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The sound of hurried footsteps filled the cobbled halls as a frantic Slytherin made his way around his fellow students. He had been looking around for about five minutes now, scanning faces and listening to conversations to find his friend. Normally, it wasn’t that hard to find you, you never strayed too far away from the little group you had formed, unless it was time for bed or if you ever had different classes. Even then, however, it was hard to see either of you without the other. Finding a Hufflepuff should never be THAT hard, right? “Yellow isn’t hard to miss, especially paired with black. Like a bumblebee.” Sebastian thought to himself, except, like a hive a bumblebees, there were a lot of black and yellow robes around him, paired with the other house colours, his head would soon spin. Eventually, Sebastian made his way to a somewhat empty hall, and found his other friend, Ominis, by one of the doors. He wasn’t quite sure what Ominis was doing, but by the way he suddenly turned and headed over to Sebastian, it seemed as if he was waiting for his friend.
“Ominis! What are you doing here?” Sebastian questioned, still looking around in hopes of catching you. Ominis shrugged and took out his wand, “I figured we would meet for supper, but I heard your footsteps a bit away and figured you’d show up here eventually.” Sebastian shook his head in disbelief. “Also,” Ominis continued, “I didn’t hear another set of footsteps, you’re not with y/n?” Ominis’ question caused Sebastian to sigh and run a hand through his hair. “Yeah, that’s the problem. I can’t find them.” Ominis furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “You can’t find them? But it’s near time to eat, we always have this schedule, it’s not like them to just not show up.” Sebastian nodded and began to walk again to continue his search, followed by Ominis.
The two eventually ran into Poppy, a fellow Hufflepuff and friend of yours. “Oh! Hello, you two,” she says as walks away from the window she was staring out of. Ominis nodded his head in the direction of her voice, and Sebastian waved quickly. “Everything okay? You seem a little tense, Sebastian.” She asked, smirking as she watched him fiddle around with his sleeves as he continued once again to look around. Ominis, knowing how Sebastian was acting, spoke. “We can’t find y/n, I found him speeding around looking for them.” Poppy’s smirk grew even wider as she watched the Slytherin. “Aw, did you lose your emotional support Hufflepuff?” She joked. Sebastian whipped his head towards her in a flash, “What? What is that supposed to mean?” His face was flushed yet filled with confusion. Poppy could only snicker in response, and Ominis seemed to lightly nod in agreement with her statement. “You never act like that,” she shrugged, “Do you need to keep them near you around the clock? Keep it up and people will start thinking you’re dating.” She continued to joke, turning to look out the window. Sebastian was left in a mess of stuttering and brain fog as he tried to find a quip to throw back, only to get out “it’s- now- you know- Ominis, tell her!” Ominis, being put on the spot during what was a very entertaining conversation, could only shake his head and hide a smile.
“Oh dear,” Poppy said as she continued to look out the window. Sebastian walked closer and peered outside. During their conversation, the sky had begun to be covered with dark clouds full of water, and the sound of faint thunder had caught the Hufflepuff’s attention. It had begun to pour with rain, a strong contrast to what was a bright day with warm air. The glass had already begun to fog up from the cold rain, and Poppy had begun to look worried. “It’s just some rain, nothing to worry about.” Sebastian stated, moving away from the window and making his way back to his friend. Poppy frowned as she turned back to the Slytherins. “Maybe for you, but it just turns out that y/n went outside not too long ago to ask Professor Garlick about an assignment, and they haven’t returned yet.” Sebastian’s eyes widened as he titled his head slightly. “You mean to say that you knew where they were and instead decided to pick on me?” Ominis snorted behind Sebastian. “That means they are out there, probably without an umbrella or jacket since it was nice out.” Ominis continued, “Surly they know it’s raining now, but it will be a cold and wet walk back here.” Sebastian nodded in response, “Unless they ran.” It was Poppy’s turn to shake her head, “The grass would be slippery. If they slip and fall, they will just be dirtier and wetter, it’s not safe to run.” Sebastian fumbled with his robe and lifted his hood. “I suppose they didn’t wear their robes out either?” Poppy shook her head. A sigh left Sebastian as looked outside once again. “Okay, Ominis, stay here and wait until I get back, we don’t need all three of us to be soaked.” Ominis nodded in response. “I’ll go fetch towels for the two of you them,” Poppy stated, heading off to find where some towels may be stored. Sebastian huffed as he neared the door and shook his head, preparing himself for the cold rain that eagerly waited for him.
As he stepped out, his robes were immediately drenched, and he had to speedwalk down the yard towards the Herbology classroom. Careful not to slip, he shielded his eyes and looked around, hoping that he’d catch you on your way back so he wouldn’t have to walk all the way down, but you were still nowhere to be seen. A few moments later, Sebastian found himself nearing the greenhouse, and a sigh of relief left his lips. When he made it to the front doors, he huddled under the small roof-like lip above the doors, which poked away from the building enough to keep the rain from falling onto him.
