"Fucking poltergeist." If poltergeists weren't amortal Sebastian could swear that he would kill Peeves himself.

Sebastian ran down the Slytherin common room stairs as the maniacal laughing of Pevees came through the door, bringing whatever teacher was planning on giving Sebastian detention this time, to his location. Most of the time it was Professor Scribner but Sebastian was not going to wait around and find out. He was safe as soon as he passed the threshold into the common room, though in the morning he knew he would hear it from Professor Weasly. The two professors had given him detention basically every day this week. Actually, he was getting detention at least once a week for almost the entire year so far.

It was almost the end of the year and almost the anniversary of when Anne got cursed. She was still sick and Sebastian had no idea what to do. They had tried everything and nothing worked. So now all he could do was read every book Hogwarts had to offer, especially from the restricted section.

He was going to the library every day and every day he was sneaking into the restricted section. At this point, it was his nightly routine to break into the restricted section, get caught in some way, run to the common room, stay up all night, and then repeat the next night. He was so tired and he knew everyone could tell but he didn't care. His grades were awful. His mood was awful. His life was awful and he didn't care. All he cared about was his sister.

At first, his teachers and friends tried to understand what he was going through. They gave him so much leeway. He wouldn't do his homework and the teachers understood. He would skip class and the teachers understood. He would yell at his friends and they understood. He could do anything and everyone tried to understand him. But it had quickly become too much for basically everyone. It was almost the end of the year and his teachers had enough. He was getting detentions all over the place. They had even put up special charms in the restricted section for him but he got through them all for his sister. It was almost the end of the year and his friends had enough. Most of them now got angry when his mood was off. Most weren't even hanging around him anymore. Honestly, the only ones that were still seemingly on his side at this point were Ominis and -

"You got caught again huh… You know if I went I would never get caught." Lillith was sitting on the couch, her feet crossed reading a book by the fire. Sebastian couldn't help but laugh at the sight. She was the embodiment of Slytherin royalty. Her blonde, but basically white, hair was long and perfectly laid across her shoulders and down her chest. Her clothes lay in the perfect way like it was charmed to do that. Her posture was perfect like she could balance a book on her head without any effort. Even the way she turned the page of her book was royal-like.

"Oh, Highness if I get caught all the time there is no way you wouldn't. Plus you wouldn't even dare damage your perfect record by sneaking into the restricted section." Lillith turned her face and gave Sebastian her signature annoyed look, her crystal blue eyes shining, which in turn made Sebastian give her his signature smirk.

"First, Sallow," Lillith put an annoyed emphasis on his last name which made the intended Sallow laugh. "Don't call me that."

"But I love seeing you annoyed. It always makes my day." She rolled her eyes and to Sebastian's surprise, she didn't have a rebuttal to that. She always loved saying something and Sebastian was very used to it. But he couldn't deny it was nice the few times she just let him say whatever he wanted. Though when they did have arguments Sebastian couldn't deny that was also nice.

"Second, I'm sorry I have a family name to live up to." The mood immediately shifted as it was now Sebastian's turn to roll his eyes. That was one of the biggest reasons he hated Lillith and honestly one of the only reasons he hated being a Slytherin. There were so many people in his house that believed that pure-blood wizards were better than everyone else. That's why he liked Ominis so much. He didn't care about Sebastian's blood status and though Lillith technically never said anything that indicated that she believed in that ideology; she was one of the people that believed in her pure blood name. She was a Rosier and everyone knew it. It didn't help that she was a part of the Royal Gang in the school. Her, Adem Lestrange, Niran Malfoy, Zahra Nott, and Kamran Avery acted like they ruled the school and Sebastian couldn't help but hate them for it, especially Lestrange. Lestrange was a walking nightmare and Sebastian couldn't believe Lillith stayed in his company. Though he assumed with the name Lestrange it was a good friend to have for the lineage of Rosier to keep in touch with. Still thinking of them together made Sebastian feel sick.

He made his way over to Lillith basically falling into the spot on the other side of the couch from her. He dropped his head and closed his eyes trying to get a little bit of rest before he dived into his new stolen book. It would be a long night but he was used to it at this point. Plus if Sebastian was honest with himself the long nights were made better with Lillith being there. Someone to annoy made the boring nights more fun.

