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Ominis would be lying if he said he wasn’t very seriously considering finding a new best friend.
“Honestly,” Sebastian whisper-drawls from down the aisle in the library, “I was sort of embarrassed for you, mate. You didn’t even kiss her.”
Ominis grits his teeth against a savage wave of irritation and shoves his book back into place on the shelf with far more force than necessary; the hollow thunk it makes against the back of the bookshelf echoes across the entire library. He basks in the momentary surge of pleasure he gets from the sudden, sharp, but familiar sounds of paper shifting and weight quickly redistributing - he’d managed to startle Sebastian.
Good. It’s been a touchy morning already - Ominis awoke in a tenuously foul mood and Double Potions with the Gryffindors for the vast majority of the morning made it infinitely worse - and Sebastian’s relentless poking is only driving him closer to the proverbial edge.
“Of course I didn’t kiss her,” he snaps as Sebastian quickly recovers. “You and Mabel were right across the hall, we were in clear view - it’s obviously none of my business if the two of you make a habit of snogging in front of other people, but I prefer to keep my affairs private.”
“First of all, you make it sound like we’re snogging in the middle of the Great Hall at dinner every night - we got caught one time in the Defense Against the Dark Arts tower at, like, ten o’clock in the evening - and it was only because she couldn’t wait ten seconds to get down to the Undercroft and Hecat heard us.”
“Do not snog your girlfriend in the Undercroft -”
“Secondly,” Sebastian loudly interrupts, and Ominis winces; they both fall silent, Sebastian likely craning in place to see where Scribner is on the ground floor while Ominis strains his ears to listen. There are more than a few other students in the library - feet shuffling, quiet voices murmuring, all blending together in an incomprehensible wall of sound. He paws at his wand stashed in his robes, allowing precisely three pulses of his magic to emanate from the tip before identifying Scribner’s distinctive form behind her desk near the entrance. If anyone noticed their outburst, they were choosing to ignore it.
“Secondly,” Sebastian continues at a significantly lower volume, “It’s me and Mabel. We’re not going to think poorly of you for kissing your girlfriend right after confessing how you feel about her. In fact, we both think poorly of you for not kissing her right after that.”
Ominis can feel his face heating up, and for a moment, he has to very seriously fight the urge to bury his face in the shelves and scream. Pressure builds in his chest, stealing his breath; he digs through his pocket and grips his wand again, throwing the outline of Sebastian’s suddenly tense posture before him in sharp relief in his mind. He’s tried to explain it before - the feeling of unseen eyes watching him, studying him, dissecting and destroying him from the inside out - but he can never seem to get the words to cooperate before the feeling overtakes him.
Sebastian seems to understand anyways. “C’mon,” he murmurs, and then his warm hands are on Ominis’ upper arms and he’s guiding Ominis backwards, toward the end of the aisle and into a more secluded corner. The sounds of the other students dim the further back Ominis stumbles, and then his shoulders hit a solid flat plane and Sebastian’s hands vanish. “Breathe, mate,” he hears Sebastian fret somewhere nearby.
Ominis squeezes his eyes shut and forces a slow, shaking inhale through his nose. He can still see the shape of Sebastian hovering nearby, seemingly torn between the need to pace his own anxiety away and Ominis’ need for stillness. Ominis exhales slowly through his parted lips, waits a moment, and breathes in again through his nose.
“I’m sorry,” Sebastian says in a rush the moment Ominis presses a hand over his own heart. “I’m sorry, I was only joking - I didn’t mean -”
“It’s alright,” Ominis manages, and Sebastian falls quiet. “I know, I - I don’t know why that - I know you were joking.”
Sebastian doesn’t seem sure, but seems to think better of needling Ominis any further; in silence, Ominis slowly gets his breathing back under control, and only when he lifts his head does Sebastian finally give into the urge to pace the length of the aisle.
