Legacy Disowned - Book 1

Chapter 17 - Rookwood's Trial

Maggie found herself staring blankly at her half finished herbology assignment as the string quartet played an uncomfortably nostalgic melody in the Defence Against the Dark Arts tower. Her quill scratched absently at the corner of a hastily drawn diagram of magical plants and their properties.

She glanced up at Sebastian and Ominis who were silently scribbling away on their own work. The complete lack of conversation was somehow making it harder to focus. Things just hadn't been the same between the boys since the incident at the catacomb. Maggie couldn't help but feel responsible for the rift that was forming between them.

When Sebastian first told her about his sister she'd known she wanted to help. Losing such a special bond was something she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy. But somehow, things had only gotten more complicated since she had gotten involved.

She suspected that Ominis was only being an amenable as he was because of the devastating blow Sebastian had sustained being banished from his home. She had told Sebastian to let her handle Solomon, only to lose her own temper with the man herself. It had taken all her control not to physically attack him for his treatment of his nephew. The man's niece was dying and he saw fit to completely abandon Sebastian who only wanted to help her. He was an ass. But still, perhaps if she had stayed composed she could have gotten him to see that Sebastian's heart really was in the right place.

As Maggie chewed on the end of her quill, her thoughts swirled like dark storm clouds. Was her presence at this school bringing chaos into the lives of those around her? If she could just fix things for Sebastian, she would feel better about leaving and getting back to a life where she couldn't mess things up for other people. Anxiety crept up her neck, that wasn't entirely true. Even without Sebastian's troubles, she couldn't leave without figuring out what the 'Keepers" knew. She needed to figure all this out and get out of here. Someone like her didn't belong in a place like this, with good decent people.

"Darling, are you sure you've got the properties of Gillyweed right?" Sebastian said suddenly as he leaned over to examine her charts.

"Uh, yeah," she replied, trying to come back to reality and remember what the hell he was talking about. "I think it's supposed to let you breathe underwater, right?"

"Right, but only for an hour," he corrected with a small smirk.

"Thanks," Maggie sighed, jotting down the addition in the margin. "What would I do without you?"

"Probably fail Herbology," Sebastian said in blunt amusement. Ominis actually let out an involuntary snort of laughter and Maggie's heart lifted as she saw her opportunity.

"How dare you!" she said, gasping in feigned indignation. "It's not my fault I have more important things to do than watch plants grow!"

Sebastian chuckled, pulling her disaster of an assignment over to him. "Don't worry Darling, your other talents more than make up for it." He said with a wink but then he looked down at her paper with raised eyebrows, "Although, this is... something else." He added, using his wand to obliterate several lines from her parchment.

"Don't listen to him Darling," Ominis said airily, "Only pedants like Sebastian excel in every subject."

"I resent that remark," Sebastian replied in mock offence. "I overheard Weasley offering to help with your potions. Perhaps you ought to take him up on that."

"Ah well" said Ominis wryly "Just because I can't see myself in the mirror doesn't mean I fancy walking around with no eyebrows."

Maggie couldn't help but smile. As tense as things had been, it seemed they still couldn't resist the opportunity to poke fun at each other.