Passionate Professors || Sebastian Sallow

Part 1 | Ch. 44 - Ashwinder Eggs

Sebastian Sallow POV

The dungeons were damp and musty as I wound through the corridors to my potions classroom. Gianna was right, I needed to focus on something other than the overloaded emotions that were going through my head. Seeing her memories in the Undercroft, what she witnessed through those random bouts of Legilimency made me question everything I knew over the last ten years. I wanted to ignore the pain it brought back bubbling to the surface, or at least hold it off for now.

Interestingly enough, the least surprising memory she poured in the pensive was when Ominis performed the Imperius Curse on me to hide the incoming communication from G. How many times had he done it? She told me she sent hundreds of letters over the years.

Despite all Ominis' protests not to follow the same path as his parents, he had all the tools to become a powerful dark wizard if he really wanted to. Knowing him as well as I did, he would've told himself that he was using the curse for good and was protecting me from Merlin knows what.

Now that I look back at those endless days in Feldcroft, there had been times where gaps in my memory would occur sporadically. There'd be a random moment where suddenly I was sitting in a different chair at the kitchen table or standing in the opposite corner of the room I was in. Or I had been reading a book and turned the page to find I hadn't remembered anything from the previous passage I supposedly just read. I never questioned it though. Instead, I chalked it up to being overtired or moving too fast while I was taking care of my sick sister. Never would I think Ominis could utter the words 'Imperio' on me without being forced to.

The most hurtful memory Gianna shared with me was seeing Ominis admit that he lived with the regret of what he had done all those years. His entire life had been filled regret. From regretting not running away from his family at a young age, to not pursuing his secret dreams in Herbology, to not spending more time with his little sister, Octavia. He lived every waking moment wishing for something more to come from his life, for something to go his way. He wanted to change the past but only damned his future by falling more in love with Willow and holding onto me too tightly. We were the only family he felt like he belonged to.

Ominis always led with his heart first, his biggest strength and his biggest weakness.

As much as I should hate him for what he did regardless of the intention, I don't. I can't. There's not many people in this world that would go through the great lengths he did to protect me, even if it was wrong of him. I'm bitter and upset about the time I lost with G but somehow, I think I can forgive him.

Someone I won't be willing to forgive is Willow Flavia. She's a common denominator in all of this mess and has become the biggest and sharpest thorn in my side. Her reaction this morning at the manor spoke volumes about her intentions. Did she even love Ominis at all? Had she pursued him to keep a close eye on Gianna and her abilities once she found out his ties to her? The articles about her ancient magic and the repositories were everywhere once Professor Fig died. The entire wizarding world knew about the fatal events and the power that lie dormant beneath Hogwarts. The school had taken precautions to secure what was underground but it was only a matter of time before a greedy family tried to harness it again.

I had to tell Ominis everything I learned before Willow had the chance. I had to tell him about how Anne really died.

The deeper I wandered into the dungeons, the thicker the humidity and earthy smell of lake water and mud had become. While the three other houses would complain about being stuck underground for classes, Slytherin students reveled in the deep winding passageways. It was comforting being enveloped on all sides, far underneath the rest of the world. If I wasn't hiding in the Undercroft or the Library with Gianna and Ominis, I was tucked away near the huge, paned glass windows in the Slytherin common room, peering into the depths of the Black Lake. It was quiet and calm, away from the chaos of the castle.