Butterflies

Author's Notes: Here's another cross-post of an Ao3 fic of mine! This cover gave me trouble for a while, but I'm very proud of how it came out :] I mainly wanted the title color to have a Monarch Butterfly's color design of orange and black, and then also curve like a butterflies flight pattern.

Anyway...

Here I am with another one-shot! I love Sebastelle and Artel, and now, I am happy to share how the first meetings for these ships went! Y'all probably know how Sebastelle happens, but I hope you guys also like how I have it go as well as how Artel goes.

And of course, thank you, Polaris (eClear) for giving me your wonderful permission to write your OC/MC Artemis! I hope I wrote her well and did her justice!

Happy reading! :]

~~~

“What if I’m dreadful? What if in our first ever magical class, I can’t even do more than Basic Cast or Lumos?” Estelle worriedly asked, wringing her hands.

They had met with Professor Weasley at Central Hall beforehand already, and Cael was the safekeeper of their Field Guide at the moment. Now, the new fifth years were walking through the massive castle of Hogwarts to make their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts. The place was a labyrinth, but thank goodness their Field Guide navigated them to where they needed to go.

Even so, every hall they went through, students or portraits would notice them and whisper about them being new. It was getting on both of their nerves, and Estelle was growing more agitated about her magic potential.

Cael took a deep breath to not be outwardly exasperated by his sister’s worries. He knew she just didn’t feel confident in herself or her abilities. Aside from the fact…

“Estelle, we literally decimated statues yesterday,” he tried to gently point out, but his voice still came out dry. They had finally made it into the DADA Tower and walked up the stairs to where the classroom was.

She frowned at him. “It could have been a fluke. And they were just statues.” She raised a challenging eyebrow at him. “Weren’t you the one that said they did the same kind of attacks so it was easy to have an advantage?”

He opened and closed his mouth. “Okay, yes,” he relented. “But, Estelle, don’t sell yourself short.” He gave her a challenging look in return. “Otherwise, you’re saying my magic is a fluke too.” She instantly had a concerned expression on her face, and he patted her back.

“I-I’d never think that for you,” she protested.

“Then don’t think that for yourself. Give yourself more credit,” he insisted. They walked up the last set of stairs to the classroom. “Once we learn actual magic, I’m sure we’ll be able to do fine. We don’t have to be the best, but as long as we don’t cause trouble—”

They stepped through the door and saw two students duking it out with Basic Casts at each other. The twins stood there, watching the Slytherin and Gryffindor boys go back and forth until the Slytherin one called out, “Is that all you’ve got?”

Cael stiffened as the Gryffindor boy shielded himself from a strange spell that bounced off and hit a dragon skull that careened to him. Estelle gasped, and she even took a step forward to somehow help before the professor interceded and caught the skull.

As Professor Hecat introduced herself and went on to discuss the levitation charm Levioso, Cael leaned over to Estelle. “Yeah, so, as long as we don’t do what those two numbskulls did, we’re fine.”

Estelle nodded, partly agreeing with her brother. She had to admit, though, that duelling without lives being at stake sounded…fun. When Hecat proved her point by using the levitating charm on the boy known as Prewett, she heard a muffled snicker. She leaned forward to look past Cael at the Slytherin boy.