~~Sebastian~~
It was later at night when she finally met him in the forbidden forest. She was wearing the black and gold robes of an auror, her pale blond hair tied up in a messy bun. It was interesting, that she seemed to care about her outfit, but then so little for her hair. How odd.
"So, where did you want to go? What are we looking for tonight?" Sebastian smile as he put his hands in his pockets casually. He wasn't worried at all about anything in the forest at this point.
"Anything unusual." Veela said cautiously, looking around the forest. "And avoiding centaurs because apparently they don't like me." She said flatly.
"Have a run in with them, did you?" Sebastian chuckled. "It's because you work for the Ministry."
Veela looked to him in confusion. "Why would that make them dislike me?"
"The Ministry isn't kind to non-human creatures, Veela. Even if they are intelligent. It means you represent an organization that doesn't have the best reputation with them." Sebastian shrugged as if it was normal.
Veela seemed perplexed by that. "We've done numerous centaur outreach programs to try and promote a better relationship between centaurs and wizardkind."
Sebastian chuckled as if amused. "On your terms, I'm sure. Was it an outreach, or was it a 'do as we say' program?"
"It was..." Veela frowned as she thought for a moment. "We were trying to negotiate."
"Negotiate?" Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Is that what you call that?"
Veela gave him a wary look. "You don't like the Ministry much."
"I don't like people who think they know better than others because they have a special paper." Sebastian shrugged.
"Or a badge?" Veela ventured, guessing that included her.
"Now sweetheart, I never said that." Sebastian grinned wryly. "Your shiny badge is a bit different. At least you had to pass a test to get it."
Veela tilted her head curiously to him. "You're an odd one. You don't like authority much, do you?"
Oh, if only she knew.
"I don't like authority that thinks they're always right just because they're in charge." Sebastian said thoughtfully.
Veela made a soft sound, thinking about that. "I suppose that makes sense..." she said uneasily, crossing her arms and looking further into the forest. "I didn't realize some people were so distrusting of the ministry." She said softly.
Sebastian couldn't help but laugh about that. "Really? Haven't gotten out of London much, have you?"
She gave him a bit of a glare before she frowned, sighing softly. "Let's get going."
Sebastian waited until she passed before giving a little smile, noticing the strange expression she had. Had he made the little auror question the Ministry? She must be so damn sheltered if she thought the Ministry was some end all be all authority. Out here in the more rural areas there was little reach from London, people mostly did their own thing and minded their own business. He preferred it that way.
Granted there were always those wizards and witches who were fucking morons and had backwards views about things, but... they were usually shunned anyway. Let them be morons on their own.
He followed after her in the forest, looking around warily for signs of a potential ambush as they walked. She was fairly confident in her strides, almost too much so as she burst through the brush without a care for trying to be subtle. He rolled his eyes a bit at how loud she was. If she ever did have to sneak around with a werewolf prowling she was going to get her ass chomped.
It's a good thing their resident werewolf was such a nice guy, and would rather die than bite anyone and spread his condition.
"What on earth...?" She whispered, stopping when she saw something up ahead.
He looked up curiously at what she saw and swore inwardly, making sure to look surprised. The trees up ahead were splashed and splintered, trees fallen and trunks split in half from the sheer power that had torn them apart.
Goddamnit, Damien!
"What could have done this?" Veela said in shock, walking up to one of the trees and examining it carefully. "Something with immense power."
Yeah and a temper.
"It certainly looks like it. These trees weren't cut, they were blown apart." He said, stating the obvious as if he was thinking.
"And not burned..." she touched the trunk gently. "So not bombarda. No ashes so not reducto." She was listing off the more powerful spells.
Yeah... there was no chance she was going to guess that it was ancient primordial magic that could be weirded with or without a wand. Or that the person who wielded said ancient magic was also the werewolf she was hunting. Or that he was a pretty nice guy... as long as you didn't mess with his friends. Then he was a fucking nightmare.
There was a reason Damien was in slytherin, and it wasn't because he was overly ambitious like him. No... Damien was heavily in the 'resourcefulness' and 'determined' traits of slytherin house. The classic anti-hero. Though he hated being called that.
"What do you think it could be?" He ventured, giving her a wary look as she crouched down to examine the base of the tree closer where it had splintered.
"There must be a very powerful Wizard or witch around here somewhere... far more powerful than I've ever encountered before." She said anxiously.
Well, she was right there.
"But I haven't seen any signs of them besides these trees. Why blow up trees of all things?" She said in confusion. "Unless they were just... throwing a fit." She frowned. "But I don't like the idea of someone so unstable with that much power."
Uh oh.
"Maybe it was just target practice or something." Sebastian suggested, trying to steer the conversation.
"It's even more alarming in that case. This must destruction with casual practice is pretty worrying." Veela frowned.
"But you haven't seen any other sign of them, so it must be fine. Why would it matter if they haven't done anything harmful?" Sebastian said in frustration.
