The Undercroft Gauntlet

Chapter 2: Goblet Gossip

"I'm very glad to see all of your bright, shining faces!" Professor Garlick proclaimed cheerily.

On the Friday of their first week back at school, Ominis and Talen leaned against a wooden bench within a greenhouse on the southern lawn of Hogwarts. Ominis fiddled with the fraying wood of the table while Talen fought to keep his eyes from closing and his head from drooping to his chest: the warm afternoon air laid heavy on his eyelids. Fellow seventh year students from all four houses were spread thought out the classroom around them.

"What makes this day even better," Mirabel Garlick continued, "is that I've had the absolute pleasure to watch all of you― well, save for one― grow from tiny, cute first year students into healthy and strong young adults! Most of whom now stand taller than me. As a herbologist, I ask you to try and understand how much joy this brings my heart!" Professor Garlick wiped away a small tear from her eye. She was dressed in her standard earth-tones garb and a yellow accented vest: representing her status as head of Hufflepuff House.

Talen sharply lifted his head upright, realizing his efforts to stop his head from falling downward wasn't preventing it from falling to his shoulders.

"In order to be standing here today, all of you made a very purposeful choice," Professor Garlick said, pacing through the rows of workstations and students. "Herbology is only required through your fourth year, so your efforts to pass Advanced Herbology 1 & 2 and then wind up here, in Experimental Herbology is quite a feat! I want your first impressions of this class to be one of proud self-accomplishment. When class is dismissed, you'll each leave with a homemade batch of pumpkin pasties!"

While all the Hufflepuff students applauded quietly, Talen gently nudged Ominis, "oh, I bet that got your attention."

Ominis chuckled, "as much attention as your shoes will get if you make me eat one."

As Professor Garlick continued to shower the class with admiration and explain the class syllabus, Talen's mind wandered. He first looked into the emptiness in front of him, seeing a strange color he could only describe as warm. When his eyes closed from the color's lullaby, he shook himself awake and glanced at Ominis.

Well, that's what Talen intended: to merely glance at his friend for a brief moment.

However, Talen's eyes lingered on Ominis' face, studying the curves and points of his side-profile. He watched Ominis' chest rise and fall to each breath underneath his expensive blazer. He was transfixed when Ominis' lips rubbed against each other, nothing they were slightly chapped on the corners. He got lost in Ominis' eyes― they were green beneath the milky white of his blindness. Ominis' hair was so perfectly shaped with a comb, that not a single hair was unparallel with its neighbor. The rose color in Ominis' cheeks contrasted his snowy complexion―

"What are you doing?" Ominis whispered.

Talen blinked rapidly and pulled himself back into the moment. Professor Garlick had moved onto explaining their first unit of study: cultivating Ashen Rosemoss, the smallest and most complex ingredient in Felix Felicis that made the revered potion impossible to mass produce.

"Nothing, sorry," Talen stammered. "I was just trying not to doze off." He bit his lip, annoyed that he always forgot how perceptive Ominis was by his instincts alone.

"Well, wake up, Tal," Ominis hissed, though his cheeks had notably reddened. "This is important, what she's saying. I don't want to do all of your homework this time!"

Talen nodded, "sure― right― yeah, I will."

The moment Talen turned his attention back to the professor, however, his eyes defocused again. His mind's eye was replaced with the memory of Professor Weasley, addressing the Main Hall on their first day back to school.