Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The next few days flew in a blur. Ciel spent most of his time sleeping. It was as if his body had decided to catch up on all the sleep that he’d missed for the past century or so.

“I don’t understand.” Ciel complained three days later. He had just woken up from another long bouts of sleep and his hair was mussed and sticking out every other way. “Why am I so damn tired all the time?!”

“It might be the side effect of the soul-merging, sir.” Sebastian said. “A letter came for you this morning.” He held out a silver plate to Ciel that held an envelope.

Ciel reached for the letter and saw that it was from Mr. and Mrs. Diggory. He tore open the letter and started reading.

The letter was brief and straightforward. They thanked him for returning Cedric’s body to them and they wished him the best for his future endeavours.

“No parents should be burying their children’s body.” Ciel said, refolding the letter and slipped it back into the envelope before putting it on his nightstand.

“Ugh… I need a bath.” Ciel said. “I feel so… human.”

“I shall prepare your bath right away, sir.” Sebastian said and disappeared into the bathroom.

After Ciel was bathed, he refused to be dressed in another set of pyjamas. In fact, he refused to go to bed altogether.

“All I’ve done is sleep, sleep, and sleep some more. I’m so tired of sleeping.” Ciel grumbled as Sebastian put him in grey sweater and black trousers. “Oh, I know! I should eat some chocolate! I bet it’s going to make me feel better!”

For the past few days, when he wasn’t sleeping, Ciel was busy entertaining a stream of visitors who seemed to have found their way to his room day and night. They brought some things with them, flowers, stuffed animals, and – Ciel’s favourite – all sorts of sweets, candies, chocolate, cookies, cakes, and even pudding – the Weasley twins had nicked them from the kitchen for Ciel.

“I highly doubt it.” Sebastian muttered.

“But that’s the thing, Sebastian, this soul-merging thing is so rare that not even you know what happened and the possible side-effects and how to resolve them.” Ciel said and went to his desk. He plopped down on his chair and stuck his hand into a bag to pull out a huge chocolate bar. He tore open the wrapper and took a large bite of the sweet treat, sighing contentedly.

Sebastian sighed in exasperation. “So, does it help then?”

“Hm? Does what help?” Ciel asked confusedly around a mouthful of chocolate.

“The chocolate, sir.” The butler clarified, looking pointedly at the chocolate.

“Oh, well, er, yes. It helps.” Ciel said and took yet another bite. In reality, he didn’t feel any differently, but he wasn’t about to let Sebastian win.

“You do know that I can tell when you’re lying, yes?” Sebastian said and took out his handkerchief to wipe the chocolate from the corner of Ciel’s mouth. “Honestly… What a messy eater you are, Young Master.” He tutted.

Ciel glared at him, but he didn’t say anything.

After Ciel finished his chocolate, he played with his Firebolt model and his miniature dragon for a while before nodding off at his desk. Sebastian picked him up and carried him to bed to tuck him in.

“I was hoping to talk to the both of you.” Dumbledore said when he showed up in Ciel’s room one evening with a large box of assorted sweets.

“Of course.” Ciel said. “Please take a seat.” He gestured at one of the armchairs and took the other armchair. “What can we do for you this evening, Professor?”

“I have heard of what happened that night at the cemetery from Harry. I will not ask how you have managed to survive the Killing Curse, but all things considered, I am glad that you are still here with us.” Dumbledore said. “Thank you, Mr. Michaelis.” He said and accepted a cup of tea from Sebastian.

“And I must say, I’m glad to still be here as well.” Ciel said.

“Having said that, I want to know about your opinion of the Dark Lord.”

“He looks absolutely awful.” Ciel said casually.

Dumbledore stared at Ciel in surprise. “Other than that?”

