Sallow's Soft Side-10 Years Later

Chapter 14 - You're Lucky

*Sebastian POV*

"Uhm, the first one, I guess?" I say, looking at a series of ties that look nearly identical.

"You guess? Come on, Sebastian, you only get one extremely rushed wedding day in a lifetime. Don't you want it to be perfect?" Y/N's best friend says to me with a frown. 

"It's already perfect! Have you SEEN who I'm marrying?" I answer with a laugh. I'm trying to be funny, but they eyeroll Phoenix gives me tells me I missed the mark.

"Good one, hot shot, but that's not getting you out of helping with these decisions. Now, take a closer look. Which one appeals to you?"

"I'm sorry," I whine. "They all look they same! They are all green."

"The same?!" she raises her voice at me. "You must be joking. Here: This one's emerald, the next is jade, then pistachio, moss, avocado, apple, olive, forest..." she trails of listing a few more names to place in front of green.

"Honestly, you're just making me hungry." I say, receiving another eyeroll in return. "Fine. I'll take a closer look." I can see a bit of a difference now that I take a more careful look at the shades. I find myself stuck between emerald and forest green. Forest...the name reminds me of that intense afternoon in the Forbidden Forest. Don't think too hard about that, Sebastian, or you'll have to pull Y/N from whatever preparation she's up to in order to satisfy a certain craving...

"Let's see how the forest green option looks while worn." I suggest, and she promptly waves her wand to have it perfectly tied. I turn to check the mirror. Huh. I suppose I clean up nice. Once these pins are removed from the spots needing to be hemmed, I'm sure I'll be quite the dapper groom to greet my future wife.

It's Wednesday, just three days before the ceremony. Once I finish having my suit fitted and now that my tie color crisis is settled, Y/N and I are to sit and try a few cake options for Emilia. Everyone is determined to make this event as "normal" as possible under such dire circumstances. I'd have been happy to tie the knot right there in the Map Chamber, but Y/N wishes for a true ceremony. Anything that will make her happy will make me happy. 

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My fiance and I sit at a large round table while Emilia and Raven bring out an abundance of small cakes for us to try. Our options are classic vanilla with white frosting, chocolate with a glossy black glaze type frosting, pumpkin with cream cheese frosting, a strawberry filled one with a whipped type frosting, a banana cake with no icing but rather a pudding filling layer, or a double chocolate layered cake with chocolate frosting. I think that by the time we try all of these enough to decide on our favorite, we won't even need dinner tonight. There's no way we'll have the room in our bodies for it. 

After trying each of the cakes at least once, we finally decided on the chocolate with the shiny glaze. Emilia had hoped we would choose that option, as she can take some creative liberty in decorating it to match the color scheme we chose without even noticing. We were both drawn to green and silver to accent the classic black and white, as our earliest memories together start with bonding as young Slytherins in this very castle. 

I haven't gotten much time lately to spend time one-on-one with Ominus, so I invite him to take a walk with me through the Forbidden Forest like old times. As a staff member now at the school, we don't even have to sneak to go in there. We can wander on in whenever we like. It hasn't taken long at all for his features to fill back out, and now he is looking much more like himself again instead of the zombie-like man we found in the cellar of Gaunt Manor. 

We wander the woods, discussing life, the past, the present, the future, and all in between. There's that one little thing I haven't gotten to ask him about, so I decide now is a better time than ever.

"So, what's the deal with you and Phoenix?" I ask, and as soon as I finish my sentence he stops dead in his tracks.

"What? Wh..Why do you ask? What do you mean?" he asks me in return, a flash of pink emerging to his ears.

"Nothing, I just happened to notice how cozy the two of you look every time we all hang out together in the living area. She seems to have taken a quick liking to you as well. I thought maybe you'd fancied her."

He sighs. He knows he can hardly hide anything from me. "Fine. I did start to feel a connection with her almost immediately. Who knows if that's real, though? She was one of the first women I sat to have a conversation with in years. I can tell by her voice that she must be a total knockout. I'm sure some poor skinny blind wizard with a sad backstory is not her usual type."

"She is beautiful, Ominus, but you must give yourself and her some credit," I say to him in a tone meant to be encouraging. "You're a nice-looking man, my friend, and you have a lot to offer. As far as her typical type goes, neither of us know the kind of person she goes for. She seems to me as more of the type of person to look inward at a person to decide her feelings for them. As cheerful as the two of you look when conversing, my advice is to go for it. Ask her out."

He is quiet for a moment, lost in thought. "I would, Sebastian, but there's one big thing you're missing here. I've never asked a girl out before. I've never taken the opportunity. The number of girls you'd turn away our last two years in school would walk straight past me as if I wasn't there. Phoenix would have to know I'm completely inexperienced in that department. In all of those departments, remind you."

I laugh. Not at his inexperience, but at how concerned he is about it. "Come on man, that won't matter at all. You've just been yourself all this time you've gotten to know her, and you're hitting it off just fine. Give it a shot. I promise you; it will be fine."

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*Y/N POV*

"Phoenix. While the guys are off on their little adventure I must ask. What do you think of our dear friend Ominus?"

I'm staring my best friend dead in the eye as I ask her. It is just her, Natty, and I relaxing in the living room this afternoon. A smile instantly spreads across her face as soon as I say his name. I knew it!

"He is...unlike any man I've ever met. That much I know for sure. His cynical sense of humor, his sarcasm, his roundabout way of dishing a compliment...I don't think he realizes how charming he is." she replies to the question. "He's easy on the eyes, too. Even as he recovers from being starved the past few years, he is quite handsome. I only imagine he'll grow even handsomer as he bulks back up to his former figure. And those icy blue eyes...wow."

"What you're implying is that if he were to walk into this room right now and ask you out, you'd let him?" Natty chimes in. I don't usually gossip about my friends, but I did pull her aside earlier to find out if she saw what Sebastian and I saw the other night as far as the obvious chemistry between Phoenix and Ominus goes.

"Sure, you never know unless you try, right?" Phoenix says with a smile.

Then, like magic, Sebastian and Ominus himself walk into the room.

"Phoenix, uhm...a word? In private, preferably?" Ominus stammers before we even have the chance to greet them.

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