A Change of Heart // Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 1

Florence was awoken in the morning by the beaming sun peeking in through her window. She stretched under the covers, trying to muster up any sort of energy to drag herself out of bed. She begrudgingly dragged her legs out from under the covers, they felt heavy as she placed them on the floor. With heavy steps, she walked into the bathroom and splashed her face with the brisk, cool water at the basin, her soft freckles glistening under the water. Her grey-blue eyes were red and puffy, a sign she hadn't slept much. Her long, dirty blonde hair a matted mess after yet another night of tossing and turning. She gave it a quick brush before pinning it on the back of her head, letting the soft waves cascade down her back. She had pre-selected her clothes the night before, a ritual she had started when she began working at the Ministry of Magic when she had just turned 19. She had selected an almost black skirt, it stopped at her shins. She pulled on her white button up blouse and pulled over a grey vest which buttoned to midway up her bust. Pulling on her tights and black boots, she swiftly grabbed her purse and head out the door.

As usual, Poppy Sweeting was waiting out the front of her house. The two had been walking together to work for years. Another part of Florence's strict daily routine. The pair had become best friends in their last two years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and shared a lot of heartbreaks and triumphs together. They arrived at the Ministry building together just before 9am and parted ways, heading to their respective departments. It was no shock to Florence that Poppy had snagged a job in the Beast Division. Her job was thrilling, exciting. She dealt with many conflicts between wizards and poachers, but this time she was doing it by the books. She thrived in her role.

Florence headed up to level 3, to the Muggle Liaison Office. When Florence graduated Hogwarts, she was unsure what kinds of jobs would be available to her. She had only completed three years of school and her N.E.W.Ts and O.W.L.s scores weren't the greatest. Granted, her time at Hogwarts wasn't always spent studying and she always found herself distracted with something or someone. She had considered integrating back into the Muggle world where her parents were bankers but attended the Ministry on a random Tuesday afternoon with Poppy when she was looking for work. The job almost landed in Florence's lap, the Ministry official recognising her immediately from the Daily Prophet after Ranrok's defeat. There must have been something about saving the Wizarding World that makes you seem like an appealing employee. It did annoy Poppy slightly since they were there for her, but was proud of her best friend anyway.

It had been years now since Florence started work and the mundaneness of her work was getting to her. Every day was relatively the same. Now, at 23, almost 24 years old, she was wondering when her life was really supposed to begin. She missed the mystery and excitement of her short few years at the castle, being thrown into dangerous and thrilling adventures with equally as dangerous and thrilling, intriguing and utterly irresistible classmates. But, now she sat behind a desk filing paper after paper only to return to her small apartment alone for a sad, boring meal for one.

She sat down at her desk after making herself a hot tea and began to sift through the paperwork on her desk that has surmounted overnight. Very small cases that didn't need much work, a few new Muggle families who'd recently learned their children were magic that needed contacting. Boring.

The work day dragged, dwindling to a close at 5pm and Florence tidied up her desk, making some notes for herself for the next day before meeting up with Poppy in the foyer again as they usually did.

"Happy Friday, Florence. I was thinking of heading down to The Leaky Cauldron for a few butterbeers to wind down if you want to join me?" Poppy asked.

Florence sighed. She'd had grand plans of a nice warm bubble bath with a short glass of fire whiskey in front of the fire place alone before getting into bed to sleep before 9pm.

"Sure. It suppose it could be exciting. More than I'd had planned anyway." Florence agreed, not letting her disappointment at the thoughts of a social event over a lonely bath show.

"How will we ever meet men if we do nothing but all work and no play?" Poppy said, noting Florence's slumped posture at the suggestion. "Just one, I promise. And pull those shoulders back and pretend you're excited, alright?"

Florence laughed at the comment and sarcastically threw back her shoulder and puffed out her chest and began to walk tall next to Poppy.

The pair walked down the busy streets of London, dodging Muggles and Wizards alike heading home for the weekend. Florence liked people watching. She liked to play Wizard or Muggle with herself, taking not very educated guesses of what someone might be. This particular afternoon, one person caught her attention from her peripheral vision. Their head stood above most and she recognised the messy brown hair immediately. It had remained unchanged since the last time she saw it. She nudged Poppy hard and pointed discreetly, both averting their attention to the figure passing them.

"Is that...?" Poppy queried.

"Sebastian Sallow." Florence stated very matter-of-factly, ducking down low in the hopes he didn't also see her.