Ciel thought about his answer. “To tell you the truth, given the circumstances, I can’t give you much. I take it Harry has told you about his so-called duel with Voldemort?” He asked and Dumbledore nodded. “His magic is strong and needless to say, his soul is full of darkness. But you don’t need me to tell you that. He seems to think that he has achieved immortality, whatever that means. I didn’t exactly have any chance to interact with him since they all thought I was a corpse and all that.”

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. “Immortality is something that he has been trying to seek ever since he was a boy.”

“And it will be something that he will never find.” Ciel said. “As long as he remains human, that is. But he’s shown that he’s willing to do anything to achieve his goal and it wouldn’t surprise me if he found a way to change his very nature. That’s just the kind of person he is.”

“I thought you did not have any chance to interact with him?” Dumbledore asked.

“I don’t need to do that in order to know how much he loves his power, and I regret to inform you, he has a lot of it, both his own magic and over other people who have declared their loyalty to him. There are people who would die for him – like Barty Crouch, for example. To have that kind of power over others is more powerful than any magic.”

Dumbledore nodded in agreement. “Harry asked me how you are still alive, but I told him that I could not tell him.”

“I did.” Ciel said. “He came to me to ask about that and I told him about what we are.” He gestured at himself and Sebastian and saw the surprise on the old wizard’s face. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. He’ll find out eventually and it’s better for him to find out now rather than later. With Voldemort’s return, we’ll need everyone to join in the fight and trust me, you wouldn’t want to go out there without Sebastian. He’s our best chance in defeating Voldemort, but he wouldn’t be able to do his part properly if everyone still thinks that he’s a Muggle.”

“Are you going to tell everyone then?” Dumbledore wanted to know.

“In due time.” Ciel said. “For now, I think it’s better for Harry to know.”

“Does he know about our deal?” Dumbledore asked next.

“No. That deal has nothing to do with him.” Ciel said. “That deal is between you and us, Professor. Let’s not involve other people and make it complicated, yes?”

“Of course.” Dumbledore agreed. “I would not want him to know about that anyway. Now, I believe I have taken a lot of your time.” He put the empty teacup on the small table by his chair. “The tea is delightful as always, Mr. Michaelis. I hope to see you both at the feast tomorrow. Good evening, gentlemen.”

“Have a good evening, Professor.” Ciel said, but he remained seated as Sebastian escorted Dumbledore to the door.

“Do you trust him, Master?” Sebastian asked as he cleaned up the empty cups.

“I trust him just as much as he trusts me, which is to say, not at all. He has his secrets and we have ours. Ultimately though, we have the same goal and he knows that he shouldn’t antagonize us.”

“After what happened, he also knows you are not… indestructible.” Sebastian said carefully. “Who is to say that he is not going to try to get rid of you himself?”

“Because as much as he despises us, he cares about Harry and the general state of the wizarding world, although he has a funny way of showing it.” Ciel said. “And I think we have shown him that the Killing Curse would not work on me. That would make him think twice about crossing us.”

“But it did work on you.” Sebastian pointed out.

“Details, details…” Ciel said dismissively. “Now, let’s see what he’s brought me…” He eagerly opened the box to inspect the contents. “I must say, Sebastian,” The young demon said, picking up a box of double chocolate fudge. “He might not be the most trustworthy person around, but the man knows his way around sweets.”

Today was the last day of the term and while Ciel was still feeling quite weak, he was strong enough to attend the Leaving Feast. His trunks were already packed, and, in all honesty, Ciel couldn’t wait to go home.

At dinner time, Ciel and Sebastian made their way to the Great Hall.

“Ciel! Hey, how are you?!” Ron asked and clasped Ciel on his shoulder, causing the demon to stumble slightly – much to his absolute horror and embarrassment.

“I-I’m fine.” Ciel said, trying – and failing – to hide his grimace.

“Good, that’s good. Mum is wondering if you’d like to join us at The Burrow this summer, you know, once you’re feeling all better.” Ron said. “Harry has to go back to the Dursleys for a while, but he’ll be joining us later. Right, Harry?”

