Hermione heard that Seth was at the castle's esteemed pavilion. She had hired the best exterior decorators and a highly skilled gourmet chef to prepare everything before his arrival.
The female guard she stationed at the gates came to fetch her as soon as Seth was in the palace. She bolted right away to welcome him and hopefully leave a longstanding good impression.
She walked out the doors and sighted Seth holding a new breed of roses they could cultivate both on land and underwater. She straightened her sash and approached him but from just four feet away he started acting strange.
She halted and observed from her proximity. A dark foggy miasma loomed from around him and engulfed the flower, when it dispersed the flower was nowhere in sight.
Hermione was stunned. He wasn't a phoenix, there would be smoke and he wasn't a fire bender either since there was no visible flame... could it be...
"Is that... darkness?"
