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They decide to keep their relationship to themselves for now. Just for a little while.
Sebastian thinks that maybe they just enjoy how illicit it feels, as the owl statue that Elsie suddenly pushes him into swings them around into a tiny, dimly lit chamber. She’s already tugging him forward by the tie, and he has to slam his palms into the wall above her head to catch himself while she pulls his lips to hers. They, or to be accurate, Elsie, is too good at finding them secluded places within the castle. It worries him slightly that she knows so many of them, but as she pulls harder on his tie, he decides he doesn’t care right now.
They are also getting good at this. Sebastian takes one hand away from the wall to her chin, tugging her face higher up towards him, and she hums as Sebastian tilts his head to kiss her a bit deeper. His insides buzz when he hears the soft noises she makes when Sebastian does something right as they kiss, which he isn’t always able to replicate. But they do this enough that it doesn’t matter, because Sebastian will always find something new that pulls that happy hum out of her.
A peal of laughter rings out right next to them, and they jerk apart with a shared gasp, both of them looking to the wall that was supposed to be concealing them. The owl statue stares back at them with disparaging eyes, and the wall is still there, hiding them from the hallway below Central Hall. Elsie giggles and Sebastian huffs in a mix of amusement and relief. “The walls aren’t as thick here, I guess,” she whispers, and Sebastian listens as a couple of voices grow louder as they pass by and then fade away. “Making dangerous choices again, I see,” Sebastian says, clearing his throat when he hears how thick his voice sounds. Elsie grins up at him.
Sebastian tilts his head back down to kiss her again when she presses fingers against his lips, stopping him in place. “We still have class, you know,” Elsie says. Sebastian growls in disappointment and Elsie bites onto her bottom lip. “So why did you put us in here?” Sebastian asks and she takes her hand away. “I just wanted to kiss you.” It is the casual comments like that that make it hard for Sebastian stop, to push off the wall, and step back from Elsie. He readjusts at his tie, making sure it was sat straight. Elsie sweeps a hand over the back of her hair, pulling the end of her braid over her shoulder. She presses an ear against the wall, listening intently.
“All clear, I think,” she says, and she waits for Sebastian’s nod before she taps the owl’s head with her wand. The alcove spits them back out, and Sebastian makes sure they are already walking before anyone could turn the corner and see them standing at the owl statue. “Six years in Hogwarts and I never knew that there was a room behind that owl,” Sebastian says and Elsie shrugs, the twinkle in her eye telling Sebastian she knows even more spots just like that.
***
Sebastian wants to tempt fate in the Undercroft. Elsie takes a step back when he steps towards her. She holds him an arm’s length away.
“What do you think you are doing?” Elsie asks, and Sebastian takes another step forward. “Seb,” Elsie says, warningly and Sebastian doesn’t bother responding as he walks her backwards towards a wall. She pre-empts him, taking one step to the left so he can’t back her into it. He lets her take them as far as the center of the room before he stops her, taking hold of the elbow of the arm that holds him away from her. “Ominis will be here any moment,” Elsie says as Sebastian pulls at her elbow, bending her arm to draw her close to him.
“But we’re early,” Sebastian says, inflecting the tiniest bit of a whine into his voice. “He won’t be here for another ten minutes.” He cups her jaw with his other hand, stroking her cheekbone with his thumb. He tips his head close, and Elsie’s eyes flutter out of instinct even as she pushes at him with no real effort.
“If he walks in on us-” Elsie says, and Sebastian has had enough. She jumps a bit when he kisses her, and he has to tighten his hold on her elbow to keep her from wobbling in her surprise.
He smiles when he feels her hands grip onto either side of the opening of his cloak. He tugs her bottom lip between his teeth, applying the barest pressure and she sighs into the kiss. Sebastian waits, and on cue she leans into him. Sebastian pulls away.
“Wha-“ she says, and Sebastian raises an eyebrow at her. “Don’t want Ominis catching us, do we?” he whispers, stepping back with a smirk and she gapes at him. Sebastian continues backing up, hands up in the air. “You said it yourself,” he says, and she sputters, turning away in a huff. Sebastian licks his lips, unable to stop his triumphant smile.
***
The safest place was probably the Room of Requirement, or so Sebastian had thought. They forgot about Deek. Deek had apparated in, gasped, and then apparated away to the other room in a panic, yelling apologies. Elsie immediately ran after him, before sending Deek away with her own apology for scaring him. Sebastian couldn’t look the damn elf in the eye after, even though all Elsie and Sebastian had done was kiss in front of him. “He knows anyway,” Elsie says, sat next to Sebastian. Sebastian was slumped on the sofa, the hood of his cloak yanked up and over his face, absolutely mortified at having a witness. “What do you mean, he knows,” Sebastian says, waving a hand in the air. “I couldn’t tell anyone about my feelings about you except Deek,” Elsie says defensively. “Poppy only thinks that you like me, she doesn’t know that I felt the same way back!” The information doesn’t make Sebastian feel any better, even though it was amusing. “So, you were getting relationship advice from a house-elf?”
