Exile || Sebastian Sallow

4 | The Grudge

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"Hurt people hurt people,
and we both drew blood
but man those cuts were never equal."
- Olivia Rodrigo

───•~❉᯽❉~•───

4 | The Grudge

Belle's Perspective

I was minding my own business inside the library, studying techniques for a complicated spell for DADA class, when Lila seemed to appear out of thin air and slammed books onto my table, making me jump.

"Oh Merlin, Lila!" I whispered-shout, looking around apologetically at the students around us. "Where did you even come from?"

She plopped herself onto the seat in front of me, a usual grin on her face. "I barely snuck up on you, Belle. You were just too preoccupied studying to notice me come up."

"I'm just trying to get ahead," I sighed, closing the book.

Lila raised a brow. "Belle, we're literally one week into the new school year. You don't need to be ahead that much."

"Well, I—" I stopped myself, not really wanting to tell her the real reason I was constantly studying the last few days. Because the truth was, I needed a distraction from Sebastian Sallow who began infiltrating my mind since the start of the school year.

I'd done everything to forget about him since he left, which I'd been successful in. But it doesn't help that he was back at Hogwarts now where I had to see him almost every day, especially when he was with Lila. He was a walking reminder of a past long gone that lingered like a ghost.

"Belle?" Lila snapped her fingers in front of me.

I blinked, shaking my head and faking a smile. "Sorry, did you say something?"

"I said, I'm surprised you're not with Ethan," she observed.

"I'm surprised you're not with—" I stumbled, then quickly saved my statement with, "your boyfriend." I didn't want to say his name out loud, one that dared to poison my lips again.

Lila's face somehow brightened, her hands finding mine on the table. She said, "As fun as it is to be with Sebastian," I tried not to grimace at that, "I still much prefer to hang out with you. Sisters first before anything else and anyone else, right?"

I chuckled, tightening my hands on hers and nodding my head. Even though Lila and I weren't related by blood, she was one of the only people who felt like family to me. We just clicked since last year, and it felt like she was my sister.

She reminds me a lot of one of my sisters.

I shook off the sudden thought, not wanting to reminisce about the tragedy that was my family history. Sometimes I was glad no one had ever asked me about that part of my life.

Sometimes.

Because sometimes it also hurt that no one had cared enough to know me beyond the surface they could see. There used to be one person who I thought could be different enough for me. Guessed the end of fifth year proved my optimism wrong.

"You looked for me for a reason, didn't you?" I accused playfully. "And it is definitely not to study."

Lila chuckled, beginning to stuff her textbooks into her bag. "Yeah, I studied for about five minutes before giving up. So, I decided, why not look for you and drag you to Hogsmeade?"