Chapter Text
Amihan Flores was a witch of many talents - duelling, flying, Herbology, charming creatures magical or otherwise, getting the exact card she wanted from Chocolate Frogs… really, the list can just keep going - but fashion was not one of them. Sebastian was reminded of this as he stared at her latest discovery. He’d been relaxedly going over Transfiguration notes in the Slytherin common room when Amihan had come bounding down from her room, the now-familiar glint of adventure in her eyes.
“Sebastian,” she grinned, “I have a proposition.”
“My dear Ami, unless it involves a good ravishing, I really must write this essay for Weasley. She’s been hounding me lately.”
She ignored his crass comment, thoroughly impervious by now to the casual flirtations he employed liberally. “She’s hounding you no more than usual, you just need to get better at writing under pressure Utilising your laziness more effectively, and all that.”
“Amihan Flores, I’ll have you know that I have four years more experience than you in writing under pressure. The nerve of some witches, barging into Hogwarts and accusing me of ineffective laziness.” He sniffed, “My laziness is very effective, thank you.”
She laughed, “Well, since you are obviously so effortlessly talented, you’ll be able to accompany me without issue, then?”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at his friend’s innocent smile - the one that she used when she knew she was on her way to getting what she wanted. She was usually friendly to other students and was politeness incarnate to the professors, but Sebastian had been dragged around by her enough times to know that underneath the pleasant facade was a calculating mind. It was one of his favourite things about her.
“And where, exactly, am I accompanying you? What could be so pressing that I would abandon this plush, comfortable lounge?” He wagged his eyebrows and patted his sprawled out legs, “You could just join me here, you know.”
“Tempting, but there’s a charming little cave in the Forbidden Forest that I’d like to explore. I’ve been told that treasure can be found there.”
Sebastian groaned. Amihan’s concept of ‘treasure’ differed greatly from his - or most of the wizarding population, for that matter. Likely the muggle population as well, though he knew little about them. “That’s nowhere near pressing enough of a reason, and you know it.”
“Maybe not pressing, but surely it’s more interesting than sitting here going over Transfiguration notes when you know as well as I do that you have no plan of actually writing the essay until the night before it’s due. Which is tomorrow. Plenty of time for you to procrastinate, even after the treasure hunt.” The smile on Amihan’s face remained, and Sebastian sighed. She knew him too well. Even going on Amihan Flores’ twisted idea of a treasure hunt was more enticing than lying to himself about getting started on an essay early. And while he was being honest, could he even say no to the most beguiling witch he’d ever met?
“Lead the way, my lady.”
Which was how Sebastian Sallow found himself in yet another cave, staring in disbelief at the ridiculous headwear Amihan had dubbed ‘treasure’.
“A nightcap?! You dragged us out of the castle and into the Forbidden Forest for a moth-eaten nightcap? Who would even leave this in a chest in some long abandoned cave?!”
“Sebastian, please, it seems rather comfortable. I could wear this out on adventures.” Before Sebastian could express his incredulity that she would even consider wearing something so obviously unfashionable out in society, Amihan had placed the offending item on her dark hair, which elicited a soft glow from it. "See? Cozy and protective. I can already feel -"
Sebastian never got to hear what the moth-eaten nightcap made her feel, as she fell to the ground before any declarations were made.
“Amihan!” Sebastian rushed over, immediately ripping his new most loathed item of clothing off her head. He pressed a hand carefully on her brow - she was burning hot, but there didn’t seem to be any external injuries on her. He fished for a Wiggenweld potion from his robes and carefully, gently, cradled her head and pushed the contents of the bottle through her lips. For several brief, terrifying moments she simply lay still and Sebastian was sure he’d lost one of the few people he truly cared about; and what would Ominis say? Relief crushed him like a stone when she finally fluttered her eyelids open.
She stared at him, her deep brown eyes meeting his own, before smiling a smile that could only be described as wicked.
“...Sebastian. If you wanted to get me alone, you could’ve just asked.”
“Ami, hey, are you…” Sebastian trailed off as the intent dripping off of Amihan’s words registered in his panicked brain, “...okay?”
“Perhaps not. Perhaps I’m in need of some… attention.” She kept her dark eyes trained on him as she slowly guided herself to a seating position. Leaning in closer, she trailed her excessively warm fingers - he could feel them through all his layers - down the lapel of his jacket before gripping it tightly. “Perhaps you could provide it.”
