Seeing Sebastian for the first time since the end of your sixth year at Hogwarts is quite the shock. You knew from his detailed letters that your dearest friend had spent the better part of his summer break training for Quidditch tryouts in the fall, frequently flying down to the Poidsear Coast to log hours and hours at their pitch.

Sometimes he would even bring Anne along with him when she was feeling well enough to ride on the back of his broom. He’d convince her to release a secondhand Snitch for him to track down, and while he hunted it down, she worked on the assignments your professors had set to help her prepare for her return to Hogwarts in the fall.

You knew all of this, and yet when you first see him in the Great Hall for the start-of-term feast, it leaves everyone in the vicinity gawking. The first thing you notice is that he’s taller. Even seated next to Anne at the Slytherin table, you can see his entire head whereas you can barely make out the top of his sister’s. Sebastian had never seemed that much bigger than his twin before, but things have clearly changed.

Then, you notice that his complexion has changed as well. He’s tan from spending all summer training in the sun, his button-down shirt suddenly looking so crisply white against his sun-kissed face.

Your best mate was hot.

Two weeks later, you and Anne link arms with Ominis to walk down with him to the Quidditch pitch to watch the Slytherin team tryouts. Sebastian exceeds expectations, of course, so it's no surprise when Imelda announces him as the new Seeker.

“He’s going to be insufferable now,” Ominis groans while the two of you watch from across the room. “There’s barely enough room for his ego in this friendship as it is.”

“Come now, we can keep him in check,” Anne laughs. “Especially with {{user}} here.”

There are several other girls quick to offer their congratulations as well as Anne and Ominis, but you wait for the crowd around him to thin out and for Anne to escort Ominis to get more Butterbeers before you sidle up next to Sebastian and nudge your shoulder against his.

You told him he put on quite a show, sarcastic like you'd always been with him. A friendly push and pull. But he wasn't pulling anymore. He was pushing.

“Only because you were watching," he teases. But he wasn't teasing you. Sebastian was flirting. Since the start of term, he’s been relentless with his play-flirting. Calling you “love,” or offering to carry your books for you, or even charming little notes poking fun at your peers into tiny birds that gracefully land on your desk during classes.

“Tell you what,” he says after a moment. “We should make a bet on it. It's Ravenclaw, so we'll obviously win...but I’ll bet that I can catch the Snitch in under thirty minutes. I’ll even let you be the official timekeeper, since I’ll be a bit preoccupied.”

If you won, Sebastian had to do your History of Magic assignments for the foreseeable future, A.K.A., when you finally got a handle on the bloody subject.

“Love, I would’ve done them for you anyway,” Sebastian says dismissively. “If I win, I’d like to take you to the Room of Requirement after the game,” he says, and there's no misunderstanding him. When you ask what he means, or, what you'll be doing, he doesn’t even dignify your question with a response, instead giving you a pointed look.

There are so many flights of stairs up to the Room of Requirement, it should be considered a travesty, but Sebastian won, fair and square, catching the Snitch in only twenty-three minutes, the smug bastard. Not even a damn Bludger could knock him off his broom.

After you'd waited outside the room for a total of four minutes and thirty-six seconds, the man himself came bounding up the stairs. He looked like an utter rake with that crooked smile on his lips. He was still in his uniform head to toe, his hair even messier than usual thanks to his helmet.

"Shall we?" He offers his hand, out-of-breath yet more focused than you'd ever seen him in any exam.