Ten years after I began at Hogwarts, Sebastian Sallow is back. And he's Professor Sallow now. He disappeared after the fall of Ranrok and Rookwood, after I lost Professor Fig, and after Ominis and I couldn't keep him from losing himself. But I never...
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Merlin's beard. ::Merlin's fucking beard.::
'Yes. It is a curse to know how fucking good it feels to crush people like them,' I think to myself as old echos of regret that I processed long ago ping around the chamber of my skull and bolts of electric desire shoot through my legs, borne of a unique and newfound connection with April.
She is watching, gauging my reaction. Other than stepping back from her to inhale a shaky breath, and pulling a hand across my face to try to purge the rising heat from within me, I maintain my calm exterior and say, "I hear you." But a revolution is beginning to rage within me.
War is actively breaking out inside the entirety of my being.
Despite the fact that she is clearly not entirely herself right now, I still sense a relief within her for having opened up as she has. I have to remain calm. I want to stoke the fires of her comfort and confidence as much as I can, should she wish to continue to share.
There is so much I could say. So much I wish to know. But my lips rally against my dry throat only enough to pose a simple apology and an even simpler question. "I'm sorry I got carried away, before. I'm...so tired. I was confused...tell me more..." She smiles softly, as I trail off. Her eyes are wide and continue to glow unnaturally as I take one of her hands in mine, lifting the other to trace along her cheekbone with my thumb and ask, "will you tell me why your eyes are red?"
April smiles. She extends her free hand towards the spinning mass of the repository's magic. She holds my gaze the entire time as she begins to siphon from it through her fingers. The magic transforms from blue to violet to red as it crosses the threshold into her skin and alights an even brighter crimson in her eyes that reminds me of a star exploding in the sky.
"Isadora's magic," April says with even more confidence than she had before. "It is a different kind of power, Sebastian."
::Drop everything. Take the magic...:: NO. ::This is not a drill.:: I cannot and will not risk losing myself. ::But power feels so gooood! Come on!::
"Tell me more, love," I offer as calmly as I can through a surge of excitement that shakes my voice, betraying the facade of my collected exterior.
April's voice and eyes become wistful as she relates, "the other night...after the Ministry... I was haunted again by nightmares of the poachers. So I came down here to work on their faces – I started them days ago. But I found myself standing on the edge of the bridgeway." She points generally towards the repository's entrance as she continues, "I felt so hopeless for some reason. And I found myself wondering if I let myself go...would the weight of my body fall forward into the cavern, or backwards onto the stone?"
To consider the astounding depth of hopelessness within my silly, carefree girl who normally bounds around the forest like a nymph with muddy shoes, and makes jokes at inappropriate moments makes me sick to my stomach. My arms pull her into me as closely as they can and I can feel the siren song of the additional surging power beneath her skin.
