In the Shadows of Romance/Sebastian Sallow x MC

Chapter Four (Redone:July 2, 2023)

I wasn't back to being me, I hadn't been since losing Christopher but I was on the mend. Icarus and Ominis had both been upset with me when Poppy had told them what I wanted her to and it took a few months for the three of us to get back to the way that things used to be. And by no means did it stop a smitten Slytherin male from confessing to me in the following months.

The Slytherin male that sat before me was looking nervous, something I had rarely seen of the man. We had been studying in the library for our end of the year exams though we still had a few months and he was shifting as he sat there studying, scratching the back of his head as his hazy eyes darted around, though not looking. Just what was it that was going on with him.

"Ominis, are you alright?" I asked him, hesitant to reach across the table to him in fear of spooking him more than he already seemed. "Whatever the matter is, I am here to help."

"You really can't help with this, darling." He breathed and I looked up from one of my many books. "Though, I guess I should just come right out and tell you what it is that's bothering me." He only hesitated a moment longer before letting his words spill. "I have found myself smitten with a girl."

"That's wonderful, Omi." I smiled. "Why are you so nervous about telling me?"

"He took a deep breath. "She's a Gryffindor I met at the start of our fifth year and she was labeled as the Hero of Hogwarts along with her twin."

"Oh,"

"I have thought of a million ways to tell you just what I wish to, but I haven't been able to find the right words. All of them seem like rubbish. None of the words I wish to express seem fitting enough to tell you just how smitten I am with you...how in love I am with you."

"Ominis," I breathed.

"No, please let me finish before I lose the nerve to tell you." He told me. "I should have told you before Christopher was born. Maybe then, you wouldn't have given him up and I...I would have loved to be there for the two of you. I would have loved to be the man of your dreams and someone Christopher could have looked up to as a father figure. I have realized that I found myself smitten with you from our first meeting. Though you lied to me about the undercroft and how you stumbled upon it, I was smitten right then and there. I loved you the moment you showed your compassion for Anne and even more when you didn't want to risk sending Sebastian to Azkaban. And over the course of the sixth year here, I have found myself completely and utterly in love with you."

"Ominis," I breathed once more.

"I don't expect you to reciprocate my feelings for you, but I needed to get the weight of them off my chest. You don't have to say anything now," He told me. "In fact, don't. Take some time to think over my feelings and if you're willing to accept how I feel for you then I would love to pursue a romantic relationship with you. I'd love to be able to court you properly and start something serious with you."

He stood from his seat, closing up his books.

"Please just think over what I've said."

He left me sitting shocked and mulling over my feelings. I had similar feelings for him, I was smitten with him and I wasn't sure if I had always been or if I had developed those feelings while he helped me through my pregnancy with Christopher. Maybe that's why I found myself packing up my own books and traveling to the Room of Requirement.

***

The Grey twins had been found by their mentor turned father figure, Professor Eleazar Fig. He had been visiting a friend in the muggle world when he saw a house blaze up in fire followed by two fifteen year old children running from said home. He and his friend had rushed out to them asking what had happened, though when he had seen the male looking down at his hands and then back at the house, he knew something magic related had happened.