“I wanted to kiss her,” Ominis confesses, soothed by the familiar scuff of Sebastian’s heels on the thin rug beneath their feet. “I nearly did, but I…I don’t know. It - I was waiting for the right moment, and - and when I thought I should, she hugged me instead. Don’t get me wrong,” he says quickly when Sebastian’s pacing falters, “it was a brilliant hug. I’ve - I’ve never been hugged like that before, and it was - it was wonderful. But the fact remains that she hugged me, and then you and Mabel joined us, and then we all started arguing, and then dinner happened and I thought perhaps after dinner, but I never - I never felt like it was the proper moment. By the time I realized I should have kissed her when she hugged me, the evening was already over.”
“Oh, Ominis,” Sebastian sighs. “If you’re waiting for the proper moment, it’s never gonna happen.”
Ominis rears back, steeled for a judgmental laugh or a scornful chiding, but all that follows is Sebastian stepping closer and leaning back against the wall to Ominis’ right. He lets his mouth hang open a moment longer before settling back again; for a long moment, they stand shoulder-to-shoulder, ensconced in the library’s quiet hum. “I take it you’ve already kissed Mabel, then,” he says quietly.
Sebastian laughs - small and fond. “Yeah,” he says.
Ominis waits, but Sebastian doesn’t elaborate. “How - how did you - I don’t need every sordid detail, mind you, but -”
“It was in the Undercroft,” Sebastian gently interrupts. “It was - she was having a really, really bad day, and I - well. I made it worse.”
“Naturally.”
“You get a free pass on that one since I accidentally gave you a panic attack, but we’re even now.” Sebastian bumps Ominis’ shoulder, and Ominis snorts through a broad grin. “Right, well, I - I made it worse. But then, I dunno…things changed. She said it wasn’t really my fault, I just inadvertently pushed her over the edge she was already on from everything else that had gone on that day. She screamed at me a bit, and then apologized and explained everything that had actually happened, and…it just sort of led into us confessing to each other - which had more yelling, somehow - and then…it just sort of happened.”
Ominis gives him a beat, but he falls quiet again. “That’s it?” he asks. “‘It just sort of happened’ - Sebastian, honestly, that gives me nothing to work with -”
“I dunno what else to tell you! I wasn’t thinking about it in the moment, I wasn’t really thinking at all - I was just looking at her and she was looking at me and we’d just yelled at each other and - and - I just followed my instincts.”
“Great, so, you looked at each other - I’m already down for the count on that front - and you yelled at each other - that’s me out as well. Thanks for nothing, this has been incredibly frustrating -”
“I think the thing you need to focus on is not thinking about it so much. You seem to be under the impression that everyone everywhere is negatively judging you at all times, but that just isn’t true. Your family situation aside, most other people aren’t paying that much attention to anyone outside of themselves. We’re all just trying to make it through the day most of the time.”
Ominis bites out a sigh. “I don’t think you understand what it’s like to carry a name like Gaunt on your back -”
“You’re right. I don’t.” Sebastian interrupts - just loud enough to drown Ominis’ voice out of his own ears. “But I do know you, Ominis. Beyond your family’s reputation. You’re the antithesis of everything they stand for and believe in. You’re kind, and gentle, and soft-spoken, and that’s exactly why Anne and I befriended you all those years ago, why Mabel adores you the way she does, and why Poppy Sweeting is falling in love with you. She knows your surname - she knows your family - and she loves you anyways. In fact, I doubt any of that is even a factor in the way she feels about you. If other people choose to not look beyond your surname, that’s a grand reflection on their character - not yours. Poppy’s affections don’t have to be earned - she’s chosen you, mate. Just like Mabel chose me. It’s not some quest to be conquered, or prize to be won - her choice automatically makes you worthy. It’s a partnership.”
Ominis breathes in slowly, Sebastian’s words settling like a thick, warm blanket over his buzzing mind. Sebastian remains quiet beside him; Ominis has a sneaking suspicion he’s peering up with pseudo-interest at the ceiling, trying to count how many dusty tomes are crammed together on the top shelf. “You know, it’s incredibly unsettling when you’re the wise one between the two of us,” Ominis finally manages to rasp after a moment.
Sebastian snorts. “Only when I have to be,” he says cheerfully. “It’s unsettling when you’re the one to lose your head between the two of us - the only reason I’m so good and talking you off the ledge is because you’ve done it for me three times as often.”
