Under Your Scars || Sebastian Sallow x MC

Chapter 9 - Answers

Juliette POV

I shut the door in Sebastian's face as Deek took him to Weasley, praying he would forgive me for dismissing him yet again. I struggled down the stairs into my makeshift office and bedroom. 

My office was comprised of my desk and several chalkboards full of my scribblings about ancient magic. Books and parchments were strewn about every flat surface, along with journals in which I recorded my dreams. My Pensieve sat in the corner, vials of memories laying haphazardly around it. There was a reason I couldn't let Sebastian come in. It looked like the quarters of a madwoman. 

My bedroom consisted of a four-poster bed, end table and a red sofa. I used my leg to sweep off the pile of clothing that had accumulated on my sofa and I laid Miss Corben down as gently as I could. I began to pace the room, muttering to myself as I waited for her to wake up. 

"This can't be. This changes everything."

I looked to my hands, expecting to see the sparks that usually signaled that my anxiety was high but there were none to be found. A pleasant surprise, but not pleasant enough to distract me from the reality that I had an unconscious ancient magic wielder on my sofa. 

I replayed the duel over and over in my mind. Everything pointed to ancient magic. The non-verbal spells, the lightening, the blue-white tint her magic had. What I could not make sense of were the ancient magic traces I had seen swirling around her after she fainted. They were not unlike the traces of magic I've discovered all over the world, but they also had black swirls in them that I had not seen before. 

Like my dream. 

The traces had followed us all the way to the Room as Sebastian carried her, before eventually fading into nothing. 

Seeing Sebastian carrying his student was unsettling, as images of him holding my lifeless body flickered in my mind. Tiny details from my dream were materializing and a fear gripped me as I recalled the horror, the destruction of the castle. 

Someone could be coming for her, as they had for me. 

I tried to shake off my paranoia and focus on reality. If this girl was the thing pulling me back to Hogwarts, what was I going to do now? And how was it possible to have two ancient magic wielders so close in age, at the same school, no less? 

The Keepers.

I had to get her in front of the Keepers, start finding answers.  

I decided to wait until she awoke. I had to find out what she knew of the power she held. 

____________

It was Wednesday when she fainted, and she did not wake until the wee hours of Saturday morning. I had not been sleeping, to no one's surprise, so I was able to be there when she woke up. 

"Carina?" her eyes fluttered open as she reached for me. 

"No, Miss Corben. It's Miss Fontaine. How are you feeling?"  I reached out a hand to rest it on her arm. 

"What... what happened?" she finally took a moment to take in her surroundings. "Where am I?" 

"You're in the Room of Requirement. You fainted in class on Wednesday. You've been out for almost three days." Her eyes widened.