Chapter Text
“Stupefy!” A ball of red left your wand as you cast out the spell. A pale, almost white, blue sphere surrounded Sebastian, your partner, as he cast Protego. You shouted the spell again, much faster this time and one after the other, in hopes of catching him off guard. Once again, the protective bubble encased Sebastian, who smirked as he readied himself for his own attack. “Aqua Eructo!” With that, a jet of water poured from his wand and headed straight towards you, giving you barely enough time to cast a cloak of protection around yourself. “Almost” You whispered, seeing a droplet drop from your nose. You didn’t have time to figure out if the droplet was from the spell, or if you had worked up a sweat in your fight. You waved your wand, shouting “Bombarda!” and sending a series of small explosions at Sebastian. Through the smoke you could see him on one knee, rubbing his eyes and grabbing for his wand. A quick flick of your wand, you cast Expelliarmus just as his fingers made contact, sending his wand off the dueling mat.
He looked up at you in annoyance, but a playful smirk on his lips. “I almost beat you that time,” He joked, getting to his feet, and searching for his wand. You shook your head in disagreement, summoning his wand into your own hand and waving it around playfully. “You say that every time I best you in a duel, I think it’s time to give up.” Sebastian scoffed as he walked up to you, eyeing you as he reached for his wand. “Ah, no.” You said, retracting your hand from him. “You didn’t think I’d let you have your wand back without you admitting defeat, did you?” Sebastian sighed as he held his hands up in surrender. “Ok, you got me. I surrender, you win.” You smirked and tossed his wand back to him, taking the time now to fix your robes.
On days when you didn’t have any exams or study nights, Sebastian would ask if you wanted to do some dueling. “To make sure we’re paying attention in class.” Was Sebastian’s reasoning. You agreed and had met him in the club room at a specific time each time he asked, and each time you dueled, he lost. At first, Sebastian had claimed it was just so you would keep agreeing to duel with him, thinking that you would get cocky. But this was a weekly occurrence, a duel, a win, a lose. You didn’t know what went through his mind each time you bested him because he would always look up at you from the ground, a kind smile on his face. He had been asking to duel frequently, but it started to become an every-other-day thing.
“Why are we dueling so much?” You asked, leaving your thoughts, and looking over to Sebastian. Again, he smiled at you, shrugging his shoulders. “Don’t know. Maybe I just want to hang out with you?” He said as he tried to fix his hair. There was ash peppering his chocolate locks, curtesy of your use of Bombarda, a spell you read about that caused a set of little explosions depending on your intent. It was the first time you had used it since learning it. “There are much safer ways to hang out, and ways that you won’t get humiliated if you joined.” You joked. Sebastian shook his head. “Yeah, well, this is also a learning experience, right? Since when did you know that spell.” He pointed out the ash that he was swatting away. You smiled as you played with your wand. “Read it in a book about two days ago.” Sebastian shook his head in disbelief. “Two days ago? What book was it?” You shook your head, using your wand to pretend to seal your lips. “That’s for me to know, and you to find out.” “Oh, I’ll find out all right.”
The duels continued on through the weeks. You were getting stronger and were learning more spells to use. Although defensive spells were always something you were taught in class, you and Sebastian felt that it would be better to know more offensive types. Sebastian wanted to get a battle done quickly and felt that if you wanted something done, you do it yourself and you do it right. It was part of his mentality. While you agreed with him, you knew there was deeper meaning, one that Sebastian had been quietly dealing with by himself. He had told you about his sister and how she needed help, and how he felt that he was the only one willing to do something about it. You figured that this was the reasoning behind all the duels, noting how they were mainly supposed to benefit Sebastian, and yet you had always come out on top.
You sat in your bed one night pondering this, thinking about important details you had noticed throughout your duels. If Sebastian was dueling to make himself stronger to help his sister, who was he planning on fighting? You thought about how he chose you as his partner, and how he always seemed so confident each time you stood before each other, wands ready. Were you really a good partner to duel with? You noticed that you hadn’t been giving him enough moments to throw an offensive attack and how you had left him in defense, constantly using the same spells to ward off your attack. That was the other thing, the spells. His spells were getting stronger, of course, but they seemed different from your own. When you would cast Stupefy, a red light would leave your wand, but when you watched as Sebastian cast the same spell, it wasn’t as red as your own. It looked as if it had a hint of green to it. You brushed it off, however, and laid down to sleep.
“We should duel tonight.” Sebastian said, running up to you and pressing his shoulder into your own. You sighed, slightly annoyed. “Sebastian. You said that yesterday.” He nodded. “And, the day before that. And the day before that. It’s Thursday, you understand where I’m going, surely?” You looked over at Sebastian, who bit his lip as he thought back to just how many times that week he had asked you to duel with him. “Well, uh? Practice makes perfect?” You sighed, fixing the strap to your bag. “I don’t think so. I’m surprised I lasted this long after that one adventure we had.” You stated, shuddering as you remembered the night. You had volunteered yourself, taking one for the team, and allowing Sebastian to use Crucio on you. It was agonizing to go through, it was a torture curse, after all. But you didn’t have the heart to put Sebastian through the pain, so you told him to cast it on you. It left you sore for days.
