How to Make a Villain - [Sebastian Sallow x F!OC]

[twenty]

A/N: Just remember, you came into this story knowing it was a slow burn. HAHA have fun, love u.

PS: Don't forget to leave a li'l vote if you enjoy this chapter. Thank yooou! xo

-x-

This is the right thing to do.

Aurélie paused outside the office door to let out a long, slow breath, willing herself to believe the words she'd been inwardly repeating all night and day.

This is the right thing to do. There is no other option.

Knuckles braced against the polished wooden door, she cast a furtive glance over her shoulder; after everything that'd happened last afternoon by the music room, Sebastian was so far honouring her request for space to process it all, but it had been with great and very obvious difficulty that he'd not approached her during classes with his pleading eyes and endless apologies on his lips. She'd skipped dinner so as not to endure his visible regret longer than she had to. She'd skipped lunch, too — and breakfast for that matter, but she was too sad to feel hungry any more...

After everything Sebastian had confessed to...

After what she'd done to him...

When she finally found the courage to knock, the voice on the other side answered immediately, inviting her in.

Professor Weasley's office was a small room with a large, welcoming fireplace. Under different circumstances, Aurélie would've appreciated the sudden warmth that enveloped her, but the flicker of shock that passed over Weasley's face seemed to leech all the heat from the flames; Aurélie knew she looked a frightful mess, but there was little to be done for her appearance when she was too stressed to think straight.

'Miss Collins, please, come in...' Leaping to her feet, the Deputy Headmistress beckoned Aurélie to a chair by the fire then hovered uncertainly by her side. For a moment, she seemed to be on the verge of hugging her, teetering between professionalism and some apparent maternal instinct to comfort a troubled child. In the end, she resumed the role of concerned professor as she sat behind her desk, but Aurélie was glad for it; she wasn't sure she could hold herself together if someone were to hug her, and crying over the teacher's desk wasn't high on her list of priorities.

No, she needed her strength to repeat the words she'd been practising over and over in her head: Sorry to bother you, Professor, however, I wonder if we might discuss the possibility of my returning home earlier than planned?

But when she opened her mouth to speak, she promptly burst into tears.

-x-

'Aura, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!'

There were few things more embarrassing to Aurélie than crying in front of other people, but along with the explosive release of her magic came the inevitable outpouring of long pent-up tears. More mortifying still, every time Sebastian thumbed them frantically off her cheeks, they were immediately replaced with more until his fingers were wet with them.

'Shh, it's alright, everything's okay... I'm sorry...' Sebastian's hands were trembling as he cupped her face, but it was a testament to his loyalty (or perhaps a reflection of his obstinacy) that he didn't shy away from her unstable magic or her hysterical tears; in fact, after she'd blasted him off his feet like a ragdoll, he'd only picked himself up, brushed himself off and immediately hurried back to comfort her.

That's when she'd started crying: it was bad enough that she'd almost killed him, but when he came running back to her like she wasn't an imminent danger to his life, every tender-hearted feeling she'd ever suppressed for him came exploding to the surface with ten-times the force her magic had.