Legacy Rewritten

Hogsmeade: Part 1

I walked through a couple of halls and ended up passing by a familiar mermaid fountain in Central Hall, right before entering into a little lobby where Sebastian Sallow was casually leaning against a wall, obviously waiting for me. Suddenly, I was honored to have such a handsome man waiting for me...even if he was just taking me on a tour of Hogsmeade. "Fancy meeting you here. It seems as if you're my new charge, which, is perfectly fine with me. Shall we go?" Sebastian questioned, receiving a nod from me as I followed him outside and into the same courtyard that summoner's court had been in during Charms class. It was golden hour so I could see the golden light filtering through the pink and purple clouds above, casting the whole field in a warm tone as we ventured towards the stone gate that led to our path towards Hogsmeade. "I was glad that Professor Weasley asked me to accompany you; I love going to Hogsmeade as well, it's a magical place...no pun intended," Sebastian said in a kind tone, giving a light laugh at the end. I joined in, finding his laughter contagious, before saying, "I'm glad that you came with me as well. My options were you or Natty, and she was busy," I said in a joking manner, returning the small wink he had given me earlier that day when we had officially met in Defense Against the Dark Arts class. My response only made his smirk grow wider as he turned around at my playful tone that was mimicking his own.

"Is that so? Remind me to thank Natty for being too busy to accompany you then. The way I see it, I'd be smart to keep an eye on you since you are the only one who has managed to best me in a duel. Well, other than my friend, Ominis Gaunt. Also, I think that Professor Weasley has taken quite the shine to you; I wouldn't think that she'd consider me first, especially considering my reputation with Ms. Scribner, the librarian," he said, maintaining eye contact with me a bit more than I was expecting, almost making me believe that he was flirting with me. It can't be true though, someone as amazing and charismatic as Sebastian Sallow...there's no way someone like me deserved someone like Sallow. Trying to snap myself out of my own impossible thoughts, I playfully said, "No way! You couldn't possibly be on Ms. Scribner's bad side. What did you do?" "Oh, nothing really. I just happen to like, and be pretty good at, sneaking into the Restricted Section of the library. I don't think she finds it quite as entertaining as I do," he responded, laughing a bit at his own joke. I joined in before saying, "That makes so much sense now that I think about it. I'll definitely have to go in there now, just to make sure that I can compete with your wit and mischievous spirit."

He laughed at my quip before stopping suddenly. "Oh, hold on one moment. Here you can find lacewing flies: a potion ingredient you can use to make a particularly potent healing potion. Do you happen to know the name of that particular potion?" he asked, and I didn't hesitate to say the answer: "Wiggenweld of course." "Correct. You are quite smart...wonder why you weren't placed in Ravenclaw. Anyways, these bushes are their food source, so you should be easily able to collect them as long as you keep an eye out for these plants throughout the area. Oh wow, look! Out of the forest! They're Hippogriffs! I haven't seen those in a long time...they are beautiful creatures," Sebastian declared pointing towards the edge of the forest at two white winged creatures flying overhead. But he did look over at me when he said 'beautiful', and I did my very best to hide any traces of a blush on my cheeks, hoping that he didn't see it. "What's that forest called? There's a bridge that goes over the creek here, but it does look a little worse for wear...almost like it's not well traveled," I quickly pointed out, asking Sebastian, hoping that his attention would be on my question and not on the blush he undoubtedly could see. "Well, that'd be the Forbidden Forest. Our professors say that students aren't allowed to venture into it, hence the name, but I say different. I think they need to have more faith in our defensive skills, and if they don't, they should teach us more defensive magic to do so," he said, obviously very passionate about being able to venture into the forest.

