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

AHHHHHHHH

The more time I spend in Hogwarts, the more I realize that this ancient magic that I can see is literally everywhere. The traces were faint at first, barely noticeable and noteworthy, but now it's like I can see them everywhere, strong and bold. And each time, I want to follow them. 

"Isla. You alright?" Ginny asks, tilting her head. 

I snap back to reality, tearing my eyes away from the ancient magic trail winding through the corridors. "Huh?"

"You're really somewhere else, aren't you?" she laughs.

"Did I zone out again?" I say sheepishly.

"No matter. We're here anyway." Ginny gestures to the entrance of the Common common room. "Shall we? Maybe I'll stop procrastinating and focus on my Charms essay."

Without really realizing it, my gaze has drifted to the trail once again, an undeniable tug in my chest, stronger than ever. 

"Hey Gin? You go ahead first, I just remembered that I need to...talk to Professor McGonagall about my progress on the extra assignments," I say, turning back to her. "Save me a spot?"

She gives me two thumbs up and enters the Common common room. As soon as she disappears behind the door, I take off towards the trail of magic. It guides me through corridors, past classrooms, around ghosts and students. But all my surroundings fade into the background, solely focused on this trail.

Soon enough, it leads me outside of the school and...off the property. I come to a stop, my eyes following the glimmer, watching how it extends past the grounds, past the gates, into the forest. Y'know, the forbidden one. And I'd be really stupid to go in there alone. Like, insanely stupid.

I'm gonna go check it out.

***

WHY ARE THERE GIGANTIC FUCKING ASS SPIDERS IN THIS GODFORESAKEN MOTHERSHITBALL FOREST.

WHAT THE FUCK.

NONONONONONONONONONONONO.

GET AWAY RIGHT NOW.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

BACK I SAY, BACK.

THY NEIGHBOUR DOES NOT FEEL LOVED.

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

GET ME OUT.

HELP.

HEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPP.

Jesus Christ. I let out a breath, tucking my hair behind my ears and leaning over to catch my breath. I close my eyes so I don't have to stare at the giant dead spiders around me while simultaneously trying not to vomit because what the fuck was that. 

I narrow my eyes at the trail of magic that led me into this, happily floating on like it didn't just pull me into the fight of my life. Asshole. And it knows damn well that I've come too far to turn around now, huh? It knows that I can't stop following it.

Or maybe it's just an inanimate glowy string, Isla.

Either way, I have to go on, don't I? I commit to something, I stick to it. If I quit, I die. Like when I spent four years learning piano even though I hated it because of my mom. That's the rule. Should I be unpacking that?

Nah.

I pick up my wand from the ground and power on, following the trail and keeping my awareness ten times more alert than before. Eventually, it leads into a cave. I'm so done with caves.

I go into the cave. In case it is spider-or-any-other-abnormally-large-creepy-crawly infested, I keep my wand at the ready. After a few minutes of walking in complete darkness, the trail leads me right into...the ground. 

Oh, I am so pissed off right now.

With an unnecessarily loud sigh, I light my wand and inspect the ground. Barely visible, beneath all the dirt and grime, is a small hatch. Normal reaction: that's sick! that's cool! Fed up, pissed off, just-fought-an-army-of-giant-spiders-and-I-just-want-to-eat-food-and-hang-out-with-my-friends reaction? You've got to be shitting me.

Honestly, I can't even be mad. I set myself up for this the moment I decided that following a weird trail of old magic would be a good idea. But I'm still gonna be mad.

It takes some effort to pull the hatch open, but surprisingly easy for something that seems to be so important. 

Under the hatch is a steep set  of stone stairs, leading to the deep underground. At the very bottom, there is a faint, blue-hued glow. Because my lack of survival instincts overpowers my frustration at my dumb life choices, I begin my descent. 

It takes a few minutes to get to the bottom of the stairs, and only now am I realizing that going back up would be the workout of my life. Jesus, I need to learn to think things through. Now that I'm down here, I find myself in a stone cavern with a majestic blue hue coming from God-knows-where. One thing it has: an arch, leading into a different section of this cavern. 

I walk across the stone platform in the middle, and discover that the blue hue is coming from glowing water that surrounds the platform, clear and luminant. It's beautiful, in a way where you want to sit down and just be still. But there's an underlying uneasiness about this place; I can't help but find it familiar. 

When I get past the arch, I realize why. In the next "room", standing on guard with swords positioned directly in front of them, are the fuck-ass stone knights from the Restricted Section.