#samantha dale is that girl

[thursdaymoonrise11]

You know the scene reference ✨

[choccy-milky]

smooth, seb 👍 ((redraw of this scene from the goblet of fire))

[rats-n-runespoors]

i've been seeing some cowboy au adjacent stuff recently so i'd like to offer my expert opinion on what they'd ride

Sebastian - Bay Holsteiner

Ominis - Black American Saddlebred

Amit - Blue roan Quarter horse

Garreth - Chestnut leopard Appaloosa

Leander - Seal brown Rabicano Tennessee Walker

Natty - Gray Criollo

Poppy - Haflinger

Anne - Bay Hanoverian

Imelda - Dark bay Thoroughbred

Samantha - Palomino Morgan

my sources:

[celestial--sapphic]

samantha dale/nellie oggspire

am i correct or am i correct

[superconductivebean]

#581: HL girlies as songs from my plsts

i need content for girlies this bad i need i need content for girlies this bad time to shitpost my picks are a little obscure

Natty

Poppy

Imelda

Samantha

Grace

anything taylor swift

bonus: f!MC

[cranberryletters]

Cool violet flower

[festivalsofmargot]

how do you think Ominis, Garreth, and Sebastian would react to a jealous reader being jealous because someone else was being flirty and asking them to the Yule Ball?

The 3 Boys & Your Jealousy

{Garreth Weasley/Ominis Gaunt/Sebastian Sallow x GN!Reader}

Word Count: 

Garreth: ~ 1500 words

Ominis: ~ 1700 words

Sebastian: ~ 1400 words

Warnings: Kissing, Fluff, Angst

Author’s Note: Lord, I’m having so much fun with these requests. Thank you, anon!!! I tried to make them all have different reactions to reader getting jealous, but I know they’d all secretly love it lmfao. So it’s a little similar, but it’s definitely the 3 boys enjoying it in their own way. Have a fun time, everyone 🥰 Hope you’re all having a good day ❤ 

Songs (if interested):

Garreth’s song: You Stupid Bitch - girl in red

Ominis’ song: Silence / akiaura - hentai boys, akiaura

Sebastian’s song: My Kind of Woman - Mac DeMarco

-

Garreth:

“I feel like you’ve been avoiding me. Did I do something wrong?” Garreth Weasley had come up to you and asked. For someone who was asking if something was wrong, he could look a bit more concerned. Rather than just munching on his apple, looking at it like it was the only thing that had his full attention.

You took a deep breath and rubbed at your temple roughly. You were overreacting and you knew it, but dammit you couldn’t help but hate him at the moment. “No Garreth, I’m just not in the best mood today.”

“Well, talk to me.” He plopped himself down on the Central Hall fountain bench next to you. “Some have called me a good listener.” He took another bite of his apple, obnoxiously loud.

“Not right now. Why don’t you go bother someone else?”

“Who else could I bother like this? You and I got a good thing going.” He haphazardly joked.

“How about your date to the ball? That’s a good place to start if you ask me.”

He furrowed his brows, trying to decipher what you were talking about. Then he remembered Samantha Dale had asked him to be his date the night before. “Oh! You know about that? How does word travel so fast in such a huge castle?” He wondered aloud with his mouth full, looking at his apple as he turned it in his hand.

Merlin, you didn’t know why you were so head over heels for Garreth Weasley. Something about his carefree, aloof attitude made you fluttery all over. You wanted to smack him just as much as you wanted to kiss him. 

Truth be told, you were convinced he was going to ask you to The Yule Ball. But once you saw Samantha Dale talking with him about it and seeing how big his smile was, you became so frustrated with yourself for ever thinking such a thing. How could you have been so wrong about his signs? You shouldn’t have assumed your flirty banter together was something special between the two of you. You had no one to blame but yourself.

“Look Garreth, I’m pretty busy. Samantha will be better company than me today.” You took out the essay you were halfway finished with and began writing, hoping he would take the hint.

He was about to take another bite of his apple when the pieces came together in his brain. You think I said yes to Samantha... and you're jealous. 

It was hard to keep calm when he felt so elated. He had been pining for you since 5th year and never had the courage to confess his feelings. Being with you as a friend was better than risking not being with you at all. But here you were, acting as green as his eyes. Becoming jumpy, he scratched the back of his head and looked away from you, trying to bite back his delighted smile.

“So...” He began as casually as he could, “You don’t like the idea of me going to the ball with Samantha?”

You stiffened. Am I caught? You swallowed the lump in your throat. “I don’t care who you go with, Weasley.”

You used his last name instead of his first, that was how he always knew if you were upset with him. In this particular moment, he took a dark pleasure in it. “Well, it sounds like you care a little.” 

You looked up from your essay to the marble floor in front of you and clenched your jaw, trying to calm your irritated nerves and stop yourself from saying something you’d regret. “It doesn’t matter if I care. Go with who you want.” You went back to your essay.

“But you care.” He slid closer to you so that his thigh was touching yours. Your whole body tensed and you shifted your leg away, disgusted at his brazenness to continue flirting with you when he was going to the ball with someone else.

“I’m going to work in my room.” You pulled your belongings together and left your place next to him.

Garreth got up and followed you easily, finishing the last of his apple and tossing it in a nearby bin. He rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth to wipe off any apple juice. Maybe he could wipe off his idiotic smile while he was at it too. 

You could feel his chest practically against your back as he followed close in pursuit. “Leave me alone, Garreth. I’m really not in the mood today.” You growled at him, but he didn’t let up. 

He took glances around as he kept up with you. Once he was confident no one was looking, he grabbed your arm and pulled you into a nearby, empty corridor.

“What are you -”

“Tell me you’re jealous. I want to hear you say it.” 

His words sent your mind through a whirlwind and you shoved him away. “You got some nerve, going to the ball with Samantha and going after me like this -”

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake! I turned her down. School gossip failed to mention that part, I see.” He interjected. “Now let me have this a little longer.” He stepped closer to you, daring you to push him away again. “This thing where you want me all to yourself, I think I really like it.” His words came off as a jest, but he was genuinely aroused.

You narrowed your eyes at him, trying to determine if he was being truthful or just trying to keep up his flirty banter with you. But your icy glare at him through your lashes only made him more feral rather than intimidated. 

“I -” He cleared his throat, regaining composure. “I’ve been looking for you all day so I could ask you to the ball, but you kept dodging me.”

“Garreth, if this is some sort of messed up joke where you try to get two dates to the ball -”

“It’s not. But, that is a fun idea.” He quipped, hoping it would lighten the mood. 

Sighing, you turned on your heel to walk away.

“Sorry sorry sorry, bad joke, bad time.” He grabbed your wrist, panicked. “But I’m serious about taking you. I really want to take you.” He swallowed thickly and held your wrist in his hand. “Would you... want that too?” As he waited for you to respond, he had started stroking your skin with his thumb, unaware he was doing so.

His hopeful look along with his tone had managed to convince you he was being truthful. This was the first step either of you had taken beyond flirty banter, and it had you finally soften to him that day. You looked at his hand on your wrist and adjusted so you could entwine your fingers through his. His heart nearly burst out of his chest. Was this finally happening?

You looked up at him then, but locked on his lips rather than his eyes. Heat formed in his abdomen at your gaze. He used his free hand to cup your jaw. The dark look in your eyes told him you had the same severe craving for him as he did you. He eased towards you and brushed his lips over yours.

He pulled back to gauge your reaction. You looked at him with wide eyes and for a brief moment, he thought he had messed up and taken it too far. But all that panic went away when you dropped your books and threw your arms around him, seizing his lips, taking all coyness between you two and throwing it out the window.

Your sudden burst had rocked him both physically and mentally. Gripping you back, hard and fast, he steadied himself, stepping on your essay as he did so. He matched your eager mouth movements with just as much intensity. 

Needing to come back up for air, you pulled back. You looked at each other, breathless. All that tension between you two through the years had finally been able to get released at least somewhat.

“You looked so happy when Samantha asked you. I assumed you said yes.” You told him, still catching your breath.

He hadn’t realized you had been there to see Samantha asking him to the ball. He was both sorry you didn’t catch him rejecting her and sorry you had to catch it at all. Merlin only knows how he would have handled watching someone else asking you. “She’s a good friend, I mean I wasn’t going to scowl or laugh her off. I was letting her down as easy as I could.”

“I’m sorry I was jealous.”

He kept his face close to yours and glanced back at your lips, ready for more. “I’m sorry I enjoyed it.”

“No, you’re not.” 

“I’m not.” He captured your lips once more.

- 

Ominis:

Ominis was in a full on panic. He hadn’t the faintest idea what he had done wrong. He may be blind, but he could sense, clear as day, that you were upset with him. 

He was pacing back and forth in his dorm room when he was supposed to be at dinner. The sickness he felt had made it hard for him to want to digest anything.

He had been up at all hours of the night thinking about how he was going to ask you to The Yule Ball. But every time he tried to approach you that day, you’d take your leave. He thought he would have gotten his chance in History of Magic class, but everything seemed off. You usually tried to sit close to him and brush your fingers along his, it excited him each and every time. But today, he felt as if you were sitting as far as you possibly could from him.

He was trying to think back on everything that happened before you became so drastically distant. The last time he remembers you two being fine was when he had finally built up the courage to ask you that morning. 

Sebastian had pushed him to do it and fueled his ego to prep him, affirming that he saw the way you looked at him and how you weren’t so subtle about it. He was filled with so much joy, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling like a buffoon when he went to talk to you. 

“Ominis!” You had greeted him so cheerfully, it had removed any doubt in what Sebastian told him. As he was about to greet you back, Adelaide Oakes had touched his shoulder from behind to grab his attention. She then went on and on about how she fancied him, and took the ball as her chance to finally tell him how she felt. He had never been so overwhelmed with romantic attention in his life, it only fueled his confidence more. His words came out in a stutter to Adelaide to thank her but decline. It was difficult to turn someone down while grinning like a fool.

“I um - I'll leave you two to it.” He heard you say before he finished speaking with Adelaide. Your footsteps behind him had walked away so fast, he would have believed it if you were running. And ever since, for some reason you’ve been... oh. It hit him then. You must have assumed he was going to say yes to Adelaide. You couldn’t possibly be jealous, could you? If you were, he needed to find you and fix this immediately. But damn him if he wasn’t a bit thrilled at the idea.

He had his wand guide him to the first place he thought you could be in, the astronomy tower. It was late in the day, he was sure you’d be there. As he made his way up, he found his excitement at your jealousy swelling. You weren’t jealous because he was a Gaunt, a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, going with someone else. No, you were jealous because he was Ominis, a boy you liked for who he was, going with someone else. Or so you thought.

When his wand brought him to the astronomy tower and sensed you were close, he felt a bit of pride that he knew you as well as he thought he did. But he steadied himself, remembering you were upset with him. Coming at you beaming probably wasn’t the best approach.

“Ominis? What brings you here?” Your voice was monotone, nowhere near as pleased to see him as you were earlier.

He was relieved you were willing to speak to him rather than run off. “I needed to talk to you. Figured you’d be up here.” He approached cautiously.

You furrowed your brows, wondering what he could possibly need you for. Oh you’d just die if he wanted to ask for advice on how to treat Adelaide well at the ball. You turned away from him and lazily looked through your telescope. “Probably best we talk tomorrow.”

“You’re upset with me.”

You peeked up at him briefly, knowing it wasn’t fair to be, then went back to your telescope. You exhaled, inwardly chiding yourself. Ominis doesn’t owe you anything. “I’m sorry, I’ve just... had a lot on my mind.”

His wand guided him to the railing you were near and he leaned himself against it. “I’m all ears.” Part of him wanted to clear everything up as soon as possible, but another, increasingly louder part of him wanted to hear you confess that you were jealous, confess that you didn’t want anyone else to have him but you. So, he dared to play coy a little longer.