He didn't know when it really started but it was their thing now to spend the nights together by the fire. Sebastian would read the book he had stolen from the library and Lillith would do homework all night. They would chit-chat and fail at not getting into an argument. Then when the first noises of the morning would hit their ears they would go their separate ways. No one saw them together. No one knew they spent the night together and that's just how it was. That was their routine and it was nice. Sebastian's life was hectic and to have something consistent was all he really needed to get through his days. Plus the less sleep he got the more time he had to figure out a cure for Anne and the fewer nightmares he had. Spending time with Lillith was a small price to pay to get that.

"So did you at least get the book I told you about?" Sebastian wiped his eyes with his free hand trying to get rid of some of the sleep he felt. Exhausted wasn't even a strong enough word for what he felt but it didn't really matter. Anne mattered and that was that.

"Yeah, it was hard to find though." He handed the book over without looking and reached into his pocket for his journal. It wasn't the prettiest journal out there but it did what Sebastian needed it to do. Papers were sticking out everywhere, stains all over the place but it had everything Sebastian knew in it. If he was going to figure out a cure his journal would be a major step in it.

Then all of a sudden Lillith laughed and it was like Sebastian was never tired, to begin with. It was like just the sound was magic itself and cured him of his ailments. It was so sudden and Sebastian was very afraid to find out where her laugh came from.

"Hey… Sallow… do you have anything you want to tell me?" Sebastian crinkled his eyebrows as he had no idea what she was talking about. He looked over and all she was doing was badly covering her mouth to try to hide her laughter and looking at the cover of the book he stole. He couldn't even imagine what was so funny to get Lillith to laugh like that.

"No… don't think so." Lillith laughed more and finally with tears threatening to escape her eyes, she turned the cover of the book to face him. Sebastian looked and instead of reading the cover of Death by the Hands of Curses the words in front of him read Love Potions Never Work: Here's How to Actually Win the Heart of Your Witch. It was like the future flashed before his eyes because Sebastian knew at that very moment he would never hear the end of this from her. He cupped his hands to his face as Lillith laughed harder than ever. "Fuck me…"

"Wow, I know you love flirting with me but you do that with everyone. If you are genuinely in love with me you could have just told me instead of using this book. I mean I know I can be intimidating but you were bound to fall in love with me at some point. I'm just glad you're owning up to it. It was quite embarrassing watching you be obsessed with me."

Sebastian snatched the book from Lillith's hands before she was able to think about keeping it as blackmail. He had no idea how that book got into his hands at the library. He could have sworn he grabbed the right book. Either the universe hated him and wanted him to feel the ultimate humiliation or he really was that tired.

"Oh, you wish Highness. If anything I think you're the one in love with me. I mean I am Sebastian Sallow after all. Who isn't in love with me?" Sebastian put on the charm as best he could so that maybe he could save the situation. If he played his cards right maybe he could get some blackmail for Lillith. If she did actually cave and mention her feelings, oh would Sebastian have a field day.

"Nope, not falling for it. This is too good to not make fun of you for the rest of your life. Sorry Sallow, I won this one."

"You did not win, you just got lucky that I grabbed the wrong book."

"There's no such thing as luck. You just wanted a way to tell me your feelings without actually saying them." Lillith took the book back and started to flip through the pages, stopping every so often to show Sebastian something ridiculous like setting up a romantic candlelight dinner in a forest just to embarrass him more. What Lillith didn't know was that he was already pretty embarrassed and she really couldn't make it worse.

"How did you know about the Death by the Hands of Curses anyway?" Really the only thing Sebastian could do was change the topic of conversation and hope for the best.

"I'm a Rosier. We know a lot about the secrets of the wizarding world, especially at Hogwarts."

"I guess that's one good thing about being in a pure-blood family."

