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"Are you sure you're up for this?"  Natty asked again, interrupting her thoughts.  The auror worried at her bottom lip.  "My friend, we don't have to do this today.  Let's come back another time."

They both knew that was impossible.  Natty, the newly appointed head auror of her division had pulled so many strings to arrange this meeting.  And the hero of Hogwarts herself, had flexed her name to wave away any scrutiny.

Nervously, her hand drifting to her left shoulder, right on top of her most recent burn wound.  Nestled underneath protective wrapping was a reminder of her most recent bout of carelessness and string of poor decision making.  How many times had she staggered back to Feldcroft, bleeding on Anne's freshly polished doorsteps?  She knew Anne, Ominis, and all her friends hated the long spiral of self-loathing she had embarked on.  How she disappeared for days, even weeks at a time with little to no warning, only to come back wounded, pockets brimming with more gold and treasures.

Visiting Sebastian wouldn't be the first dumb decision she made this week.

"I have to do this, Natty."  She didn't know why.  "Let's go."

Passing through the heavy gated doors of the prison, she clutched her cape tighter, trying to protect herself from the bone-chilling cold around her.  She had been here once before, in her school days.  She looked around.  It was very much the same. She could see the puffs of cold air coming from her lips, no doubt thanks to the floating dementors above her.   Haunting, ghostly vestiges of men and women with dead eyes in living bodies.  Muttering anxious voices and abrupt screams echoed the long hallway to Sebastian's cell.  Decaying teeth in the emancipated skulls of prisoners waiting to die.

Beattrice was scared to see what had become of Sebastian, the troubled boy from her youth.

Walking deeper into the dark bowels of the prison, Natty stopped, shuffling nervously.  "You go on ahead.  I'll wait here."  It was too painful to see a once close childhood friend in the state he was in.

The hero of Hogwarts cringed.  This was all her fault.

Creeping up quietly to jail cell, she noticed how the fading moonlight illuminated the person imprisoned there.  A man's back was turned away from the door.  Shirtless, she could see the constellation of freckles.  Deep scars had long since healed in ragged patterns on his back.  There were long linear wounds freshly oozing.  Dark red, slowly clotting blood stained the beautiful freckles.  She shuddered to think how he could have gotten those.  His prison number was tattooed on his left deltoid.

The burn wound on her back tingled in sympathy. 

Sebastian. 

She must have whispered that out loud.  The boy-no-, the man, in front of her turned around.  She took a startled step back.

She expected hollowed wasting cheekbones like so many of the prisoners here.  What she hadn't expected was for Sebastian to have filled in so impressively.  All the adorable baby fat that had clung to his cheeks was now gone.  Well-defined toned muscles clung to his bones.  His shoulders were broader now.  He had a beard, which only framed his devastatingly handsome face.

And his eyes….fiercely beautiful, trained on her every movement like a predator lying in the shadows, waiting for his time to strike.  She couldn't help but shiver at the sight.  Sebastian blinked, his eyes roaming over her body, assessing her as much as she was him.

She inhaled sharply.  Underneath his scars, Sebastian had filled impressively. 

There was a pregnant pause as the two once friends looked at each other and how the decade of time had treated the other.

"I must finally be going mad, the most gorgeous girl in all of Hogwarts is standing right of front of me."  He cooed. 

She expected anger and resentment.  She hadn't expected this. 

She swallowed.  Well, looks like Azkaban didn't make him lose his charm.  "Hello, Sallow, I'm surprised you still remember me."

His voice was raspy.  "How could I forget you, Beatrice?  The beautiful witch that put me behind these very bars."

He finally stood up, and she took another step back.  He was so much taller now.  The top of her head only came up to his shoulder now.  He got closer, hands gripping tightly on the bars of his cell.  "You look even more beautiful than the day I lost you."  His eyes roamed over her new curves greedily.  "Azkaban hasn't been kind to me.  But, someone must be looking out for me to bring you back to me."

The hero of Hogwarts coughed politely.  He was being far too forward.  "Sallow, I bring you news of Anne and Ominis, if you wish to hear it.  You deserve to know at least that."

