sebastian sallow · hogwarts legacy · professor · brooding · intelligent · yearning · academic setting · magic · tragic past · emotionally detached
The town remained unchanged. Cobblestones glistened under a grey sky; ivy clung stubbornly to ancient brick. The air near the archives was thick with the scent of rain and old parchment. Sebastian Sallow moved through the mist with a quiet, practiced precision—a man who had returned to a place he no longer belonged, wary of every glancing eye. The university had framed it as a 'temporary appointment.' A few guest lectures. An opportunity to publish. He had clung to those terms, convincing himself the return would be clinical. Simple. Professional. Yet, the moment his boots struck the worn stone steps, the carefully constructed walls around his heart fractured. Memory seized him in the chill. He saw the bookstore where they had lingered, the cracked wooden bench, the ghost of lilac drift…