"Yeah… one good thing…" Once again the mood shifted as Lillith continued flipping through the pages of the book. There was something she wasn't telling him but if Sebastian was going to be honest with himself he didn't have the energy to ask. She never talked about her family and he knew that wouldn't start now. So instead he closed his eyes again. His energy felt like it dropped back to zero in an instant but he knew he had to head back to the library. Without the right book, his night was a waste and he couldn't let one day go without doing something to help Anne. All he could think about was sleep, his mind dragging its thoughts to his bed but he knew he couldn't. He just had to power through and once Anne was saved he could sleep. Once Anne was saved he could think about having a normal life.

Sebastian didn't know how long he kept his eyes closed but it felt like enough time for some sort of rest to happen. He hoped the teachers that roamed the halls had forgotten about him for the night so he didn't have to waste more energy on evading them. He never went back out once he got caught but there was always a first time for everything.

Sebastian stood up and prepared his brain for the task ahead. The disillusionment charm helped but his brain really needed to be on to get through all the teachers and charms if they were still waiting for him. He might get caught almost every day sneaking around the school but he almost always made it back to the common room before trouble made it to him. Detention normally came in the morning but to him, that was an accomplishment.

"Where are you going?" Sebastian froze at the soft anger in Lillith's voice. He hadn't expected it let alone her even saying anything as he got up. Though he should have known Lillith better. She probably already figured out as soon as she read the cover of the book that he would return to the library that night.

"I think you know where." Sebastian couldn't look at her because he knew as soon as he did his determination would dwindle. She would have some sort of look on her face, he didn't know what but he knew her well enough that whatever it was it would stop him in his tracks. They knew each other well. They knew where each other's lines were and knew when each other were being dumb. Right now they both knew Sebastian was being dumb. He was already caught tonight if he got caught again who knows what kind of trouble he would be in. So he knew he was being dumb but he had to go back to the library. Even if getting sleep was important. Even if Lillith was about to yell at him. Even if he were to get caught again and maybe even expelled he still had to go. He had to for Anne. So if he turned around he would either lose his will to go back to the library or he would get mad at Lillith and Sebastian really didn't know which would happen. So he didn't look at her.

"Sebastian." Sebastian couldn't understand how he and Lillith knew each other so well but it happened somehow. Through all the years together. Through all the small moments they had. They knew each other. So Lillith knew that saying his first name would do something to him. It was so rare to hear the word out of her mouth that his body basically reacted without his control. It made his brain want to listen to her. It made his muscles relax. And that made him angry. Just one little word and he was already disappointing Anne.

He turned around because that was all he could think to do and he didn't even realize that she had gotten up till then. He hadn't even realized that she closed the distance between the two and yet it still felt like they were miles apart. Miles apart because Sebastian could already feel his anger boiling up and pushing the two apart.

"What." Venom seeped from Sebastian's words and for a split second Lillith's face changed but it was so fast that Sebastian couldn't even tell what it was. It didn't quite matter though because he was pretty sure he didn't care at that point.

"You're beyond tired. Your bags have bags. Why not tonight… just tonight… go to bed instead of heading back to the library? Anne can wait for just a few hours." As soon as the words left Lillith's lips they both knew that it was probably the worst thing she could have said and there was no going back. All her power over him left in an instant and his anger was all that was left.

"Do you even care about Anne?" Lillith had no right to say that Anne could wait. It didn't matter what he was going through, all that mattered was Anne. She could die tomorrow and Sebastian would never forgive himself if he spent his last moments with her alive sleeping.

"Merlin… where did that come from?"

"Do you care about Anne?" This time Sebastian was louder and Lillith instinctually took a step back. For a split second, Sebastian could feel his heart stop when he realized he was scaring her but just as quickly his heart sped back up pulsing the anger through his veins.

"Of course I do."

"That's a lie."

"No, it's not Sebastian. Yes, we never did get along that much but of course, I don't want her to be hurting like she is. Why do you think I told you about the book? I want Anne back at this school just as much as you do."

"She is my sister, my twin sister, you could never want her back as much as I do. You have no idea what I am going through right now. Don't even try."'

"I literally have a twin sister that hates me and I've tried everything to fix it. Of course, I don't know exactly what you are going through but if anyone could I thought you would understand it would be me."

"So is that what this is, you're trying to make amends for your guilty heart by helping me."

"Don't be an idiot. I'm trying to help because we're… we're friends."

