As always, credit to silverxstardust for the prompts!
Leaf it to Sebastian
word count: 1.2k
(despite telling myself to keep these around 500, I've failed miserably twice in a row)
The forest always looked darker after curfew. Branches stuck out at off angles like jagged teeth clawing against the night sky. The leaves long since fallen to their autumnal grave on the forest floor, crunching beneath our boots.
I let Sebastian go one step ahead of me on the path, just in case one of the vile spiders that resided in the forest decided we looked tasty. I stayed close behind my human shield.
Something shifted just ahead in the undergrowth. A crack of twigs. A low rustle.
I froze.
“Did you hear that?” I whispered.
Sebastian smirked over his shoulder, wandlight flickering across the sharp angles of his freckled face. “Probably an acromantula. Come on, we should be close.”
My stomach dropped.
“An acrom–” I swallowed thickly and let out a nervous giggle, trying to cover up the fear that was slithering through my veins, “You know what, it’s getting late. Let’s go back before–”
“Scared?” Sebastian arched a brow at me, obviously enjoying the way I was quaking in my boots.
“I’m not scared, S-sallow.” I cursed myself for not being able to keep the tremble out of my voice.
A faint glow pulsed deeper between the trees. A haunting, unnatural green.
My hand went to Sebastian’s forearm like he’d accio’d it there. And by the way his smirk spread into a cocky grin, I wasn’t sure he hadn’t.
“We haven’t even reached the fun part yet.”
I mumbled something about how we had very different ideas about what is considered fun, sounding a bit like Ominis. Who, I am not too proud to admit, might have made the correct decision in staying back in the comfort of the Slytherin common room.
Despite every sensible thought screaming at me to turn around, I let him tug me forward, shadows swallowing us whole. The glow pooled ahead of us. My grip on his arm tightened only to falter when we stepped into the clearing.
“Mushrooms?!”
A fat cluster of them, faintly luminescent. Harmless.
Sebastian snorted, “Admit it. You thought we were about to die.”
“I did not. I was being sensible,” I said stubbornly.
“I think your fingernails have made permanent residence in my arm.”
I shoved him away, cheeks burning.
Before he could gloat further, a twig cracked behind us. We both whirled around, wands ready to blast the damn acromantula to oblivion. Or the more likely scenario – become an arachnid midnight snack
“Care to explain what you’re doing out here?”
Professor Sharp stood at the clearing’s edge. My heart plummeted. The Hufflepuff rule follower in me might have preferred the acromantula.
“Would you believe we were…” Sebastian grabbed my hand and swung it between us, “taking a romantic walk?”
Sharp’s frown deepened, and I could have sworn I saw him roll his eyes.
“Detention. Both of you. Tomorrow evening. Meet me by the forest’s edge.”
I scoffed and pulled my hand angrily out of Sebastian’s grip.
Sebastian’s grin spread wide, infuriatingly smug. I wanted to throttle him.
.˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚..˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚..˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚.
The ground at the edge of the Forbidden Forest was a patchwork of gold and copper leaves, damp from the rain that had showered the grounds that day but mercifully stopped just as the clock struck 8 pm.
“If you’ve so much energy to go sneaking about, you’ll have energy to rake every leaf from the pathway.”
“But professor–” I started to protest how it wasn’t even my idea to go into the forest after curfew. I was just an innocent Hufflepuff after all.
“No magic,” Sharp barked, taking our wands and pressing a rake into my hands, another into Sebastian’s, “I want this walkway spotless when I return.”
With that, he strode off, leaving us to our punishment.
“This is your fault,” I sighed, stabbing a particularly wet bunch of leaves and dragging the rake across them.
Sebastian just leaned casually on his rake, eyes glittering.
“Think of it as character building.”
I scoffed.
“...And a chance to prove you can keep up.”
“With raking?”
“With winning.
“Winning?”
“Motivation, love.” He plunged his rake into the leaves with alarming enthusiasm, “First one to clear their section wins.”
Annoyed as I was, there was absolutely no way I’d let him win. I shoved my sleeves up high and set to work, raking with all the determination of someone who refused to let Sebastian Sallow smug his way to victory.
For a while, the only sound was the scrape of rakes and the crunch of leaves that hadn’t been blessed with rainwater. Then, his pile “accidentally” spilled into my immaculately cleared section of walkway.
“Sebastian!”
"Oops, it was an accident," Sebastian said, the least bit apologetic. His smirk abundantly clear, it wasn't.
I shoved leaves back onto his side. He retaliated. Soon, determined glares in our eyes, rakes were abandoned altogether, replaced with armfuls of leaves hurled across the clearing.
“Stop being such a child!” I shouted as a heap wetly smacked me in the face.
I picked up a pile and threw it with all my might. The ball of leaves disintegrated mid-flight, and only a handful fluttered down over him.
“You’re just jealous I’m winning.” He shook his head with a dramatic toss, leaves sticking in his hair.
The battle escalated, a storm of gold and laughter so hard my ribs ached, until he lunged forward.
“Sebastian Sallow, don’t you dare–!”
If you know anything about Sebastian, you know he will do anything but what you tell him to do.
He shoved me into my pile with both hands. Leaves exploded upward, swallowing me whole into a pit of mahogany, sienna, and gold. My shriek broke into helpless laughter as I surfaced, twigs in my hair, breathless and glaring.
“You’re insufferable.”
“You’re glowing,” he said, grin soft, eyes lingering on me in a way that made the evening feel suddenly still.
My heart hammered, cheeks burning against the chill autumn wind. For a heartbeat, it wasn’t a punishment at all. It was just us, tangled in the brief magic of autumn.
A throat cleared.
Professor Sharp stood at the edge of the path, lips pursed, unimpressed. With a single flick of his wand, every leaf vanished. The ground completely bare.
I winced, waiting for another punishment after failing miserably at this one.
“There’s still some dinner in the Great Hall. Don’t let me find you out here after curfew again.”
We trailed back to the castle, still leaf-speckled, laughing under our breath.
By the time we slid onto the bench in the Great Hall, Ominis raised a brow.
“Was detention terrible? Professor Sharp seemed in a foul mood,” Poppy winced, looking up from her book.
“You smell like Sharp dunked you in Garlick’s compost heap,” Ominis recoiled and scooted away from us.
“Oh, you’ve got something–” Poppy reached over and plucked a single leaf from my hair, twirling it.
Heat rushed to my face. Sebastian smirked beside me.
“Don’t say a word,” I warned under my breath.
He leaned closer, voice low enough for only me to hear, “Relax, love, I won’t tell them you lost.”
I swatted at him, but he only smiled wider. And despite myself, I smiled back.
