The Raven and the Snake (Sebastian Sallow x Ravenclaw MC)

First meeting

The first time Sebastian heard about the new fifth-year, he'd been indifferent.

The second time Sebastian heard about the new fifth-year, he'd been annoyed.

Annoyed at the occasion, at himself, everything. Even annoyed at his very own annoyance, due to the fact he himself realized it was misplaced.

He was bitter, to be sure, but what else was new these days? The whole school, making some big fuss about a new student's arrival, when his very own sister was no longer there, gone, trapped and confined to their little hamlet in Feldcroft, and nobody had a word to say about it anymore.

Sure, it'd been nearly a year since Anne had left the school, but Sebastian couldn't help the resentment he still felt. His sister's condition and her (hopefully) temporary leave of Hogwarts had only recently just been the talk of the school.

Or, at the very least, it'd been the talk of his own house. Yet now, everybody may as well have forgotten, accepted her absence as a new normalcy rather than the jarring revelation it once was. Clearly, they were content to leave Anne to rot in their memories and move on, replacing her instead with a more fresh, exciting bit of news.

And so Sebastian hadn't paid the news of this incoming fifth-year much mind, if just out of spite alone. That, and his single-minded dedication to his research in finding a cure for his twin.

Until, of course, the Sorting Ceremony allowed him—or, more aptly, forced him— to finally put a face to all of the rumours and gossip. She'd come rushing in with Professor Fig at the door, late into the feast and well past the point of all the Sortings as the first-years looked up from their new respective tables.

With how much attention this mysterious new fifth-year was already getting before they'd even arrived, such an attention grabbing, fashionably late entrance probably should have annoyed Sebastian even further. But it hadn't, for some reason.

He'd simply watched curiously—along with the rest of them, no doubt—as she'd rushed up and sat rigidly on the stool, awaiting her fate.

That's right: her fate.

In all his avoidance and disdain for the rumours, Sebastian almost had to laugh at himself as he watched her rush in, realizing he'd never even given a thought as to even the most basic things about this mystery student, such as what gender they might have been.

And for a moment it almost made him bitter again, once again drawing the similarities between his sister's circumstances and this new student: one girl leaves, another arrives to take her place. And the rumour mill goes 'round and 'round, the circle of life continues, so on and so forth.

But he couldn't fully bring himself to feel that same bitterness he had before, especially as he watched to see where she'd be sorted. Sebastian couldn't help but feel sympathy for her, now that he was actually seeing her—seeing a face, a person, and not just words and whispers.

He could already tell she was absolutely not the type of individual who would want to be in such a glaring spotlight, and yet here she was, all the more because of her late entrance. As if she needed yet another reason to stand out.

She chewed her lip as the hat prattled on, and it wasn't long before a certain table clad in blue robes stood up, cheering and hollering at their new celebrity addition to the Ravenclaw House.

*****

He realized, dimly, that he was trying to impress her.

Why, however, he hadn't a clue.

"Time for a proper Hogwarts welcome," he'd regarded her amicably enough, sauntering towards his side of the room and onto the impromptu dueling table suddenly beneath his feet.