“Yeah.” Harry said, avoiding looking at Ciel.

Ever since he’d found out about the truth, Harry seemed to have avoided Ciel. True to his words though, he’d never told anyone else – not even Ron and Hermione – about their conversation. As long as Harry kept his promise, Ciel was content to let Harry come to terms with it in his own time.

“I’ll see how it goes later, ok?” Ciel said. He wasn’t sure how long he’d need to recover, but he certainly hoped that it wouldn’t take the entire summer.

“Ciel!” The Weasley twins greeted him when the group reached the Gryffindor table. Others – Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Lee Jordan, and Neville Longbottom – were quick to join in as well.

They all sat down and got ready for the Leaving Feast. However, the atmosphere was nothing but celebratory, especially at the Hufflepuff table. The Hall itself wasn’t even decorated to celebrate the end of another school year. The only ‘decoration’ that had been put up was a large, black drape behind the staff table.

Ciel looked at the long table up front. Alastor Moody – the real one – had joined the rest of the staff, looking warily at his surrounding. No one blamed him. After what he had gone through in the past ten months, it was understandable that he was extremely twitchy and jumpy.

Interestingly, Karkaroff’s chair was empty. Ciel heard that the headmaster had disappeared the night when Voldemort was resurrected. He didn’t remember seeing the former Death Eater in the cemetery that night, so he must be on the run from Voldemort.

Madame Maxime was still there though. She was sitting beside Hagrid and the two of them were talking quietly.

After a while, Dumbledore got to his feet and the room fell into a quiet hush.

“The end of another year.” Dumbledore addressed the room. “There is so much that I would like to say to you all tonight. But I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here with us, enjoying our Feast with us.” His eyes fell on the Hufflepuff table. “I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory.”

Benches scraped against the floor as everyone got to their feet, raised their goblets, and echoed in one, low rumbling voice, “To Cedric Diggory.”

Everyone drank their pumpkin juice and put their goblets back on the tables, but they all remained standing.

“Cedric was a person who demonstrated many of the qualities which distinguish Hufflepuff house.” Dumbledore continued his speech. “He was a good and loyal friend, a hard worker, and he valued fair play. His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not. I think that you have the right, therefore, to know exactly how it came about.”

Ciel and Harry looked at each other before they both turned to look at Dumbledore. Neither one of them had expected the headmaster to share that much detail with the rest of the school.

“Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort.” Dumbledore’s calm voice reverberated around the room.

As the room exploded in hushed murmurs, Ciel glanced at Harry and saw that the boy looked just as surprised as the rest of the Hall, albeit for an entirely different reason. Everyone stared at Dumbledore in disbelief and horror.

Dumbledore waited for everyone to quiet themselves before speaking again. “The Ministry of Magic does not wish me to tell you about this. It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so – either because they will not believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, or because they think I should not tell you so, young as you are. It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies, and that any attempt to pretend that Cedric died as the result of an accident, or some sort of blunder of his own, is an insult to his memory.”

Dumbledore told everyone to sit down and resumed his speech. “The Triwizard Tournament’s aim was to further and promote magical understanding. In the light of what has happened, such ties are more important than ever before.” He paused and swept his gaze across the room, at Madame Maxime and all of the foreign delegates. “All of our guests will always be welcome here, should they wish to return at any time. In light of Voldemort’s return, we are only as strong as we are united and as weak as we are divided.”

“Lord Voldemort’s gift of spreading hatred can only be countered if we show an equally strong bond of trust and friendship. Differences in cultures and language do not matter anymore as long as we all share the same goal. As much as I wished otherwise, I believe that we are facing a dark and difficult time ahead of us. Some of you have been affected by Lord Voldemort, some of your families have been torn apart by him or his actions. A week ago, one of our own students, our friends, was taken from our midst.”

“In time, all of us will have to make a choice between what is right, or what is easy, I hope that we would be able to make the right choice, not just for ourselves, but also for those around us, our friends and families.”

