Chapter Text
If there was one indisputable truth that Ominis was certain of, it was that he had absolutely no love for Dark Magic. He knew how it entrapped its victims with its promise of power only to leave them wallowing in their own self-hatred, how it would continue to fester for the rest of his days despite his resolve to never wield it again, even at the peril of his own life.
The unwanted memories came flooding back all at once as the Fifth Year’s screams echoed through the passageway. Ominis tried not to panic and held onto the nearby stone wall for support, attempting to chase away the sound of that tiny Muggle child shrieking on the floor that fateful summer.
He remembered the exhilaration that lingered even as the remnants of the curse faded from his wand. In that one moment, he had been everything: useful, powerful…
Loved.
He had wanted that child to hurt as much as the Cruciatus Curse had hurt him.
Ominis choked and nearly drowned in the memory, but he dragged himself back to the present out of sheer force of will.
“A-Are you alright?” It came out as a stammer as he tried to focus his attention back to the situation at hand. There were only the three of them in this forsaken maze, no Gaunts or Muggles.
Ominis refused to tell himself that he was not okay, but his skin was clammy even under the warmth of his robes, and he wanted nothing more than to bury his head under the bed covers back in the safety of his dormitory.
The Fifth Year reassured him weakly, and upon further inspection, he realized that Sebastian’s plan had worked. The Scriptorium lay open just past the door, now melted away.
Ominis followed the two into the study of his ancestor, letting his wand guide his shaky steps.
“I can’t believe we’re here,” he muttered, trying not to think of the terrible spell Sebastian had casted on their friend, repeatedly pushing away the thought of his poor Aunt Noctua’s bones in the other room. He briefly entertained the idea that they could give her a proper burial now that they had found her body, but his chest tightened as the thought formed in his head. It was overwhelming enough to know that she had died here, alone.
“Sebastian. Ominis. There’s a book, just here,” the Fifth Year noted from somewhere around the main desk.
“You found something?” Sebastian replied, the excitement evident in his voice. Ominis turned away, knowing that he was powerless to stop his friend when Sebastian was this excited.
“You two go ahead - let me know what's in it. I’ll wander around a bit.”
Unable to bear listening to his best friend descend further into madness at the moment, Ominis proceeded to search the bottom floor, mapping the walls and its various objects with his wand. He could feel traces of Dark Magic pulsating under some of the artifacts and moved away from them instinctively. It was difficult to imagine just what kind of person his ancestor was to have been so comfortable practicing such tainted magic and setting it free upon the world.
He heard a whisper call to him somewhere in the depths and froze in his tracks, hesitating to move any deeper into the study. It beckoned him closer in soft murmurs, almost akin to an embrace.
Ominis realized it was in Parseltongue.
Come claim your birthright, young heir of Slytherin.
She waits for you…
Ominis jerked back, his grip on his wand sweaty as the walls seemed to close in on him.
“I’ve been getting an uneasy feeling about this place. We shouldn’t linger here. Let’s find a way out, please,” he nearly begged the other two. He needed to get out soon, or he might just hurl.
Ominis inhaled slowly through his nose, barely able to keep his already shallow breaths from quickening. Remnants of the new student’s screams still echoed in his head, a stark reminder of that time. He made his way upstairs to where the other two were in a haste, not missing the heavy book nestled in Sebastian’s arms.
To his relief, the Fifth Year found an exit passage soon after right in front of their eyes. The scant warmth from the familiar dungeon torches caressed his skin as he stepped back into familiar territory. He could not believe that he let them convince him to take them into the Scriptorium.
“I meant what I said before,” Ominis turned to Sebastian, feeling the frustration surge through him now that they are free of the suffocating study. “We swear right now never to engage in anything to do with Dark Magic again.”
“Understood. I’m truly sorry about your Aunt, Ominis.” He could hear the slight inflection in his best friend's voice and already had a suspicion that Sebastian was lying. Ominis could still trace the huge tome tucked under his friend’s arm, after all, but he paid it no mind at the moment and took a deep breath to calm his raging thoughts.
“I suppose after all this, I am grateful to know what happened to her.” He tried not to picture the outline of her bones on the dusty floor. “Thank you,” he managed, voice quivering despite his efforts.
He turned promptly and made a beeline to the Slytherin Common Room, letting his wand guide his steps. He did not wait for the other two to follow him.
His shoes echoed through the empty dormitory hallway, and Ominis realized that he didn’t know how late it had gotten since they'd entered the Scriptorium. He opened his room door slowly to find the brazier extinguished, their two other roommates already settled in for the night. Ominis moved silently to his bed and changed quickly under the cover of darkness.
The whispers continued to haunt him, still attempting to draw him into its clutches.
