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

[fifteen]

'It's these portraits!' she exclaimed, throwing her hands out to her sides. 'They play tricks on me! I asked for directions to meet you here and they all pointed me to the dungeons!'

'The dungeons?' he said with a smirk. 'Again?'

'Yes, again!'

Sebastian pressed his lips together, evidently holding back a laugh. Donned in a cream knit jumper and brown trousers, the tall Slytherin looked simply so grown up that one might've easily mistaken him for an older brother come to visit a sibling, someone who ought to be done with silly trifling things like homework and exams and secret clubs. And with shoulders like that...

'Well, you must be asking the wrong portraits,' he said with a slow infuriating smile.

Aurélie tsk'd impatiently. 'You know, if a portrait at Beauxbatons gave such cheek, it'd be packed up and shipped out so fast its rude little head would spin! And we'd certainly never allow a poltergeist to take residence, and our staircases do not move!'

Sebastian's grin only grew as he listened to her furious diatribe. 'Beauxbatons doesn't sound like much fun,' he observed, his tone full of mirth.

'Beauxbatons is plenty fun!' she shot back, swiping her hair out of her eyes with an impatient huff. 'What's fun about getting lost every time you step outside your common room? Oh, stop laughing at me!'

'Sorry, sorry,' he said, raising his hands placatingly. 'You know, you sound much more French when you're angry.'

'Yes, I know! My French side is my angry side!'

She swiped her hand across her face and sighed.

'It's my mother's temper,' she explained. 'She only ever spoke to me in French, which meant I was always scolded in French too; I suppose it... had an impact on me somewhat.'

Had her mother been around to witness the illicit activities she was about to partake in, Aurélie knew the scolding would have been particularly French. Her father on the other hand, who'd embodied the more chaotic side of Hufflepuff, would've thought a duelling club run by a duo of rebellious Slytherins quite a thrilling adventure - though he'd have been loathe to ever mention it to his wife.

'My English side just wants a cup of tea and a nice place to sit,' she said wistfully, 'but apparently that's impossible at this school.'

'Well, you're not likely to find tea and comfort at a duelling club,' said Sebastian in a much softer voice, 'but I can help you with your awful sense of direction. Here, take out your wand.'

Ignoring her vehement protestations that her sense of direction was just fine, thank you, he taught her a simple spell that would point her wand true north.

'There. Once you know the layout of the school a bit better, you'll know which direction to head in,' he said patiently. 'Now, c'mon, I won't hear the end of it from Ominis if we're any later than we already are.'

Hurrying to keep up with his long strides, she followed him down a series of long corridors and winding staircases until they arrived in the very same dungeons she'd just come from.

'Yeah, yeah, knew you wouldn't be impressed,' he muttered, catching sight of her withering glare as he pushed open a nondescript door in the stone wall; but as he stood aside to let her pass, her jaw fell open, silencing whatever sarcastic quip she might've been about to give him. Whatever she'd been expecting from an illegal duelling club, it certainly wasn't something so, well - impressive.

'Welcome to Crossed Wands,' Sebastian grinned.

The room was as tall and spacious as any other she'd seen at Hogwarts, with rough stone walls and ancient candelabras hanging from vaulted ceilings, but there was an air about the place that felt as if no professor had ever stepped foot past the threshold.