What Follows | Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 4: Reconciliation

Adalinda buried her head into Sebastian's shoulder as her arms wrapped tighter around him, relief flooding her senses and tears pricking her eyes. She found comfort in the faint but familiar scent of pine he always had on his clothes.

"You're not lying to me to try to make me feel better, right?"

"I'm not. I mean it when I say I'll stay."

She brought her hand in between them, sticking her pinky out.

"Pinky promise."

Sebastian let out a laugh, his brows knitted in confusion. "What?"

"Pinky promise that you mean it!" She laughed as well, knowing it was silly, but she didn't withdraw her hand.

"Alright, alright! I promise." He shook his head in amusement as he briefly hooked fingers with hers.

He looked at her unconvinced gaze and raised an eyebrow. "I did what you asked me to. I promise that I'll stay this time. What can I do to actually convince you?"

Adalinda chewed on her bottom lip as she contemplated if now was the best time to ask. "I inherited Professor Fig's home. Come live with us during summer break."

His eyes lit up, but he stopped himself from immediately answering as he glanced over at Ominis. Sebastian gave Adalinda a tight smile as he gently squeezed her hands, "I can't, I'm sor-"

"No, wait." Ominis interrupted, turning to face Sebastian's general direction. "I shouldn't be the deciding factor of your friendship with Adalinda." He wrung his hands as he took a deep breath. "I knew that your parents' death anniversary was yesterday, and I knew that despite all of our disagreements and my avoidance, you would still want me around. You would want us around. After hearing your conversation just now, I've come to terms with the fact that I never had a reasonable excuse as to not have gone to Dufftown, and for that I am sorry, Sebastian. I used your past use of dark magic as an excuse to avoid you like a coward."

Not in the Scriptorium, or in the aftermath of Solomon's death, had she ever seen Ominis so distraught. It wouldn't be a far stretch to say that Sebastian looked just as sickly and dejected as Anne used to in the winter.

"Why, Ominis?" Sebastian asked, his voice breaking at the ugly truth Ominis's words undoubtedly held.

"Because I'm scared to lose Adalinda," he whispered.

The silence was almost deafening.

"What?"

She said the first and only word that came to mind, her voice seemed to echo across the Undercroft.

Ominis turned to her, tears threatening to spill over. "Once I separated myself from Sebastian, you were all I had. I couldn't lose you." He paused, wiping his eyes with his shirt. He took a shaky breath before he continued. "But I'm afraid I already have. Even if it was just for a moment, you were everything to me."

Adalinda tenderly grabbed his trembling hands, squeezing them. "You still have me, Ominis. I'm still here, I'm not leaving you."

He pulled his hands away, "This is what I mean, Adalinda. I just lied to you for two and half weeks for crying out loud! You're too forgiving, too kind, too trusting. When Sebastian went further down the path of Dark Arts, especially after he got his hands on that spellbook, you continued to follow him. Against my request, you went to help him find that relic, because you're a good person. What was I supposed to do if one day you left to help him, and you never came back? It wasn't until that thought had passed my mind, practically knocking the air out of my lungs, that I realised my priorities had shifted from him to you. By distancing myself from him, which in turn made him distance himself from you, and by leaving you in the dark about his whereabouts, I thought I was protecting the one thing I still had."

Adalinda's brows furrowed as she tried to piece everything together. "Then why did you say you missed Sebastian earlier? That wasn't another lie, right?"

"No, it wasn't! I still do care about him very much despite the fact that I ruined our friendship. It's just that when I realised that there's nothing I can do to stop him from being reckless, I tried to cut ties to keep you safe." He sighed, shaking his head. "I thought I was sparing you from pain, but all I've done is make things worse for everyone. Adalinda, Sebastian, I'm so sorry."

Tears fell from his cheeks as his breathing grew quicker. The end of his wand rapidly pulsed, the flicker of red highlighted the distress on his face. The pads of his fingers tugged at the hem of his shirt, as if subconsciously doing so would make things better. "I'm a selfish person. I was comfortable with disregarding how you might've fe-"

Adalinda clasped Ominis's hands again. "Stop. Please, Ominis. You're telling me that the boy who cried and couldn't stop asking me if I was okay when I got hit with the Cruciatus Curse, who even offered to carry me, is a selfish person? And don't try to fool me with this blasphemy about comfort, we both know you lied awake in bed thinking about Sebastian just as much as I did. I may forgive more often than most, but I don't do it without a reason. The way I see this, you were doing all you could to keep me safe. That certainly doesn't mean that you went about it in the best way, or that I'm happy with your choices, but I see your intention."

She reached out to Sebastian's hand with one of hers. "That's how it's been with both of you lately. Good intentions, bad decisions. I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving either of you. However, as much as I do care about you two, you both need to stop keeping secrets and making decisions for others. It ends up hurting more than helping."

The boys nodded in agreement. Adalinda pulled each of them into a hug, all of them crying more than they'd ever like to admit.

Sebastian fiddled with his hands as Ominis pulled away from Adalinda. He let out a gasp when Ominis dropped his wand and suddenly flung his arms around him, holding onto him as if it was the last time.

"I'm sorry, Sebastian. I'm so very sorry." Ominis wept, further soaking Sebastian's robes if it were even possible. Sebastian rubbed circles into the trembling boy's back, just as Ominis had done for Adalinda all those nights.

When the last of Ominis's tears dried up, he went to the gates of the Undercroft before he came back with Adalinda's quilt and wand in hand. "I know you always like to have this with you, so I brought it with us." He gently handed it to Adalinda who draped it over all of them. He set their wands on the ground beside them.

"Stay over the summer?" She extended the invitation to each of the boys again, each of them giving her a slight nod as they yawned and rubbed their eyes.

She would be lying if she said the Undercroft floors were comfortable, but with her head tucked under Ominis's and Sebastian holding them close, she found she had fallen asleep faster and more peacefully than she had in months.