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Sebastian yawns, earning a sharp rap on his knuckles from Ominis’ wand. “Cover your mouth, you animal,” Ominis says with zero malice. “You wound me,” Sebastian says, breaking out into another yawn and Ominis scoffs. “How late did you get back last night? You weren’t at dinner.” Sebastian splits his apple, and crunches into one half. “Late enough,” Sebastian says. He glances at the Great Hall door when it groans open, revealing a group of Hufflepuffs. “Your neck will snap if you keep turning like that,” Ominis says. “Are you expecting someone?”
Sebastian stares at the blinking red tip of Ominis’ wand as it rests on the table next to Ominis’ tea. “Five years and I still don’t know how this thing works well enough for you to see in such detail.”
“It is because you are stupid.” Sebastian scowls. “You know the last thing I am is stupid.”
“Who’s stupid?” Sebastian jumps, nearly knocking over Ominis’ porridge. “Hello, Elsie,” Ominis says, as he slides his bowl further away from Sebastian. “I was just saying that Sebastian is stupid." Elsie laughs as she sits on Sebastian’s left. “What did he do now?” Ominis’ spoon pauses in the air. “It’s more like what he hasn’t realised that makes him stupid.” Sebastian rolls his eyes. “I’ve never met another blind wizard before, sorry if I’m not omniscient.”
Elsie hums as she stares at the fruit bowl in front of them. Her nose wrinkles when she sees only pears and blackberries in the bowl, and Sebastian notices. Once Sebastian had spent a whole afternoon trying to convince her that fruit fresh from the fields were not scary. The city girl claims she’s never had a good piece of fruit before, but she gave in to an apple after Sebastian argued that she already liked apple juice. He slides the other half of his apple to her. “Oh,” she says, as she takes it. “Apples only, right?” Sebastian says and she nods, before tipping the apple half at him in thanks and biting into it. “Like a child,” Sebastian says, and she sulks at him, eyebrows furrowing. “I just don’t trust fruit,” she says around a nibble of apple. “I’ll have to find you some cherries or plums,” Sebastian’s own mouth waters at the prospect of late-summer cherries, sticky sweet, and juicy, sugary plums. Sebastian hears a small grumble from Ominis, and he squints at his best friend.
“Something wrong?” Ominis ignores him, scooping more oats into his mouth with careful precision.
The hall is not too busy, with most students choosing to only come back to term the day before it starts. It leaves them with a whole week with nothing to do. Sebastian doesn’t feel like touching any of his studies before the term even starts, but he’s not really sure what they could do with their time.
“So,” Elsie pipes up. “What do you guys want to do today?” Ominis shrugs. “I was just thinking the same thing,” Sebastian says. “Well,” Elsie says with a devious smile. Sebastian raises a brow at her, and Ominis sighs.
“Tell me she isn’t smiling like she’s got the worst plan in the world on her mind.” Sebastian finishes the rest of his tea, patting his cloak down for his wand. “Unfortunately, she is.”
***
“Why are there so many spiders?” Ominis yells over the sound of Elsie shouting confringo, and Sebastian blasts a spider away from Ominis’ back before freezing it. “Keep your back to a tree, Ominis,” Sebastian says. “Oh, where they can web me to it and then eat me? No, thank you,” Ominis says haughtily as he slams spiders down against the ground around him.
Sebastian explodes the last of the spiders around them. “Phew!” Elsie says, as she clambers back over the rocks to them. “Sorry, I only saw the bandit camp, when I flew over the other time, I didn’t realise there was a spider’s nest too.”
“You know, hiking isn’t really a blind person’s sport,” Ominis says as he brushes his hair back down. “We aren’t hiking, we’re hunting down poachers!” she says brightly, and Sebastian snorts. “I think he means the whole in the wild thing.”
Elsie shrugs as she tightens the scarf around her neck. “You didn’t have to come, Ominis. I just thought you’d be good help.” she says, winking at Sebastian. “If this is stressing you out too much, we can go back instead of heading for the next camp.” Sebastian presses his lips together in amusement, watching emotions run through Ominis’ face. She had a way of pushing Ominis’ buttons, simultaneously reassuring him, and then challenging him. At first, it annoyed Sebastian how Ominis seemed to fold so easily under Elsie’s words, but when she proved capable getting Ominis to do things other than studying, it became entirely fun.
It was her slick reasoning that also convinced Ominis and Anne to not turn Sebastian in, and for that Sebastian will always be grateful, even after she and Ominis swore that the whole incident is to be buried in the past, left behind in the old catacombs.
“Lead the way,” Ominis said haughtily, and Sebastian shares a cheeky grin with her. They start walking back to the path, a precaution entirely for Ominis’ sake. Sebastian has seen how she typically cuts across entire fields, slides down the slopes by the pathways and scales jagged mountain faces to save time, but Ominis’ wand can only do so much for him. “And you better not be smug about it.” She holds up her hands in mock innocence. “Not smug at all,” she says, and Ominis smiles. “You know I can hear the smile in your voice,” he says. Sebastian kicks a stone down the path.
“Come on,” he finds himself saying, and she looks at him curiously. It’s not like him to be impatient, but Sebastian is feeling tired from his late night yesterday, and the sun is low in the sky. “Let’s go find this last camp and then go back for the day.”