"Oh, we're friends now huh? What would your boyfriend think about that?"

"Lestrange is not my boyfriend and don't change the subject. We're talking about you, not me. You need to start taking care of your body before you kill yourself."

"Wow Queen Slytherin herself doesn't want the conversation to be about her, that's surprising." Sarcasm was seeping through each of Sebastian's words and he couldn't stop it. Honestly, he didn't want to stop it. It felt good to be angry. It felt good to have any other feeling than fear and sadness. Plus another person hating him would just be another person he didn't have to worry about disappointing. Another person he didn't have to worry about caring about him.

"Ok… ok… you're angry and I don't think we can get anywhere talking like this. So what if I go get the book and you take a nap? Maybe then we can have a decent conversation about your health when I come back." Lillith headed towards the stairs not even waiting for Sebastian to respond. She knew better than to let him continue talking because if she did they both understood they wouldn't come back from whatever was coming next. They could feel it in the air. It was like the universe itself was telling both of them to take a step back. Sebastian wouldn't dare to let himself listen to any of it though. Yelling and being angry felt good and he wasn't much for thinking about his actions before he did them. So he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

Lillith turned to face Sebastian and her blue eyes bore into his brown eyes. They looked at each other for what felt like centuries having a silent conversation with each other. Lillith wanted to stop, she wanted to keep safe whatever sliver of their relationship was left but Sebastian was past that point. Which meant there was nothing either of them could do. Sebastian was only ever action and the consequence never really mattered to him.

"Sebastian. Let. Go."

"No."

"Sebastian."

"Why don't we talk about you? I've noticed those same bags under your eyes. You don't sleep. You don't go to your room. You don't seem comfortable even hanging out with any of the girls anymore. I've noticed how weak your magic is getting. You can barely lift feathers in charms class now. I've noticed how you don't look at your reflection anywhere you go. It's like you can't stand yourself anymore. Why is that?"

"Don't…"

"Oh, I think I know why. First, the only times I ever see you truly happy and yourself is when you are talking to Sirona. That's quite weird don't you think."

"Please…"

"No, I'm not done. Second, that Royal Gang you hang around with are some of the worst people to ever exist. They bully and beat anyone who even dares to walk in the same hallway as them. Especially if they're like me and come from a no-name family. It's even worse if they are muggle-born. Remember how beat up Philp was when Lestrange found out he was muggle born?" Sebastian went silent and Lilltih wasn't looking at him anymore but he expected an answer because she had to understand the atrocities she was a part of. "Lillith answered me."

"Yes, I remember. He dropped out of school because of it."

"Yep, he dropped out of school all because of your boyfriend. Yet for some reason, you still are a part of that group, one of the leaders of the group. I've tried to look past it. Even with everyone else in my life hating you and telling me how awful you are, I tried to look past it all. Yet you continue to prove to me how awful you are. You are one of the worst people I have ever met."

"You… you don't actually believe that do you?"

"Of course I do. Let's not forget the third and most interesting of all your sister. She really hates you. More hate than I've ever seen another person have for someone. It makes me question what you did to her. For a sister to hate her twin so much… it's interesting. I wonder though… she does seem to have a lot of scars all over her face… her hands… Do you have any idea why that might be?"

"Fuck you Sallow." Sebastian's body went slack as the hurt in Lillith's voice hit him. It didn't just feel like a punch, it felt like he was hit with Avada Kedavra and he was already withering away. In an instant he regretted everything. He knew he wanted to hurt her but it was like something took over. It was like pushing people away was the only option he had ever had in his life yet he never actually got to make that choice. It was so instinctual so built into his code that it just happened and by the time he noticed it was too late. He needed to push her away. Needed her to get out of his life but he felt in his soul like everything in the universe was wrong. It felt like this wasn't ever supposed to be his life. All of his anger from the past year… no his entire life came to the surface and it went all toward destroying one of the only people left he had in his life. All he could do was let it happen. All he ever knew in his life was pain and destruction and this was no different.