I definitely could tell he noticed but he seemed to hold a similar blush for a split second before he answered my question rather quickly, probably trying to do the same thing I did if I had seen a trace of blush on his cheeks. "Have you had a chance to explore the castle at all?" Sebastian asked, just as we passed by some jumping toadstools as he called them. He mentioned they were also some good ingredients to collect, so I made sure to do so as I answered his question with a simple 'not really'. "I've been pretty busy with schoolwork, but something tells me that you've seem some really cool places. Are you offering to take me on any more adventures then?" I asked, raising my eyebrows suggestively at him with a slight smirk on my face. "Heh, honestly I'd love to do so with you. But, I can't share all of my secrets with you...not yet at least. You still haven't told me about your arrival to Hogwarts, or why you are so good at dueling. I'm afraid I'll have to hold out until those secrets are revealed, unfortunately," he responded, matching my own smirk and suggestive eyebrows, his smirk widening at seeing how my expression still matched his. "Oh look, it our groundskeeper, Mr. Moon. Mr. Moon, have you met the new fifth year?" he continued, pointing towards me as we walked over to the man who seemed to be struggling to stay steady on his feet.

"Pleasure! You'd better turn back Mr. Sallow, you and your friend," he said, causing Sebastian and I to look at each other with confused expressions. "Why? What's wrong sir?" he asked as Mr. Moon hiccupped. It was then that I had noticed a flask in his hands, coming to the realization that he was a bit out of it. "Demi hiccup guise. Eyes as big as saucers. I'm going to go hiccup back to the castle. Good luck Mr. Sallow, be careful," Mr. Moon warned as he wobbled away from us and strolled down the path we had just come from. We shrugged our shoulders, but we decided to keep going. "My sister, Anne...she says that Mr. Moon is lovely, but I've always thought that he's a bit...crazy. Probably not the best word choice, but..." Sebastian trailed off, catching my attention as soon as he said that he has a sister. "Is Anne a Slytherin too? I would love to meet her!" I asked him. He seemed to pause in hesitation for a moment, but he replied with a small 'yes'. I didn't miss that his facial features turned downwards in a saddened expression but quickly shook his head and added: "She is, well...was. She's not at Hogwarts at the moment because she's not feeling the best. But she will be back soon I'm sure, and she'd probably love to meet you as well." He smiled at me, trying to mask those saddened emotions, but I knew better.

There was a time when Zander had been really sick and I had been so worried about him. He got better of course, but I remember feeling so useless and helpless because I couldn't find any way to help him besides making some homemade soup for him. And even that was a feat in itself since I had to go out and buy food...our parents left a lot of the work to us and I remember dashing through the cold mounds of freshly fallen snow just to go to a little market nearby. My thoughts were brought back to the present as we rounded one last corner on the path to see a large post that had a bunch of smaller signs on it. Each sign was pointing in different directions, and I could clearly see the little signs that said "Hogwarts Castle" and "Hogsmeade Village". Sebastian nodded up at the sign and I smiled, allowing him to lead us through a beautiful wooden archway that had vines trailing up on both sides. There was a magnificent stone wall that outlined the small village, ending at a covered bride that crossed over a small creek flowing on the outskirts of the town. The trail that led to into Hogsmeade presented many charming buildings trailing along the winding pathways, all with quite creative names that were all unique to what each store sold, as Sebastian informed me. "Ah, the charm of Hogsmeade. I wish I could bottle up that magical charm sometimes. It really does draw one in, no? Like moths to a flame," Sebastian said and I didn't miss the look he had flashed at me when he thought I wasn't looking at him. "So, Professor Weasley told me you had a couple of things to get?" he asked as I pulled out the parchment she had given me that held my list of items to retrieve.

"It's not much, just some potion ingredients and a couple recipes, a spell-craft for a potting table and a potions station, some seeds for some magical plants, and my very own wand from Ollivander's," I read aloud, folding it back up afterwards and putting it back into the pocket of my cloak as I looked up at Sebastian once again. "Ah, that's good. It's a short list. That means that you have time to explore Hogsmeade as well, and you should. I actually wanted to grab a little something for Anne, so how about we meet up in the town circle whenever you've gotten everything you need? You can't miss the town circle, there's a huge tree in the center, surrounded by a few buildings along the outer edges of the circle. Your map should also show where it is. Make sure to have fun, and I'll see you soon," Sebastian said, patting my shoulder for a brief moment before passing by me and going into a store, leaving me to get started on my task list.

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How are we feeling about the trip to Hogsmeade? Do you like my subtle flirtation? Don't worry, my Ominis girls, we're going to be getting to him shortly. I adore both of those sweet wizards, so it would be hard for me to decide between the two.