“That’s a low estimate,” Ominis snipes, which earns a loud, earnest laugh from Sebastian - and a piercing shush from Scribner, who just rounded the corner at the end of the aisle.
“This’ll be such a funny story to tell your kids someday,” Sebastian mutters as Scribner drags them both by the hoods of their cloaks to the library’s entrance. “‘Gather ‘round, kiddos, let Uncle Sebastian tell you all about your mummy and daddy’s first kiss, it all started with daddy’s panic attack getting us ejected from the library -’”
Right. Ominis very seriously needs to find a new best friend.
Despite Sebastian’s shockingly good encouragement in the library, three days pass before anything actually comes of it.
Not for lack of trying on Ominis’ part - or Sebastian’s, despite Ominis’ insistence that he can do this on his own. Ominis even has a (sinking) suspicion that Mabel’s in on it, too - neither she nor Sebastian have actually said as much to Ominis, but he keeps finding himself shoved none-too-gracefully toward Poppy in classes where Mabel had, historically, been her partner.
(Not that he minds - nor does Poppy, it seems, though her giggling at Ominis’ jokes has gone a bit higher in pitch than before, which he recognizes as a nervous tell of hers. He wants to ask about it, but feels as though a furnace is about to burst through the skin of his face every time he tries.)
No, despite his best efforts and intentions, he can’t seem to get himself to stop thinking about it, thereby paralyzing himself in a truly asinine attempt at moving his relationship forward. He’s just about given up on the idea - there are couples out there who don’t kiss, right? Couples other than his parents? Couples who actually love each other very deeply, but whose affection never wavers any deeper than a long, solid hug? - when his resolve finally breaks.
At Mabel’s hand, shockingly.
He awakes to a loud, hollow rapping on his dormitory door. Across the room, he can hear Sebastian groaning at the sudden intrusion, bedsprings squealing in protest beneath his weight as he rolls to his other side; with a resigned sigh, Ominis throws his blankets off and rolls out of bed, grabbing at his wand before his feet hit the cold stone floor.
He deduces the shape standing prone outside the dormitory door is probably a fourth- or fifth-year boy holding something he can’t quite comprehend the shape of through the door as he pads across the dormitory. It’s early - he can feel it in the grittiness around his eyes - though he can’t be certain of the time just yet. He stifles a yawn as he cracks the door open.
“Hi,” the boy says the moment Ominis peers through the gap between the door and the doorframe. “This owl’s been tapping on the windows like mad - Imelda Reyes told me to bring it to you before she incinerates it.”
He thrusts his arm out toward Ominis - holding the shape he couldn’t make sense of before out - and Ominis blinks as the owl lets out a soft hoot.
“I - thank you,” he says dumbly, holding his arm out flat so that the owl can hop onto his forearm. “Is it - is it holding a letter?”
“Yes,” the boy calls - already halfway down the hallway. “Addressed to you and Sebastian Sallow.”
“Thank you,” Ominis calls back as he eases the door closed again.
He turns back toward the room, arm already straining beneath the weight of the bird and uncertain where the closest perch is. Thankfully, the owl seems familiar enough with the setup of their dormitory; it takes off after only a moment, and Ominis holds his breath as he listens to its wings flutter and flap and come to a stand-still somewhere off to his right.
“Sebastian,” he calls, and Sebastian groans petulantly, voice muffled in the thick folds of his blankets. “There’s a letter here for us - I need you to wake up and read it.”
“You read it,” Sebastian grumbles.
“I’m blind, you idiot.”
“Really convenient,” Sebastian snarks, but his voice is unmuffled now, and the bedsprings are squealing again. Ominis hears the sounds of bare feet shuffling on the stone before him in tandem with Sebastian’s exaggerated snuffling and yawning, and then Sebastian suddenly stops short. “Oh, hi,” he says, suddenly far more awake than before.
Ominis tenses, quickly casting his wand across the room - he thought they were the only two there, but perhaps he missed someone. “What is it?” Ominis demands when the room comes up empty once more.
