Chapter Text
It was a little over a week after the announcement of who won the House Cup, and everyone was packing, getting ready to go home for the summer. Everyone was excited and celebrating, regardless of who had more points during the year; they were all hugging and laughing, telling one another that they'd miss each other so much and promised to write.
Well, almost everyone.
Ominis was running around trying to find Emelia, his new companion that he'd grown rather fond of and close to during their fifth year together, but she was nowhere to be found. He searched in the halls, the library because she loved to read and the smell of books, the common room, where they'd hang out by the glass windows, and even asked her friends: Imelda, Natty, Poppy, Amit, even Garreth, where she was. Unfortunately, they hadn't seen her either, which only made him more fearful and felt a sting of desperation, a sensation that he only felt when he was at home.
Home.
That wasn't even the appropriate word for that wretched place. Ominis feared for his life there, not knowing what his psychotic family would do to him or make him do next; he was always desperate to leave, to come back to his refuge within the walls of Hogwarts.
He pushed the thought aside and a more powerful desire came over him.
He had to find her.
He didn't care if he missed the train, if he had to fight off an acromantula, face his fear of flying a broom or even getting struck with a curse repeatedly again by his family – he was going to find her.
During his search, he overheard students in the Great Hall talking and whispering about something that was said in the paper; it piqued his interest in wanting to know what they were murmuring about, but he paid it no mind and focused solely on his mission.
Ominis tried concentrating on her scent: plump luscious apples, a delicate mix of sour and sweetness of black plums, and hint of a rich ebony wood – a warm, familiar yet fierce aroma, a smell that symbolizes her perfectly.
He begged for his sentient wand to understand what he was trying to find. When he finally got a whiff of her perfume, he followed it instinctively, turning from place to place, bumping into other students, getting disgruntled comments in the process, but he didn't care. Emelia was all he cared about right now, although he couldn't shake the bad feeling he had for when he'd finally locate her.
Ominis found himself in the Defense Against the Dark Arts tower.
"Of course!" he hollered to himself, face palm to his forehead.
How could he be so stupid?
He sprinted all the way to the undercroft, smelling Emelia's fragrance get stronger the closer he got.
He found her.
-
Emelia stared down at the Daily Prophet before her, her heart beating so loudly, it was to the point she could hear them pounding in her ears. Tears started to well up in her eyes, breathing shallowly and quickly. She was surprised her legs didn't collapse from under her; her hands shook involuntarily, palms beginning to sweat, clenching the paper.
Tears flowed and spilt over in endless streams; she couldn't stop them if she wanted to.
Her world started spinning.
She couldn't breathe, and her chest ached.
She was hyperventilating.
The doors of the Undercroft opened with its creaky gates and Ominis appeared, rushing in.
"Emelia?" his voice panicked.
"Om-Ominis..." she could barely speak through her aching and shock, one of her hands grabbed at her chest, squeezing firmly, wanting the pain inside to go away. She needed to get her breathing under control, but she couldn't focus.
"Emelia!" Ominis yelled, the bad feeling he had was, unfortunately, right; he ran towards her with worry and found her on the other side of the triptych that she and Sebastian had found during their adventures together, trying to discover where the relic was. She was leaning against the wall, almost hunched over completely, feeling her entire body shake, tempting to fall apart.
When she saw him approach closer, her knees buckled out from under her as she expected it would; she would've fallen over if it weren't for Ominis catching her, placing his arms under hers. She fell to her knees, Ominis following her actions, the sound of a newspaper rustling greeted his ears, clashing to the floor. Ominis tried to get her attention by calling her name, she heard him but didn't react, not having the strength to respond nor the power to move. Her body felt heavy, she just wanted to lay on the floor, curl into a ball and cry until she couldn't cry any more.
She thought to herself: What would Ominis think of me if I did that? Weak? Pathetic? Overdramatic?
