Order of Shadows | Sebastian Sallow Love Story

Chapter Fifty One

Luna's voice broke through the palpable tension in the room. "I heard you can perform the Patronus Charm, Harry."

"Yes, I've seen it." Hermione agreed, glancing between Harry and the group.

Susan took the next bout of silence to speak up, "One of the portraits said you'd killed a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets with that sword in Dumbledore's office."

"Uh.. Well yeah, I did."

Lee looked at him amazed, "Blimey, Harry..."

"Wow..." Lavender added.

"Can't forget that he saved the Sorcerer's stone from You-Know-Who in his first year." Fred or George added graciously.

"And last year he got through the Triwizard Tournament!" Cho Chang pointed out.

Ron nodded reverently, "Not to mention you dueled with You-Know-Who all alone and he still couldn't kill you! He fought about 100 dementors at once, you know!"

Mutters of agreement began to sound through the crowd. Séraphine noted with respect that all the pretty words wouldn't have been able to sway the crowd, but Harry's actions and past experiences are what got through to the other students.

Now, it seemed as if they were getting somewhere.

A Hog in the Tavern

Harry stared down at the floor before finding the right words to address the group. "Wait. Look." He cleared his throat before straightening his back. "It all sounds great when you say it like that, but the truth is most of that was just luck. I didn't know what I was doing half the time. I nearly always had help."

"He's just being modest-" Hermione quickly interjected.

Harry turned to her quickly, "-No 'Mione, I'm not." He faced the crowd again, "Facing this stuff in real life is not like school. In school if you make a mistake, you can just try again tomorrow. But out there when you're a second away from being murdered or watching a friend die right before your eyes..." His eyes met Cho Chang's briefly, before looking away and sitting down glumly, "You don't know what that's like."

Ominis cocked his head to the side in silent disagreement. Séraphine and Sebastian agreed with secret smiles. They were all acquainted with life or death situations and honestly wished they were as negligent as the rest of the students.

"You're right, Harry. We don't." Hermione sat beside Harry, placing a hand on his shoulder, "That's why we need your help. Because if we're going to have any chance of beating... Voldemort... Then we need your help."

Several gasps and wide eyed stares were had at the sound of the Dark Lord's name.

Sebastian scoffed quietly, "Ninnies."

Ominis merely nodded in agreement.

"He's really back..." The boy who still had a footprint on his chest spoke sullenly.

Wordlessly, Harry nodded before staring back down at the floor. Séraphine found it with morbid amusement that they were just now coming to the conclusion that Voldemort was back. Never mind the fact that they had had dinner together almost a month ago which ended with Sebastian receiving the Dark Mark. He hadn't been called upon yet which was a relief, but Draco had. Often it had to do with helping his parents with a task at the Manor where the Dark Lord was currently staying.