Siobhan Sloane, a shy and naive girl from Nottingham, is uprooted from her simple life when her magic manifests. Under the mentorship of Professor Fig, she travels to Hogwarts, not realizing her life will never be the same. Homesick and burdened wit...
"Do you not like the cold?" he asks as she murmurs a warming charm to keep her gloved hands as toasty as possible.
Siobhan does her best not to make it look like she's pouting. "No."
"Here," Sebastian softly chuckles, pulling the scarf from his neck to place around hers instead. Her heart flutters at the gesture, suddenly warm in places she'd rather not be. His fingers brush against the curve of her neck, forcing her to suppress a shiver.
"Since you lost yours," he grins. "You look good in green."
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She tugs the fabric up in a lame attempt to hide her blush, but all she can smell is cedarwood and mint.
"Come on," he urges, stepping back and offering his hand for her to take. "We'll walk. Feldcroft isn't far."
For all his teasing, Sebastian is uncharacteristically quiet as they leave the school grounds. Siobhan sneaks glances at his profile, wondering what is going through his mind, as she has all week. Neither has said as such, but it's clear their dynamic has shifted somewhat ever since that night in the Forbidden Forest. The tension between them feels more charged, both waiting for the spark that will set them both ablaze.
She breaks the silence before her thoughts morph into something dangerous. "Can you tell me more about your uncle?"
"There's not much to say," Sebastian grumbles, sighing when he notices her frown. "Uncle Solomon is...angry. He's always angry. He's been angry since my parents died."
"Why?"
"It's no secret he never wanted to be responsible for Anne and me. Especially me," he explains, fixated on the dead grass beneath their feet as they walk. "If he hadn't taken us in, we would've been sent to some...ill-maintained orphanage. He only did so to protect his reputation with the Auror's office. Can't be an upstanding Ministry official if you abandon your family," he scoffs. "He blames me for everything, even my parents' death."
"Sebastian," she hesitates, sensing the answer won't be simple, if he even divulges one. "How did your parents die?"
His jaw clenches, and it isn't until he wipes at his face that she realizes he's fighting back tears. "You don't have to—"
"It was an accident," he interjects, voice strained. Sebastian steadies himself, but avoids looking her way. "They were always in that damned cellar," he mutters. "My parents turned it into a library—floor to ceiling shelves stacked with books from every subject imaginable."
"Anne and I were upstairs. We hadn't noticed how long our parents had been in the cellar until it was nearly time for supper. There was...a loud thump, so we went downstairs to investigate. When we opened the door, there was a terrible smell, but nothing else. They were already dead."
Siobhan's heart aches with sympathy. "What happened?"
"We didn't find out until later, after the Aurors ruled out foul play," Sebastian recounts. "The lamp...the glass was cracked, and filled the room with...some kind of toxin. They fell unconscious, probably without realizing what was happening. The sound we heard was...was mum's body falling from the chair she'd been sitting in."
