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hollowwrites · 1 year

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Blindsided

Part 1

Ominis x MC

Summary - Welcome to my Slow Burn Ominis fic! Evelyn has been away since the beginning of the year. Whilst Ominis is awake in the middle of the night, a familiar figure comes sneaking into the dorms.

Feel free to swap Evelyn with MC or Y/N and any mention of her to whatever you please.

Warnings - Mentions of nightmares and Crucio but otherwise fluff, all characters aged up 18+

Word Count - 1833

The Black Lake offered little comfort to many of the residents of Hogwarts, even the Slytherins exposed to it on a daily basis. Its murky depths and unknown occupants unnerved many, and rightly so.

However, on restless nights such as this one, you can always find a lean figure lurking in one of the three windows. The curvature of the stained glass windows offered a uniquely beautiful experience for any of those brave enough to sit and watch out into deep. An opportunity not afforded to Ominis.

Though unable to see its beauty, he often had people describe what it looked like, indulging in the variations from telling to telling.

With time ticking closer to midnight, however, he sat alone.

His back presses flat against the cool glass he let his head fall to the panes beside him, it’s smooth surface offering comfort to his clammy forehead. As usual with these visits to the windowed alcove, he placed his hand to the glass feeling for vibrations in the near water. Often, he could feel the rumble of the giant squid whipping its tentacles past the windows and, on one occasion, even felt the waves crash into them after it had a particularly bad tantrum.

For now, all was quiet.

The low pops and dull snaps of rocks shifting usually lulled him to sleep on difficult days like this. It wasn’t working. Did he want to go to sleep? To face those horrors? Why had this started again? It’s had been so long since he’d had a nightmare. Almost a year now, but they had slowly crept back into his nightly routine. He first noticed them, the week Evelyn had left.

Professor Howin had given Eve special leave to go with her to collect a rare beast spotted a few miles outside of Hogwarts. With the poachers in the area still a concern, Howin had convinced the Head Master that it would not only be good, academically for Poppy and Evelyn to bring the creature in for study, but would bode well to any Ministry interference if “Black” were the one to save the beast. Of course, with some benefit to him, he agreed and Evelyn left the next day.

That was at the beginning of the year.

That meant 2 months of waking up in a cold sweat, to screaming he knew all too well…

Mostly it was the screams of the muggles he had tortured as a boy. But lately a new chorus of wails had made its way into his symphony of misery.

He heard Sebastian, reeling over the loss of his parents, Anne, with her constant bouts of pain…

And he heard Evelyn, under the affects of the Cruciatus Curse.

This time it was different

Her cries…her whimpers…her laboured breath…she clambered to speak

Ominis…why…

His eyes shot open, an audible gasp escaping as he awoke from his uncomfortable slumber. He felt his wand in his hand thrumming with magic and reminded himself, There’s no scenario that could play out where he would cast that curse on her.

Ominis sighed. Even in his makeshift haven, he could not escape these awful dreams.

He began wondering what could have triggered them again when he heard the slither of ancient metallic scales from above him.

Who’s entering the common room at this hour?

His first thought was Sebastian. Despite having a tenuous fifth year, he never lost his love for mischief and needed little to no reason to break any of the school rules.

His second thought was…

“Ominis?”

Evelyn Hollow

“Ominis!” She whispered excitedly. The heavy sound of luggage being dropped alerted Ominis to her generally direction, the soft pitter patter of her feet dancing over to him helped him narrow her down exactly. She dropped to her knees beside him and threw her arms around his neck. “I’ve missed you so much” she mumbled into his neck, squeezing slightly. He wrapped an arm around her waist. She was shaking uncontrollably.

“Your absence has been noted” he replied giving her a wry smile. She slapped at his arm, before linking her own beneath his, her icy fingertips lying delicately on his forearm. “Are you cold? Or just hysterical” He chuckled.

“Hmmmm?” She hummed afraid if she opened her mouth, the sounds of her chattering teeth would deafen the poor man.

Ominis twisted around, using her cold finger tips as a starting position, he traced up her arm to her shoulders and around her jaw. He placed the back of his hand against her forehead and, to his surprise, her face radiated heat.

“It’s a tad chilly in this window, yes” she took his hands in hers, stopping his exploration in its tracks. Perhaps she was a little hasty with her movement. The sudden removal of his hands left Ominis perplexed. She’d never reacted like that before.

But the less he knew of the affect he had on her the better.

It felt somewhat sordid. The way his hands moved over her, for him, was simply his way of seeing the world.

For her…

His cool fingertips left tracks across her skin that burned with each passing stroke. The deftness in which he touched her, it was like a whisper upon the skin. Barely there yet leaving a lasting impression.

