The Serpent and The Bird

Welcome to Hogwarts... Again.

Epilogue

"I mark the hours, every one.
Nor have I yet outrun the Sun.
My use and value, unto you.
Are gauged by what you have to do".

Everleigh Grayson opened her eyes, a scream stuck on her throat. She was panting. Hard.
And sweating. A lot.
Or so she thought.

When she looked up at the sky, the soft rain damped her cheeks and blinded her eyes. She then looked around, searching for the other one.
The other her.
But she was alone.

She was alone, in front of Hogwarts.

"You are going back to the past. A year".

Everleigh swallowed. She was back at Hogwarts, for her eighth year. Again.

Nothing that had happened in the past months for her, had happened at all.
Nobody had died.
Rookwood and Ranrok didn't have the location of the repository.
Anne wasn't cursed.
And Sebastian was alive.

In the school, right at that moment.
And none of them knew who she was.

Everleigh entered the castle slowly.
No demolished walls.
No holes in the ceiling.
No dead bodies.

Hogwarts received her how it had received her for the first time, a year ago.
Her feet took her to the Great Hall.
To the figure pacing back and forth in front of the closed doors.

Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized him.

- Ah! There you are! - Professor Fig was looking at her with the same comforting smile he had always given her. - I trust your travels were safe and you found the castle with no problem.

Everleigh didn't respond. She stared at him. Long, and hard. He was alive.
The Hogwarts professor raised a concern eyebrow at her.

- Are you feeling alright, my young friend?

She forced herself to swallow, just to lubricate her dry throat. Everleigh nodded, softly.

- I'm fine, professor. - Her own voice sounded far away, like she wasn't there. Like her mind wasn't there. - Perhaps a bit tired from the journey.

- Ah, of course. I imagine it has been long enough. - He nodded towards the closed door of the Great Hall. - Better hurry. They are almost done with the Sorting Ceremony.

Professor Fig turned around to open the door, and Everleigh allowed herself a moment to close her eyes and collect herself. Like she was convincing herself what she had lived on the last year was not real. Like it had been a dream.

She opened her eyes and walked into the Hall, following professor Fig, as she prayed for courage.
The entirety of Hogwarts alumni stared at her.  Once again, she heard the whispers, and the soft chuckles, and the murmuring.
Most of them coming from the Slytherin table.

But unlike her first time, Everleigh's eyes moved around the Emerald house. Looking.
Searching.

She saw Anne first.
Her face wasn't twisting in agony. Instead, she was wearing a soft smile when their eyes met, and Everleigh had to fight the tears.
She was safe.
She was healthy.
She was happy.

Ominis was down the table, and he was staring at the wall, but she knew he was listening closely. He looked as she remembered him. Serious face and distant attitude.
But Everleigh knew the heart there was underneath all of that.
And then her eyes found Sebastian's.
And her world almost imploded.

Sebastian, that a year from that day, in another reality, had told her he wanted to marry her.
And she didn't even get to tell him yes.

But there he was. His eyes pondering on her, with a slight smirk hanging of his lips.
And all she wanted was to run to him and beg for him to remember her.
But he couldn't.
Nobody there knew her, anymore.

Everleigh walked until she reached the podium, where professor Weasley was holding the Sorting Hat.

- We have one last student, professor Weasley.

Fig pointed towards the chair, and Everleigh walked towards it like she was walking towards the guillotine.
She sat down, facing the entire school.

The girl was so consumed in her thoughts, she didn't realize one crucial factor of that very first day.
But when she did, it was already too late.
And the hat was shouting out its decision.

- SLYTHERIN!

The Slytherin table broke in whistling and applauses at the news, but Everleigh stared ahead in shock.
Her first time during the Sorting Ceremony, she had pleaded the hat to put her anywhere but Slytherin. And it did.
But this time... this time, she didn't even consider asking not to be in it.

It was too late now.

"Make better choices".

Everleigh Grayson being a Slytherin was not a better choice. It was definitely not a better choice being in the same house as... him.

She raised to her feet and walked towards the green colored table, sitting on an empty spot by some girls she knew were fifth years.
They tried to start a conversation with her, asking her about Ilvermorny. But Everleigh's answers were dry. She didn't have it in her to talk about anything when her heart was still mourning the loses that hadn't happened yet.

On her right, three spots down, she could hear Adrian Pucey's crude comments about her, and she remembered what Sebastian had said to her, about him putting her on The List as soon as she walked into  the Great Hall.

Her personal devil was across from her, four spots to the right. Sebastian Sallow was leaning against Ominis, murmuring something that it was lost to her.
But their eyes met, and he offered her a mischievous smile.

Everleigh almost returned it. Like she had done so many times in the past. She loved his smile.
Fuck.
She loved his smile.

"Make better choices".

Everleigh Grayson didn't smile back at him. Instead, she looked away. Down at the table.
And she continued to stare at it for the rest of the night.
Whatever happened, she had to stay away from Sebastian Sallow.
She couldn't fall in love with him all over again.
And she definitely couldn't let him fall in love with her.

"Make better choices".

That's how she kept him alive.