Inside the greenhouse, you stood over a desk, eyes sparkling as you listened to the wonderful voice of what you could only say was your favourite Professor. You hadn’t been paying attention to the class that day, zoning out every now and then for reasons you couldn’t name. You were sure you had gotten enough sleep, even if you did go to bed a little late. You didn’t think there was anything distracting you either, but when you zoned back into the class, Professor Garlick was assigning work to be done that evening, and you didn’t want to bother any of your classmates and ask what you had missed. Especially not Sebastian, who would probably tease you for zoning out, and then tease you for overthinking too much. So, you had visited the Greenhouse to get a clearer picture of what you were supposed to do, which had been taking longer than expected. You already had the answers to your questions, yet somehow you found yourself discussing different types of plants and when the best time to grow them was. You hadn’t even realized it began to rain, until a loud clap of thunder sounded through the sky, leaving you to jump in response. “Oh dear, it seems that a storm has made its way over.” Professor Garlick began, “you should head back to the castle now, it should be near time for supper as well, and I don’t want you missing that.” You nodded is response and began making your way to the door, giving the professor one final wave goodbye as you walked out.
Turning around as you closed the door, you were met face-to-face with the one and only Sebastian Sallow, and the close proximity and sudden appearance caused you to yelp and jump back, hitting the doors you had just closed. “Sebastian! Don’t do that, I beg of you.” You gasped, placing a hand over your chest. Sebastian smiled in response, “I try not to, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.” You shook your head in disbelief, droplets of water already dripping from your hair. “What does that even mean in this context?” You asked as you tilted your head to take a look at the sky. Sebastian only shrugged in response before changing the subject. “Forget about that, what are you doing out here? It’s pouring down rain.” You chuckled at the obvious statement. “I needed some help with understanding the assignment, so I figured I’d just go and ask the Professor.” Sebastian shook his head, already knowing the reason thanks to Poppy. “Yeah, I know that. But we’re in the same class, you could have just asked me for help.” You laughed, “Do me a favour and stop flattering yourself, Sebastian.” Sebastian’s face shifted to one of confusion, unsure about what you meant. “What’s that supposed to mean?” You shook your head once again, “Nothing. Anyway, you would have teased me about it, like always.” Sebastian nodded and smiled, “Well, of course I would have, but I still would have helped you. And now look, it’s pouring. You don’t even have your robes or an umbrella! You would have caught a cold if I hadn’t shown up.” You laughed in response as you moved closer to him, shivering. “My hero, of course.” Sebastian grinned as he tucked you closer into him and covered both of you with his robe.
It was awkward to walk so close to each other as you hid away from the rain, both of you slipping every now and then. You even yelped and grabbed onto Sebastian as you tripped over a hidden stone, causing Sebastian to slip as well and send the two of you to the ground. “Are you ok? You’re not hurt, are you?” Sebastian asked as he hovered over you, blocking the rain. Your eyes were shut tightly, and your fists had parts of Sebastian’s uniform clutched tightly. You wiggled the leg that had made the initial impact with the stone, and felt no pain, causing you to sigh in relief and loosen your grip. “Yeah, I’m good. Just dirty now.” You laughed, causing Sebastian to laugh in turn as he helped you up. You kept walking towards the castle, oblivious of the flush that lit up Sebastian’s cheeks after the fall. When the two of you finally made it through the doors, you were greeted by Poppy and Ominis, who each had a towel and a new set of robes for the two of you.
You quickly excused yourself to dry off and change, Sebastian doing the same. Poppy had decided to go with you to the Hufflepuff dorm, in case she didn’t grab the right robes for you. Ominis waited in the Slytherin common room for Sebastian, and the pairs met back up outside the dining hall. You shook your head lightly as your damp hair tickled your neck, moving your hands up and down your arms to warm yourself up. Sebastian’s hair was still damp as well and hung over his forehead. You quickly tried to sweep it back up so it wouldn’t be in the way, satisfied when you started to see it curling back up as it air dried. “Telling me I would catch a cold, yeah right. Look at you, being out there for who knows how long. Now you’re the one with the cold.” You mumbled to yourself as you fixed Sebastian’s clothes and then turned to walk into the Dining Hall. Poppy snickered as she watched Sebastian’s face darken, a followed after you after getting one last remark out, “Definitely an emotional support Hufflepuff. But what kind of emotional support, we may never know.” Sebastian was left in shock from the whole ordeal, only to be brought back to reality by Ominis nudging him in the side. “Poppy’s right, you know.” He quipped. Sebastian shook his head, “It’s just a weird way to say Best Friend.” Ominis laughed in response. “No, it’s just another way to say Relationship.” And with that, Ominis walked into the dining hall to join you at the table. Sebastian shook his head once more, mentally preparing himself as he walked into the dining hall after you.