“Oh, I didn’t know you would still be in pain from it. I’m really sorry.” Sebastian said, placing a hand on your shoulder. You shook your head and sighed, “It’s fine. Just, maybe no dueling for a bit?” Sebastian dropped his head, he knew that he should give you a break, but he needed the practice, and who else would beat him and help him grow stronger. “Fine, maybe next week?” He asked, linking his arm with your own as you headed to your next class. “Sure.”
“Everte Statum!” A pale green flash flew towards you, pushing you back. You struggled against the force and found yourself at the edge of the designated ring. With a huff, you trotted back to your spot, shouting, “Flipendo!” You used your own wand to push Sebastian back, allowing yourself a moment to regain control. Sebastian didn’t go far and when he had stopped moving, he shouted another spell at you. “Flipendo Duo!” You scoffed as you cast a barrier, noting how Sebastian had decided to use the same spell, just to a different degree. “That’s the same thing!” You shouted as you dispelled your shield. Sebastian only shrugged in response, readying his wand for yet another attack. “Glacius!” He shouted, sending a wave of blue ice in your direction. You thought quickly, casting Firestorm around yourself, melting the ice before it reached you. You heard Sebastian curse to himself as he watched you cast a second spell immediately after. “Incarcerous!” Threads of rope left your wand and hurried towards Sebastian, who quickly cast Incendio.
The duel went on for longer than usual, and Sebastian never let up on his attacks. You could feel the anger through the spells as they got stronger and blurred into a dull green. You were left casting shielding charms to protect yourself against his onslaught, telling yourself that it was just a friendly duel. “It is a friendly duel, right?” You asked yourself, protecting yourself from the scorching spell Sebastian had just sent your way. You didn’t even have time to catch your breath. “Silencio!” You shouted, hoping to end the duel. Sebastian hesitated and dodged within a second before it whizzed by his face. “Dammit.” You cursed, casting up another protective spell. “Sternius!” Sebastian cast a sneezing spell your way, and for a moment you thought of surrender, thinking that being taken out by a sneezing jinx would be a good way to end it. But you protected yourself again at the last moment, thinking about how stupid a surrender from that would look.
More spells raced against each other, bouncing off shields and walls. It felt almost like a fireworks show, the clashes of colour hitting things and creating sparks. Sebastian seemed to be memorized by the show the two of you were making, seemingly sending more spells your way just to see the clash and spark. You had become worried, more green presenting itself each time he launched a spell. Surely that can’t be normal. Your body begged you to stop, fatigue slowing you down. You had no idea how Sebastian had the energy to keep going; it was scary, scarier than the Goblin that confronted you in the bank. “Ventus!” You shouted wearily. You slouched a bit as you sent the spell off, only for it to be deflected by Sebastian, who seemed to stare you down. He looked at you like a snake looked at a field mouse; prey. With a wave of his wand, Sebastian sent Alarte Ascendare, sending you flying into the air and towards the wall, knocking your wand from your hand in the process.
As your back contacted the wall, the world around you went dark. You felt your body smack the wall and drop to the floor, but you were unable to move. It felt as if all the oxygen had been dispelled from your lungs, and in your paralyzed and blind state, you tried to gasp for air. Sebastian watched for a moment, knowing that he had finally won. His chest swelled with pride as his thoughts sung out victory, adrenaline making him feel like he could do anything. He felt that he was able to help his sister, finally. It was only after the adrenaline quickly faded that he realized that you had not tried to get a final spell in, or even get up for that matter. He watched for a moment to see if you were even breathing, the adrenaline replaced with anxiety.
“Wait- come on I know I didn’t hit you that hard.” He spoke as he slowly walked to you. You hadn’t responded. “Come on, if this is an attempt to catch me off guard and hex me, it won’t work.” He continued to speak, seemingly to himself. You could hear him, of course. You tried to move your body, a finger even. Nothing happened. Sebastian looked around, finding your wand cast to the side, too far away for you to reach and grab if you did want to hex him while he was off guard. “Hey! This isn’t funny anymore! Just say you surrender and get up!” He made it to your side, giving you a light shove. Still, you didn’t say anything. Sebastian looked closer at your face, looking to see if a twitch would tell him, you were faking it. But all he saw was a blank face, and red fluid coming from your nose and from under your head. “No- it was a simple spell! How did this happen?” He asked franticly, moving you onto your back to get a better look. You had a gash on your temple that led into your hair, most likely from hitting the ground. You felt your chest burn in pain, the burn of a broken rib or two stabbed into your lungs, which could be one of the reasons you were unable to breathe. Sebastian checked you over to see what damage he must have caused, finding the back of your head soaked in blood and your breathing ragged and sharp. He tried to listen for your heart as well, the faint rhythm was broken and irregular. He reached for his wand and racked his brain for a spell to fix the mess he made. “it’s fine, I’ll help you, I’ll save you.” Was all he could mumble as he moved hair from your face and tapped impatiently to clear his head, hoping that a healing charm would appear in the fog.