Lillith quickly realized Sebastian's arm loosened at her final words and she took that opportunity to rip her arm out of his hand. Then without a second thought like her body was on autopilot, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at him. For a second just a second, her hurt turned into anger and every part of her wanted to cast an unforgivable that her grandfather had taught her. Unforgivables were a part of her blood and it roared to be released but Lillith couldn't. It didn't matter what Sebastian could say to her. He could say anything and she would still care for him. Her first real friend and yet it felt like the pain he had caused her deserved an unforgivable. Thankfully for Sebastian Lillith actually thought about the things she did instead of doing without thinking.

"Depulso." Sebastian's back slammed into the brick wall behind him and he quickly collapsed to the floor and Lillith right along with him. For a second his vision went black before some of the worst physical pain he had ever felt set in. He couldn't move and could barely think. He never thought depulso could be that strong yet if anyone could prove him wrong it would be Lillith.

Sebastian almost wanted to laugh at that thought but his body couldn't do anything but lay completely motionless. Still, it was funny that Lillith would be the one to prove him wrong. She had become so weak and somehow was able to pull off depulso which such strength. That's what she always did though, prove him wrong and that's why they worked so well together. She was smart to his dumbass.

Sebastian didn't know how long it was before he felt a presence over him, shaking hands reaching out barely even touching him. He knew it was Lillith even if he couldn't open his eyes. He knew her presence ever since the first day they met and even if he was dead he could never forget it. He knew what her face would look like shock and sadness, guilt and grief filled with tears as she contemplated what to do. She would be in as much pain as he was and he knew that for a fact because something was wrong with her. Her magic had gotten so weak over the years and he knew depulso was too much for her. Yet Sebastian never actually asked her what was wrong. He was always too busy thinking about Anne to ever worry about his friends. And now she had used a strong spell against him that must have hurt her all because of the hurt Sebastian had caused and there wasn't anything he could do now.

The presence left and he was alone in the common room. He didn't know how much time had passed or even how he made his way to the hospital wing but he had hobbled his way there. The nurse was beyond shocked he could even walk let alone move an inch but if Sebastian had anything going for him it was his determination. She healed him up while demanding to know who had done this but Sebastian stayed quiet because he was to blame and she couldn't give the injured kid detention for injuring himself.

It was fully morning by the time Sebastian was released back to the common room and told to sleep which definitely made him laugh. In the end, he might actually get the sleep Lillith had wanted him to get in the first place.

It was almost time for class and Sebastian thought for the first time in a while that maybe today should be the day he started going back to class regularly. He thought it would be quite funny to see Lillith have the conflicting emotions of being happy that he was going to classes again versus her anger about him not getting sleep. Though he quickly realized that whatever happened last night had probably seriously affected their relationship and for a split second he felt a pang in his chest which surprised him. He thought that with all the people that leave him, he would be used to it and yet that wasn't the case. It still hurts every time but Sebastian would never reveal that to anyone.

He made his way down the common room stairs one at a time still sore from everything and quickly became aware of yelling coming from the main part of the common room. He recognized the voice instantly as Lillith's sister Maeve and apparently, she was demanding his presence of all people.

"Present." Sebastian made it to the last step and raised his hand slowly like he was in class and the teacher was taking attendance. All the eyes of seemingly every Slytherin in Hogwarts met his. Most were filled with shock at his appearance, and some, specifically Lestrange, were filled with enjoyment instead.

"Accio!" In an instant, he was up in the air face to face with a very angry Maeve. Sebastian couldn't help but smile as he looked at her. Though they were twins it was funny to him how different Lillith and Maeve actually were. Lillith was like air; her face was light and smiles came easy even if they weren't always genuine. She had a darkness to her but it was light that won the battle every morning and her face told the fantastic tale. Maeve on the other hand was darkness. She was all sharp edges and battle scars. There were remnants of light but they had disappeared a long time ago. Still, they were twins and unlike Sebastian and Anne, they were each other's opposite sides of the same coin.

"If you liked me this much you could have just told me instead of using accio to bring me so close to you," Maeve growled at Sebastian's comment which did make him smirk, his world-famous smirk.

"Where the fuck is Lillith?" That made Sebastian's face drop. He had no idea where she was. He assumed after everything that happened she would have just gone to her dorm. She might have even gone to the library to get the book Sebastian was supposed to grab. He had a million ideas of where she could have been but this crowd and the look on Maeve's face told him he was missing a big piece of the puzzle.

