Ten years after I began at Hogwarts, Sebastian Sallow is back. And he's Professor Sallow now. He disappeared after the fall of Ranrok and Rookwood, after I lost Professor Fig, and after Ominis and I couldn't keep him from losing himself. But I never...
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"Keep up, Sallow!" April chirps from her broom, many metres in front of me.
"I told you I haven't flown in ages!" I call out. But if I'm honest, I don't mind her leading. It's delicious to watch her deftly navigating the wind and sky against the golden pinks of the setting sun into which the entirety of her warm aura assimilates. And, as if she knew it would be an additional antidote to this trying day, flying with her has lifted my spirits even more than being bolstered from a boost of her magic, earlier, and watching her embrace meditating so naturally.
Confidently, she leads us South out of Hogwarts' grounds and I'm relieved when we don't veer West towards Feldcroft. I watch as she speeds up and dips below bridges, corkscrewing between narrow cliff walls of ravines, and soaring over trees and rocky outcroppings. But I fly straight, simply glad for my muscle memory. The speed, alone, makes me a bit nervous – it isn't a pace I'd adopt if I were on my own so I'm hesitant to attempt anything like I used to do. But I'm determined to keep up with her (and, of course, never admit the extent to which she can out-fly me).
::Bloody sexy though.::
It is a thrill to fly like this after so many years, and after around fifteen minutes of expedient navigating, April has guided us down towards the coast. Her pace slows down as we approach a massively tall, lone rocky pillar in the middle of the open water. I'm not entirely sure where we are, but I can see the glowing lights of a small village in the distance, soaring views of mountains to our left, the endless horizon of water to our right, and an eternal galaxy of stars in the clear, cloudless sky above.
Couldn't dream of a more romantic place.
A wooden, black-and-white platform sits atop the enormous stone column. It's surrounded by braziers, and April dismounts her broom and sets it below on the rocky surface which is wide enough to navigate safely around the full platform, but not much more. She lights the braziers with her wand as I land and get my bearings. The view is unbelievable. It's a calm, cool night. The breeze is minimal. The water is lapping idly below. Birds fly easily in groups below us.
I ask her, "what is this?"
"Not entirely sure," she says as she finishes with the fires. "I think it's an old landing spot for racing. You can find them up and down the valley. But this one is my favorite. Used to come here a lot as a student. Even slept here a few times." April giggles to herself as she stands next to me and explains, "Sharp did not like hearing that." She leans in as she says naughtily, "so I stopped telling him." Her eyes glisten at me before she looks out to the distance as she quietly admits, "it's a good place to scream your voice hoarse into the void." She walks to the edge of the platform, joking, "ask me how I know," as she puts her hands around her mouth and yells at an impressive volume, "because NO ONE CAN HEAR YOUUUU!!" and there's not even an echo as her words float away silently on the wind.
I'm fascinated by what she's saying and it bruises my heart to think of the burdens she carried and had to manage on her own. This happy, beautiful, spunky ball of light coming here to scream...to...I take her hand as I ask, "you slept here? Alone?" I feel so ashamed for not helping her more as students and then, of course, for abandoning her completely.