“Ciel, wait up!”

Ciel stopped and turned to see Harry hurrying over to him.

“Hey, Harry. What is it?” Ciel asked.

“Can, uh, can we talk?” Harry asked.

“Sure.” Ciel agreed easily. “Walk with me.”

“No, no. I mean, in private. I want to talk to you about… er, you know…” Harry said, lowering his voice and looking at the demon boy meaningfully.

“Very well. Let’s go to my room, shall we?” Ciel said and Harry nodded.

They headed back to Ciel’s room in silence and once they were inside, away from prying eyes – and listening ears, Ciel told Harry to sit down.

“So, what do you want to talk about?” Ciel asked.

“I just, er, I just want to apologize. I didn’t mean to be avoiding you or anything, but what you told me last week, it was… a lot to take in.” Harry said.

“I understand.” Ciel said kindly. “Sometimes, things take time to sink in and what I told you was not something… small. Of course you need some time to process it.”

“Exactly!” Harry nodded. “I mean, even until now, I still can’t believe that you’re… uh, that you’re, er, demons…”

Ciel smiled. “Say, what did you expect a demon to look like?” He asked in an attempt to put the other boy at ease.

Harry seemed to be taken aback by the unexpected question. “Oh, uh, I don’t know, actually. Like I said, I’ve never really read the Bible, but from what I, well, saw, on the telly, that is, demons are, uh, well, they don’t look like you.”

“Red with horns, wings, and tails?” Ciel asked, chuckling lightly.

“Y-Yeah, I s’ppose so.” Harry said nervously. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything…”

“No, don’t worry about it.” Ciel said. “Actually, we find them to be hilarious.” He offered Harry a friendly smile.

“Oh. Um, well…” Harry seemed not to know what to do with that information.

“It’s like those witches that I saw on the telly.” Ciel continued. “With the pointy hat and the long, crooked nose. So far though, everyone seems to have normal size noses, with the exceptions of a few people. Why, I even saw someone who doesn’t have a nose!” He said cheerily.

Harry let out a small laugh at that.

Seeing that Harry had relaxed considerably, Ciel said, “I know and I understand that you might not believe me, Harry. I don’t expect you to, honestly. In fact, it would be foolish of you if you just take my word for it.” He leaned forward and looked at Harry intently. “But let us show you, give us the chance to prove it to you. We’re not here to hurt you, or your friends. It’s just like Dumbledore said earlier, we all have the same goal here and I hope that regardless of our differences, we’ll be able to work together to achieve our shared goal. Is that alright, Harry?”

Harry was silent for a few moments before nodding. “Yeah, that’s alright.”

“Thank you.” Ciel said.

“I’m curious though,” Harry said. “Why did you agree to help us? To help Dumbledore? I mean, surely, you don’t have to deal with Voldemort.”

Ciel leaned back in his seat and regarded Harry. “At first, it was curiosity. The way Dumbledore has described him, it was as if Voldemort was unbeatable, which, I assure you, he is not. Another reason is what I’ve told you, I need to learn to control my own magic and what’s a better way to do that than to join a magic school? However, after last week, well… let’s just say that things are becoming much more personal now.”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” Harry said. “Well, I’ve got to go and finish packing. It’s getting late. Thank you for talking to me, Ciel.”

“You’re very welcome. Have a good night, Harry. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Ciel said.

Harry made his way to the door. “Good night, Ciel, Sebastian. See you tomorrow.”

The next day, Ciel and Sebastian joined the rest of the fourth-year students at the Entrance Hall to wait for the carriages that would take them to Hogsmeade Station.

Since Ciel still couldn’t stand steadily on his own – much to his frustration and annoyance – Sebastian had to carry him. But since most of the people knew that he was ill, nobody gave them a second glance, much to the young demon’s relief.

“’Arry!”