“Relax, it’s just Brixley.”
“Oh,” Ominis blinks in surprise, listening to Sebastian quietly coo at Mabel’s beloved barn owl. “Why would Mabel be writing to us so early in the morning?”
“Beats me,” Sebastian says. Ominis listens, breath held, as Sebastian tears the envelope open and unfolds the parchment. “‘Bas,’” he starts.
“‘Bas?’” Ominis repeats incredulously.
Not for the first time in his life, Ominis wishes more than anything he could see - he can practically feel the look of horror on Sebastian’s face at the realization that he’s just let something obviously secret loose for Ominis’ entertainment, likely flushed bright red from the roots of his hair down to the tips of his toes. “It’s - she - it’s just a nickname, she - she thought it - it’s cute when she does it, alright, I don’t need you judging - shut the fuck up!”
Ominis continues laughing loudly, ignoring Sebastian’s stammering and bitten, disgruntled sighs in favor of doubling over and wiping the tears from his eyes. “That’s just so precious, Bas,” he coos as he straightens up.
“I’m not above jinxing a blind man,” Sebastian mutters darkly.
“Oh, please,” Ominis says, waving a hand dismissively. “I shan’t say a word - but only for her sake. Read on.”
Sebastian sighs again, but seems to bury his face behind the letter in favor of continuing their argument. “‘Meet me at the North Gate as soon as possible - I got a troubling message from Mr. Pippen and need your help taking care of it.’”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Ominis murmurs.
“‘Ominis, I agreed to accompany Poppy into the Forbidden Forest this morning, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep my word. She’s expecting me at the Western entrance in an hour, and while I don’t think she’ll go in alone, I’d rather not leave her waiting all morning. Will you please catch up with her and accompany her? She’s not going very far in, as she’s merely retrieving a broach she dropped while out with Highwing last weekend. Better safe than sorry, though.’”
“Bloody - the Forbidden Forest?” Ominis practically snarls, diving toward the trunk at the foot of his bed and tearing through the contents haphazardly. He can hear Sebastian doing the same at his back, the letter Merlin-knows-where in the mess. “Was that all it said?”
“All you need to know about,” Sebastian grunts in time with the muted sound of his heel sliding into his boot.
“If there’s more about Poppy -”
“There isn’t - the rest is for me, and believe me, I’m doing you a favor by not reading it out loud.”
Despite the sudden chaotic frenzy, Ominis allows himself a moment to pause and shiver in mock-disgust.
They dress in under five minutes, Sebastian hauling Ominis out by his grip on his arm as Ominis tries desperately to tame his bedhead with his fingers. Thankfully, it’s early enough that the common room seems mostly abandoned aside from the quiet snick of Wizard’s chess across the room, followed by a quiet ha of triumph from Imelda.
Sebastian leads him only until Ominis draws his wand from his robes again; together, they race through the empty castle, footsteps echoing horribly on the marble floors. The front doors burst open in a rush of bitingly cold morning air, and Ominis’ breath freezes momentarily in his lungs, but then Sebastian’s grip is back around his wrist and he’s buffeted along the path, gasping for breath.
Sebastian slows down to a jog after they round the fountain in the center of the front lawn, using his grip on Ominis’ arm to slow him down with a firm pressure on his chest. “You didn’t have to run all the way here,” he hears Mabel say from close by over the sounds of his own panting.
“‘Course we did,” Sebastian pants, grip finally sliding off of Ominis’ wrist. “I wanted to see you.”
Ominis remains very still, one hand on his knee, wand pointed at the shape of Mabel and Sebastian quickly embracing at the mouth of the exit. He can feel a kind of wetness he’s always associated with fog against his face, making the cold air feel that much more oppressive.
“Ominis,” Mabel tries, just as a small, delicate hand touches his shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“Why is she going into the Forest?” he demands as he straightens up, inadvertently dislodging Mabel’s hand.
