Safe & Sound//Sebastian Sallow

fourty-nine.

Sebastian and I hurried to Imelda's home. From her address, I had an idea of where the closest Floo point would be. Her house was in a rich hamlet on the outskirts of London, so I knew it would be easy enough to find.

I held on tightly to Sebastian's hand as we walked toward Imelda's street. My stomach was in knots knowing that someone had violated Ominis' home. If we couldn't find him, I didn't know what I'd do.

"That has to be her place," Sebastian said, breaking me out of my thoughts. "There's a practice Quidditch pitch in the backyard."

"It's definitely her place. She wrote to me once she had it built." I quickened my pace. As soon as we reached her door, I started banging on it frantically.

"Calm yourself," I heard her yell from inside. "I'm coming!" She sounded annoyed. "Who the hell is here this early," she asked while unlocking the door. Her face didn't hide her surprise when she saw me and Sebastian. "Oh, hi guys. What are you doing here?"

"Is Ominis here," I asked. "Please tell me he is."

"Yeah, he's up taking a shower." She looked at me confused. "Is everything okay?"

"Thank Merlin," Sebastian said, letting out a deep breath of relief. "I'm glad he's safe. And to answer your question, no, everything is not okay. Can we come in?"

"Of course." Imelda stepped aside and let us into her house. She then led us into her sitting room. "Have a seat. I'll go get Ominis and then you can fill us both in." Imelda left the room and I sank into her sofa. My body was exhausted, but my mind was running wild.

Sebastian continued to hold my hand as he sat next to me. Every now and then, he'd give it a small, reassuring squeeze. I looked over at him and gave him a small smile. We sat in silence as we waited for Imelda and Ominis to enter the room.

"Now what is it," Ominis asked as they came down the stairs. "It hasn't even been a full day since I've been with you both."

"Something's happened," I told him. "Did you come straight here after you left yesterday?"

"Yeah, why?" He sat on the adjacent loveseat and Imelda sat next to him. Sebastian and I filled them both in on the events that happened after he left and leading to our discovery thing morning. Imelda looked pissed when we told her someone had been in Ominis' home and Ominis looked to be deep in thought, his brow furrowed as he rested his chin on his hand.

"We wanted to bring you the note I received before taking it to the Aurors on the case. If anyone can trace something from it, it's you," I said as I pulled the parchment out of my bag. Ominis held out his hand and I placed the paper in it. He pulled out his wand and hovered it over the note. It was a few moments before he spoke.

"I'm not sensing anything from this," he said, sounding frustrated. "Generally, I can at least tell where the parchment came from or what type of ink was used, but whoever wrote this made sure it was untraceable. They knew what they were doing. You're dealing with someone who is competent with charms." He handed the note back to me.

I sat quietly as the other three talked, going over anyone I'd ever come across that was skilled in charms. Most I could think of were either dead or in Azkaban. That's not saying I was missing someone, but it still didn't leave me with much to go off of.

"Is there anything you have that someone would be after," Sebastian asked Ominis.

"I have loads of valuable items and artifacts. I'd have to go through things myself to see if anything was actually taken," he answered.

"This has to be related to the explosion, right," Imelda asked.

"The timing is too close to not be connected in some way," I replied, finally speaking up. "I just don't know how."