"Because someone that powerful should be known by the Ministry." Veela said solemnly.
Ugh. The fucking Ministry again.
"Why?" Sebastian challenged, crossing his arms stubbornly.
"Because they should be kept track of." Veela said, looking back at him with a critical look.
"But they haven't done anything other than tear up some trees." He scoffed. "Why stalk them like that?"
"It's not stalking!" She said defensively, turning around and putting her hands on her hips in frustration.
"No?" He laughed. "Listen to you. 'Kept track of', and why? Because they might do something? That sure sounds like stalking to me."
"They're a potential danger to the community!" She scoffed, glaring at him.
"What, because they're powerful? You don't know that, maybe they're helping the community and by 'keeping track' of him you're hindering his ability to help people."
"Y-you just don't understand!" Veela yelled in frustration. "Strong wizards like this should be kept watch on! They can do terrible things!"
"And they can do great things! Why are you being so pessimistic?!" Sebastian glared back.
"Why are you being so defensive?" Veela countered.
"I'm not." Sebastian rolled his eyes. "You're just being ridiculous."
Steer her away. Steer her away.
"I am not!" Veela yelled angrily.
"Veela. You want to keep track of people based on their magical ability, because of something they might do." He said in a low voice, tilting his head. "Or they might not. You don't even know who they are."
Veela seemed a bit taken aback, but huffed in frustration again. "I'm just trying to look out for the community."
"Then maybe consider this wizard, who's part of the community." Sebastian motioned to the trees.
Veela crossed her arms stubbornly again but looked away with a harsh glare. "So what, I just ignore it?"
"Just keep it in mind as you search for other dangers. You don't have to ignore it. Just don't be so authoritative." Sebastian frowned.
"Authorita-" she scoffed as if offended by the description.
Sebastian just rose a brow skeptically that she was questioning it. "'Keep track', Veela." He reminded her. The wording she'd used had been fairly straightforward in that regard.
Veela glared at him and stormed off deeper into the forest in frustration, not liking that he was right.
He let out an inward groan at how moody she was, rolling his eyes as he followed after her.
The things he did for friends.
————————-
"What's that?" Veela said cautiously, looking at the small grove up ahead.
Sebastian knew where they were, his stomach sinking as he saw the vine covered hovel up ahead. "I'm not sure." He lied, trying not to let the unease in his voice come out too much.
Images of that night flashed through his mind, the blur of brown ragged fur that had attacked Damien, him blasting it again and again yet it never stopped until he was forced to kill it.
He'd gone back afterwards to bury the body after that first full moon, because after seeing what Damien had turned into... it wasn't this wolf's fault. He'd been as mindless as Damien had been.
It still didn't mean he didn't hate the guy's guts for doing that to his friend, though. But... he at least understood. It was a complicated feeling.
Veela crept forward toward the hovel, and Sebastian couldn't help but think back to that night when he and Damien had done the same.
His heart was hammering with anxiety, and as Veela reached for the door he grabbed her arm to stop her.
She looked back at him in confusion at the grab, her expression dark before she saw the worry I his eyes.
"What is it?" She asked softly, glancing toward the hovel warily.
"Let me do it." he said softly, glaring at the door as if it was the source of all his troubles. He couldn't let someone else open that damn door again. He almost expected another werewolf to come charging out, however irrational that was.
She looked at him skeptically before sighing and nodded, taking a step back to let him go forward instead.
He looked at the door knob anxiously before reaching forward, slowly turning it and opening the door slowly.
"Merlin's beard." He breathed out in horror at the sight inside.
Deep gouges filled every corner of the walls, claw marks raked from floor to ceiling in deep gashes of anger and rage. Dried blood cakes the walls, wide splatters sprayed across the ceiling and covering the floors. Bones lay in corners of the wooden floor, covered in the grime of decomposed entrails from whoever had been so unfortunate to wander into the home and hadn't escaped like they had.
Sebastian put a hand up to his throat in horror at the sight, looking around with wide eyes. He knew what the aftermath of a full moon looked like... but this werewolf hadn't had a friend to clean the blood up afterwards. It had caked again and again, creating thick dripping trails along the walls.
Merlin, he was glad he had saved Damien from that sight, at least. It would have been so much worse looking if he didn't clean every night afterward.
"This must be its lair." Veela breathed out in similar horror from behind him, looking at the human bones in the corner with a grim expression. "And it had victims."
Yeah it fucking did. One of them was one of his best friends.
"I have to find it." Veela said in a soft voice. "But... this room looks like it wasn't used in a while." The blood was old, turned brown and black with age.
"Maybe it's already dead." Sebastian glanced back to her with the words.
"Perhaps." She said grimly. "Or maybe it moved on."
"How do you even hunt a werewolf?" Sebastian said skeptically.
"The same way you hunt any predator." Veela looked to him with fierce eyes. "With bait, and a trap."