Time seemed to pass quickly. The once green covered Highlands and castle grounds were now caught in the warm embrace of the autumn leaves. I continued my classes, working hard alongside my professors to get up to par with my peers. I had not spoken much with Professor Fig regarding the incident upon the day of my arrival here as he has been running errands for Headmaster Black and making week-long trips to the ministry. I had also not seen Rookwood but frequently heard of the destruction he and Ranrok were causing. The year was well underway, but I knew that the main events awaiting me have not even started, let alone been revealed.
Every second of my free time had been spent with Sebastian and Ominis. We were beginning to form an inseparable trio. Whether it was skipping classes to go to the Undercroft or sneaking out at night for a quick trip to Hogsmeade, we were always together. I had started to learn more about their personal lives but tried my best to hide mine as long as I could for I feared the worst.
"It was one of Ranrok's loyalists. I just know it. It had to be one of them that cursed Anne." Sebastian had his face buried in his hands; his voice agitated yet tired. Ominis sat in complete silence, fidgeting with the edge of his robe. A strange feeling of guilt washed over me as I realized that this was the reason for his reaction at The Three Broomsticks. I thought of Victor, the Victor I knew, and silently prayed that he wasn't the "loyalist" being referred to. "None of the measly spells they teach us here will help her! I need to fight dark magic with dark magic... It's the only way." For a moment, I could hear nothing but my own breathing as I watched Ominis' face contort into an unidentifiable expression. "Sebastian, we've been through this. You have no idea what you're messing with. I can assure you, the dark arts won't be of any help to Anne at all. It will only destroy you." Sebastian got up on his feet, kicking his potions textbook to the side. "You must think I'm weak. I know what I'm doing and if you took the title of my best friend as seriously as you say you do, you would help me. Not hold me back." I watched as he left the Undercroft, slamming the door at the other side of the tunnel.
"You understand, don't you? Please tell me you don't think I'm being unreasonable." Ominis asked, his soft voice brimmed with sadness. "I'm sorry Ominis, but I think I agree with Sebastian. The dark arts could be more than useful if the right person uses it." He scoffed. "And you think Sebastian, who is thinking with his heart rather than his head, is the right person to wield deadly magic? What part of unforgivable curses do the two of you not understand?" I had no response to this. I wanted Anne to be cured for Sebastian's sake. It was horrible seeing him like this but deep down I knew that my own selfish reasons were bubbling up. I wanted to learn the dark arts. I needed to.
"My family... they all use the dark arts. It's in our blood after all. When I was a boy, my father taught me "Crucio". He told me it was the first step to becoming the powerful wizard I was meant to be. I thought it was incredible. I finally felt accepted and recognized, worthy even. Worthy of my father's love. But when he forced me to cast it, I couldn't. I didn't have that want inside of me, that hatred. I ended up disappointing my father and my entire family once more."
I watched as a single tear fell down his cheek, landing directly on the Slytherin emblem that sat proudly stitched on his robes. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was reliving a memory he had long buried, or at least tried to.
"It's an absolute disgrace to think that you are the heir of the Gaunt family. It is clear to me now that our legacy dies here, with me." His father spat, slamming his fist on the long wooden table that stood solemnly in the dining room. "Father, please." Ominis begged, too afraid to look up from the plate in front of him. His mother sat quietly by his side, staring into the abyss. "I thought it was bad enough your mother could give me nothing but a disabled child, now you won't even wield our magic? What good are you, boy? You might as well just be dead." His father threw his chair to the side, marching away. Leaving the room with nothing but a waft of ice-cold air, the silence of his mother and the stifled sobs of a young boy.
A young boy who at that moment decided, he had no family.
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EXULANSIS // hogwarts legacy
Fanfiction"The tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it whether through envy, pity, or simple foreignness-which allows it to drift away from the rest of your life story until the memory itself feels out...
