Passionate Professors || Sebastian Sallow

Part 1 | Ch. 43 - Quidditch Practice

Sebastian and I returned to Hogwarts from the manor just after lunch, arriving via floo powder outside my Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Figured we could get this back in order for you." Sebastian offered, entering the room a few steps ahead of me.

The door was left ajar, the room a silent mess from the previous chaotic evening. Desks and chairs scattered the perimeter, each had been pushed aside to make room for the eager crowd. Crumpled and loose parchment littered the floor and Sebastian began picking up the debris. I waved my wand at the astral dueling stage, lowering it down to be flush with the wooden planks of the floor, sinking in with one final click.

We continued to clean the room, removing any memory from the first, and likely only, Duels and Decoctions meeting. I rearranged the desks back to their classroom positions, two rows on each side facing each other, leaving a walking path in between for me during lectures.

How would I be able face my students when classes finally resumed? They trusted me, trusted that Sebastian and I would keep them safe and prepare them for the real world. I failed them last night. They'll want to know how this all came to fruition and they deserve an answer after one of their fellow classmates could've died.

We'd have to run through the list of students that had access to the potions closet and narrow it down. They might have to be interrogated by the Ministry, who would stop at nothing to find the truth.

I had seen first hand what the Ministry did to the poachers I captured before they sent them off to Azkaban. The torture they submitted them to just to find answers was unbearable. They always got what they wanted, some of the suspects breaking their silence just as death was approaching, saving themselves at the final hour. I always had to watch, to make sure the Ministry got the information they needed. I hoped they would treat students better than hardened criminals but with this investigation going on far longer than they'd like, I couldn't be so sure.

Sebastian hummed to himself, periodically bending over to pick up something off the ground before scanning the floor for more.

"You seem...better." I pointed out, watching as he collected another crumpled piece of parchment.

"Hmm?" He turned to me, "I guess I do feel a bit better." Shrugging his shoulders, he emptied the contents of his arms into the bin nearby. "I think it helped...you seeing that memory and me...finally getting it out of my head."

He had never unloaded such a burden on anyone before, always carrying the weight of his pain by himself. The relief he probably felt when someone else could see what he had been through must've been liberating.

"You can always talk to me, Sebastian." I told him wholeheartedly, "I know we're still figuring everything out, re-getting to know each other but...I'll always be your friend."

He smiled sweetly, "and I'll always be your friend, G." Dusting off his shirt sleeve he said, "I think I'd like to see your dream memories now, if you'd share them with me."

I finished straightening the last chair and strode over to my office where I had moved the two teardrop shaped containers and makeshift memory ink bottle. We took the flight of stairs down one level and rounded the corner to the Undercroft. Students gathered in the lounge areas around the Defense Against the Dark Arts tower but didn't notice us as we passed by quickly.

I readied the pensive and placed the containers in order of how I wanted him to experience them. First, the memory of Ominis performing the Imperius Curse on Sebastian in Feldcroft, burning the letter I had sent him, before Anne passed away. He submerged his face in the swirling water before reemerging minutes later. His expression was hard to read. I half expected him to pop up from the water hurt or wrathful but he was stoic, as if he guessed that was how Ominis pulled the wool over his eyes.