Recollection

Eight

Sebastian's POV

The rest of Sebastian's first day back went by quickly to his relief. In both Charms and Ancient Runes his professors merely went over the course schedule before dismissing the class. He was exhausted and sore from having spent the night tied up on the floor. He just needed to get through his therapy session and then he was free to nap before meeting Oliver in the Undercroft later. He wasn't even aware that Oliver knew about the Undercroft until he suggested they meet there. He didn't blame Ominis for showing it to him. He had broken his trust of showing it to Eliza in the first place. He didn't know what the two of them had gone through last year while he was away.

He internally groaned when he saw Eliza was still occupying a bed in the hospital wing, holding a  compress on her head. The last thing he needed was to get all riled up before his session. He kept his eyes on the floor as he walked past the end of her bed towards Nurses Blainey's office.

"Come to finish the job?" Her voice was softer now as she grimaced in pain. She seemed a bit out of it. Probably a side effect of something Nurse Blainey had given her for the pain.

Sebastian gave her a look of confusion. "Excuse me?"

"It's your bloody cologne that put me here in the first place."

Nurse Blainey came to his rescue from behind a partition handing a small vial of clear liquid as she greeted him. "Ah Mr. Sallow right on time. Drink this and then Dr. Brown will see you in my office."

He downed the vial and couldn't help but make a face as the bitter liquid touched his tongue. For as often as he took it, he never did get used to the taste of veritaserum.

"Now that's quite a sight seeing the two of you in here." Nurse Blainey gave a soft smile as she scribbled something down on a clipboard. "Now off you go."

Nurse Blainey ushered Sebastian towards her office. Perhaps she wasn't aware of the situation between them. That was highly unlikely since she had always known more than she cared to know about the students. Maybe she did know and like Professor Sharp wanted to help. He decided to keep that in the back of his mind to have a conversation with her later. Maybe she had some insight on Eliza's condition since she wasn't even being particular about the words she said around her.

Sebastian glanced over his shoulder back at Eliza before walking into the office. She had her eyebrows furrowed and her gaze heavy on Nurse Blainey, very confused.

"Sebastian please sit." Dr. Brown almost look out of place sitting in Nurse Blainey's office. He was used to seeing her in her office at St. Mungos which almost mirrored his room there with the clean, all white aesthetic. Blainey's office was cozy with portraits hung on the wall over a floral patterned wallpaper.

Dr. Lucinda Brown, an older witch in her mid-fifties was the head healer in charge of Sebastian's case and the only one of them that he trusted. She wasn't like the others and actually seemed to care to see him get better. She was always honest with him about the program and wouldn't sugarcoat anything. Her famous words were, 'we cannot help you unless you let us,' which proved to be true as Sebastian was known for being quite stubborn at times.

Sebastian closed the door behind him and sat in a cushioned pink armchair across from Dr. Brown on the other side of Nurse Blainey's desk. She was already writing down notes in her leather bound notebook with her glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose.

"You already know how this will go so let us begin." She gave him a kind smile. "Is your name Sebastian Sallow?"

"Yes." He didn't need to put any effort into his responses as the veritaserum would pull them out for him. The process may have seemed unorthodox, but it was the only way for Dr. Brown to get an honest view of his emotions. He fought it when they first introduced this treatment to him. He was worried he'd say the wrong things and end up getting locked up forever but Dr. Brown always asked the right questions to get a complete understanding of what was going through his head. There was very little that she didn't know about him and part of him wondered if she could read him better than he could himself. In the end he understood it was better this way. The veritaserum also made it impossible for him to lie to himself. He had no choice but to face his actions and take responsibility for them.