DELGADO || Sebastian Sallow (Hogwarts Legacy)

Part 98 - Breakthroughs and Failures

ꕀꕥ〡~𐀔~〡ꕥꕀ

❝I lifted my head enough to meet his eyes. There was fear in them, and tears.❞

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Day after day, I visited Sebastian in his guest room.

I had promised I wouldn't let him fall again, and I meant to hold onto that promise.

With Mr. Gaunt's passing, his influence was gone. But Sebastian was still trapped in his grasp somehow. The shadow of it lingered. He needed time to adjust, to find himself again. And I would give him all the time he needed. I owed him that much.

It started with only a few minutes each day; long enough for him to feel my presence. It was all part of my quiet, deliberate plan to help him recover.

A few minutes a day, to study how he acted when I wasn't close. In those early days, the night terrors came twice a night, as violent as before.

Each day, I stayed a little longer. I would sit in a chair on the other side of the invisible barrier, waiting for a sign from him. A voice in the silence. But he remained distant, wordless, staring blank out the window. He didn't answer my questions, so I sat and waited.

We brought him to Ominis's funeral under heavy supervision. Even then, he didn't speak. Didn't shed a tear. Didn't flinch. He told his friend goodbye in silence.

After a week, there was progress. He turned toward me now when I entered the room, his hollow eyes meeting mine. Like his soul had left him, but was still searching for a light at the end of the tunnel. I met his gaze and held it, hoping to find that flicker of life still buried deep inside him. That night, the nightmares only came once.

The next day, I found him staring out the window again. So I talked, told him stories about us. About our adventures, about the way things used to be. I stayed the entire day on that chair, trying to bring back that tiny spark.

The following morning, he sat on the cold floor near the barrier. I mirrored his posture, sitting cross-legged opposite him. placing my hand against the invisible wall. He didn't return the gesture, but I saw the smallest change in his eyes. A crack in the fog, as though he was fighting his way out of the trance.

At night, I fought with Marvolo. He told me I was spending more time with Sebastian than with him, and he was right. But it was for a good cause. The night terrors were less violent now, fewer in number. Whatever I was doing, it was helping. And I wasn't planning on stopping.

One afternoon, I sat in my chair again. While Sebastian leaned against the wall beside the barrier. Half-listening as I rambled about hippogriffs.

"So, I was cleaning the nesting box, since all the newborns matured. Suddenly Highwing came, full speed; and bumped straight into me! I almost fell over the fence before realizing she'd brought a friend. Another hippogriff, a black one. I called him Shadowwing. And she was so cute, hopping around him like—"

"Cute?" His voice broke through, low and unimpressed.

I froze. He'd spoken.

"Yes, cute," I said, trying to sound casual though my heart leapt. "She seemed to be in love!"

"Highwing isn't cute," Sebastian muttered flat. "She's mad."

I laughed. "You were stealing her treats, Sallow. Of course she ran after you!"

"No," he said, standing and turning toward the window again. "She wasn't sharing."

And with that, he fell silent once more.