Touched

Shadow of an Obstacle - Seventh Year

Sebastian POV

Sebastian, Y/N and Imelda had spent the afternoon and early evening roaming the castle trying to find Ominis. It had been hours since they'd last seen him.

"Where did he go when we left this morning?" Imelda asked, her tone worrisome.

"Well I had a hold of him, because he wanted to follow you," Sebastian recalled, looking left and right when they got to the end of another corridor. "Eventually I let him go and he said he was leaving. He was angry."

"Of course he was," Imelda sighed. "I feel terrible. You don't think he's gone to the manor do you? To find him?"

"Surely not," Y/N replied, and Sebastian made a big deal of shaking his head aggressively. "He's terrified of them."

Something sunk in Imelda's posture. Perhaps in relief?

"He is," Sebastian agreed. "But maybe he had a sudden surge of confidence. Who knows?"

"They're abusers," Imelda hissed. "He wouldn't go back there. Surely."

They had just walked to the North Exit of Hogwarts and begun to look around the courtyard. The sun had almost set, and soon they'd need to go back to the dormitories to obey the curfew.

"We're running out of time," Y/N said. "We should get Rowley to keep looking."

"Don't ask him yet," Imelda said, her tone pleading. "Oh where is he? I'm worried."

"I'm sure he's fine," Sebastian tried to say, hoping that Marvolo hadn't come and bloody well found him at the castle. With him on the loose now, nothing was far fetched.

Like magic, when they'd turned to leave to find Rowley - they heard a small cough from behind them at the entrance to the castle.

There he was.

And he was in a terrible state.

His nose was bleeding so badly that it had covered his tunic and pants, his hands and arms covered in it. He already had a black eye forming, and there was a purple bruise on his cheekbone. He'd shed his jacket to catch up to them and it was lying on the ground not too far away. His skin was so pale Sebastian thought he could almost see through it. A trail of blood followed him towards them.

"Ominis!" Imelda cried, quickening her pace to get to him. "Oh my- what happened to you?"

Ominis didn't reply, just vaguely stared ahead while the blood dripped down his face. "It hasn't stopped," he said, finally, then coughed and blood spattered on the ground. "Sorry," he apologised, wiping his already soaked sleeve on his face. "It's going down my throat." He dropped his wand, and it's light dimmed. Sebastian bent to scoop it up.

When he had realised finally what was going on and clicked out of his fight or flight mode, Sebastian ripped the bottom half of the loose shirt he was wearing and forced Ominis to press it to his face. "Let's go to the hospital wing. What happened, mate? Merlin's -"

"I found Marvolo," Ominis managed. Of course he had. Imelda gasped. Sebastian had one arm around him and Imelda was on the other side as they supported him to begin the stumble to the hospital wing. He was getting increasingly pale. Y/N tried to hold the tshirt to his face as they walked but it didn't work very well.

"You went after him?" Imelda hissed. "What's wrong with you?"

"He was-" Ominis faltered for a minute, his grip loosening on Sebastian's side.

"Hold on, Ominis," Sebastian ordered him, adjusting his grip.

"He was trying to come after you," Ominis told her. "So I had to find him."