Acceptance: Hogwarts Legacy Continued

Chapter 43: Ominis- triggered

Ominis was sitting in his dorm room, dictating to his quill his essay for muggle studies. He was trying to write out the effects the invention of the telegraph had on muggle daily life, when there was a knock at his door. He stopped speaking, and his quill silenced as well.

"Ominis, your friend is asking for you outside the common room." It was the voice of one of the 5th or maybe 4th year boys.

He grabbed his wand and headed to the door. When he opened it he heard the boy jump back, and he strode past him. He was only a few steps away when the boy called out, his voice cracking-

"Is she seeing anyone?"

He stopped, confused; "Is who seeing anyone?"

"Your friend- you know the Savior of Hogwarts."

Ominis' only reply was a dark laugh. He didn't feel he needed to dignify him with an answer to a question that would never be of use to him. He continued moving through the common room hearing Diana's name within the whisper of students there. There never seemed to be a moment where people weren't talking about her, it was like she was a magnet for notice. Even standing outside another house's common room seemed to draw everyone's attention.

He made it to the entrance and headed out. He only had to go a few more steps until he could sense her, or rather, smell her. It wasn't a new sensation anymore, but knowing she was there just from the whiff of oranges he got was always enjoyable to him.

"What are you smiling about?" He heard her voice coming closer.

"Nothing in particular-" he felt a little embarrassed, he hadn't realized he was smiling. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you about something, just the two of us."

"Okay, do you want to head to the undercroft?"

He felt her hesitation, "I don't want Sebastian walking in on us... would you be okay to go where we went the first night back?"

Ominis raised an eyebrow, but nodded. He headed back inside his room to grab a coat, and an extra one for Diana. Once returning she took it and they started off towards the bell tower courtyard. He had no idea what she would want to talk about. He thought since she didn't want Sebastian walking in it might be about how annoyingly clingy he was being to her this year. But he knew that wasn't going to be it, she was probably fine with it somehow.

He wished she would address it though, whatever it took to get him to stop. The only time he got to be with her without Sebastian was in History of magic, and even then the other boy was outside the door waiting for them to come out. He still hadn't fully forgiven his friend, but that wasn't the problem here. He just never stopped begging for her attention, it was like listening to a dog.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as they had reached the wall, and Diana grabbed his hand to help him maneuver through the crack. Soon they were sitting on the same patch of grass, although now even in the late afternoon sun there was still a chill in the air. He stayed silent, waiting for her to begin.

"Ominis... what if I told you there might be a way to help Anne get better..."

His head jerked towards hers. He felt triggered, being drawn back to similar ones shared by Sebastian not that long ago. A pit of uneasiness started to form in his stomach.

"Diana-"

"And what if I told you it had nothing to do with dark magic. What if there was a way that I could remove the curse."

The uneasiness still felt heavy, but he also noticed a beam of hope battling it. The part of him that had been mercilessly destroyed by Sebastian's actions was yelling at him to end it here; to tell her to drop and forget about it. But he knew her, and he trusted her. He didn't understand what she had figured out, but he felt that he had to be there to help her try.

He nodded at her and reached out to find her hand. Once he did he squeezed it, trying to tell her without words that he trusted her- and maybe trying to give himself courage.