75 | WABI-SABI

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WABI-SABI
(n.) the discovery of beauty in imperfection; the acceptance of the cycle of life and death

DRACO WAS RELEVANTLY SURPRISED TO SEE HIM IN SCHOOL. He had just come from the Great Hall where he had a very uneventful breakfast with Theo, Crabbe, and Goyle. Pansy had been trying to sit by him and loop her arm around his or even try to feed him — she was getting on his nerves so much even when he'd pointedly swapped places with Theo who snarled at the girl to back off.

     He had been walking down the corridors to the Slytherin common room in a very pissed-off strut when he saw him. Faltering on his steps, he sent a nod at Theo to go on ahead and at Crabbe and Goyle flanking his sides to move along. With another glance over his shoulder, he rounded the corner to enter the Trophy Room where Pansy had tattled to him last year about Tessa's little rendezvous with another heir of Cecily.

     "What're you doing here?" Draco asked once he was out of earshot from the rest of the school. "How did you even sneak in here when the place is crawling with Death Eaters?"

     "Hello, Draco Malfoy," Sebastian Elliott greeted politely. The three-hundred-year-old man looked exactly the same as last year — a mess of brown hair, gleaming turquoise eyes, incisors a tad bit sharper than usual, and an angular face that made him appear to be stuck in his early twenties. He was garbed in fighting leathers, clothes cut close to his body. His hands were clasped behind his back as he gazed through the dusty trophies lined in racks.

     Draco scrunched his nose up. "What are you wearing? You don't look very subtle if you're trying to blend in among the students, you know."

Sebastian chuckled. "I know — I'm going back to Romania where my people are."

"But what about Tessa? What about your brother? Aren't you supposed to stay here to help with the shit that's been going on?"

"I've been summoned back," he said, walking in slow gaits before the trophies again. "Before my brother and I separated last year, we have a sworn duty that our people comes first before ourselves. Before I am a brother, I am a leader and a protector."

     Draco blinked and muttered, "That's a crap rule — I actually feel sorry you have to abide by that."

     Sebastian sent him a half smirk. "That's the exact same thing your mate told me when I told her why I cannot simply walk headfirst into the enemy's lair to find my brother. Well, somewhere along those lines."

     "And the war that is to come? It's unavoidable — you're not going to fight in it?"

     He shook his head, brown hair getting in his eyes as he impatiently pushed his locks away. "No — I have been forbidden to fight by the Elders. I may have the highest position in the clan, but the Elders keep us in check and hold powers that are far greater than mine." He inclined his head lightly at Draco. "I do apologize for not being able to fight and stand by your sides."

     Draco felt his shoulders deflate, he'd actually hoped the people of Cecily's heir would've been able to help. But he also knew that to join the fight would risk wiping off their existence completely from the earth.

     "So why are you here then?" Draco asked.

     "I came to bid you good-bye before leaving," Sebastian said. "I don't know if this will be our last meeting, but I hope you and Teressa Potter stay alive and fulfill the fates predicted by the heavens."

     Draco nodded absentmindedly. "Tessa told me that a friend of yours helped you sneak into Hogwarts last year. Apparently she manipulated memories into everyone's minds to make us all believe you existed. But what about the Death Eaters? The Carrows? How did you sneak in today?"

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