They saw Fleur Delacour climbing up the stone steps and heading towards them.

“Well, looks like someone’s got a new admirer.” Ciel teased good-naturedly and Harry blushed slightly.

“She probably just wants to say goodbye.” Harry mumbled.

Fleur reached them and beamed at Harry. “We will see each uzzer again, I ’ope. I am ‘oping to get a job ‘ere, to improve my Eenglish.”

“It’s already very good.” Ron said in a strangled voice and let out a small, barely audible squeak when Fleur smiled at him.

Ciel smirked and Hermione scowled.

“Goodbye, ‘Arry!” Fleur gave him one last smile. “It ’az been a pleasure meeting you!” She turned around and hurried over to the Beauxbatons carriage.

“Wonder how the Durmstrang students are getting back?” Ron said. “D’you reckon they can steer that ship without Karkaroff?”

“Karkaroff did not steer.” A gruff voice said from behind and they turned to see Krum. “He sits in his cabin and let us do the vork.” His eyes moved to Hermione. “Could I have a vord?”

“Oh… Yes, of course.” Hermione flustered and followed Krum.

“You better hurry back!” Ron shouted after them. “The carriages will be here in a minute!” He then proceeded to crane his neck over the crowd to try and see what Krum and Hermione were up to. “Hey, Ciel, can you see them from up there?”

“No.” Ciel said. “They turned the corner.”

“Drat.” Ron swore under his breath and started fidgeting, his eyes darting at the direction where the pair had disappeared to earlier.

“Well, someone’s jealous…” Ciel whispered to Sebastian and laughed.

Hermione and Krum came back a minute later.

“I like Diggory.” Krum said. “He vos alvays polite to me. Alvays. Even though I vos from Durmstrang – with Karkaroff.” He scowled. “He vos a good man.”

“Yeah, he was.” Harry agreed.

Krum held out his hand and shook Harry’s and Ciel’s hands. When it was Ron’s turn, the redhead looked like he was having a painful internal struggle.

After his hand was left hanging in the air for a few moments, Krum shrugged and turned to walk away, but then Ron called out, “Can I have your autograph?”

Ciel hid his smile in Sebastian’s shoulder and he saw Hermione sporting a smile of her own as Krum signed a scrap of parchment and gave it to Ron.

They boarded the Hogwarts Express and the group managed to get a compartment to themselves. Pig was once again hidden under Ron’s dress robe to stop him from hooting continually. Both Hedwig and Earl were sleeping in their own cages, and Crookshanks had chosen to curl up in a large, orange furry ball by Sebastian’s side, much to the butler’s absolute delight.

Although Ciel couldn’t see anything out of ordinary, he could feel something… off was coming from the direction of Hermione’s bag. It took him a while to discern it, but he soon felt a familiar presence with them, right here in the train compartment.

“Told you she’d figure it out.” Ciel said in a low voice meant only for his butler’s ears.

Sebastian simply let out a quiet hum as his hand was busy petting Crookshanks. It was a shame that he couldn’t take off his gloves. He knew that the cat’s fur was very soft and fluffy. Oh, the joy of running his bare fingers through them…

“Wipe that stupid smirk off your face, you cat-obsessed idiot.” Ciel hissed. “I don’t even want to know what you’re thinking about right now.”

“I’m simply admiring Crookshanks’s fur, sir.” Sebastian replied anyway with a dreamy look on his face. “It’s so soft and fluffy… And those paws…”

Ciel scowled and tuned him out, settling down further into his seat so that he could rest his head against the window and closed his eyes. He was feeling better, but he still needed to sleep at night and take a short nap during the day. But he definitely felt stronger than he had last week.

Across from the pair of demons, the trio were talking about Dumbledore’s speech and the Ministry’s response to Voldemort’s return.

About an hour into the journey, Hermione left and came back with a copy of the Daily Prophet.

“There’s nothing in there. You can look for yourself.” Hermione said calmly when she noticed Harry and Ron were looking at the newspaper.

