DISGUISED || SEBASTIAN SALLOW

Chapter 10

__________________

I sat in my dorm room, laying in my bunk. I fidgeted with my hair, braiding it as I pondered the day's situation. 

Sebastian Sallow, the boy that spiraled down a dark path, came back to Hogwarts. Ominis Gaunt is his best friend. He helped him create Polyjuice potions so that he could disguise as a Muggle. Ominis used his 'Gauntness' to slide Sebastian Sallow, disguised as Luke Smithington, into a Muggle exchange program. So that this boy, that escaped Azkaban, could come back to heal his sister.

Understood.

Except, nothing exactly was understood.

Sebastian Sallow supposedly ran into the Undercroft. Yet, when I cast diffindo on him, he disintegrated. That meant that this person wasn't Sebastian Sallow. It was a charm, or an illusion, or both. That also meant this person knew about the Undercroft.

Or, they didn't. And I let them in. 

There didn't appear to be any sort of tracking mechanism, so they died along with the secrets they'd held.

I rubbed my temples, my head hurting.

Ominis liked me. Like, like that. When I thought about it, I guess you could say I did, too, somewhat. Yet, did I? It was all a blur. It explained his closeness, his desperation to make sure I was there, but it still felt... strange. Forced.

Wrong.

But, right?

I thought about Sebastian Sallow. The charming, Slytherin fifth year that was the first to introduce himself to me. The first to make sure it was established that he was the master duelist—to remind me I was a low-life when in his vicinity. What went from a disgust of him formed into a trust in him. How had our newly-blossomed friendship vanished like that?

I could still remember that day, running so desperately to find Sebastian. The thoughts going through my head, knowing he'd gone too far, and I had stayed with him every part of the way. That I, too, was partially for blame.

I pulled up my white, cuffed sleeve, to look at my wrist. The smoldering, black burn mark still lay there. I'd gotten it from one the Inferi Anne Sallow had set aflame. It resembled a distorted heart shaped, almost dripping. The warped outline just barely depicted an intricate symbol, one that I'd always thought had some sort of... power. 

I suppose my magic had also diminished ever since the burn. I remembered the flames in Solomon's eyes, the hurt and the merciless pupils that flickered in and out of his diluted gaze. The fight.

The death.

The wand on the floor, dropping along with Sebastian's gaze, it only just barely tracing its way to the horrified face of Anne Sallow. The girl he did everything for. 

Yet, according to Ominis, I was partially a part of that, too.

It made my heart throb, knowing that we'd turned him in. That he escaped. How? I was uncertain. I'd had heard rumors that Animagus transformations could somehow escape Azkaban. Dementors demented human souls, no animal souls. That would explain some sort of escape maneuver.

But, to avoid guards, the Ministry, to travel thousands of miles, weak, and desperate, all the way back to Hogwarts?

How? Grit must've played a part. That Gaunt probably did, too. 

I felt a tingle, deep in my gut. The ancient magic. Was it still there? I raised a shaky palm as I searched my mind, hopelessly gliding through the memories in fear that I'd forever lost my touch on my special ability. My hand welled up, reddish, as a tiny line trickled down my vein, to my wrist, bleeding into the mark that struck my veins. The burn mark.

The burn mark blocked the magic. A sharp wince welled from within me as the line hit the mark, sending a sharp jolt of pain up my arm. It didn't make sense, how that lowly, small, intricate burn halted the magic I'd once possessed. There was something more to it, I was sure.

Something past Ominis, past Sebastian, past Hogwarts—had it to do with Anne? 

I couldn't fathom it all. But I knew something for certain.

Luke Smithington was missing, and I would be blame. This also meant Sebastian Sallow disappeared, either when he was in the Undercroft or right before he went in.

I knew what I needed to do. I needed to talk  to Ominis Gaunt, my, I guess, sort of boyfriend? I wasn't sure, but I needed to talk to him. Figure out some sort of cover for why Luke would be gone. Maybe if I—

"Y/N?" Imelda pushed open the door of the dorm room. "Black is waiting for you outside the common room."

shit.

__________________

next chapter will be much longer dw this is just a small filler one