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

[six]

'No,' she sniffed, adjusting her collar with indignation, 'we possess enough self-control to at least wait for lunch before we start on the spirits. Besides, I'm only half-French.'

'Ah, I see. So you don't drink wine?'

'Oh, I definitely drink wine. I just don't drink it for breakfast.'

Sebastian considered this for a moment, eyeing her with his head tilted slightly to the side. 'So you've the temper of the French with all the sensibilities of the English?'

'Something like that.'

'Huh. Well, suit yourself, but I'm having sugar for breakfast.' He threw several beans into his mouth at once, chewed enthusiastically, then pulled a face.

'Eurgh!' he said, swallowing with apparent difficulty. 'I think there was a grass-flavoured one in there.'

A laugh surprised its way past Aurélie's tight lips. She stifled it as best she could, wondering why on earth Sebastian Sallow was being nice to her.

'Sooo...' he began in a tone that was altogether too friendly for a boy who'd been antagonising her all week, 'how are you finding Hogwarts so far?'

'Um, well, it's a little... rougher around the edges than what I'm used to."

Sebastian laughed. The sound was surprisingly... pleasant. 'Is that a very polite way of saying you hate it?'

'No,' she said, swallowing back another accidental giggle. 'I don't hate it. It's just... Different.'

Sebastian's expression softened as he looked her over. For a moment, lying across the grass with his hair dancing in the breeze, he looked so unlike the jeering idiot she'd met in Defence Against the Dark Arts that she was overcome by a sudden, inexplicable urge to run.

'I imagine it doesn't feel much like home yet, does it?' His tone, which had taken on a quality that matched his soft expression, did very little to ease her sense of - well, whatever uncomfortable feeling was presently fluttering around in her chest.

'No,' she agreed, shifting uncomfortably. 'No, it doesn't.'

Sebastian nodded thoughtfully while Aurélie watched on, waiting for whatever well-meaning but ultimately empty gesture of reassurance he felt obliged to offer her.

It was clear to anyone who paid attention that settling into Hogwarts wasn't exactly going well for her. All week long, she'd been hearing variations of the same sentiment from students and professors alike: just give it time; you'll settle in eventually; everybody struggles when they first arrive. And though she appreciated these genuine attempts to bolster her spirits, their words only left her feeling like she was already failing at her new life.

But to her ever-growing sense of bewilderment, Sebastian didn't say anything of the sort, didn't smile and try to install her with false reassurances. Didn't lie. He simply nodded, thoughtful and a little sombre, as if he took her admission as a true and simple fact. Hogwarts wasn't her home - there was no point in either of them denying it.

'Speaking of home,' he said after a moment, 'I was thinking of going to Feldcroft today before Quidditch training, but I... I...' he interrupted himself with a great shuddering yawn, not bothering to cover his mouth. 'I'm too tired.'

'Feldcroft? Is that where you're from?'

Aurélie didn't know much about the hamlets and villages dotted about the Highlands, but she'd heard enough gossip about Sebastian Sallow to remember the name Feldcroft.