Through Sightless Eyes and Unforgivable Ties

Chapter 70: The Countdown

Sebastian

Four days had passed without any kind of direct word from Anne.

Ominis had told me it wasn't fair to expect more since I'd forced her to bury our uncle alone. To stay in that house alone.

I found myself in the undercroft now. Rolling the second memory vial Althea had given me. Moving it back and forth on the ground as I just stared.

I know the wedding is close. Dangerously close. Yet I selfishly can only think of one thing.

Anne wants to turn me in.

Ominis had told me when he'd finally come back from the catacomb. A fire in him that I couldn't dare to ask the reasoning for.

I'd have thought my nightmares would be filled with the memory of killing my uncle. That green light and the way it had blinded me.

But my nightmares only consist of metal bars and dementors. Of chains hanging from stone ceilings and the screams of criminals as they plead for release.

I heard the clang of the undercroft door open as Ominis joined me. My head didn't even need to move up to know it's him. The only other person who visited here is still trapped of course.

"Seb? Are you still down here?" He asked as he let off a small scoff. His shoes reverberating off the stone floor as he made his way towards me.

"I'd think the answer to that would be obvious." I said back, matching his attitude.

His entire demeanor seamed to have changed when he got back. Being forced to bring Althea back home seamed to have really done something to scramble him.

Or at least that's the only reason I can think of. Why else would he be acting so odd?

His normal Slytherin attire shifted to only black. The darker shade not allowing any clashing with his scarf or bracelet.

I knew he was wearing them so he didn't have a reason to lose focus. He'd mentioned that the light blue scarf he'd given her still smelled of her perfume after all this time. And of course the bracelet with his family crest had been worn by her for months, it only made sense for it to let him think of her.

"What is that? Some potion?" Ominis asked as he turned his head to listen in to the glass vial as I rolled it across the stone.

"Do you think Anne will actually do it?" I asked, ignoring his questions. "Turn me in, I mean."

"For the fiftieth time..." he said as he leaned against the pillar. "...No...she won't do it unless she's encouraged to. I've spoken with her about it and she's willing to wait until I've thought it through." He mumbled.

I let out a small laugh. Remembering every fight, every warning, every time he'd told me I would regret the choices I was making.

"Do you think she should? Is that where I belong? Prison? With people like Harlow, Rookwood-" "Me?" He said, completely catching me off guard.

I glanced up at him, a small smirk tugging at his lips as he ran a hand through his hair.

"No Sebastian. I don't believe that you belong in Azkaban and I don't think Anne should turn you in."

"I think I do. I killed my uncle yet I don't feel nearly as much regret as I thought I would about it. Instead I'm just upset that Anne is alone, I'm upset that she's upset not because of what I've done.

Someone who thinks like that surely belongs in a cell. Being drained of happiness day after day as they wither and break." I mumbled.

He pondered that for a moment before speaking. "If I believed you should I'd have to put myself in a cell right there next to you." He said as he used the pillar to slide onto the floor across from me.