Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter NINETY ONE - Tosser

(Falling - Timothy Cole)

The days and evenings seemed to pass quicker than the wax of the burning candles around Feldcroft, dripping across the windowsills like the ticking seconds on a pocket watch.

Tonight, Christmas eve, was quieter than all the others and a sense of standstill time crept across the gently falling snowflakes.

Inside the Sallow home, crumbs of banana bread cluttered the countertops despite Ominis' attempts to scoop them up whenever he found them. The little tree in the corner had been decorated with laughs, bulbs and small candles enchanted to keep from lighting the needles ablaze. Though Anne had insisted the guests of the house put the star on top, no one could deny the giddy brown eyed boy the widespread smile upon being honored the final touch.

Our curated gifts had all been carefully wrapped under shaking fingers. I had already completed mine at the school and tucked each under the tree while Anne and Sebastian had sat in opposite corners of the room to wrap their own. Ominis and I had taken it upon ourselves to keep our respective Sallows from peeking around the others' shoulder. Only after the two had wrapped our gifts of course - as Ominis had put it - no spoiling allowed. Ominis had taken his job very seriously and insisted on keeping a hand aside Anne's face so he could feel if she made a move to look.

The way their breaths had caught at the contact of skin had me grinning into my palm. Sebastian had noticed my cheeks and smiled an oblivious "what?" before shifting his weight to look behind him. I'd leapt into his lap and held his face in my hands, keeping his wandering eyes from noticing the unwrapped gifts by Anne's knees. His focus had instantly snapped back to me and his own breathing hitched. I'd backed up quickly and motioned to his wrapping but he'd continued to grin at me with reddened cheeks.

Once the last box had been placed below the tree, the four of us had sat back to admire them. Anne's were perfectly wrapped with straight edges in the gorgeous maroon paper we had collected days earlier. 

Sebastian had commented that they looked 'good but not perfect'. "I dock points for using a color so close to that of Gryffindor. Yuck." 

I'd swatted him over the shoulder for that.

Ominis' were also neatly wrapped but he'd chosen gold paper with ivory ribbons around every edge.

Sebastian's were wrapped in torn bits of newspaper, scraps sticking out from odd angles. Anne had desperately offered the remnants of her wrapping paper but he'd stubbornly refused. Moving sketches and portraits of strangers now peeking up at us from under the tree.

Mine weren't nearly as neat as Anne or Ominis' but I'd also opted for a repurposed material - writing parchment. They weren't perfect, but I'd lined up the angles and edges as straight as I could and even borrowed some black ribbon from Tooby to tie around each one.

It had been a chore since then to keep Sebastian from attempting to touch each gift and guess its contents. 

Tonight, he and I had climbed up onto a flat portion of the roof of the house to keep his snaking fingers away. Anne and Ominis had been sleeping quietly next to the fire when we'd left, not so much as a stir as we'd shut the door behind us.

The sky was clear aside from a couple small clouds and the occasional drifting bushel of snowflakes. The moon and starlight danced across each one for a moment before moving on to the next and even with layers of clothes, the cold of the snow at our backs pressed heavily on my spine. The only tether to reality away from my shaking body was the warmth of Sebastian's arm around me and my cheek against his chest.

We lay there in silence. Staring out over snowy Feldcroft or up to the stars, Christmas morning nipping at our toes.

I would blame the excitement of the holiday on my inability to sleep but knew in my heart the real reason was cuddled up next to me.

"I'm so happy you're here with me," His whispered voice hummed against my ear. "...with us. -At the beginning of the year, I never would- I never could have thought of a Christmas like this."

"Neither could I." I traced the folds of his jacket beneath my fingertips.

"I don't tell you enough..." He'd swallowed. "...how much you mean to me."

I tucked my chin onto his chest and traced my eyes over every constellation of freckles on his skin.

He smiled down at me and with a gentle grasp of calloused fingers, brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it gently.

Shooting stars danced behind his eyes and through my heart.

I'd just dropped my bottom lip to speak when the familiar creek of the front door crept up through the silence.

Sebastian was quickly on the offensive, sitting up straight and eyes darting down the edges of the house until they landed on a dark figure making its way through the piles of snow to the backyard.

Anne, wrapped tightly in a couple of blankets sat down slowly on the bench in the backyard, facing away from us out into the night.

Sebastian and I shared a confused look but kept our breaths silent.

Something about the peaceful quiet and her un-trembling figure seemed serene against the chill in the air, the bite of the night.

We watched a few moments more, a feeling of guilt creeping up my cheeks at having interrupted her private moment by watching from afar. Sebastian had just moved his legs to climb down from the roof, whispering that he was just going to check on her when he froze in place.

The front door creaked open.

The front door creaked closed.

The crunch of snow below boots

and the familiar red of Ominis' wand rounded the corner to the back yard, approaching her slowly. 

I pulled Sebastian back to my side and pressed a silencing finger to his lips.

Ominis paused behind Anne, seemingly talking though the whip of the gentle wind drowned out all sound. Anne had pat the spot on the bench next to her and through the crimson light of his wand, I watched her tender smile. He'd sat slowly, dropping his wand to his side, dousing the red light and leaving only the night sky to keep them company in the dark.

A few white flakes had collected across his mussed hair and she ran her fingers through it with a sad smile.

Silent questions and conversations peppered across their skin like flakes of snow.

My fingers had found Sebastian's in the dark.

Silence wrapped as tight as the blankets around her shoulders.

And then she was leaning, 

fingers shaking against the moonlight

tracing his chin.

His shoulders had stopped moving

his nose touching hers now.

And then their lips crept forward

pressed together 

and I turned my head away quickly with a smile.

My eyes landed on a moonlit Sebastian whose jaw had dropped open, brows knitted together in confusion and sitting frozen as he watched.

I couldn't help the quiet giggles as I covered his mouth and pulled our backs to the roof again.

Still in shock, his eyes moved to mine, searching for a moment before they begun to soften - a small smirk tickling his cheeks.

"That tosser."