyes. The tension grew with each moment, but she did not play into the feeling. Nor did I.

The auror position was all I had, and I could not compromise that. She stood up and strolled to her own quarters as I prepared for tomorrow's task.