If I Knew it All Then

just because you can eliminate darkness

A/N: I received immense support for this idea when I posted about it on my Tik Tok (@leviosally). Whether you're coming here from that video or not, I thank you for your interest and I sincerely hope you enjoy what's ahead.

We were robbed of the chance to try using our magic to save Anne, and this fanfiction is the product of asking myself what might've happened if we *did* get that chance.

Special shout-out to @evalocity on AO3/el0lave on Tik Tok for beta reading. We've her encouragement to thank for this idea getting translated into writing (unless it's an epic fail HAHAH).

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"He has certainly lost his mind." When Ominis was angry about something—or, more often these days, about somebody, especially his best friend—he'd make sure it was everybody's problem.

He was too busy to notice the Inferi that had snuck up from behind, seconds away from digging its bony fingers into his shoulder. Your warning never made it past your lips, because Ominis spun around to precisely face it, disintegrating it with a meaningful, guiltless Confringo.

A blind boy who never relied on anybody else to finish his battles for him.

"I must find Anne. It's better she hears this from me." You froze when he faced you, always a little uncomfortable being held at the point of his near-sentient wand. "You can get to Sebastian and stop him? You're certain?"

You'd come to care deeply about Ominis in the past year, but if you had to pick one thing to nitpick, it'd have to be his attachment to certainty. Especially when he was under stress. If you couldn't guarantee it, then it wasn't anywhere near good enough for Ominis.

"Yes." You thought, hoped. "I just need to find him in time." Before this predicament, whatever it even was—a dark cave brimming with Inferius and Sebastian supposedly at the heart of it— got worse than it already seemed to be.

The next thing you knew, you were completely and utterly alone. Ominis mustn't have thought Inferius were much of a threat to the likes of you. They were only dead bodies resurrected by dark magic. No problem whatsoever.

You hadn't seen Sebastian since you battled and defeated Rankrok. He hadn't a clue about the magic repository beneath Hogwarts, or how you'd managed to control it. Not a clue about Professor Fig. Sebastian's face had been the first one you looked for in the Dining Hall, but to your great dismay, he wasn't there.

Lately, it felt like he never was anymore.

Instead, he was in places like this, acting on his own. Who knew what kind of trouble he'd caused or gotten into already. All without knowing you finally believed you could take Anne's pain away.

It wasn't easy finding him. You had to navigate a variety of obstacles, from broken bridges made of human bones to the occasional onslaught of Inferius. It was, indeed, as bad as it sounded, but also nothing out of the ordinary when you compared it to the rest of your year. How silly you'd been to think defeating Ranrok meant you were through with recklessly endangering yourself.

When you did finally find him, it took a lot of convincing to assure yourself that this boy wasn't an imposter that had somehow mastered his radiant smile, only to give it away to his crowd of Inferius who'd never admire it the same as you did.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Wonderful was the last word anybody with eyes would use to describe the look on your face, one of absolute horror. It made you question if he was even seeing you. "With the Relic, I don't need to worry about reversing Anne's curse anymore. I can control it, just like I can control Inferius."