timeless // Sebastian Sallow

CHAPTER 1: Leif and the Letters

"But I would die for you in secret.
The devil's in the details,
but you got a friend in me."

🎧 Recommended song for this chapter: peace - Taylor Swift

(You can listen to the song while you read by playing the chapter's header above!)

*****

August 31st, 1891
(10 months earlier)

Carolyn Morgan's POV

They say love is blind... but mine was blindfolded.

Like the fabric that cloaked my eyes, the handcuffs of my fate were stained in Slytherin blood.

On that warm August evening, however, I was concerned about a different stain.

"Natty, this is my favourite summer dress! I've ruined it!" I exclaimed, glancing regretfully at the dark stain spreading across the fabric where I had just spilt the wine by accident.

Natty rolled her eyes, held her wand aloft and pointed it at me.

"Scourgify!" With a swift flick, she cast the cleaning charm, banishing any traces of the dark red drink.

I ran my hands over the now pristine fabric in awe. "How did I not know this spell before?"

"Carolyn Cornelia Morgan, the witch who took down wicked wizards and goblins with ancient magic, doesn't even know basic handy charms?" She chuckled.

As the crimson sunset painted her cosy room in Devonshire, Natty and I sat on the floor amidst scattered parchment and half-filled trunks, savouring the last sips of our new summer tradition—packing for Hogwarts while sharing a bottle of cheap wine she sneaked in and hid from her mom.

I was ruffling through the mess of my suitcase. "Have you seen my red summer dress? It's my favourite, I can't leave it behind!"

"Minutes ago you said that the one you are wearing now is your favourite... but I'll let that pass." She said with a smirk. "Do you mean the one with that floral print?"

"Yes, the one with white wildflowers," I groaned, diving my arm deep into my bottomless suitcase. "I can't find anything in here!"

She pinched the bridge of her nose, holding back her laugh.  "You see, this is why I would never cast Capacious Extremis on my own suitcase. I would rather bring as much luggage as I need, if it meant that I am able to visualise all my belongings."

She still pretended to be serious as she continued, "Be careful now, the last time you were shuffling through your suitcase, you almost pulled a Graphorn in the living room by accident. My mom has been traumatised ever since."

We looked at each other and burst into laughter.

My fellow Gryffindor, Natsai Onai, and her mother, Ms. Mudiwa, welcomed me to stay at their residence in Devonshire during the school break that summer. After I moved to England from America last year, it just didn't make sense to endure the steamboat voyage all the way back across the Atlantic, only to then return to my 6th year.

I missed my parents though. They had been so supportive after finding out that their only daughter inherited magical traits from a distant line of their ancestors. It took only one Hogwarts letter to bring me all the way over to the United Kingdom, to live adventures I couldn't have possibly fathomed in my wildest dreams.