Kaviary

Adeline already regretted agreeing to Garreth’s plan. Professor Sharp had, for all intents and purposes, banned Garreth from being in the potions classroom outside of his required working hours and without the professor’s eagle eyed supervision.

Earlier that day in the library, the redhead had boasted about a new potion he had come up with - without a cauldron. Naturally, Adeline called him on it. The pair had bickered back and forth in potions since she first started Hogwarts in her fifth year.

“You can’t possibly create a potion without ever brewing it, Weasley! It’s like saying you invented a spell without casting it. Without proof, all you have is an idea.”

“Not true. I’ve done all the research on the ingredients and their interactions. I can confidently say I can brew it first try without any issues. No explosions, foul smells, or anything that would draw Sharp’s attention.” He puffed out his chest as he elaborated on his previous statement.

There always needed to be a winner between Garreth and Adeline, so when she challenged him to put his galleons where his mouth was, he took her up on the dare. After hatching a plan, much to the chagrin of the other students trying to study at their table, the two shook on it. They were to meet at the potions storeroom after curfew; it was a trek for the both of them, but the Ravenclaw was used to sneaking around the castle at night. Instead of retiring to Ravenclaw Tower, she snuck out to the greenhouses so it would be a shorter trip once she was sure the professors had retired for the evening. It was also going to be really good for her ego if she beat Garreth to the meeting spot for his own plan.

Disappointment wasn’t a strong enough word for how she felt when she made it to the hallway and already saw the storeroom door open. She peeked around after disillusioning herself to ensure it wasn’t Sharp, and she was greeted by the sight of unruly red hair.

She didn’t say anything until she started looking at the ingredients he had grabbed. They looked familiar and it was going to drive her mad if she couldn’t figure it out. It finally hit her when she saw the boomslang skin.

“You cheater!” She whisper-shouted at him, not wanting to be loud and draw the attention of an errant prefect, or worse, Peeves. “What are you going to do? Speed brew polyjuice?”

The Gryffindor let out an indignant scoff as he turned his head to look at her. His expression was all arrogance and there was a smug grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

“No. It's a derivative of polyjuice, yes. However, I’ve been doing some calculations and with these adjustments, two people should be able to swap places with each other.”

Adeline made herself comfortable as she sat on the edge of a neighboring brewing station. She didn’t offer to help Garreth, and he wouldn’t ask for her help either. He had been so confident about this brew he had created, he wanted to be the only one to work on it and Addie could respect that. As much as they bumped heads and tried to outdo each other, they didn’t steal each other’s moments.

After what had to have been a few hours, Garreth finally called Adeline to the cauldron.

“Now, to ensure the swap will work, the potion needs a piece of each participant.”

“Like polyjuice needs part of the person you want to turn into,” Adeline commented with a nod.

She winced slightly as she plucked a few hairs from her own head and dropped them into the cauldron. Garreth seemed to stop and think for a moment before simply leaning over and spitting into the brew.

He filled two vials and handed one to Adeline, and this was when he saw the disgust and horror broadcasted on her face.

“It’ll be fine,” Garreth scoffed as he all but shoved the vial into the Ravenclaw’s hand.

Famous last words.

The pair swallowed down the mysterious potion, the sound of their distaste of the bitter brew bounced off the stone walls of the classroom. They waited half an hour for something – anything – to happen. 

Time crawled as the students sat on the floor with their eyes trained on the clock above Sharp’s desk. Every few minutes, she felt the weight of Garreth’s stare; his determination and desperation made the air thick. The classroom was silent aside from the sound of their measured breaths. The last time Adeline could remember carrying this much tension, she had been brewing Draught of Living Death. Somehow, just waiting for Garreth’s brew to take effect was worse.

“It’s getting late, Garreth. If we stay out much later, it’ll be harder to sneak back to our dorms.”

Adeline took a bit of pity on the Gryffindor, her tone gentle. 

As much as he didn’t want to admit defeat, Garreth nodded anyway. He was silent in the face of his failure; the resilience he usually carried was absent, and so was the mischievous sparkle in his eye.