“I’m… not sure I know what you mean.” Sebastian replied, fairly certain he knew exactly what she meant but too shocked (and a little afraid) to acknowledge it.
Her breath fanned over his face, “I can elaborate… maybe not with words, but I’d still use my tongue. Voraciously.”
Sebastian could only stare at her face, tantalisingly close to his. Amihan Flores was his friend, yes, but he wasn’t completely immune to her. Ever since she’d smugly thrown him off the duelling stage on her first day at Hogwarts, he’d been inexpressibly drawn to her, a feeling that only compounded the more time he spent around her. He was acutely aware of her brilliance and that she was objectively pretty, but the longer she gazed at him with that look in her eyes and pout on her lips, the more Sebastian realised that maybe he knew nothing about her or his feelings towards her until that exact moment.
So he did what any panic-fuelled teenager having an unwanted and uncomfortable epiphany would do - he cast Petrificus Totalus on his best-friend-that-was-rapidly-becoming-more-than-a-friend.
“Right,” he said, dusting his robes as he rose from the ground and faced an annoyed Amihan. “You are clearly dangerously feverish and this charming little cave, as you so put it, is hardly a good spot for raving madness. I know I have my appeal, Ami, but a cave? Have some dignity.” he quipped weakly.
It was a testament to Amihan’s sheer magical ability that she was capable of speaking within seconds of getting hexed. “Why Sebastian, is there another type of cave you’d rather be exploring?”
“I don’t… you… ugh, let’s just get out of this forsaken place.” Sebastian was blushing furiously at this point, but he levitated his brain-addled friend off the ground as gently as he could. He contemplated burning the nightcap where it lay, but tucked it into a pocket on the chance it was necessary for finding a cure for her… condition. As much as he wished Amihan Flores had suddenly and inexplicably fallen in utter lust with him, he knew her better than that. And that she would likely inflict harm to him for daring to be witness to her brazen state. He sighed. Hopefully she simply… forgets about this. Merlin knows he won’t.
“Oooh, are you taking me somewhere more comfortable? Your bed, maybe?”
Impossibly, the blush deepened. “I don’t think you’d want that. I share a room with four other people, remember?”
“They can join, too.”
Sebastian nearly bit his tongue off.
He didn’t trust himself to respond with anything other than a pathetic squeak, so he simply kept guiding the both of them out of the most cursed cave in all of Scotland. Amihan was mercifully quiet, until -
“I’ve never told you this, but your wristwork when you duel is quite impressive. Makes me wonder what else you could be doing with your hands.”
He had to fight to keep his impressive wrist steady to avoid crashing Amihan against the cave entrance. At least they were out in the forest, away from the cave’s suffocating atmosphere. Turning towards her hovering form, he was confronted with a blazing look of want from her eyes. Merlin, he knew he was constantly flirting with her, but that was just banter. Having her look at him like she was undressing him in her mind while speaking like that… it changed things.
Sebastian closed his eyes, sent a quick prayer to gods both living and dead, and took a deep breath. “Ami, look, I care for you deeply - “
“Perhaps you can show me how deep -"
“ - which is why I am ignoring all your unsubtle attempts at seduction. If this is genuine, we can revisit this discussion when you’re… better, but for now, do me a favour and maybe just… not speak?”
Amihan blinked at him, “ I wasn’t trying to be subtle.”
“Believe me, I know. But I’m trying to get us out of this Forest alive and you’re being… distracting.”
She grinned slowly, lasciviously. “Take me back to that cave and I can show you just how distracting I can be. Or maybe I'll practice not speaking if you fill my mouth with -”
“Right, that’s it. Silencio.” The glare she sent his way was searing. “You can yell at me later for this if you want, but it’s your dignity I’m sparing.”
The Silencing Charm lasted all of five minutes. The entrance to the Forest was at least half an hour away, and Silencio's effectiveness lessened the more it was cast. All Sebastian could do was grit his teeth, focus on the path, and coped by rating how effective each colourful entreaty would be if it was used on him by a non-hexed person.