“You don’t want to hear what I have to say.”

“Try me.” The way he said it had taken you aback, as if he was telling you, not asking you, to talk to him.

“And what if I don’t want to tell you?” You looked back up at him, a bit of venom coming through.

He took a few steps towards your voice. I think I like this game. He knew he shouldn’t find your jealousy this exhilarating, but he did. He wanted it to absorb you until you couldn’t stand it anymore.

The look on his face stirred something fierce in you and you tried to take a quiet, calming breath. You hoped he wouldn’t hear you doing so, but he did, and it only added fuel to his fire.

“I don’t hear you walking away, so I think you do want to tell me.” He reached out for your robes and pulled at you to come closer to him. 

You had been weak for Ominis Gaunt since 5th year, so you obliged. But you didn’t do so without internally screaming at yourself for being such a fool. 

Despite being so close, you kept your hands to yourself, he noted. But he could sense your body tensing and he knew you were close to talking. He just needed to hold out a bit longer, push you just so in the right direction. “You’re angry with me, tell me why.” He knew why.

“I shouldn’t be angry with you.”

“Yet you are.”

“I am.”

“Tell me what I’ve done.”

“You... haven’t done anything.”

His grip moved from your robe to your waist, he could feel you shift at his touch, but you didn’t pull away. “I have, tell me.”

“You know, you shouldn’t be up here with me alone, touching me like you are. Wouldn’t want Adelaide or me getting the wrong idea, would you?” He could hear the bitterness in your voice, and it was sending him over the edge. You shoved his hand away and went to the railing, leaning forward and looking out. “I don’t think you mean to, Ominis. But you’re really messing with my head. Looking as happy as you were when Adelaide asked you to the ball, and now you’re here acting like you care for me.”

He followed your voice again and came up behind you. His hands found your shoulders and he comfortingly slid them down to your biceps. His touch still had the same, nerve-racking affect on you. You shrugged him off and turned to face him. He put both hands on the railing on either side of you, trapping you in. “I do care for you.”

As a friend. You wanted to finish for him. Him saying this to you knowing he was going to The Yule Ball with Adelaide hurt. Ominis was the last person who should be comforting you. “I need to go.” You nearly choked, heartbreak constricting your throat. But Ominis kept you blocked in, he wasn’t going to let you leave. 

“Tell me why I’ve upset you.”

Being in this position with him had an inferno swirling in you. Being able to see his pale, blue eyes this close had any fight in you vanish. “I wanted... you to ask me to The Yule Ball today. I wanted you to go with me, not Adelaide.” 

He leaned forward towards your neck and brushed his nose along your skin. 

Your melancholy turned into something else at his touch, something more throbbing. You reached your hands up along his chest, felt his heartrate pick up along with yours. “I want you to be with me.” You confessed in a whisper.

He began to kiss at your neck and you fisted the fabric of his uniform to keep yourself upright. He kissed up your neck, along your jaw, feeling his way to find your lips. He got to the corner of your mouth and pulled back just slightly, leaning his forehead against yours.

“I want you all to myself.”

He crashed his lips into yours. Your hands held tight to his shirt to keep him close. He took his hands off the railing to wrap his arms around your waist, his place against your mouth feeling all the more secure. You nipped at his bottom lip and he couldn’t help but let out a throaty “mmh.” 

He often tried to imagine what it would feel like to kiss you, the taste of your lips, the sensation of your hands roaming him as pretty as you pleased. This moment had been better than anything he conjured up in his head. He had never envisioned how much hot need would be in it until he had you there in his arms.

You tried to push him away suddenly, but he kept at you, not yet having had his fill. “Wait -” You caved for a brief moment and kissed him back, then pulled away again. “What about -”

“I said no to Adelaide.” He went back to your lips, then to your neck to explain himself so you’d stop pulling away. “I was going to ask you. But you ran off.” He hoped that was enough to stop any further questions, because his mind was already onto more pressing matters. He had heard that sucking on someone’s neck would leave marks, he decided to try it on you then.

You bit your lip, trying to keep your eyes from rolling into the back of your head. “You um -” You cleared your throat, “You still want to ask me?”

“I will, but let’s not talk right now.” 

-

Sebastian:

“What has gotten into you today?” Sebastian caught you off guard, shutting the greenhouse door behind him. You were tending to the carnivorous plants for Professor Garlick, you being the only student she really entrusted with such duties. 

You glanced at him over your shoulder, then brought your focus back to the plants. “I’m a little busy right now, Sebastian.”

He had never heard you speak to him with such acidity, you might as well have slapped him in the face. You had been in a sour mood with him all day. Of all the times for you to be upset with him, why did it have to be the day he had finally decided to confess his feelings and ask you to The Yule Ball? He strode to your side and bore his gaze into you, willing you to face him and explain yourself.

You didn’t give in and continued tending to the chomping cabbages. Sebastian was the last person you wanted to see. After everything the two of you had gone through, all the glimpses you gave each other, all the near kisses, how could it not mean the same for him as it did you? Was his overprotectiveness for you something brotherly rather than romantic? You felt so stupid having mixed the two. You had fallen so deeply in love with him through the years, and now you’ve come to find he doesn’t see you in that way. He made it very obvious how smitten he was when Grace Pinch-Smedley fawned over him, professing her love and asking him to the ball. 

“At least tell me what's upset you so.” He said sternly, interrupting your tragic thoughts.

You knew you should wait until your anger dissipated before speaking with him, but in that moment you didn’t care. You set down your gardening tools and turned to face him.

“How about we talk about you first, Sebastian?”

He let out a frustrated exhale through his nose and crossed his arms over his chest. “What about me?”

“I saw you and Grace speaking this morning, seems you were quite pleased with yourself. Care to share?”

He quirked his brow, not sure where you were heading with this. He remembered Grace speaking with him, but he didn’t remember feeling ‘pleased with himself’. “You saw Grace and I, did you?”

“I did.” You turned back to the chomping cabbages then. “Seems she was doing more than just asking you to the ball.”

He inwardly cringed at the memory. He was flattered at her confession, sure. But the part where he had to reject her had really taken away anything pleasant about the moment. “She told me she had been... harboring feelings for me.” He got shifty thinking back on it, getting rejected after spilling your guts like that must be dreadful.

You took note of his body language, and rosy cheeks. It was salt in the wound and the scowl on your face deepened. “No need to be so bloody bashful about it, Sebastian.” You mumbled.

He stilled then. You thought he was ‘bashful’ thinking back on his interaction with Grace? The gears in his brain started turning.

In that moment, you figured this was your last chance to lay it all out there for him. Since Grace very blatantly told him she wanted more than just a date to the ball, best to tell him how you felt now before they were officially together.

You turned to him fully. “Sebastian, do you care for me?”

His heart began racing and he straightened. “Of course.”

“Like you care for Anne and Ominis?"

“I do.” He said with conviction.

“So, like a sibling?”

“I - Well, I -”

“Because I don’t care for you like a brother, Sebastian.” You took a step towards him.

He was entranced, listening close to everything you had to say. The air between you two grew thick and it clicked for him then. The possessiveness he usually felt over you was now what you were feeling over him. You were under the impression he accepted Grace’s feelings... and you can’t stand it. A rousing sensation shot through him. He wanted to see what more you would do with this newfound greediness for him. 

“Perhaps you should have gotten to me before Grace did.” It was bold. He knew he was treading on thin ice, but seeing you act in the way he usually did was a turn of the tables he never knew he wanted to see. He was going to egg you on, get as much of this avaricious side out of you as he could before you devoured him like the plants in this room wanted to.

You reached out to him and began trifling with his tie. He stood perfectly still, afraid that if he moved you’d get discouraged and release him. “Are you telling me you would have been mine if I got to you first?”

Oh yes. “Suppose we’ll never know, considering you didn’t.” This wasn’t at all how he thought confessing his feelings to you would go. But this was a much more electrifying way to do so.

The two of you had unknowingly stepped closer to one another, pulled together like magnetic stones. Your hands were no longer fiddling with his tie, but rather holding it, ever so gently pulling him towards you. “So I’ve lost you, have I?”

Fight for me. Don’t let anyone else have me. “And if you have?” He wanted to find out what your lips tasted like more than he ever had before. He was so close, and eyed them oh so hungrily. But he tried to hold strong a bit longer, so he could know if you were feeling just as carnivorous for him as he always had for you.

The fire in your eyes almost had him on his knees. 

Claim me. Claim me as I’ve claimed you.

Giving his tie a hard yank, you pulled him to you and caught his lips with yours. You didn’t waste any time, straightaway tasting his bottom lip with your tongue. Keeping an unyielding grip on his tie, you shot a hand up to his hair and held tight. He put his hands on your hips, and couldn’t stop himself from pulling at your shirt so it came untucked. His hands roamed around your lower back, under your shirt to feel your skin.

Your movements in this kiss were the result of years of pining. There was both an ache to take it slow, feeling everything you both possibly could, and an urgency to make up for lost time right then and there. Now that you finally had him... Wait wait wait, I don’t have him.

You tore yourself from him and walked away, tucking your shirt back in.

“Wha - What? Where are you going?” He was breathless and dizzy and disheveled from your kiss. Get back here.

“Go to Grace.”

He groaned. He should have known keeping up the Grace ruse would have some sort of consequence. But in the moment, he was so obsessive over the fact that you wanted to stake your claim on him, he couldn’t help himself. “I lied about Grace. I turned her down.”

You turned to face him, still keeping your distance across the greenhouse. “Why would you -”

“Because being near you makes me crazy, that’s why!” He shot a hand through his hair, more out of anguish than to fix the mess you made. “I’m mad for you. How have you not noticed? This... possessiveness you have over me today? I feel it for you all the time. So, I’m sorry if I crossed a line, I -” He let out a shaky breath, trying to put the words together. “Seeing you act how I have... I wanted to relish it a bit longer. Forgive me.”

You remained where you were, but he could see your features shift. “Enjoyed my suffering, did you?”

Trying to keep his composure, he nodded his head. Your sultry look had his blood heading somewhere it shouldn’t in the middle of the greenhouse.

He may have been slow catching onto your jealousy, but he was quick to catch that you wanted his lips back on yours. Ravenous himself, he strode up to you and pulled you back against him.

[hufflegruff]

girl the way i RAN when i saw you asking for requests as a break from a knowing look!!! if youre down to maybe do something like hurt comfort vibes? with sebastian x MC? like mayhaps they’re fighting and MC gets hurt and protective Sebastian comes out? literally in love with everything you’ve written!!! you’re amazing! <3

I was meant to write a drabble but somehow this became a NOVEL?! Good lord. I really wanted to do it justice!!! I hope you guys still enjoy it!!!

It takes a disaster

Pairing: Sebastian Sallow x F!Reader Word Count: 5k Contains: Fluff, angst, making out!!! Requested: The lovely @ithinkweallsing and @musicbecky had similar requests about protective Seb x hurt MC so I combined both :)

Summary:

“And why didn’t you think to tell me that you were struck by a bloody unforgivable curse before you fell lifelessly onto the fucking floor!” He yelled. She winced at the loudness of his voice.  “Do you have any idea what it’s like to watch the love of your life almost die in your fucking arms?” His deafening voice echoed through the chambers of the hospital wing.  She stared at him, mouth agape.  Sorry, was she dreaming? What was that he just said? 

It takes a disaster

When she first resigned to the pitiful fact that she was very likely in love with Sebastian Sallow, she accepted her fate. Doomed to suffer in an unrequited love she held for her best friend. 

Merlin, it was such a cliché. 

Honestly, she would have laughed at herself if it didn’t also feel so pathetically miserable.

Somewhere along the way, amid catacombs and restricted sections and ancient relics, she found herself becoming dissatisfied with just friendship. And before she could even catch herself, she had already fallen. Buried ten feet underground by the weight of her own despicable, cavernous feelings. 

