Crucio - A love story

7. The fake situationship

Ominis let out a deep sigh as he closed the bedroom door behind him, keeping his back to Eloise for a while longer.

The two had been dead silent the entire way over, not even daring to glance in each other's direction.

When Ominis finally did turn around, Eloise could see the pure misery on his face.

"Oh, Ominis." Eloise burst into tears, running to him and nearly falling into his arms.

Ominis held her for a long while, soothing her while repeating "We'll be fine." Again and again.

After, he slowly led her to his bed, where he made her sit down before handing her a glass of water and sitting down beside her.

"I'm so sorry, Ominis." Eloise said quietly after taking a sip of the cold water. "If I had known what Sebastian was capable of..."

"It's not your fault." He assured her. "The choices he made were entirely his."

Eloise turned her head to the side to look at him. "I just stood by while he-" She whispered. "While he did that to you and his uncle."

Ominis took her hand in his and rubbed soothing circles along the back of it. "He was not himself, Eloise." He said. "It was the dark magic, I knew it'd corrupt him somehow... I tried so hard to stop him from using any."

"I know." Eloise sighed. "And all I did was support him in all his acts."

"Hey," Ominis's hand found Eloise's cheek, caressing it softly. "You'll be alright, I'll always be by your side."

Eloise rested her head on Ominis's shoulder just as the door to his room opened, making her jump up and untangle herself from the boy.

Azriël looked at the two of them suspiciously before walking in. "Hey uhm," he started, scratching his head. "Professor Weasley just stopped by, and told us about what happened with Seb."

When both Ominis and Eloise stayed silent, the boy cleared his throat and went on. "She said she'll make an exception about students not being allowed in other common rooms, so the two of you could stay together. Seeing as you've been through a lot and... you're dating apparently. Didn't even know that, congrats dude."

"Uh, yeah." Ominis cleared his throat. "Thanks."

"So, Eloise." Azriël went on. "Darius and I are totally cool with you staying here."

"Oh," She said, glancing back at Ominis. "That's really not necessary-"

"It's okay, really." Azriël insisted. "you need each other right now."

"Uhm, okay." Eloise murmured. "I'll just stay in Sebastian's bed then-"

Azriël let out a bark of laughter. "We're not prudes, Eloise." He chuckled. "You two can share a bed, we don't mind."

Eloise laughed awkwardly, seeing the equally forced smile on Ominis's face.

"Hi, new roomie!" A second guy - Darius - came bounding in the room. "Got you some sleeping clothes." He said as he dropped a bundle of fresh woman's pajamas on Ominis's bed.

He inspected the fabric before realizing what he was touching, before suddenly standing upright and heading to the door. "Let's give her some privacy, lads."

Eloise quickly changed once the boys were out, getting ready for bed. Well, Ominis's bed to be exact.

"Dude, I could beat your ass in chess even if I were blindfolded." Darius chided as he made his way back into the room half an hour later, followed by the other two.