Ominis climbed into bed and drew the curtains shut before burying his face into his pillow. His wand rolled away from his hand into the crevice he usually kept it, and he waited for the overwhelming guilt from his memories to pass.
It persisted despite his efforts, and the child continued to scream in his mind.
Ominis cocooned himself into the sheets, clutching them tightly as he waited for Sebastian to return.
Where are you?
I need you.
Yet, the hours ticked by, one after the other, the silence his only companion before he finally drifted off to sleep, the exhaustion from the day’s events overtaking him.
.
The pain shot through his body like daggers, and he crumpled instantly to the floor. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before, worse than any strike from his father’s hand, worse than the broken arm he had gotten the one time Marvolo had “accidentally” shoved him down the stairs.
When he came back to himself, his wand was already in his hand, pointing at the Muggle child. He felt it pulsating, the remnants of the curse still fresh in the wood.
Her screams filled his ears, and for a moment he was numb to them.
Instead, he could hear his father complimenting him as a true heir of Gaunt for so easily casting the curse, his brothers laughing as they patted him on the back…
He felt a strange sense of pride and belonging, one he had not known as a child, and it was then Ominis heard Sebastian’s voice through the fog, its clarity cutting through it like a knife.
“Crucio!”
His screams replaced those of the Muggle child.
Ominis woke with a start, gasping as he fumbled in the darkness before realizing he was safe in his bed at Hogwarts. He held back a sob and clutched at his chest. He knew that Sebastian was already drifting further and further away from him. He feared that the other would disappear before he could put a stop to it, lost to the temptation that is Dark Magic.
It had already taken his childhood, and he could do nothing but watch as it slowly took his best friend.
He wanted to scream at his helplessness. Ominis knew Sebastian well, and his friend was not done yet, not until he crossed a line that should not be crossed, or worse.
The tears he had sworn he had grown out trickled down the bridge of his nose onto the pillow.
“Ominis?” He froze, recognizing Sebastian’s voice through the curtains. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” he trembled. “Go back to sleep, Sebastian.”
He was not fine.
Ominis waited for his friend to return to bed, but instead the curtains opened and the bed dipped behind him. He did not turn, afraid to face the source of his anguish.
“Ominis…”
He refused to look at the other. The whispers of the study reached out to him even in the safety of his own bed, the Parseltongue that reminded him of his blood, his birthright.
Aunt Noctua fought gallantly, but look where she ended up.
Ominis remembered those distant summers when she came to visit, her soft voice telling him about the world outside the Gaunt Manor. His breath hitched, and he curled into himself, nearly gasping for air. He could not control the shudders as he thought of how they would all leave him someday.
Sebastian was no different.
He could not bear the thought, and he knew the other could hear him sobbing, but he was unable to stop.
Warm arms wrapped around him, their touch pausing his tremors like a spell. Ominis turned inadvertently towards the source, wanting nothing more than to bury himself into it, just for this moment, until the day it would be forcibly torn away from him.
They had done this often in his second year, after the nightmares first started, after that last summer he had returned back to the Gaunt Manor. The twins had refused to let him go back, offering him sanctuary in their small cozy town of Feldcroft for the past three summers. Their small home could barely fit another child, yet Solomon still allowed him to stay, ignoring the nights that he woke up in a full panic only for Sebastian to soothe him back to sleep.
He could not bear the thought that those same hands that used to calm him were slowly turning into the same ones tainted by Dark Magic.
Ominis opened his mouth to attempt to talk some sense into Sebastian, trying to strengthen his resolve despite the day's events, but all that came out was a sob.
“I’m so sorry.” Sebastian held him tighter.
“If you’re sorry, then stop this madness,” the words finally manifested. Yet, he knew the promises were empty.
“I won't give up on Anne, you know that.”
“We’re not giving up on her! We’ll find another way!” he pleaded. “Just not Dark Magic. Nothing good ever comes of it!”
Fingertips brushed against his cheeks, wiping the tears he knew stained it.
“You know I can’t do that. Not until I’ve found the cure,” Sebastian whispered in his ear.
“Then at what cost?”
Me? He wanted to ask, but he was unable to muster the courage.
“You know I’d never hurt you,” Sebastian replied, as if he could read Ominis’ inner thoughts. “I care about you, a lot.”
“If you cared that much, then you’d listen to me more,” Ominis grumbled, not missing the way his face heated up despite the tears.
Arms wrapped tighter around him, rubbing comforting circles around his back.
“Go to sleep, Ominis. I’ll be here with you.”
He wanted to stay up and talk some sense into the other, to show Sebastian the reality of the trap he was walking straight into.
Instead, Ominis closed his eyes and drowned further into the temporary comfort the other had gifted him.