There were no smug or snarky comments as they went their separate ways. Even though she hadn’t voiced it, Addie had wanted it to work too. And so, the duo dejectedly snuck through the halls back to their respective common rooms.

~~~

It was bright when Adeline woke up, which wasn’t strange. She was usually up with the sunrise to get a proper start to her day. What was strange was that her pillow was too soft beneath her head, the blankets too thick, she was too hot, and the voices bouncing off the dorm walls were masculine.

She shot up in bed, eyes wild as she looked around. Everything was red.

This wasn’t her dorm.

“Garreth, mate, you alright?” Leander Prewett called out, realizing their final roommate had awoken. “How’d the sneaky brewing go with Addie last night?”

Don’t panic. They don’t know. Play it cool and they’ll still think you’re Garreth. You can do this.

“It went fine.” It was strange hearing Garreth’s voice when she was the one speaking. “The potion didn’t work. I’m going to have to work on the ratios of the ingredients. So I uh – I have to go…”

Leander and Eric Northcott stared as their friend and housemate booked it from their dorm still clad in his pajamas. Their gazes briefly met before they turned back to the door in almost perfect unison.

“What’s gotten into him?”

She heard them question her behavior as she left, but she had to find Garreth. The real Garreth in her body, so… herself? The rationale was too much for her sleep-addled, panicked brain to process as she made her way down the stairs from the Gryffindor common room.

~~~

Garreth laid in bed with his eyes still closed, feeling decently well rested considering how late he and Adeline had been up to brew his failure of a potion. It had been such a disappointment, to sneak back up to Gryffindor Tower having made himself look dumb in front of Adeline. There was a part of him that wanted to hide in his dorm all day to avoid the shame and defeat bubbling in his chest.

His internal debate ended when he felt a hand gently shake his shoulder. It was a rather small hand, too small to be Leander or Eric. 

“Addie, if you don’t wake up, you’ll be late for breakfast.”

Garreth’s eyes shot open, and he was greeted by the sight of Samantha Dale standing over him.

Samantha Dale?

Oh.

Oh.

“Uhm. Thanks, Samantha,” he spoke and Adeline’s voice came out.

He waited until the dorm was completely empty before rising from bed. He knew the looks he’d draw if he went to breakfast as Adeline in pajamas, and as he compared the two options, he decided on the latter. With his eyes locked on the rather bland wooden ceiling of the Ravenclaw seventh year’s girls dorm, he managed to get dressed in a uniform. Once fully clothed, he allowed himself to look in a mirror, and straighten his tie.

