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

[twelve]

Though she'd barely spoken a word to Sebastian since the Undercroft, her determination to avoid him was rivalled only by his unyielding resolve to pursue her; for every step she retreated, he matched with two forward strides of his own. She caught sight of brown eyes and unruly curls in the corridors, freckles across the Great Hall and smug smirks in class so often that every flash of a green cloak in her periphery made her heart lurch. She did not want to hear about Ancient Magic or his ridiculous Obscuri, or, worse still, to find out that he'd been perpetuating the rumours of their not-relationship. Luckily, Aurélie was good at avoidance, and in the weeks that had passed since they'd sat elbow to elbow on the Undercroft's lumpy sofa, Sebastian had managed to track her down only once.

'You're welcome to nap in the Undercroft,' he'd said when he'd discovered her one evening tucked away in a dimly lit corner of the library.

Bleary-eyed and disoriented, Aurélie lifted her head from the pile of books she'd been using as a pillow, instinctively cast Lumos to dispel the creeping shadows and frowned at him, confused. She hadn't realised she'd fallen asleep until she was being prodded awake.

'The Undercroft,' Sebastian repeated, his voice hushed but his eyes full of a laugh he dared not let loose. 'You know, that secret room I've only ever shared with my twin and my closest friend. The one you refuse to set foot in.'

'Oh.' She scrunched up her nose. 'No, s'too cold.'

'Too cold?'

'And dark.'

Sebastian studied her closely, dark eyes roaming over her face. For a moment, caught in the illusory space between sleep and waking, where all the world felt like a dream and nothing was quite real nor unreal, Aurélie thought she saw herself reflected back in the dark circles beneath them. Exhaustion was a mask easily recognisable to one who wore it often; perhaps she wasn't the only one for whom sleep came only in nightmares.

'That's why you won't come?' he said eventually, and carefully. 'Because it's cold and dark?'

'I don't like the cold,' she muttered, pulling on the thick scarf that had become a permanent part of her attire. 'Or the dark.'

Unlike the rest of her cold-hardy classmates, who found amusement in the delicate Frenchie's intolerance for the cold, Sebastian didn't seem to find anything at all humorous in her discomfort. He simply nodded thoughtfully, frowning as he helped her gather up her book-pillows before Madame Scribner could scold them for loitering so close to curfew.

Sugar's surprisingly warm nose nudged Aurélie's clenched fist, prodding her back to reality with a start.

'But I didn't mean to tell him anything! It just sort of - happened!'

Poppy, with her hands full of raw meat, flashed her a knowing smile.

'Slytherins,' she said with a shrug. 'That's what they do. Secrets are like air to Slytherins - they survive on them.'

It was a testament to Poppy's Hufflepuff heart that she never once asked what the secret was, but simply offered a sympathetic ear to Hogwarts' most overwhelmed Ravenclaw.

Aurélie, overwhelmed, set down the bucket to an indignant snort from Sugar, whose allocated portion of meat was apparently not enough.

'But what am I supposed to do about it? I'm afraid he's not going to leave me alone now.'

'He probably won't. But at least we're graduating in nine months. You'll be free of him then.'

Sugar stamped her hoof as if she too were deeply troubled by the thought of Sebastian Sallow and not just hungry for a second dinner.