Sebastian tilted his head and put on a mocking smile. "Oh, and where are they now?  I have not seen them since I walked through the doors of this prison."

She crossed her arms.  "They had good reason, Sallow."

His brows knitted together.  "Since when did you ever call me Sallow?  It's Sebastian to you, darling."

Her face burned.  Thank Merlin that the only guards here were witless dementors. 

"If you even care, both Anne and Ominis are well.  Anne is still in as much of good health as she can be, and Ominis is taking care of her."

He ignored her words.  "What about you, Bea?  How have you been?"  He asked.

She blinked.  The burn on her left scapula tightened in discomfort.  "I've been…well, I have a cottage in Feldcroft.  It was a good a place as any to settle down."

Sebastian pressed his face against the bars of his cell.  His manic, small pupils made him look a bit deranged.  "All by yourself?  No doting husband taking care of your every need?"

She said nothing, lest she reveal too much of her personal life.

Her silence was enough of an answer.  "Unmarried?"  The reflection of the torchlights flickered in his eyes.  "It is rare in this day and age to see a woman in her twenties unwed.  Why, some would wonder if you're waiting for someone."

She flushed.  He'd gone too far.  It seemed like a decade of Azkaban made him forget basic manners.  "That's none of your business, Sallow."  She barked.  She begun to turn away.

Wait," his hands clawed through the bars desperately grabbing after her.  "Please before you go, I just have one request."

Against every smart decision, she turned around. 

Sebastian grinned fiercely, his teeth clicking against the bars.  His sharp tongue dipped out licking his bottom lip.  "A kiss."

She was scandalized.  "Sebastian!  A kiss?  Here?"

His darkened eyes had not left hers.  He looked devilishly handsome.   "Not like the dementors could see."

This was a foolish mistake.  She shouldn't even be entertaining this madness.  And yet, she couldn't stop herself from stepping forward, getting closer to Sebastian's cell.  Her eyes fluttered towards his wide smile.  Sebastian had truly gone mad.  Angling her face between the bars, she leaned in.

Instantly, she was overwhelmed.  While she was expecting a chaste first kiss, Sebastian ravaged her.  His lips were heated, pressing bruisingly firm against hers.  The sharp tease of Sebastian's canine against her lips was dizzying.  Sebastian snuck his hands out of his cage, fingers clutching her hip.  Her skirt snagged the stone floor as he pulled her as hard as he could against the metal that were separating them.  This hypnotic kiss left her spellbound as Sebastian drank her red lips greedily.

She felt drunk when they parted.  Sebastian's tongue darted out, licking his bottom lip, chasing the last of her essence.  His dangerous eyes stared at her longingly.

As she left the depths of Azkaban with Natty, she couldn't stop thinking of those eyes that followed her as she left Sebastian.

It was their first kiss together, maybe their last. 

The sky was a dark grey when Ominis delivered the news.  She had been tending to her garden, trying her best to trim back rebellious  venomous tentaculas.

His face was ashen, stricken with grief, when Ominis approached her.  He held the latest Daily Prophet in his hand.  And somehow without him saying anything, she knew what news he brought.

Sebastian Sallow, Murderer of Solomon Sallow, Found Dead in His Cell

She looked at the tall blonde man before her.  Although he was a grown man, he looked quite like the scared child in the Undercroft asking her what to do about Solomon's death.  His usually stoic face was grief stricken, tears threatening to spill over onto his cheeks. 

Sebastian Sallow…..dead.

She looked at Ominis, the bearer of bad news.  The ground swam before her vision.  Her knees felt too weak to support her.

"Beatrice, a-are you alright?"  He asked, tentatively.  A stupid question really, given the news.

She preceded to vomit on her poor garlic shoots.

It was two weeks since the death of Sebastian Sallow, a poor unfortunate boy who got mixed up in dark magic.  Ominis had taken care of the affairs, writing a polite, tersely short obituary.  Anne, took the unfortunately very familiar task of identifying and laying the body to rest.

And the hero of Hogwarts had done nothing.  Nothing but wallow in her bed.  Her limbs numb and body cold.  She was fortunate that Anne was capable of such strength as the poor sister ironically took care of her as she laid in bed her grief unable to move her. 

