The Serpent and The Bird

I don't need magic to make you beg for mercy.

Sebastian made it to the Undercroft before she did. He had taken a shower and changed into dry clothes in record time. He had originally made plans with Anne and Ominis to go to the Three Broomsticks, where the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team would join them, but the celebration he had in mind now was so much better.

He had told them to go without him. Perhaps he could meet them later. After...

After.

He would never admit it, but he was tense. He approached the little improvised bar in one of the corners of the Undercroft and served himself some Firewhiskey. He drank the little shot of courage without second thoughts. The liquor burned all the way down to his stomach, leaving a tingling feeling in his belly. Why was he nervous? He's had sex plenty of times. He knew his way around women, her bodies, what they tended to like, what they didn't.

Perhaps it was the fact that he was going to sleep with a girl he had been dying to be with for the last two and a half months. He had never taken that long to get intimate with someone he was interested before.

Perhaps that's what it was. Pure anticipation.

He waved his wand and the fireplace and candelabras that decorated the Undercroft softly dimmed, creating a more obscure ambience. He had recently learned the spell that was used for the Great Hall ceiling; it allowed it to reflect the sky conditions outside.

He casted it on the Undercroft's vault, and the light of the stars shone in the semi-darkness of the room. It was a good set up, and he wondered why he had never thought about doing that for another girl.

It was simple. Sebastian was not a romantic person, nor he had a desire to be. He told himself he just really wanted this girl. He would get over it after a while and move on to the next.

He was pouring another glass of Firewhiskey when the door to the Undercroft opened in a squeak. He turned around and took her in.

She was wearing dry clothes and her hair was not wet anymore. It was loose, cascading on her back like a blonde waterfall. She was wearing her Gryffindor uniform: the short, grey skirt and the long sleeve white shirt with a red vest, the lion symbol resting on the left side of her chest.

She wasn't wearing anything she hadn't wore before in front of him, but Sebastian still glared at Everleigh like it was the most perfect ensemble she had been in.

She slowed down her pace once she made it inside, her eyes roaming around the room at the difference in atmosphere that she was probably used to. She looked clearly amazed by the night sky on the ceiling and Sebastian knew he had made a good choice. While she looked around, he was looking at her, his eyes moving up and down her body, staring a bit longer to her legs that he cared to admit. He approached her, deliberately slow while her green eyes were set on him, allowing him to make the first move. She was visibly nervous, perhaps more than him, he realized while he examined her anxious face and watched her swallow.

Well, he wasn't going to deep dive into it, that was sure. He was going to take his time with her, until she was comfortable enough to want it to happen.

*********

The knot in her stomach intensified as she found his eyes. His big, brown, beautiful eyes, that were set on her as she entered the Undercroft. The room looked different, moodier. And he certainly was pairing with it. He was wearing all black again. Pants and a long sleeve shirt that he had rolled up on his arms. She realized she was staring at the tensed bicep against the fabric for a little too long.

Her heart was going wild on her chest as he offered her the glass he was holding, in complete silence. She grabbed it and brought it close to her nose to smell it. The scent of alcohol was so intense her eyes watered. She winced, holding the glass away from her face as far as possible, while Sebastian chuckled. He took it back from her.