Chapter Text
The unofficial yet official graduation party is well into swing by this time of the evening. Most students are several glasses of cheap firewhisky (that was smuggled in from Hogsmeade, definitely not from Sirona), deep, leaving most of them rosy cheeked and walking on a tilt. That is, except for two people in the room, one by choice and the other by force.
Sebastian watches Amanda from his place on the wall as she laughs with Poppy on the dance floor, the ring box like a weight that will suffocate him from fear while also feather light, an exciting item that will soar him to the next step in his relationship with Amanda. The poor plant next to him has been receiving each drink someone passes him, an easy way to dispose of the poor quality alcohol. He knows he shouldn’t be as terrified as he is to propose to her, but he is. They’ve discussed the shared desire of marriage extensively and she explicitly stated she would be thrilled to receive a proposal. He knows she will say yes but the fear of her being disappointed in his efforts or Merlin forbid, the ring, plague him. Contemplating chugging the drink in his hand, he resists the temptation, knowing alcohol will only worsen the mistakes he will surely make when he proposes to her.
Poppy has done her job well of preventing Amanda from drinking too much on the night that is well known to result in many students heavily hungover on their formal graduation ceremony the next day. Spells exist for a variety of maliases, yet none can cure a hangover or sober you up at a moment's notice. He refuses to propose to one who is inebriated so Amanda to be clear headed and sober until then. Unfortunately in her assigned job, Poppy has had to consume an unhealthy amount of alcohol, stealing nearly all of Amanda’s drinks if she’s not able to cast aguamenti on her glass to dilute it before she reaches for it. Anne is attempting to take on some of the job, yet the nerves she feels for her brother keeps her distracted as she keeps an eye on her very nervous twin.
Deciding it's late enough in the night to sneak away with no one sober enough to notice, Sebastian makes his way to the dance floor, letting the loud music guide his tempo to her. The smile, her smile, makes him weak enough he worries about vomiting right then and there, but when she twirls herself into his arms, everything in his body stops, simply mesmerized by her as his arms rest over her own when her head leans against his shoulder and asks why he’s been a wallflower that evening.
Tipping his head downward, he whispers into her perfectly created ear, “Follow me?” It thankfully comes out as a request, not the pathetic plea that it sounded like in his head as he zoned in on her very beautiful ear. Under normal circumstances Sebastian would question if ears can even be cute, but everything about her is the definition of perfection. She would argue if he said it, but tonight in particular, the woman that unknowingly holds his whole heart in her perfectly dainty, skilled, and scarred hands is the masterpiece that deserves to be studied for a millenium. She has the ability to utterly destroy him with a two letter word and give him everything he craves in a three letter one.
She’s intrigued by his question, but nevertheless, agrees readily, happy to see him break away from the wall he’s been embracing most of the evening. She twists away to offer him her hand, but instead, like a true gentleman, he takes her arm, escorting her from the great hall.
“May I ask where we are going?” She’s genuinely intrigued, likely the largest surprise she will see in her life thankfully not suspected yet.
”You’ll see when we get there.” He reassures her, pressing a kiss to her cheek while they walk there. After so many years together, he has perfected the timing of ducking his head to kiss his shorter girlfriend without disturbing his gait and therefore hers. They walk in peace for several minutes, the Defense Against the Dark Arts tower a long walk from the great hall, especially as they stop frequently to reminisce on their time here at Hogwarts.
Always the proper one, some worry about what others might think slips into Amanda’s mind. “Rumors will arise with us slipping away Seb.”
Smiling internally at the ability to predict her, he reassures her. “Trust me Love. I chose this time for our adventure due to all of our classmates having drank too much firewhisky to even notice our absence.”
