Brutal Honesty
A/N: Takes place after the events of Horrors of the Scriptorium. I wanted to show more of their dynamic and showcase that they are truly Not Friends, and that Sebastian doesn't like her. Sebastian, Ominis, Katherine (F!MC) Warnings: Sebastian is an asshole, language, bullying, depression, Ominis is an enabler, more angst but nobody is surprised Word Count: 2.5K
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There they were, arguing. As per usual.
Katherine and Sebastian stood in the Undercroft, the latter yelling at the prior.
“Because you got in the way!” His sharp tone echoed off the stone walls of the hidden room.
“Maybe if you actually communicated what you were doing, we wouldn’t run into as many issues.” Katherine tried to keep her head level, refusing to be dragged down to his level.
“Perhaps if you didn’t take up too much damn space”
She stopped at that, the venom in his voice dripping into her soul. He had leaned down to her level, an inch from her face as he spat out his disdain for the Ravenclaw.
Holding firm, she didn’t allow her lip to tremble or her eyes to cloud. Katherine held his dark gaze with a flat one of her own, which only seemed to fuel his anger.
“God, you’re like a fucking doll!” His knuckles were white with the effort of holding back shoving her into the wall, anything to just get some kind of rise out of her. Give him the satisfaction of seeing her suffer. He suppressed a smile at the thought of the sound her head would make as it slammed into the stone.
She didn’t miss the way he opened and closed his fists or the dangerous look in his eyes; and that made her skin crawl and throat tighten. The brunette couldn’t recall what he had been yelling at her for this time, her focus was centered on his body language; Ready to bolt if he lunged at her.
It had been like any other run of the mill outing he dragged her along for, both fully aware of the fact that Sebastain was simply using Katherine for her ability to see and sense ancient magic. It was a vain hope and mission to save Anne. She wanted to help the poor girl, she really did, but Sebastian’s thinly veiled threats made it hard for her to have any kind of pity outside of who her brother was.
Another goblin camp blown to pieces, the occasional ‘friendly’ fire shot at her. Which, of course, he would say was an accident and she just happened to be in the line of fire. She knew all too well that he wasn’t above causing her harm, she had one too many scars to forget. Not to mention the nightmare that happened inside the scriptorium. Which meant that she spent an equal amount of time watching her back for oncoming attacks from foes and the one who was supposed to be on her side; potentially more so for her ‘partner’.
Anytime she heard his specific pattern of footsteps she felt herself stiffen up, senses prepped and ready for a fight. She tried not to look him in the eyes, except for when he got in her face. She refused to show weakness, refused to show him the fear that coursed through her body at the mere mention of him.
But there she was, face to face with him as he spat her loyalty back in her face. Telling her that she “took up too much space” and that she was worthless to his endeavor, worthless to everyone and everything.
She knew he held no kind regard for her, but to have him throw it directly in her face with words rather than unforgivables was a completely different ordeal. There was no roundabout way he could try to play it off as a necessity, no hidden agenda, nothing outside of the pure disdain he held for the girl he manipulated and forced into being his “friend”.
She looked into his hate-filled eyes. Her voice came out soft spoken and matter-of-factly, “You’re mean.”
He blinked. Not the reaction he expected or hoped for.
Sebastian expected tears, yelling, expletives. Not the words of children.
She stared at him as his mind reeled, once he came back around he was fuming. Him? Mean? He was doing absolutely everything in his power to save his sister. He was a lot of things, but Sebastian Sallow was not mean.
“Have you taken a look at yourself!?” Somewhere in his disbelief he had taken a few steps back from Katherine. “You! The one who is never not in the way! The one who has never once done something right! You’re the reason we were stuck in that godforsaken crypt for two days! I’m the one that got us out, and we would’ve gotten out a lot quicker had you not insisted that there was another way. I am the reason we’re alive. Don’t act like you’re all high and mighty.”
The composure she worked so hard to maintain cracked. She swallowed, her lip trembled, and most damned, she looked away.
He smirked and straightened up to his full height, further proving her small and insignificant. He won.
