Risk // Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 75: Rekindling*

Warning: Smexy times ahead

"Sebastian! Can you please dress Eloise for me?" I yelled from our bathroom, trying really hard to make my hair function for me.

"Y-yeah! Sorry, I'm just trying to... do my tie..." He called back in a similar fashion.

I thought the newborn stage was hard. Both of us working with a toddler was worse. Particularly when we had to commute to London to get to the Ministry every day.

"Olive! Have you seen her shoes?" Sebastian called back.

"By the door!"

Like they always are...

"Got them! Thanks! Oh... Ellie, please get out of the kitchen... no! Don't climb onto the table!"

I rolled my eyes and resigned to the fact my hair just wasn't going to do what I wanted to today and tossed it in a low bun.

Complete. Utter. Chaos. Every morning.

But we finally pulled our shit together enough to leave the house, our eighteen-month-old in tow.

We barely made it to London through the busy floo network and split, Sebastian heading straight to the office, me heading to mums to drop of Eloise for the day.

Convincing Sebastian to let me go back to work was hard. But he knew what kind of person I was when he married me. He felt the same way I did about him going in to Auror work every day. But I didn't train for three years and sacrifice myself for the job just to not do it ever again... so I went back.

Mum greeted us with a warm smile when we arrived, scooping Eloise up in her arms. "Don't you worry, Olive. We'll have a splendid day, won't we, my little darling?" Eloise laughed in response with a small nod.

"Thank you, Mum. I'll pick her up as soon as I finish work," I said, bending down to give Eloise a quick kiss on her forehead. "Be good, Ellie, and listen to Grandma."

I arrived at the Ministry and joined my coworkers in the Auror division, where they were already deep in discussions about a recent surge in dark magic activity. As I settled into my desk and started reviewing case files, I couldn't help but feel like this was where I belonged. Sure, I was a mother. But I was also a very powerful witch and if felt wasteful to now put that to good use.

Not full of yourself at all, are you?

"Ray-uh... Sallow?"

I lifted my head and saw the red head of Leander Prewett standing over me.

My boss.

"Yes, Prewett?" I tried to smile politely.

"Sorry, it's hard adjusting to calling you that. Uh, I wanted to check in with you and see if you were going to head into Diagon Alley tonight? A bunch of us from our year at Hogwarts are heading into the Leaky Cauldron for a catch up. We do it quite often but since you and Sebastian are back, we figured we'd invite you too."

I couldn't help but feel a little surprised at Leander's invitation. Since Eloise's birth, our social life had taken a backseat to the demands of parenting and work, not that we were incredibly social before anyway. But I was also a little scared. When we left for Ilvermorny, we left quite abruptly, so facing everyone again was terrifying.

"That sounds like a great idea, Leander," I replied before I could even think of an excuse. "I'd love to catch up with everyone. It's been far too long."

What'd you do that for? You didn't even ask Sebastian, you twat!

Leander grinned back. "Fantastic! We'll be meeting at the Leaky Cauldron around 6pm tonight. It'll be like old times."