"I have no idea where she is. My only guess would have been the dorm but looking at your face I'm guessing she's not there."

"No, she's not there and all of her stuff just magically disappeared overnight. So you being the idiot that keeps trying to be her friend and the fact that you also weren't in the common room, I'm going to guess you have something to do with her disappearance. I swear if you don't tell me the truth I'll make sure you feel more pain than you have ever felt."

"Look, I promise I was in the hospital wing getting patched up. I saw Lillith before I left but I have no idea where she went after I left the common room." For just a split second fear washed over Maeve's face before returning back to full anger. Sebastian had told the truth and Maeve could tell.

"She wouldn't leave right before summer. She wouldn't… she would never do that… you have to be lying." Maeve's voice started to waver as more and more fear started flashing in her features. Sebastian suspected everyone else was just reading anger but he knew better. He could read Lillith like his favorite book and Maeve was like a translation of that same book. It was sometimes hard to understand but Sebastian could tell unlike everyone else fear was pushing her at this point not anger. The only thing Sebastian didn't know was why fear was appearing. Maeve hated her sister so it couldn't have been because she was actually worried about Lillith missing. It had to be something else.

"Look you're putting on quite the show here and I bet many people are having fun watching me just float here but why not put me down? We all have classes to get to and I would hate to be the one to blame for Slytherin losing house points because everyone is late." Maeve grasped her wand even tighter and Sebastian sighed because he could already tell there was no getting out of this. Maeve was like a deer in headlights and Sebastian was the one that had to pay for it.

"Maeve put him down. He already told you everything he knows." Oimins came out of the crowd, his wand pulsing, telling him where he was. The eyes of all the Slytehrins all focused on him as he made his way over to the two. Sebastian could tell he was annoyed at having to save his friend again for the millionth time but that was what Ominis did. Ominis was also smart to his dumb but was more disappointed at Sebastian than any other emotion most of the time.

"He knows more than he is letting on and you know it."

"Maeve, don't make me repeat myself." There it was the famous Gaunt voice. The voice that almost every Hogwarts student was scared of but also the voice that wizards from important families knew meant business. Lucky for Sebastian, Maeve was a Rosier and she knew better than to get in the way of a Gaunt and the Gaunt family.

"Fine." With a flick of Maeve's wand, Sebastian fell back onto the ground almost falling over as the impact caused his already sore body to move in ways it didn't want to. Thankfully he caught himself before he could be humiliated even more in front of the whole Slytherin house.

"Alright, everyone. Show is over." Everyone followed Ominis' words and started to disperse. Even Maeve left but gave Sebastian a death glare before leaving his field of view.

Ominis felt for Sebastian's arm and grabbed it, putting it over his shoulder. Then with one arm wrapped around Sebastian's waist and the other on his wand the two headed towards their dormitory.

"You know you don't have to carry me."

"Sebastian I could tell you were hurt by the way your arrogance was only at 90 percent instead of 100 as you were talking to Maeve."

"Fine… yes I am hurting but I'm still going to class."

"Wow, I guess someone finally knocked some sense into you." Sebastian's face fell at those words. Ominis was more correct than he could have even guessed. "So are you going to tell me what happened?"

"Not right now Omi. I'm just so tired."

"Ok."

It was a weird day for Sebastian. He rarely attended all of his classes in a day. Before Anne had gotten cursed he cared about school. He went to all his classes, especially Defence Against the Dark Arts. But within this last year, it was rare he went to every class. His studies just didn't matter anymore. Anne was his one and only worry and his grades were the first to be affected.

Not only was it weird for him to go to class it didn't help that everyone was already whispering about Lillith missing. It wasn't normal for a student to go completely missing without anyone knowing. As Sebastian went from one class to another it even seemed like the teachers had no idea where Lillith had gone. They were all talking to each other just like the students were all wondering what happened. Professor Weasly even forgot to give Sebastian detention because she was running around the school so much. Hogwarts had quickly become a madhouse as everyone wondered if something bad happened to Lillith and if it would affect everyone or if she just left without anyone catching her.

