Entombed // Sebastian Sallow

forty one - manor cape

Sharp apparated the three of us to the outskirts of Bainburgh and Manor Cape. Unfortunately, Sharp was no better at apparating than Sebastian or Professor Weasley, so I had to find somewhere to empty my guts before we continued. That somewhere happened to be a small bush filled with lacewing flies next to Ominis' leg. He couldn't see my lurch for the bush so he was simply startled by my retching noises.

"Oh! Merlin! Uh, Lara are you alright."

"I'm... good..." I said, giving him a thumbs up between gags as I wiped my mouth even though he couldn't see it.

From what I could tell, the ancient magic was leading us to an old castle I had been to before. The last time I had been here, the place had been crawling with Inferi, so I was particularly careful and told them to have their wands ready.

We walked a short distance, unable to move too quickly because of Sharp's limp and I began to wonder if bringing him was even worth it. He was a good duellist and practically saved me in the fight against Ranrok, but if we had to run, I'm not sure we'd be able to stay behind with him.

"Just up here. In that abandoned old home." I told Sharp and Ominis, pointing towards the dilapidated building.

I suddenly felt very weak in the presence of one blind man and one who couldn't run. I prayed the Inferi, if there were any left, were only few and far between.

We hadn't come across any yet and when I led the way, there was signs of someone having been here already. There was a dwindling fire as well as blankets and pillows in a corner. But, no sign of Sebastian.

"He's not here." I told them. Maybe we were too late and he'd moved on.

"Then we wait. He's clearly been here, I'm certain he will return since we saw him here not long ago on the map." Sharp advised.

We listened to Sharp and sat down on the cold, splintering wooden floor and waited for Sebastian to return... if he ever would. Maybe he knew we were coming.

I was playing with my wand while we were waiting, twisting and twirling it in my fingers and not really joining in Sharp and Ominis' dull conversation about Ominis' distaste for potions and how Ominis blamed his blindness for his failure, not his heavy hand at pouring that we'd all seen before.

"Shhh." I said, holding up a hand at the two men.

I heard approaching footsteps and moved my wand to my dominant hand and slowly stood up, careful not to make the floor creak.

Around the corner appeared that familiar mop of brown-hair stuck on top of the tall, muscular stature I'd come to know so well. His hair was quite long now and he sported a small amount of stubble on his usually clean shaven face, clearly personal maintenance was not at the top of his list these past seven weeks.

He approached us also with his wand drawn and pointed at me. I lowered mine, but he didn't reciprocate.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?" He said, a twang of anger in his voice.

"Sebastian, I suggest you sit down. There's something you need to know." Sharp said, diffusing the tension.

I knew Sebastian had a large amount of respect for Sharp. He saw Sharp as the kind of father figure he'd been missing most of his life. I didn't know it when we were sixteen, but he spent a lot of time with him that year after Anne got cursed. And clearly lots of time after the events that unfolded judging by his confession about Solomon to him. So he obeyed. He eyed me carefully as he lowered his wand and averted his gaze to Sharp, taking a seat on the floor in front of him avoiding me completely.

Sebastian's body language was tense. He fidgeted with his hands and I noticed they were bloodied, broken and bruised. He was noticeably dirty and splattered in blood I wasn't sure was his own, and his dark shirt had tiny tears on it. He had his jaw clenched and I watched him grinding his teeth as he listened to what Sharp had to say.