***
Sebastian wakes up with his sleep shirt damp and sticking to his back. He had an early night, wanting rest after this afternoon’s poacher hunt and yesterday’s late night but it seems his mind had different ideas. Mercifully, the room is empty, none of his roommates are back in Hogwarts yet. He gets up, eager to get out of his sweaty clothes. He wraps his cloak over himself, grabbing a fresh set of clothes before making his way to the bathroom. Sebastian lets the shower water hit his face, before it slides over the top of his head and down his back, washing away the nightmare that seems to plague him at least once a week. Yet when he closes his eyes, Anne’s ashen face and soulless eyes floats in front of him, telling him in haunting echoes that he made his choice. Sebastian looks down, opening his eyes. His hands look whole, skin intact, albeit a pale pink from the heat of the shower water. In his nightmares, he reaches for Anne, and she melts, turning black and bony. Once he blinks, Anne will have turned into an inferi, gnawing on his hands. The nightmare was like a set play you’ve watched too many times, predictable by the second, which somehow makes it even worse.
Sebastian soaps up, scrubbing roughly to rid himself of these infernal thoughts. He stands in the water until his mind clears before he dries off, pulling on loose cotton pants, a fresh shirt and his dad’s jumper. He drops everything off by the foot of his bed and decides that sitting by the fireplace in the common room would be better than sitting in a sweat-damp bed for the rest of the night. He hopes that an elf will get to it before he wants sleep again. He steps out into the common room.
“You’re looking rather cosy.” Sebastian blinks at the shadow that is sitting in the exact sofa he was going to make his home for the rest of the night. His eyes adjust to the dim light of the common room, the only light coming from the fireplace and the dim candle lights in the corners of the room. A familiar pile of dark hair sits on top of the person’s head, and he sees her teeth flash in the dim light as she smiles at him.
“Els,” Sebastian says, and he has to stop himself from slapping a hand over his traitorous mouth and then stabbing a knife into his equally traitorous, tired brain. He’s never called her that before. He’s thought about it, wondered what it’d be like to be so familiar with her that he calls her something different. Not like Natsai’s nickname, because everyone calls her Natty, she asks them to. Elsie introduced herself as Elsie. But now, he has to roll with it, coat it with the charisma he presents to everyone else, like it doesn’t make him nervous to call her that. She hums, cocking her head at him as she pats the seat next to her.
“Is that what we’re calling me now?” Sebastian doesn’t say anything as he sits. She sits facing him, legs drawn up to make space for him. “Hm?” she prods. “Why not?” Sebastian says, trying to be slick about it.
She’s staring at him, book forgotten in her lap. He wonders what book it is. She is still silent, and Sebastian starts to consider the possibility that she hates nicknames. Anne hated being called Annie. He rubs at his temples, slouching down the seat to stretch his legs out. He tips his head back, resting it on the back of the sofa. He rests his hands on his stomach, trying to think of the right words. He wants to abandon the mission, too worn down from his awful dream to try and be suave about it.
“No one’s called me that before,” she says suddenly. Sebastian rolls his head to his right, still resting on the sofa, to look at her. She doesn’t sound upset but she’s chewing on her bottom lip again. “You’ll cut your lip if you keep doing that,” he says, and she stops immediately, wiping her lip with a fingertip. She slides the book onto the floor, folding her hands into her lap. “So,” she says, the firelight flickering in her eyes. “Els?” Sebastian tries to shrug, feeling his muscles languish in the softness of the sofa cushions. “It came to me one day.”
“When?”
Sebastian doesn’t know. Maybe it was during potions class when they partnered up to make a thunderbrew potion, and ‘Elsie’ felt too cumbersome to say just to ask her to pass the leech juice. He looks at the tiny scar on her chin, barely perceptible. Or when he needed to call her into a dodge when Hector Jenkins sent an errant spark from a failed expelliarmus at her during a Crossed Wands duel. More likely, it was when she stood up to Solomon, clenched fists by her hips as she told his uncle that he was giving up on Anne too soon. Even Anne had given up on herself, and Ominis was simply too rational, even though he never told Sebastian to give up. She was relentless and unfailingly optimistic, just like how his parents would be when they were pursuing an elusive research matter. Sebastian felt like he truly had found a kindred spirit.
“Hello?” Sebastian blinks out of his thoughts. “Are you alright?” she asks, frowning. “I apologise,” Sebastian says, rubbing at his face. “I’m just a bit tired. I won’t call you that if you don’t like it,” Sebastian says. She shakes her head. “It just caught me by surprise. Did you know my actual name is Elizabeth?” Sebastian can’t help the chuckle that slips past his lips.
“What?” he says, amused. Her lips purse. “I don’t know why my parents bothered with Elizabeth if they were going to call me Elsie my whole life,” she says. Sebastian can’t imagine her as Elizabeth. It felt too stuffy for a girl that was eager for adventure, who preferred tailored pants over skirts, who would give it back as good as she got.
“Elsie is better,” he says, and she smiles. “So, you already have a nickname,” Sebastian says. “That’s a shame.” She shrugs. “I like it though.” Sebastian laughs. “You like your name, thank goodness.” Elsie rolls eyes. “No, you idiot, I mean your nickname,” Elsie says. Oh. A wave of relief floods through Sebastian.
“Els?” Sebastian tries, and she grins. “Yes?” She laughs, stretching her legs out and pushing the soles of her feet against Sebastian’s thigh. He doesn’t know when she got so comfortable touching him, when two days ago he could have sworn she wouldn’t even take his hand. “Sounds natural already,” she says. She has a twinkle in her eye as she nudges him with her feet.
“Can I call you Seb then?” Sebastian squints at her uncertainly. No one has ever called him that before. “Seb?”
She crosses her arms. “Sebastian has three vowels, Seb has one. It feels right.” Sebastian licks his lips, finding them dry. “Alright.”
She grins, picking up her book again. “Alright, Seb, I won’t ask you what you’re doing out here at two in the morning, and you won’t ask me why I’ve got a restricted book, that you taught me how to get, in my hands.” Sebastian laughs, his nightmare long forgotten.