Opal Eyes: Ominis Gaunt

Don't Let Go

"Honestly, Poppy. Those boys are on thin ice... truanting Beasts class again." Evelyn gestured widely. "I bet they'll get a right kick out of it, too, when they hear I was mucking out the mooncalves, in the pissing rain, with no help!"

She flicked a sopping lock of hair away from her eyes. Meanwhile, droplets chased each other down the back of her neck and seeped into the now greying collar of her uniform. She tousled more dripping tresses, forming tiny puddles that pooled around her feet, onto the marble stairwell.

"Almost no help," Poppy Sweeting corrected and wrung out her own soaking hair.

"Yes, sorry," Evelyn offered a warm glance to the soggy, sweet girl that walked beside her. "Thank you, by the way. I owe you a butterbeer."

"Indeed, you do." She playfully bumped Evelyn's side with her own before linking an arm with her.

"But mark my words, Pops... if I see hind or hair of either of those two while I'm here looking like a drowned rat... heads will roll."

As fate would have had it, the girls' ears soon pricked to the frustrated mutterings of one Ominis Gaunt.

"Confounded creature! Blast that insufferable poltergeist!"

He was flumped on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, forearms resting on his knees as he hunched over. He ran a hand through his dirty-blonde hair to tame its unusually dishevelled appearance.

Evelyn, leaving Poppy, pivoted on her heels towards the rather irritable looking boy that sat on the ground, her wet shoes squelching under each stride. They made Ominis tilt his head in her direction.

"Ominis?" Evelyn questioned.

"Oh. Hello, Effy." A wince. He shifted uncomfortably where he slumped, ears pink and hot.

"You'd better have a good explanation why you weren't in class today, Mr Gaunt." The girl bent at the knees, palms resting on her thighs as she crouched level with him. "Why are you on the floor, anyway? That marble must be incredibly painful for your poor bottom!" Her teasing expression soon disapparated though, recognising the genuine distress etched over his features. "Is everything alright?"

"As embarassing as this is for me," Ominis began, his eyebrows pinching lightly into a frown. "I believe I am a bit stuck."

He held out both of his hands which were notably empty.

A pang of realisation fluttered in Evelyn's chest and the ghost of a gasp pulled out her lungs.

"Ominis... your wand."

"Yes, quite."

"Have you lost it?"

"I suppose I have, in a way." He groaned like a child when he felt her cool fingers encase themselves around his wrists, tugging his arms and hoisting him to his feet. "Peeves stole it while I was dozing in the library and outright refused to tell me where he'd hidden it."

"Where is Sebastian? Surely he hasn't left you alone at a time like this?"

"No, no. Of course not. He's currently around the castle, somewhere... searching for my wand."

Finally upright, Evelyn was once again reminded of how tall Ominis had actually grown - a boy no more, his frame was starting to fill out into manhood. Strong, but lean. There, he loomed an entire head over her, messy, straw-coloured hair falling over his beautiful opal eyes. Daring to reach up, she carefully swept the strands away and though he felt utterly, disgustingly humiliated by the whole ordeal, he didn't seem to mind that.

"Well that's good of him." She clasped both hands over her friend's much bigger ones, barely enveloping them in a tiny, tender embrace held between their two bodies. "Come on, let's get you to the common room."

The girl pulled away, leaving him cold from the absence of her closeness, but her clutch on his hand remained.

However, he wasn't able to help flinching a little under the iciness of her touch - damp from the drizzly, Scottish climes.

"Effy darling, you're positively freezing." And yet, he didn't let go. "Why are you all wet?"

Evelyn considered how to respond for a moment.

"It isn't important." She started to remove her hand from his, apologetic for its temperature, but he only tightened his grip, nearly embedding little crescent moons into her skin.

"Don't let go." His pleads were syrupy, thick with helplessness; something he felt repulsed with himself for. But, he wasn't aware of how much it made Evelyn's heart ache. "Please, Effy."

"Never," she whispered, giving him a reassuring squeeze before cautiously leading him to Poppy. "Pops, go and find Sebastian would you? Sounds like he needs help in finding Ominis his wand."

The beast enthusiast nodded and exited the building.

Evelyn brushed a thumb over the back of Ominis' hand. Its sensation was terribly delicate to him, heightened by how truly blind he felt without his wand. He was entirely at her mercy, entrusting her to safely deliver him home. And to be perfectly candid, he wouldn't wish for anyone else. Not even Sebastian.

The stairs proved the most challenging of obstacles with Ominis feeling quite the newborn deer just finding its feet. Sensing his hesitancy, the girl slid an arm around his waist while encouraging him to drape one of his own over her shoulders.

"Don't worry... I've got you," she soothed.

Through the lamplit corridors, reaching the shadowy depths of the dungeons, they spoke the password and the dorm's serpent slithered along the wall to reveal the secret door. The whole time, Evelyn maintained a firm hold on Ominis' hand. Even as they entered the room, once more being engulfed in the comforting green darkness of the living area, their fingers remained intertwined like a braid, sides pressed together so tightly it was as if they wanted to climb into each other's skin.

Evelyn sat the boy down next to the crackling flames of the fireplace and joined him. She felt grateful, clutching the feeling to her heart, though whether it was for the warmth of the flames that thawed her, or the warmth of the company she kept, she would never tell. Even then, she kept her hand in his and rested them both in her lap. He squeezed a little harder.

"Thank you, Effy. Truly," he uttered.

"Pleasure, Ominis." She glanced up at him, their faces turned towards one another while orange flickers from the hearth licked their flushed cheeks. Evelyn breathed deeply, inhaling the faded scent of bergamot that emanated from him.

"I confess... the pleasure was really all mine." The blind boy heard her hitch her breath in a light chuckle. "All things considered." He, too, tittered.

Moments passed in a comfortable silence. Evelyn closed her eyes to appreciate the hot kisses of the flames that dried the sodden clothes clinging to her body. She hummed a little in contentment when Ominis began to encircle a clothed knee with the tip of his forefinger, making secret gooseflesh spring to attention underneath the layers of knee socks and woollen trousers. This was all too soon interrupted though, by the abrupt clatter of Sebastian's untimely entrance.

"Bloody poltergeist had me running around like a headless chicken." In Sallow stormed, ironically also soaked through right down to his very bones. "Three hours I've spent, shouting Revelio all round the bloody castle! And do you know where it was? Down a toilet... which Peeves, the bugger, kindly exploded all over me when I eventually found the blasted th- why are you holding hands?!"

The Gaunt boy snatched away from Evelyn, allowing her to catch the wand that was chucked their way before it bounced off Ominis' oblivious head.

"It's been a stressful day," Ominis replied, pinching his wand between his now free thumb and forefinger. "Please tell me you washed this."

"I'm not making any promises." The curly-haired boy plonked himself down into the plush cushions of the couch, wedging his frame between the two friends who previously seemed very cosy indeed. Stretching, he wrapped the pair under the span of his arms much to their protestations, having just learned he was drenched in toilet water. Sebastian shifted his gaze to Evelyn. "Why are you all wet?"

"As Ominis aptly put," Evelyn sighed. "It's been a stressful day."