Order of Shadows | Sebastian Sallow Love Story

Chapter Fifty

"What's that smile on your face for?" Sebastian inquired, looking at her over the textbook he'd grabbed from Luna. Unfogging the Future, she read.

"Hermione and Draco." She said simply, sliding closer to see what he was reading about. There were tea cups all in front of them, but she'd yet to pick one up. Reading over his shoulder now, there was a small advertisement from Flourish and Blotts that said, 'A guide to all basic fortune-telling methods, including palmistry, crystal balls, and bird entrails. Her nose wrinkled in disgust, "Dégoûtant."

His eyes flickered with glee. "Dare I say, we do some meddling to hurry the process?"

"As fun as that sounds, mon amour," Séraphine pondered with a slight grin, "We don't know their history. I'd hate to make things worse."

Idle chatter was held as most everyone quickly ignored what had occurred between the two Professors. Draco was ignoring his tea, spouting nonsense about how he'd rather have an..an... Séraphine thought hard about the word he'd used. It sounded Italian. Es..pre...ssooo. It must have been a Muggle invention because she hadn't heard of it. Or it was a recent innovation.

While the tea was English, she'd transfigured it into a breakfast blend from the famous Mariage Fréres Tea Company that had been founded 36... She corrected herself mentally, 141 years ago. Most of the business had consisted of importing premium leaf teas from Asia which in turn the Asian country was given first class hotels and tea shops in France. Her favorite blend was to no ones surprise a citrus mixture with clove and cinnamon. A blend Sebastian enjoyed too.

At the end of the lesson, everyone had glanced at their tea leaves. Ominis had accidentally consumed his leaves due to poor eye-sight. Sebastian had accidentally consumed his leaves due to being a proper idiot. Séraphine on the other hand had made her tea leaves disappear and claimed to joined the idiot in having drank them. Because what she saw chilled her to the bone.

The Arrival of a Grim Autumn

It had been weeks since the incident in the Divination Classroom. Sebastian and Ominis had been rather suspicious of her, but thankfully chose not to pry at the time while she mulled over the information. It wasn't until a walk to Hogsmeade that Ominis drifted to the back of their friend group to speak with her in private. Sebastian had noticed and hesitated, but understood fundamentally that when she was ready, she'd speak to him. There was a bit of hurt that flashed across his face briefly, but she'd talk to him tonight about it.

"Well?" Ominis prompted, "You've been a mixture of doom and gloom for weeks. Care to finally tell me what's on your mind? More specifically, what you're putting off telling Sebastian?"

Séraphine sighed heavily. "I suppose it is time. Do you remember the Divination Classroom where Umbridge and Trelawney were present for and the topic of discussion was 'How to Read Tea Leaves.'?"

"You mean the class where you lied and said you'd drunk your tea leaves?" He inquired wryly, "Even though there's a very slim likelihood a lady would do such a thing?"

She snorted inwardly. "You haven't been the aristocratic morveux as of late, perhaps I'm no longer a mademoiselle."

"I can't see and even I know there's likely not a hair out of place on your head. Don't forget the one time you tried to get dirty in the mud like Anne to impress Seb with your 'down to Earth honor' and instead you started crying because you were covered in dirt."