sacrifices ⇁ sebastian sallow

⇁ A.N.

Welcome, the following is some pre-reading notes to the story without delving too deep.

This story is mostly based around Sebastian and his character arc, with much shared lore from Hogwarts Legacy and the Wizarding World. Please be aware of dark themes, angst and some spice. This is a slow burn dark romance; don't expect a ton of fluff or romance right off the bat, that would suck the fun out of it, right? With heed of warning, I will share a brief glance into Verena, the main character.

Verena Celeste Bulstrode is the main female character, a pureblood witch from the Noble and Ancient House of Bulstrode. She is the eldest sister of Violetta and they have a dear sisterly relationship, which proves to be comforting during their first year together at Hogwarts. This story is set in her Sixth Year at Hogwarts, post the defeat of Ranrok, and after claiming the Final Repository's power. After the battle and grief at the end of the term, much is adrift with Verena and Violetta, mostly due to Verena's consuming and obstinate dedication to researching and practicing her Ancient Magic, to which everyone is oblivious of in her family. Expect mention and talk of pureblood supremacy throughout the story, due to her family principles and the talk of genealogies of pureblood houses. Akin to their parents, Verena and Violetta were sorted into Slytherin, and were raised under the influence of the principle of purity and power.

Hogwarts Legacy is set in the Victorian period, so culture and ideals of that era will be canon in this story. Courtship is one of the ideals discussed, and from what is known of pureblood houses, arranged marriages is another discussion introduced.

Digressing to Sebastian–he is quite dark after the heartbreaking climatic events at the end of the term, from murdering his Uncle, to losing his sister, losing himself, losing his friends' trust, sacrificing everything, he is woefully broken. This story explores a lot of Sebastian's teeter between being morally gray and evil, his redemption, his ambition and desire for knowledge and power and if it's directed in an innocent way.

I, wholeheartedly, fell in love with Sebastian's character and personality and yearned so much for him and more answers. Despite being a dedicated apologist for him, I wrote Sebastian to be dark as I mentioned, I discuss much of his flaws and wrote this with a friends-enemies-lovers trope to follow along with the demise(s) at the end of their Fifth Year and into the beginning of Sixth Year term.

Also, I took the liberty to write a prologue to condense a retelling of the events of Verena's Fifth Year to allow envisioning of her character and relationships. We all know the events of the game well, so this brief section introduces Verena, her sister and family, and her friendship with Sebastian and Ominis... and other interesting parts. Chapter one is a flashback of the last day of the term.

I created character 'mood boards' for Verena, Violetta, Sebastian, Ominis, Phineas and Cygnus Black. Verena is my original character, so I do not own any other characters mentioned. The House of Bulstrode does not have a much developed background from J.K.R. and there is differing information on Wiki sites, so whatever I have written may or may not be canon, more or less will be "fanon." Violetta is the most developed character out of the family, so I hope I do her justice. For Cygnus and Phineas, we know they attended Hogwarts at the same time when their father was Headmaster, however their ages may be portrayed older and/or younger to align with my plot. Nonetheless, this was so much fun to create and breathe life into. 

Please enjoy, and do indulge me in your thoughts! xo