"You could be putting your wand to better use right now." (Bit vague, could be referring to duelling)
"You've always told me not everything can be learned from a textbook. Care to give me a personal lesson?" (Better. His words have come back to haunt him once again, something she was alarmingly good at)
"Broomsticks aren't the only thing I'm good at riding" (She's talking about horses. Or hippogriffs. Absolutely nothing at all to do with him)
(The way she controlled her broom with her hips, though…)
"Since we're in the same house, does that mean we can Slyther-in to each other's beds?" (Horrible yet hilarious. Exactly what he would expect from a sober Amihan. Which meant it would probably work on him. What a horrible thing to realise about oneself)
"Remember our first Herbology class? I can be louder than that mandrake if you handle me right." (References to moments they shared were deeply unsettling, and therefore effective. Would she be as loud as she claimed, or would she be sighing against his mouth as she melted against him?)
"You've been to the Library's Restricted Section often enough - why don't you sneak into mine instead?" (Images of getting up to no good in the Library flashed through his head: pushing her onto one of the tables, knocking over books, trying to stay quiet so they don't get caught… he'd never view the Library the same way again)
"I love it when you roll your sleeves up before duelling. It's like a sign that you're about to get serious. Will you be rolling them up as well before you take me?" (Far too personal, sounds like something she'd thought about before, Sebastian wanted her both miles away and pressed against him and honestly there's only so much of this he can take when she's flushed and her hair was all over the place - is that what she would look like if - )
"You can't imagine how inconvenient travel was before I invented Floo Powder!" (Is that an obscure innuendo? Wasn't the point more about the travel than the destination?)
Wait.
With a jolt, Sebastian realised they'd reached the entrance of the Forest and relief flooded him for the second time that day. He'd never been more grateful to hear Ignatia Wildsmith's inane bumbling. He's alive, she's alive, and he hadn't Depulso'd her and her filthy, lovely mouth into the next mountain. He was going to get both of them through this hellish ordeal if it killed him.
Which it likely will.
Because as he set her down and he got to take his first proper look at her since escaping that horrid cave, the soft afternoon light dappled across her face and turned her dark eyes into molten amber that seared a certainty in him he hadn't realised before.
Amihan Flores was more than objectively pretty.
Amihan Flores was wildfire.
He'd always known that, hadn't he? But he never realised he was in danger of getting burnt until the flames were licking at his feet. Her determination and wit, her loyalty, her smile, her awful fashion sense, the kindness and ruthlessness that existed in equal parts within her… he'd known about all of it.
He just wasn't aware how badly he wanted to know even more about her.
Not just the… activities she'd been enthusiastically suggesting, but also everything else. Their friendship made him privy to many things - how she liked her eggs (poached), that she got cold easily, her habit of grabbing people’s arms while she laughed and hiccupping when she cried - but there were so many other things he didn’t know. Sebastian had always soaked knowledge up greedily, and it was no different this time.
What was she like first thing in the morning? Not at breakfast, but when she flutters her lashes awake? Would she gift him with a soft, sleepy smile, or would she huff at the thought of being conscious and curl deeper under the covers?
What would she do if he gave in to his instincts and tucked her perpetually stray hairs behind her ear? It was an urge he often got as a matter of practicality, but now he wanted to have his fingers linger on her neck a second longer than necessary. By Merlin, had he always wanted to touch her skin this badly?
What would it be like to hold her for longer than a moment? For more than comfort?
What would it be like to be held by her just because she wanted to?
Sebastian was disconcerted, to say the least, about the sudden rush of emotions that were currently flooding him. Apparently all it took to turn him into a soupy, pathetic mess was a nice sunset and Amihan Flores looking at him with something akin to want in her eyes. Not even genuine want, mind you, but a hex-inspired one. All this time thinking he was safe from her omnipresent pull because they were friends, yet here she was, dragging him under anyway.
He sighed his umpteenth sigh for the day. He thought he was better than this, he really did.
Not for the first time, and certainly not the last, Sebastian was unequivocally and devastatingly wrong.
Unfortunately for him, time did not stop for anyone, let alone the newly lovesick. No amount of metaphorical swelling violins and grand epiphanies could stop the will of the world being imposed on the unsuspecting - and in this moment, the world willed that Sebastian should suffer.
“Sebastian! Amihan!”
Sebastian realised with slow horror that as he was busy gaping and mooning over his friend, other, less-hexed friends had been making their way back to the castle from Hogsmeade and were now seconds away from him and his lust-ridden charge.
“Hullo, Seb.” Garreth Weasley and his long legs were the first to reach them and, consequently, the first to regard them with confusion. “Why’s Ami in a body lock?”