He could feel her shuddering, her body tense, her heavy breathing filling the silent room around them, but the thing that deeply wounded and struck him the most was the sound of her crying. He never wanted to hear her this way; he didn't want to ever witness this side of her. He prepared himself to see her in all her emotions from the start, to observe her and be there during her triumphs and failures, thinking it wouldn't affect him, but after getting to know her, nothing prepared him enough for this. Experiencing her this way, he felt his heart twist with both deafening anger and an overwhelming urge to protect her, to take her away from her endless sorrow and broken heart.
Being with her like this was unbearable; he felt utterly useless.
He wanted to be her unbreakable shield, her strength whenever she wanted to fall apart or whenever she was like this – she was human just like everybody else – but mostly just to be there for her.
Emelia hadn't looked up at Ominis but felt his arms under hers in support; she tightened her grip on his forearms, slightly digging her nails into his skin through his robes sleeves, making him flinch a bit, but he didn't care. She tried to focus on getting her breathing back to normal, but nothing seemed to work. She closed her eyes forcefully and yelled at herself to concentrate and breathe, but her body continued to refuse to obey.
"He – Ominis, he..." she began to say, but couldn't finish her sentence, remembering what she'd seen and read; her breathing suddenly becoming more rapid, tears falling from her eyes heavier than before, weeping louder, not caring how she sounded or appeared to Ominis.
Ominis shushed her, trying to soothe her tension and quivering body; he understood then what had happened.
Using his wand, he read the paper that had fallen to the floor beside them and read:
SEBASTIAN SALLOW TURNS HIMSELF IN, ADMITTING TO THE MURDER
OF HIS UNCLE, SOLOMON SALLOW.
PRELIMINARY HEARING TO BE SET XX/XX/1891
He felt his eyes widen, not believing what he was reading; his thoughts screamed so loud that for a second it drowned out Emelia's panting.
That complete, idiotic imbecile! How could he do that after we agreed not to turn him in? Why would he do something like that? He'll be sent to Azkaban!
The questions kept coming, one after the other, but he had more pressing matters to attend to, those questions had to wait until later.
Until her.
Ominis snapped his head towards his sobbing friend and was determined to get her – to get them – out of this Hell.
"Emelia, look at me!" Ominis begged, his voice sounding frantic, not really knowing what to do for her; she didn't stray from her current position, so he asked again, more desperate, "please, look at me, dove."
By some miracle, Emelia gradually lifted her head to gazed into his cloudy eyes; a fire was lit under her caused by Ominis' pleading and broken tone, something she had never heard him do before. It was something she never wanted to hear come out of him again, it pained her to the center of her being.
Her breathing was still quick in pace, inhaling short rapid breaths, tears streaking down her face, but she could see the visible blend of emotions playing on Ominis' face: anger, frustration, pity probably, fear, worry and empathy.
Ominis grasped her shoulders firmly, thinking of the best way to calm her; his mind was running a million miles an hour, then he found it – the fool-proof solution. He immediately put her head against his chest, one arm wrapped around her waist and the other at the back of her head, holding her in a tight but gentle embrace.
"Listen to my heartbeat," he advised, trying to say it in a soothing voice.
Ominis had never done anything like this before, not even with Anne or Sebastian whenever they got overwhelmed; he was never really one to show physical affection or even know how to, but with her, it came to him so easily – effortless. Sometimes he thought she'd put a spell on him.
Emelia's body stiffened and froze in place for a brief second, but recovering quickly, she wrapped her arms around his waist, melting into him and cried into his chest, squeezing tightly; he did the same, increasing his hold on her.
"It's okay, little dove; I'm here, I'm right here," he said softly into her hair, "just listen to my heart."
Heeding Ominis' words, she did her best to focus on the beating of his heart; it was steady and strong, it didn't falter or skip.
It was a truly beautiful sound and the smell coming off of his robe only increased its affect.
Ominis took deep breaths, inhaling her intoxicating scent, closing his eyes and hoping his method works.
Emelia's body relaxed as she leaned deeper into her friend.
They remained that way for the next ten minutes, simply holding each other, neither one of them loosening their grip, except the last minute when Emelia had let go of Ominis' robes.
