back in feldcroft
The air felt nice on my face as I flew above Hogwarts quickly and towards the south. Guilt poured over me for letting Juniper duel in the first place. She had always been too immature to handle things like that. I should have known better. How could I have been so stupid? My thoughts took me far, far away and that is exactly where I wanted to be. I was a bad sister. I was a bad influence. I could not help but fly off the handle.
In the months after the killing in Keenbridge, I felt more protective over Juniper than ever. I had always felt a responsibility to take care of her, especially since my parents died, but this was all new territory. She was turning into a proper bully.
"Willow!" I heard a shout through the clouds. I stopped flying.
"Sebastian?" I yelled. He came flying towards me, almost colliding with me.
"Can we please land? I have been following you long enough that we are close to Feldcroft at this point!" I flew towards the ground and got ready to land in Feldcroft. I did not aim to end up there, but it had been where I was happiest this past year and it seemed like nothing was going okay right now.
I landed and immediately made my way to the spot we always went to during the summer, wishing for those times to return.
"Willow, you have to believe me. I wanted her to win without any of that."
"It wasn't that. I am just upset, all around. I am upset for letting my sister duel when I knew she could not handle it. I am upset that she thinks I am overbearing. I have done nothing but live my life to protect her for the last four years. Hell, I killed someone for her! She doesn't see it." I looked around to make sure no one had heard.
"She might not see it now, but she will. I heard what Everett said and I am sorry." He looked at me while putting a hand on my arm.
"I'm not mad at Everett, but I am mad at myself. Maybe she needs to learn her own lessons. Maybe I have been holding her back." A tear rolled down my cheek as I spoke.
"Maybe she does need to learn on her own. We both needed to learn our own lessons and look what shining members of society we are now." He chuckled while putting his arm around me.
"Oh yes, the two murderers." My body shivered in the cold air. The sun had quickly set while I was flying. My stomach growled. I had been flying for much longer than it felt.
"Well, it is pretty late. Shall we?" Sebastian said, getting up from his spot.
"It's too late to eat anything of sustenance back at the castle. You think someone here might have something for us?" He smiled at the idea.
"I think I know just the place." Sebastian walked to his neighbor's home and knocked on the door.
"Sebastian!" The woman said as she opened the door.
"Can we come in?" Sebastian said.
"We?" she asked while looking outside to see me standing off in the distance. "Of course! Come on in."
"I like to check in on her when I am in town. She and I are alike. We have no family in the area." He was speaking low so that she would not hear.
"Are you here for long?" she asked while stirring a pot of something that smelled delicious.
"No, just for tonight. We had an unexpected trip out here and I did not have time to grab what is needed for a meal. Would you mind if I borrowed something of yours?" Sebastian smiled and stood comfortably in the woman's home. I could tell that they had known each other for a long time.
"Of course, you know that I always make too much for myself. I made chicken stew!" I smiled, remembering the time that I had made my way here to teach Sebastian how to cook chicken stew with dumplings. Sebastian looked at me with a small smile on his face. My cheeks warmed at the realization that he was thinking of the same thing. My smile grew.
"Let me help you with that," Sebastian said, taking the ladle from the elderly woman. She took a step toward the table.
"Please feel free to sit. My name is Miriam and I have known little Seb since he was a small thing."
"I'm Willow," I said with a smile. She looked over at Sebastian.
"This is Willow?" Miriam smiled as she said to Sebastian while he took a seat.
"Yes, ma'am. She is Anne's best friend." Sebastian smiled back at her. His cheeks turned pink at her comment.
"I have heard a lot about you. Anne and I had grown quite close before she left to get treatment. Poor thing." Miriam looked down at her stew with a frown.
We all ate and enjoyed telling stories of summertime or times with Anne. One thing was certain as we all sat together in the house together, we all missed Anne greatly. Time passed too quickly, and we realized it was much too late.
"Sebastian, we need to get going if we are to make it back to the castle tonight," I said anxiously.
"Oh, yes, Merlin! It is late. Miriam, thank you for the food. It was fantastic, as usual." He smiled at her. Miriam came over to give us both hugs.
"It was lovely meeting you, dear," Miriam said as her warm hands held onto mine. She moved on to say her goodbyes to Sebastian. We started to walk off, but Sebastian stopped.
"We are already going to be in huge trouble," Sebastian said.
"Yes. We need to move quickly back to Hogwarts before someone realizes that we aren't there."