So every time she found herself breathing heavier, longing for him to continue…she was disgusted with herself. How could she take advantage of this sweet man? Her face burned with embarrassment.

“Shall we move to the fire? Or better yet, lets get some sleep” she rolled to her knees and tugged gently at his hand. His expression fell further, and he turned his head back to the window panes. “Are you having nightmares again?”

“Am I so transparent?” He chuckled humourlessly

“Come, we won’t go to bed, but we can at least move out of this dreadful window” she stood, gathered the blankets and pillows Ominis had strewn around him and manoeuvred her way to the sofas. Casting a quick Leviosa, she rearranged the common room in front of her as she walked, ensuring nothing was in Ominis’ way, and positioning the plush settees in front of the still roaring fire. “I don’t know how you can stand it in that window”

“Maybe because I’m Salazar Slytherins heir. Maybe I’m cold blooded” he smiled, cutting into his perfectly sharp cheekbones. He settled down on the settee, his arm draped over the back.

Evelyn marvelled at his statuesque beauty. He’d changed so much since they met, yet, not at all. His face, for lack of a better term, seemed more gaunt than ever. She put that down to his lack of sleep, the dark circles under his eyes being the first giveaway.

Him and Sebastian had both filled out but in completely different ways. They both stood head and shoulders above her but Ominis was longer and leaner and more elegant than Sebastian could ever hope to be. The physical embodiment of brains and brawn. She watched as he ran his long fingers through his white, blonde hair and flicked his wand to activate the echo charm. His eyes immediately locked onto her as the wand alerted him to her location.

“Come” he offered her his hand and pulled her softly onto the sofa with him. His wand ceased its glowing as soon he made contact with her. “Can I ask you a question?” He continued

“Of course”

“This will sound…untoward but…do you mind me touching you?”

“W-what?”

“It’s just…you snatched my hand away in the window…I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I didn’t know if anything had changed over the summer” he explained matter of factly, like it was so simple.

He had never made her uncomfortable. Yes at the beginning of their friendship, maybe she did only hold his hand for guidance around the castle but it became much more than that. It had become second nature to them both to slot together like puzzle pieces. Whether it was Ominis cocking his elbow out, instinctively, for her link in the crook of his arm or Evelyn taking his hand out of habit, they both had become very familiar with each others touch. Sebastian had made many pointed comments about her standoffish nature, noting that Ominis, himself, Imelda, Poppy and Garreth were the only ones he’d ever seen her get close to. But of course, Sebastian reads into things perhaps more than he should she thought. She simply didn’t like anyone else enough to let them get closer.

“No I just…” she groaned

How are you talking your way out of this one, Hollow

“Do not breathe a word of this to Sebastian or I will gut you Gaunt, hear me” he chuckled.

“Not a word” he placed a slender finger to his lips

“I…don’t want to take advantage of you”

“Excuse me” he coughed out, eliciting a violent shush from one of the portraits. He continued “You take advantage of me?”

“Yes!…It’s comforting to me, and I don’t know if you see it that way so whenever I…” choose your words carefully now we’re not confessing too much today “feel…comforted…I don’t know it’s like I’m using you for my own selfish reasons…” she babbled quickly hoping the seat beneath her would swallow her whole. Best she leave the fact his touch sent her head spinning out of this conversation.

“How am I comforting? Aren’t I just dragging you around the castle asking you irritating questions?” She looked up at him, a quizzical expression across his stoic features.

“No” she breathed “you’re warm and soft and…” she went quiet. He outstretched his hand for her take, enveloping hers in his own entirely. “We’ve been through enough together I don’t want some misunderstanding to break us apart”

“You needn’t worry about that. I should say you’re stuck with me now. Your descriptions of my surroundings are far too good for me to let go of you” he offered her a genuine smile.

“So you’re taking advantage of me?” She gasped dramatically “Are all Slytherins known for their manipulation? I feel used” she sighed and flopped back onto the sofa. She hadn’t realised how stiff she had been sitting until that very second. All of her muscles relaxed in an instant at the realisation he had the same worry she had.

“If we’re quite finished making each other uncomfortable by thinking we’re making each uncomfortable, can we get back to being us? I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. After the summer and you being whisked off to grand adventures it has been…a while since I have had you close” he seemed hesitant with his words, searching and mulling over each one before they left his lips

“Of course. Nothing has changed Ominis” her words fell over him like a reassuring wave. Her hand danced over his knee as she put her weight onto his chest. He closed his eyes, breathing in her familiar scent and lulling himself into a dreamless sleep.

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