Because they’d been best friends for long enough for her to know that Sebastian Sallow flirted like his livelihood depended on it. If courting witches was a sport, he’d be a professional. It came to him as naturally as breathing. 

That was why Cressida Blume battered her eyelashes so feverishly everytime he was near. And why Samantha Dale had been so Goddamn adamant on being her potions partner, so she could siphon hints on how best to charm the Slytherin for herself.

And why she would never entertain the idea that any of Sebastian’s pretty words could be anything more than lip service. 

So she went out of her way to find reasons to keep herself busy. Taking jobs and doing favours for townsfolk in the vicinity, so that she wouldn’t have to sit with her own feelings. Or Sebastian himself. Hoping that by the time it came for them to leave Hogwarts, that she would find peace and leave her feelings for him in the deepest depths of the castle. 

The distance would help. It just had to. 

Unfortunately for her, when she had said that she was heading to the poacher camp up in the Poidsear coast by her lonesome, Sebastian insisted that he absolutely had to come along.

“Don’t be daft. Of course I have to come with you. Who else is going to swoop in when your sorry arse needs saving?” He teased.

She was almost offended, “I don’t need a babysitter, Sebastian.”

“Not a babysitter,” he clarified, “A knight in shining armor,” with a dashingly flirtatious smile.

She felt her heart flutter, and cursed his annoyingly perfect fluffy hair for it. What business did it have looking so attractive? Honestly, the cheek of these Slytherin boys to say such rousing things.

Ominis, Sebastian and herself had been lazing in the grass in front of the main school grounds. But with a deft wave of his hand Seastian beckoned over his broom, and it zipped obediently over. 

“Come on. Let’s go.” Sebastian said easily.

“What? Right now?” She replied in disbelief.

“Well, I don’t see anything better to do. Do you?”

From beside him, Ominis piped up annoyed, “Um, excuse me. Did we not agree that we needed to finish our group project today so as to not suffer the wrath of Sharp’s horrid temper?”

Silently, she thanked Ominis for the diversion and prayed Sebastian would take it.

“Like I said. Nothing better to do.” Sebastian reiterated shamelessly. 

Ominis rolled his eyes, “Absolute moron you are. Whatever. Take him off my hands for all I care.”

Well that didn’t go at all the way she hoped.

“But I’ve… not even stocked up on my potions.” She said weakly.

Sebastian wasn’t having it.

“Come on, it’s just a routine poacher clear out! I’ve got a couple of Wiggenwelds on me. You know it’s going to be a cakewalk for the both of us.” 

She could never say no to him. Not when he looked at her like that. She imagined that most girls couldn’t either. An ugly, decrepit feeling bubbled up in the pit of her stomach. But she willed herself to push the unhelpful thought down and out of sight. 

“Fine.” She caved with a haughty flip of her hair, “But try to keep up. I don’t want to have to take care of you out there.”

In a ridiculously exaggerated display of chivalry, he offered her his hand and led her onto the broom with a coy smile.

“Ladies first.”

This boy was going to be the death of her. The ride to Poidsear would all but confirm that. 

Sebastian had insisted that she sit in front of him to steer — and for the life of her, she couldn’t understand how she had willingly agreed to put herself in this position. His breath was right in the crook of her neck, and his warm hands were wrapped all too tightly around her waist. Did he really think that she could steer like this? She was appalled at how totally inconsiderate he was by being so oblivious to her feelings. 

She could hardly hear her own thoughts — not even the intrusive ones — let alone focus on the fly.

Was he doing this on purpose? Because it was annoying.

The singularly, most vexing thing he could do in fact. She had a mission to concentrate on. She didn’t need to be sidetracked. She hadn’t even wanted him and his distracting face to come along in the first place.

“Merlin. Hold me any tighter and I might burst, Sebastian.” She tried her best to make it sound casual. With the light cadence of a joke, and not the high stakes affair it felt like.

“Well, I can’t risk having you falling to an untimely death under my watch. I’d never hear the end of it from Ominis. Or Samantha. For killing her potions partner at such a crucial time in the academic year,” He joked. 

His tone was teasing, but she hated that his words sounded so… carefree. Completely unbothered. It bruised her heart more than she liked to admit, but it hurt her to know that he probably thought that this was the same as being in close proximity to Anne. 

And why the bloody hell did he have to mention Samantha Dale at a time like this? Unprompted and all. Teenage boys really had no tact. If that had been a glimpse into Sebastian’s mind, she didn’t want to see it. Lock it up and throw away the keys and unleash it into the depths of the black sea to never be found. 

If she just ignored it, and never faced it head on, maybe her heart would break a little bit softer. 

“Right.” She replied curtly, willing the dejection she felt to go away.

“What? Did I say something wrong?” 

“No.” 

He paused in contemplation, before declaring, “You’re upset.”

He had said it so matter of factly she almost couldn’t disagree with him. Almost. She cursed herself for not being able to hide the bitterness in her voice better. She cursed him for noticing this of all things.

“Don’t be silly. I’m not.” She retorted harshly.

When the words left her mouth, she quickly regretted them. She felt guilty for how unnecessarily rude it sounded. But she couldn’t talk about this. There was objectively no good way to explain why she seemed so irrationally bothered without emotionally vomiting her feelings onto him.  

But before she could apologise, he chose to let it go. 

And she didn’t know if she felt relieved or even more devastated.

The rest of their journey to Poidsear was endured in silence. When they finally arrived, they landed just at the precipice of the poacher camp. It was time to get serious, she mentally chided herself. There was simply no time to torment herself with such frivolous nonsense.

They kept out of sight behind a mountain of crates next to a tent. Making sure to stay hidden, she briskly surveyed the scene. She could see from the corner of her eye, a family of hippogriffs chained in cages by the Eastern front. But getting to them would be no easy feat; the area was littered with Ashwinders at every corner. 

“God. There’s more of them than I thought.” She whispered to herself.

“Worried? How very unlike you.” Sebastian raised a brow in response.

“Not at all. It’s just you would think that these degenerates would have more productive things to do with themselves than taking magical creatures as prisoners.” She whispered with a scoff.

She had not even one ounce of respect for the Ashwinders, especially those of the poaching variety. Those who made a nefarious career out of hunting innocent, majestic creatures for blood sport were the worst of them.

To her surprise, when she turned to look at Sebastian, he was looking straight at her with an enigmatic smile.

And then suddenly, she felt self-conscious.

“What?” She whispered nervously.

Sebastian murmured warmly, “This is a little nostalgic is it not?”

“How so?”

“You. Me. The exhilarating thrill of getting caught at any moment. Feels like fifth year doesn’t it?” His voice was lower than usual, quieter, with a hint of something dastardly alluring. 

It made her heart skip an alarming amount of beats and her skin shiver at the sound of it. She felt an outrageously girlish impulse to snog him and hex him and run far, far away from him all at once. What she would give for him to have a taste of his own medicine. Even if he wasn’t in love with her, maybe she still could grab him by the collar and kiss him silly until his lips were bruised. 

Maybe that would finally fluster him. 

Because by God, he deserved to be put in his place for all the bloody grief he unknowingly gave her.

He was looking at her so affectionately, and that was just so uncalled for. Honestly, she didn’t know how he managed to flirt so skilfully even in the face of imminent danger. In the near vicinity of bloodthirsty dark wizards. If she wasn’t so conflicted by it all she would be impressed. She imagined that Sebastian Sallow could probably flirt with Death himself and get away with it. 

Perhaps that would be a rather useful quality in an Auror. Perhaps, when they were back in the safety of the castle, she would suggest it as a fitting career path for him—

“Look what we have here. A little far from Hogwarts aren’t we?”

She felt her blood freeze over at the sound of the new voice. Sebastian stiffened. A sinister chill ran up her spine.

When she turned, she was greeted by the menacing smile of an Ashwinder, cloaked in shadows. And almost as if the Hermes had struck her himself, the girl wonder retaliated at reckless speeds and pointed her wand with venomous hostility at the dark wizard in front of them.

Fuck. She cursed internally. Her guard had been irresponsibly down. She hadn’t even heard him approach them.

Sebastian probably sensed her panic, and squeezed her hand twice.

Once to comfort her, the second to ask her to follow his lead.

Raising his hands up in mock surrender, Sebastian said sardonically with a wry smile “Sir, we were just passing by the area. We didn’t know that this was private property. Terribly sorry for the intrusion. If you allow us, we’ll be on our way now.” 

The Ashwinder scoffed, “Save it kid, I know exactly who you two meddlesome brats are.”

“Oh well that’s unfortunate.” Sebastian said patronisingly.

Her grip on her wand tightened. She wasn’t entirely sure where he was going with this, but she knew that she had to be ready. 

“Why’s that?” The Ashwinder asked with a laugh.

“Because that means I have to do this.” 

And suddenly, with a swift motion, Sebastian lunged forward with his wand. And almost as if by blind, brazen instinct, her own hands followed suit. 

“Confringo!”

“Expelliarmus!”

“Protego!”

Red, green, and blue. The colours of their spells cackled at lightning speeds against the howling wind. 

But soon enough their commotion caused a ruckus, and it became an army against two measly bodies.

“Shit!” Sebastian cursed under his breath.

And frankly, she had to give it to them to their credit, these Ashwinders proved to be pretty formidable adversaries. They moved faster than the others did. And their spells missed her more narrowly than they normally did. But still, actually hitting her was the aim. Close enough wasn’t good enough, and she was determined to make sure that they would never achieve it. 

She’d make sure of it — they didn’t call her the girl wonder for nothing. 

Spells collided and echoed around her, the acrid scent of fire filling her nostrils. If peril were a smell, this is what she imagined that it would smell like.

And in the midst of the chaos, without a surge of power erupted from one of the Ashwinders. Like a strike straight out of God’s hand — with a single, severe flash of light — a calamitous spell was unleashed, enveloping the camp grounds in a sheathe of blinding white. 

And when the light became less blinding, she found herself separated from Sebastian. 

Panic welled up within her as she searched the battlefield, her heart pounding in her chest. 

"Sebastian!" She called out.

Where was Sebastian?

Fuck. That wasn’t good. She needed to find Sebastian. 

Like insidious tendril vines, fear crept into her veins. Yet she willed the anxiousness in her brain to focus; willed it to calm down. Sebastian was a capable wizard. He could handle a few pesky Ashwinders. 

Just as capable as she was. 

Because with a flick of her wrist, shields shattered and hexes were deflected. With every spell she cast, the wind sang as her curses hit bodies, like a force of nature answering her call. One by one Ashwinders fell under the weight of her unyielding assault. 

But then a piercing hex sliced right through her defences. 

Her protego shattered, and she was thrown backward into a mess of limbs onto the ground. 

“Crucio!”

The sound of the spell sent chills down her spine. It brought her back to the scriptorium. It brought her back to a shadow of Sebastian that she had been trying to forget. 

But before she could run, scream, dive or react — it reached her. 

And just as torturously as it had the very first time she endured it, pain erupted through her body as she was thrown backward, limbs contorting as she crumbled in agony onto gritty soil. Back then, it had felt as if lightning had struck every single nerve ending in her body. This time it felt like she was burning under a flame that was twice as brutal.

The pain was relentless. Her mind screamed for respite, for any brief release from this torture. She clawed at the ground, gripping her nails deep into the dirt, as if seeking solace in the earth itself. But there was no escape. No reprieve.

Through the haze of pain, she caught glimpses of the Ashwinder that had casted the curse. Even through her blurry vision, she could see that they were gloating. Content at how they had reduced her to nothing more than a writhing, broken vessel.

And God, that pissed her off immensely.

If they could sense the literal thunder in her veins, she wondered if they would be so cavalier?

She didn’t think so.