“Hey! Deek is very knowledgeable,” Elsie says. “How do those rich people do anything private with their house elf around all the time?” Sebastian says, pressing the fabric of his hood firmly against his face. Elsie is silent at that, and Sebastian peeks out from under the hood. “What?” Sebastian asks and Elsie flushes, averting her eyes. “What’s wrong?” Sebastian asks again, amused. “Nothing!” she says, her voice strained. Sebastian narrows his eyes at her, throwing his hood off to get a better look at her. “Els,” Sebastian says, watching as she fidgets next to him. He reaches over, taking her hand and she startles at his touch. “What’s on your mind?” He asks more insistently, tugging on her hand. “Just things,” Elsie says and Sebastian gasps as he realises what was on her mind. “Elizabeth Fernsby,” he says, pretending to be appalled. “Get your mind out of the gutter!”
“Oh, shut up,” Elsie says, letting herself fall against Sebastian’s shoulder. “Seriously, what were you thinking about?” Sebastian asks playfully. He lets her stew over it. He does his new favourite thing to do while he waits; he plays with her hand.
He turns her hand over to inspect her palm and fingers. The soft callouses he felt at the start of the school year in Feldcroft all those months ago have hardened somewhat, forming thick but small pads where her wand usually sits in her hand, just below her fingers. He rubs at them gently, marvelling at how much smaller her palm is compared to his. Her fingers are long and slender, making her hand seem bigger than it actually is. He was moving on to inspecting her fingernails when she finally speaks. “I was just wondering if you’ve dated anyone else before.” She leaves the other part of her question out, but Sebastian knows she’s thinking it.
Sebastian holds in a chuckle, knowing it will fluster her, letting their hands come to a rest between them as he tips his head back onto the sofa back to think. “There was a girl once,” Sebastian starts. He feels Elsie’s hand tighten around his. “She was far less pretty than you,” Sebastian continues with a smirk and Elsie snorts quietly. “Louisa Bennett, in my third year,” Sebastian says. “Somehow was a Hufflepuff, which you would not believe if you had met her,” Sebastian shrugs. “Ominis will remember her. She was more like a Ravenclaw if you asked me. She would do anything if it got her what she needed, and incredibly intuitive when it came to magic. She figured out how Ominis’ wand worked with one look.”
Elsie readjusts herself, letting go of Sebastian’s hand to tuck herself under Sebastian’s arm and against his side instead. “Did you like her?” Sebastian hums. “Sort of.” Elsie tilts her head up against the crook of his arm to look at him. “Sort of?” she asks, frowning. “I think I liked the idea of her,” Sebastian explains. “We were barely fourteen.” Elsie seems to consider this. “So, did you kiss her?” Sebastian raises an eyebrow, looking down at her. “Do you really want to know?” Elsie stares at him and he sighs, letting his head fall back on the sofa again. “We did.” He lifts a hand to stop her from asking the next question. “Nothing else happened beyond that, and by the first week I was ready to be rid of her,” he says, wincing slightly at the memories. “What?” Elsie says. Sebastian sucks in air between closed teeth. “It was all well and good talking to her, but whenever she held my hand or tried to kiss me, I felt ill, like my body was physically rejecting her.”
“Merlin,” Elsie says. “That does sounds awful.” Sebastian grins, pulling her against him more closely, greedy for the planes of her body to be wholly pressed against him. He kisses the side of her head, whispering. “It definitely didn’t feel as good as this.” Elsie shivers as his breath ghosts over the curve of her ear. Sebastian grins into her hair. “And then before I had decided to tell her it wasn’t going to work, her parents decided to move to Germany, so I never saw her again anyway,” Sebastian says and Elsie laughs. “A pre-teen love story! I thought I was going to get a story of how you swept an unsuspecting girl off her feet, all suave and flirty, and then ravished her,” Elsie says. “Is that not our story?” Sebastian asks, grinning. Elsie gasps, scandalised. She elbows him viciously. The pain shoots through his waist and Sebastian groans, grabbing the offending arm. “Your elbows,” Sebastian hisses. “They will be the death of me.” Elsie does not even look the least bit remorseful, crossing her arms in front of her. “And your teasing will be the end of me,” she shoots back. “You love it though,” Sebastian says, and she rolls her eyes at him.
Her gaze catches on something, and an amused look appears on her face. “What now?” Sebastian asks. She sits up, reaching to comb fingers through his hair. “You’ll need a haircut soon,” she muses. Sebastian hums, finding himself distracted with her face so close to his. He’ll go sometime.
Right now, he’s more interested in kissing every single freckle on her face. He presses one kiss on the tip of her nose, and her eyes drop back down to his as her hand stops in his hair. He drops another kiss on her cheek, and then another on her cheekbone. “Why worry about the other private, scandalous things we would have to learn how to do,” Sebastian murmurs against her skin, kissing the freckles that sit right on the slope of her nose. “When kissing you like this is more than fun enough?” Sebastian slides his lips across to her other cheek, smiling at the sudden warm flush beneath.