The Hope beneath the Dark - Sebastian Sallow

38. Muggle blood

It was the middle of the week already, three days after Ominis grew the courage to be honest with Poppy and let her go, just as Sebastian said he would. I ate breakfast with her at the Hufflepuff table every morning, to make sure she didn't feel left alone.

She still could come eat with us, after all she was my best friend, and Sebastian and her grew to be friends too, but she couldn't bear the sight of Ominis and Anne finally free to flirt with each other right in front of her.

Apparently, Sebastian was getting tired of witnessing Ominis hitting on his sister because he too joined us this morning at the Hufflepuff table.

While we were making small talk, chatting about anything but Ominis, we heard the hoots of owls flying in the Great Hall, ready to drop letters to their recipients. Rhea flew over me and dropped one right on my plate, which was not empty yet.

"Oh, it's been a while. I wonder if it's your father writing to you." Poppy exclaimed.

"I hope so. By now I was expecting news about what they did with Barbarus." Sebastian let out. "I doubted he was happy to be brought back to the ministry."

"I guess we'll see. It is from my father." I informed them.

Dear Maude,

My apologies for taking time to update you. I was hoping to track down Eileen following the events, but was unsuccessful.

I also needed time to process the passing of Barbarus, even though he never was the father I hoped he would've been, it was still unexpected, and shocking, if I'm being honest.

The cause is still unclear, but I did notice what seemed like traces of ancient magic on his face and chest. A different one, a darker one.

Meet me at the Three Broomsticks this Friday evening. Maybe you can help me find out what caused this.

In the meantime, please be well.

Your father

"I guess we'll find out at the end of the week." I said as I handed the letter to Sebastian for him to read it.

"Well..  two Forsythes down, only one left." Sebastian let out. "Excluding your father, of course!"

"I have a feeling that it turned out the Forsythes were not our biggest problem." I sighed.

"Yeah... Ominis told me when you got back." Poppy tried to force a reassuring smile. "On the other hand, it is not a big surprise that the Gaunts would've double crossed them."

"True, they always had bigger motives. A misplaced hunger for power." Sebastian said with still a mouth full of his omelette.

"Oh, bigger motives. Hunger for power. At some point last year I could've sworn you were one of them." I joked.

Sebastian stared at me with a serious face, clearly annoyed at the remark.

The day went by slowly, classes were particularly long today, even if we had no History of magic lesson today. Poppy was getting closer with Adelaide, and she also was spending more time with Lenora now. I was glad to see she had Hufflepuff friends to keep her distracted throughout the day. Especially at lunch and dinner.

"Sebastian?" Anne called his brother's name while sitting across the table.

Sebastian quickly glanced at me with an apprehensive face, not sure why her sister would possibly speak to him directly. Not that it was not what he wanted, but by all the time that passed since she got back, he was starting to accept this weird dynamic as permanent.