Through gritted teeth; through sheer determination, she struggled onto her feet with her body shaking in defiance. Summoned the last remnants of her ancient magic, her wand trembling in her shaky hand. A surge of energy flowed through her veins. The air above the tips of her fingers crackled with raw power as she channeled her magic, focusing it into a singularly devastating spell.

And when it hit the Ashwinder, it eviscerated them in waves.

In between all the fighting and screaming and surviving, she didn’t remember much of the details.

But all of a sudden, it was silent. 

And all of the sudden, it was just her standing alone in plumes of dust.

When the air finally settled down, she felt herself start to cave. The adrenaline had done its job and was quickly leaking out of her blood stream. As if she had exerted and drained every last ounce of her spirit and was on the verge of collapse.

Was it just her, or were the skies starting to fade?

The pain in her chest was still excruciating. This cruciatus curse felt different from the one that Sebastian had casted on her before. 

This one was lingering. 

Like it was clawing onto her heart and gripping onto it in a chokehold with a resentful vengeance. Despite having just won, she didn’t have a spare moment to feel relieved. The pain was quickly growing and air couldn’t seem to reach her lungs fast enough.       

But Sebastian… Where was Sebastian? The panic began to rumble within her. She had foolishly let her own guard down, and let him out of her sight. She mustered what little energy she had left and moved her head frantically in search of him. 

How could she ever forgive herself if she let him die? 

But when she saw a figure barreling head first towards her, even through blurry eyes and the crackle in the depths of her tired limbs, she knew that it was him. And like an oasis in the blistering desert, the comfort she felt from seeing his face was a brief solace to the pain. 

If this was where she was destined to meet her end, she hazily deliberated, at least she could draw her last breath in peace knowing that he was safe. 

(Not to be dramatic or anything.)

When Sebastian finally caught up to her, he laughed and bursted out breathily, “Merlin… Whatever you and your ancient magic did back there was insane.”

He was safe, and that was all that mattered. She didn’t have the energy anymore. Not for a conversation, let alone banter. She needed to preserve her last scraps of her battered stamina to make it back to the castle and patch herself up in solitude.

And one thing was for certain: Sebastian could not know.

“I think we managed pretty well.” He said with a tired smile.

“Yeah,” she replied breathily, “W-we did good.”

She sounded a mess. She hoped that he wouldn’t notice.

To her dismay, the look on his face immediately switched into that of deep concern. 

He interrogated hurriedly, “What wrong? You sound a little off. Are you hurt?”

Everything was wrong. The discomfort that gripped her chest was getting worse with every passing second. Standing was starting to become too taxing of an undertaking for her. 

But needless to say, she didn’t want another thing to worry about, and Sebastian would always make an unnecessarily big fuss anytime she was hurt. Even if it was just a minuscule scratch. He was always too distraught; too tender. It was one of the things she adored most about him. 

And she absolutely loathed him for it.

So her stubbornness was persuaded that suffering in silence was the easier of two fates. 

Indignantly, she retorted, “How rude. I’ll have you k-know I’m perfectly f-fine.”

Her words were starting to slur, not that she noticed. But Sebastian clearly had. Assertively, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her towards him.

“You’re not fine.” He declared demandingly.

As he frantically searched her eyes, arms, back, legs for signs of what was wrong, she found herself nuzzled in the nook of his chest. She felt her willpower wither slightly in his flustered hands. 

In the shallow breaths that she took, she could smell him. The musk of pinewood and sputtering fireplaces and late nights drifting in the restricted section. An aromatic cocktail that was overwhelmingly intoxicating. 

Now she was getting angry. And drowsy. And dizzy. Why couldn’t Sebastian tell that he was being so selfish by being so considerate? He needed to stop touching her so carelessly. She was lightheaded enough as it is, she didn’t need his excessive gentleness to add fuel to the flames of her absurd delusions. 

But maybe if she just closed her eyes and rested for this brief moment. Sebastian would take the hint and just leave her be. Maybe all she needed was a quick lie down and he would see that she was perfectly fine. 

“Oh fuck, there’s so much blood— hey, hey!”

She could see Sebastian calling out her name, but she couldn't hear it. And soon enough she realised, she wasn’t fighting it anymore. And soon enough, Sebastian was no longer in sight. Soon enough, she found herself alone in a quiet, soothing darkness. 

Something was twisting at her to give into slumber. Into solitude. Into emptiness. She vaguely remembered from one of Sharp’s more riveting lectures that when poisoned - one should always fight the urge.

But she could still feel the warmth of Sebastian’s hands on the small of her back, and the comfort of it lulled her to relinquish control. After a few ambivalent moments, drifting in and out of awareness, she surrendered to sleep.

When she woke, she was greeted by a horrendously pounding headache. She had no sense of place, but a low groaning ache in her bones. Her eyes struggled to open, but she could feel the warm sun on the tip of her nose, and the tips of her cheeks. The softness of the sun quelled a little bit of the soreness in her body. 

She deduced that wherever she was, it was warm and safe. Despite the ache in her bones, there was also a weightlessness to her body. Therefore, she somehow rationalised with herself that this was very likely heaven. 

Or any other religious equivalent afterlife. 

She wasn’t picky. Any one would do, really.

When her bleary eyes finally pulled themselves open, the fragmented parts of her vision pieced together a faint picture. Of pristine white linen and crisply casted grey brick. A peculiar blend of sickly artificial peonies and concentrated chemicals flooded her nostrils. 

Which was odd. Because she hadn’t imagined that the afterlife would feel quite so sterile.

“Fucking hell,” spoke a voice she could never not recognise, and she was shocked. 

Did heaven include conjuring up a phantom Sebastian from the figment of her deepest imaginations to keep her company for the rest of eternity?

“Sebastian?”

“You’re awake.” His voice was hoarse.

When her eyes finally focused, she saw him properly. It was definitely Sebastian Sallow, the boy that had her heart leaping acres across the Hebridean seas. But in all her years of knowing and pining for him, she’d never seen him look so terrible. His hair was disheveled as if it had endured a torrid storm. His eyes were heavy and solemn, as if they had tolerated an eternity of grief.

This seemed all too real. Too visceral. 

Maybe this wasn’t heaven.

“Am I dead?” She thought to confirm.

He laughed a humourless laugh.

“No. You’re in the hospital wing.”

So this was real. She was in pain because her body had been bruised like a peach. 

When she finally looked around, she found herself neatly tucked into the covers of an infirmary bed. She couldn’t recall how she got here, and only remembered a few little scraps of the event that led up to Poidsear. But if she had to be certain of anything, Sebastian must’ve brought her back to the castle.

“I guess that makes sense,” She said with as much mirth as she could muster, “Heaven couldn’t be this quaint.”

Clearly Sebastian hadn’t found it funny at all, which is why she was met with silence. 

As she cleared her throat, she asked, “What happened?”

For some reason, Sebastian was doing everything in his power to avoid her eye. 

“An Ashwinder hit you with a modified version of the cruciatus curse. She tampered the spell and combined it with a blood poisoning hex. You… could’ve died.” He said through gritted teeth. It seemed as if he struggled to even get the words out. 

In an attempt to diffuse the graveness of his tone, she made a joke.

“Unlucky. Maybe next time they try to kill me they’ll actually get it right.”

But once again, Sebastian didn’t laugh. If anything, he only got more aggrieved. She felt his grip on the edge of her bed frame tighten so fiercely, she could see his veins pop and his knuckles turn red. He was being so serious — and she was not at all used to serious Sebastian. She had only seen this side of him once or twice, and only ever because of Anne. 

“Are you … upset?” She asked cautiously.

“I’m fucking furious.” He said. 

She was gobsmacked.

“Why?”

Finally, he looked at her straight on and her stomach flipped at the sight of it. He looked absolutely distraught. Like the splintered shell of a boy who had been cracked open and drained dry of his will to live. Behind the hard look in his eyes, radiated something cloudy, tempestuous and devastating. 

“It was my fault that we were even there.” He said

She hadn’t known that a voice could carry such grief and anger simultaneously. But Sebastian’s voice was laced with insurmountable despair. And it broke her heart irrevocably to think that she could’ve caused him so much pain.

Did he think that he was to blame?

That was ridiculous.

“I thought-” he started to say again, but his voice cracked. 

I thought I lost you? I thought I’d left you for dead? She wondered if that was what he was going to say.

“Sebastian…” She finally began “It’s not-”

“And why didn’t you think to tell me that you were struck by a bloody unforgivable curse before you fell lifelessly onto the fucking floor!” He yelled.

She winced at the loudness of his voice. 

“I didn’t think-”

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to watch the love of your life almost die in your fucking arms?”

His deafening voice echoed through the chambers of the hospital wing. 

She stared at him, mouth agape. 

Sebastian himself looked shocked by the words out of his own mouth. 

Sorry, what was that he just said? 

Was she dreaming? Was she hallucinating? Had Sebastian Sallow really said that he loved her? Her? Complicated, chaotic, haphazard her? Even if her brain couldn’t quite process what she was saying, her heart had certainly understood. It was battering against her ribcage so firmly that she swore it would no sooner burst out of her chest.

“You… love me?” Even as the words sat in her mouth, even as she tasted it meticulously on the edge of her tongue — she still couldn’t believe them. 

With his head buried in his hands, Sebastian groaned. 

Obviously that wasn’t what he had wanted to say, and that terrified the living shit out of her. He looked as if he considered going back on it. Saying that it had just been an emotional slip of the tongue. 

But to her surprise, he stood firm. 

“Fuck.” He cursed, “Isn’t it fucking obvious?”

His words still weren’t fully sinking in. Her brain was running so fast that it was on the verge of failing her entirely. There were so many things she wanted to ask him. Was it obvious? To who exactly? By what egregious definition? And did he expect her to just take his word and say that this little detail was always hidden in plain sight for her to find? 

Then there were other more intrusive thoughts she couldn’t shake. Like what about all the girls that fawned over his every word. What about all the other girls that were softer, prettier, more endearing than her? She just hoped that whatever she chose to say, that she wouldn’t let out the intrusive ones first.

“...What about Samantha?” She blurted practically incoherently.

Oh Merlin. Why did she say that? Why was that the first thing she said to him after she had just been on the verge of death? After he had just confessed his love for her.

Never had she felt so exasperated with herself for being so dumb.

Unsurprisingly, Sebastian looked at her as if she’d just grown three heads. She also considered that maybe she had enunciated so poorly that he hadn’t understood a single thing she said. Either way, just as she was about to laugh it away - change the subject - he responded.

“... What about Samantha?”

Suddenly, she felt too shy to ask. But she knew she had to follow through.

“... You’re not in love with Samantha?” She asked meekly.

Sebastian stared at her in absolute disbelief. 

“Are you crazy?” he began incredulously, “You think I fancy Samantha Dale?”

It wasn’t that crazy of a thought, she wanted to retort. 

But before she could even get a word in, Sebastian bulldozed on.

“Fucking hell. I think I’ve mentioned her name all but three times in the last six years I’ve been in this castle. All I talk about is you all day everyday, which makes Ominis go absolutely livid! All you have to do is say my name and I’d stop everything at the drop of a fucking hat to do literally anything you ask for me—” 

Did he know what he was saying? She wanted to scream. The feelings in her chest were so intense she feared that she might just throw up. 

Could he hear the absolutely ludicrous and inconceivable things coming out of his silly mouth? Did he know what in Salazar’s name he was saying to her? 

And he wasn’t even done yet.

“—I look for you in every hallway, every classroom, every corner in this bloody castle! For Merlin’s sake, I can’t even begin to fathom how you could not know that I’m stupidly love with you—”

Despite herself. Despite the stabbing pain in her chest. Despite the stitches in her lungs. She lunged her body forward and pushed her own chapped, split and desperate lips onto his.

And when their lips met — good God. 