“She dropped one of her Gran’s broaches last weekend, like I said in the letter,” Mabel says. “It’s not very far in - they didn’t get far when they were out together - but she only just realized it was gone, and she’s desperate to find it as quickly as possible. I agreed to go with her, but now that I’m helping Mr. Pippen -”
“That’s fine - I need to move quickly if I’m going to catch up with her before she goes it alone -”
“She’s not going to go in alone. We’ll walk with you - it’s alright, Ominis, she’ll wait - there’s no rush.”
“Perhaps not to you, but I rather hate the idea of her being in danger, so -”
“Ominis, mate, relax. Mabel says she’ll still be waiting for us - we can hurry along the path, but there’s no need to bite anyone’s head off or vaguely accuse anyone of anything just because we aren’t sprinting.”
“We sprinted all the way here,” Ominis grumbles.
Sebastian ignores him. “I understand your eagerness, but Poppy isn’t stupid - she’s going to wait for backup, especially if backup has already been promised.” His tone, while light, betrays a warning Ominis has scarcely heard in him before; he blinks, suddenly cowed, and tries to ignore the building pressure in his chest and the subsequent frustrated tears behind his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he breathes, and he hears a quiet crunch as Mabel’s feet shift in the gravel. “I didn’t mean - it’s just that it’s early, and I was essentially still asleep ten minutes ago, this is all rather sudden -”
“It’s alright,” Mabel interrupts, and Ominis manages not to jump at the feeling of her hand on his upper arm, squeezing in reassurance. “Let’s get a move on, hm?”
“Please.”
They walk in silence - though Ominis has a sneaking suspicion that Sebastian and Mabel are deep in silent conversation. He knows from a quick check with his wand that they’re walking hand-in-hand and that their heads are turned toward each other, though he can’t quite make out their facial expressions. He sighs, and Mabel jumps, which only makes the guilt still burgeoning in his belly feel that much more oppressive.
He perks up as they draw near to the Western entrance and his wand picks up on the shape of a new person milling around just past the Floo Flame; in spite of Sebastian’s gentle warning, Ominis feels himself pick up speed in spite of everything, hurrying toward the figure as relief quickly drowns all other emotions out.
“Ominis!” Poppy calls happily as he rounds the corner between the main path and the path into the forest. He yanks her into a tight hug right away, breathing deeply as he buries his nose in her silky soft hair. Immediately, he’s inundated with the scent of her - subtle and floral, just sweet enough to make his mouth water. “Good morning,” she murmurs into his chest, clutching tightly at his back.
“I was worried you’d go in by yourself,” he confesses softly.
He feels her tense up against him, but she doesn’t pull away. “I knew Mabel was coming,” she says, thumbs sweeping over his back in small, feather-light arcs. “I would’ve gone back to the castle to look for her if she didn’t show. I’m not - in spite of all the stories we told at dinner the other night, I really only do reckless things like that when I’m with her. I’m not really the type to take on whole poacher camps or wander through the Forbidden Forest alone.”
Ominis clenches his jaw and squeezes his eyes shut, feeling infinitely more stupid for his outburst back at the front gate. “I know,” he murmurs. “I feel like a fool. I’ve no doubt you could hold your own in a situation like that, but…”
The weight of her head against his chest disappears in time with her shoulders pushing back against his arms; he resists the urge to rub the back of his neck in embarrassment beneath the scrutiny of her unseen gaze. “You’re not a fool,” she says after a moment. “I worry about you, too.”
He furrows his brow. “You do?”
“Of course I do. I worried after you the whole summer - especially when I knew you were at your family’s estate. And, if I’m being honest, a little bit while you were in Feldcroft with Sebastian and Anne since I know how devious the two of them can be, but…of course I worry after you. I care for you very deeply, Ominis, and if I thought you were in a situation where you were putting yourself in unnecessary danger, I’d - I’d probably act a bit foolish, too.”
He can feel the warmth of her breath against his face as she speaks, reversing the pins-and-needles cold from the fog pressing in around them - and the only thought he has in his mind is wanting to burrow down in this moment and stay here for all of eternity.
So he does precisely that.
