Chapter Text
Ominis Gaunt hates you.
He is too polite to say it out loud and too nice to say it to your face but you knew. You have always known from the moment you met when you were nine years old, from the moment your mother said, “Greet your future husband, sweetie” in that nauseatingly saccharine voice of hers. He refused to hold your hand to show you their garden, and he sulked under the birch tree and let you play on your own.
You love Ominis Gaunt.
You are too polite to impose your feelings on him and too prideful to say it to his face. You have always known from the moment he took the blame when your mother tried to hit you for removing the pins that are digging into your skull, from the moment he stepped in front of you to shield you from the incoming slap and said, “I’m sorry I pulled her hair.”
You have never been taught how to love anyone properly and so you love him the only way you knew how, like a child with her favorite cuddly toy. You showered him with sweet treats and toys and forced him to play with you, ignoring the exasperated sighs and little frowns that inspired you to call him Grandpa Ominis every now and then.
At 10, you forced him to accompany you in pretend tea parties and plays. Even from way back then, you knew he would not want to be your prince so you asked him to become your unicorn instead. You begged him to stay still because unicorns are kind and they love getting brushed. He squirmed and fussed but he never told you off because he was taught to be a gentleman.
At 11, you both received your acceptance letters from Hogwarts at the same time. He told you he does not want to be in Slytherin but you stomped your feet and threatened to cry in front of the headmaster if the two of you do not get sorted into the same house. He sighed and agreed to be with you, not knowing that you heard his father say he will maim his son if the Sorting Hat does not put him in Slytherin. You were terrified.
At 12, the Sallow twins, more Anne than Sebastian really, managed to soften your rough edges. Anne showed you by example that affection does not have to be all-consuming, and you do not have to force it on anyone. Sebastian is Sebastian. You do not really like that he pranked Ominis all the time but you suffered in silence because Ominis told you the brown-haired boy is his best friend. Well, mostly in silence, excluding that one time when you set Sebastian’s homework on fire after he made Ominis eat all the earwax jellies from his Bertie’s Every Flavor Beans box. Ominis does not need to know that you learned how to sort the jelly beans just so Sebastian could never do that again.
At 13, you started giving Ominis space because you read from one of the many Muggle books that Sebastian pilfered from somewhere that absence makes the heart grow fonder. You took a step away from crowding Ominis with your childish possessiveness and worked on widening your circle. You learned how to be nice to members of other houses because Anne and Sebastian said it is stupid to look down on others because an old hat put them in other houses. Ominis agreed with them so they must be right. Most of your time was spent solving Hogwarts’ mysteries with other friends but you never forgot to return to the Slytherin common room to fight with Sebastian over the jelly beans.
At 14, the sighs and frowns that you are pretty sure Ominis reserved just for you no longer appeared. You started talking like real friends, complaining to each other about mean brothers, difficult homework and dismal manor holidays. It helped that you stopped forcing him to be with you at all times. You finally learned to read him, stepping back when he slightly leans away, stopping your teasing when his mouth starts compressing into a thin line, apologizing when he clenches his jaw at your awful jokes. You blamed Sebastian for those jokes; that boy has a crude sense of humor. You still religiously sorted the jellies even though Sebastian stopped pranking Ominis with them.
At 15, your little group fell apart because of a stupid curse. Anne can no longer study at Hogwarts, and Sebastian refused to accept that she cannot be cured. You, Sebastian and Ominis tried to return to a semblance of normality but without Anne, pain always lies beneath the laughter you three shared. Ominis’ frowns and sighs returned in full force but this time you no longer have it in you to fight them. You distanced yourself because one pain is enough; he does not have to suffer your presence too. You heard whispers about his escapades with the new fifth year and Sebastian. You started putting Wiggenweld and other healing potions along with the sorted jelly beans on his favorite spot in the common room.
At 16, you once saw Ominis walking with the Hogwarts hero in between classes. He was smiling so brightly that it jarred you for a second. You tamped down the blossoming pain, convincing yourself that him being happy was good enough. You stopped sorting jelly beans.
At 17, Ominis’ parents forced him to attend your last Halloween Ball with you. They allowed you to be distant when you were younger but you are going to be married soon so you need to start keeping up appearances, they said. He looked like a prince in his black formal coat with green lining. The embroidered green and silver serpents on his lapel match the ones on your dress. You expected him to be churlish and rude because who would want to bring the girl they hate to a ball? But you’ve forgotten that Ominis is kind. He was a perfect escort, regaling you with Sebastian’s misdeeds, making you laugh while controlling himself from recoiling when you have to touch each other for the dance. But you noticed how he gravitates toward the Hogwarts hero, tilting his head to follow their voice, unconsciously moving the two of you closer to them. You thanked Ominis for being a gracious escort and decided to leave early. You put the Gaunt engagement ring on his favorite table along with a box of sorted jelly beans.
At 18, you disappeared before the engagement party.
Presently in your 20s, you awoke to the sound of your door being broken down. Alarmed, you grabbed your wand and started looking for the emergency bag that you are pretty sure you put under your bed for when your family manages to track you down. Someone silently Accio’d your wand and a voice that sounds suspiciously like Sebastian’s shouted, “Found her first, Ominis! You owe me the most expensive wine from the Gaunt cellar.”