“I never thought I’d see the day you’d be successfully cursed, Ami.” Poppy Sweeting followed up, her arms carrying supplies from J. Pippin’s.
Natsai Onai was next to raise an eyebrow. “I did not take you for the type to forget basic spells, Sebastian. Finite In-”
“- EXPELLIARMUS!” Garreth, Natsai, and Poppy all looked at him as if he’d spontaneously grown another limb. Perhaps they would call it an overreaction, but Sebastian desperately did not want to know what Amihan would do when set free in her current state. More importantly, he didn’t want to know what he would do - likely fling himself off the nearest cliff if this went on any longer.
“...it’s for her protection. She’s been hexed.” Sebastian mumbled as he handed Natsai back her wand. “It’s a bit… hard to explain.”
Amihan, who had been mercifully quiet for a suspicious amount of time, chose this moment to confirm Sebastian’s diagnosis. “It won’t be the only hard thing around here if you let me have my way.”
Garreth, Natsai, and Poppy all looked at her as if she’d spontaneously grown not just a limb, but a whole other body altogether.
“I’m so glad you’re all here. Sebastian is so delectable, but he can be such a tease.”
Garreth wheezed. Poppy nearly dropped her bag of supplies.
“Oh my… should we be leaving the two of you alone?” Natsai was the only one with the courage to speak.
“Natty, don’t go. You know I love your passion. I love all your passions.” Amihan swept her eyes across the company. “What say we… express these passions with each other?”
Poppy’s eyes were as wide as a mooncalf’s. “I can see why you put her in a full body lock, Sebastian.”
“Oh, I can actually break free anytime. I just like it when Sebastian takes control… uses me, if you will. Maybe you can, too, Poppy? You’re so good at handling beasts… I can be one. Just. For.You.” It was both a disappointment and a relief for Sebastian to see Amihan scald Poppy with the same look she’d been burning him with all afternoon. Sure, it meant he wasn’t special, but this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing when he was still reeling from his Great Epiphany. He was just grateful she had deigned to not break free of the body lock, perverted reasons be damned. And that he no longer had to suffer alone - misery really does love company.
For her part, Poppy simply turned a flaming red and sat down on a nearby rock. Sebastian found the feeling utterly relatable.
“This wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t look as if she’s ravishing us all with her eyes alone.” Garreth sounded like he was torn between awe, laughter, and genuine tears. “What sort of hex does this to a person?”
“I assure you Garreth, I can ravish you with much more than my eyes.”
“Hnngggh,” Garreth clasped his hands to his ears and backed away towards Poppy’s rock. “Make it stop, please, I can’t have my innocence ruined like this.”
“Not much innocence left to ruin.” Sebastian muttered.
“How long has she been like this?” Natsai was the first to recover.
“About an hour. She dragged me on one of her ‘treasure hunts’ and started acting like this after she put this… thing on.” Sebastian brought the nightcap out in all its moth-eaten glory, the golden afternoon light somehow making it look even more dilapidated.
It impressed no one. “How did that… do that?” Garreth flapped his arms towards Amihan, presumably referring to her flushed, lecherous state.
“If I knew, Weasley, I’d have shut her up a long time ago.”
Amihan pouted the lips she’d been gnawing on during the exchange (were they slightly swollen?). “I suggested many ways for you to shut me up, Sebastian -”
“- and absolutely none of them can be repeated in polite company, thank you Ami. Does anyone else have any less scandalous ideas?”
“Hospital wing?” Poppy piped.
“No, we cannot. The amount of students between here and there…” Natsai responded with what Sebastian was thinking, and her eyes widened. “Goodness, will she speak like this to Nurse Blainey?”
Amihan smirked. “Well, she does know how to -”
“Silencio!”
Sebastian sighed at Garreth, who had his wand pointed at her. “I overused it trying to get us out of the forest. It only lasts a few seconds now.”
“That’s fine, I simply didn’t want to know what she thinks Nurse Blainey knows how to do.” Garreth shuddered. “Being wanton with us is one thing, but the staff as well? The teachers? Merlin’s soggy beard, my aunt?”
Poppy gazed at him, “Are you saying that we can’t ask anyone for help because she might throw herself at them?”
“No, I’m saying maybe we should… be selective in who we ask for help.”