She had no idea how she had waited so long to do this.

And she hoped for his sake that Sebastian hadn’t said any of that lightly, because now that she had finally had him, she was never ever letting him out of her shaky, unpracticed hands. 

At first, Sebastian had been taken aback. His mouth unmoving, eyes open in disbelief. It was as if he was observing the scene from outside of himself.

But then soon enough — he was all in, and he had his hands cupping the curve of her cheek to pull her closer to him. Soon enough, Sebastian was kissing her like he was looking for something. Pushing, pulling, scouring the shape of her mouth like she was a puzzle to be deciphered. Gripping tightly onto the sides of her waist and the small of her back like she was a prized to be possessed.

And she obliged. 

Whatever he wanted to know she’d tell him. If she were a prize, she'd use every cheat every ruse in her arsenal to make sure he'd win.

She just hoped that her needy moans conveyed her willingness to be compliant in his competent hands.

Her limbs ached, her bones groaned. This kiss was too wild, too strenuous, too demanding for her worn out body. But she didn’t care. The floodgates had opened now, whether either of them knew it, and this feeling was unquenchable. 

He tasted like home and aftershave and salt and all those silly peppermint candies he ate all the time. If she could fasten herself to him with an irreversible stitch, she would. If she could seal herself into a perfect mould of his arms, she would. If the shivers that raced down her spine could etch themselves permanently into her nerve endings in her skin, she’d gladly bear the mark.

In between peppered, sloppy kisses, she managed to gasp, "I'm in love with you too."

There was no time for pauses. She had no use for breathing; no use for air. She had no use for anything that didn’t include his lips. 

His laugh was gravelly and tired and breathy. But it was filled with relief and tenderness all the same.

“Thank fucking god,” Sebastian murmured.

Her hands instinctively found their way to his hair, fingers tangling into the strands of his. She revelled in the texture of him. In her daydreams and her undisclosed fantasies, she had always wondered what it would feel like. Would he be as gentle as his charms implied? Or was he as abrasive as his words could be?

But despite his devouring intensity, despite how ardently he consumed her — everything about Sebastian was soft. His lips were soft. His body was soft. His hands were soft.

She leaned in to kiss him again, but he pulled back. Which immensely disappointed her. And she wasn’t shy to let it show on her face.

"Be careful. You're still recovering." He managed to get out, but it was weak.

Yes, that was true. It was very lovely and sensible of him to say.

But frankly, she couldn't give two fucks.

"I wouldn't mind dying today," she replied breathlessly, her voice laced heavily with longing.

He groaned into the edge of her mouth, "Way too soon."

She smiled wryly. Was it wicked of her to take delight in how protective he was being?

Silence hung in the air. 

"Please just... just be careful next time?" he said, his voice wavering slightly.

She looked into his eyes, "I will."

With a gentle squeeze of his hand, she hoped that he knew that she truly meant it. That by definition, her feelings for him meant that her assurance was very much real. Because if not with words, she needed him to know through this gesture that she too looked for him in every inch of this castle. That she too would drop everything at his beck and call.  

He squeezed her hand back in return.

Message understood?

“And as much as I’d love to keep kissing you," he whispered with a playful glint in his eye, "I would hate for Nurse Blainey to shun me from the infirmary for so shamelessly accosting one of her patients."

A soft chuckle escaped her lips, the tension easing between them. "You're right. We wouldn't want that," she replied, a fond smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

—

A/N: This is deffo a little different from the normal soft/simpy Seb that I write. I tried to go for overly flirtatious and wildly charming Seb and a pining MC this time to shake things up!! I still think they're cuties.

Gosh, I hope you guys liked it!! I'M STILL WORKING ON OTHER REQUESTS and of course my bb A Knowing Look! They will be taking a while but I promise I will be putting my heart and soul into them.

xoxo gruff

[blood-jewel]

My Headcanons for Samantha Dale in Hogwarts Legacy:

• She’s deemed odd by her fellow Ravenclaw’s by her interest and passion for plants and Herbology. She has many plants around her bed in her section of the girls dormitory which her roommates get a bit irritated from.

• She’s not as smart as a regular Ravenclaw, as she sometimes won’t be able to answer the riddle. Her wits and smarts are more toward Herbology being her strong attributes. She’ll sometimes ask Amit or Andrew for help on her homework or help to enter the common room.

• She and her brother William are another set of twins that attend Hogwarts but he is in a different house from her.

• She wonders why she was sorted into Ravenclaw when she should’ve been in Hufflepuff considering her interests and that she’s the first Ravenclaw in her family.

• She comes from a pureblood family and she doesn’t share any prejudice towards Muggles or Muggleborns. Her family is one of many Pureblood wizarding families that opted out of being a part of the Sacred 28.

• When she graduates Hogwarts she becomes a savant with plants and introduces a variety of hybrid of plants with for better healing remedies and for unique potions and elixirs.

• She loves to play all sorts of games wether it be Wizard’s Chess, Summoners Court or Gobstones and she’s always ready for a good puzzle.

• She is very insightful and pays attention to everyone around her. She’ll always be there if you need a someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on.

[pookie-mulder]

August 2024 fic roundup

This was truly the month of the longfic. And to think I only read short fics until @skelavender showed me the error of my ways!

📰🖋️ Paracelsus by prufrockslove

One of the biggest txf fics ever, and I absolutely devoured it. I loved reading it right after Hiraeth and seeing all the little nods to their past lives. This author knows how to spin a yarn, guys. My one complaint is the never-ending miscommunications towards the end, which is never my favorite source of drama/conflict. Just talk to each other, you idiots! (Although they have those moments in canon, as well, I suppose.)

⚾️🏟️ A Moment in the Sun by prufrockslove

I will remember this fic for the rest of my life. It’s the type of fanfic you want to write fanfic about. It makes me wish I knew now to print and bind my own books. The universe is so rich and developed. Definitely in my top 5 of all time!

Here’s a list of things I love about it:

William. My precious, bratty British boy.

The way the plot includes elements of the mytharc but put together in a different way so you don’t know exactly how it’s all gonna come together

Emily!! You know I love a good Emily AU, and this fic certainly counts. I’m a sucker for a found family, and this fic delivers.

Josh Exley my beloved (and Arthur Dales, but the other one)

Dad!Mulder. The man is an absolute DILF. He tries so hard to overcome his shortcomings and be the father his kids need.

Frohike. His job as an eccentric baseball manager suits him surprisingly well, and his characterization is on point.

The little nods to canon, including episode titles and locations.

The insinuation that all of PFL’s AUs take place in the same universe (as Mulder said, “It has to take more than one lifetime to learn to love someone this much.”)

The only thing I’m not zazzed about is the ending. It kind of just…ends? I would’ve loved an epilogue or even a sequel (or a 12-book series).

🏫📸 Dr. Scully’s School for Exceptional Boys by prufrockslove

Oh boy. This fic is a tangled mess of emotions and betrayal and shame and guilt and love and promises and sacrifices and, most of all:

Definitely recommend.

👒👩‍🔬 The Regency Files by @slippinmickeys

I needed something that needed less mental energy after 4 massive PFL fics in a row, and this one delivered! It’s sweet, romantic, elegant, and has just enough of a plot to keep you interested. If you’re a fan of historical AUs (as I am now, I guess), this one’s a must-read!

🛌🍷 The Reunion by @muldersfingers

Absolute trope-y goodness without feeling too cheesy or predictable. My favorite part is how much they laugh and tease each other when they finally make use of that one bed ;)

🐶🥇 underdog takes the title by @wtfmulder

MSR’s first time is sweet, silly, and giggly. Mulder is absolutely pathetic and pitiable, which Scully finds hot (same, girl). It absolutely melted my heart!

👶👨‍🍼 the bitter and the sweet by @xf-cases-solved

What if baby William was a girl? What if they named her after Samantha?

Absolute perfection. This is how season 8 should have ended!

🏔️🌲 The Mountain Man and A Deadly Hunger by aka_Jake

This historical AU takes place in the same time period as Paracelsus, but it’s so vastly different in its setting that it’s unfair to compare them. In this one, Mulder is a Montana mountain man who smuggles arms to the Native Americans, and Scully hopes to become an army doctor in a nearby frontier town. It’s a classic Wild West romance with plenty of drama and conflict. I love how each of the characters feel like themselves, especially Scully, who retains her headstrong independence despite social norms.

🔙🥩 The Mastodon Diaries by aka_Jake

Mulder and Scully travel back in time to the Pleistocene era and must rely on their wits and each other to survive.

This is one of those fics that changes you as a person. I will be thinking about it for a long, long time. It broke my heart a thousand times and then lovingly stitched it back together. There were so many moments that took my breath away.

The portrayal of prehistoric humans is especially incredible — they’re so well-thought out, and their culture is so rich and developed. Even though 12,000 years separates us, we’re not so different from each other in the end. I absolutely fell in love with the native OCs, which is a compliment of the highest order. I already miss them!

Anyway, it’s like this fic was created in a lab specifically for me. It has all my favorite tropes and story elements: wilderness survival, historical AU(ish), soooo much whump and caretaking and hurt/comfort, found families, Dad!Mulder, and a surprising amount of romance. If you haven’t read this one yet, I’m begging you to give it a try!

🇦🇶❄️ On the Verge by aka_Jake

This fic fits into one of my favorite canon holes: How did Mulder and Scully get back from Antarctica? I love reading everyone’s different takes on this missing scene/plotline, and this one is no exception!

[sparxyv]

A quick little doodle of my Ravenclaw girls Samantha Dale and Milena Chase, my mc! 💙

I do wish we had more house exclusive quests, or at least a bit more of a taste of student life. Our characters need to rest occasionally and just hang out with their housemates 😭

[expecto-kedavra]

HL Girls react to smelling M!MC in their Amortentia

Professor Sharp’s potion lesson has the class brewing the love potion, Amortentia, and writing their thoughts.

Including Poppy, Natty, Imelda, Samantha, and Anne.

Poppy Sweeting

She recognizes the smell immediately, however the fact that it’s in her potion, a bit more surprising. She’d know the earthy tones, the sandalwood, the soft smell of clean forest breeze anywhere. It was….him. But why? She didn’t have romantic feelings for him. All the nights they spent huddled together in a hollow log, pressed against each other to avoid poachers, that was just platonic. The way she felt when he’d smile at her after clearing a poacher camp, and brush her hair out of her face and wipe the smudged dirt and grime off of her forehead and cheeks. The way he would always hold her close when she’d get worked up about all the creatures she couldn’t save. The way she would always get sad when he’d leave….oh. Oh shit.

Natsai Onai

She smiles to herself, and breathes in the deep, comforting scent. She’d been considering the way she feels about him for a while, yet hadn’t known if it was real yet. This only confirms what her heart has told her. She writes down what she smells. A clean, aromatic smell, like cinnamon and vanilla. The way he would always smell. The smell she breathed in when she was sitting in the hospital wing after taking down Harlow, enveloped in a deep hug.

“What do you smell Natty?”

She’s snapped out of her trance by her table mate, Cressida Blume. She smiles.

“I smell home.”

Imelda Reyes

Nope. Nope nope. She brewed it wrong. She must have. She must have brewed the potion that makes you smell what you despise. No way. Her face grows hot as she internally searches for why the hell this damn cauldron smells like that. Why does it smell like….like mint…like freshly washed clothes, like lemon zest, a pie cooling on a windowsill on a hot day. Why does it smell like him??? She thinks hard, realizing how many times she’d sit behind him in History of Magic, breathing in the comforting scent. The times she could just focus on him without his smart ass knowing. Without HER smart ass knowing. How far buried in her subconscious was this?

“Well, what do you smell?”

Violet McDowell breaks her concentration, and the forehead vein retreats back into her face.

“Uh, oh, um, broom polish, and uh, the smell of the grass in the quidditch pitch.” She lied.

