Entangled Again || With Sebastian Sallow

Ch 25: Prom Proposals 🌶️

Sebastian's POV

Just over a week had passed since my birthday party, and Jules and I were feeling extremely relieved that the Daily Prophet had yet to mention anything about a murder in Hogsmeade the night of my party. When we'd gone back to the scene of the crime the next morning, there was no trace of the dead body, or that any kind of scuffle had even happened there. Odd. But relieving.

Things with Jules and I seemed to be going pretty smoothly. We were back to our normal flirting and banter, accompanying each other to meals and classes, and spending our spare time hanging out again. I'd even chanced a sneaky kiss with her here and there, which she reciprocated, but we weren't officially back together though... which bugged me. I'd left the ball in her court, and I was doing my best to be patient.

Although, it was becoming increasingly difficult, given that love was in the air at Hogwarts.

The Winter Ball was coming up, and the guys were going all out with these lame 'prom proposals'. A public display of foolery, in my opinion. There were marching bands, enchanted banners, owls flying around with love letters and invitations, and even fireworks.

The girls were roaming around in packs like gaggles of geese, clucking about what they were going to wear, who was going with who, and who was planning on losing their virginity that night - another classic tradition the night of the Ball.

Today was the longest I'd gone without seeing Jules all week, and I missed her already. I'd been down at the Quidditch pitch with Poppy to watch the second match of the season - Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw, which Jules wasn't interested in - said she'd rather spend the day in the library to catch up on homework with Anne.

To be fair, I probably should have joined them, I was pretty behind myself. But Imelda would have flayed me alive if I didn't go to the game. She convinced the whole Slytherin team to attend every game, claiming that we must 'keep an eye on our competition'. It wouldn't have been worth the headache to miss it.

And I was relieved to have a break from all the cringe-worthy prom proposals.

Alas, I spoke too soon... and I was shit out of luck. Not even the Quidditch pitch was safe from the cheesiness of it all.

The game ended with a triumphant 200-10 win by Ravenclaw. Amit Thakkar, the team's Seeker who had won them the game, had enchanted the golden snitch to fly into the hands of his teammate Samantha Dale. Amit knelt down in front of her, announcing he had won the game with the hope and intention that she would say yes to attending the Ball with him. She did say yes, and the crowd cheered as they embraced.

"Ugh, bloody hell," I scoffed. "There's no escaping it, is there?"

"Oh come on Sebastian, lighten up!" Poppy said encouragingly. "I'm sure you're planning something just as romantic for Juliet, right?"

"Pff, not likely," I rolled my eyes. "She'd be mortified. And besides, she doesn't want to go."

Poppy arched a brow. "Are you sure about that?"

"Why, has she said otherwise?" I asked, a little too desperately.

Poppy scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Well... no. But, what girl wouldn't want to have a big public fuss made about her? And it's not like you haven't done it before, Seb."

"That was different," I huffed. "I wasn't doing it to follow some stupid 'trend'. I did it out of pure love."

She gave me a knowing look.

She was right.

I headed to the library after the game, wanting to see my girl. Knowing her favourite nook up on the second floor, I leapt up the stairs two-at-a-time, but pulled up short when I overheard Anne ask Jules a question I was definitely interested in eavesdropping on. I snuck around to the aisle beside them, pulling my book out to be as inconspicuous as possible, taking a seat on the floor and listening intently to their conversation.