“It pains me to say it, but Weasley’s right.” Sebastian glanced at Amihan. “If I have to witness her propositioning Hecat I may simply set myself on fire. Or she’ll do it for me, once she recovers and realises I allowed that to happen. Merlin only knows who would be an acceptable target, though. Perhaps someone that everyone already desires anyway?” He realised the answer as soon as the words left his mouth.
“...Garlick, of course.”
“Garlick.” Natsai said matter-of-factly.
“Garlick.” Poppy confirmed.
“Sharpe.” Three heads and six raised eyebrows turned to Garreth. “What?” he said defensively. “He’s a brilliant potioneer! And he’s got that whole ex-Auror, tragic past thing going for him. And have you seen the scar?”
“I desire everyone.” Amihan declared with absolute confidence.
“We can see that” Sebastian responded drily. “Hang on, let me try something.”
He released the body lock (to Garreth’s wincing) and beckoned her to sit on a slightly further boulder. Amihan looked delighted, practically bounding over to join him. She sat, more compliant than Sebastian had ever seen her, and beamed up at him. “Are you finally giving me what I want?”
Sebastian took a deep breath, willed for his blush to go away, and knelt in front of her, trying to sound more confident than he felt. “In a way. If you sit here and be quiet, perhaps you’ll be rewarded later.” he tried to use the tone he usually employed during their friendly, flirty bantering, but the lopsided smirk she gave him immediately evaporated any control he thought he had.
She leaned forward and rested an elbow on her knee, her other hand reaching over to tip Sebastian’s chin towards her. “Is that a promise, Sallow?”
He grabbed her hand and, in a moment of pure brazenness that he could only assume came from being temporarily possessed, gently brushed her knuckles over his lips as he stared back into the dark depths of her eyes. “It is. And it’s one I intend to keep.”
Amihan’s eyes shifted from wanting to the pleased satisfaction of one who will soon get the object of their desires. It was the complete opposite of the innocent smile she usually used, Sebastian noted. He gave her hand a squeeze as he nodded at her and let go, making his way back to the rest of the watching group.
“That was… sensual.” Poppy blurted out.
“Masterfully done, though.” Garreth added, his eyes wide.
Sebastian, red-faced and reeling from what had just transpired, responded with the snark he was most comfortable with. “Planning to pull the same move on Sharpe, are you?”
It was Garreth’s turn to blush. “Say what you will, but I reckon he’s our best option for help. He likely has prior experience with this kind of thing… whatever it is.”
“We may not need to ask.” Poppy spoke up, “We could just… make her unconscious. I have to do it to the Kneazles sometimes when they need treatment. The nightcap that caused this is quite old; there’s a good chance the magic in it isn’t that strong anymore, and she’ll be alright with a good sleep.”
Sebastian stared at her. “Are you suggesting we knock Ami on the head like a troll so she can have a decent nap?”
“Of course not Sebastian, a single Stupefy would work plenty well.”
“She’s not some geriatric Kneazle, Poppy, she’s Ami!” Sebastian didn’t know where this newfound ethical approach to magic was coming from but then again, Sebastian didn’t know where a lot of the day’s thoughts were coming from.
“I do not like the methodology either, Sebastian, but Poppy has a good point. This way we would not have to parade her in front of anyone else. She just needs to be taken somewhere solitary. If she is still… like this tomorrow, then we can explore other options.” Natsai interjected, ever the voice of reason.
“Agreed, but do we need to knock her out? Good ol’ Seb here managed to get her to behave.” Garreth indicated to Amihan, currently perched on the rock like the very picture of innocence.
“No, no we don’t.” Sebastian winced internally at agreeing with Garreth for the second time that day. “I can take her somewhere she can be alone. It’s, uh, for Slytherins only so maybe you guys can find out where Ominis is and tell him to meet me there. And tell him to bring a Sleeping Draught.”
Natsai nodded. “We can do that. Where shall we tell him to meet you?”
Sebastian blinked. He hadn’t considered what to call the Undercroft without giving it away. “Uh. He’ll know where it is.”
“Incredibly vague, but all right. We’ll do it for Ami.” Garreth clasped his shoulder as they all turned towards the girl in question.
Right. Time to steel his fraught nerves again. He walked over to Amihan and extended a hand out to her. She grabbed it without hesitation and stood up to face him, lips curving up ever so slyly. “Is it time for that reward yet?”