He had to find Adeline. It was his sole objective as he made his way down from Ravenclaw Tower.

~~~

The Great Hall was usually lively in the mornings, and this morning was no different. At least it wasn’t until Garreth Weasley entered in his pajamas. A hush fell over the room, but it was quickly filled again with whispers as students across houses began to talk about the Gryffindor wild child.

Adeline didn’t notice her mistake until she saw Professor Weasley stalking towards her down the aisle between tables. Merlin, she had never seen the older woman so angry in her two years at this school. She let out a gasp as her favorite professor grabbed her by the ear and pulled her towards the back corridor of the room.

“Garreth Frederick Weasley, what in Merlin’s name made you think it was acceptable for you to come to breakfast in your pajamas? You are a seventh year! I know your parents taught you to dress yourself. You’ve dressed yourself every day when you’ve been at this school. Why is today different?”

Professor Weasley’s scolding was hushed but that didn’t make it any less jarring and terrifying. In fact, the lack of attention she was drawing while she tore into who she thought was her nephew was the scariest part.

Adeline looked down at herself in the middle of Professor Weasley’s lecture, and she felt her cheeks heat in embarrassment. She had been so preoccupied with getting out of the boys’ dorms that she had forgotten to put on presentable clothing.

“Professor I can explain–”

“Adeline!”

Her plea was cut off by her own voice and she snapped her head over to see Garreth in her body. In a uniform. There was a small solace in seeing the panic she felt mirrored in his expression.

Had she not been so thrown off by how the morning had gone as a whole, she would’ve interrogated Garreth to figure out just how he had managed to dress her body before coming to the Great Hall.

“Aunt Matilda, I can explain–”

“Miss Redferne, while I can appreciate the relationship we’ve developed over your years here, I hardly think it’s appropriate that you call me that. I’m not your aunt, and while you’re a student, you will call me Professor Weasley.” The woman chided her nephew, though she had at least released Adeline when he had appeared.

“I’m not Adeline! That’s Adeline. I’m Garreth.”

The professor looked between the two a few times, appearing on the verge of having an aneurism. The woman huffed a few times, and her mouth opened and closed without a word as she tried to wrap her head around what was going on in front of her.

Adeline Redferne, Hero of Hogwarts, was claiming to be her nephew.

Garreth Weasley, her nephew that she had known since his birth, was claiming to be Adeline.

“How in Godric, Salazar, Rowena, and Helga’s name did you two manage to pull this off?” Her tone was still lethally quiet when she regained the power of speech as she looked between the two in front of her.

“It was my idea, Aunt Matilda. I had been doing some research and I thought I had figured out a way to make a potion where two people could swap places if they both drank it.” He explained the situation as he began to pace in the corridor. “There’s a chance we were out past curfew to brew it, but I won’t confirm that. It didn’t work when we drank it, and then I woke up in Adeline’s body this morning, and as you can see by the state of my body she woke up in mine.”

He took a moment from his explanation to look over at his friend with a smile meant to appease her.

“I got dressed staring at the ceiling. I swear I’ve kept my eyes to myself.”

Her shoulders slumped with relief, and the blush returned to her cheeks. Before she could open her mouth to explain that she hadn’t intentionally left his dorm in his pajamas, he continued speaking to his aunt.

“I was hoping this would kick in and wear off faster than it presently has. I don’t know how long we’re going to be stuck like this. It’s a derivative of polyjuice, all the same ingredients, so it should only last up to twelve hours. The problem is we don’t know how long it took between drinking the potion and switching bodies.”

Matilda Weasley watched as her nephew in her favorite student’s body paced and explained. While she couldn’t admit it out loud, she was rather impressed with how maturely the boy was handling this. Unfortunately, it had been quite a while since she studied anything related to potions this complicated. With a sigh, she transfigured the clothes Adeline was wearing into a Gryffindor uniform and looked between the two once more.

“You will return to your tables, you’ll sit and have breakfast, and then we’ll go talk to Professor Sharp. I’m sure he’ll be able to help fix this. At the very least, perhaps he’ll be able to provide some insight.”

The pair stood in front of her and nodded, one more relieved than the other at the idea of involving the potions professor.

“Oh, Adeline dear. I’m sorry. Is your ear alright? I wouldn’t have grabbed you like that if I had known it was you in there.”

The head of Gryffindor house began to fuss, now that she knew who was currently residing in her nephew’s body.

Garreth couldn’t hide the indignation on his face as he watched it.

“What? Now that you know that’s not me, suddenly you’re sorry for pulling my body by my ear? Honestly, Aunt Matilda. I’m nearly an adult, you can’t pull my ear like that anymore.”

“The only reason I’m not pulling you by your ear now is because I don’t want it to still hurt when you two end up in the right body again.”

The older woman smiled tersely at her nephew before shooing the pair off. They all returned to where they were expected to sit to attempt to enjoy their breakfast before they worked to fix the potion mishap.

~~~

The two attempted potions prodigies stood in front of Aesop Sharp, tails tucked between their legs, while he lectured them on their behavior the night before.

Adeline’s eyes were focused on his desk, an attempt to avoid eye contact. It wasn’t the first time she had gotten on his bad side, and she was sure it wouldn’t be the last; even with only a few months left of her schooling at Hogwarts.

She spared a glance over at Garreth who was looking the professor in the eyes, occasionally nodding as the older man spoke.

Unfortunately for the both of them, the professor didn’t have any suggestions other than waiting it out, as that was how polyjuice wore off.

For the second time in just as many days, the pair left the potions classroom feeling dejected. Due to the experimental nature of the potion they had consumed, it was recommended that they waited for the effects to wear off in the hospital wing. This way, in case there were any adverse effects, they would already be in Nurse Blainey’s care. They were given cots beside each other, but the hospital wing remained as silent as it was when they had arrived.

“What if we both take a nap?” Adeline suggested after staring at the ceiling for what had felt like hours.

Her head turned to look at her own body laying in the cot beside her, meeting her own blue eyes.

“That seemed to be the trigger last night. We went to sleep and woke up as each other. Maybe, if we go back to sleep, we’ll wake up in the right body again,” she continued, her eyes growing wider as she continued to rationalize it.

