Sebastian Sallow is a tortured soul with the world on his shoulders whose only mission is to save his sister Anne - at any cost. Atley Barlowe is a budding new witch who also carries the world on her shoulders as she travels the road less traveled to unlock the secrets of her connection to ancient magic. Will the burdens of their lives, minds and souls prove to be too much or can they save each other? Sebastian Sallow x Fem!oc (but please feel free to replace "Atley" with your oc's name and "Barlowe" with your oc's last name in your mind if you'd prefer to read it that way.) Slow burn romance but will slowly become a deep and dark fic filled with heart swelling fluff, chaos, angst, magic, dark magic, romance, friendship, family, twists, turns and all sorts of soul crushing. This will be a LONG fic in order to keep the entirety of the story together - but for new or slow readers - do not worry, chapters are fast paced and kept at a manageable length. Will contain spoilers from the Hogwarts Legacy game. Characters aged up to year seven (18 years old). - *SPOILERS - There will be MANY spoilers for the HL game so read at your own risk ** TW: This story will contain themes of death, struggles in mental health, depression, PTSD, anxiety, violence, a bit of intimacy, terminal illness, blood, alcoholism, injury, self harm, "foul" language - if you are uncomfortable with any of these, please do not read! *** All characters aside from Atley and their likeness are owned, created and trademarked by Warner Bros, Portkey Games, the Wizarding World, etc... all rights to them. Story / original character owned by me. Occasional scenes be taken from the game and use quotes, but my own additions will be added to them. Lastly, thank you for reading and all your support! I don't plan to add many notes of my own but I would LOVE if you would leave your own thoughts, commentary and votes. It's always exciting to feel like I'm reading an annotated book passed around among friends! :)

[01/07/2021] - [13/04/2023] "You can't keep going around like a fucking maniac and treating me like shit. That isn't how relationships work," Sophia's voice was havoc as she verbalized her emotions. "That isn't how we work..." Tired, vulnerable and agitated at not only him, but herself. How could she let herself get this far, in such little time? He looked down, ashamed, not wanting to respond. His heart felt like it was beating faster than it should've. "I forgot how it felt to love you." As soon as those words were uttered from Sophia's lips, his world broke apart. Gone, in just a matter of seconds. - - - When Sophia Adam moves to a new town, she wishes nothing more than a boring, new life, to separate herself from her past. Moving meant completing university and getting a clerkship with a judge. Moving meant making refreshing new friends, and meeting a mysterious guy that seems hell-bent on getting to know her. To Sophia, moving to a new town was everything she imagined and more. She just didn't expect her past to follow.

When the most popular Kpop idol on the planet falls to her death, an aspiring singer is thrown into the spotlight, attracting the attention of an obsessive fan who claims to know the truth. *** Kpop girl group Sweet Poison is undeniably the biggest girl group in the world, and lead singer Dalia the most popular idol on the planet. But at the peak of her career, no one expects the idol to throw herself off a thirty story building on what will become a historic day in entertainment history. Ruled as a suicide, her death shocks the industry and millions mourn the unexpected demise of their favourite celebrity. Just as suddenly, trainee Kang Jina is thrown into the spotlight when her childhood association with Dalia is leaked to the media. Stifled by the newfound attention and stress of her debut, Jina feels as though she'll drown under all the pressure. That is until she receives a most shocking letter from Dalia's sassaeng (obsessive fan) claiming that she was murdered instead.

❝ Things are only as beautiful as you make them, Charlie. Including murder. ❞ It's the opening night of Burton Abbey's production of Romeo and Juliet and all is going smoothly - that is until the climactic death scene. Romeo takes a big gulp of the poison to be with his lover, except it really is poison and Elijah, who plays Romeo, is now dead. Charlie Monet, in charge of props, is the first suspect but soon the suspicion around her turns to worry as it seems she's the next target. Khaleel Rahim, an aspiring writer, is dying for a mystery to solve at his new school. When he sees Charlie sneaking around at night he thinks he's finally found something worth writing about. After discovering Charlie's ability to see visions of the past, Khaleel decides that they're the perfect pair to solve the mystery. With threatening notes, a quiet library and poison disguised as props; somebody in the school is blurring the lines between theatre and reality and the fast friends are about to discover that there's more to boarding school than just silly rumours. [2022 Watty's Shortlist]