How to Make a Villain - [Sebastian Sallow x F!OC]

[six]

Saturday dawned with bright sun and clear skies the likes of which Aurélie hadn't seen since she'd left France.

She stretched her arms above her head, stiff and exhausted after another long night of trying - and inevitably failing - to avoid the nightmares that made her palms itch with long-suppressed magic. Like most things in her life, peaceful sleep and pleasant dreams were a thing of the past.

Perhaps if the dawning sun hadn't been throwing brilliant squares of light through the diamond-panelled windows of her dorm, she might've stayed in bed, warm and cozy under her covers like the rest of her dorm mates. But since that great golden orb of vitality didn't often bless the Scottish Highlands with its presence - a fact she'd been inwardly lamenting all week - she thought it'd be poor form not to embrace it while she could.

Stretching and yawning, she dressed in an absent daze, clumsily twisting her hair into its usual French braid and pulling on one of the nicer outfits she'd bought with her from France. She didn't bother checking her reflection in the oval mirror that hung on the wall; her pallid skin and deeply shadowed eyes were not a comforting sight, her mask of grief that of a strangers.

Out in the common room, which was blissfully empty at this time of morning, she spent a pleasant half-hour perusing the well-stocked bookshelves. Ordinarily, her Saturday mornings were spent with her best friend Celeste, swimming together in the ocean or lounging about the magnificent fairytale chateau that was Beauxbatons. But those days had also gone the way of her sleep schedule. Now all she had to look forward to was reading alone at Hogwarts.

Finally, with a tattered copy of 'Hogwarts, a History' under her arm, she set off for the castle grounds with the sole intention of finding a nice, peaceful spot to whittle away the morning hours.

She passed no one on her way through the still-sleeping castle save for a few ghosts who cast her cursory glances as they floated by, and when at last she found her way outside to the transfiguration courtyard, she was rather pleased with herself for not having ended up lost in the dungeons. Again.

A great, towering oak grew in the far corner of the courtyard. As ancient-looking as the stone walls that surrounded it, its thick, gnarled branches bent right down to the ground like beckoning arms. She wondered if her father had ever sat under the very same tree in his youth; he'd always loved a good tree — being a Hufflepuff and all — and this one, still holding onto its summer greenery, seemed a very good tree indeed.

Settling comfortably against the thick trunk, she skimmed idly through the pages of her book until the gentle breeze swept her thoughts to the far-reaching corners of her mind. Careful not to dwell on anything painful, she kept her daydreams focused on more pleasant affairs, such as the letter she'd received from Celeste the day before last, and the look on Sebastian Sallow's face when Sharp had caught him threatening Garreth Weasley.

'Mind if I join you?'

Aurélie's eyes flew open.

As if her thoughts alone had conjured him, the touselled-haired Slytherin boy stood grinning over her, his tall figure casting a shadow over her long-forgotten history book. Without waiting for an answer, he flopped down on the grass beside her, propped himself up on one elbow and pulled a box of Every Flavour Beans from his pocket.

'Care for a bean?' he asked, giving the box a little jiggle.

Aurélie raised a dubious brow. 'Jelly beans for breakfast?'

'Hey, now, don't judge me,' Sebastian chuckled, shaking his brown curls off his face. 'Don't you French drink wine for breakfast?'

His eyes narrowed on her for a moment as if he half expected to spy a wine bottle stashed under her blouse.