Chapter Text
One thing led to another and before you knew, you found yourself in the Room of Requirement — or more specifically, the Grassland Vivarium.
Sitting upon the pale and tall grass, you let out a sigh as you watched the late afternoon sun that hung on the cliffs. A small gust of wind ruffled through your hair, scarf and cloak in a gentle caress, a welcoming presence amidst the tranquillity.
Although the sound of Ancient Magic was more subdued in the peaceful biome, it still continued to taunt you, slinking in the back of your mind that constantly reminded you of its presence. But you found that to be much more bearable than what you had endured the entire day.
While bathing in the waning light, the Phoenix, that you had rescued along with Poppy just last year, swooped down from its usual lap in the sky above, landing softly beside you.
It cocked its head in confusion, with its sharp eyes locked upon yours and you somehow knew that it understood your words. You reached out towards it, stroking its feathers with a gentle finger. It thrilled while leaning into your touch, though it took you a second longer to realise that it was pushing against you, urging you to share your troubles.
“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you.” You chuckled, finding yourself appreciating the conscience of this magnificent beast and you instantly gave in to its plea.
“Today has been absolutely hell.” You confessed to your current companion. Letting out a sigh, you drew your legs closer to your chest, “And I can barely even function at all…”
The Phoenix cocked its head once more.
“My ability doesn’t just allow me to see Ancient Magic. It also lets me sense it through my other senses, which is why I can control it.” You ran a hand through your hair as you continued explaining to the magical creature, “And it has this… sound, usually like hushed fervent whispering.”
Squeezing your eyes shut against the incessant buzzing in your mind, your head dipped as you hung it between your shoulders, “But today it’s like a crowded market street where everyone’s yelling, and I don’t know what’s riling it up.”
Cradling your head within your trembling hands, you bit out amidst shaky breaths as your voice cracked, “Worst of all, I— I almost hurt the people closest to me. And I would have, had I not reacted quickly enough.”
The Phoenix remained silent, and the only indication of its presence was the comforting warmth brushing against your knee, along with the light tapping of a beak.
Was it… trying to console you?
But as much as you were touched by its attempt, you were unable to rid yourself off of the heaviness within your gut. From the amount of times you have placed your friends in danger just by association, to the death of your beloved mentor who died for a legacy he had been pursuing on behalf of his late wife.
Where Ancient Magic was involved, death would soon follow and at that point, what good would pretty pillars do?
“It feels more like a curse than a gift or a blessing.” While staring at your hands, you released a resigned breath as you shut your eyes, “I honestly wish that I wasn’t ever born like this…”
“You’re being ridiculous, Y/N.”
You spun around in surprise, as the unexpected intrusion arrived in the form of a certain heir to Salazar himself. Likewise, the Phoenix had whipped its head around in alertness, watching the new addition intensely.
With his wand outstretched, he slowly guided himself over to you and stopped almost a metre or two away, looking up towards your exact location.
“Ominis…?”
“You told me to be proud of who I was despite my circumstances. Yet here you are, doing the exact opposite.” The Slytherin fumed as he narrowed his blank eyes in utter dismay before stepping forward, “Have you simply forgotten all of that?”
You reeled as you were taken aback by his words. The tables had turned in a fortnight, and how the circumstances had reversed itself in a strange twist of fate. Yet despite what he had said, you still looked away in shame as you were unable to rid yourself of the guilt you felt.
“Did you even visit the medical wing at the very least?”
“They can’t help me with this.”
“Why not?”
“Well how am I supposed to explain it to them, then?” You threw your hands up in both exasperation and borderline hysterics, “That I’m slowly being driven insane by a strange and ancient magic which conveniently, only I can perceive?”
Beside you, the Phoenix released a sharp thrill and its feathers bristled as it sensed your state of distress. Tensed silence sat around the both of you, thick enough to be sliced through with a knife as neither of you dared to speak in fear of stoking the already present flames.
It took a second for you to calm yourself down, rubbing your tired eyes before you finally spoke again, “I… I’m sorry for that. It’s been a long day.”
“No, I should be the one to apologise for my harshness.” Ominis shook his head and sighed inaudibly, his anger deflating as he saw your resigned expression, before facing your general direction while asking, “May I join you?”
After a brief moment of hesitation, you nodded, and the Slytherin wasted no time in sitting himself down right beside you. Sensing that its company was no longer necessary, the Phoenix shot you one last look before lurching off its perch, soaring into the skies and circling overhead as it was no doubt keeping a keen watch on the both of you.
“When did you arrive?”
You were not so surprised by your friend’s appearance in the Room of Requirement. You were willing to bet your galleons that Professor Weasley had been the one who told them.
After all, the whole fiasco had been anything but subtle.
“Early enough to overhear everything.” The Slytherin scratched the back of his head in discomfort.
At that, you smiled apologetically, “And what I said stirred something in you.”
“It reminded me of our previous conversation in the Undercroft.” Ominis had admitted after a moment of hesitation, and the angle of his head towards you felt like he was looking you in the eye, “And they don’t sound like words spoken in a fit of anger either.”
