All The Magic We Made (Sebastian Sallow x Fem!OC)

Holy Shit

Update: Apparating is glorified teleportation. And teleportation would be fun, right? A peaceful slip from one place to another, blink once and you're there.

HAHAHHAAHAHAH. No.

It only takes me a second to realize that Apparating feels like being slammed into by an invisible freight train and comedically being sent flying in circles. Like in the cartoons.

Reality lurches. Stomach plummets like I just jumped off a cliff---except rather than falling downwards and hitting hard ground, I am yanked forward by some unseen force.

Then my body compresses. Smaller. Smaller. Smaller. Uncomfortably small. Squeezed impossibly tight in a vacuum of complete, utter silence.

Pain jolts from my popped ears to my skull. A loud, violent crack tears at my eardrums, making it far too disorienting to cry out. That crack rips my entire being apart. My skin, my bones, hell, even my thoughts all shatter at once into thousands of little pieces.

Is

this

how

I

die?

Then, as if hastily stitched back together, the ground is beneath my feet again. The world snaps back in place, too quickly for my body to catch up with itself. Amidst the splitting headache, my vision swims, causing me to stumble. Helen catches my arm, a grounding force. My stomach churns, and for a moment, I prepare to yak up everything I ate in the past week.

"Steady, dear," she says gently, keeping me upright. "First time, I'm assuming?"

I let out a shaky breath, hands on knees. "What gave it away?"

"Come." Helen guides me into step next to her. "Let's go see Anne."

Azkaban is a damp, bleak place, smelling of mold and mildew. There isn't a sliver of sunlight to be found, only a cold fog and a few dying torches lined along the walls. Although there is no breeze, a chill runs down my spine, enticing me to pull my cloak tighter around me. The faint rattling of chains within the cells can be heard, along with frantic mumbling and crazed laughter amongst the prisoners.

As we walk along the stone corridor, Helen begins telling me more about the trial---specifically, Apollonia Black.

"Always has been jealous of Anne," she says spitefully. "Wretched, vindictive girl, that Apollonia. The Black's family power over certain members in the Ministry---along with Anne being a Muggleborn---sealed her fate."

The deeper we go into the prison, the more I start to notice eerie figures haunting the ceilings, hidden in the shadows. Figures in tattered black robes, their faces hidden under hoods. I don't think they're humans. Maybe because they're floating and have skeletal hands, I don't know. That kind of gave it away.

It doesn't take long for me to realize they are approaching us, flying to us. Alarmingly fast. Oh fuck, nah.

Helen retrieves her wand, getting into a defensive stance. "Expecto patronum!" she shouts. Wispy bits of light erupt from the tip of her wand, forming themselves into the form of a rabbit. The rabbit, glowing blue, hops towards the shadowy figures, driving them back and away from us with what I can only describe as a large, bursting bubble of white light. I turn my head, needing to look away from the brightness for the sake of my eyes.