She didn’t have to see the look in his eyes to know that he knew it too. So instead, she just shoved past him and out the gate of the Undercroft. Walking out into the hall she bumped into someone, she made out the red glow through her tear-streaked vision. A quick apology and she disappeared into the rest of the castle, not wanting to get another lecture or scolding from the Prince of Slytherin himself.
Back in the Ravenclaw dorm rooms, Katherine sat alone on the side of her bed. Sebastian’s words echoing in her head. Staring down at her hands, her nails had finally grown back and there was still subtle scarring all over her fingers. She wore gloves to hide them, but she knew that they were there. Just as she knew all of her flaws and hidden scars. And that bastard Slytherin put them on blast.
Her breathing heaved and sped up, even in the warmth of her room the chill of his presence haunted her. The tears barreled their way out of her eyes, flooding down her neck. Gasping for air, grasping any semblance of comfort. Her skin was too tight, ”too much space”, she pulled at her hair trying to release the tension in her mind.
She looked up across the room where the mirror stood. She stared back at herself, but it was a shell of the girl she was, the girl she wanted to be. Hair falling loose from a bun long forgotten, eyes red and puffed, red salt stains down her face and neck, her shirt was soaked with her own tears. Splotchy and unwanted. Katherine looked at herself and choked. The broken girl reflected in the mirror was a stranger to her.
A few weeks had passed, Katherine doing anything to make herself as small as possible. She kept to herself, hiding in a corner of the library where nobody ever looked. Sitting at the edge of the Ravenclaw table on the rare occasion she attended meal calls. She spoke less and didn’t answer questions in class. When not in class, the library, or her bedroom, she hid away in the Room of Requirement. She had taken care to remove all the mirrors from within its walls and removed most of the furnishings. Standing in the middle of the empty, expansive room made her feel small. How people wished she would be. She spent her time in the various vivariums, sitting in the comforting silence of the beasts she kept safe there. A book in one hand, the other threading through the fur of a mooncalf.
Her plan seemed to be working, nobody seemed to notice or care that she had retracted herself from their lives. Though it came as no surprise to her, being unwanted was a language she was fluent in; it was the only one she knew.
She avoided Sebastian and Ominis in the halls, she had long since figured out their usual habits and knew how to fly under their radar, so as to not tempt their wrath.
It wasn’t until reviewing Boggarts in Defense Against the Dark Arts that the water once again began to boil over. Professor Hecat had instructed Katherine to go first, and students began whispering upon the cupboard door opening.
Sebastian Sallow.
Tall and glowering, eyes glowing with intention, wand gripped in white knuckles. He stalked towards her, red sparks at the tip of his wand. She had learned long ago to swallow her fear in the face of him. But at this moment, there were two of him in the room; both making their way towards her.
She steeled herself for whatever the real Sebastian was preparing for her as she cast Riddikulus on Boggart-Sebastian. Only for it not to change. It simply stopped. Brown eyes met blue as they stared at each other.
Seconds felt like lifetimes before Hecat stepped between them, interrupting and instructing the lesson to continue. Katherine made her way to the corner of the classroom, acutely aware of the eyes on her. Especially a certain Slytherin’s dark glare.
As soon as class ended, she tried to escape but was stopped by a pale hand. Boney fingers wrapped around her wrist and began to pull her away, a whispered instruction to not cause a scene.
Ominis dragged her down the stairs and towards the Undercroft, and once realizing their destination she began to resist.
“Katherine. Don’t make a scene.” His voice was cold as ever, speaking orders as only the Prince of Slytherin could.
Though she didn’t listen. She tried to yank her arm from his grasp, but his fingers only tightened.
He sighed, “Merlin, why must you make everything so difficult.” He didn’t pose it as a question, but as an objective fact. His words, spoken in his posh, stone-cold tone, discouraged her. There was no winning this fight. A realization that was only exemplified as she heard the familiar rhythm of Sebastian’s footsteps behind her.
“Walk.” A firm hand pushed her shoulder, causing her to stumble forward a pace, falling back into step behind the blond that retained his vice grip on her wrist.
With a final shove from the brunet, Katherine was in the secluded “sanctuary” of the Undercroft. “What the hell?” She barked back at the two boys that had forced her into their precious hideout.
