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I’m walking out of potions class when I feel a hand grab my arm and pull me back gently.
“Hey, could we talk for a minute? I have a question.” Garreth Weasley asks.
I glance behind Garreth and see Sebastian packing up his things and eyeing us suspiciously. He almost seems angry, I’ll have to check in with him later to see if he’s alright.
“Sure! Let's talk in the hall.” I say.
He follows me into the hall and we tuck ourselves into a small corner to have a private conversation.
“What was your question?” I look at him curiously, crossing my arms.
Garreth takes a breath and speaks up, “You have helped me get ingredients for my potions before, as you know..”
I roll my eyes and interrupt him before he can finish, “Merlin, again Garreth? You’re just going to blow something up again and Sharp is going to give you detention. Aren’t you tired of trying by now? I admire your persistence, but eventually this has to stop.”
Last time I gathered ingredients for him he attempted to make a potion in Sharp’s class next to me that ended in a huge sticky explosion. I had to clean the sticky green goop out of my hair for days after.
“I know, I get it, but this time I’m really confident this will work. I cannot tell you what kind of potion I’m making, because if it works it will be a huge success in the Wizarding World. I know you're opposed to me making more potions, so take this as my promise, I will stop making potions if this one fails.” The look Garreth was giving me seemed entirely sincere.
“Fine." I sighed, "You better keep your promise. What do you need me to get for you?”
Garreth glanced down at his shoes, “I was actually thinking I could come with you. I know I’m not very brave or a good fighter, but the ingredient I need is fairly hard to obtain so I don’t want you going alone.”
“I’m certain I could get it myself, but if it makes you feel better you can come with I suppose.”
Garreth glances up and smiles at me, “Great! I won't get in your way I promise, I just want to be there to help if I can. Getting this ingredient would mean a lot to me.”
I nodded, “So what is this ingredient exactly?”
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After fighting our way through the Forbidden Forest, we finally made it to our destination. We look into the entrance of a ravine, nervous.
“Okay so like I said, I scoped out this place before. There’s a bunch of smaller spiders at the entrance and once we clear those out and go deeper into the ravine, there’s a massive spider that we need to kill. The fangs from the big spider are what I need for my potion.”
The ravine was filled with smaller spiders, like Shooters. Hatchlings were also going to be an issue, there were egg sacks and webs clinging from each wall. I have handled plenty of spiders in the past though, this should be fairly simple.
I look towards Garreth. “Okay, just stay behind me alright? I don’t need you getting hurt. I appreciate you coming to help.”
Garreth gave me a small smile, “You’re the expert! I’ll follow your lead.”
I shake my head and laugh as I ask, “Can you cast Lumos while I fight? It’s extremely dark in there.”
Nodding Garreth pulls out his wand from his robe pocket, “Lumos!”
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It was going smoothly so far, Garreth was hanging back with his Lumos charm as I was front and center battling the small, annoying arachnids.
Finally reaching the end, the ravine opened up into a massive room. Garreth quickly put out his Lumos charm when we saw the massive spider in the middle of the room.
I looked towards Garreth as I whispered, “Here's the plan. See the torches?”
Garreth squinted his eyes looking into the dark room, spotting the torches lining the walls he nodded his head.
“I need you to use Incendio and light those up for me one by one. The minute you light the first torch the spider will try to attack you, I’ll pull it off you and distract it. I need you to light them up quickly though so I can see what I’m doing.”
Garreth looked back at me and nodded his head with a determined look on his face.
Quietly, Garreth crept into the room and reached the nearest torch.
“Incendio!”
The torch lit up, lighting up a small portion of the room.
The spider spotted him immediately and let out a loud screech. Before the spider could lunge at Garreth, I raised my wand.
“Confringo!”
Garreth nodded at me in thanks as he ran towards the next torch.
The spider whipped around in my direction and started charging towards me.
I rolled away as it swung at me and raised my wand again, “Bombarda!”
The spider screeched again as it burned and retreated deeper into the darkness of the room. It was far too dark to battle this spider, but I was managing fine so far. I could barely manage to see it faintly moving in the darkness, planning its next attack.
I heard Garreth cast Incendio as the room grew brighter. He made his way towards the next torch when I heard the sound of small legs come up from behind me.
Turning around, I faintly see a few Hatchlings running at me. They must have hatched from the egg sacks in the crevices of the cave.
I miss a few attacks because of how dark it is but eventually kill them and turn my direction back towards the big spider as it makes its way towards me again to attack, when I see something moving close to Garreth.
Two Shooters were charging towards an oblivious Garreth as he raised his wand to the next torch, ready to light it.
“Garreth! Behind you!” I ran towards him and raised my wand at the Shooters.
“Bombarda!”
The Shooters were engulfed by a flame as they flew back and exploded into small pieces against the ground.
Suddenly, a strong leg slashed at me as it cut my cheek and sent me flying into the cave wall.
Coughing, I spit blood onto the ground and shakily raised myself off of the ground. I was so distracted with trying to save Garreth I had completely forgotten about the huge spider.
“Merlin! Are you alright? I’m so sorry, I didn’t hear them.” Garreth began to run towards me with wide eyes but skidded to a halt when I held up a hand.
