How to Make a Villain - [Sebastian Sallow x F!OC]

[two]

'Yes, I can see there's a bit of a gender imbalance going on,' Aurélie muttered, casting a nervous glance over her shoulder. Samantha followed her gaze to the pair of duelling boys as if she was only just realising they existed.

'Oh, ignore those two idiots.' She rolled her eyes theatrically. 'They're always carrying on like that. Sebastian Sallow can't go three seconds without whipping his wand out and hexing somebody.'

'Er, I gather he's the one with the manically gleeful expression?'

Samantha sighed in a way that suggested Sebastian Sallow's very existence was a source of great distress to her. 'Yes, that's him. He gets away with all sorts of unacceptable behaviour just because he's Quidditch captain,' she said dismissively, wrinkling her nose like the word Quidditch was offensive.

Aurélie, however, was slightly less dismissive of this news.

Well, then, she thought, looking over the tall Slytherin again, that explains the forearms. And the broad shoulders.

She tore her gaze away, suddenly feeling a little hot around the ears.

'The Gryffindor is Leander Prewitt,' Samantha went on, clearly unimpressed by either broad shoulders or nicely toned forearms. 'Sebastian always instigates and Leander always reacts. It's all very predictable and boring for the rest of us by now, but apparently not to them.' She bent her head back to the page she was reading and sighed again. 'Anyway, if you think this is bad, you should've seen Sebastian and Garreth together in potions last year. Utter chaos. I wouldn't be surprised if Professor Sharp had a nervous breakdown over the summer holidays just thinking about taking them on again for their N.E.W.T.s - and that's saying something: Sharp used to be an Auror.'

'But - why are they duelling?' Aurélie replied, lowering her voice lest they overhear her. Something about the confident air of the Slytherin boy made her nervous; he seemed the type who'd challenge even her to a duel if she looked at him the wrong way. 'Surely that's not allowed?'

'It's not, but they do it anyway. They've not seen each other for three months over the summer holidays and I suppose they're desperate to find some outlet for all their pent-up male aggression. It's nothing personal,' she added hastily, seeing the sceptical look on Aurélie's face. 'It's just the age-old Gryffindor versus Slytherin rivalry; they're supposed to hate one another, so they do. It's like self-fulfilling prophecy.'

Aurélie was just casting another furtive glance at the tall Slytherin Quidditch captain's shoulders when a heavy thunk from behind her made her spin around in her seat.

A small, sweet-faced Hufflepuff girl had slammed an enormous backpack onto the desk in front of them and was rummaging elbow-deep within its depths, her tongue caught between her teeth. The bag was almost as big as she was; Aurélie couldn't imagine how someone so little managed to haul it from class to class.

'They're both as bad as each other,' said the new arrival with a wide grin. She had shoulder-length brown hair and a mischievous gleam in her eyes that reminded Aurélie of the pixies she'd cared for in her Beasts class last year. 'It's embarrassing, frankly. We Hufflepuff's don't resort to such crude methods of settling our differences. Poppy Sweeting, by the way. Pleasure to meet you.'

Aurélie shook her extended hand, surprised by the girl's firm grip and calloused fingers.

'I was so disappointed we didn't get you in Hufflepuff,' Poppy went on brightly as she haphazardly began pulling books and parchment out of her backpack. 'I thought for sure you were one of us - oops!'