You lay there, rigid, unable to say anything to him. His mumbling had become incoherent as he spoke apologies and ways that he would make it up to you. You couldn’t tell him that it was ok, or what you thought was wrong. You couldn’t tell him that you weren’t asleep or knocked out. You tried to move your finger, desperate to get a signal out. You didn’t even know if you were moving your finger, all sensation was gone. It got harder to breathe as your mind raced. Were you paralyzed? What if Sebastian could find a spell to help you, and had to find a way to get you to the nurse? He would be punished for it, surely. Maybe even expelled if they found out he knew and used an unforgivable curse.
“I got it!” Sebastian shouted, raising his wand. “Brackium Emendo!” He shouted hurriedly as he points the wand at your chest. You felt the burn in your chest subside, as if the broken ribs were healing themselves. You tried to move once more, it felt like your finger may have twitched, but you were still unable to move. “Episkey!” He shouted again, watching as your nose and head began to clear up, your temple magically fixing itself. Even with two healing spells, you couldn’t move. Anxiety built up inside you, and although you were able to breathe normally, you felt as if you had lost the ability to. Sebastian saw your chest begin to rise and fall at an unnaturally quickened pace, and realized that you were, in fact, conscious, but panicked. “It’s ok, you’ll be fine. I might know a spell to fix this fully.” He whispered to you, gently placing his hand on your shoulder. “What was it called? It started with a r... rep… reph? Wait! Reparifors!” Sebastian had read in a book somewhere about the spell curing ailments like paralysis, and by the way you had been freaking out yet not moving, he thought that perhaps this spell would fix everything.
You felt the darkness disperse as light shown through your eyelids, and you slowly opened them. You winced at the bright light from the torches, your head immediately splitting in pain. Groaning, you brought a hand up, wiggling your fingers. A sigh of relief left you when you felt that you were able to move your body, slowly lifting yourself into a sat-up position. “Oh my, it worked!” Sebastian said, a deep sigh leaving him as he released the breath that he was holding. You hummed in response, rubbing your eyes. Sebastian quickly enveloped you in a hug, and you could feel his body tremble. “I don’t know what happened. I thought the spell was supposed to lift you slightly, like Wingardium did. I’m so sorry.” He mumbled into your shoulder. His grip around you tightened as he shook more, and you felt that he was crying. Slowly, you wrapped your arms around him as well, hugging him. You didn’t speak; you didn’t know if you could. “I thought I killed you.” He whispered, burying his head into the crook of your neck. You thought you were dying too, thinking that you were in the final stages of death; hearing. You sighed and tried to rub his back, “But you didn’t. You just got caught up in the duel.” You whispered, but your mind said otherwise. His face as he shot spell after spell was one of contempt and readiness. He was enjoying the duel too much, and he didn’t even realize that he had used a strong spell, or that he was even using spells that would majorly injure you if you didn’t shield yourself. You kept the thought to yourself, however, and kept him in your embrace.
A flash of green light whizzed passed you, its name faint in the air. “Avada Kedevra!” You watched in horror as the body of Solomon Sallow dropped to the ground, lifeless. You were unable to move, like you had been glued to the ground. Sebastian stood, wand still raised, breathing heavily. He didn’t even look like he regretted it. You opened your mouth, unable to comprehend what you had witnessed. “He was in the way.” Sebastian breathed. “He was going to stop us, stop me, from helping Anne.” You shook your head, “But to kill him?” You were able to whisper. Sebastian narrowed his eyes. “He was going to turn us in! He knew that I was doing all this for Anne, and he was going to make sure I would never find a way!” His eyes were dark, consumed by the usage of the Dark Arts. You took a step back, readying yourself in case Sebastian saw you as a threat as well. “But” you breathed, “Your own uncle. He took care of you, both of you! He only wanted what was be-““He wanted us to be put away! He thought we were dangerous! He wanted us to fail!” Sebastian cut you off, waving his arm around and pacing. “I did this for Anne, and for us.” “Helping doesn’t mean killing!” Sebastian looked at you, scowling. You held your wand tightly and prepared yourself, a sliver of hope still in your mind that he wouldn’t attack you. “It did here.” And with that, Sebastian left you, alone with the body of Solomon. You watched him leave, knowing that just because he turned his back, he was still defensive and would see any movement you made as a threat to himself.
When he left the room, you walked over to the fallen Sallow. His face was pale, and his eyes stared into your own. They were lifeless. His chest never moved, he never breathed. You knew he was dead. The Killing Curse never failed. You choked a sob as you dropped to the ground, unsure what to do next. You sobbed quietly as your thoughts swarmed, going through every detail that you saw, your mind forming the image of Solomon’s face, etching it permanently into your brain. Something had to be done, Sebastian was unstable, and you didn’t know what he would do next. But you didn’t want to turn him in, that would be the biggest betrayal of all to him. And if they took him away, you would be left without your partner, Anne would be without a brother, and Ominis, a friend. But if you let him go? What would happen then? Would he go on, killing those that he saw as “in the way”?
There was no way you could make this choice, you couldn’t decide Sebastian’s fate, could you? You were the only witness to Solomon Sallow’s death. No one would know it was Sebastian. But would Sebastian be fine in the school, tainted by the Dark Arts? It was up to you, you had no choice.