He fiddled through his modest potion collection at the counter â Calming Draught, Pepperup Potion, Draught of Peace, Invigoration Draught, Wiggenweld â and chose quickly, reaching for the Draught of Peace and downing it in one practiced motion.
Temporary quiet, manufactured calm.
He returned to the settee, pulled the grey blanket from the back, and wrapped it around his shoulders before sinking into the cushions. He reached forward and fiddled with the papers stacked neatly on the coffee table â letters from Callie and Ominis mostly, opened and read but largely unanswered. Buried under the correspondence were documents he happily (anxiously) ignored over the course of the past year.
A Ministry-issued Notification of Orphanhood (lovely, how kind of them to formally notify him of the fact!), complete with embossed seal and impersonal wording â âThis notice certifies that Sebastian Sallow, born 15 September 1874, is hereby recognized as an unaccompanied minor in the eyes of magical law following the death of his legal guardian, Solomon Sallow.â He figured he could throw that one away now that he was 17 and nearly 18. He was actually quite impressed with himself that heâd managed to keep track of it for over a year. It would be satisfying to burn it.
Then there was the Property Abandonment Form, which he probably shouldnât burn, but desperately wanted to. He was meant to sign it to indicate whether he intended to claim or forfeit the Feldcroft cottage. He really didnât want to put the energy into thinking about that decision. Heâd never go back, that much he knew, but checking the box next to âabandonâ filled him with that all too familiar feeling of dread that he really preferred not to feel.
There was also the parchment from Gringotts, stamped in goblin ink. A balance transfer authorisation, moving what little remained of Solomonâs vault into an account under Sebastianâs name. He hadnât touched the money, and he never would.
A folded parchment at the bottom of the stack bore the seal of the Department of Magical Records. Certificate of Death, it read at the top, in tidy inked script that didnât belong on a page about Anne. Eight months later and he still hadnât read it all the way through.