Violet raises an eyebrow. “Why are you sweating?”

Samantha Dale

She frowns at her cauldron. She was expecting the smell of fresh soil, maybe the smells that blow through on a hot summers day as she works in the garden. Not….this. What is this? It smelled of fresh parchment, and lavender. Slight tones of…what broom polish? She doesn’t even fly! She barely cares about flying and doesn’t even know anyone who does. Except…oh. Except for him. He flies. He’s really good at it. He looks really good when does it. He also always offers her spare parchment when she forgets it in charms class. And he always…smells like..lavender. She looks up and sees him across the room, working on his own potion while chatting and laughing with Sebastian Sallow. She feels her face grow red and a slight giggle come from her throat. She’ll explore this later. She needs to write down what to say to him, and how to say it. It’ll take a while. At least 21 rough drafts.

Anne Sallow

Potions has been hard. Since MC cured her, catching up in class has been a lot. But she’s always despised potions. She sits at her cauldron, pondering what it is she’s smelling. She smells green tea, honey, and a tiny bit of a more earthy undertone, like soil. Then like eucalyptus? She recognized the smell, but why is it here? It’s the room of requirement to be sure. But why? It doesn’t smell bad but it definitely isn’t attracting her. He showed her the room once she returned to school, saying it helped him get caught up. He showed her around, made her a cup of tea, and told her to brew as many potions and grow as many plants as she wants. Then he hugged her. He hugged her and she breathed in the smell of his robes. He smelled like…eucalyptus. She frowns. She’d always dismissed the thoughts of him as simply gratitude for removing her of the pain. Maybe it was more? She looked up, and found his table. He was just finishing his potion. She found herself admiring him, the contour of his jaw, his thick hair, muscular broad shoulders. She felt her face heating up, her mouth forming a hard line. As she watched him work, it melted into a smile, ignoring Sebastian as he poked her. “Why are you staring at him?” She shoved him off, and began to write down her thoughts on her parchment.

Him

He smelled roast chicken.

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

We love a blatantly horny Phantom in this house, but let's hear it for the shamelessly thirsty Christines

Dale "now as I sing I can sense him" Kristien

Gina "no hands orgasm" Beck

Katy "girl, where is your hand? (O,O)" Knight Adams

Samantha "Enter at last, Master" Hill

Feel free to add on

[anomalyaly]

MCOctober Day 31: How does your MC spend Halloween?

I'll answer this with the Halloween mini oneshot I wrote. [AO3/Wattpad]

The (After) Life of the Party

It's Elsie's little sister Lydia's first year and subsequent first Halloween feast at Hogwarts. What could go wrong?

~2k words, no warnings

“I thought Mum and Dad always said Halloween was full of witchcraft.”

Elsie snorted at the irony of her little sister’s comment. “And they were right. You are a witch, after all.”

“Oh, yeah! I guess so.”

Elsie smiled and shook her head at Lydia, who was bouncing excitedly in the Ravenclaw common room. It was her sister’s first year at Hogwarts, and although Elsie had enjoyed a Halloween feast her fifth year, there had been other distractions that had prevented her from fully remembering it. She was excited to be able to have a pleasant time, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Of course, her sister, being the unbridled ball of chaos that she was, could change that pleasantness at the tip of a hat. Her affinity for seeking out danger rivaled Sebastian’s, enough so that she had told the Slytherin pointedly to stay away from her. She would have to keep a close eye on her tonight.

“Are you ready to head to the Great Hall?” Samantha Dale emerged from hers and Elsie’s shared room with a bright smile on her face.

“Ready!” Elsie replied cheerfully.

Samantha tilted her head, confused. “Um, Elsie? I thought your sister was joining us. Where is she?”

“What do you mean? She’s right –”

Elsie gasped, realizing Lydia was no longer standing beside her. She whirled around the room looking for any sign of the small, curly-haired, rambunctious child before turning back to Samantha with a worried expression.

“This is not good. We need to find her!”

“Okay!” Samantha started to head out the door. “Let’s hurry!”

The two Ravenclaw girls dashed out of the common room and down the never-ending staircase, shoving Duncan Hobhouse out of the way as he attempted to hide up in the common room from the night’s events like the coward she knew him to be.

“Hey! Watch it!” He shouted as Elsie elbowed her way past him. She didn’t have time to apologize – not that she would have wanted to anyway after he had referred to her sister by a not-so-nice name on her first week.

They sprinted down the corridors when they spotted Sebastian about to wander into the Great Hall for the feast.

“Whoa, where’s the fire?” He flashed his signature grin. “No need to run, sweetheart. I’m sure the house elves have prepared plenty of treats for –”

“Not now,” she interrupted, not in the mood for any of his sarcastic quips. “Have you seen Lydia?”

“Mini-Corvin‘s gone missing?” He quirked an eyebrow. “I just saw her.”

Elsie fidgeted nervously on the spot, impatient for his answer. “Where is she?”

Sebastian shrugged nonchalantly, his lack of urgency serving to infuriate her. “She was down here a moment ago. Seemed distracted. I saw her go into the Great Hall with a basket, come back out, and head out the door.”

“And you just…let her go?” Elsie gritted her teeth.

“You told me to stay away from her.”

Elsie ran her fingers through her hair and groaned. “Now you listen to me?” She looked to Samantha for any help, who only offered her a sympathetic half-hearted smile.

“I’m sure she’ll turn up,” he replied casually, patting Elsie gently on the arm. “She can’t have gone far.”

She looked at him wearily. “She once sneaked away from home and made it all the way to downtown London before my parents even realized she was gone.”

His smile fell. “How is your sister not in Slytherin?”

“Thank Merlin for that, too,” Elsie sighed, rubbing her face. “She doesn’t need a common room filled with your influence.”

“Is that why you told me to stay away from her?” Sebastian laughed heartily. “Afraid she’ll learn a thing or two about causing mischief from yours truly?”

“She doesn’t need to learn. You let her escape.”

“You said not to bother her!”

“You never listen to anything I say anyway! Why now?”

He smirked, leaning his face towards hers. “Maybe I’m just trying to keep you on your toes. Your life would be boring if I didn’t try to send you into a frenzy every so often, wouldn’t it?”

She raised a finger at him in an attempt to stop the mocking before it escalated further. “Don’t you dare –”

“Shouldn’t we be focused on finding her?” Samantha interjected, stepping between them. “Instead of…you know, standing here bickering?”

Both Sebastian and Elsie turned toward Samantha, momentarily forgetting she was still standing there listening to the whole exchange.

“Right.” Elsie crossed her arms and took a pointed step away from Sebastian. “Where did you say she was headed?”

“I didn’t.” Sebastian gestured to the door. “But, it seemed like she was on a quest to leave the castle, wherever she was going. Not sure where else she would want to be on her first Halloween feast.”

Elsie turned on her heel and ran toward where Sebastian had pointed. She yanked open the large, wooden door and spotted a trail of candy wrappers that led out to the ends of the Hogwarts grounds. Samantha picked one up off the ground. Freshly unwrapped.

“You don’t suppose –”

“Oh, I do,” Elsie said, taking the wrapper from Samantha. “This has Lydia written all over it.”

“Well, look at that.” Sebastian dusted his hands as if he had accomplished the greatest feat in the world. “Now you know where to look. I’m off to the Great Hall to enjoy the feast, but you two ladies have fun.”

Elsie grabbed him by the shirt collar. “Oh, no you don’t. You’re coming with us.”

“But why?” He whined like a kicked puppy. “The feast is the whole point of the night! If we go scouting now, we’ll miss it.”

Samantha and Elsie exchanged a look. “You’re always complaining I don’t bring you on my adventures,” Elsie said, rolling her eyes.

“I hardly think babysitting your sister counts as an adventure,” he grumbled.

“Sebastian, please.” Elsie released him from her hold, her voice taking on a softer tone. “You can have all the pumpkin pasties you want when we find her. And, if we miss the feast, I will personally bake you a bunch myself as a thank-you.”

His eyes widened in horror. “That sounds more like a threat than a reward.”

She ignored his comment about her skills, or lack thereof, in the kitchen and prodded him. “I’m not hearing a no.”

He rolled his eyes at her, a smile playing on his lip. “Fine. Since you begged, I suppose I can agree.”

“I did not beg.”

“Did too.”

“Did not!”

“Guys!” Samantha interjected. “We’re wasting time!”

“....right.”

They followed the path of discarded candy wrappers that led outside of the school grounds and along the trail toward Hogsmeade. To Elsie’s chagrin, the trail didn’t take them to Hogsmeade. Instead, they curved around the bend to the worst possible location where they could have found themselves on Halloween night. Her stomach knotted at the sight of the wrappers rustling in the wind along the rickety bridge to the Forbidden Forest, her mind conjuring up a variety of terrible scenarios of where Lydia could be or what could be happening to her.

“Oh, fantastic.” Elsie groaned as she cast Lumos and stepped past the archway. Sebastian leaned over her shoulder.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and not run into any spiders this time.”

When he saw Elsie’s exasperated look, he grinned. “What? I’m simply trying to be optimistic.”

Samantha forged on ahead, picking up candy wrappings as she trotted along the path and ignored the muttered bickering behind her. She stopped at the end of the bridge and glanced around apprehensively before Elsie came up behind her.

“She can’t be too far now. The candy wrappers are dwindling.”

Sebastian jogged ahead a few paces and scanned the path up ahead as Samantha cast a skeptical glance toward her roommate. “Just an observation, but you two seem awfully comfortable with wandering about the Forbidden Forest.”

Elsie’s boots crunched along the path as she carefully stepped over a tree root. “We’ve been down this path a few times.”

“You and Sebastian?” Samantha’s curious expression evolved into a sly grin.

Elsie whirled around to face her, and Samantha stepped back as she was momentarily blinded by the bright light on her wand. “Merlin’s beard, Sam! Not like that!”

“I was only teasing,” she giggled. “No need to get so defensive.”

She marched on ahead, and a flustered Elsie followed closely behind, rambling an explanation about how it was related to something Professor Fig had needed, and sometimes I do favors for other students and he offers moral support, and stop giggling Samantha you know it’s not like that. She was thankful that Sebastian had gone far enough ahead that he couldn’t hear their conversation.

They stopped suddenly when Sebastian turned around to meet them halfway down the path, shushing Elsie’s yammering and Samantha’s incessant giggling in warning. “There’s something up the path. Or, rather, someone.”

Elsie’s face contorted with worry. “Is it Lydia?” she whispered.

“Sounds like it,” he muttered softly. “But she’s not alone.”

The two girls immediately grew serious as they raised their wands. Elsie’s eyes flared with determination. “We’ll take them head-on then.”

Sebastian nodded. “Agreed.”

The three of them crept along the treeline, listening carefully and preparing to ambush the mysterious stranger who had Lydia. A million thoughts whirled in Elsie’s head as she wondered what they could want with a first-year Ravenclaw girl until she heard a high-pitched screech.

She couldn’t wait any longer. “Now!”

The trio burst into view with their wands raised. Lydia, who had been sitting at a table tucked behind a tree in a dark corner of the forest, stood abruptly and raised hers in return. Elsie’s jaw dropped at the sight before her.

“Lydia?!”

The tiny child stood next to a small, candlelit table that Elsie recalled running into a year prior. However, Lydia had decorated it with a tablecloth and a spread of mini sandwiches, pastries, and dainty teacups. But what surprised her the most was her guest of honor - the infamous ghost of none other than Richard Jackdaw.

“Jackdaw,” Elsie took a step forward, and angrily pointed her wand at the ghost, “you’d better have a damn good explanation as to why you’ve kidnapped my sister on All Hallows Eve and dragged her out into the middle of the Forbidden Forest for a tea party.”

Jackdaw held his hands up placatingly. “I didn’t drag her out here. This was all her idea! I merely provided the location!”

