Consuming Darkness: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 70

-Sebastian-

The smell of ash still hung in the air, even though the room had already repaired itself for the most part.

After a quick spell to clean her hands, Ronnie scooped some of the orange burn paste from the jar and rubbed it between her hands, coating them completely before she began lightly applying it to my body. The burns practically screamed in pain at the smallest breeze, but to have Ronnie rubbing a paste on top of them was agonizing. I gritted my teeth, trying not to let her see how much it really was hurting me.

After a second muffled groaned escaped me she paused. "I'm sorry 'Bash... I know this stuff stings like Acromantula venom, but it'll subside soon. I can already see it starting to work." She wiped some hair from her eyes with the back of her wrist, careful not to get any of the paste on her face. Her eyebrows furrowed as she examined my injury. I couldn't move my eyes from her face, it was the perfect distraction from my pain. Her eyes are still red and puffy, the contrast making her green eyes shine brighter than I had ever seen.

"It's alright darling."

Her eyes flashed to mine before she scooped the remainder of the paste from the jar and applied it to the places where the burn was more severe.

I had spent long days and nights by Anne's side in hospitals, our home, and the infirmary here in Hogwarts. During that time the nurses and doctors had taught me different spells and potions used in healing. I had stolen books from their offices in an attempt to glean any information I could. I read everything I could about healing every type of ailment- magical and not. Nothing helped. She was still sick and all the information I had gathered had felt useless. Until recently. Maybe I could still use the information I had learned to heal others. Help people in a way I didn't know if I'd ever be able to help Anne.

Ronnie's fingers continued to expertly and delicately work to heal me. I was always impressed by how she seemed to have a basic knowledge about practically anything. We had healed each other many times over the last two years. I was happy to say that most of what she'd learned about it had been things I had taught her.

She scrunched her freckled nose, her critical gaze not leaving my body, watching the burns slowly vanish. The stinging pain dulled until it was gone, but her eyes didn't move. She sat still as a statue with her legs crossed next to me on the bed.

I groaned obnoxiously loud as I adjusted my position.

Her eyes once again quickly flashed to mine with a tight-lipped smile. She looked down at her hands and proceeded to clean them.

"Ron-"

"I think you're all good," she interrupted. "You might want to check my work though."

"I'm confident in your healing abilities. You had a great teacher," I teased.

Her expression softened as she huffed out a laugh through her nose. Her shoulders sagged as she tucked her legs closer to her body sitting cross-legged.

"I'm sorry I left you Veronica."

She searched my face, perhaps attempting to discern if I was being truthful.

"I know that this whole... shadow magic is... a lot... I don't know if I would have started it if I knew it would turn out like this," I looked at the mark that swirled along the left side of my body. "I saw what it did to you... the danger I'd put you in... The terror in your eyes when you looked at me..." I shook my head to clear the image that plagued my sleepless nights and leaned forward. "I just needed to go get a better hold on it. I needed to make sure that I wasn't going to hurt you again." I rested my elbows on my knees and buried my face in my hands.