It was frankly pathetic for the strongest witch of their generation to be taken care of someone like Anne, especially given that it was Anne's own brother who had passed. 

"Please, you cannot lay in bed all day."  Anne sat beside her bed, begging the grieving girl.

She said nothing.  She hadn't spoken much since Ominis had told her the news.

Anne sighed before gathering her skirt.  She gingerly got up and moved towards the front door of the cottage.

The hero of Hogwarts stared listlessly at her friend's trailing form.

It was unfortunate that the wizarding world viewed ancient magic and dueling prowess as a greater strength over Anne's strong will. 

"I'm sorry."  she whispered lamely, knowing how inadequate her words were.

Anne turned around, staring at her.  The dark circles under the twin's eyes made her appear much older than she was.  She nodded slightly before closing the front door of the cottage behind her.

The minutes, or perhaps hours, passed languidly as the hero of Hogwarts laid in her bed.  By now all her magical plants have for sure wilted.  She was sure that the food remaining in her pantry had long rotten.  But she paid no heed to these.

Sebastian…

…what had she done?

"Hello, darling."

Emerging from the shadows on her cottage, like a dark creature, was Sebastian Sallow himself. 

For the first time in two weeks, she shot out of bed, hands habitually fumbling for her wand.

He looked nothing like how he did back in Azkaban.  Beard completely gone, hair trimmed, wearing robes that flattered his appearance, and smelling of unfamiliar cologne.  She couldn't help but wonder if he had done to escape Azkaban.

She shivered, thinking about the dead body they found in Sebastian's cell. 

"What's the matter?  Lost for words?"

Her mouth was agape.  What was he was doing here?  How did he get in without her noticing? She had half a mind to yell.  Ominis and Anne were so close that they would come to aid in in a minute's notice.

"Don't think about screaming for help."  Sebastian said, pacing the room.  I have already muffliatoed the whole cottage."

Her voice was sore from disuse.  "You shouldn't be here."

He looked around at the various of extraordinary knick knacks and forbidden trinkets that she had collected on her adventures.  His long robes swept around him.  "You have made yourself a nice little home."  His eyes flickered towards the single sized bed she slept on.  "Looks rather lonely doesn't it."

She was afraid.  She knew of a Sebastian Sallow, the big-hearted charismatic boy from 5th year.  This version of Sebastian, the man before her, was something else entirely.

He was a beast free of his cage.  Without the bars of Azkaban in between them, what was Sebastian capable of? 

He tapped a wand, something Sebastian wasn't supposed to have, loudly against his thigh.   He wasn't supposed to have one.  They had snapped his beautiful green handled wand in two the second he stepped foot in Azkaban.

Her eyes tracked Sebastian's pacing form closely.  "Are you going to kill me?"  She asked, her voice finally catching up to her.

Sebastian scowled,  "That's the first thing that's on your mind?"

She swallowed.  The wand in Sebastian's hand was very familiar.  "Why else would you be here then?  Other than to get revenge for what I did to you."

Sebastian laughed.  It was not the loving, charming one from school, but hallow and terrifying.  "Don't play dumb, darling.  You're far too clever for that."  He crowded her, nose practically touching hers.  The back of her knees hit the edge of her bed.  "You know why I'm here."

Beatrice inhaled deeply.  "I haven't had the foggiest idea what you mean."  She said, turning her head away from him.  He was so close to her, the tip of his nose brushed against her turned cheek.  "Please get out of my house.  I swear won't call for help.  I won't tell a soul you were here."

"You wound me.  After all you did to me, and you pretend to be a stranger."

"I have no idea what you mean."  She insisted through gritted teeth.

A very familiar wand pressed into her chin lifting her face up to look into his dark eyes.  "So you just let any crazy loon in Azkaban steal your precious wand from your pocket as you kiss them?  You just happen to have a bottle of Polyjuice potion in your left pocket, a potion you never carried back when we were in school together?"

She squeezed her eyes tightly, trying to drown on Sebastian's words.

She felt a hot breath of air against her ears.  "You let any man in Azkaban get close enough to you to kiss you?"

