Recollection

Three

Flashback - April 27th 1891

Ominis sat as calmly as he could while Eliza paced in the waiting room of St. Mungos. The sterile smell of the hospital wafted into the waiting room making her feel even more on edge. Sebastian wasn't sick, he didn't belong here.

Following the accident in the catacombs on the outskirts of the hamlet of Feldcroft, Sebastian faced immediate regret. The whiplash he experienced after casting the killing curse had knocked him back to reality. He'd admit that in the moment of the green tendrils leaving his wand, it felt good. The grasp of the dark magic reached for him with a comforting hand, pulling him into an abyss of nothingness. He managed to hold his head up from drowning as he watched the results of his actions play out. His twin sister Anne was heartbroken as she cried over their uncle's body. He didn't mean to kill him...or maybe he did. One had to have the emotion behind the curse in order for it to work after all.

Ominis looked as if he was thrown back into his childhood, having to listen to the horrors his torturous family inflicted on innocent muggles and Eliza stood distraught with one hand covering her mouth and the other holding her stomach as if she were going to be sick.

The guilt immediately began to consume Sebastian. He couldn't believe what he had done and hated himself for the pain he had caused his loved ones. He fled as fast as he could and took the Floo Network back to Hogwarts. He went straight to Headmaster Black and turned himself in.

His trial moved quickly and quietly. It helped that he had the support of a Gaunt, a Stretton and several other students descended from pureblood families backing him as character witnesses.

Sebastian was popular amongst their class and in natural Slytherin manner, they protected their own. Sebastian's uncle had thrown the first spell after all. Sebastian only defended himself and his friends.

Despite all of the support, the Wizengamot still came to the conclusion that a wizard that young of age should not have known the killing curse but since Solomon Sallow had attacked him first and he was still in fact just a boy, they were lenient on him. Instead of sending him to Azkaban he was entered into a program offered by St. Mungos for troubled young witches and wizards. It was designed to purge out the darkness that was consuming Sebastian and rehabilitate him so he could one day rejoin society.

The program was originally established to help clean up the messes caused by pureblood children and sweep them under the rug. There was a lot of controversy and scandal that occurred around the families that called themselves 'elite' and they didn't want their children ending up in Azkaban, thus the program was created.

"Eliza you are going to burn a hole in the floor if you keep pacing that aggressively." Ominis tried to calm her down. Dark circles encased her eyes and she hadn't slept or eaten anything in days. The stress from Sebastian being locked away from her, Ranrok gaining power, and Rookwood on the loose were all looming over her head. Sebastian was who she would turn to when it all became too much. Now that he couldn't be there for her, she was losing herself.

"He shouldn't be here, he should be back in school with us, with the people who love him." Eliza was frantic as a nurse finally came to bring them back to see him.

They walked through the unsettling white hallway as the sound of patients wailing filled the air. Eliza imagined it wasn't as different from Azkaban mentally. Though it was brighter and cleaner, the screams themselves were enough to drive a person to madness.

The nurse let them into his room. Like the rest of the hospital wing, everything was white and steril. Even the clothes he wore, white t-shirt and white pants. He only had a bed, a toilet, and a sink in his "room." It more resembled a clean jail cell.

Three chairs sat in the center of the room facing each other, Sebastian filled on. Eliza and Ominis took the other two.

Ominis seemed on edge but not Eliza. She had pulled herself together from her rambling in the hallway and held up a strong front for him. Sebastian on the other hand didn't look at either of them. He just stared at the floor and couldn't bring himself to pick his head up or even acknowledge them as he did every time they visited.

"Hi Sebastian." She spoke softly to him with a hint of heartbreak in her voice. It killed her to see him this way. She was always the first to speak during their weekly visits. He never spoke back but she didn't care as she would continue on telling him about her week. She so badly wanted to pull him into her arms and hold him tight, but that was strictly forbidden.

Today was different though. She looked so hopeful as he looked up at her through his eyebrows. This was the first time he's made eye contact with her in the two months he had been there.

"Why do you keep coming here?" Sebastian spoke coldly.

Eliza was stunned. Why wouldn't she come visit him? She was in love with him as he was with her...or at least was. She'd be here everyday if she could but unfortunately was only allowed in once a week. "Because I love you Sebastian. We love you. And we are going to be here with you every step of the-" Sebastian cut her off just as he cheeks started to blush.

"I don't want you here." He snarled as he watched the pink fall from her face and the hope in her eyes burn out. For once she was speechless. "You being here isn't helping."

"You don't know what you're sayi-"

"I know exactly what I'm saying. I don't love you. I don't want you here. Do I need to spell it out for you?"

"You're being cruel Sebastian." Ominis coldly interjected.

"You don't mean that." Eliza was trying to hold on but Sebastian could hear the cracking in her voice.

"I do. It's your fault we ended up in this situation." He would always remember the look on her face when he broke her heart. That face would haunt his dreams. He could tell she wasn't doing well. He didn't know how long he was going to be there and he didn't want her to wait for him. He could see through her act of pretending to be strong. He could see how tired she was, how broken. He needed her to move on from him. He had to break her heart so he could set her free. And in the process he broke his own as well.