The Conquest of the Ember Heart | F! OC x S.S. x O.G. x G.W.

The sign of mourning

My weary legs dragged me through the green fire into the Room of Requirement. I finally had the strenuous day behind me and I could take care of my homework and study in peace.

I had brought the dress back to Imelda early in the morning for her practice on the Quidditch pitch. Even before the first lesson Sebastian had come to me to apologize for the inappropriate words he had uttered to me.

Of course I had forgiven him, because I believed that the theory Ominis had put forward that I was infecting them with my fire was correct. So I couldn't really blame Sebastian if I was responsible for it myself.

And how could I be mad at him when what he said was true?

Ominis's kiss still made my heart flutter. And yet I couldn't get Sebastian's words out of my head.

I wanted them both.

And I knew I couldn't have them both. Which didn't make my confused feelings any easier to sort out. But life seemed to be getting better. Little by little, I felt more and more like myself.

I sighed heartily as I placed my bag on the large table in the main room, which was decorated with skulls, black candles and a large vase filled with white asphodels.

I stopped and looked at the bouquet of flowers.

How unusual.

I had read that the meaning of these flowers was peace after death and the afterlife. It wasn't even that which pulled me out of my thoughts. Had Garreth put those flowers down? Was he brewing a potion of living death?

I decided to go downstairs to the potions and magic plants room. As I slowly descended the stairs I overheard a discussion between Deek and Garreth.

„I don't understand, you're a house elf and you can't offer other ambiances?" Garreth's voice was dull and muffled, making me come to a stop.

„Deek doesn't know if Miss Zograf agrees that you want to change the sky. Deek knows that Miss Zograf loves to look at the stars that shine through the windows." I listened curiously to the elf and took another step forward.

„Oh come on, don't you think she would be happy about a nice and warm sunset? Let us surprise her a bit." Garreth tried with all his power to convince the elf. I suppressed a smile. He wanted to surprise me?

„Deek is unsure why you would want to do something like this for her?"

„Because of her generous gesture of letting me use this space and also because of the things you told me about her."

„Deek would feel much more comfortable if you sir, asked for Miss Zograf permission first." I rolled my eyes briefly and could hear Garreth sighing loudly. My feet carried me down two flights of stairs.

„That's on me, what else should I expect, asking a house elf for help when it comes to women and rom-" Garreth was interrupted from his conversation by the loud creak of the wooden stairs under my feet. I closed my eyes and cursed the stairs. Why did I have to be caught eavesdropping, just when it got exciting.

I let out a disappointed sigh and ran down the remaining stairs, pretending I hadn't noticed anything.

„Hello Garreth, Hello Deek. Am I interrupting something?" I greeted them both as they both looked back and forth between them both in silence. As if they were having a whole new way of communicating through eye contact. Deek greeted me curtly, snapped his fingers and vanished into thin air after earning a meaningful look from Garreth.

„Hello dear lady, how are you after yesterday's ball? I heard that you had danced extensively." He chuckled and I realized he was on all fours on the floor pouring some kind of potion onto the marble. With his wand he casted a spell on a sponge and made it clean the floor.