“She’s right.” Ciel said. “I’ve been checking too, but there’s not a word about anything that happened. There was a small piece after the third task about you winning the Tournament, but that’s about it.”

“How about Cedric? Or you?” Harry asked Ciel. “We, I mean, technically, we won the Tournament, all three of us.”

Ciel shrugged. “Honestly? I don’t care.”

“Fudge must be forcing them to keep quiet about this.” Ron said. “Although I don’t know why they hide your name and not Harry’s.”

“He’ll never keep Rita quiet.” Harry said. “Not on a story like this.”

“Oh, Rita hasn’t written anything at all since the third task.” Hermione said. Although she had sounded calm, there was a rush under her voice. Ciel quickly recognised it as excitement. The girl was basically thrumming with it. She must be dying to tell them, but in light of recent events, she had restrained herself.

“Let me guess,” Ciel said. “You’ve found out how she did it?”

“Yes!” Hermione said, not bothering to hide her excitement anymore as her face flushed pink.

“What are you talking about?” Harry asked in confusion.

“I mean,” Hermione said somewhat impatiently. “Rita Skeeter isn’t going to be writing anything at all for a while. Not if she doesn’t want me to spill the beans on her.”

“What beans?” Ron asked.

“I found out about how she’s been listening to private conversation when she wasn’t even supposed to be coming into the grounds!” Hermione said in a rush.

Hermione proceeded to tell them how she had been researching about Rita after their conversation about bugs.

“She’s an Animagus, an unregistered Animagus, to be precise. She can turn,” Hermione pulled out a glass jar from her bag with a flourish, “Into a beetle.”

Harry and Ron stared at the jar with their jaws hanging open as Ciel hid his smile behind his hand.

“You’re kidding…” Ron said. “You haven’t… She’s not…” He made some wild gestures at the jar with his hand.

“Oh, yes, she is.” Hermione said proudly, showing them the jar. Inside, there were some twigs and leaves, and one large beetle.

“How did you get her in there?” Ciel asked, pointing at the jar.

“I caught her on the window-sill of the hospital wing. Look closely and you’ll see that the marking around her antennae are exactly like those foul glass that she wears.”

Harry turned to Ron. “There was a beetle that night on the statue near Hagrid when he was talking about his mum, remember?”

Ron nodded. “Yeah. So, that was her?”

“I bet.” Harry said, still watching the jar in fascination.

“Exactly. And Viktor pulled out a beetle out of my hair after we had our conversation at the lake. And I’m pretty certain that there must be a beetle on the window-sill in the Divinity classroom that day when your scar hurt, Harry. She’s been buzzing around for stories all year.”

“What are you going to do with her?” Harry asked as the beetle inside the jar buzzed around angrily, hitting itself against the glass.

“I told her that I’ll let her out once we’ve reached London.” Hermione said and took the jar from Ron’s hand. “I’ve put Unbreakable Charm on the jar, you see. So, she can’t transform. And I’ve told her to keep her quill to herself for a whole year. Let’s see if she can break her bad habit of telling lies about other people.”

“Very clever, Granger.” Came Malfoy’s voice from the compartment door.

They turned and saw him standing there with Crabbe and Goyle and Ciel could already feel a headache coming.

The blonde stepped further into the room, smirking. “So, you’ve caught some pathetic reporter and now Potter is Dumbledore’s favourite boy again. Big deal.”

“Seeing how you’ve been in cohort with the so-called pathetic reporter, I don’t see how you’re any better than her, Malfoy.” Ciel said tiredly, not at all in the mood to deal with the blonde brat. “And you sound awfully jealous of Harry just now. Makes me wonder if you wanted to be Dumbledore’s favourite boy.”

Malfoy glared at Ciel. “Shut up, Phantomhive.”

“Get out, Malfoy.” Harry said.

