Chapter 10 - Gaunt and sallow
Sebastian catches sight of himself in the window as he ducks across the room to the other side, carefully tiptoeing across shards of broken glass and rubble that lays on the floor around him.
Since his uncles death the house has become nothing more than a target for vandals and thieves, all of his families possessions have been stolen or broken, even the small set of plates Anne brought with her when they moved, they once were his mothers, now they lay smashed on the kitchen tiles, all that remains is the small shattered pink posies, crumbling.
He stroked his calloused hand through his once tidy waves, they now lick at the back of his neck, his face gaunt and sallow with a sharp scruffy beard that had become unruly with disregard, no longer is the gentle sweet boy who first duelled against Millicent in defence against the dark arts, he was now a man who barely recognised himself.
He had been travelling from town to town, stealing and bartering what he could to get by, he was used to spending most of his nights in cellars and barns, unable to come back to his old home in Feldcroft with fear of being attacked by his uncles friends, he knew what he had done was wrong, blasphemous even but in that moment he believed that was what needed to be done, he would have done anything to save Anne, their bond once unbreakable has finally been broken.
He didn’t know she had died until he swiped a paper from outside a house one day, hoping to use it to help kindle a fire in the cold evening, he turned to the obituaries and saw Anne’s name, printed in black and white, a picture of her when they were younger, her hair tied back into a neat ribbon and green gingham dress, the one she had made from scraps of material when first sorted into slytherin, he remember how she had handed him a matching tie, handcrafted by her, so they could have matching photos, she was so kind and so pure, all he wanted to do was save her and he couldn’t even do that.