His reassurance sets her at ease, her walk becoming smoother and her face relaxing. “I question if Poppy will even remember tonight come morning! She’s been stealing my drinks before I even take a sip all night. Your twin is not much better though!” She shakes her head in an incredulous manner, laughing as they continue their journey to what she assumes will be the Undercroft. But as he guides her up the stairs past the Undercroft to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom she releases any wild ideas she could have conjured, letting Sebastian surprise her with whatever he has planned.
He enters the classroom first, his extended arm inviting her into the vision he has held in his mind for most of the spring term but only created earlier today. Ominis had offered to keep her busy that morning by insisting he needed her help, and her help only, packing his personal belongings from the Room of Requirement which had been very sassy towards him lately of revealing itself. He even made sure to make an excuse for Garreth to be too busy to help him too. It must have been a convincing lie, the look on her face of pure enthusiasm and awe as she takes slow steps into the room, looking all around in surprise.
Hundreds of candles float in the air, creating a soft scene only to be illuminating the well used dueling platform in the middle of the room. While she takes in the room, he sneaks behind her, giving her a loving shove towards the platform as he walks to the other end, taking the same side he took over two years ago.
“Time for a proper Hogwarts goodbye.”
He’s never not been cocky, but that tone is straight from the overly cocky teenager that he was in his fifth year. It’s almost shocking to hear from the matured young adult he has become. Now 18, he lacks the baby fat in his face that was prominent at that time. Even noticeable in his unflattering school robes, his chest and shoulders are finely lined with muscles now, his fitness and athletic build have served him well in crossed wands and will be of great benefit when he starts his auror training. His voice is always even now, never having embarrassing cracks in it anymore.
Amanda can only laugh at the phrase, but she walks to the platform with an eagerness that encourages Sebastian, giving him the courage to start his grand plan. It’ll be a casual duel, but he has to win at the end with gentleness, love, and a lot of hope rather than magic.
“Leviosa!” He starts with, a light and easy spell
“Protego! Stupefy!” The look on her face is much more confident than it was at the start of their 5th years, when she was so unsure of herself and worried of hurting him. Now she has precise control over her magic, able to cast the delicate magic that this duel requires without worry.
They easily dodge the other’s attack, merely going through the motions.Some would describe the duel as lazy, but in reality it’s a beautiful dance with partners that complement the other. After a few back and forths, Sebastian sees the question in her eyes, curious of what he could have planned, giving him the moment to strike. It’s a modified flipendo that Professor Ronen tutored him on for weeks plus endless practice in the Undercroft with Anne, her ability to take an overpowered spell that knocked her to the ground to then immediately taunt him crucial for him to perfect it.
The dark purple spell works exactly as practiced, turning her 180 degrees while keeping her feet firmly planted on the ground instead of soaring through the air. He doesn’t have much time to kneel, the impact of his knee hitting the wooden platform would be painful if all his energy wasn’t focused on opening the damn ring box and trying to remember something from the speech he prepared and practiced in the mirror for the last month.
Slightly disoriented from the nonverbal spell, Amanda turns on her heel, ready for an actual duel, but at the sight of her boyfriend down on one knee, the sound of her wand dropping through her hands to the floor is muted while her hands reach out to him, afraid to touch him and ruin the dream she’s convinced she’s in. Even if it’s a dream she lets herself feel the rush of joy, trying to cement the photo in her mind.“Sebastian!” It’s filled with disbelief, but raw excitement too.
The elated tone nudges Sebastian into his speech, albeit mostly forgotten and coming out as a frantic rant with a large plea at the end.
“On my worst day you chose me, and I’ve chosen you everyday since. With your permission I want to choose us for the rest of my life. Hand in hand forever, you’re my love, the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with and a higher power be willing, the next life as well. Amanda, will you marry me?”
The fraction of a second before she responds crushes his heart, terrified he may have lost the most important person in his life. But the terror is quickly vanquished when she throws her arms around his neck, sending him off balance as his arms reach around her back, the ring box still open but unimportant at the time.
A tangle of limbs, Amanda scrambles to free her hands to hold his face, needing to feel the smile that will burst now that she’s found her voice.
