DISGUISED || SEBASTIAN SALLOW

Chapter 14

I sat on the Hogwarts Express, though it wasn't one for expression. The walls were bland, and, the decoration—meh. 

I looked at the letter to my left. I had about ten minutes left on this train; then, I'd be off to Feldcroft. His home. Feldcroft. 

Of course, the letter listed where I would take residence at yet totally forgot to mention who the hell I'd be staying with. I tried to be positive, I really did, but how could I? My shoulders were burning, my wand was broken, I was on a train to leave Hogwarts to move in with a stranger, and the only person I'd ever see who I knew would be Ominis Gaunt. Honestly, I don't even know where our relationship even stands.

I found the letter in the pocket of my overcoat, adherently enclosed in the deepest part of my jacket. Imelda Reyes no doubt put it there for good reason; she intended to make my travels as difficult as she could.

"Gahh!" I groaned. I winced at the sharp pain that stung my shoulders, slicing and gnawing and poking down my arm to my wrist. I lunged and rung a dainty bell positioned against the wall across from me—it was a little rough for years, though.

"Madam?" A voice squeaked.

A gnarly, tender elf struggled to drag the heavy door of my cubby open as he tottered into my vicinity. His large eyes bore into mine. "Bubby at your service, ma'am. Bubby is most honored to assist you!"

I snorted, my eyes wandering from the pain that seared my shoulders. Wordlessly I slipped off my brown overcoat, revealing my bloody white sleeves. My green Hogwarts vest had gone gray. 

Damn.

"Blood." I said. Simple. "My shoulders; do you have a washcloth of sorts?"

Bubby squinted his gaze tighter, the hairs on his brow sticking up with drastic confusion. "Blood? Bubby doesn't see such a thing. Perhaps Bubby can get master?"

"No, no," I stressed. "Blood, red, sticky? Here." I cuffed my sleeves higher up my arm, revealing what I saw as deep, black marks on my shoulder. The smell wasn't fowl, though; I truly couldn't smell anything, actually. I had black stains running down my pale arm. 

"Bubby sees no blood. Buddy thinks it looks like ink!"

My jaw clenched, nodding in confusion. "I'll just take a glass of water'" I croaked. My wrist was stinging as I forced a nod.

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SEBASTIAN'S POV

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I staggered to the doorway, knocking softly. A frail, thin girl opened the door, immediately shutting it.

"Wait!" I cried, "Damn you, Anne! You can't leave me like this!"

A grunt only responded.

"Anne, please," I groaned, pressing my hot cheek against the cool wooden door. The sun was just barely falling, my shadow creased against the bloodstained grass below my feet. The black, bloodstained grass. 

Anne Sallow hesitantly opened the door of their home. "In." She looked up to meet her brother's gaze, mouth ajar. "Merlin's beard, what happened to you?" She choked. "Get in here, Seb!"

She slammed the door behind me, a spasm of coughs following. I toppled into a wooden chair strewn halfway down the living space, black drool dripping from my left wrist.

I looked like a mess. My hair was dirty, the usually chocolate hair now black from buildup of oils. My eyes were sunken, pale, with brown eyes almost purple from fear and horror. One second, Anne was at my side. The next, she had a scalding hot towel over my bleeding body, my sores crying out in pain at the hot rag. I wasn't respondent, the numbness and horror blinding my discomfort.

Anne tended to me, her face tight. She never looked directly at me, only treated the wounds. She didn't have any Wigginweld on her, presumably.

"I'm sorry." I whispered as her frame paused. "I tried to fix things, but then I made it worse. They knew I was there, Anne. You have to hide me, you have too! They're after me."

"The Ministry?" She breathed, her eyes cold.

I shook my head in grimace. "Somebody else. Something else, actually. I don't know what it is, or where it came from. I can't even begin to describe it. It's like a mob, a black ghost of sorts, terrorizing me. It just comes, and it follows, and then it finds—" my voice cracked at the end.

Anne stood up, wheezing ever so slightly as she leaned against the wooden table across from me. I stared blankly at the deafening silence, too scared to move, tempted to breathe.

"Did this, thing—" she whispered as her hands balled against the table. "Attack you?" Her eyes darted to me then back to the table.

"I looked at it," I pressed. "Then it was me. And I wasn't. Anne, I just ran. It was saying things," chills racked my body. "Am I crazy?"

Anne only looked disapprovingly at me, taking the two white towels from my body and re-wetting them. "We have a guest coming soon," she spat. "Get yourself ready, and hide," she stressed the last words. "It's a student from Hogwarts. I don't know who she is, but she's having to stay here. I suggest you get yourself together and stay in the bunker below."

"The bunker?"

Anne nodded. "Get yourself together. I'll explain more later."

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a filler chapter but there will be more this week!