Passionate Professors || Sebastian Sallow

Part 1 | Ch. 54 - Hero

I spent my entire life acting like I was invincible. In my early childhood days, I was the girl on the playground jumping off the back of the slide instead of sliding down. I was the kid swinging as high as she could and then launching herself off into the sand below. I was fearless, my parents constantly worried for me because I was an only child. I'd get bumps and bruises, dirty my frilly dresses, and even broke my arm when I was ten from one of my crazy stunts. But nothing stopped me from feeling like I could take on the world, from truly living. I dreamed of being an acrobat in a traveling circus or something more adventurous and exciting than the life my parents lived.

It wasn't until I slid my thumb under the red wax seal, opening the letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry did I lose that endless sense of fearlessness. It wasn't until then, when I was put in immediate danger because of my ancient magic abilities, did I begin to dread the adventures. When I felt like my life could truly end at any moment in a spider-filled cave or a sweltering Inferi den or by approaching a camp of Poachers and being completely outnumbered.

So this particular moment, when death was truly upon me, it felt familiar. I'd heard people say that at the end of someone's life, death welcomes you like an old friend with a warm embrace or a caress of a cheek. Those people believed that death wasn't something to be feared. It was supposed to be considered welcoming as one finally accepted their fate.

Sebastian's body still held me down as that powerful green explosion filled the dark void behind my closed eyes.

Slowly the color faded and I saw my mum in the distance, glowing gold and reaching her hand towards me. She smiled a smile only a thriving child recognized from their mother. The world melted away around us and I was ready to let her take me, to leave this life behind and forget who I had become for her. Merlin, I missed her so much, she was my best friend before she died. Tears of yearning prickled behind my eyelids. I wanted to tell her of my adventures, my fears, the love I had experienced, and that I wasn't afraid anymore.

The golden silk of her dress shimmered in an ethereal light but she paused and shook her head. Tendrils of brown hair fluttered on her freckled shoulders. Then, she began to step backwards, still shaking her head no before she lowered her beckoning arm.

The same people that believed death was a warm welcome were the same people that also say your mind can do crazy things when it's under massive amounts of stress. Because when I squeezed my eyes shut harder, trying to allow what I had narrowly escaped so many times, to finally consume me, death never came.

My mum was gone once I found the courage to open my eyes again. Sebastian's mouth gaped open and he dropped his wand in shock, his body collapsing heavily on mine from the sudden release of the Imperius Curse he was under. He scrambled into a sitting position, the absence of his weight giving me the ability to take a full breath. He pulled me into his lap, burying his head into my neck, the wetness of his tears dampening my hair.

"G," he choked into my ear, hugging me tighter, "I almost killed you." He was breathing fast, the panic of how things could have ended truly setting in.

Shuffling of feet from nearby quickly broke us apart, forcing us to assess what had actually happened and why I was still alive.

Two bodies were limp on the dusty cavern floor, crumpled messily over each other. Master Gaunt's face was twisted with fury, his cold blue eyes staring into nothingness. Laying over him was Octavia, her back sprawled over her father's stomach, her dirty blonde hair fanned out on the dirt. His hands still clutched her arms, he had used his own daughter as a shield to protect himself until the very end. Even in death, Master Gaunt looked like nothing more than a coward.