Acceptance: Hogwarts Legacy Continued

Chapter 52: Ominis- mama bear

He hadn't even made it into the great hall yet when Poppy called out from behind him, sounding nervous. She explained what was going on, and said she felt uneasy leaving Diana back with Sebastian. She said she was planning to just get food for them and head back, but suggested that maybe he go check on them. Ominis didn't even give it a second thought before he turned around and raced through the empty halls to the Hufflepuff common room.

When he got to the stairs he could hear their voices echoing up to him. Sebastian sounded strained, and Diana seemed frustrated. As he heard the other boy's idiotic explanation he started to feel frustrated as well. All this drama to get a rise out of Larson? This was almost beyond the stupidity he felt Sebastian was capable of, and yet it made perfect sense for him.

By the time he made it to the end of the stairs he could tell something was going wrong. On top of the terrible stench of vinegar that almost sent him to his knees, there was an air of tension between them. It wasn't the tension that came from discomfort or awkwardness, but rather the tension before a fight. He sensed from his own wand that Diana had pulled out her own, and he knew if he didn't step in things would end up worse for her. Not physically, he felt she could more than handle herself against the boy, but mentally he knew it would take a toll. Then anger bubbled inside of him as he thought of Sebastian yet again putting Diana in harm's way.

As soon as Sebastian brought out his wand, Ominis sent a disarming spell right at his friend, hearing it hit its mark. The wand went sailing over to him, and he caught it, gripping it tight. He walked over to where Diana was, ignoring the incoherent words coming from the boy on the floor.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yes I- what are you doing here?" She sounded confused, but not scared. He sighed and turned to face the other.

"Oh I'm just here to take my friend to have a chat." He walked over to where the boy was not standing, using his wand to get a clearer view of him. He held back a gag, and grabbed his sopping wet arm. He protested, but the blind boy just gripped even harder.

"Poppy is on her way back with food. Enjoy your evening." And with that he dragged Sebastian up the stairs and through the halls to the undercroft. He pulled him with incredible speed and strength, fueled with a deep burning to get him as far away from her as possible. Thankfully the dirtbag had enough sense not to fight him too hard on it- or maybe it was just that he wasn't left with much strength after the day he had.

When he got to the secret door, he literally threw Sebastian into the room as soon as the doors had opened. He lit the room for the other boys sake, and within just a second of the doors closing he was on him.

"Why did you do that! I need to talk to her!"

"You wasted enough of her time with your talking, or did you not notice she was going to obliterate you. Honestly I saved you from getting your ass handed to you again today."

"Who are you to dictate where she goes and how she spends her time?" The other boy barked back, ignoring the comments about her being set to attack him.

"I'm not" he spat back "But you should look in a mirror sometime Sebastian, banging on her door like a bloody menace. Could you not get the hint from the literal punch in the face that she needs space from you?! She spends all day in classes and doing homework, then she's off doing some sort of Keeper duties, and still she stretches herself thin to meet all of your demands of her time. And then what do you do for her? Cause her pain and make her uncomfortable."

"I am not demanding her to do anything, I am just asking her to be my friend." He kept his voice lower this time around, but still full of annoyance.

"Oh just like you were asking her to be your friend in the scriptorium right?"

He felt the hate radiating from the boy. "This isn't even close to the same-"

"You're using her Sebastian, it may look different now but it's still the same. I don't know what it is you're going through, but you somehow find relief when you are with her."

He froze "How-how did you-"

"I'm blind not stupid. You're always with her, and if you can't be after trying everything then you are with me- but the whole time you're just waiting to get back to her. Again I don't know if you're just dealing with a guilty conscience or something more sinister- but either way Diana is not some tool you can use for your own gain. She is a human being, and she is supposed to be your friend. You use her for your own comfort and pointless fight, not caring how unhappy she is about it. You're selfish and cruel, and she deserves so much better."

He didn't know how Sebsatian was going to respond, but he did not expect him to drop to the ground and start sobbing. It threw him off more effectively than any jinx or spell could. The boy he had known for so many years, who he had barely known to shed a few tears, was now crying incessantly in front of him. The pounding anger from before melted away, and what was left was pity and resentment.

The puddle of tears before him was just a shell of the person he knew. He felt that last year his friend had transformed, his obsession with dark magic morphing him into something unfamiliar. Now that unknown person was seemingly trying to fit back into his friend's body, but it was too broken to fit anymore. He was clouded in darkness, probably spending every spare second fending it off. That was the true evil of dark magic, the way it changed you with no hope of ever going back.

He just stood there and let him cry, waiting for him to calm enough so that he could actually be heard. After a long while, when the sobs had turned mostly to sniffs Ominis spoke. His voice was not raised this time, but there was no sympathy to be heard.

"You cannot force Diana to fix the things you have broken. I don't even know if you can fix them, or if they can be fixed. In forcing her, you are pushing her away, just like you did with Anne and with me. Knowing her though, she wants nothing more than for you to be whole again, but it cannot be done at her expense. If you care about her like you say you do, you will let her go- you've already made the wrong choice with that once, are you going to let yourself do it again?"