Chapter Text
Ominis
Winter had come to Hogwarts. It was snowing outside, like it had been for a good week now. And although most people were having a great time, catching snowflakes or simply enjoying the new white scenery around the castle, Ominis didn't like the new climate.
It made the stonesteps outside slippery and the cold air trough his nose sting.
Furthermore, he needed to be extra carefull while passing the courtyards, not to be hit by a lost snowball in the face. Or not to walk right into a christmastree that he could have sworn was not there yet the day before.
Nevertheless, the change of seasons also brought a cosy feeling to their commonroom. Students gathered around the fireplaces to make their homework and everyone seemed in a better mood with the upcomming winterbreak around the corner.
Everyone besides Ominis that is. Winterbreak meant going home. And going home meant...
He sighed and turned around in his bed. He had been awake for hours now. For days actually. The thought of returning home had kept him awake for nearly a week now.
It was his very first year at Hogwarts.
The first time he had experienced freedom from his overprotective family.
The first time he didn't had to hear the condescending comments from his siblings.
The first time he didn't feel the dissapointed stares of the Gaunt family portraits burning in his back while he walked trough the corridors.
But most importantly, the first time he had made friends. Sebastian and Anne Sallow had been kind to him from the day they met, when they'd offered him to sit with them on the trainride to Hogwarts.
From day one their dynamic just worked. The thought of having to leave that behind even for a few weeks, made Ominis sick to his stomach.
He turned again, his legs getting tangled in his bedsheets. Maybe he could try banging his head against his headboard until he passed out? He lifted his head and threw it against his pillow. It didn't work.
"What are you doing?" He heard a tired Sebastian whisper.
Ominis froze. He hadn't realised how loud he was being. He didn't want to wake up his other fellow dorm mates.
"Nothing." He whispered back. "Just go back to sleep, Sebastian."
Sebastian stayed quiet for a while. Then Ominis heard the sound of bedsheets rustling and the creaking of a mattress. Bare feet padded against the cold floor.
"Move over." Sebastian whispered, much closer now. Ominis felt his mattress dip and before he could make room for the other boy, Sebastian already lifted his covers and slipped his way inside his bed. He heard some fabric rustling and concluded that Sebastian had closed his bed curtains.
"You know, invading ones private space like this is unbecomming?" Ominis huffed.
"Do you ever speak like a normal person?" Sebastian whispered back. "You're eleven. Not onehundred."
"Is that why you came here? To insult my manners?" Ominis teased. He grabbed his covers and pulled them up to his chin.
Sebastian tugged the sheets back. "Manners? I thought a real gentlemen would at least make sure his guests are comfortable. Don't take all the covers for yourself."
They laughed and kept playing tug of war with the sheets until a particulary loud snore from one of their dorm mates silenced their giggles.
"So..." Sebastian started. His tone soft and kind, unlike his usual boasting pitch. A tone Ominis usually only heard from Anne, the more sensitive sibling of the two. "Mind telling me why you have been struggling sleeping lately?"
Ominis turned on his back, away from Sebastian's prying eyes. He wasn't sure how much he could actually see. Darkness and light were abstract concepts to Ominis.
"I just have a lot on my mind, Sebastian. It's not that serious. I'm sure I would have fallen asleep by now if you hadn't so rudely interrupted my rest."
He heard Sebastian scoff. "Yeah right. You've been walking around with these dark circles under your eyes for days now. And during class you can barely keep them open."
Ominis cringed. Sometimes he forgot that other people could actually see his face and all the signs of fatigue that came with it.
"I'm just not looking forward at going home during Winterbreak." He admitted.
"Home? To your family?" Sebastian guessed.
Ominis nodded. Sebastian turned on his back as well. They laid there for a while. Shoulder to shoulder.
Ominis hadn't really opened up that much about his family. The Gaunt name always came with whispers and rumours.
And although the Sallow twins never seemed to mind, Sebastian even being a little too interested in his Slytherin heritage, Ominis never went into detail about how extreme some of his family's beliefs about blood purity and magic exactly were.
And in what ways they tried to make him understand that.
"I don't really want to go home either." Sebastian said, slowly as if he was admitting something secret. "My uncle is not exactly a welcoming person. He probably celebrated when Anne and I finally went to Hogwarts."
Ominis made an understanding sound. He didn't really know what else to say.
"But it's only for a few weeks." Sebastian continued. "After that, we'll be at Hogwarts again for months! What's the worst that can happen?"
Ominis swallowed. The worst that could happen? He thought about how his siblings had kept an eye on him during his first months. And at the angry letter he had received from their parents when they had found out that Ominis became friends with the Sallow twins. A non-pureblood familyname.
