Under Your Scars || Sebastian Sallow x MC

Chapter 13 - Confessions

Juliette POV

Sebastian and I watched as Rosalie vanished into the magical doorway for her first trial.

"So that's it? What do we do?" his voice betrayed a hint of fear. His hands were balled into fists and he was trying and failing to calm himself with some deep breaths. I lightly squeezed his shoulder.

"We wait. She must do it alone. She'll be fine."

He nodded, his lip twitching as he tried to suppress his anxiety. "We just wait here for her to come out?"

"If I remember right, the trial will take her back to the Map Chamber, so we should probably head back to the castle soon." I followed him back down the steps of the tower to the courtyard where our hippogriffs were waiting. Instead of mounting my hippogriff, I took a seat on a bench in the courtyard, admiring the sunrise.

"Didn't you say we should head back?" Sebastian asked as he hesitantly joined me on the bench.

This was our first true moment alone all week, with no threat of student interruption. I decided to finally ask him the question that had been festering since the day I infiltrated his mind.

"Before we go back, I wanted to ask you what you meant the other day when you said you'd been a terrible friend to me? When I.. perused your memories." I winced as I recalled the 'test' I had given him.

He hung his head and started fiddling with the cuffs of his shirt.

"There's a lot of reasons. I don't respond to your letters. I haven't done a very good job at staying in-touch with you or even Ominis. But mostly I was talking about what I said to you at the funeral... I didn't think you'd want to hear from me after that."

"Sebastian, I've never held that against you, not for a moment. We were all in pain..." I sighed. "That's why I haven't heard from you in five years?"

He stared straight forward. The sunrise illuminated his freckled face, tears shimmering in his eyes.

"Mhm.."

"Well I've not been a good friend to you, Sebastian. I practically tortured you with your own memories. I'm sorry I didn't trust you like I should have," now it was my turn to fight back tears.

"You did what you felt you had to do. And honestly, Legilimency was your best option unless you had any Veritaserum laying around. I wasn't always an honest person." he shrugged. "I do hope it wasn't too painful for you. Being in my head."

"I wouldn't say that. I sure learned a lot."

I felt his body tense, he peered at me from the corner of his eye. "Like what?'

"A lot of your most painful memories involve me in some way. I wasn't too sure how to interpret that.. until I found our seventh-year Yule Ball" I paused as I tried to study his expression. He had his eyes closed tight like he was bracing for the impact of my words. "Why was that in there, Sebastian?" I already knew the answer, I just needed hear him say it. I needed to know if the feelings I sensed in his mind were real.

"I.. wanted to ask you to the ball. Not just seventh-year but every year... but I just.. couldn't. I never had the courage and.. and..."

"I would have said yes."

He turned his head sharply toward me, mouth hanging slightly open in a mixture of shock and confusion.

"I would've said yes." I reiterated with a warm smile. "Honestly I was hoping you would ask. I held out as long as I could, but Garreth and I decided to go as friends since we didn't have dates. We ended up having a lovely time, regardless."