In The Shadow of Our Choices

Chapter 101: The Fundamentals

Previously:
Ominis headed to the Gaunt house to make an Unbreakable Vow. While his father wanted obedience, Marvolo stepped in, and the Vow was simply to go through with the marriage. Then, Leander planned Mary's party, and Andrew was a little ball of stress, worrying about the fact Sebastian is a murderer but also his friend. He turns to Aria for help, and she offers him flirting and a diverting game of gobstones. Which he got his butt kicked at.

Heads up - barely edited, but wanted to get posted.

Elizabeth

Ominis had turned up on Thursday in a positively foul mood, but neither she nor Sebastian could get out of him why. She'd puzzled over it ever since, even after the mood had abated. It wasn't like him, and she wanted to help if she could, but he didn't seem to want to let her.

After a delightful nap on his shoulder during History of Magic Friday morning, and a short lunch, Ominis invited her back to their room to study while Sebastian was in Potions. They slipped through the Slytherin common room to the hall that held the boys' dormitories.

"What do you think we'll be doing in Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon?" Elizabeth asked quietly, their footsteps clattering on the walkway.

"I'm not sure, though we have yet to cover demons," Ominis said, reaching for the door. "I know we we'll cover things like Nogtails and -"

Ominis broke off and Elizabeth saw why - their other roommate was sitting on his bed, reading. Elizabeth had seen him in classes, but couldn't recall his name. He looked up at them, standing in the doorway, and a sneer curled his lip.

"Oh, it's you again," he said, his dark eyes feeling like they physically pierced her. "Can't you find another dorm to sleep in? Like your own?"

Elizabeth could only gape. She'd thought Sebastian and Ominis' roommates hadn't noticed - but evidently she was wrong. Ominis rolled his eyes and strode into the room.

"Ian, hush. We're just here to study."

Ian, that was right, his name was Ian Knowles.

"Is that so?" Ian said, "Tell me if I'm wrong, but I think I might be in the right to dock some points here for inappropriate behavior... A Ravenclaw and a girl in the Slytherin boys dormitory..." He glanced at Elizabeth and pointedly tapped the prefect badge gleaming on his chest before turning back to Ominis. "Besides, aren't you engaged, Gaunt? Tsk, caught 'studying' with another girl..."

A panicky feeling shot through Elizabeth at Ian's implication. They hadn't even been back a full week and this was already going poorly. Ominis, however, only sighed.

"Right, how much do you want, Ian?" Elizabeth frowned as Ominis dug out his coin purse. "You're a pain, you know that?"

"What I know is that this is an awfully big thing to keep quiet," Ian said, tapping his fingers thoughtfully. "I think five sickles is a more than fair price this time."

Elizabeth couldn't believe her ears - was he extorting money from Ominis?

"I think one is more than enough, considering we did nothing more than walk through a door," Ominis countered.

"A bedroom door," Ian said, "Five sickles for my silence. Take it or leave it."

Elizabeth saw Ominis grit his teeth, and felt anger boil up inside her. Before he could say or do anything else, Elizabeth grabbed her own coin pouch. She withdrew a full galleon and pitched it unceremoniously at Ian.

"Take that and get out," she said, glaring at him.

Ian stared at her for a brief moment, then slipped the galleon into his pocket. He offered her an ingratiating smile as he shut his book and stood.