Elsie’s eyes flicked back over to Lydia, who, at the very least, had the gall to look remorseful. “I met him that time you took me to Hogsmeade. I only wanted to do something nice.”

She remembered it well – due to being the “hero of Hogwarts”, Elsie had been given a one-time ‘free pass’ by Professor Weasley to escort Lydia into Hogsmeade as a special treat, though it was unheard of for first-years. Lydia had wandered off, as usual, and Elsie knew that if Weasley had caught wind of it, she would never allow the child out of the castle again. Though, considering the sight before her, she would probably be right in doing so.

“I thought ghosts could only come out from where they live on Halloween, so I planned this all out. I even brought treats.” Lydia held out a basket of all the unwrapped candies she had been carrying through the forest. Elsie made a mental note to do better with explaining the differences between muggle folklore and magic to Lydia later.

“Lyds,” Elsie said gently, “you know…ghosts can’t eat candy.”

The group stared at each other in silence, disbelief crossing all of their faces simultaneously. Sebastian broke it by bursting into uncontrolled laughter, and Samantha raised an eyebrow while Elsie flushed and shot him a glare.

“Come on, you have to admit it’s at least a tiny bit funny,” he said once his laughter had subsided. He swaggered over to the table and picked at the food on one of the platters, taunting Lydia as she tried in vain to smack his hand away.

Despite herself, Elsie smiled at the sight and chuckled lightly. “I suppose so.”

Halloween was a night meant for mischief, after all. She secretly knew that given Lydia’s history and the environment of the forest, the situation could have turned out much worse, and she was grateful that it hadn’t. Jackdaw may not have been the best influence, but an innocent tea party under floating candles was hardly worth retribution - especially because it was Lydia’s suggestion in the first place. She shrugged at Samantha and accepted their fate. The two of them joined the ghost, the young girl, and the freckled Slytherin at the table.

And, although they missed the annual feast, Elsie thought that a tea party with a ghost in the dark ambiance of the Forbidden Forest was a fitting way for the Corvin girls to celebrate their first Halloween at Hogwarts together.

[dwightschrute11]

I wanted to throw a few questions for Calypso.

What would she see in the mirror of erised?

What would her favorite book be?

Which of the hl npcs is she closest to?

Thank you for this ask @ladyofsappho !! Love you girl 🥹💕💕

1. There are two things she could either see: the first thing would be herself flying through the breeze on a broom, sun setting and the wind playing with her hair: and while it isn’t obvious at first glance, it symbolizes that everything is alright and that she is finally free from all her pent up emotions and fears, free from all the problems in the world. Otherwise it would be her with her father and mother, both alive and well

2. Her favorite novel would definitely be Dracula (definitely not because I just got it from the library, and the fact the only other 1890s novel I’m knowledgeable on is Sherlock), because in both 1890’s and modern au she is a big horror fan. This also ties into the fact that in modern au she’d love vampires and all of that stuff (ngl she would’ve read all the twilight novels)

3. As I was playing the game pre being called ignorant, Sebastian was actually pretty close with Calypso in my head. But after the ignorant incident, I uh. Haha. Got very pissed about it, and me and calypso both are holding a big grudge about it (as you can probably tell from the few posts I have including Sebastian). I see now their personalities would probably clash anyways (might explain in a different post).

Sorry for getting off track haha, otherwise I can see her bond really deepen with Natsai. Twin souls, they both have an adventurous spirit and Nattys more down to earth personality weaves in well with Calypsos more “head in the clouds” way. I can also see Calypso actually being good friends with Samantha Dale: they seem like they could get together and geek out about stuff.

[catohphm]

Welcome to my first Hogwarts Legacy fan fiction! In this story, we will explore my MC Danny's first day at Hogwarts and the drama between him and the headmaster that took place during it, as well as the following aftermath.

Tagging some mutuals who encouraged me to write this @carewyncromwell, @boxdstars, @charmedslytherin, @alsopartgekkos and @danceworshipper

Dear Bands Against the Darkness

-

Rays of morning sunlight cast through the windows of a dormitory in the Ravenclaw tower. Sharing the dorm were a handful of first year Ravenclaw boys. Among them were Daniel Gibson, Amit Thakkar and Andrew Larson. The night before, they had gotten along and became friends over their excitement to learn and exchanged what subjects they anticipated studying the most. It was certain they would be attending several classes together as housemates.

Danny awakened from a peaceful slumber.

"Morning, Amit." he greeted his friend who sleeps in the bed next to him. "Good morning to you, Danny." he replied in a calming voice. "Slept alright, I hope?"

"Yeah," said Danny. "These beds are really comfortable. Yourself" His friend smiled and nodded "Nice to hear, me too. Agree with you in fact," Amit added "it's easy to relax and fall asleep in one of them."

Andrew then woke up. "Good morning lads! I cannot wait to start my classes this morning." he said.

"Morning, I want to see what they're doing for herbology." Danny commented with a smile.

Amit turned to face the blonde-haired boy. "Good morning to you, Andrew. Hopefully you slept well last night?"

He nodded "I did, yeah. Any classes you're excited for, Amit?"

"Definitely Astronomy. I love looking through the telescopes and studying star maps."

"Flying for me," remarked Andrew. "I want to join Quidditch."

Danny leaned and looked at him with a curious face. "You know that quidditch is for second years and up only, Andrew?"

Amit nodded in agreement with Danny but he was intrigued still. "What's the position you would like to try out for?"

After a few seconds with his hands on his chin, Andrew answered "Maybe a chaser, perhaps. I still have a year to decide."

"I wouldn't worry about it now. I would suggest watching the games as they come. How about this? We'll go together as a group since we're Ravenclaws."

"Sure Amit, I'd be glad." Andrew grinned. His roommate then turned to Danny. "Do you want to join us when we go watch the games?"

Danny paused but then blurted out "I mean I'd be happy to join you and Andrew at Quidditch. It sounds pretty fun."

"Great to hear." declared Amit "We should get ready for our classes now."

Eventually, the boys were all cleaned up and donning brand new Ravenclaw uniforms in place of their pajamas. They were of the same design as the plain robes they wore while being sorted. However the inner layer of the robe was blue instead of black. It was complimented by a matching blazer, trousers, a shirt and tie with a beautiful pattern of blue and bronze stripes. Ravenclaw house patches were on the robe, vest and blazer.

Amit looked into the mirror. “This is quite a beautiful set of garments.” A surprised Danny commented “Wow, I can’t remember if or whenever I wore something nice like this.” Andrew said “Whoever designed these uniforms knew what they were doing. A famous school like Hogwarts has to have quality uniforms.”

The boys were all in agreement about the looks of their school garb. They gathered their bags and made their way out into the common room.

Out in the rotunda of the tower that was the Ravenclaw common room, they ran into one of the girls in their year, Samantha Dale. Danny had met her their first night at the castle, where they struck up a conversation about their excitement for potions and herbology. They both had mentioned having a younger brother yet that part of their exchange was brief.

“Good morning lads. Hello Danny. Slept well I’m hoping?” Samantha greeted them. “Hello Samantha, I did,” nodded Danny. “hope the same for you?” She affirmed “surely I did. Can’t wait to see you around the greenhouses later on. I’m excited about that.”

“Me too, It will be a pleasure having you there.” Danny remarked.

Samantha turned to Amit and introduced herself “My name’s Samantha Dale, you can just call me Samantha.”

Bowing his head quickly forward “I’m Amit, Amit Thakkar. Greetings to you, Samantha. Hope you are well.”

“Certainly.” replied Samantha. “It’s nice to meet you, Amit.” The boy smiled “Pleasure. You know Danny, the other one is Andrew.

“Larson. Andrew Larson. I’m just called Andrew. Happy to meet you, Samantha. How are you today?” he asked the Ravenclaw girl.

“Doing quite alright.” she said positively.

With the introductions in order, Andrew pulled out his schedule. “Our first class of the day is charms. We ought to get moving.”

The group of four then headed out of their common room on their way to class.

-

Leaving early to catch their first class, the four Ravenclaws were already well on their way to the Charms classroom. Along the way they encountered a Gryffindor boy, Garreth Weasley. He was in their year.

“Hey, Danny! How was your first night here at Hogwarts?”

“Hey, Garreth. My night was great. I slept pretty soundly. What about you?”

“It was good.” Garreth replied “My roommates are alright, Leander seems like a nice fellow, if a bit nervous.”

“Leander?” Danny asked. “Leander Prewett. He’ll be sharing some classes with us.”

Amit then stepped in “I’m Amit by the way. I share a dormitory with Danny. Good to meet you, Garreth.”

Confidently, Garreth returned the greeting. “Nice to meet you as well Amit! Who are those two Ravenclaws with you and Danny?”

“They are Andrew and Samantha. Andrew and Samantha, this is Garreth Weasley. He is a friend of Danny.”

“Yeah, we both live in Devon. Not too far from each other.” Danny commented.

Andrew and Samantha exchanged platitudes with the Gryffindor.

Garreth smiled. “It’s a wonder to meet you all. My aunt sent me to find Danny. She’s the deputy headmistress and will be our transfiguration teacher.”

Curiously, Danny asked “Why did Matilda send you for me?”

“She wants to have a chance to talk with you before your first lesson. Let’s go, she’s waiting by the Charms classroom.”

The Gryffindor boy led them through the hallways to the entrance of the classroom. Out by the door was Professor Mathilda Weasley. She looked professional yet motherly, stern but assuring.

“Thank you for bringing Mr. Gibson here, Mr. Weasley.” Although the teacher was the aunt of Garreth, it was still proper for them to address each other formally since they were in Hogwarts.

“Of course, professor. He came here with some friends from Ravenclaw.”

The professor looked back and forth at the five kids before speaking to Danny. “I see. Good morning Mr. Gibson. I am glad to see that you are making some new friends here at Hogwarts. Your mother did right by getting you here. I helped her out with that.”

“Thank you, Professor Weasley. Garreth and my housemates have been nice to me.”

“I am pleased to hear that. The headmaster has been riding up and down on his own game. I can’t say I trust him to run this school, but as Deputy Headmistress I do try my best to ensure it remains safe and stable for students to learn.”

“We’ll do our best to make it through this together, Danny.” agreed Garreth.

The bell rang. Amit told Danny as he, Andrew and Samantha went into the classroom “We’ll let you three finish up. Find us once you’re done.” Danny nodded “Okay.”

“Well I must get back to my classroom now. I got students to teach. If Professor Black or anyone else here gives you grief, you can come by my office next to my classroom on the ground floor. It’s always open if you want to come in and talk about anything.”

With a nod, Danny replied “I appreciate that, Professor. Again, thank you.”

“Best of luck on your first day of classes to you both.” the professor said happily. “See you in Transfiguration.” She finished. Danny and Garreth said their goodbyes then Professor Weasley departed for her classroom.

Left by themselves, Garreth expressed to his friend from home “I’m glad she’s here with us, Danny. My aunt can feel strict and overarching sometimes but she cares a lot for us and this school.”

“I can certainly agree too, Garreth.” Danny replied. “You, Matilda, Amit, Samantha. There’s some good people here.”

“Right. We must be in the classroom with us though.” said Garreth.” No need to lose house points for being late.”

The boys went into the Charms classroom and found their seats. Danny joined Amit, Samantha and Andrew while Garreth went and took a seat by Leander and the other Gryffindors in his year.

-

Later that day, Danny and his group were on their way to Magical Theory taught by Professor Fig. He heard his name abruptly get called out in a deep, booming male voice. “Gibson!”

Panicked, he shouted “What?” and dashed away from his friends without another word, leaving them in shock and confusion.

