How Could I Ever Forget You? // Sebastian Sallow / Professor Sallow x reader/mc

"Shall we dance?"

Today was the day, dinner with Professor Weasley.

That morning you awoke to a blanket of snow upon the rolling hills outside of your bedroom window. The cold glass pressed against your head as you rested in thought, your gaze following the dancing snowflakes swirling down onto the rooftops below.

Your imagination wandered for a while, preparing you for the night ahead, how you would approach the situation that Professor Fig had been so ominous about. You had visited his portrait multiple times since, eager for some kind of explanation, but alas, it remained empty.

And of course, that string of thought always pulled you back to Sebastian, as much as you resisted. The memory of him leaving, barging past you in a hurry, after witnessing Garreth's lips upon yours.

Him getting Ostara back.

He had been gone for some time now, with no letters and nowhere to send an owl too. Of course you had left him notes on your parchment, multiple in fact. But still the paper remained free of his touch.

Your eyes wandered to the edge of the horizon, tucked behind silvery mountains and the haze of gentle snowfall. He was out there, somewhere, slipping away.

~~~
You simply couldn't resist going out and enjoying the weather, it rarely snowed in London, and oh how you had missed Hogwarts in the wintertime.

You set out onto the castle grounds, making your way out for a chilly walk around the Hogwarts Valley, giving you some more time to contemplate your plan for the evening. Your favourite green scarf wrapped around your neck, matched with a cosy hat and gloves.

Your breath clouded in front of you as you peered out over the wooden beams of the bridge at the edge of the castle. The views were simply glorious, and for that small moment, you had at last cleared your head. Nothing but the whooshing sound of the wind, and the burning nip at the tip of your nose.

Suddenly a pair of hands gripped onto your waist, pulling you backwards as a chin rested gently on your shoulder, snapping you back into reality.

"Guess who?" A friendly voice whispered.

"Garreth," you grinned, turning to him.

How was it that he was everywhere?

He looked down at you, curls of auburn hair falling beside his mossy green eyes. The edge of his lip twitching up into a smile.

"Excited for tonight?" He asked, before planting a little kiss onto your icy lips, quickly heating up your face.

That guilty lump returned to your throat. You had continued to pursue Garreth in Sebastian's absence, you had no choice. This dinner was the only chance you had to get the information that could save Sebastian, and you would go to any length to do so.

"Can't wait," you smiled, performing.

"I too can't wait, to show you off that is," Garreth teased.

That guilty lump dissolved in an instant, the warmth travelling up to your cheeks, pulling that forced smile into something more real.

To show you off?

A little tingle flipped in your stomach.

Somebody wanted to show you off.

It made practically no sense that you felt this way. The last time Garreth had 'shown you off' you felt humiliated, being under Sebastian's prying eyes.