Tempest // Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 53

"Where have you been?"

A large, firm hand landed on Rosie's shoulder as she crept through the hallways of her home, her parents home, as she went back to her room to collect a few of her things to take back to the apartment. Mostly books that Sebastian had requested.

"I–I've been staying with a friend, closer to London." Rosie said, lying straight through her teeth.

She'd unfortunately started work at the Ministry, in the Wizengamot Administrative Services section of the building.

She was a pencil pusher. She hated it.

But she'd come to the agreement with Sebastian that she'd at least do it until they knew for sure they were becoming curse-breakers. At least they'd have some money coming in.

"No, you should stay here."

"But it's easier to commute to work, dad..."

"I've lived here since before you were born and travelled to the Ministry every single day. You will stay here."

Rosie's father looked at her with a stern expression. Like he always did. He was certainly a man of tradition, and the idea of his daughter living away from home, unmarried, seemed to be against the principles he held dear and unfortunately forced upon his children.

Even Isabelle, an accomplished Auror now having completed the recruitment programme and working out in the field, was still living at home. Just to appease their father.

Rosie's shoulders slumped slightly as she stared at her fathers firm stance. But she was tired of it. She took a deep breath, finally mustering the courage to stand up for herself. She looked directly into her father's eyes and her mouth simply began to speak before could stop herself.

"Dad, I appreciate your concern, but I need my independence. I can't keep living by the same rules you were set and seem to want to impose on us. Time's have changed. I have a life of my own, and I need to live it the way I see fit."

But her father saw red.

"You listen to me, Primrose. You are my daughter and therefore you'll live by my rules. So you'll stay here."

Rosie only thought of one way to get the notion out of her fathers head that she was almost like his property. A way to assure that she would be free of his grasps and no longer shackled to the pureblood idea that she needed to marry and breed with another man from a like-minded family.

"No, I won't stay here. I have a boyfriend now. I've been living with him for weeks."

The words echoed off the walls and Rosie found her mouth growing dry with a flicker of fear as she watched her father's expression shift from anger to utter disbelief laced with anger.

"A boyfriend?" he exclaimed, "Primrose, you will not bring shame upon this family by engaging in such... indiscretions!"

Rosie squared her shoulders, refusing to back down now she'd found her stride. "There's no shame"

Her father's face turned a shade of crimson, and his voice grew louder. "If it's not shameful, then why wouldn't you tell me? Why would you sneak around? Is he a muggle-born?"

"No. A half-blood, actually." Rosie said plainly.

Rosie's father recoiled as if she'd struck him. The mere mention of a half-blood was like a smack in the face to his staunch and outdated pureblood beliefs. His eyes narrowed into slits, and his jaw clenched so tightly that Rosie could practically hear his teeth grinding together.