Acceptance: Hogwarts Legacy Continued

Chapter 29- MC

Diana waited in the dark for her friend. She felt a little nervous that he wouldn't be able to find her out here, but that worry faded as she saw a blinking red light in the distance. The air was cool, but not cold yet, and the sky was clear- perfect. As the little red dot grew closer and closer, she rocked back and forth from ball to heel in anticipation. Feeling too excited she decided to speed up the process and ran over to where Ominis was.

"I'm glad you made it!" She said reaching him.

"Me too, it's kind of a walk, but I assume it is with purpose."

"It is! I wanted to bring you here last year, but ran out of time before school ended..." she faltered at the end, realizing she was going to grab his hand to lead him there, but wasn't sure what to do anymore.

Somehow sensing her dilemma he held out his hand; "you can guide me, it was very helpful before. I have no problem with it as long as you are comfortable."

She smiled and grabbed it, pulling him over to the semi ruined walls around the castle. She explained that she had found this place with Amit last year during Astronomy, and that up on a wall was a table that perfectly shows a specific constellation in the sky.

"Where I am bringing you to however, it's just beyond the wall." She led him through a broken bit of the structure, giving access to the other side. Once they had slipped through she moved them just off to the side. It was a corner of the walls, just below the astronomy table.

"After working with Amit, I stayed out here and ended up rolling my newly acquired telescope off the broken edge."

"Of course you did." he chuckled. She swatted him playfully.

"Well when I climbed down to get it, I ended up just laying out on the grass here, and realized it was a great place to look at the stars as well."

She stopped them, and sat herself down, pulling on his arm to let him know where she was. He sat down next to her. Then she layed back on the ground, and he again followed suit.

"I came here all the time last year, almost always at night, but sometimes during the day as well. Because of the wall it's a pretty secluded place. It's quiet and peaceful, and when everything just felt like too much, I could come here and just... forget."

Ominis didn't say anything, he just lay next to her, taking in the calm. After a while he turned his head towards her.

"What is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Oh! It's about the question you asked in one of your letters- about if I befriended any animals off the street."

There was only the moon and the stars to light their space, but Diana could see the quizzical look on his face. Probably thinking that this conversation did not need to happen like this. She laughed.

"No I promise it's worth it, I wanted to tell you in person. You were right, I did try to get stray animals to be my pets. No dogs or cats ever stuck around for long though, until when I was about six or seven maybe, I came across this beautiful white cat."

"A white cat?" he asked skeptically.

"Oh know, funny the similarities. Anyway I fed this cat with scraps I saved from my meals. I was out there every day, in the alley behind the orphanage, and every day the cat came back. She was really sweet, and after a while I felt that she spent her time just waiting for me to walk back there because she started always appearing as soon as I stepped outside."

He hummed in thought. "What happened to her?"

"I guess she is still there, at least I hope she is. I was still feeding her when Fig first came for me. She was pretty old at that point though. I actually went out there to try to bring her with me, but for the first time in a long time she wasn't there when I came out- and I had to leave without her."

"Wow, that must have been pretty upsetting."

"Yeah I was upset, but I had spent a long time with her. It was almost 10 years that I would feed and play with her. She had two different litters in that time as well. She brought them to me each time she had them. Funny enough both times she must have been with an orange cat because her babies were all either white, orange, or a combination of the two. I never saw the dad, but the babies were adorable nonetheless."

They laid there together, Diana reminiscing to herself about her cat with her friend beside her.

"Where did you say the orphanage was?"

"Not too far outside central London."

Ominis hummed again to himself as he thought. Diana looked over at him; "what?"

"My family's home is actually not that far away from central London. There is a wizarding community nearby that our manor is located in. It's funny to think that I let my cat go around the same time that you found yours."

"Well crazier things have happened- I mean just look at me."

"Cant." he replied flatly, and Diana whipped her arm over to swat him. He laughed and threw her arm back.

They were still again, Diana taking in the stars above, Ominis enjoying the serenity of the area.

"What did you name her?" he asked quietly, as if not wanting to break whatever spell was creating such a peaceful atmosphere.

"Moon. The first time I met her was at night, I had gone outside in the evening trying to find a quiet place to cry.... Um and the full moon made her hair look like it was glowing. It was actually quite ethereal thinking back to it."

"Well I'm sure she would have liked that better than being named cat."

Diana laughed, thinking about his comment from his letter about being a boring child.

"You know, there is actually a cat constellation, and it's also named Felis."

He propped himself up on his elbow and turned to her "you're joking."

"I'm not! It really is a thing! Here let me show you."

She pushed him back over and he fell with a grunt. Ignoring that she reached over and grabbed his hand in hers and held them both up to the sky. She placed her hand on top of his and pushed all but his pointer finger down. Then she lined her own finger with his, and began to trace the constellation with their fingers.

"Here's the head, and this.." she continues tracing "follows its back, and down to the tail." She finished tracing and lowered their hands, letting his drop out of hers.

"It was created by a French astronomer who loved cats. He was sad that there were no cats amongst the constellation so he made his own. I'd say it was a love of animals that rivaled even Poppy's love."

She heard him laugh quietly at her joke, but other than that he remained silent. Diana felt for a moment that maybe she had done something wrong. She was about to ask if she had made him uncomfortable, but stopped herself right as he spoke.

"No one.... No one has ever shown me the stars before..."

His comment froze her. There was so much that she took for granted having use of her eyes. She couldn't imagine the pain of knowing you missing out on so much of the world. She wanted Ominis to experience as much as he could, even within his disability.

"Do you want me to show you more?"

He nodded and moved his hand over to her. She grabbed it and started pointing out other constellations that she could see. Trying to remember as many as she could from her class last year. Together they spent time talking about the stories behind each one, and she tried the best she could to answer all of his questions. By the time they were done it was late into the night.

Diana shivered as the night grew colder, and assumed Ominis must have noticed because right after he suggested that they end for the night. She agreed and together they made their way, hand in hand, back to the castle.