“Sleep can’t hurt anything. The only problem is I’m not tired, and if I lay here trying to sleep then I’ll feel too pressured to sleep.”

Garreth paused, his head tilted to the side as he tried to recall the lesson on polyjuice in their Advanced Potion Making textbook. If there were any adverse reactions, it would be listed in there. Since he had been the only levelheaded one when they first woke up, they only had Adeline’s bag with them. However, since the two were in the same potions class, it didn’t matter whose textbook he looked at. 

He dug into her bag, pulling out the familiar tome and swiftly flipping through the pages until he found the section he needed. Eagerly, his finger traced along the words on the page. He was looking for a specific word to clue him in, and when he found it a sound of excitement left his lips.

“We can have dreamless sleep!”

He leapt from the bed and his feet clapped against the floor as he hurried to Nurse Blainey’s quarters.

His raised voice had already drawn the woman’s attention and she opened her door before he had a chance to knock. After explaining their theory and subsequent findings, the nurse agreed to give them each a dose of dreamless sleep to test it.

The last thing Adeline remembered before the potion lured her to unconsciousness was Garreth telling her to have sweet dreams. Fortunately for him, she was too far gone to call him a moron.

~~~

The light was warm and golden when Adeline finally opened her eyes again. Her stomach rumbled, and she could only assume they had slept the entire afternoon away. She stared at the wooden, cathedralesque ceiling as she gathered the courage to look around and confirm whether or not the sleep theory had been correct.

She spent five minutes internally building herself up before she turned her head to the right.

The bed was empty.

With a gasp, she shot up in the cot and looked around the room. Her answer was on the bed to her left.

Lying peacefully in his own body was Garreth Weasley. His messy red hair spread on the pillowcase like scattered autumn leaves. She watched his chest rise and fall and there was a small smile on her lips. It was the quietest he had ever been in the two years she had known him.

Her train of thought was derailed when the large doors to the hospital wing opened. When she looked up, her eyes landed on both Professor Weasley and Professor Sharp. The former was carrying food which caused her stomach to once again voice its frustration with only getting breakfast that morning.

“Which one are you?” The potions professor’s low voice bounced off the walls.

”I’m myself. Adeline.” She answered him with a relieved smile before she turned her gaze to the other woman. “Please tell me that’s dinner. I’m so hungry I could eat a graphorn.”

The older woman chuckled as she handed the Ravenclaw a full plate. Her gaze shifted to her nephew, affectionate as she watched him breathe.

“That child could sleep through a stampede of them,” she murmured affectionately.

She gently leaned down and shook his shoulder, holding the plate close to his face, to attempt to lure him into the land of the living.

The redhead awoke with a soft grumble, but his drowsiness was short lived. He slowly sat and rubbed at his eyes, not yet taking the plate from his aunt. As he took in his surroundings, he realized he saw Adeline. In the blink of an eye, he leapt to his feet and wrapped his friend in a tight hug.

“Oh Godric I’m so glad it worked,” he breathed, low enough that Adeline was the only one who heard him.

The moment came to an abrupt halt when they heard Professor Sharp clearing his throat. Just as swiftly as he had picked her up, Garreth set Adeline down. The two students turned to face both professors, now with the decency to look sheepish about their actions the night before.

“Mister Weasley, I have already forbidden you from using the potions classroom for your extra curricular activities. You aren’t supposed to set foot in there unless it is your scheduled class time, or I’m there to supervise your after hours assignment work.”

The former auror’s gaze moved from his problem student to the Ravenclaw that he really should have considered to be an accomplice much sooner than now.

“And now, Miss Redferne, you’ll be subjected to the same restrictions. I don’t want either of you to set foot in my classroom unless I can keep an eye on you. Furthermore, you’ll both be getting detention for this stunt. I have quite a few cauldrons that need to be cleaned, and if you run out of those, I have no issues if any other professor needs assistance.”

The pair apologized and confirmed they understood in unison. Thankfully, Professor Weasley didn’t have much to say about the situation before sending them on their way to their dorms for the evening.

They were silent until they made it to the landing of the staircase that led to the hospital wing. Garreth knew he needed to apologize for dragging her into his mess. It was something that could’ve been avoided if he hadn’t been so stubborn.