Then to make the situation even more in everyone's mind at dinner Headmaster Black went in front of everyone and started to talk about the disappearance of Lillith. However, he was quickly kicked off of the podium because Professor Weasly knew more about what to say compared to Headmaster Black.

Sebastian had basically zoned out the entire thing. He basically was zoned out the entire day. After leaving his first class a first-year Slytherin had asked him what he did to Lillith, and from then on the day was a blur. He couldn't take hearing her name over and over again. He knew it was his fault that she was gone but he had no idea where she went. Did she leave Hogwarts altogether or was she just hiding away in one of the many secret places in the school? He didn't know and he couldn't afford to think about it.

Night came faster than what felt normal to Sebastian. Before he knew it his body while on autopilot made it to the library's restricted section and he was face to face with the book he should have grabbed the night before.

For a split second, he let his mind wonder about the possibility that he grabbed the correct book the night before. He probably wouldn't have yelled at Lillith. He probably would have skipped all his classes. He probably would have had a normal day just like any other if he had grabbed the right book. Yet he didn't and he didn't think he would ever see Lillith again. He couldn't just come back from what he said and he knew that with every fiber of his being. Still, it felt like part of him was ok with that and yet another part hated himself for it. A part of him loved anger and pushing people away before they could hurt him. Another part of him knew pushing people away hurt just as much as if they did it themselves. Yet he couldn't help himself. Pain was one of the things he knew best and there were many forms of it to explore.

He slowly walked down the Slytherin stairs not in a rush like normal. All the teachers were too busy trying to figure out what happened to Lillith for them to care about what Sebastian was doing. Which worked out in his favor because he was too zoned out to get out of trouble in the first place.

That's why when he made it to the last step of the stairs and looked to where Lillith always sat and waited for him he could have sworn it was her sitting there. He could have sworn he saw her tuck her blonde almost white hair back behind her ear. He could have sworn he saw her flip the page in her book in the most elegant way like she was trained since birth to become royalty. He could have sworn she turned to him blue eyes glaring and started to make fun of him for being stupid again. He could have sworn they spent all night talking and repeated their routine every day until the school year was over. Yet in a millisecond he recognized that it wasn't Lillith sitting there, it was Ominis. It was Ominis because he knew Sebastian better than anyone. Because he knew that Sebastian would have still gone to the library. Because he knew that Sebastian and Lillith talked every night even though no one else seemed to know, even though Sebastian never told anyone. Because he knew that Sebastian needed a friend even though he always managed to push them away. Because he knew without Sebastian even telling him that he messed up and that there was nothing he could do. Omins knew Sebastian more than even Sebastian knew about himself.

Sebastian made his way over to the couch and basically fell into Ominis' lap. He didn't even jump because he knew Sebastian and knew without seeing that would be the exact thing he would have done. They were best friends. They knew each other better than anyone else ever could and Sebastian just needed someone to comfort him.

"I really fucked up didn't I."

"Yeah, you did."

"No silver linings or good outcomes to give me."

"No. She left Sebastian and from the way you are sulking, I can guess whatever happened between you two it was pretty bad. I never liked her but I could tell you two were close so I can't give you the good in all this because I don't think there is any. She left and took all her stuff. I honestly don't think we will ever see her again because I don't think there is anything to come back to. You always push people away and it happened once again. There's not much else to say about it."

"I haven't pushed you away yet Ominis. You're still here with me, why is that?"

"Honestly I don't really know. You're my best friend but you are a real idiot most of the time. Yet I can't seem to hate you. Though I suppose without me you probably would have done something so stupid at this point you would have died by now so maybe that's why I stay to keep your stupid in check." Sebastian laughed because it was the truth. Ominis thought about his actions and never did anything that would have negative consequences. Sebastian on the other hand was always immediately into action. He never thought, he just did the first thing his brain told him to do. It had caused him a lot of trouble and he knew it would only cause him more trouble as he got older. Yet he really couldn't do anything about it. He loved the people he loved and he would do anything to protect them. If that meant making them hate him he would do that without hesitation.

Every.

Single.

Time.