Oblivious // Sebastian Sallow x Reader

18. A Friendly Festivity

By the time our team made it back to the dungeons, it felt like the entire school found its way there too. There was a plethora of colors squeezing into the cold stone walls of the dungeons, waiting for the doors to open. Everyone knew that the party tonight would be a worthwhile event. Violet protested for a while, but Imelda said it wasn't a big deal because everyone would be too drunk to remember anything.

I was determined to abstain from trying anything new. Butterbeer and fire whiskey were enough for me. Experimenting hadn't necessarily gone great for me this year, because every time I tried something new, the day after would be excruciating—because of both the headaches and how I'd forget everything that happened.

And after kissing Sebastian today, I was not willing to risk forgetting that.

The team walked into the common room first, Sebastian and Imelda carrying me on their shoulders. The rest of the students followed behind us, cheering and clapping to congratulate us. I laughed, instantly enamored with the feel of victory.

"Suck on that, Gryffindor!" Imelda cackled before she and Sebastian put me down.

Once Imelda saw Ominis, she ran up to him and tackled him into a hug. It was sweet, but it caught everyone off-guard when they started kissing. I just know that everyone's jaw was on the floor. Even Ominis was shocked.

I started to look around for Anne, and during my search, I noticed a lot of Ravenclaws making potions for the party, as well as some Hufflepuffs carrying some leafy plants with wands aflame. One can only assume what those were intended for.

My eyes continued traveling the room in search of Anne, but when I saw her talking to Poppy, I stopped my search. They were holding each other's hands, and I knew they were in their own world at that point.

I smiled to myself before turning around to find a fire whiskey. Ominis and Imelda were doing Merlin-knows-what, and Poppy and Anne were talking. I'd have to look for another friend.

I took a fire whiskey from a group of Ravenclaws that were handing them out before turning to look for Natty. But before I could even start my walk, I saw her talking and laughing with Leander, of all people. He even had his arm around her, and she didn't seem to protest.

Leander, Natty? Are you sick in the head?

I felt my throat burn as I swallowed a big gulp of my drink in an attempt to blur that image by the morning.

My eyes continued to search, carefully scrutinizing every conversation going on around me. I saw Everett talking with a bunch of girls, likely showing off. Amit and Cressida were awkwardly standing next to each other, and Amit tried to console her after her house team lost.

Everyone had a friend to talk to—except for me.

"It's fine," I mumbled to myself, "who else is around?"

I took another swig of my fire whiskey while I kept looking around for a friend to talk to. Imelda and Ominis. Poppy and Anne. Natty and Leander. Amit and Cressida. Everett and his fangirls. Everyone was busy.

I leaned on the window where I first met Ominis, giving up on my search for a friend. It felt kind of bad, winning a game and nobody celebrating with you afterward. But I wasn't going to be some sad sap that has to look for friends to talk to someone. No, if someone wanted to talk to me, they could come up to me. I can have a fun time by myself! Worst comes to worst, I go to my room to hang out with Quimby!

Fun, right?

But still, out of curiosity, perhaps even desperation, I let my eyes wander, and like they always did, they landed on a familiar, brown-haired, hazel-eyed Slytherin boy. My Slytherin boy. One that I could never stop myself from finding even in the largest of crowds. Sebastian.