Acceptance: Hogwarts Legacy Continued

Chapter 5- Ominis

Ominis felt her shift in her bed, and he closed the textbook he had been reading. He then placed the braille book to the side and listened cautiously.

"Ominis?" She questioned groggily "what are you doing here?"

Before he could answer though nurse Blainey was there, checking her over and asking a thousand questions. Once Diana had satisfied the nurse with her answers she told her she would be gone for a moment because she needed to let Professor Weasley know she was awake.

"Do you mind staying while I fetch her?" She asked him, to which he nodded and heard her scurry from the room. As the door closed he became acutely aware that he was alone with Diana, and started to shift in his seat uneasily.

It's not that he didn't want to be alone with her, or that he didn't want to be with her, but the last thing she had apparently said to him felt like it was hanging in the air.

He liked Diana, contrary to how he felt when he first met her. His first encounter with her was hearing her talk with Sebastian before and after their duel in defense against the dark arts. She seemed quiet and standoffish, he thought she felt she was too good to talk to anyone. It didn't help that when she first came to school the rumors of fighting a dragon didn't bode well with what he thought was an air of superiority.

When he first talked to her, catching her coming out of the undercroft he didn't hold back. It wasn't until he heard her crying as she walked away, and hearing the whole story from Sebastian, that he thought he might have been wrong about her. Apparently as soon as Sebastian had told her being in the undercroft was supposed to be a secret from him she was adamantly against it and was in the process of leaving and not coming back, when he had caught her. She was absolutely devastated when she came to him the next day before potions to apologize. Knowing the full story, he tried to wave it off, but she was insistent, making sure he knew how sorry she was.

Ominis knew for sure that he had misjudged her, and realized that this stoic persona he thought he felt was actually a carefully placed shield to a very soft person. She was kind and thoughtful, and had an extreme passion for getting to be a part of what other people loved. When she saw the desire someone had, it lit a fire in her, and she seemed to want to do all she could to help. He assumed that part of her is what drew her to Poppy, Garath, and Natsai- all people with a passion for something they loved. It was also what he knew drew her to Sebastian, and really it was those interaction with his friend that he learned these things about her.

Once she saw the fire Sebastian had for wanting to cure his sister, it was enough to suck her into his world. Going to lengths, far beyond what any normal friend would have done- far beyond what Ominis would have done for him. Her love for aiding people in what they cared for most is what brought her back after everything he did to her. It seemed to be what made her who she was, but he felt it often did her more harm than good.

This brought his thoughts back to the last time he was with her- awake. Those friends, who she had given everything to, had apparently broken her to a point he never thought she would be at. Ominis didn't often know how she was feeling- not that they were often together, but even amidst everything with the scriptorium, she soldiered on with almost no words for herself. Refusing to betray any of her feelings, to then turn around and give comfort to him when he grieved the new found remains of his aunt. If she hadn't been screaming in agony at the curse, he could have guessed it didn't even phase her.

This girl though, who had kept in everything, had broken to a place that he felt she had never been to. To share not only her feelings but the utter betrayal and abandonment she felt from each of those people she had shown such care to this year. Ominis didn't fault her for it, not in the slightest. He felt that it was probably long in coming, and deserved to be let out- as much as he was sure she would have fought it.

And that led him to her last words to him. They weren't accusatory and hard like all the others were, really they were a plea. I know you wont leave me... please don't leave me..

What did she mean by that? How did she know that he wouldn't leave? How could she trust him after being abandoned by everyone else? Like he said, he liked Diana, but they weren't that close. At least they weren't as close as what she seemed to be with Sebastian. And yet she trusted him? How?

A cough from Diana made him acutely aware they had been sitting in silence for a very awkward amount of time.

"H-how are you feeling?" He asked, wishing his voice didn't sound so shaky.

Diana sighed, and seemed to take stock of how she was doing.

"Nothing hurts like it did. It seems like everything is functioning how it should, and I can't see any scars or other damage..." she left her words hanging. Ominis knew that Nurse Blainey would have done her job well, but not even the most powerful magic could stop the hurt that she was likely still feeling inside.

Before Ominis could say anything else, Professor Wesasley came in, Nurse likely in tow, and started talking with Diana about a myriad of things pertaining to the battle she had faced. Taking this as a good time to depart, he silently got up, raising his wand, and left the room.