"We should just stay here tonight. It is late and we have likely already been found out." Sebastian moved toward his house without a second thought. I was not on board.
"Sebastian, we could try to explain what happened. If we leave now we could-" he stopped me.
"If we leave now, we won't make it back until after midnight. We will leave first thing in the morning. Besides, it is Friday." He shrugged as if we had not just made a huge mistake.
"Sebastian, I can't get into trouble."
"It will all be okay, Starling. Live a little." I walked into his house, and he shut the door behind me.
"I will take the chair and you can take my bed," he said while removing his robe and loosening his tie before lighting some of the fixtures around the small home. A shiver ran down my spine as I looked around the old home. It was filled with ghosts of the past, lurking in every corner waiting to come out and make me cry at any moment. I missed my best friend.
"O-okay." I felt awkward. This was not like it used to be when I would have sleepovers with Anne in the summer. Suddenly, it was just Sebastian and I completely alone. There was no laughter filling the house as Anne and I teased Sebastian mercilessly or sounds of Juniper winning her first game of wizard chess.
"If you want something to wear to sleep, I probably have something that will fit you," he said, looking through his clothing. He handed me a shirt and a pair of pants to sleep in. I stood and looked at him in embarrassment.
"Can you not look at me?" I said. Sebastian scoffed and turned his back to me.
"It's not as if you have changed that much in the past few years. I am sure I have seen it all before," he said, laughing to himself.
"You have NEVER seen me naked," I laughed at him as he turned and raised an eyebrow at me. I motioned for him to turn back around before undressing. I tripped and fell onto the floor after getting my foot caught in my pant leg trying to be quick. He turned around and came over to where I had fallen.
"Sebastian!" I said, my cheeks turning pink.
"Merlin, Starling," he said, looking away from me now.
"I am okay. You can go away now." I hoped that he would listen, but he stayed put for a moment. He turned back and looked into my eyes and I could see the same look in his eyes that I had at dinner the night before. He looked like he was going to devour me. He stood up and walked over to where he would be sleeping and made a small bed for himself. I finished getting dressed.
"Goodnight, Willow," he called from the couch.
"Goodnight, Sebastian." I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and sleep found me quickly after.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" I yelled. I watched as a green flash shot its way across the space between the man and me. His body immediately fell to the ground, lifeless.
"Willow! Willow? You are okay!" I awoke to Sebastian with his hand on my arm, trying to wake me from my nightmare. I gasped and sat up straight, trying to get my bearings.
"I- I am- so sorry," I said, breathless. I felt panic rising in my chest.
"Take some deep breaths," he said softly. He took a seat next to me on the bed and rubbed my back as he took deep breaths with me. My whole body was shaking as I tried to calm myself.
"It was the night-" I said, unable to finish what I was saying.
"It's okay. Remember who you are. You are not your mistakes," he said. Now that I knew what had happened between him and his uncle, I realized why he knew how to calm me over the summer. He had been through the same thing. I leaned into his chest and I felt my body start to calm down. The tightness in all of my muscles started to let go as a wave of relief passed through me. I felt myself getting tired again.
I laid back down on the bed as Sebastian continued to rub my back. He put his feet up on the bed and sat back. I could feel his hand rhythmically moving up and down my back as I slowly drifted back to sleep.
I woke up to birds chirping outside and the sun was just coming up over the horizon and shining into the window. I felt warmth around my body and realized that Sebastian had fallen asleep while calming me down from my nightmare, only his arm was around me and he had gotten closer to me during the night.
"Sebastian," I whispered to him.
"Huh?" He woke up and quickly moved to sit up on the bed.
"We should go," I said without mentioning how we woke up. He sleepily got up and put his overshirt, tie, and robes back on. I quickly got changed after Sebastian walked out of the house to wait for me to be ready. Miriam smiled at me as I walked out of the house toward her and Sebastian. My face turned bright red at the realization that people might think we stayed here for reasons other than necessity.
"Sebastian told me you weren't feeling well after you walked out of the house. I hope it wasn't the stew!" Miriam looked me over as if she would be able to see the ailment the stew did not give me.
"I am doing much better now, ma'am." I smiled at her. We said our goodbyes before taking off toward the castle, hoping that we would go unnoticed.
We did not go unnoticed. As soon as we landed, it was as if Professor Sharp and Professor Weasley had a magical charm to know exactly when and where we landed at the castle. Within a minute, both had found us.