“It isn’t.” You let out a bitter smile as you looked towards the horizon, “And it’s pretty obvious from what happened today that I—”
“No one blames you for what happened earlier, Y/N.” A second voice chimed in, and you turned to see Sebastian striding up towards both you and Ominis, “It was an accident, so don’t feel bad about things beyond your control.”
“So what if it was?” You turned away as you murmured, “It still doesn’t change the fact that I almost hurt someone.”
“But you didn’t and that’s all that matters.” Sebastian quickly settled down beside you before gripping your shoulder in firm assurance, “You had enough self-control to hold yourself back, unlike me.”
Beside you, Ominis let out a small noise of discomfort, just as a wave of melancholy swelled within you. The Slytherin bore a faraway look in his eyes, at the shame that flooded back into them at the reminder of his past actions.
“Sebastian…” You began as you rested your hand atop his knee.
At that, Sebastian snapped out of his trance, and instead removed your hand from his knee with the ghost of a smile across his face, “I’m fine, Y/N. In fact, we shouldn’t be worrying about me right now.”
“There’s nothing to be done, other than to wait for the Ancient Magic around Hogwarts to settle itself.” You sighed, before your brows creased as an inkling suddenly hit you. Now that your mind is clearer, I think I may have an idea of what’s causing its distress.
You had a feeling that the unrest had been tied to it. With the more intense surge of corrupted power stored underneath Hogwarts, Ancient Magic needed to adapt to it still.
And that would only be a matter of time.
Or at least, you hoped.
“What did you hope for?”
You snapped out of your thoughts, and mentally berated yourself as you had unintentionally mused out loud.
Given that they were people that you trust, you very much wanted to let them in on everything. However, your duty as a Keeper held you back, keeping you tongue tied and you could only wordlessly look between the two.
Eventually, you let out a sigh and continued, “I… it’s something that I can’t really share just yet… I’m sorry, but not right now.”
“Don’t worry about it, my friend. No one is forcing you to part with your secret.” You looked down towards Natsai, who bore a kind and understanding smile as she approached, along with both Amit and Poppy.
The Hufflepuff hummed in agreement and continued, “All we care about is whether or not you’re going to be okay.”
And almost immediately, you shrunk in on yourself as the frigid mixture of guilt, shame, inadequacy and self-doubt welled within you. You felt like you did not deserve their trust, not after withholding information from them on top of the incident in the Great Hall that you still have not forgiven yourself for.
“I don’t deserve friends like you…” You blurted out in mindless rambling, “You could’ve just left me to my own problems and saved yourself the trouble…”
What you did not expect was the not-so gentle smack to the back of your head and that Poppy seemed to have appeared behind you as though she had apparated. You yelped as you nursed the sting at the back of your head and swivelled around.
“What was that for?” You asked incredulously.
“For being so tremendously densed! After all that you’ve done for us, do you expect us to leave you in pain and alone?” Although her voice was kept low, the usual softness had been missing, carrying an edge to her. It was of fierce loyalty, the namesake of her house, and one that was not unlike when she had sworn to protect the Snidgets.
You stared at her in stunned silence and for how carelessly you delivered your words, you hastily stuttered, “Poppy, I didn’t… I’m sorr–”
“You don’t have to apologise, Y/N. I understand.” Before the words fully sank into your mind the Hufflepuff threw her arms around you in a tight embrace as she whispered, “Just let us be here for you, alright?”
As if taking a cue from Poppy, Ominis and Sebastian slung their arms over the both of you, and you found it adorable that the former was doing so far more awkwardly than the latter. Your amusement was cut short however, as you looked in horror at the two others flying towards you.
“Group hug!”
“Woah, wait—!”
You held out your hand to prevent the inevitable collision, but that proved futile as you were instantly knocked onto your back and swarmed by a tangle of limbs and dark fabric. Groans filled the air as all six of you struggled to adjust yourselves, having been caught in this elaborate web of wizards, witches and utter stupidity.
Being at the centre of all the affection, you could not free yourself even if you tried. Not that you wanted to, of course. A warm feeling had welled up inside you, bubbling to the surface and melting the ice in your chest. Being around them, feeling loved and wanted – it made you feel giddy and light-headed.
So much so that you could feel your leaden eyelids starting to droop as exhaustion finally caught up to you. But quickly enough, you shook yourself awake at all of your unfinished work for the day.
A hand tapped your shoulder, and you looked towards Amit.
“You should sleep, Y/N. You’ve had a long day.”
“But revision…”
“...can wait.” The Ravenclaw had a stern look on his face, one expression that you had never thought he would be able to carry out, and yet there it was, “Take it from me when I say that learning with a weary mind gains you nothing of value.”
That was, unfortunately, logic that you could not refute. And even if you did, there was no freeing yourself from a stubborn group of people adamant in keeping you down on the ground. And so with a small huff, you allowed your tensed body to relax once more.
“Thank you.”
There was a nagging feeling that you had been forgetting something. It tickled your prefrontal cortex, teasing you with a long overdue need to act though you were quite unsure as to what–
Ah right.
“Almost forgot, sorry for dangling you from the Ravenclaw tower.”
“So it was YOU!”