Ugly Duckling | Sebastian Sallow x F!OC | Oneshot

Ugly Duckling

"For he's a jolly good Sallow, for he's a jolly good Sallow!"

The heavy oak door of the seventh year girls' dormitory did little to muffle the raucous cheers from the Slytherin common room that pierced the air and the eardrums of a very annoyed witch. Evidently, the Slytherin quidditch team had returned from The Three Broomsticks where they had been celebrating their victory over Gryffindor earlier that day. Her house had been down by 90 points and destined for a loss, but they managed to win due to an undeniably impressive capture of the golden snitch by the team's seeker and captain, Sebastian Sallow. By the sound of their exaggerated slurring, they had celebrated quite hard.

"For heeee's a jolly good Saaal-looooow!"

The singing grew even louder as other house members joined in literally singing the praises of the witch's most loathed fellow student.

She had flat-out refused to join her roommates in going to The Three Broomsticks to be breathed on and felt up by stupid quidditch jocks, their hormones revved up even more after a big win. Especially since she knew Sebastian would no doubt be there milking his victory like the shameless show-off he was. No — she was anti-quidditch and anti-Sebastian, thank you very much. Thus, here she was, alone in her dormitory trying to get some sleep, if only they would shut up.

"Which nobody can deny!"

Well, she certainly could deny it. Sebastian Sallow had been nothing but a thorn in her side ever since their first year at Hogwarts, which is when she had the displeasure of meeting the boy who would become her school nemesis.

At eleven years old, she had been at her most awkward developmental phase, both physically and emotionally. Her prepubescent growth spurt had gone outward rather than upward, and she sported an unfortunate haircut which did little to distract from her gummy smile and buck teeth. Self-consciousness was her only companion on the daunting first night of her wizarding education.

On the other hand, Sebastian was the sort of boy who looked like one of the popular kids. He had a twin sister, and the pair seemed far more at ease than the other first years quaking in their boots as they waited to be sorted.

Once she had taken her place under the Sorting Hat, she overheard him make a nasty comment to the Slytherin table about not wanting a "horse-faced flobberworm" to join them, which was met with a riot of hushed snickers. To this day, she could still feel the overwhelming tightness in her throat as she fought back tears in front of every student and professor in the Great Hall. She couldn't even find it in herself to be pleased when the Sorting Hat announced her placement. He had sullied the most foundational experience a Hogwarts student can have, and she would never forgive him for that.

In the intervening years, the witch had not been shy about keeping her resentment toward Sebastian a secret, and he in turn seemed to relish provoking a reaction from her. He never wasted an opportunity to get her grindylow, annoying her daily with pranks and schemes, some more elaborate than others. Once, he even enlisted Peeves to follow her around reciting obscene limericks and blowing raspberries.  She could only guess how he had managed to partner with such a notoriously fickle poltergeist.

A more delicate witch would have wilted at such relentless teasing, but not her. Granted, a wiser witch would have simply refrained from giving him the reactions he so craved. But there was a reason she'd been sorted into Slytherin house. Meek she was not, and she decided early on to give him a taste of his own medicine. She turned her irritation into motivation, and let pure spite be her fuel. She became intimately familiar with too many hexes, jinxes, and curses to name. Most days, he didn't even get the chance to wind her up; if he so much as looked her way, she had a quick-flick warning zing aimed at his stupid, freckled face.