Someone Beside Me [OS&BM1] - Ominis Gaunt x Reader

Chapter 1

You finally see him again in Hogsmead, in the alleyway behind The Three Broomsticks. A sigh of relief passes between your lips; it's the faintest sound, barely audible over the cheery one-man-orchestra a few roads down. But of course he notices. He always does, doesn't he. Nothing ever gets past him, as you unfortunately had to find out first-hand just last week. An uncomfortable feeling of dread runs down your spine. Dozens of prickly little spider legs crawling across your back, preparing you for your impending doom. Rejection. Loss. Loneliness. None of which you were a stranger to. But this time it was going to hurt more than others. Much, much more. You swallow, making the spiders on your back scurry off into whichever dark, unexplored part of your mind they had come from and focus on the boy standing in front of you.

Let me explain. Please. Tomorrow, just before the horn stops blowing, at the place where wood does not mix well with Butterbeer.

You notice he's holding the note you had written him with an unsteady hand the day prior in his balled fist, while his wand was pointed directly at you, the faint red light it emitted being the only real source of light between the two of you. The spot you had picked for your meeting was one that frequently caused drunken patrons to fall and get a free trip to St. Mungo's, hence your choice of words in the note. But it was secluded, both of you standing near the stone archway just down from the first set of wooden steps, nothing but the eccentric exterior of the shops and trees stripped naked of their greenery during the harsh winter cold surrounding you.

"Ominis", you start, and immediately get cut off by a sharp "Don't."

"Don't.", he repeats through gritted teeth and gives you a look so cold you almost believe that he can actually see you. Furrowing his brows, he lowers his wand and turns to the side, away from you. It was the smallest of actions, but it still hurt. He was yet again putting more distance between the two of you, making the tiny spiders with their prickly legs scratch against the back of your skull, your throat, waiting to crawl all over you and have that feeling of dread consume you.

"I'm sorry", you try again, if only to use it as a lifeline out of the mist of anxiety and doubt his reaction has made you become engulfed in.

Silence. For the first time, you felt like you were the blind one. Stepping through unchartered territory, a lot at stake but little to secure yourself with. An act of balancing both the harsh truth and the well meaning intentions.

"I'm sorry for what transpired. I'm sorry for having hurt you, I-"

"Hurt me? Hurt me?" He swirls around to face you again and the frown on his face looks almost disgusted. "You betrayed me. Went behind my back, lied to me, took me for a fool. Both of you!" His voice was laced with anger and disbelief. Most of all though.. Most of all he sounded hurt. And it broke your heart. "Do you have any idea what you have done? What you have unleashed by taking the relic with you?" A pause. "Or do you simply not care?"

"Of course I care!", you exclaim a bit louder than you meant to. "Ominis", now quieter, "of course I care. About all three of you. Which is why I did what I did."

And it was true. You cared. So much. Too much, Mrs. Weasley would probably say. Would anyone say.. But you couldn't help it. Seeing Sebastian in such pain, such torment at his own helplessness when all he wanted was to help his sister; seeing Anne deteriorate so significantly in such a short amount of time; it ate at you. You just wanted to help him. Help them both. You knew that what Sebastian was doing wasn't right and that he was acting out of pure desperation. But you also couldn't just stand idly by while he was destroying himself and possibly the people around him, all for a seemingly futile goal with dire consequences.

"I thought that by being there and helping him, I could make him see reason. Or at least keep him from doing something even more reckless." Ominis opens his mouth, probably to tell you how naive and stupid that thought had been, but you push onwards, not giving him time to talk himself into a rage again. "I know that what we did- what I did was wrong. But I can also see where he is coming from. He is desperate, Ominis. I was afraid he would lose himself in that desperation had I let him go on his own."