You froze on the spot, unsure whether to crawl under the bed or run toward the window and jump without your wand. You chose the latter but before you could open the window a pair of strong arms encircled your waist and you hear someone cast Colloportus on your bedroom door.
“Think you could run away from me forever, darling?” You know you should at least struggle to free yourself but you are confused by the heat that pooled in your womb when you hear Ominis’ slightly feral voice right by your ear.
“I… Ominis, please let go,” Ever the gentleman, he did what you asked. His arms fell from your waist but he put his hands on the wall behind you instead, effectively caging you with his entire body. You think about slipping away but the door’s locked and Sebastian's outside. “What do you want?”
He hummed, probably thinking about the answer you thought, but you felt him lean forward and smell your hair? The highly unusual action made you squirm and you opted to slide downward. You thought you could crawl to the other side of the room but he was quick on his feet despite the lack of vision.
He felt around you for a bit and hooked one of his arms under your knees while the other supported your back, easily carrying you over to the bed. He waved his wand and the blanket wrapped around you, rendering you immobile.
“Tell me why you left,” he commanded from the foot of the bed. Ominis was an epitome of calm and collectedness but at this very moment he was anything but. His hair’s all over the place and his clothes looked like he hurriedly grabbed and wore whatever he could put his hands on. “Please.”
You struggled to come up with a proper answer. Why did you leave? You racked your brains with any excuse that he could accept so that he could release you and you can continue running away from everything. “I was trying to find myself?” That’s what the Muggle women from Sebastian’s books say when they run away.
You voiced a small sorry when you saw his frown, the one he uses when your joke does not land well. You slipped out of the blanket prison and sat down. Sensing that you are ready for a serious talk, Ominis sat on the edge of the bed. You noticed how he is forcing his body to turn away from you as he always did back when you were young.
“You hate me.” You did not expect the catch in your voice when you finally uttered the sentence that you’ve always known to be true. You tried to blink away the tears. You thought you've already cried enough.
“What?” He seemed to be genuinely confused. “When did I…”
“From the first time we met. You refused to play with me. You refused to be my prince so you became a unicorn. You always turn your body away when I’m near as if I have some disease that you don’t want to catch. You always frown and sigh when I’m with you like an old grandfather.” You could not stop the torrent of accusations that fell from your lips and the accompanying tears.
Instead of apologizing, Ominis Gaunt laughed. It was not a mocking laugh that your brother uses when you said something stupid. It was a delighted, joyful laugh, as if you’ve given him something that he's been searching for all his life.
“You love me,” he declared with a raised eyebrow, challenging you to deny the statement.
“And what of it?!” Your ears turned red from anger. You are mad at the stupidly handsome man who dared to out your deepest secret. You are itching to retaliate so you threw a pillow at him but the irritating man managed to cast a Protego before it hits his face.
“You love me.” This time he said it with a pleased smile and a soft wondering voice. Your heart started pounding when he crawled toward you like a snake toward its prey. Before you could think about your next move, he dragged you into his lap and wrapped his arms around you. “You’re a spoiled brat, darling.”
You tried to wiggle away to express your indignation but he shushed you and continued, “I did not play with you because I couldn’t get my head straight when I first met you; I thought you hexed me. You, my dear, never asked me to be the prince. I always had to turn away from you because if I didn’t I would have jumped you and embarrassed both of us in front of our friends and the entire Hogwarts student body. Anything else, princess?”
“You like the new fifth year,” you mumbled on his shirt.
“I did like the new fifth year as a friend. How could I think about anyone else when you and Sebastian take turns trying to turn me into a grandfather?”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“You stopped sorting my jelly beans. My life was never the same. Do you know how hard it is to catch a jelly bean sorter? Especially so when you're blind?” You shivered when his hand started caressing your waist, slowly pulling up your night dress to get into the skin underneath.
“You looked for me because you want your jelly bean sorter back?” You pouted, trying your best to ignore the goosebumps that his touch is giving you.
“Pretty much.” He tightened his embrace, forcing you toward him. He rubbed his cheek on your chest and used his other hand to tilt your head downwards. He brushed his lips against yours, softly, slowly. “May I kiss you?”
“I think you already did, Mr. Gaunt,” you said with a laugh.
He hissed at the cheeky response and bit your lower lip. You put your hands on his jaw and started giving him small kisses from his forehead, his pretty eyes, his cheeks. His hands found your aching breast when you finally kissed him on the lips and you both moaned at contact. He deepened the kiss, his tongue begged for entry and you gladly obliged. You whined when his tongue caressed your mouth back and forth, mimicking the age-old dance that you hope to partake in.
You were about to take your night dress off when a series of loud knocks jolted the two of you out of your lust-induced euphoria.
“Hey, I know you’re eager to have at it but my twins are waiting for their bedtime stories and I can’t stay here forever to guard. Bring her home first, Ominis,” Sebastian’s tired and sleepy voice came through the door.
“He’s been pestering me to confess since we were 12. And that, darling, is why I was always frowning and sighing,” Ominis whispered and peppered your laughing face with small kisses. “Come, I have a lifetime worth of jelly bean boxes for you to sort, jelly bean fairy.”