The Hope beneath the Dark - Sebastian Sallow

17. Duel (🌶)

I folded the letter and shoved it the left pocket of my green plaid pants and ate my last bite of toast.

"I'm ready now, let's go!" I told Sebastian as I got up from the bench and jogged towards the exit of the Great Hall.

"What did Tom say?" Sebastian asked when he finally joined me in the Hallway, following me to our Herbology class.

"He wants to meet next Saturday, at the Three Broomsticks."

"Bold move seeing as he's trying to hide that you two have been in touch." Sebastian pointed out.

He was right, it was odd. The first time, Tom made Ominis, and I travelled to the other side of the Highlands, making sure to choose a spot where chances to come across other people were extremely low. Now he wanted to meet in the middle of Hogsmeade? On a Saturday night, it would be packed with people.

"He said he found something. It must be important if he is willing to meet me this close to the castle." I replied.

"Will you go with Ominis again?" Sebastian asked as he opened the door to the greenhouses, letting me enter first.

"I will probably ask him, yes." I answered. "Why?"

"Just wondered if you were going alone or..."

"I don't want the three of us to go, the less people the better. Besides, I want Ominis to come only because there seems to be ties between the Forsythes and the Gaunts." I explained.

"We'll discuss this later." Sebastian responded rudely.

We barely spoke for the rest of the day, and he was not in the Great Hall for lunch either. I ate quickly next to Nerida and Imelda, making small talk. There was still a lot of tension between Imelda and I, but we were able to be civil, mostly for the sake of Nerida and Ominis I'd say. Compared to Freddie and Sebastian, that was a lot of progress. The two of them were still making snarky comments to one another every now and then.

The last class of this week was Defence against the Dark Arts with professor Hecat. I sat at the back of the class, waiting for Sebastian to arrive and sit next to me. Ominis and Freddie were sitting together to my left. I was using the few minutes left before class started for some quick study.

"Pleasant of you to finally join us, Mr. Sallow! A minute later and it would have cost you 10 points!" Professor Hecat stated as Sebastian entered the classroom and sat next to me.

"Where were you all day?" I whispered to him, my eyes on professor Hecat to give the impression I was paying attention.

"Just needed some alone time." He articulated.

"Is there something bothering you?" I asked.

"No. Now focus on the lesson please. You can't afford missing out on anything important this year." He shushed to me.

I wasn't sure what he meant by that, I know I had a lot to catch up on before taking the N.E.W.T.S at the end of the year, but the way he said that was rather rude.

Towards to end of the class, professor announced that we would have a duel to end this week before sending us off to celebrate Halloween. To everyone's surprise, but excitement, she chose Sebastian and Freddie for this duel. It's clear she sensed the tension between the two of them lately, so it would be either a great duel or a very bad idea.

"You must be glad, Sallow! Now you can finally prove how easily you can win over me!" Freddie teased Sebastian.

Sebastian was right that day he argued with Freddie on the quidditch field. Freddie did show a completely different side of his personality since I've hurt him. I thought he was different than Sebastian, but lately he was as arrogant as him, taking every chance, he had to make unpleasant comments about Sebastian.