“I’m sorry that you also got booted from potions after hours, Addie. I genuinely thought this was going to turn out differently.”

The genuine tone of his voice made her chest feel funny. It was close to how it had felt when she realized that they had returned to their own bodies; when she had laid eyes on Garreth, asleep in his cot, and knew she was looking at him. She didn’t even hesitate to offer a solution to their now shared problem.

Sebastian was no stranger to her peculiar brand of problem-solving, particularly when it came to anything involving magical creatures. She had always been a bit feral about it, treating beasts with the same no-nonsense practicality she approached people with. They either trusted her, or they learned to.

Which was why he wasn’t entirely surprised to find her in the middle of a Mooncalf clearing just before dawn, crouched low, mimicking their movements with an alarming degree of commitment.

What did surprise him, however, was why she was doing it.

He leaned against a nearby tree, watching as she shuffled sideways in a slow, deliberate step, head tilting in uncanny sync with the herd.

He cleared his throat. "Dare I ask?"

Not taking her eyes off the Mooncalves, she raised a hand in a clear signal for silence. Sebastian did not obey and arched a brow, amused.

"Ah…" He said, nodding sagely. "A deeply sensitive diplomatic mission, then?"

Still, she said nothing.

The Mooncalves blinked their large, glassy eyes at her, one giving a slow, hesitant turn in her direction. Sebastian, ever patient, waited.

Finally, she exhaled slowly, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. "I need their dung."

There was a long pause.

Sebastian blinked. "I - I beg your pardon?"

She straightened slightly, still keeping her movements ginger.

"Poppy told me that fresh Mooncalf dung, when collected before sunrise, is one of the best natural enhancers for magical plant growth." She explained, as if she were discussing something perfectly ordinary. "If I can get them comfortable with me, I can collect enough to keep my plants thriving for months - and thus, my Herbology grade will be the best this school has ever seen."

Sebastian stared at her.

Then at the Mooncalves.

Then back at her.

"So let me get this straight." He said slowly. "You are currently waking up at an ungodly hour, moving like some sort of demented herbologist ghoul, all in an attempt to… fertilize your potting table?"

She gave him a pointed look.

"Yes, Sebastian." She said dryly. "I’m infiltrating their ranks so I can steal their poop."

Sebastian pressed a fist against his mouth, shaking with barely-contained laughter.

She scowled. "Don’t laugh."

Sebastian, still fighting the losing battle against his amusement, grinned at her.

"I would never." He said, voice betraying him. "It's brilliant. Really."

Returning her attention to the herd, she did her utmost to ignore his barely restrained cackling. Sebastian watched, thoroughly entertained, as she mirrored their subtle movements.

A moment of silence passed.

Then, one of the Mooncalves took a hesitant step toward her.

Sebastian lifted his brows. "Well, I’ll be damned. You might actually pull this off."

"I always pull things off, Saebastian." She murmured, pleased.

Sebastian, watching her with something both deeply amused and oddly admiring, hummed in agreement.

"Astonishing." He murmured, voice low and teasing. "You truly are a woman of many talents."

She side-eyed him. "You’re thinking about something inappropriate, aren’t you?"

Sebastian grinned.

"Always."

Sebastian had spent the better part of their companionship watching this bizarre little witch throw herself into various absurdities with the same level of commitment one might expect from a particularly determined dog. He’d known her to bow down to a charging Graphorn, coax Bowtruckles out of trees with ease, and once successfully negotiate with a particularly moody Diricawl to retrieve her missing sock.

Still, this - watching her stalk, study, and attempt to fully assimilate into a herd of Mooncalves - was new.

And, frankly, he was enjoying every second of it.

Standing at a comfortable distance from the clearing, arms crossed over his chest, Sebastian watched in bemused fascination as she moved with care, mirroring the herd with ludicrous precision. She was hunched ever so slightly, shoulders loose, head tilted at the exact same angle as the nearest Mooncalf, her steps measured and slow.

To his utter amazement, it was working.

The Mooncalves, typically skittish around newcomers, weren’t bolting. One of them had even inched forward, staring at her with its wide-eyed gaze.

Sebastian had half a mind to stay quiet and let her have this victory - but that simply wasn’t who he was.

“Not bad.” He mused, keeping his voice just above a whisper. “It’s almost like you belong.”