Maybe they wouldn't let him return back.
Maybe they would change their mind about Hogwarts and they would keep him locked up in his room, never to be seen again.
He thought about telling Sebastian that, but he couldn't. His friend still had some admiration for the Gaunt name, and a part of Ominis wanted him to keep that illusion. Protect him from the harsher truths.
Some part of Ominis was still a little proud of his heritage too. But perhaps that was just a side effect of being told to be so by his parents for his entire life.
"Maybe they'll marry me off to some pureblood witch overseas" He blurted out, in a way that was meant jokingly. "And they'll have me change schools like Durmstrang Institute or something."
His father allways loved the idea of sending his children to Durmstrang, a school where dark magic was much more accepted and even thaught. The only reason he didn't sent them there, was because their ancestor had cocreated Hogwarts. And they had to keep up the Gaunt name.
"Would they do that?" Sebastian gasped.
"Well not now, obviously." Ominis explained. "But they could arrange it. After all, my mother married my father trough an arranged marriage."
Sebastian turned to him. Ominis felt his warm breathing fanning against his face.
"They can't do that! If you move overseas then we might never see each other again." He complained.
"Yes" Ominis laughed. "Then who's homework will you copy?"
"I have never copied your homework! I just compare my answers to yours. But that's besides the point. I don't want you to change schools. I'm sure Anne would cry too, you know."
Ominis thought of Anne, probably the thoughest out of the three of them. "I doubt that. But I wouldn't want to change schools either." He admitted.
"So don't marry an oversea witch." Sebastian said. Simple as that.
"It's not exactly in my control." Ominis answered, wondering if his friend hadn't picked up he was joking.
"What if you already had a fiancé?" Sebastian wondered out loud. "Then you would marry them as soon as you graduated."
"I could do that." Ominis answered. He started to feel the familiar tug of sleepiness.
Sebastian's warm presence had a calming effect on his tense body and he felt it wouldn't be long until he would fall asleep.
He closed his eyes.
"Why don't you marry me?"
Ominis eyes sprung open again. "I beg your pardon?"
He wondered if he had heard the boy wrong.
"You could marry me!" Sebastian explained, as if it was the most logical solution.
"Then you wouldn't have to marry anyone far away, and we could stay together forever! I bet we would make a handsome pair."
Ominis saw a lot of flaws in that plan. First off, they were both men. And although it wasn't unheard of for wizards to marry wizards, he did admit it felt a little strange to see himself marry another man.
Second, his parents would probably explode on the spot when he would tell them he planned on marrying a halfblood wizard who could not bring forth any Gaunt descendents.
The obvious and more logical descision, at least, would be for Ominis to marry Anne. She was no pureblood, but at least she was a girl.
Instead Ominis just laughed.
He allways felt protective over Sebastian. Whenever he would come up with a crazy idea, he never wanted to burst his bubble.
He wanted Sebastian to still believe in all his impossible plans for the future and sometimes even envied how naive the boy was.
"Sure, let's marry." He agreed. "You free this saturday?"
Now Sebastian smiled too. He heard it in his voice. "Just you wait. I'll propose to you the day we graduate! And you better say yes."
"Alright then." Ominis said. He descided not to worry anymore about his family. As long as he had Sebastian, there would always be a reason for him to smile.
"You have to swear on it." Sebastian said. He grabbed his hand and interlaced their pinkies. "Promise we will always stay together?"
"I promise" Ominis smiled too. His head becoming drowsy again.
"If we are married we can buy our own house." Sebastian fantasized. "A big one, with fancy furniture and a large garden."
"If we are married, we will need a bigger bed." Ominis sighed. Tugging the covers over his shoulders.
"And bigger sheets indeed." Sebastian groaned. Tugging them back.
They remained quiet for a few moments.
"Are you going to sleep now?" Sebastian asked, breaking their silence.
"Hmm" Ominis answered, too tired to give a proper response.
He felt Sebastian slowly lifting the covers and leaving his bed again.
"Goodnight, Ominis." He whispered. "See you tomorrow."
Ominis hapily gathered as much of the sheets as he wanted. Creating a warm cocoon for himself.
Sebastian's warmth still lingered in his bed.
That night, the first night in days, Ominis had a good nights rest.
He even had a pleasant dream. He dreamed he and Sebastian were indeed going to marry and they were fighting over who would wear the weddingdress, while Anne picked out the flowers for their bouquet.
The following days he tried to hold on to the warm feeling his comedic dream gave him, as he boarded the train back to England.