Ten years after I began at Hogwarts, Sebastian Sallow is back. And he's Professor Sallow now. He disappeared after the fall of Ranrok and Rookwood, after I lost Professor Fig, and after Ominis and I couldn't keep him from losing himself. But I never...
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In typical form, I'm chasing the clock to get to breakfast on time. Sebastian Sallow is, in my humble opinion, the best excuse I've ever had for my tardiness, though I'm sure Headmistress Weasley would never accept 'a good-morning fuck or two' as appropriate or viable justification.
Before he comes down to breakfast, Sebastian has decided to hang back and 'center himself,' as he calls it, which is fine by me. I trust his autonomy and need to self-regulate. Curiously, he said he felt he was 'coming a bit unglued,' which I don't quite understand, but I genuinely look forward to discussing more later.
God, I love spending time with him.
I feel so at home with him. At home in my skin. At home in my place in space and time. Everything is easy and natural. With him here, even obstacles feel like opportunities. If it weren't for my years of self-reflection, understanding and managing my propensity to jump too deep and too fast into anything that even remotely excites me, I might say I was falling in love with him all over again.
But it's certainly too soon for that.
The worst part about all of the hullabaloo of reconnecting with Sebastian is the blasted timing. Between our teaching schedules, and now our relatively independent endeavors for the Ministry and for Hogwarts, I do wonder a bit about when I'll next get to spend time with him.
"Amor! I am glad I have not missed you!" Thiago cries from the second story of the main atrium, adding "I slept better than a baby!" I bluster into the space, calling "I'm glad to hear it!" while pulling my favorite Gryffindor robe. It's important I look ever-so-professorial today for the spiel I have to give the student body to introduce our new instructors.
My trusty brown leather boots are laced up my calves and I've got on a brown woolen skirt that dips just beneath my knee. Over a breezy linen top is a tan vest with a subtle red plaid. The robe is an elegant, crimson, heavy satin that hits me just below my knee. The sleeves have thick cuffs and match the cream-colored lining and hem that hangs around the bottom. There is gold detailing along the waist, hem, and down either side of the center, and the back displays a large, embroidered head of a lion in gold thread.
"How classy you are, Professor Collins!" Thiago exclaims as we near the door to the hallway. "You will always be the most stunning woman to me," he winks as he brushes my hair aside from my face, into the rest of the large, loose braid I hastily fixed around the side of my head. "And you, the most dashing, sweet Thiago," I say, tugging at his collar.
As strange as it is to have him at Hogwarts, it also feels so natural. We make a great team.
"Please tell me your kitchens have coffee," Thiago begs as I hear the bells in the distance beginning to ring, indicating the top of the hour.
"Shit!" I say. "We've got to hustle. Here, let's floo." I accept the nausea I'll get on the other end as we pull over to the corner near my Magical Theory classroom and transport ourselves to just outside of the Great Hall.