He isn’t sure how his hands go from flattened against her back to cupping her face and angling her head, nor is he sure when he backed her up against the small, crumbling stone wall separating the right corner of the bridge from the main path, but when his awareness suddenly kicks back in, he finds himself pinning her to the corner with his body, breathing in her ragged gasp of surprise. He’s about to tear himself away, stammered apologies already tripping off his tongue, but she yanks him in closer with a fierce grip on his lapels before he can.
So after only a moment of tense awkwardness, he sinks back into it, moving his hands back to card his fingers through her hair. She makes a quiet sound that vibrates against his lips as her hands flatten and slide slowly across his chest, mapping her way up to the topmost curves of his shoulders and gripping him to her tightly once more. He hums, and she responds in kind, and then her tongue delves into his mouth as the tip of his nose digs against the soft, angelic curve of her cheek.
A loud, pointed wolf-whistle from the main path brings him crashing harshly back to reality; Ominis rips himself away from Poppy with a ragged gasp, keeping them both pressed into the corner as he quickly digs his wand back out of his robes.
It’s Sebastian and Mabel - or mostly Sebastian, it would seem, as Mabel is apparently doing everything in her power to shove a resolutely motionless Sebastian further along the path toward Hogsmeade and likely has been since Ominis unceremoniously abandoned them on the main walking trail. “What was that about keeping your affairs private, mate?” he calls in a loud, teasing sing-song as Mabel grunts with the effort to shove him forward.
“I suggest you get him out of here, Mabel, as he’s on the verge of losing all his hair -”
“Sebastian, please, your hair is the main reason I’m even with you at this point -”
“Run along, Sallow!” Ominis shouts over the sounds of Sebastian’s fake offense, grinning when Poppy muffles her giggles into his chest. “Little shit. It’s a wonder Mabel puts up with him and his insufferable meddling.”
“Honestly, they’re a match made in heaven,” Poppy murmurs - curiously breathless, which has Ominis’ chest puffing up with pride the moment he understands he was the one to make her sound like that. “This whole thing was Mabel’s plan, by the way, I only went along with it when it became apparent she wasn’t going to let it go.”
He freezes. “What was her plan?”
“It’s so elaborate - basically, she thought it would be a good idea to give us space to be alone together, so rather than, I don’t know, sacrificing her Room of Requirement for a little while, she told me about this little candle-lit table not far into the Forbidden Forest, and thought the best way to get you to agree to go with me there would be by acting is if she had already agreed to go into the Forest with me and then faking an emergency in Hogsmeade. She knew Sebastian would be on-board, and that Sebastian would get you on board if you weren’t already on your own.”
Ominis blinks. “That is the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard."
"I know."
"Leave it to her to create the most harebrained schemes to ever exist, honestly. Is the table even real?”
“She said she convinced Deek to help her set up a little breakfast spread for the two of us, so I do think it exists,” Poppy laughs. “I don’t think she was counting on you to kiss me before we’d even made it inside, but -”
“You kissed me back,” Ominis interrupts, grinning, and Poppy laughs again.
“Well of course I did! What was I meant to do, just stand there like a dead fish? Plus, I wanted to kiss you back.”
“You knew this entire thing was a plot and you didn’t say anything, you just let me kiss you right in front of Sebastian and Mabel -”
“I beg your pardon, sir! I did say something just now, I told you the whole thing was a plot - it isn’t my fault your best friend didn’t read the part of the letter where Mabel told him that -”
“Nor is it my fault that your best friend is conspiring against us -”
“I think she’s actually conspiring for us - she did put together that whole ball, too, don’t forget.”
Ominis blinks. “Yes, well…perhaps I owe her a heart-felt thank you when I next speak with her.”
Poppy touches his face gently, and in spite of his prickliness only moments earlier, he feels himself melt under her caressing fingers. “I think she’d like that,” she says fondly.
“After breakfast, of course,” Ominis murmurs, reaching to hold her hand in place by her wrist and turning to lightly kiss her palm.
He hears Poppy’s throat click against a thick swallow. “Perhaps after lunch,” she offers nonchalantly.
He grins against her hand. “Perhaps tomorrow,” he counters instead.
“Definitely tomorrow.”