“What the hell, me? What the hell, you?!” Sebastian’s voice was angry as always, “That was some clever trick you pulled back there.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your boggart! Turning it into me? Very funny.”
“You think I did that on purpose? One can’t exactly control what it turns into, you clod!” How dense was this kid? Merlin.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure in that stuck-up little Ravenclaw head of yours you could probably figure it out.” He had taken steps towards her, backing her up further into the room.
“Or maybe you’re just that much of a dick” Her own voice was growing venomous as she tried to stand up against him. “Did you ever think of that?”
His glare deepened, his eyes growing violent. He went to take a step forward but was stopped by Ominis’ sudden grasp of his sleeve. He whipped his head back, gaze directed back to his friend’s expression of silent warning.
She should make a run for it. She knew that she should. But… would she make it? Would they stop her? Hex her? Curse her? Her fear held her in place, the boys exchanged hushed, angry whispers that Katherine couldn’t understand. Tentative test steps away returned the attention to her. Ominis’ dead stare locked in her direction and Sebastian turned back around, fixing her with a cold stare that froze her to the floor. And just like that, whatever hushed argument the boys were having was forgotten and the small Ravenclaw was the center of attention.
“Okay, fine. Maybe you can’t control it.” His voice was flat and cold, “The ‘Big Bad Sebastian Sallow’” He took a step forward with a taunting laugh. “That’s really your biggest fear? Not Ranrok,” another step, “Not Rookwood”, even closer, “Me”. He towered over her, smirking.
Katherine swallowed. She tried to take a step back, but he grabbed her arm, holding her hostage in his stare.
“All knowing, stuck up little Katherine Ambrose is afraid of me.” He laughed, a wicked taunting laugh. And she wanted to cry. The one thing that scared her more than him, was him finding out that he was what scared her; and what he could do with that information.
She wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. Before meeting Sebastian and becoming entrapped in his schemes and manipulation she had been so excited and full of life. And now… now she couldn’t wait to disappear. She was small and insignificant, and Sebastian made sure of it.
“... why are you so mean?” It took all of her to stop her voice from shaking.
Sebastian scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Again, with this ‘mean’ thing” He let go of his grasp on her arm, only to roughly grab her chin. “Am I really so scary?” He wasn’t asking and he wasn’t serious. He was mocking her. Smug, sweet enjoyment of her fear.
“Sebastian,” Ominis’ tired voice cut through the stiff air of the Undercroft. A sharp reminder to both that he was still present. “This truly isn’t necessary. I don’t know what you are hoping to accomplish here.”
Sebastian chuffed and growled, ignoring his friend. “I want to know why. You think I’m some terrible monster but you’re not all that great either.”
She held his gaze, lip trembling and brows stitched together.
“You are an insufferable goody two shoes that nobody likes. You are in the way, desperate, and pathetic. And I am the only person that is willing to tell you. And I am the bad guy because I’m honest.”
“You are not honest. You are mean.” Her voice shook and she tried not to cry.
He released her chin and took a step back, looking down at her with arms crossed.
“I might be a jerk, but I at least have redeemable qualities. I can’t think of any for you. What even is there to like about you?”
“That I am nothing like you.”
With a painful crunch and a flurry of expletives, Katherine realized that Sebastian had punched the pillar she was standing beside. Ominis perked up from his place in the corner at the sound and swiftly started approaching. Katherine took this moment to duck out from under his arm, careful of the blood that was smeared on the stone and was dripping from his hand.
Sebastian continued to curse as he turned on Katherine, holding his obviously broken hand with his other. But Ominis stopped him, scolding him about his temper and pulling out a handkerchief to wrap the hand.
But Katherine didn’t care, she held no pity for the Slytherin. She darted towards the exit of the Undercroft, not listening to the frustrated tones of the boys in her wake.
She charged ahead, up and out. Towards the Ravenclaw tower. She was desperate to cleanse herself, scrub her skin raw of where they had dared to lay their hands on her. And she silently thanked Merlin that he had punched the pillar and not her.
