Cursed (Hogwarts Legacy fanfiction - original in German)

Chapter 44 - Listen carefully

[AI art in the banner made by me - as always]

Just as Phina was about to jump up to accompany Ominis, she already felt his hand pressing so firmly on her shoulder that she had no chance of getting up. Apparently, he had known she would try that even before her muscles had reacted.

"I'll come with you," she whispered, reaching for his hand on her shoulder and looking up at Ominis, whose blind eyes were focused on a point beside her. His calm and almost serene expression somehow impressed her immediately. 

In the fifth grade, he would have been a nervous wreck in such a situation, but there was no sign of that now. Either he could now flawlessly hide his nervousness from the outside world, or something had happened to him over the holidays or perhaps even before that, giving him immense inner strength he had previously lacked. Phina doubted he had just stumbled upon this new side of himself during his training in the undercroft. She was sure Sebastian had contributed significantly to making him look incredibly heroic in this moment. 

And Phina had to admit that, along with his visibly prominent muscles and his much more mature facial features, this suddenly made her knees weak, and she was grateful that Ominis had ensured she remained seated.

"Meet me in the undercroft after class. And bring Sebastian," he whispered back, before briefly pressing her shoulder again and then withdrawing his hand from under hers to approach Professor Black. His gait was so casual and innocent that it must have been obvious to everyone in the classroom that he was innocent of whatever he was being accused of.

As Phina looked around for Sebastian to see his reaction, she noticed the wild mixture of fear, skepticism, and admiration with which her classmates watched Ominis. Probably, the most absurd speculations about what kind of criminal activities Ominis might be involved in were already swirling in their heads, and Phina could already sense that by the end of the day, there would be countless new stories spreading like wildfire through the student grapevine. Each one more foolish and damaging to his reputation than the last. Phina could already hear them speculating about the Gaunt's plans for world domination and portraying Ominis as a ruthless leader who kills Muggles. Just the thought of it made her angry in advance. 

When she finally reached Sebastian with her gaze, he looked at her with quite some concern and shrugged discreetly. Apparently, he had no idea what could be going on either, and he was shifting so restlessly on his seat that Phina was sure he would have liked to jump up and sprint after his best friend immediately too.

When Professor Black finally slammed the classroom door behind Ominis, there was a crackling silence in the room for a fraction of a second. But then a deafening chatter broke out, making Phina dizzy, and she wished she could cover her ears. Fortunately, Professor Hecat quickly restored order before the conversations among the students became too animated. Everything in Phina seemed unbearably hot, as if she was burning inside if she didn't immediately run after Ominis. They couldn't just leave him alone with Professor Black, who was still clearly on Ominis' father's side. What was he planning? 

This ignorance was driving Phina crazy. She had never been a patient person in such situations, and she knew she wouldn't be able to calm down as long as her thoughts revolved around what was happening with Ominis or what Professor Black might be talking to him about. She couldn't focus on anything else, and thus she failed miserably when Professor Hecat quizzed each student in the class on the lecture's content towards the end of the lesson. She couldn't answer a single question correctly, and although she felt pretty dumb and miserable because of it, all these negative feelings quickly faded into the background because her concern for Ominis simply overshadowed everything else. She hoped that maybe at least Professor Sharp would also be there to support Ominis.