Ominis worried for a second but after listening closely, he realized that she'd fallen asleep; she had stopped crying and calmed down after a couple minutes, which warmed his core.
His technique had worked; he was just relieved that she was not hurting anymore.
He readjusted himself to sit against the wall and had her cradled in between his legs, her head turned towards his chest; he continued to hold her tenderly, an arm behind her shoulders and neck, resting an elbow on his knee, the other...the other he hovered, hesitantly over her cheek.
Ominis felt his hand shaking a bit this time, scared that he'd cross a boundary, but when Emelia started stirring in her sleep, inhaling sharply, those doubts and fears vanished. He hushed her in a low murmur, placing his hand on the side of her face, touched her smooth and soft skin with the back of his fingers, then switched to place his palm and stroking her cheek with his thumb lightly, coaxing her to remain in her dreams.
"Sleep, my sweet girl," he whispered against her forehead, "you've done so much already. You deserve rest."
When Ominis' long fingers caressed her face, she smiled a small grin unconsciously, a low moan escaping her throat and snuggling up closer to his chest, making him blush.
Emelia had told him the main points of the year within that week – from discovering her new power, the dragon attack at the start of the year, all her missions and quests involving some classmates, fighting against goblins, trolls, Rookwood, Harlow, and trials that she had to complete to demonstrate and earn respect with the power she had, from those called Keepers. The thought of 'The Keepers' made his body fume, they have no regard for her safety and well-being; they just wanted to see if she was worthy of her abilities.
Ridiculous! She's just a child! he thought.
Ominis held her closer, reflexively.
He remembered how she told him that she, single-handedly, battled Ranrok, a goblin that was talked about in the papers, who was leading a goblin rebellion against wizardkind; every hamlet was talking about him and his loyalists, some even had the unfortunate luck of being terrorized by them, but Emelia was there to help drive them away or defeat them.
He sighed with a smirk, proud of his friend's victories.
She told him the story of how Professor Fig and she were trying to get to Ranrok, under the school, and when all hope seemed lost, all the Hogwarts professors jumped and aided them when they needed it the most. Ominis felt a sense of gratitude towards each of them, more than he could express, because without them, who knows what would've happened to Emelia.
She defeated Ranrok in the end; she explained he used the dark magic that was encased in goblin silver in a repository and made himself into a literal flying dragon. She told him that she barely made it out alive, but...her mentor, Professor Fig, didn't make it.
Emelia's been torn up about it since, and Ominis had sensed it, but not wanting to pry or push her, he let her be.
"You're so humble..." he muttered under his breath to her sleeping body.
Ominis was grateful that she finally stopped bawling over that absolute moron. Feeling her sleep soundly in his arms, he felt her energy had been drained from her sobbing, her uncontrollable shaking out of pure fear had seized but leaving her shattered spirit behind.
He sighed deeply, annoyed and frustrated, turning his attention towards the newspaper that remained on the floor next to them, and shook his head at it in disappointment.
There were so many questions going on in his head: Did he turn himself in willingly? Did someone report him, threaten him? Did the ministry find out? What is going to happen to him now?
He didn't know what the reason was Sebastian had turned himself in, but he knew one thing – Sebastian was going to pay for this.
Ominis' heart was filled with unkempt wrath; his best friend had made her cry without knowing it, something that he didn't know, he felt so strongly about until now. He vowed right then, he would never make Emelia cry and guard her like a colossal, impenetrable steel wall, having nothing dampen her spirits or even come close to touching her; he wanted to see nothing more than to see her blossom in life, hear her contagious laughter, sense those smiles on her face, feel her ceaseless energy bouncing around him whenever she was near, feel her brief touches and sense her glances towards him – as he does with her.
But not like this, he knew she felt small, weak, and helpless, she was anything but; she was so strong and capable that he felt he wanted to be better, to be able to stand beside her as an equal.
He'd be her unyielding strength, her never-ending light – her reason to smile, laugh and live happily, until she pushed him away, he'd remain by her side, and Sebastian Sallow would never hurt her or go near her heart again.