Arranged || Ominis Gaunt

2: A Compelling Proposal

Ellora blanches. Surprise floods through her as she stares, open-mouthed, through the mirror at Ominis. He holds the vial of Wiggenweld out in front of him as he awaits her answer. She is hesitant to take it.

"Wha-," She begins, pausing to school the shock she feels into general indifference, "What kind of proposal are we talking about, Mister Gaunt?" She asks.

Ominis steps forward and taps the vial against her upper arm, silently encouraging her to take it. She does, though only to simply hold it, unopened.

"In light of the announcement that my brother's wife is with child yet again, having had a daughter two years ago, my parents have been urging me to select a woman to marry myself," He says carefully, "I believe they fear she will produce another daughter and are looking to me to be the one to give them the heir they so desire."

Ellora hitches an eyebrow at this. Ominis sounds far less than enthused about the situation, though she cannot blame him. She had seen herself how intense her own parents were about heirs when the wife of her eldest brother, Matthias, had first birthed a set of twin girls. Her parents hadn't spoken to the couple for months. Only when the twins were 10 months old and Colette announced a second pregnancy did her parents finally allow a visit. Colette died giving birth to the second set of multiples. A set of triplets. Only one survived past three months. Her parents nearly disowned Matthias when the only boy in the set passed at one month old. He remarried within the year, and one year after that, a boy was born. Her father forced the entire family to move back to the Selwyn estate for two years after young Kartier was born. It was a hectic few years.

"I doubt your parents would consider me a good match, Ominis," She points out dryly, uncorking the vial. Ominis frowns, genuinely looking confused at her statement.

"And why would you think that?" He questions. She can't help but let loose a humorless chuckle.

"Let's see," She begins, turning to face him for real instead of looking through the mirror, "For starters, I'm not a Slytherin-"

"Not as big of an issue as you would think," Ominis interjects. Ellora stares at him for a moment in silence, an annoyed expression on her face.

"I'm a sixth-born child-"

"Doesn't matter for girls, if we're being honest."

"There are other girls, Slytherin girls, in your year who-"

"Who are either already promised, or are of no interest to me."

"Would you stop that?" Ellora exclaims in exasperation. Ominis' lips turn up into a small smirk at her annoyance. After another momentary pause, Ellora sighs. She raises the tiny bit of parchment in her hand and waves it through the air as if he can see it. "You're not on my list, Ominis." She concludes.

"And who, might I ask, is on your list?" He questions, "Though, I would like to point out that the one in your hand is your mother's list, not yours. The two could very well bear entirely different names."

"You want me to tell you the names of boys I'd like to potentially marry one day?" Ellora asks incredulously, raising an eyebrow as she looks at the taller boy. Taking a step back, she crosses her arms, carefully holding the open, still-full vial of Wiggenweld Potion in her hand. "Or do you simply wish to know if your name is on that list, and if so, whether or not it is at or near the top?"

Ominis' lips quirk up into a cocky smirk at Ellora's words. For a moment she believes he's going to spout some arrogant nonsense about how the Gaunts are always at the top of everyone's lists, but he doesn't. Instead, the blind boy shrugs a shoulder and says, "If I am indeed on your list, I'd certainly like to know why."