“It’s okay, I’m fine. Keep lighting those torches, I need to see properly so we can kill this thing.”
Nodding, Garreth continued to light the room.
Clutching my ribs, I stood up and continued to try and fight the spider. With Garreth slowly lighting up the room, it became easier and easier to see the spider and aim.
The spider was almost dead when Garreth had finished lighting the torches.
Landing the final blow, we stepped up to the spider's body and ripped out its fangs.
Gritting my teeth and clutching my ribs, we slowly made our way out of the ravine.
“Are you sure you’re alright? Your cheek is bleeding and you hit that wall fairly hard. I’m really sorry you got hurt because of me. I came with to help you and I did the exact opposite.” Garreth said as he rubbed his neck sheepishly.
I turn my head towards him, “It wasn’t your fault Garreth. I couldn’t have done it without you, you were a big help lighting the torches. Once we get back to Hogwarts I’ll make a Wiggenweld and I’ll be fine.”
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Garreth had apologized and thanked me a hundred times before we had parted ways for the night.
I stumbled into the Undercroft and looked for my potion ingredients. Sebastian and Ominis were kind enough to let me leave a bag of supplies in here. Usually, I make potions in the Room of Requirement, but Deek was always commenting on how many potions I brewed and asking about them, sometimes I just needed the quiet.
I was stupid to not have made any Wiggenweld for this trip. I thought it was going to be a quick in and out, unfortunately I was wrong and I’m now paying the price for it.
Finding my bag, I dig around inside and realize I’m out of dittany leaves. Lovely.
Slouching against the wall, I begin to think about what else I can do so I don’t continue to bleed out on the Undercroft’s dusty floor. What a fun way to go out.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the Undercroft gate opening, as I spot Sebastian walking in.
Sensing my presence, he lifts his gaze up towards me and his eyes widen.
“Merlin's beard! What happened to you? Who did this?” He asked as he ran and crouched beside me, wildly looking over my injured body.
I coughed blood into the sleeve of my robe as I answered his questions, “I was helping Garreth get potion ingredients and was caught off guard by a huge spider.” Sebastian’s eyes darkened as he listened to me. “I’m fine, really, just a bit banged up.”
“Weasley, that bloody idiot, I’m going to kill him.” He continued to speak as he started digging in his robe pockets looking for something, “Why in the world do you help him? Things like this can happen, it’s not worth it for someone like him. His potions never work anyway, it’s a waste of time and energy.”
Finally finding what he was searching for, he pulled a Wiggenweld out of his pocket and held it up to my lips as I drank.
“Thank you, Sebastian. It was an accident, I got distracted. It was my fault.”
He ran his thumb against the blood on my cheek, wiping it away.
Looking into my eyes he spoke up, “I hardly doubt it was your fault. I’m sure the dunce got himself in danger and you had to help him and it cost you. Stop helping him with his idiotic potions.. or just ask me to come with next time.”
He stood and crossed his arms as he began to get angry.
Turning his back towards me he asked, “Why didn’t you? You know I can help you better than he ever could. What’s going on with you two anyway? You’re always helping him and talking to him in class.” He sneered.
I was reminded of how angry he looked this morning when Garreth had grabbed my arm and we went into the hallway to speak. Was he jealous?
“Sebastian. It’s not like that, we’re just friends. You know I always ask you to help me, it was just a small task to get a few spider fangs. He offered to come along and help since I was getting them for him. I didn’t plan for it to end up the way it did.” Feeling fully healed, I stood up and brushed the dust off of my robes.
He sighed and faced me again. He looked hurt.
He clenched his fists at his side, “I know you didn’t. I just hate seeing you hurt and knowing he caused it. Weasley could never protect you as well as I can, that twat is a Gryffindor and has zero bravery.” He shook his head in disgust.
I pull my eyebrows together in annoyance, “I don’t see why it’s such a big deal Sebastian, like I said it was my fault not his. This has nothing to do with him. I think he was doing a fine job too, by the way. I think it was very brave of him to join me.”
He closed his eyes before saying, “You.. You mean a lot to me, okay? I can’t stand the thought of not being with you when you're in danger, let alone having Weasley be alone with you. Please have me come with you next time, no matter what it is. I don’t care if it’s a quick task or if it’s not dangerous, just have me come with you.”
Slowly I reach for his hands and unclench his fists. I hold my hands in his and look up at him.
His eyes were darting back and forth between our entwined hands and my eyes.
I softly smiled, “Okay, Sebastian. I promise next time I’ll ask you to come with and help instead.”
He let out a shuddering breath as he asked, “Are you feeling better now?”
“I am, thank you.”
He began rubbing small circles against my hands as he looked deeply into my eyes and then down to my lips and swallowed hard.
“I really want to kiss you right now.” He confessed with a smirk.
His confession took me by surprise as I softly gasped. So he was jealous!
Slowly he lowered his lips to mine and kissed me.
After a moment we pulled back, leaving my jaw wide open in shock.
He chuckled as he said, “Weasley is nothing compared to me. Got it?”
My eyes widened as I nodded at him.
“Good girl.” He murmured as he dipped down to kiss me again.