Sallow's Soft Side-10 Years Later

Chapter 4 - Like Old Times

*Sebastian POV*

"Thank you for bringing me here. It really is beautiful." she says to me, facing the view.

"It truly is..." I reply, but I'm not looking at the landscape. I'm looking at her. This feels like a dream, like some sort of prank. It had been such a long time that I began to fear she'd never find her way back to me. I make a mental note to relish every moment that she's here. I want to go up behind her like I used to and wrap my arms around her. Rest my chin on her shoulder, whisper something witty in her ear to make her blush...but is it too soon?

Here goes nothing. I won't go right up and wrap my arms around her, but I will stand a little closer to see how she reacts, if at all. I stop a few inches behind her and look out at the view. A cool breeze goes by, causing her to get goosebumps. Shit. I should have brought a jacket along. I know she gets cold pretty easily. She's commented before about how my body is always so warm, so I decide to run my hands on her arms while I stand behind her and apologize for not being well prepared with a jacket or a sweater.

"I always get cold at the slightest breeze. It's okay." She takes a couple small steps backwards until our bodies are nearly touching. "I'll just use you for heat like I always did."

Now it's me with the goosebumps, but not because I'm cold. Hopefully she won't notice. She's close enough to me that I can smell her signature scent. It's exactly as I recall-clean, floral, maybe a little herby.

"Let's go sit in the sun," I suggest, motioning towards a large flat rock I've always found perfect for relaxing on to read. I climb up first and offer my hand to help her up. She climbs up by me, but rather than sit, she lays down to look up at the sky. I lay down next to her and we cloud gazed for a while in a pleasant silence. After some time, she rolls over to her side to face me.

"So, did you miss me?" she asks, probably jokingly.

"You have no idea. I told you in my last letter to you that I wouldn't lose hope on seeing you again. I didn't know at the time that it would take ten years, but I'm glad to see I wasn't hoping just to wind up disappointed. I was starting to think you were probably married with a family by now. Girls like you don't stay on the market for long."

She looked at me for a moment, then tells me "The first several years I only went on a few dates, but they all bored me. Alexander was the first one I tolerated enough to keep around. If I'm being honest, the spark wasn't ever there with him. I always felt like something was missing. I was essentially settling when I allowed him to move in. You know they're not the one when you're actually scared that they might propose to you rather than feeling excited to know when it's going to happen. I don't believe at all that I would have said yes."

"I'm sorry you had such a dull relationship for so long, but I am quite relieved you aren't married with children." Hopefully that doesn't come off as harsh.

"Believe me, I am too. They do say everything happens for a reason, and I'm starting to believe that more and more over the last twenty-four hours." she says, turning pink by the second half of her sentence.

"Now it's my turn to ask you a question. I promise it's an easy one."

She narrows her eyes at me. "Fine. Go ahead."

I smile at her adorable expression. "Do you want to come closer to me?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"No, I've just been wanting to hold you since the second I saw you, so I thought I'd start by asking if that's even something you'd want."

Without another word, she scoots right up next to me and lays her head on my chest. I wrap my arm around her and use my free arm to rest my head on. I hope she doesn't notice how fast my heart is beating now. I can't help but to smile like a dummy. This is the most happiness I've felt in years. While we lay here intertwined, we reminisce about our time at Hogwarts.

"Why didn't you write back to me after I wrote to you that I was changing schools?" she asks me. I can tell that she had been working up the courage to ask me this question, although I hoped she never would.

"I wanted to, and I tried, but every time I did, I couldn't get the words on paper to explain what I was feeling. I blamed myself for you needing to change schools. If I had just escaped that trunk just a few minutes sooner..."

"Sebastian, goodness, did you truly blame yourself for that? It wasn't your fault. It was nobody's fault but Garin's. You came in just in time. Not once has it ever crossed my mind that you didn't do enough to protect me. I've always felt safest with you near me."

"I did. It makes me sick to think about what could have happened to you. What he tried to do-it's unthinkable. Then I wasn't properly there to support you afterwards. You must have felt so alone and betrayed. I still haven't forgiven myself for it," I explained sadly. She needed someone at that point in time, and I failed to do so. How could I forgive myself?

"You saved me from one of the scariest moments of my life. I've always been grateful you were there. I was disappointed that you kept such a distance from me, but I didn't hold it against you. I would have wound up needing to change schools either way. That was not my choice. I wanted to come back to Hogwarts and finish school with you like you said in your letter."

I couldn't hold back any longer. I just went for it. I lean up slightly to free the arm I was resting my head on, turn slightly to face her better, and kiss her. It was like a wave of electricity shot through our bodies. She reaches her hand to run her fingers through my hair and I pull her up on top of me. Suddenly it's as if we were teenagers hiding out in the room of requirement all over again. She pulls her face from mine for a few seconds to look me in the eyes, then back in to kiss me again. She starts to open her mouth and I do the same, our tongues sliding past each other as the passion and intensity grows. It all just feels so natural to me. I move away from her mouth and onto her cheek, down to her neck, and the quiet noises she makes as she breathes in and out are enough to make me crazy in the best way possible. I unbutton the first few buttons of her blouse so I can kiss her chest. There isn't an inch of this woman's body I don't want my mouth on.

I know she can feel my arousal, but we both know that outside on a rock out in the open is likely not the best place for that level of intimacy. We continue kissing and allowing our hands to wander all over our bodies a while longer before deciding it's best to start trekking back to the Inn.

"Do you have to return home tonight, or would you like to stay with me one more night?"

She looks at me and thinks for a minute. I can tell by the smile she's got that she wants to stay. "If you don't feel I'm overstaying, and Raven and Emilia are fine with it, I'd love to stay again."

That big dummy smile returns to my face. "They won't mind at all." Those two women have become older sister figures to me, and I think they've been waiting for this to happen for me. Raven is very talented at Divination, and after a session last month, she casually asked about her a couple of times. Looking back, I don't think that was a coincidence.