evermore || sebastian sallow

chapter 65 - healing burns

chapter 65 - healing burns

When stars arrived and a peaceful evening cloaked Hogwarts, I found myself standing in front of the double doors of the Great Hall.

I could hear muffled chatter and laughter behind it, frozen in my spot with a roaring pulse. My anxiety was overflowing at the thought of everyone seeing me again.

It wasn't until two weeks later that I became fully ready to go back to Hogwarts. I was still reeling from all the trauma I went through, and as much as I wanted to convince myself I was fine—I wasn't.

Memories resurfaced at unexpected times, and I knew it would still happen because it would take time for me to heal, but I truly wanted to be back at Hogwarts. It was my home.

Sebastian spent all of those two weeks with me. I insisted he go back to school with the rest of our friends, but nothing would ever change his mind once he set his mind to it. He was just stubborn like that. I almost felt bad he had to deal with all my random emotional breakdowns.

I held my bracelet close to my chest, which I was already wearing around my wrist. I fiddled with the charm as if it were my lifeline, reminding me that standing inside Hogwarts was real. That I was going to be safe for a long, long while.

The doors behind me creaked open, which had my heart jumping in my throat. I turned around and found my handsome Slytherin walking through, his robes as messy as ever.

"Sebastian!" My eyes lit up. "I thought you'd already gone inside for dinner?"

He strolled over to me and quickly gave my forehead a kiss. I realized physical touch was his love language long ago, and it made my heart full every time.

"I know you said you wanted to go about this alone, but I hoped I'd catch you anyway, so I took my time. I'm glad I did," he admitted with a smile.

I sighed, turning back around at the closed doors. "Yes well, I can't seem to bring myself to go in there."

"It's alright, Y/n. Though I'm sure everyone will be glad to have the Hero of Hogwarts back," he teased, coming up beside me to also look at the doors separating everyone from us.

I snorted quietly. "I think that's exactly why I'm too anxious to go in. I'm tired of always having eyes on me."

It was exhausting always needing to put up an image. Although I didn't have to anymore, I was scared of what people would think about me. I always said I didn't care, but in reality—deep down—I did. I just never showed it.

An air of comfortable silence filled the gaps between us, but I felt chaos stirring inside of me. Sweat filled my palms, which I tried wiping on my Ravenclaw robes. It didn't help.

Sebastian seemed to notice, so he broke the silence to distract me.