“Yes Sebastian! Yes!”
If she was going to say anything else, his lips cut her off, every fiber of his being ecstatic at her response as they grip onto each other, making it feel real. The long kisses give him time to maneuver the ring, her engagement ring, onto the proper finger on her left hand. The weight of the gift pulls her away from his lips but further into his arms as she studies it. The smile in her eyes washes away the last of his worries, the elegant ring a perfect fit. Summoning the candles lower to them, they admire the ring together, the silver band turned out better than Sebastian could have dreamt. Laying on the band are delicate vines, each vein of the leaves clearly carved in with skilled magic. In the middle, the diamond comes across as peach colored in the candlelight, but the precise cuts and clarity of it still shine through.
Finding his wand, he fights a larger than life smile as he gently flexes her fingers upward, his wand tapping the diamond, triggering it to grow a simple silver chain from the vines, the ring now safe on a necklace. “For when you take care of your beasts and don’t want to dirty your ring.”
“Sebastian!” She exclaims again, kissing him senseless while the chain shrinks back into the ring. Looking at him, her eyes are nearly crazed, “We need to go tell the others. We get to tell them Seb!” The fit of giggles is contagious as they stand, their hands tightly entwined as they make their way off the dueling table.
Having one last trip down memory lane planned, Sebastian’s cockiness comes back in full force. “I do believe when we dueled here last, you called me Mr. Sallow.” They were so formal for that small moment of time, until he gave her his name and in a blink of an eye they are back in the present, now engaged.
Deciding to humor him, she plays along, falling right into his trap, “alright Mr. Sallow, how long have you been planning this?” She kisses his cheek, the glow of enthusiasm radiating off of him.
“Well you see, that is a story for another time future Mrs. Sallow.” Before she has a time to scoff or laugh at him, he has her in her arms, carrying her bridal style through the halls at a run. His whooping and hollering overpowering the complaints of the portraits that yell at him to pipe down.
Putting her down, the large doors to the great hall fly open with ease as they charge in, immediately being swarmed by their friends who stuff celebratory drinks into their hands after nearly smothering them in excitement. The very inebriated Poppy fawns over her ring, especially the ability to transform to rest it on a chain for safe keeping, an idea that she suggested to him. The design though, was all his idea.
Anne hugs her brother, congratulating him and stealing him away for a brief moment. He chugs the cheap firewhiskey, already feeling drunk on love but figuring the alcohol can only make the night better.
In a brief moment of seriousness, Anne squeezes her brother’s shoulder, the touch comforting. “You know mom and dad would be incredibly proud of you right?”
“I sure hope they would be.” He responds, looking over at his fiancée as she grills Ominis on his part of the scheme.
“They would be Sebastian. You found the love that they had with each other.”
Looking behind Anne now, Amit hangs back, still struggling to include himself in the larger group. “So have you Anne, don’t discredit yourself and Amit. He’s a good one” She blushes at the mention of her boyfriend who she goes to collect, insisting he join them in the celebration.
Ominis and Garreth congratulate Sebastian next, immediately offering up marriage advice with their whole 5 months of experience. He laughs with them, but they can tell his mind has already wandered back to his fiancée, the 5 minutes apart clearly much too long despite them having the rest of their lives to be together. Amanda feels the same even as she celebrates with Anne, thrilled to have a sister now.
They gravitate towards each other, their hands fitting perfectly together even with the addition of her ring. In fact, their hands feel even more complete now with the addition of it. Never separating again for the night, the Undercroft houses them one last time. The hastily transfigured and uncomfortable bed is barely noticeable as the two spend hours simply existing as an engaged couple, each delicate kiss saying ‘this is real.’ Sebastian, finally coming down from his high of his successful proposal, slips into sleep first but Amanda follows soon after finding a comfortable position that will ensure they sleep hand in hand for the night and the rest of their lives