She collapsed onto her bed, head dizzy.  She blinked back tears.  To be held hostage by her own wand.  A part of her wondered if by tomorrow morning aurors would find her dead in her own house, killed by her own wand.

Sebastian wouldn't do that…would he? 

"Sebastian, I don't like what you're implying.  It's a crime to break anyone out of Azkaban.  Please," she sobbed.  "why are you here?"

Sebastian softened, his expression almost close to something she would recognize in her youth.  "You're full of surprises.  There I was, about to lose all hope and finally wither away like the rest of them when a miracle stumbles upon my cell."

She drew her knees to her chest.

" I'm here simply because I wanted to thank the prettiest girl I know for breaking a dangerous criminal like me out of Azkaban."

Bile swirled in her stomach.  She didn't know why she did it.  She didn't know what compelled her to spend a whole month brewing Polyjuice potion before seeing Sebastian.  She didn't know why she kept her wand in a conspicuous easy to grab location.   Sh-She hadn't…meant to do it.  It wasn't a conscious decision on her part.  There was no thorough thought-out plan in motion.

The ruse was up.  She sighed blinking away the tears.  "I knew you weren't dead.  The second that the Daily Prophet announced it, I knew you had escaped, and I was responsible for it."  She shook her head, trying to chase the tears away.  "Why I don't know is why are you here in Feldcroft in my house.  You could be anyway in the world right now.  Why here?  For payback?  For revenge?  To torture me?"

Sebastian's sly smile faltered a bit.  Did she really think so little of him?  In all of his years of Azkaban, all the torture, the madness…Did she not know, the only thing keeping him sane was his love of her?  How she was the shining beacon, a version of his own inner Patronus, in the darkness that not even the dementors could take away.  Perhaps they could drain him of their shared good memories, perhaps they could remove the happiness he felt upon thinking of her.  But what the dementors couldn't shake his pure love for her.  The thought of vengeance or any malice towards her hadn't even crossed his mind before she mentioned it. 

"Why wouldn't I come home to you?  This is where I belong, next to you."  Carefully, he wiped the tears away from her eyes.  His heavily scarred hands slowly found hers.  His coarse thumb rubbed circles in her smooth skin.  Gingerly, he uncurled her fingers, before gently returning her own wand back into her hand.  "If you have any misgivings, if you're afraid of me, you can petrify me and return me right back to Azkaban.  My life is once again, in your hands."

She held her own wand numbly in her hand.  Her mind blank, heart pounding in her throat.  Sebastian was so good at convincing Ominis and her to follow his lead while they were in school.  Was this all a mind game?  

She shifted back in her bed until her back met the cool wall of her cottage.  Sebastian stalked forward.  Gently, he gripped her by the chin forcing her to look up. 

As an adult, well-versed in ancient magic, she was seldom afraid, both in her personal life or on the dueling grounds.  She wasn't supposed to be afraid of Sebastian.  She knew what he was capable of.  In a fight, she was confident that she would come out on top.

So why did her heart beat so fast when he was so close to her?

"Scared?"  Sebastian drawled, sensing her unease.  "Nervous even?  No protective prison bars separating you and me."  His breath was hot against her lips as he leaned forward. 

"S-Sebastian."  She whispered.

He pulled back a bit, calculating gaze assessing her expression.  "I might be a criminal, but I'm not a monster."  His brown eyes looked lighter.  "Say that you don't want this.  Say you're disgusted by me and this will all go away."

"Sebastian.  Please."

He surged forward, his mouth meeting hers.  She felt again the familiar wave of helplessness and the surging tide of warmth on her lips.  If she thought their brief kiss in Azkaban was addictive, this was ten times more so.  His insistent mouth was parting her trembling lips, drawing out sweet sensations that she had never felt before.   

She knew, knew that kissing Sebastian Sallow, was a terrible idea.  But the protesting voices of her head were lost to the drum of her hot pulse and the tingle of her ready lips.

They broke apart, gasping for air.  His arms curved protectively around her, nestling his nose into the crook of her neck.  He smiled into her hair.  He was home.  

He would do anything in his power to make sure that he would stay.