“You’ve picked the losing side, Potter.” Malfoy said. “I’ve told you to pick your side carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day of Hogwarts? But you didn’t listen and you chose to hang out with them!” He spat. “Too late now, Potter! They’ll be the first to go now that the Dark Lord is back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first! Well, second since Diggory was the fi…”

A series of loud bangs accompanied by flashes of lights filled the room as if someone had set off a box of fireworks in the compartment.

Sebastian immediately pulled Ciel to him and wrapped his arms protectively around the boy, covering his head with his hands.

When things calmed down again, they all looked down on the floor and saw Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle lying unconscious at the doorway. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were standing with their wands pointed at them.

Ciel turned to look at Sebastian and saw his stricken face. “Sebastian?”

“Thought we’d check what these three were up to.” Came another voice from the doorway and they saw the Weasley twins standing there, also with their wands out.

“Interesting effect.” George said, stepping over Goyle. “Who used the Furninculus curse?” He asked the trio.

“Me.” Harry said.

They continued to discuss about the different kinds of hexes and curses, but Ciel wasn’t listening. Instead, he was busy studying his butler. Sebastian had schooled his face into a blank expression. But his eyes told an entirely different story. He looked… afraid, and he was determined not to look at Ciel.

Ciel looked around and found Crookshanks hiding under their seat, having been startled by the loud explosions. Ciel got up from his seat, lowered himself to the floor, and reached under the bench for the cat.

“Come here, boy…” Ciel called softly. “It’s okay now. Come here…” He let his eyes shift briefly to encourage the cat to come to him.

Crookshanks obediently went to Ciel, who picked him up and deposited him onto his butler’s lap.

Sebastian stared at his master in shock. His eyes moved to the cat on his lap, and back at Ciel again. “Sir?” He asked in confusion.

“He’ll have to do until we get home, okay?” Ciel said.

Sebastian’s posture relaxed and he started petting Crookshanks, ducking his head to hide his face.

Ciel joined the others and they played Exploding Snap. But he remained in his seat beside his mate, hoping that his presence would be enough to comfort the older demon. He’d seen that look before – that fear – in his own eyes, many, many years ago, so he could make a guess about what happened.

Ciel was actually surprised by Sebastian’s reaction. They had been through a lot and Ciel had been hurt many times before in the past, but his demon had never reacted like this. But then again, he had never died, not until last week.

After a few rounds, they were approaching King’s Cross station and everyone got ready to leave. When the train stopped, Ron and Hermione went ahead with their trunks, stepping over Crabbe and Goyle.

“Fred, George, wait up!” Harry called. “You too, Ciel.”

Ciel, who was eager to go home, turned to Harry questioningly and saw him holding a familiar sack. He nodded and returned back to the compartment to stand beside Harry.

“Shall we?” Harry asked, grinning at the demon.

“Why of course.” Ciel nodded and Harry presented the bag to the twins.

“What’s that?” Fred asked.

“It’s our winning prize, from the Tournament.” Harry told them.

“We want you to take it.” Ciel continued.

“You’re mental!” Fred said, pushing the bag back to Harry. “That’s your money!”

“Yes, it’s our money and we’ve decided, together, to invest them in your business.” Ciel said.

The twins stared at them and then at each other.

“They’re mental.” Fred said and his twin nodded.

“No, we’re not.” Harry said. “You want to open that joke shop, right?”

The twins still didn’t move.

“Listen,” Harry said, now sounding annoyed. “If you don’t want it, we’re going to toss it out. We don’t want it, we don’t need it. But I’m telling you, I could do with a few laughs, we all could. I’ve a feeling that we’re going to need them more than we ever did before in the near future.”

“Harry,” George said slowly. “There’s got to be a thousand Galleons in here.”

“Yeah.” Harry nodded. “Think about how many Canary Cream that is.”

“We can’t…” Fred started, but Ciel cut him off.

