Exile || Sebastian Sallow

26 | Hogsmeade Festival

(very long chapter ahead,
grab snacks and water!!)

26 | Hogsmeade Festival

Belle's Perspective

I have this theory that time goes by faster when you're dying. Perhaps it was because I was racing against it, and what once was an ally has become a foe of mine.

Because one blink and it was the weekend again.

It was Hogsmeade Festival Day, an event that began last year. It always happened at the end of November in celebration of the coming winter.

The past few days hadn't just been a battle against my sickness, but it has been one hell of a battle against my broken heart. That day in Feldcroft, and the way Sebastian looked at me with false need was still etched into my heart. A constant beat that reminded me of how wrong it all was with him.

If anything, it was just another way for him to remind me how much he despised me. Because if he didn't, he wouldn't lead me on so much. It was just something you didn't do to someone you truly cared about.

Lila, Samantha, Andrew and Amit had already left with the rest of our Ravenclaw classmates and other Hogwarts students who were of age to go to Hogsmeade. First and second year students were strictly forbidden from leaving the castle today, and Aurors have begun securing the castle just in case.

I almost scoffed when I'd woken up this morning and found out. It was the most effort I'd seen them do since these murders started happening.

Isidora's letters mentioned a last name I hadn't heard of in a while. Grimmore. The pureblood family that used to be our neighbours in Great Hangleton. From what I read in the letters, Isidora had befriended one of their daughters, which didn't make sense to me.

It didn't make sense to me because I knew the reason the Grimmore family's bloodline no longer roamed the wizarding world. They weren't kind and they did something that caused a ripple effect in my life until it was a tidal wave.

And they were dead.

It had been my fault. All those years ago.

Partly.

Still, it didn't make sense why there were no records of them anywhere other than personal accounts from Isidora Morganach.

A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of that stormy night when everything went to hell. So, I stopped the walk down memory lane before it affected me too much. The ancient magic getting pulled back along with it.

I promised my friends I would catch up to them in Hogsmeade in a few minutes. Or an hour. But I wasn't so sure now.

Though it was a beautiful autumn day, leaves cascading down and showering the cobbled streets with beautiful orange scenery, my bones felt like they were living the coldest of winters while I had to put on warm smiles for everyone.

I walked down the stairs toward Central Hall barren of students, the fountain in the middle spewing out water in gentle streams. I wore a simple dark blue sweater and black pants, a contrast to what the girls wore for the festival. Everyone seemed to be in their best outfits today.

Two Aurors roaming the hall eyed me from afar. I ignored their suspicious looks. They acted as if I could control the actions of whoever was hunting me down, but I was sure they still suspected I had something to do with it.