Consuming Darkness: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 58

-Sebastian-

   The Draught of Peace had to be brewed with exactness, if done incorrectly it could cause irreversible sleep. It was a potion we had learned how to make in our 5th year. I had always had a talent for potions, and the constant attention this draught required was a welcome distraction from my thoughts.

   Stir until the color changes to red. Check. Now I need to allow it to simmer until it turns purple.

   I had changed my writing table into a potion table so that I could stay in the room while brewing to keep an eye on Ronnie. I had gently laid her on the white sheets, and removed her Slytherin robes and her shoes, before covering her in a dark green wool blanket. She had moved in her sleep and was now laying on her stomach, sprawled out on the bed. Ronnie's long silver hair was strewn about, draping across her back, face, arms, and the surrounding bedding. Her sun-tanned skin was paler now that it was the beginning of spring but the splash of freckles still remained across her nose. She was surely the most beautiful sight I had ever, and would ever have, the pleasure of beholding. Artwork. Poetry. My heart ached from simply watching her, longing to be closer, to hold her.

   I looked back to the cauldron and watched the potion turn purple. Then I carefully added more moonstone powder until the color shifted to grey.

   Allow the potion to simmer until it turns orange.

   I hadn't the heart to wake her... after what she had just been through... after what I had just put her through...

   "She'll leave you now for sure..." the shadows spoke to me. What used to be an occasional voice in my head or a nightmare only, now seemed to be a regular thing.

   "Is this a thing now?" I wondered aloud. "Are you just going to be in my head telling me how terrible I am?"

   "Just voicing your inner thoughts..."

   "You're the one who bound us to you."

   I groaned.

   "You chose this."

   "You performed the ritual..."

   "We only wish to serve you... master." The tone was slightly mocking but I knew it was true. Now they were bonded to me. And I to them. I was their master now.

   "What now then? You're just here with me now? All the time?" I asked.

   I watched the potion turn orange. Add powdered porcupine quill, watch the color change from orange to white, and then remove from the flame. I read from the book.

   I completed the potion as the shadows responded.

   "This is what we are now bound to? Who our power belongs to? A boy who doesn't even know the extent of what it means to be Umbra Ligatus." Shadow Bound. The title made it feel even more official than this brand that painted my skin. I saw it peeking out of the sleeve of the green sweater I'd pulled on. I had torn my white button down and the parts that hadn't ripped were splattered with my blood. The wiggenweld had helped the pain fade and the bleeding had stopped once the ritual was completed.

   "I don't like it either..." I grumbled out. I hadn't had the nerve to look at myself... see what the shadows had done to me.

   "Bound to a boy who doesn't understand and doesn't want to be bound. Why seek dominion over us if you claim to not want it?"

   "For the silver-haired vixen that consumes your heart and mind?"

   "No."

   "Did you think it would make her love you?"