It had been some time since you had a chance to relax and enjoy some reading at the Undercroft. The room was dead silent, just you and Ominis sitting on a couch, he was reading a novel with the help of his wand, and you wondered again how he could do that, but never dared to ask as always. Although the most obvious and easy answer would be magic.
Suddenly the entrance opened and the peace was over as you heard Sebastian laudly and without breath arriving from the owlery.
"Guys I have a letter from Anne, it is addressed to the three of us." his hair was a bit messy and his tie was loose.
You and Ominis put your books down and make some room on the couch for Sebastian, he jumped from behind and landed next to you, leaving you in the mettle.
"Well, what are you waiting for? An invitation? Read it" said Ominis.
You and Sebastian laughed while he unfolded the letter. As he opened it, a little piece of green and silver strand fell out of it, landing on Sebastian's lap.
"Oh my Merlin" said Sebastian "Ominis, do you recognize this?" He asked with tenderness and passed the strand to Ominis. He felt it for a moment before answering.
"Didn't Anne make this for us back in first year?" he used the same tender tone as Sebastian
"Precisely! But why did she send this?" he asked, trying to take the strand from Ominis.
"Maybe if we read the letter, will find out." You took the paper out of Sebastian's hands and started reading it.
"Dear MC, Ominis, and Sebastian, I hope you opened this letter together and this is not just Sebastian snooping around"
"Hey!" said Sebastian and you and Ominis laughed.
"She knows you pretty well" added Ominis
"I wait to read it together!" he mocked.
"The wax seal was open Sebastian" you clarified and kept reading before Ominis began teasing him.
"Anyways. MC, I'm about to tell you a little story about the strand that I sent, that is yours by the way, because I'm sure neither Ominis nor Sebastian had told you what it is, and also because they are terrible storytellers."
"Hey!" this time the complaint came from both of them.
"But, what is it?" you ask, graving the strand from Ominis's hand.
"Keep reading" he answered with a crooked smile.
"It was our first year at Hogwarts, the first time in our lives that Sebastian and I were trying to make new friends apart from each other. I had some luck with my roommate Imelda, although she wasn't that fun and only talked about being the first first grader to make it into the quidditch team, she was nice. But Sebastian wasn't as lucky as me because he had this little shy and grumpy roommate named Ominis Gaunt. Even though he never introduced himself, everyone was intimidated by him."
"And they still are" interrupted Ominis. You laughed a little bit before continuing.
"At first, Sebastian tried to befriend Ominis but it didn't work out. Ominis simply ignored every attempt of little Sebastian, and he was despondent about it because secretly he wanted to be best friends with his roomie."
"Aw this is so cute" you said "Ominis, why did you ignore little Sebastian?"
"Because he was annoying" he declared.
"And?" asked Sebastian
"And you still are."
"Oh come on mate! Tell the truth" shouted Sebastian.
"And I didn't know he was trying to be friendly. I thought it was part of some prank or something of that source. Just keep reading."
You felt a small stab of pain inside thinking of a little Ominis not trusting a little Sebastian but you did as he asked.
"I didn't like the idea of my little brother not having any friends..."
"That's not true! I'm older than her AND I had many friends" You both ignore him.
"...so one day at Potions Professor Sharp asked us to get in teams for a research project, so I raised my hand and asked for Seb and Ominis on my team. Of course, we did the assignment and it went great, but most importantly Ominis gave in and started talking to us."
"Like if I had another choice" said Ominis reluctantly."I admit that he didn't have another choice but it was a good start. It took some work, sitting with him at class and dinner, making small talk until it worked. Little Ominis and little Sebastian bonded over how annoying I was."
" True." both of them smiled.
"So I let it be and went back to my many friends..."
"Lies" growled Sebastian.
"But after a couple of days, I realized I didn't have a lot in common with them so I started missing my brother who now spend all his time with little Ominis. So imagine my surprise when one day Ominis asked me if I would join them for lunch, and the next day to accompany them on their way to class. Until the day came when Sebastian fell to the Black Lake... "
"Fell?!" he howled.
" You know how he is, so clumsy...""Ah yes, very clumsy indeed" added Ominis with a stoic face
"YOU PUSHED ME!"
"Get over it Sebastian" said Ominis and you couldn't help to laugh out loud
"After Sebastian was dry, Ominis told us there was something he wanted to show us and took us to the Undercroft for the first time. He told us it was a secret and we could never tell anyone about it..."
" Never means never, Sebastian. Not just four years" Ominis stretched out to approach him and give him a little zap on the head.
"Get over it Ominis."
"...so we promised and asked him if it meant we were friends and well I guess the rest is history."
" I don't recall answering that question" said Ominis you and Sebastian laughed.
"Oh come on, you were stuck with us forever." Sebastian reached up to stretch Ominis cheek and he tried to smack him again.
The situation became a little bit tight with you in the middle, so you yelled "Enough!" for them to stop and continue reading."After learning that little Ominis never had friends before Sebastian asked me if I could knit a bracelet for him, like the ones our mother taught me to do, I only knit them for family, but it felt right giving one to Ominis. Except that I did something better, I knit three of them and called them friendship bracelets."
You look at the strand in your hand for a second and hold it tightly before continuing.
"So backing up to now, I was cleaning the cottage when I found my old friendship bracelet, it made me think of the old days and I couldn't shake this wish of having you with us there MC, so I knit you this."
You brought the bracelet to your chest and held it next to your heart.
"We are best friends, and we love you MC. It was time for a proper welcome to our little family. I'm sorry I'm not there, but I know you three can take care of each other for me. Love, Anne"
You did your best so your voice wouldn't break before finishing and started blinking to try to keep yourself from crying.
"MC, are you alright?" asked Sebastian.
"Yes... Of course, I'm fine, I'm just moved." You looked away from him so he couldn't see the tear that was slipping down your cheek "I appreciate it so much, I should write her a thank you letter" You were about to leave but they stopped you.
"You'll do that later, let me help you with this" Ominis grabbed your hand and tied the bracelet around your risk.
"There, how does it feel?" asked Sebastian.
"Perfect. Thank you, I'm never taking it off." you felt so happy that you wanted to cry but did your best effort to keep it in. "Do you still have yours?" you asked them.
"Always" said Ominis, extending his arm towards you, revealing the old, slightly discolored bracelet.
"I have mine in my nightstand, I keep it there as a charm, but I'll put it on tonight. I want to match with my two best friends."
Sebastian hugged both of you tight, Ominis fought him a little bit, but you knew he liked it. You asked them to tell you more stories of their early years at Hogwarts, so they did and you laughed while imagining little versions of your best friends exploring the castle and getting in trouble from time to time, wishing you had been there, but grateful you were now.

YOU ARE READING
Fictober23
FanfictionHey there! This is my 2023 fictober challenge, where I'll publish the 31 mini fics I wrote that month. I hope you enjoy reading it. -Xoxo P. S, English is not my first language.