“I do belong.” She replied, determined, her gaze never leaving the Mooncalves. “And I will prove it.”

Sebastian bit back a grin, thoroughly entertained. “By gaining their trust?”

“Yes.”

“And once you have it?”

In the same grave, serious tone, she said, “I will steal their dung.”

Sebastian stared at her. For all her strange and wonderful ways, the little freak never ceased to surprise him. The silence stretched on, then, despite himself, he laughed out loud.

She turned her head just enough to glare daggers at him, but the damage was already done.

A single Mooncalf - the nearest one, the one she had been painstakingly earning the trust of for the last hour - let out a startled noise. Then another. And then, as if a silent alarm had been tripped, the entire herd was suddenly in motion, scattering in every possible direction.

Sebastian winced.

The clearing was silent once more, save for the distant sounds of Mooncalves disappearing into the woods. Sebastian scrubbed a hand down his face.

“Right…” He muttered, glancing at the now-empty clearing with some measure of guilt. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”

“You did that on purpose!”

Sebastian held up his hands in mock innocence, biting back a smirk in the face of all her homicidal fury. “I didn’t say anything to them, love. If anything, you should blame their delicate sensibilities.”

Sebastian was enjoying this far too much. He reached forward, brushing his fingers through her hair before plucking a single stray leaf from her tangled mess. In response, she batted his hand away with an annoyed huff, swiping the leaf from his fingers and stuffing it into his now-sputtering mouth. “Don’t test me, Sallow.”

Despite the setback he had caused, he could see it in her eyes - the determination, the quiet planning already forming in her head.

She wasn’t going to let this go.

And frankly?

He couldn’t wait to watch her try again.

-

Sebastian wasn’t sure when, exactly, he had developed such an intense interest in her unhinged agricultural ambitions. It started as pure amusement. Something to tease her about. A way to poke at her sanity when she inevitably took things a step too far.

But then she had gone and made progress without him. And now, he found himself in the deeply unsettling position of being genuinely intrigued.

Which was why, when she offhandedly mentioned at breakfast that she had gone back to the Mooncalves on her own and was "making excellent progress now that certain nuisances weren’t scaring them off,” he had very nearly spilled tea all over his lap.

A nuisance?

Sebastian set his fork down a little too forcefully. "Pardon?"

Calm as anything, she took a bite of toast and didn’t so much as look at him. "You heard me."

“Oh, I herd you.” Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "You went without me?"

She merely shrugged. "You were a liability."

Sebastian let out a deeply offended scoff. "I am an asset."

Unconcerned, she took another bite of toast.

Sebastian leaned in. "So? How much progress are we talking?"

She chewed slowly, deliberately.

Sebastian waited.

Then, she lifted her goblet and took a sip of pumpkin juice, drinking for an eternity as she watched him squirm.

Sebastian said her name once in low warning.

She set her goblet down, dabbing at her lips with her napkin before finally meeting his gaze.

And then, without even a flicker of hesitation, she said, "Classified information."

Sebastian stared at her, scandalized. "Excuse me?"

"My herd relations are delicate. I can’t have you interfering again."

Sebastian was positively indignant. "Interfering? I was observing!"

She offered him a knowing look.

Sebastian huffed. "You’re saying you’ve got privileged Mooncalf knowledge now?"

"That’s exactly what I’m saying."

Sebastian sat back, crossing his arms. "You know, I’m starting to think you’re making all of this up just to mess with me."

"Believe whatever you like." She replied smugly, going back to her breakfast as he narrowed his eyes.

And Sebastian, for the first time since this ridiculous endeavor had begun, realized that he was actually going to have to put in some effort if he wanted to keep up. If she wasn’t going to let him in on whatever absurd plan she was cooking up next, well…

He’d just have to find out for himself.

-

Sebastian had embarked on many questionable endeavors in his life.

He had dug through catacombs. He had dabbled in dark magic. He had willingly partnered with Garreth Weasley on an experimental focus potion once, which, in hindsight, might have been the most dangerous decision of them all.

But stalking his own girlfriend into the woods to uncover her deeply classified Mooncalf research?

This was a new low.

To make matters worse, it was not going well.

He had been trailing after her for the better part of an hour, attempting to track her movements through the forest, except he was not rugged, nor particularly adept at tracking, nor remotely accustomed to the sheer number of branches that seemed personally determined to slap him in the face.

