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

[fifteen]

Aurélie's first month at Hogwarts washed away in sleety rain and blustery winds as grey September became auburn October, and though the jar of Sebastian's bluebell flames was a comfort in her pocket - keeping her fingers warm in the Thestral stables with Poppy, and brightening the dim corners of the library when she studied late - Aurélie had avoided meeting him in the Undercroft, fearing that sharing the seclusion of his secret place together would only make things harder when she ultimately went back to France.

No more goodbyes, she had to remind herself. It'd been hard enough leaving her friends in France for only a year; saying goodbye again forever was simply unbearable.

Still, when an owl arrived in her dorm one Saturday morning bearing a letter from the world's most persistent Slytherin, she couldn't suppress the warmth that bloomed like bluebells through her chest.

No more goodbyes, no more goodbyes.

Sebastian's handwriting was not the untidy scrawl she'd been expecting, but a surprisingly elegant script for somebody who embodied so much chaos. His owl, on the other hand - a rather aggressive tawny - refused her owl treat when she offered it, shrieked at her once and cuffed her across the head with its wing as it took off. So there was that.

'Frenchie,' began the letter, and Aurélie rolled her eyes.

'If you're still interested in joining the extracurricular study group I mentioned back on your first day' - Aurélie snorted at this, vividly remembering the day he'd invited her to join his unsanctioned duelling club - 'meet me at the statue of the confused unicorn on the third floor in an hour. Tell nobody, and come alone!' - This he underlined several times. - 'If you happen to get stopped on your way there, just say you're lost. Ominis tells me he's already rescued you half a dozen times wandering about the far-reaching corners of the castle, so at least the excuse will be believable.

Destroy this letter.'

Aurélie groaned as she set the letter aflame with her wand; even in writing, she could hear the teasing lilt of his voice in every cursive loop, envision his roughish grin as he'd penned the letter, his freckled face full of wry amusement.

She leapt to her feet, grateful that the empty dorm granted her the freedom to grumble aloud without one of her roommates sticking their noses in for fresh gossip about her so-called boyfriend.

Who did he think he was to summon her on short notice? To assume she had nothing better to do than hunt down one specific statue in a castle full of statues simply because he owled her? The sheer audacity had her stewing as she snatched her hairbrush from the nightstand and dragged it roughly through her hair.

And yet, despite her frustration, she dressed in her favourite blouse, finished her braid with a blue silk ribbon, and secured his bluebells in her pocket as she set out to track down a statue of a confused unicorn, the existence of which she half expected to be some kind of prank.

Forty-five minutes later, out of breath and inwardly cursing every square inch of Hogwarts' nonsensical floor plan, she finally managed to find the stupid statue against which stupid Sebastian Sallow was waiting for her, his arms crossed and his expression one of utmost impatience.

'You're late,' he said curtly, not even bothering to uncross his arms as he pushed away from the wall. 'I told you not to get lost again.'

Aurélie shot him a severe look, her patience wearing dangerously thin after having traversed what felt like the entire castle to meet him.

'Oh, yes,' she snapped at once, 'because I went off and got myself lost simply to be contrary to you!'

'Wouldn't surprise me.'