“Almost, darling, you just have to be good and follow me, yes?” Where was this confidence coming from?
But follow she did.
The others sped ahead to find Ominis, but Sebastian held her hand back to the castle. He felt aflame the whole way through; not just because her skin still felt unnaturally hot, but also because he was holding Ami’s hand! He resisted the urge to swipe his thumb across it (it felt like crossing the boundaries of necessity), but there was no ignoring the weight of it in his own. Hers was softer, smaller, but her callouses rivalled his - she was no stranger to wand duelling, after all. Occasionally he could feel the curves of her longer nails press into the back of his hand and he was forced to consider what they would feel like scratching other parts of him but that would be improper, get it together, Sallow.
He was aware of some of the looks the two of them were getting - Sallow and Flores, I knew it! You owe me a Galleon! - but rumours were a better alternative to her waltzing along and propositioning everyone within the castle. At least he hoped she would see it that way once she’d recovered. Come to think of it, would she even remember anything if she does wake up better? Sebastian honestly didn’t know what he would prefer.
Ominis was waiting for him at the entrance to the Undercroft. Amihan’s eyes lit up, like a predator spotting new, lush prey, but Sebastian could not - would not - abide by it. It was debatable for the rest of them, but Ominis deserved better than to be treated like a slab of meat.
“Ami, please, spare him. You promised to be good.”
She let out a slight harumph but acquiesced. Ominis raised one perfectly groomed eyebrow. “Natty’s filled me in. I’ve got a Sleeping Draught here and I’ve already transfigured some of the crates in there into a bed. How on earth do the two of you get into these misadventures?”
“In my defense, this one was entirely her. I was merely dragged along, somewhat against my will.”
“Somehow I doubt you fought that hard.” Ominis muttered.
He was right, but Sebastian ignored him. “Where did you get a Sleeping Draught?”
“Garreth filched it from the Hospital Wing.”
“Just now? Are you certain it’s not one of his own creations?”
“No, he went and raided Blainey’s cabinets last week to supplement his experiments. It smells fine to me.”
“Alright, then.” The three of them stepped into the Undercroft, where a small but comfortable-looking bed was waiting. “Nice work on the bed.”
“Only the best for our Ami.” Ominis said dryly. “Now put her in it so we can leave before my chaste sensibilities are shattered.”
“You’re lucky she seems to have tired herself out. You’ve no idea what I had to go through in that forest.” Sebastian recalled darkly.
“And I have no intention of ever finding out, thank you Sebastian.”
Sebastian put aside the need to bicker with his best friend and led his other friend to the bed, where he gestured for her to sit. There was a twinge of sadness as she let go of his hand, but he soldiered on. “Drink this for me?” He held out the bottle of Sleeping Draught to her, praying that she won’t resist.
Amihan resisted immediately. “Won’t it make me fall asleep?”
“It’s… It’s to make sure you get some rest. For later. For what I promised you.” Somehow, putting on this act in front of Ominis was worse than doing so in front of anyone else. He could feel the judgement scorching him from behind.
“I don’t need rest. I need you.”
The feeling of judgement increased tenfold. Sebastian thought that he would rather be at the bottom of the Black Lake than in this room, having to do what he was about to.
“And I -” he cupped Amihan’s cheek with his free hand and popped the lid of the Draught with the other, “- need you to do as I say. Otherwise how can I reward you later?”
He brought the bottle up to her lips and, at her nod, tilted it so she could drink the contents. One last searing gaze at his eyes, and she had exited the conscious world. He caught her before she could fall (if only he could always do so) and laid the blanket as gently as he could on her sleeping form.
“Quite the display.” Ominis stated as they made their way out of the Undercroft. “Dare I ask what the promised reward is?”
“The reward is she gets to watch me feed you to the squid if you keep talking.”
He didn’t need to turn around to feel Ominis’s gloating smirk. “I don’t think it will be so public an event - unless that’s what you both like?”
“Please cease. You sound like her, and it’s been an awfully long day.”
“Not as long as your wand, I’m sure.”
Sebastian groaned as Ominis chuckled. He didn’t know what would happen after today - the rumours, the jokes, whether she’ll remember, his newfound feelings - but it didn’t matter. None of it mattered, as long as she woke up safe and whole and Ami again.
And maybe, just maybe, he’ll get to hold her hand again.