“Of course you can. It’s an investment, remember? We expect some returns. After all, this is a business transaction. In return for that,” Ciel gestured at the sack in Fred’s hand, “We want to have some good laughs from your shop. We want you to open the best joke shop there is. Even better than Zonko’s.”

Harry nodded. “Just, er, don’t tell your mum where you got the money from. I reckon she wouldn’t be happy about that.”

“But…” George tried to protest again.

“Just take it, ok?” Harry said. “And do me a favour, get Ron a new dress robe and say that it’s from you. That’s all. Come on, Ciel.”

Before the twins could say another word, Harry and Ciel left the compartment and made their way out of the train, into the busy station. They parted ways with each other and Ciel and Sebastian took a taxi home with Earl in tow.

After Ciel had been bathed and changed into a comfortable loungewear of Polo shirt and shorts, he turned his attention to Sebastian.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ciel asked gently.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sebastian said, averting his eyes.

Ciel sighed. He knew it would be difficult to get his butler to talk, but he was determined. “We said that we won’t hide our feelings from each other, right?”

Sebastian remained quiet.

“Sebastian, please.” Ciel said.

Sebastian’s eyes widened in surprise at those words. Ciel never begged him to do something. He ordered, he asked, he stated, but the word ‘please’ had never left his lips, not once in the century that they had been together. “Sir?”

“Please talk to me.” Ciel said. “I know something happened in the train, I know you got… scared because of the, well, everything. And I know why. But if you didn’t talk to me, I can’t help you.”

Sebastian stubbornly remained silent.

Ciel sighed. “Fine, if you’re not ready to talk, then you just listen, okay?” He reached out and took his butler’s hand in his. “I’m not going anywhere. I know I…. left last week, and I’m sorry that I’ve put you through that. But I came back to you, see? I’m here and I’m not leaving you again. You won’t let that, will you? You won’t let anyone take me from you.”

“No. Never. I will never let anyone or anything take you from me ever again.” Sebastian said fiercely. “I…” He started, cleared his throat, and tried again. “When the room exploded, I wasn’t even aware of what I was doing. In my mind, I could only think that you were in danger, that I have to protect you, that I…” He swallowed. “I couldn’t let you die again.” He finished in a whisper. “You must think of me as foolish.” He ducked his head in shame.

“Not at all.” Ciel said. “I was surprised, yes, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected. I know how it felt, I’ve been there myself. I’ve struggled with it for years. You know that better than anyone.” He cupped his demon’s cheeks in his hands. “You were there for me during those difficult times. When I had nightmares every single night, when I woke up screaming for my parents, when I hid under the blanket and refused to come out, when I panicked whenever someone touched me, you were always there for me. Now, please allow me to return the favour and be here for you.”

Sebastian looked horror-stricken. “Young Master, I’m only your servant. Please do not trouble yourself…”

Ciel kissed him then. “You’re not my servant, you’re my mate first and foremost. I thought we’ve established that?” He said after they pulled apart. “It’s alright if you don’t want to talk about it. I know it’s difficult, especially for our kind. But at the very least, let me be here for you, even if all we’d do is sit in silence. When I was scared, when I had one of those nightmares, just knowing that I’m not alone, that you’re there with me, has helped me to feel better. That’s why I always asked you to stay. So now, I just want you to know that I’m here. Do you think you could do that for me, my love?”

Sebastian looked astonished, but then he nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. That’s a good start.” Ciel nodded and wrapped his arms around his demon’s neck. “I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. But we’re going to be okay, Sebastian. It will take time to, to heal, to get better, but I promise you, we’re going to be okay.”

Sebastian wrapped his own arms around Ciel and buried his nose in his master’s shirt. “Because we’re demons?”

Ciel shook his head. “Because we’re together.”

Sebastian sighed contentedly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Ciel said and pulled away. “Always and forever.”

“Always and forever.” Sebastian responded in kind before capturing Ciel’s lips in a kiss.