Hogwarts Legacy: The Dark Veins In Time

Into The Timeslip

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Y/N POV

As I lay on the coldest stone floor I have ever felt in my life spinning in the darkness I wondered how I hadn't completely emptied my stomach all over myself. Never would I have the words to describe what had just happened when I released the dial of the Time-Turner admittedly to spite Sebastian in that moment knowing what the outcome would be but to think that time magic would make one feel like their being was being unraveled into a thousand ribbons and then suddenly tied back together was not calculated into any of it. I only wished to stop whatever madness had taken over Sebastian in those moments beforehand - even if I had to admit that he was for whatever reason so painfully tempting in the words he was spilling out as he pin me to the ground in a way that was shamefully arousing.

If I hadn't gotten away from him, who knows what I would have let him do. He felt so... good. Too good.

But perhaps using the Time-Turner was a bit overboard..

I managed to sit up and finally pull out my wand to light the area around me. Sebastian was already circling around, mumbling to himself as he confirmed our surroundings. From where I was I could tell that we were still in the Undercroft, though albeit a much more dusty, spider infested Undercroft with my lovely sofa and tea set missing, Sebastian's little study corner gone, and even the alcove with Isadora's canvas and pensieve nowhere in sight. Not a single torch lit up for us as they usually did upon entering and running my hand along the floor produced lines through centimeters of thick dirt. No one had been in this Undercroft for many, many years.

"How far do you think we've gone?" I tentatively asked as I pulled my knees up to my chest and watched Sebastian stalk around in the dark with his wand lit up. I could tell from the fact that he made no effort to fuss over my well being that he was undoubtedly very upset with me. "Sebastian?"

"At the very least, far enough that Ominis, nor Anne or I, have been here yet." He responded tautly. He's definitively angry with me.. But this was fine, I was equally upset with him. "This looks very much how it did when Ominis first brought me here. It was group effort to make it habitable back then."

"So we've gone back at least six years? That's... that's actually incredible..." I said quietly, thinking briefly on the achievements I knew my mother had made over her career at the University of London but only recently realizing all the ones within the wizarding world she could be accredited for. It was just the tiniest bit of pride that I shared some bit of it. "My mother - both my parents.. brilliant.."

Sebastian came back towards me, looming over my head and staring down at me with an expressionless face. The light of his wand reflected cold shadows across his features, making his eyes look vacant and the rugged cut of his jawline absolutely menacing. I could already tell what he was thinking without having to ask what was on his mind.

"You're going to gush over your despicable parents at a time like this?" He said flatly, "Heh, the irony.. a time like this. Did the little jaunt through the timeway scramble up all of the intelligence in that brain of yours? Are you not understanding what you've done?"

I shot down the impulse to tear up and pout at the unusual coldness he was expressing towards me and did my best to return that same energy back towards him. "I am perfectly aware of what I've done, Sallow. Are you not understanding what drove me to do it in the first place? You were coming completely undone, mental even! There was no reasoning with you and I had no choice but to use the Time-Turner to escape and hopefully snap you out of it!" Which I am not entirely sure worked out as I hope it would, seeing as he is still far from himself right now..

"Sebastian.." I said, reaching my hand up in expectation of him hoisting me up to my feet but he simply turned heel and walked away in an act of rejection that plucked a little painfully at my heart. I cursed under my breath and rolled myself up to my feet, patting off as much grime as I could from my disheveled clothing. Sebastian made his way towards the exit and I followed suit just a few steps behind as we ascended up through the entrance, at first fearing that the doorway wouldn't open for us and breathing a heavy sigh of relief when we emerged into the Defense Against The Dark Arts Tower. The area up here was much warmer and the lights drawn very low as it was sometime in the dead of night judging by the pitch blackness of the windows, that also happened to be caked with thick bands of snow around their edges which explained the freezing temperature in the hidden room below. Whatever the date actually was, we were no longer in the height of Autumn, but in the dead cold of Winter.