A Summer to Our Own

Part I: God-Forsaken Storm

His hand went stiff while he slowly drew back his grasp from the ends of her hair. The smile she grew to love had instantly morphed into a grimace with his eyes growing cold.

"My mother has never lifted a goddamn finger in her life. As for my father, all he does is look after his money in the vaults of Gringotts."

Andromeda remembered hearing this tone of voice at the beach when she asked if he had ever been to his father's estate in the highlands. It meant he didn't want to go further with this discussion and at this point, she would normally move on to another topic of conversation.

But a little voice inside of her gave her the confidence to carry on.

"Alright. So...was it your father that taught you chess?"

"No."

"Was it your brothers? You never told me how many you have! What are their names?"

"Andromeda." Ominis narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice to a growl as if it were a warning for her to stop. "Drop. It."

Andromeda didn't even flinch. She knew exactly what he was doing, trying to utilize his scare tactics that were becoming predictable. Anyone else would succumb to their fear of facing his wrath, but she was not going to back down.

Ominis may be a Gaunt, but Andromeda was also a Black.

She had enough of playing nice.

"Do they know about me? About us?"

Ominis quickly sat up and rubbed a hand down his face. "Andromeda. I'm asking you to stop."

"Well, I will have to politely decline!" Andromeda sprung to her feet and began to pace behind the accent table, stomping across the floor. "You don't get to do this! You can't shut down every time I ask about your family! It's not fair!"

"Andromeda." His voice was filled with anger. "We are not talking about this. And that's final."

She came to a halt and shook her head. "No! We are going to talk about this because I want to kno-"

Ominis shot up with his hands clenched at his sides and yelled, "WE'RE NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT THIS. I DEMAND YOU TO STOP. NOW."

Andromeda swore the air was sucked right out of the room, her heart was pounding against her chest. Ominis has never acted like this before, but then again, they never had an argument escalate this quickly.

"Why do you want me to stop, Ominis? You should at least give me the courtesy to know the reasoning behind all of this."

She stared at him until he finally gave her an answer.

"I don't want your pity."

As soon as those words came out of his mouth, a whirlwind of emotions came as a blow to her chest.

There was anger, sadness, fear, and frustration.

But not pity.

Andromeda bent down to grab her book and slammed it against the table, the burst of sound causing Ominis to jump. She tried to hold back the tears that were building up behind her eyes, but at this point, she didn't care. He needed to know that she was beyond upset and would make her matters known.

Her voice cracked when she finally broke the silence.

"Do you truly believe that? Is that what you do to convince yourself when I ask about your childhood or your family? That I pity you? Has it ever occurred to you that I'm asking because I simply want to get to know you better?!? I'm trying to get a sense of who you are as a person, but I'm finding it to be nearly impossible when you keep pushing me away!"