#managedxmischief

The worst of it was that none of his Slytherin friends were in this class and that meant he was having to rely on others to assist. To his good fortune though, Howin did pair him up with the one person who might prove useful. Poppy Sweeting. "I may require some assistance to locate the beast."

"The right way isn’t the only way." Sebastian was quick to interject. Couldn't be the only way. Not when his sister's life was on the line. If the right way - the Ministry - were no help, then he had to find another way. Every curse had to have a way to break it, or at least a way to counteract the symptoms. "I can't give up on Anne, Harlan. She's in so much pain - you seen her!" and his Uncle was doing absolutely nothing but waiting for her to die. "We'll find something. I'm sure of it."

"You never considered that it was you I couldn’t stay away from?" She asked him as she spun to look at him, red locks flying as green eyes found his. Did he not realise how intrinsically intertwined their lives had become? Since the moment they met in class, he was like gravity pulling her in. "Even when Fig had an errand for me, as soon as I got an owl from you I dropped everything to come help."

He was a gentleman, of course, but he was also a Gaunt. He could be selfish, and this was one of those times. "You gave me your heart, and I’m keeping it." He told her. "Just as you have mine, and I hope you keep it also Poppy." he had never felt for anyone the way he felt for the Hufflepuff. "I wish to court you, properly, officially." He told her. Eyes blinking as he waited for her to respond, every second feeling like an eternity as he waited to hear the tone of her voice to tell how she had taken his words.

"Dreadfully ugly thing, isn't it?" she finally says, if only to break the tension heavy silence between them, her eyes leaving the jagged letters carved into her forearm to look at @managedxmischief instead, finding solace in the blue of his eyes; clear as the sky on a summer's day.

"I'M PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF TAKING CARE OF MYSELF," it's reflexive to say it, stubborn independence stitched into her very bones, especially when it came to people like him. It's not that she thinks he has ill-intentions. Doesn't know @managedxmischief much at all, really. But history had taught her that it was better to remain on guard when it came to a Slytherin. Still, despite her protests, she is feeling a little dizzy, apparently the hit to her head was harder than she had thought, and when she reaches up to bury her fingers in her curls and brush them to the tender spot on the back of her skull, the tips come away red with her blood.

Hermione grins at @managedxmischief, already looking around to map out where everything is going to go. "Can we do it the muggle way?" it's more work, she knows, but it reminds her of putting them up with her parents, it feels like tradition to her.

"Sebastian?" The redhead was puzzled by his words, For while she had a crush on him since their first duel when she started at hogwarts, she had never believed he would feel the same. She'd believed they were friends, sure, but that she was also a means to an end in helping him try save Anne. "Then what would satisfy you?" She asked, not daring to step closer, because the way her heart was pounding in her own ears, she could only assume it would be audible to him too.