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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"No Sebastian, again?!" Thiago asks with an air of shock and disappointment, feigning offense as if Sebastian's absence were a personal slight.
Laughing, I slide my hand around Thiago's waist. "I am starting to think you prefer Sebastian to me, Thiago. But I can't say that I blame you!" I lean in as I mutter playfully, "...he's the fukin' best."
Thiago laughs deeply. "He is! But you are my Aprilamor!" he says passionately, letting his arm fall across my shoulder from his height above me. We always did fit well together. "It is only that I find him so wise, and so amusing! I enjoy when we can grapple together – but sometimes I wonder if we spend more time laughing with one another or getting to work! Of course, I do not mind!" He exhales and admits more calmly, "and I like to see the effect he has on Ominis. It is grounding for him, I think. Healing."
"Well I think they'll be spending some time together today! Sebastian is meeting with Anne this morning. Wanted to get a head start and collect his thoughts before they spoke."
"Ahh yes, yes! Ominis mentioned this!" Thiago says, enthusiastically. "I believe he hopes to join them after Sebastian and Anne have some time together. It is good for them to speak. Their situation has distressed me. It is nothing but misunderstandings at this point. When you compare this to the beliefs of my family, or the history with the Gaunts it is...nothing at all! And a shame to waste precious time."
"I'm sure it's brought up a lot of pain for you," I offer with a full understanding of his family's rigidity, having been Thiago's primary source of comfort in the wake of losing his brother and the annihilation of his family ties. We reminisce about how extraordinary it is that some people can let one conversation – one moment – change everything in immutable, heart-splitting ways. I'll never forget the look in Thiago's mother's eye when we explained that we were breaking up for good. That we would not be married. How Thiago explained that he felt in his gut that he had more love to explore in the world, more people to let into his heart. It rings in my head the way she asked in her broken English, "no April? Another woman?" and the indignation that lit in her eyes when he said, so simply, so kindly, with a shrug and a smile, "or man!" And nothing was ever the same again.
"So Ominis has been opening up to you?" I ask with a little squeeze of my arm as we approach the Great Hall for the last half of breakfast. "I almost can't believe I'm hearing Thiago Braga talking about 'the history with the Gaunts' without skipping a beat!" I explain, gladly. If I didn't know any better, I'd say his face becomes completely bashful at the observation.
At the entrance of the Great Hall, Thiago stops and turns towards me, taking me by the shoulders to face me, leaning closer than most people would probably be comfortable with, as he is wont to do. "Ominis is unlike anyone I've ever known, amor. He is..." his eyes wander in space somewhere above my head as he searches for words and I giggle at the deluge he unlocks. "He is gentle. Kind. Elegant. Loyal and good and so brave and tolerant and intentional and I...I..."