Amit, Samantha, Andrew and Garreth all had worried looks on their faces as Danny went to the man that called for him. The man shouted at them “Off to class with you lot!” They had no choice but to keep going. It was no question that this man was Phineas Nigellus Black, the headmaster of Hogwarts. He was tall, tough and imposing, with jet black hair, a handlebar mustache and wide goatee. Profesor Black wore a long overcoat and towered over many of the students like a hawk.

The headmaster then turned to Danny. “Follow me. We need to have an important conversation. Do not even delay.”

He led a confused Danny to an empty classroom and forcefully shut the door. “Take a seat, Mr. Gibson.”

“What did I even d-” Professor Black rudely cut Danny off before proclaiming. “No questions. Sit down!”

The boy rushed to take a seat at one of the front desks in front of the blackboard. The headmaster leaned and grasped the front end of the desk with his hands, glaring straight at Danny.

“Let’s get straight to business. When I learned that you were from America I expected you to share the belief that we are above all others. Then I realized who you truly are. You and your mother came here with just the clothes on your backs. No galleon to your name. Father is missing. The kind of people that will never amount to anything in life!” Professor Black banged his hand on the desk as Danny stayed fearfully silent.

He continued. “Face it, Mr. Gibson. We have ties all over the place, while you leeches are parasites feeding off the well-being of good-to-do families like us. Like that loser of your mother who can’t even stay married. I would be surprised if she made it into the prophet or even found a job. Your father must be really disappointed. His boy is going to end up nothing but a footnote in this school’s never-ending list of failures no different than a troll, you know that?

Danny could not speak. Tears were coming down his face as he overheard the bell ringing in the hallway, hailing the start of the next class period.

Professor Black approached the desk and leaned on it again. “That’s right! You are foreign filth plaguing the good name of our beloved school and everything we stand for.”

He was not done yet. “I am appalled that they even let you into this school. Mr. Gibson, the only reason you are here is the Ministry has a tight leash on us about their galleons going into the school treasury. They would bloody shut us down if we didn’t admit every magical child in Britain and Ireland.”

The headmaster stood up and looked at the blackboard. Your goody-two-shoes Professor Weasley and those blokes have their heads in a barrel full of bubotuber pus.”

“I would not be surprised if your grades falter and you get expelled.” Professor Black then said as he turned to face Danny. “The honorable Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will be better off with you flunking little horklump out of the picture.”

Without looking back, the headmaster told Danny “Out with you now, tramp. I have other matters to attend to. Be lucky that your next professor doesn’t lay it down on you for being late.” He opened the door and left without closing it.

The poor boy remained sitting at the desk of the dark room. He was sobbing with the earful that the headmaster had given him. Danny did not grasp what Professor Black was exactly going on about or why he singled him out of many students.

Meanwhile, in Professor Fig’s classroom, there was concern over Danny’s absence. “It has been about ten minutes and Mr. Gibson is still a no-show.” the teacher said. He asked Amit about his whereabouts.

“Professor Fig, we were on our way here when Professor Black called Danny aside. He then told us to go. We have not seen him since. I hope nothing has happened to him.” he said, sharing worry.

Squinting his eyebrows, the teacher remarked “That is certainly troubling. Mr. Thakkar, please go for look for Mr. Gibson. Tell him he will not be losing house points for being late. Miss Dale, and Mr. Larson, help Mr. Thakkar find Mr. Gibson.” Garreth also volunteered to help the Ravenclaws search for Danny.

The group left the class together, retracing their steps to where Professor Black had stopped the Ravenclaws before the start of Magical Theory.

-

Danny was found in an empty classroom at one of the desks, staring into space.

Amit asked him in a panicked, worried voice “What are you doing here, Danny?”

Brought up from his dull trance, he went “Ah! I’m late for Magical Theory.”

“What did Professor Black put you up to?” inquired a troubled-looking Samantha. “Are you alright, you looked quite out of it?” Garreth also questioned.

In an irritated tone, he only responded “Come on, I need to get to class. I will lose a lot of house points for being this late.” as he got up from the desk.

Andrew then told Danny “Professor Fig said he won’t take off points for this.”

“That’s brilliant. I really need to get to class.” he said, walking intently out of the empty room. Amit quipped “Please, Danny wait up.” as he and the others followed their friend out.

He arrived in Professor Fig’s classroom first followed by Amit, Samantha, Garreth and Andrew. The teacher approached the group and spoke to them.

“Ah, Mr. Gibson. It’s pleasing that you are okay and in one piece. What was all that about with Professor Black?

Danny sighed, he couldn’t think at all. “How about you go and find a seat? You need to relax.” said the teacher. “Yes, Professor.”

He went and sat down with the other Ravenclaws while Professor Fig talked with his friends. “Poor Mr. Gibson looked quite disturbed. Professor Black must have shoveled quite the load of foul rubbish to him.”

Amit affirmed “That’s right, Professor Fig. Danny was in no mood to talk when he found him. All he was focused on was getting to class.”

“I believe he got things said to him that hit him hard inside. My friend seems to be bothered a lot by thinking about whatever he had gone through. He can’t pull anything together without it getting to him.” Samantha added.

“Ahh, Merlin’s beard! This is quite a problem. Mr. Weasley, what do you think Professor Black has against Mr. Gibson? I know our headmaster is rather notorious, but why him?”

Garreth noted “Perhaps he saw something in Danny that he disliked a lot.”

Finally, Andrew said “Danny is using his classes to avoid talking about the matter. It must be too much for him to go through.”

“I see.” assessed Professor Fig. “This is something very disturbing indeed. I hope we can get to the bottom of it and help Danny but there is not much we can do at the moment. This is an isolated incident and there is no hard evidence of what Professor Black said to Danny. Until he can talk about it, we ought to be patient.”

The teacher had said it all. Danny’s four friends nodded in agreement. “We should start class now and focus on that for the time being.”

Magical Theory went on for the rest of the class period. Everyone including Danny paid attention to Professor Fig and took notes as he lectured to keep their minds off the matter.

-

That night after classes had ended, the Ravenclaws recuperated in their common room. Danny, Amit, Samantha and Andrew talked about how all their classes were like. Everyone was excited, except for Danny, who was more solemn in his responses.

Samantha broke the chain of the conversation when she took notice of how quiet he was. “Is that matter with Professor Black still bothering you, Danny?

“Please tell us what’s wrong.” said Andrew.

Amit stated “We cannot help you if we do not know the story.”

“We are your friends, Danny. You can be honest with us. We will not judge for anything you say to us. None of what Professor Black said is your fault.” explained Samantha. “We’re listening.” added Amit.

Feeling comfortable and assured enough by his friends to talk, Danny opened up to them.

“Okay, Professor Black took me aside and said we needed to have an important conversation. He led me inside an empty classroom and shut the door. The headmaster did not allow me to talk at all. He went on about how I was a filth to the school and the good name of people. Not just me, but he also talked about my mum and Professor Weasley being just as bad. Professor Black called us foreigners that were only leeches that feed off of families like his, like we would never amount to anything. He also got at my mum for not staying married and not able to find work. Before he left he told me that he would not be surprised if I failed my classes and got expelled.”

“Oh no, Danny. I can’t speak for how terrifying that must have been. I’m sorry.” Amit responded

Danny nodded slowly. “Indeed, it was terrifying. Professor Black just pulled me away while he just shouted at you all to go away. He’s not a nice headmaster.

Samantha reassured “You’re not alone here, Danny. Professor Black has a bad name for himself around here because of that behavior. He is also known to use his powers for only things that benefit himself and his family.”

“Right. He is still allowed to do whatever he wants even though it makes students feel unwelcome.” Andrew noted.

“The problem is that there is no way to punish him. That also scares me. He may just pay anyone he knows to get him out of trouble.” expressed a concerned Danny.”

“I know,” said Amit. “But we didn’t come here to Hogwarts to live in fear of Professor Black. This is supposed to be our home. Let’s make it that.”

Danny felt somewhat better. “I’m glad to have you all and Garreth by my side in this castle. I know Professor Weasley is also there for me.”

Samantha happily nodded “Exactly, Danny! We’ll work through this together. Remember we’re always here with you.”

“You can trust us.” agreed Andrew. “We’ll do our best to help you like when Professor Black made you late to Magical Theory today. Professor Fig is also someone to turn to.”

Amit then chimed in “This is only just the start of the first year. There are more days ahead of us, and tomorrow will be brand new. For a moment don’t think that it’s ruined. Together we’ll make the best out of it here.

“Thank you! All of you are showing to be good friends to me. Hopefully with us together it’ll be more fun studying here.” concluded Danny.

-

Over the weekend, Danny was on his way to the library to study potions with Garreth. Luckily he had avoided any contact with Professor Black since the fiasco on the first day. It was by fate that the hawkish headteacher would strike again.

He went into a T-intersection where two corridors met when he found himself face to face with the headmaster.

“Now, now Mr. Gibson. What have you been up to?”

“I was on my way to the library to do some studying.”

Professor Black scoffed. “Ah, the library. That dump. You Ra-”

Their exchange was broken off by the loud booming voice of a first year boy. “Professor Black! Enough of that potty mouth of yours!”

Both Danny and the headmaster turned to face the source of the shout. Facing them were a brown-haired Slytherin with a part in his hair, accompanied by a witch from his house with the same color of hair and a ponytail.

“What did you just say to me, Mr. Sallow?” an annoyed Professor Black asked the boy.

“You heard me.” he replied back.

Danny witnessed as he and the witch exchanged words with the headmaster

Backing up the Slytherin boy, she added “You don’t talk to a student like that. Better be lucky we don’t slip a dungbomb in your pocket for this.”

The headmaster didn’t take her words lightly. “30 points from Slytherin. I do not have the time for this foolish nonsense! Next time it’ll be in detention. I swear, I’ll have both of you polishing the trophy room from top to bottom with no spark of magic to teach you both some respect!”

Fed up and determined to be rid of the sight of the “troublemakers,” Professor Black scrammed away, leaving the three kids alone.

The Slytherin boy spoke to Danny now that the headmaster was gone.

"Hey. You doing alright?" He asked Danny. "I'm sorry that you had to see that."

"Thank you. I'm just glad you two made Professor Black go away. This is not the first time he tried to get at me.

"He's been giving us quite some trouble too."

The witch then spoke up "We're going to have to be quiet when dealing with Professor Black after this one. He means it when he'll put us in detention next time he catches us."

"Oh by the way, I'm Sebastian, Sebastian Sallow." the boy introduced himself.

"I'm Daniel Gibson. You can call me Danny."

The witch then made her introduction. Hello, I'm Anne, Sebastian's sister. We're twins."

"Great to meet you both," said Danny. "I appreciate people who can set aside their own things to help others in need."

Sebastian agreed "That’s good to know. Anne and I are the same there."

"I have to head to the library to study with a friend."

"We'll see you around here, Danny. It was nice meeting you." said Sebastian.

Before they parted, Anne told Danny "Come see us if Professor Black gives you trouble again."

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Danny. Thanks again. I'll see you later."

With that, Danny and the twins bid their farewell and continued on with their days.

-

Now confident with people he knew by his side, Danny had the security to continue his studies at Hogwarts with opulence and a drive to learn more despite the transgressions of Professor Black. It would still be where he would take time to open up to most but he put a lot of faith in those there with him. The Sallow twins would introduce Danny to Ominis Gaunt, a fellow Slytherin who held strong disdain for the Dark Arts and the ways of the pure-blood elite. Over time, the four opened up to each other and realized they had much in common. They came from broken families marked by long struggles with abuse and crumbling ties between members.

United by their contempt for Professor Black, Danny would start working with the twins to discreetly cause chaos for the headmaster. When Professor Weasley learned of these actions, she was sympathetic to Danny. Although she advised to keep it between him and his friends and hoped they would not get ahead of themselves. In all cases, pranks and chaos was the only form of justice available when the repressive headmaster's immense clout and connections in society made formal punishments futile.