Chapter Text
You awoke slowly as the sunlight drifted in through the small gap in the curtains you must’ve forgotten to close fully.
With a yawn and a stretch, you pulled yourself out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash your face and brush your teeth.
While preparing a simple breakfast of oatmeal and some fruits, you took in the peace and silence around you.
The cottage you were staying at, was part of an inheritance of Professor Weasley. She used to spend some of her summers as a child here, but once her grandmother passed away, she had only come here once to make sure all belongings of emotional value were taken away.
That is until the issue of your stay during the summer between 5th and 6th year arose.
Coming from an orphanage until professor Fig came looking for you, you didn’t have anywhere to go. Especially now that your beloved professor was no longer with you. He didn’t leave a will, so his house now belonged to the Ministry.
Staying at Hogwarts during the summer was not an option as only the House-elves would be there until the last couple of weeks before school started again.
You were invited to Poppy’s home, but that would only be for a few weeks. Thinking about having to live wherever they had a bed for you until then wasn’t something you looked forward to, so when professor Weasley suggested you stay in this little cottage in Upper Hogsfield, you were very much relieved.
So far, your stay had been quite peaceful. It was a nice change from all the chaos of last year, yet you sometimes found you missed the chatter of people around you.
While the peace and quiet was very nice and gave you the time to finally sort out your thoughts and feelings, you were eager to return to Hogwarts. Even going to Poppy and her grandmother had made you mentally counting out the days till then.
After breakfast you took your journal and wrote about the dreams you had last night. It had become a habit for you to write about your dreams.
Defeating Ranrok had been difficult and all the events leading up to it combined with the loss of your mentor had taken it’s toll on you. The first month you hardly slept as you kept having nightmares. Professor Sharp eventually gave you a strong sleeping draught – though he urged you to be cautious and never take more than the two recommended drops in your tea every night – when you kept falling asleep during classes.
It had helped a lot and when Poppy suggested you write down your nightmares or dreams in hopes it would help getting it all out of your system, you had done just that.
Whether that actually helped or it was just the sleeping draught, after a week you already began to feel more rested, less plagued by thoughts of red, crackling magic and dark laughter.
But Ranrok was just an enemy. You didn't feel much of anything towards his death or the downfall of his loyalists afterwards.
You hadn’t heard from Sebastian since your last talk in the Great Hall where you told him what you found out about Rookwood. Not that you were really surprised.
You and Ominis had discussed his fate multiple times and both of you agreed he needed help more than punishment. Yet both of you knew he also needed to pay the consequences of his actions.
Solomon Sallow wasn’t a particularly nice man and you knew he wasn’t good for Sebastian. Only getting angry at him and failing to listen or even talk to him.
You hadn’t known the man very long, but from what the twins and Ominis told you and what you yourself had experienced, he seemed to have his own demons from his time as an Auror.
Anne did tell you once that it was because of the Dark Arts that he couldn’t do it anymore. She didn’t really know what happened, but hinted that she had a feeling it was because he himself had dabbled in them.
True or not, you couldn’t understand why he didn’t bother to explain to Sebastian why turning to the Dark Arts was such a bad idea. Though at some point, there was the question if Sebastian would’ve listened.
In the end, Sebastian was so desperate with finding a cure for his sister that he listened to no one. He was blinded by his obsession and even the very person he was doing it for couldn’t persuade him to stop.
Sometimes the images of that night still popped up in front of your eyes. The Inferi surrounding you, Solomon lying with his eyes unblinking and unseeing, the hurt on Anne’s face and the sadness in Sebastian’s eyes.
To be honest, most of it was just a blur and you hardly remembered all that was said or done that night, besides those images and the clear pronunciation of the killing curse falling from Sebastian’s lips.
After long discussions with Ominis, you both decided to lay your trust in Professor Weasley. It was hard for the both of you as you couldn’t tell her he had actually killed someone – let alone his uncle – as she would’ve probably been obligated to report him.
Instead, both of you very clearly expressed your concerns about his fascination of the Dark Arts, his desire to find a cure for his sister and how you believed he would stop at nothing to get what he needed to save her.
She had listened to the whole story the two of you told her and agreed that he needed the proper guidance. Someone who could understand his situation, but could also explain to him why the Dark Arts would never be the solution.
Professor Weasley didn’t tell you or Ominis and not even Anne where she would take Sebastian, but he was gone before the House Cup celebration.
It's been two months since then and so far you had only received one letter from Ominis letting you know he was well and safe. You had responded to his letter with words of assurance of your own whereabouts and that was that.
Nothing from Sebastian or Anne and you weren’t planning on writing them either. You felt like you hadn’t known Anne long enough and she needed the time to grieve. Part of you felt responsible of her brother’s actions as well, so you didn’t think she’d appreciate a letter from you in any case.
As for Sebastian, you were wondering everyday about his well-being and what Professor Weasley was making him do. You ached to write to him, but at the same time you just couldn’t get the words out onto paper and after days of trying to write, you gave up.
You would see him in less than a month at Hogwarts. Hopefully, by that time you would know what to say to him.
For now, you were packing your bags. In a few days you would visit Poppy and together you would go back to Hogwarts.
Your last days in the cottage were well spent on reading through some books that Poppy had sent you for your birthday and taking in the peaceful silence as you sat on a chair in the sun in the little garden that surrounded the cottage.
Whatever 6th year had in store for you, it couldn’t possibly be worse than last year.