Passionate Professors || Sebastian Sallow

Part 1 | Ch. 29 - Slowly *

The next two days were a blur, between teaching and trying to squeeze in what little time I had with Sebastian, Wednesday night came fast. The last time we met for the partner program, we didn't get much accomplished, other than fooling around in the Potions classroom and getting caught by Garreth. Luckily, the Headmaster was relatively illusive now that classes were underway. I hardly saw him, even at mealtimes but I wasn't mad about it, since Sebastian and him weren't on the best terms after the Sorting Ceremony.

I nervously walked to the dungeons, knowing that I planned to tell Sebastian what I recently pieced together about Ominis, which would likely not go over well. I tried to brace myself for mental impact before seeing him. I could almost see the rage, confusion, and shock on his face as I said the damming words. I'd likely sleep in my own bed tonight for the first time in a week.

The Potions hallway was warm and damp, reminiscent of the concoctions the students were likely brewing earlier in class. Sebastian was bustling around the room, flicking his wand every few feet to get everything back in order. Cauldrons were straightening out, ladles flying back to their hooks, and leftover ingredients swirling around and into the closet.

"That's a face I love to see after a long day," he sauntered over, dipping me back and kissing my lips.

"It's good to see you too," I smiled into his mouth as he lifted me back up. "As much as I would love to keep doing that, we do need to get this dueling club in order."

"Do we have to? I just have so much more fun with you when we're doing other things. And I've missed you so much." He leaned in again and I turned my face, his lips landing on my cheek. "Fine, but once we're done with that silly thing, we're getting down to the real business." He smirked, eyeing me up and down. We hadn't missed a day tangling ourselves up in each other since last week, even though I knew tonight would likely break that streak.

He pulled a wooden stool out from a workstation for me, sitting down on the one beside it. I unrolled my parchment, opened the ink bottle, and fluffed out my feather quill, ready to take notes.

"So I'm thinking Crossed Wands but focused more on combining spells with potions. Like we talked about a few weeks ago." I said, looking for Sebastian's approval.

He nodded along, "I think that's great, we can definitely make that happen."

I scrawled the idea on the parchment. "We can meet every Wednesday night, obviously optional for the students but maybe we can teach an exclusive recipe or incantation every few weeks to get them coming back."

"Oh, that's good! Maybe we can even have some guest lecturers, like Poppy or Ominis." He beamed at the thought, his mind drifting at the possibilities.

"That could work, we can start next week." I wrote everything down, my heart skipping a beat at Ominis' name. I wanted to talk to Sebastian about everything tonight but it still didn't feel like the right time. I wondered if it ever would.

I pretended to stare off into space, wracking my brain for more ideas. What we'd come up with to combine our classes was coming together nicely but I didn't know where to take the topic next. I must've been zoned out for a while before Sebastian waved his hand in front of my face.

"You still here, G?" He tilted his head, his eyes softening on mine.

"Huh? Sorry. I was just thinking." I blinked away the fog.

"What's wrong? You seem distant." He put his hand on my thigh, the warmth of his fingers spreading across my leg.

I swallowed hard, bracing myself for what I was about to say but words wouldn't form in my mind. Tears prickled at my lashes, threatening to roll down my cheeks. Sebastian leapt off of his stool, scooping me up in his arms and holding me close. One of his hands was on the back of my head while the other was on my waist. He breathed into my hair, kissing my temple.