Still, he pressed on.

Because he had a goal.

Because she had been so infuriatingly smug at breakfast, and there was no possible way he could let her get away with keeping this absurdity to herself. And because, somewhere along the way, he had apparently developed a deep, inexplicable investment in this increasingly ridiculous operation.

He finally spotted the clearing up ahead.

Slowing his steps and moving with careful, quiet precision (which was difficult, given that he had already tripped twice in the dark).

And then, he saw her.

And every single thought in his head came to a screeching halt.

She was asleep.

In the middle of the clearing.

Surrounded by a herd of unbothered Mooncalves.

Nestled right in their midst, as though she had always belonged there.

Sebastian stared, dumbfounded, because he had come fully prepared to find her in the middle of some outrageous new attempt at integration. Maybe feeding them by hand, whispering animal noises to them, or trying to mimic their dance.

He had not, for even a second, anticipated this. The sight of her, curled up amidst the herd, soft and peaceful, was obnoxiously adorable.

This was not at all what he signed up for. He had come to investigate - to uncover the truth. Not to have his heart practically ripped from his chest by the image of his insane, lovely girlfriend sleeping among Mooncalves like some kind of woodland princess.

Still, he had to do something. He couldn’t just leave her there, after all.

With a sigh of deep, dramatic suffering, he stepped forward, carefully weaving his way between the sleepy herd. A few of the Mooncalves looked up at him, unimpressed.

Sebastian pressed a finger to his lips, trying to telepathically convey that, ‘I am not here to disrupt your cult. I am merely here to retrieve your most dedicated follower.’

Then, carefully, he knelt beside said cult follower. For a moment, he just looked at her. She was breathing evenly, curled against the soft flank of one of the Mooncalves, her fingers grasping its fur. Sebastian felt something in his chest twist, because she had no idea how much of a menace she was.

No idea what she did to him.

Shaking his head at her complete lack of self-preservation, he leaned down and murmured, “Darling, much as I’m sure you’re enjoying your grand ascension into Mooncalf royalty, it’s time to wake up.”

She let out a sleepy mumble, shifting slightly but otherwise remaining blissfully unconscious.

Sebastian sighed.

Right, then.

Plan B.

He nudged aside one of her moonkin with an insistent foot and slid his arms beneath her, lifting her carefully as he could. She was warm. Soft. Ridiculously trusting in her sleep. She murmured something unintelligible again, her head tilting naturally against his chest.

Sebastian - who was not weak, who was not sentimental, who was absolutely not prone to heart-stopping fondness - felt himself go completely, helplessly undone.

Merlin, he was doomed.

With a grunt, he adjusted his hold on her and turned back toward the castle. The walk was longer than it should have been. Not because she was heavy - she wasn’t. And not because he was struggling with the logistics of carrying a fully grown witch and her bag of fresh dung through the forest.

But because he didn’t particularly want to put her down.

Still, by the time he made it back to his dormitory, she had begun to stir. Gently, he eased her onto his bed, tucking the blankets around her. She stirred softly and blinked up at him in confusion.

Sebastian smirked, brushing a bit of stray hair from her face. “Morning, Mooncalf.”

She made a vague whimper of discontent, rubbing at her eyes. “Sebastian?”

“The one and only.”

She blinked again, frowning slightly as she took in her surroundings. “…This is your dormitory.”

Sebastian grinned. “That it is.”

She was quiet for a moment. Then, her brows furrowed slightly.

“I was with the herd, though.” She mumbled.

Sebastian chuckled. “And now you’re with me.”

Then, in a sleepy, groggy voice that should absolutely not have made his heart melt the way it did, she muttered, “You smell nice.”

“Funny,” He mused. “I was just about to say the opposite of you.”

She made a half-hearted attempt to swat at him, but her arm barely lifted before she gave up and just burrowed further into his blankets.

Sebastian, who had fully planned to gloat, tease, and remind her of exactly who had carried her all the way back to the castle, instead found himself tugging off his boots and climbing in beside her. She was already halfway asleep again when he tucked an arm around her waist, pulling her in against him.

Sebastian shook his head fondly and kissed the top of her head - despite it smelling of livestock.

“This is it, isn’t it? I’ve lost you to the herd.”

She yawned and offered a sleepy, “You can always join us - I'll introduce you next time…”