Passion | | Sebastian Sallow

Chapter One

The sound of pages flipping and parchment being crumbled was the only sound that could be heard from the temporary office of Astoria Baldwin. She grumbled something under her breath as she scraped another piece of parchment, seamlessly throwing it into the flickering fireplace that was next to her right afterward. As the parchment burned, the light emanating from the fire gradually got brighter, illuminating the features on her face.

"This makes no sense," She said with another grumble. She was studying a book on Magical Theory, something she had become very affiliated with over the years. Astoria had been rather close to her magical theory Professor once, soon before he had passed away. She had thought of him as a Mentor and a respectable figure to look up to and was terribly hurt when he passed.

Over the years she had been particularly drawn to the study of Magical theory, it explained how everything magic worked; Jinxes, Hexes, Curses, everything.

After she graduated from Hogwarts, Astoria pursued a career of exploration, seeking out answers to all the questions she had about the Wizarding World and she told herself she would never rest until they had been answered. And many nights, like the night prior, she didn't rest, it was currently thirty past five in the morning and she hadn't had an hour of sleep.

Astoria sighed, pushing her chair away from the table in her study, and stood up, figuring she should take a break before getting back to work. She was in a small town, visiting a fellow explorer whom she had worked with previously and who had asked her to join him in a few studies.

"Why can't I figure this out?" She asked herself. "I'm usually never this stumped by curse studies."

"Well, maybe it's the lack of sleep Astoria, you really need to sort that out." She thought to herself, although she would never admit that she did indeed need more sleep.

She made her way to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of tea. Using her wand, the pot lifted up into the air and poured right into the porcelain cup. She rested herself on the couch and the sunlight peaked onto her face, causing her to squint her eyes. She hadn't realized just how early it had been since she kept telling herself "just a few more minutes" every time she checked the clock and eventually gave up on checking the time.

"Might as well get ready for my day." She said and made her way upstairs. She discarded the Tan blouse and dark green skirt she had been wearing the day prior and picked out a White blouse that had bishop sleeves and a beige paneled skirt. She stood in front of the silver-lined mirror as she did her hair up in a braided bun, which did frustrate her to some extent as her tousled, light brown hair was being quite difficult to work with.

Grabbing her satchel which had an extension charm on it, she headed out the door going to visit her friend Michael, the fellow explorer who had invited her into town. His home was only a few minutes away from the Study where she had been staying, Michael owned the study and told her to stay there while she was visiting.

She knocked on his door, and it was opened a few moments later. Michael smiled when he saw his friend's face when he opened the door. "Astoria! Come on in!" He said, waving her in. "Thank you, Michael." She smiled, walking into the house.

Michael's house could be described as cozy, he had plants in multiple parts of his home, maps, and notes from his adventures strewn up on the walls, all the colors were solid but the decoration was very abstract in some places. The ambiance all around was very comforting, I found myself spending more time there just for the ambiance than the social interaction.

"It's good to see you, I have a lot to tell you," Michael remarked excitedly, leading Astoria into the parlor to chat. They both sat down, "By all means, start, please." Astoria smiled, interested in what Michael had to say to her. Michael nodded and grabbed a small piece of parchment from his back pocket.